November 19, 2012

From: Jade Swayne <jade.swayne@myldsmail.net>
Subject: Re: Gobble Gobble!
To: "Penny Paxman" <paxmanp@yahoo.com>

Date: Monday, November 19, 2012, 2:25 PM

Wus uppp errbody :) Hope all is well wherever this e-mail is finding you. I want to give another shout of thanks for all of the letters and love that I have been receiving these past few months. Sister Stewart told me that " I receive more mail than anybody she knows." Haha! And I think that may be true. All of you are so wonderful and it warms my heart more than a Hotpocket on a Foreman grill in July to see that our friendships are real. That you didn't just forget about me as soon as I left. And I understand that eventually the letters will not be as abundant as they are now, because I know that you all have lives and will get busy, but I'm not going to think about that right now. All I want to do is hope and pray that the letters I have now and the letters that I will receive in the future no matter how scarce they may become (lol) will always help me get through the tough days.

 

They truly are my gold. I love hearing about your days and knowing that we are still connected.

 

But this week was a goodie. I was asked to speak in our District meeting. I was asked to speak on the Atonement, and wow...what a privilege..I like to think that this assignment was Heavenly Father's way of saying " It is time for you to learn more about this subject" and for that reason I was beyond excited to be given this assignment. Because more than anything, I want the spirit to teach me. I love to learn the spiritual truths of the spirit.

 

I really truly believe that missionary work brings about blessings in the life that we left behind. I received two letters this week from two different family members telling me that they have started going back to church....wow...I get emotional just talking about this....I need to hold back the tears though...I'm not so sure how the Navajo culture feels about crying on keyboards. lol. There's gotta be some kind of superstition regarding this..haha nah, I'm kidding, I need to be more respectful...but anywho. These two letters have given me so much strength and so much hope. After reading them I felt something come alive in me, something that I never even knew was there...I felt a renewed sense of hope in having a Celestial family...not just the family that I will someday create with a special guy, but the family that I currently have. I can't help but believe that all those who have become inactive within my own family will someday come back to full activity in the church. I have never wanted something so badly in my life....

 

But enough of the gushy stuff. I need to mention that all Christmas packages need to be sent via priority mail, please :) We have a temple trip coming up on the 10th!!! Snowflake temple here we come! Annnnd I have now knocked on and have been received at the door of one man without pants and another in just his whitey tighties...classy right? I have also been in a house straight off of the show "Hoarders." It was NUTS!!! I have never seen walls made of random stuff and walking space the width of a foot long sub sandwich. It was crazy. And there were all of these random cats coming out of the piles...eww! Haha! Also, I had a puppy jump into my skirt....which was interesting. I was able to restart an old Navajo lady's fire last night. ( Thank youuuuuu Grandpa for teaching me how to build and restart fires, It really came in handy that day.)

 

Also, We currently have 3 thanksgiving day appointments for dinner and have declined about 4 more. Haha! People really do love the missionaries :) Our P-day was switched from Monday to Thursday this week because President Batt felt that we would not be able to get much work done on Turkey day. But we were blessed to be able to e-mail today so that our families would not worry. What a great President we have here in the Farmington, New Mexico Mission!

 

Grandma, I wish that I were going to be there to eat some of your "nice Turkey." ;) muhahaha

 

I also laughed when I saw that you went to Hoopes the other day!! Haha, I love you all so much, you make me laugh.

 

Please keep writing me. Your letters really make my heart so flowery and gay. (?)

 

Well, alrighty, gotta go! Duty calls