Alabad al Señor (Praise the Lord :)

Hey,

So this was a fantastic week and I loved it!!!

We had our Musical Program last night and it was spectacular. Lots of nerves, but everything turned out well. I slurred a few words for how nervous I was in our quartet, but no one noticed but me. It was such a success we filled up the whole chapel (and it´s a stakecenter) and the stage in the back. It was lovely and everyone left feeling uplifted and accompanied by the Spirit.

Our investigator "Tatin" is progressing really well. He invited us to go get ice cream and a different day he brought us a bag of fruit. Basically, he´s so grateful for the changes he is seeing in his life that he feels like he has to treat us to stuff :) If all goes well, he will get baptized this weekend. Our schedule might get a little complicated because we might get invited to Rio Cuarto (in the southern part of Córdoba) to do a repeat of our choir, but we´ll see what happens haha.

I love my mission. Every day we´re seeing miracles. It´s amazing to see not only the changes in other people, but also the changes in who I am. The gospel makes us better people and I know without a doubt that it is true. When we decide to serve the Lord with all of our time and talents and all of our heart we allow Him to change us even more. I´m thankful for the impact of music in my life and I encourage all of you to listen to a ton of Christmas music for me! More than anything, prepare yourselves spiritually for this Christmas and think of the gift you can give to our Father in Heaven.

Love you all,

Hermana Swan

Us with Tatin our investigator

The wedding of Marcos y Noelia (no, those are not their kids and I don´t know why they´re in the photo)

Our Quartet E´George (pianist) E´Barret, E´Price, Hna McArthur, Hna Swan :P

Everyone who stayed in the pension last night after the performance :)

Well, here´s a foto of our zone activity :) We played futbol! Love, Hermana Swan

Hola todos!

Hey,

So this week has been great :) We´ve had lots of practices for the choir that will perform this Sunday in the afternoon. I am super excited because it will be an experience muy spiritual for the people that come. We´re inviting everyone and their neighbor to come so hopefully we´ll catch a few. I will be singing in a quartet "ding! dong! Merrily on high" but in español. So that should be fun :) AH!

We traveled to Leones last week and I went on exchanges with Hermana Barbosa from Sao Paolo Brazil. She´s pretty new, but she was doing great! She speaks Spanish really well and it turned out to be a rainy, but fun day. Our bus broke down and some other delays happened, so that made life a little fun.

Thursday we had interviews with President, and we got to eat roasted chicken with french fries! That´s probably the closest thing to Thanksgiving you can get these days here in Argentina :) I´m thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, my family, the Book of Mormon, and much, much more!

On Saturday we went to a wedding! Really it was just when they sign the papers and make it legal, but it was still fun! Marcos and Noelia Bravo are officially a family! :) We´re still trying to get them to church, but all things with diligence. 

Sunday I had to give a talk and in the class before that we gave a class on how to share a Book of Mormon with all the adult members. There weren´t investigators in church, so we did practices with everyone of how they´d give a Book of Mormon to their friends. It was cool to see the whole class working together like a Zone meeting with everyone doing practices :) Now everyone is excited to give away Book of Mormons, and they all had great ideas of how! 

Yesterday we had Council and it was fantastic. I love hearing from President and seeing so many talented and spiritual young men and women in one room talking about what we can do better as a mission and how are we going to do it. As usual, we finished off a great day with a few fantastic games of Soccer. I made about 8 goals. Needless to say our team was on a winning streak. I felt a little bit like Messi...oh it was fun!

So that was my week in a nutshell. My invitation for the month of December is to write your testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to someone you care about. Maybe they won´t read all of it, and maybe they won´t understand exactly why we´re such fanatics about this book, but all of that doesn´t matter. What matters is that you loved them enough to share something so special and important with them. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it testifies of Christ, our savior and redeemer. I know that it helps us grow closer to the Lord and makes us better people. No matter what, reading it makes us better people, and applying it´s principles makes us happier. I am grateful for all of you and I know that you´ll recieve a stronger testimony as you share yours with others. Do you accept the challenge?

Love you all very much and enjoy the snow over there!

Hermana Swan

PS...sorry that I don´t have pictures this week, I´m having problems with my memory card. There´ll be lots next week!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone,

I think that the thing I will miss the most this thursday is stuffing...and of course Turkey! They don´t even have turkey anything here, so I´ll miss out a little bit. But we have alfajores so it´s all good. Enjoy being with the family and eating a ton of food that argentines don´t like or haven´t heard of :)

So this last week was super great. We had tons of success finding people...and we had three people show up to church!!!! Everyone had to vote, so the attendance was a little low, but that didn´t affect our investigators! Their names are Nicacio, Tatin (that´s his nickname), and Analia. They are all super great! :)

Yesterday we had to be in our pension all day after 4 pm. It was kind of weird to have to stay inside. It was just a precaution and nothing happened in the end, but we made good use of the time doing projects for the other Hermanas that we visit. There was also a little bit of a tornado in the southern part of Córdoba. Thursday morning there was a lot of wind...but we were inside with weekly planning, so it was all good. We didn´t get more than a good windstorm where we´re at. All I can say is that it was a little bit interesting to have the class on "Signs of the Second Coming" this week in Gospel Principles haha. We´d better be prepared!

It was great and lots of stuff happened, but as always we´ve got stuff to do! The gospel is so true and changes lives. It helps us become better people and love deeper. I´m so thankful for my mission! Thanks to all of you who have supported me both financially, and spiritually so that I can serve. It is such a blessing in my life, and I guess you´ll all have to wait until I get back to see how 

serious I am, but it´s true. Y que va a hacer?

Love you all and have a great week!!!!

Sincerely,

Hermana Swan

However, we will be eating Watermelon on Thanksgiving...Mom, I always think of you and smile when I eat it haha :)

Melisa y Agostina Selfie

Hermana Mateo´s cabin-house

I get to stay here in Ayacucho!!!

Good day everyone!

I will be staying her in Ayacucho with Hermana Oliva for another transfer...which means that I´ll be here for CHRISTMAS!!! :D I´m super excited to get to stay!

We had a wonderful Sunday yesterday. No one showed up at church...not even the members that we´d committed to come, but the Spirit did. Everyone was very reverent, attentive to the speakers, and the talks were about consagration, perseverancia, sharing the gospel. All of the members left feeling edified and ready for a fresh week.

We went to our choir practice and it was fun, but challenging. I have to sing soprano...and we´re talking really high soprano. But hey, it´ll be fun :) I get to sing in a quartet a special number. I think that would have killed me with nerves before my mission, but I´m really looking forward to it. Turns out the mission forces us to face our fears and progress.

Well, Noelia started reading the scriptures and praying, and I´ll be here for her wedding, so I´m pretty thrilled. We found a really nice less-active with a son who is super smart and not baptized. We explained the Book of Mormon to him last night and he was really interested because he loves history. His name is Francisco and we´ve got an appointment to see them again today. We´re seeing lots of miracles as we start to leave behind even more of what we want to do and do what the Lord wants us to do.

I hope you all know that I love you and I hope you have a wonderful week. 

Love,

Hermana Swan

Most of these photos were from when I went to say goodbye to members...but now I have them haha

Our district...and the zone leaders

 Flia Dominguez

 Marcos and Noelia...and Nefi (he´s the cat named Nephi)

 Flia Verino...she´s the Primary President and he´s our Elder´s Quorum President

Hna Mateo...her house is a little like a cabin

I feel like I just talked to you all the other day!

Hey family,

So this week has been pretty calm. Not a lot happened, but we played soccer today with the Zone :) Also, transfers are coming up this week and I can´t believe it! I want to stay in Ayacucho at least for Christmas...if not forever! I love it here so much! but, we´ll see where the Lord needs me to be.

We had a lesson with Noelia and Marcos this week that was great! Noelia burst into tears because we finally found out what her problem is! She has lots of stomach problems and feels like Heavenly Father doesn´t hear her prayers because she suffers. I think that she´s going to start progressing a lot more now that we know what was really bothering her.

We had a lesson with Juan who came to church the last week. Sebastian Petre went with us and so that was cool :) The problem is that it´s been hard to find him and he didn´t make it to church this last week. Don´t worry, it´s not easy getting away from these missionaries!!! haha.

Well, we´re going to have a choir for Christmas Dec. 6th. We started practices, and it´s super fun to see so many of the missionaries that I´ve worked with before :)

I hope that you all have a spectacular week and know that I love you and more importantly, that your father in Heaven loves you. He hears and answers our prayers. He helps us find strength that we didn´t know we had...and at this point I´m starting to need it: I´m going to complete 15 months in my mission this week. I CAN´T BELIEVE IT! It flies by so fast!

Love you all,

Hermana Swan

Car repair shop named...Helaman???

 haha this is the bus driver that made us our own special bus stop when we almost missed the bus leaving San Francisco. Luckily he took pity on us and stopped, and then we had a funny conversation with him about why we were here in Córdoba, etc...why we don´t date while we´re here...it was pretty hilarious, but he was very nice :)

Graciela and Antonio (i´m standing a stair below everyone else so that I don´t look so out of proportion haha)

 Us with Hna Ascuña and Hna Wooley (Hna Wooley finishes her mission this week)

Wouldn´t it be nice if it weren´t raining?

Hola todos!

Esta semana fue muy...ok, sorry my translater broke for a second. So this week was pretty good. I´d call it the week of conferences! We were in our area for three days total in the last week, and one of them was a Sunday...so there´s been very little work that got done. 

We had our Zone Conference on Wednesday, Elder Walter F. Gonzalez of the 70 came on Saturday, and we had our Council of Leaders on Monday. In every one of them we talked about the same themes: Strengthen our faith and the Book of Mormon. It was very interesting, because you´d think we´d get tired of hearing about it after three days...but every time I learned a ton of new things! Revelation is crazy like that, and what a blessing it has been to focus no what is really important and that will help our area. 

We had exchanges on Thursday with Hermanas McArthur and Salomon (Wyoming and Buenos Aires) of Las Varillas and on Tuesday with Hermanas Westman and Solar (Texas/New Jersey and Chile) of San Francisco. It was super fun! I got to go with Hermana Westman again :) We had a good chat about all of the "gringo" things we miss...carpet, real chocolate, not being confused with Jehovah´s Witnesses all the time...etc. Then we talked about why we do it: Because we know that this message is true. We stomp through huge puddles, face the threat of hail storms, talk to all sorts of people, lose sleep worrying about what we can do to help other people with their problems, etc. It´s not really about what we do, but why we do it. I know that the Book of Mormon is truly another Testament of Jesus Christ, and that people cannot find true happiness without exepting it as the word of God. I love the gospel, and I love the Lord, and that´s really why we do such "crazy things". 

Even though we weren´t in our area much this last week, we still had a miracle. On Sunday after Relief Society a member brought us a young man to talk to. We´d never seen him before in our lives...so we had no idea where he´d come from. We talked to him, went to the classes with him, made an appointment to return...etc. Turns out he´d been standing outside the church trying to figure out when we had meetings that Friday night. A member was there for a meeting and invited him to come to church on Sunday. THEN HE SHOWED UP ALL BY HIMSELF! We did some further questioning of the members and as it turns out the person who invited him to come to church was none other than our very own Sebastian Petre.

When I found out that it was him that had invited our miracle to the church I wanted to cry. It still makes me tear up haha. I just keep praying for miracles and to see them, and there they are! I hope you all know that this is a great work...whether or not you are in the mission field or in the battle field of life, you are enlisted to help. There is nothing that brings more happiness than sharing the gospel. It all starts with gaining and strengthening your own personal testimony so that you can share it with others. Read the Book of Mormon and pray about it often. Like, every day! Then, share a simple testimony with a friend, or even better, write you testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to them. Isaiah (I don´t remember how to spell that, so sorry if it´s wrong) 41:10. 

We´re a little bit cold here because it continues to rain...they´re saying that it´s going to rain the whole summer. But, it might be better than dying of heat...I´m not really sure which is better haha. I hope that you all know that I love each and every one of you and more than that, your Father in Heaven loves you more (I know it´s hard to believe :P). Have a wonderful week, and Happy Late Halloween! They don´t even celebrate it here...in fact they all think it´s devil worshipping and they´re sort-of against it. I still told everyone "Happy Halloween!!!".

´Til next week,

Hermana Swan

Sorry, no time for photos! Next week!!!

Boca, or San Lorenzo...or River??

Hey Everyone!

The truth is it isn´t even a competition between Boca and River...just Boca and San Lorenzo. There soccer teams that are super famous down here. If anyone has any imput you have to speak now or forever hold your peace! haha

Well, it was a fantastic week. We started out with a Family home evening with Flia Petre :D and then we left that night for Catamarca! It was fun, but we traveled from 0:15 hs until 6:00 hrs when we got there...then we had exchanges and I got to be the companion of Hermana Peck! Whoohooo! She´s somehow related to the Pecks, and a fantastic missionary, although she´s still super new! We had a blast and finished up the night with a little bit of Grido. Then we traveled back to Córdoba that night at the same time.

On Thursday we went to the temple and it was so wonderful to be there. We found Hermana Aguilera (my hija) and her companion in Oncativo Hermana Criddle (US), Hermana Morris (US) and Hermana Dennis (my MTC comp). It was a blast! :) Of course we gained a lot of insight on our ministry as missionaries and I loved feeling the spirit of the temple :)

On Friday we got to have an awesome lesson with Graciela and Antonio. They´re hard to find sometimes, but we taught them the Restoration and they accepted the invitation to be baptized! We´re shooting for the 14th of November. They are so amazing and I already love them a ton. They couldn´t come to church this last sunday due to the elections...so that was complicated, but there´s still hope :) Also, we had a great lesson last night with Noelia and Marcos Bravo who are getting married the 28th of November. We´re seeing lots of progress there. It´s a little slow, but steady. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was perfect because it was what they both needed; Marcos´ grandma passed away last week, so it was so amazing to be able to confort them. It amazes me every time I teach the Plan of Happiness how truly perfect it is. How much it impacts our lives, and how truly blessed we are to have the knowledge of the gospel in our lives. 

Thanks for your prayers on my behalf, and know that our Lord and Savior loves every single one of you, regardless of your mistakes. Our Heavenly Father can help us through everything if we humble ourselves enough to ask. I love you all and have a splendid week!

Love,

Hermana Swan

 

Selfie with everyone in Catamarca!! E´ Christensen, E´ Francom, Hnas Peck y Garriga (de españa :)

 We went to the temple!!! I saw my hija! :D

Picking blackberries (at least I think they were blackberries....?) In verdad, it was more like catching them as they fall of the tree haha. Here they grow on really tall trees instead of bushes.