Monday, March 25, 2013

Ay Little Big Mama :) I love you. You are the only mama that I want. Temporally and eternally. How is my best friend this week? Well I hope. I am fine :) This week has been a test of my patience, no doubt about it. But I know that all of these trials I'm going through are good for me. They are making me stronger, I can feel it. I am amazed however that I can feel this change because I feel that more than ever Heavenly Father is helping me to recognize my longer than long list of weaknesses. But while I feel worn down and beat up, I feel so many new strengths being created within me; it's amazing. It makes me think about that scripture that talks about the Lord giving us weaknesses so that we can be humble. I KNOW that this is true. HAHA, boy do I know that this is Gospel truth! He is humbling me big time! And it hurts so good. I feel like turning myself over to His care was the best choice I've ever made. That He is a much better builder than I am. He is ripping out my old carpet, knocking down my unneeded walls and basically changing me from a shack to a mansion; It's absolutely amazing. But my procedure is on the 3rd, the day after your Birfday :) Speaking of which, please tell Grandmama happy late birthday. Can I get a list of all the April birthdays in your next e-mail, please?  Also, thank Misty for the card that she sent me. A piece of advice that she gave really helped me out. Also I found my wallet!!!!!!!!!!!! I will tell you what happened next week, I only have 5 minutes left. I will get that Bank of America card from the church this afternoon as well as the America First card :)  Thanks for getting in touch with Sister Batt! I will be excited to show of the pictures of my colon :):):):: But alrighty, Gotta go! We're off to Wal-mart and then hopefully we will have time for a quick nap. In your prayers this week will you please ask Heavenly Father to help my companion...she is REALLY having a tough time. Will you also pray for me to not be so sleepy. To have more patience with my companion and the ability to enjoy my time with her...right now, that's kind of tough. But I believe in the power of prayer :) I love you more than cereal. And you know that's a lot. ;) Keep in touch and please tell Jack that I haven't forgotten him!! Love Sister Swayne

Monday, March 18, 2013

Hey there, mama!

Thank you for your prayers. I can feel them. I go to bed some nights and can't believe that I made it through another day. I am happier than I have ever been but I am also more tired than ever. But when I say that I can feel those prayers, I mean it! I just have this feeling in my heart that even though you and the rest of the family are not here with me physically you are still here in other ways. I don't miss all of you in the way that makes me sad or homesick, I miss you in the way that makes me want to work hard because I don't want one second of our time apart to be in vain. Does that make sense? I hope so.

It's so clear that the experiences that I have had prior to my mission have been preparation for this great 18 month adventure.

The cash that the mission office loaned me has been able to provide all that I've needed, so no worries there. They take such good care of us out here.

We had another baptism this past Saturday!!!! Do you remember Roxanne? Welp, she was the lucky lady :) It was so great, mom. She was so confident and sure that this was the right thing. She has struggled hard with addiction but through her willingness to overcome and follow up on the Gospel teachings we have shared with her she is now a full blown member of the true church of God and already has plans to go to the temple :) What a joy this work is! What a blessing it is to be here with these wonderful people! I love them in a way that I never thought I could...They are usually the last thing I think about at night and the first thing I think about in the morning. I have even been teaching the discussions, baring my testimony and praying in my sleep. haha it's crazy how deep this work is sinking into my heart. Missionary work truly is the BEST work. Nothing compares to these feelings...

Thank you again, mom for the hard work that you put in at your job each day so that I can be here. Thank you family and friends for all the support and prayers, again, I can feel them. I am so sad that 6 months of my mission has been taken by the clock, but rest assure that I will be working hard this next year that I have to serve here in the NMFM mission.

I love you all. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you.

Please take care grandma and grandpa. You will never know how you have blessed my life by being my second set of parents.

Until next time, Love Sister Swayne.

Monday, March 11, 2013

He-lu, Mom.

 

Well before I get to far into this, I'm going to answer those questions

 

1. Yes, we do get the Ensign. BUT it would be nice to have a double seeing as I have this person in one of our wards that I want to send no name mail to with nice articles in the mail. I would rather have my own copy rather than cutting up the copy that my companion and I share...that wouldn't be very nice.

 

2. Haha...well, I workout in the Foutz's garage. I either ride the bike or run in a circle about the size of your bedroom...actually, a sewing room sized circle. Then I lift weights and do pullups on the bar that's connected to the weight bench. It's pretty awesome! Dad said that he was sending me some workout equipment to spice things up a bit.

 

3. We have been loving that Native American CD that you sent. We have probably listened to it about 10 times now. So some new CD's would be nice. We really like the one you sent. It gets us in the Native Spirit ;)

 

4. We eat at members homes almost ever night. Last night we went to Whitney and Cheryl James's home. They are so AMAZING!!! We had Salmon, fresh pineapple, winter squash!, and Salad with Avocado in it...pure heaven. And YES I like Salmon.

 

5. And about the bread...I would eat it if it didn't kill my tummy :( She can send my loaf over to Gil English if she wants ;) haha Love that guy.

 

Ok, well, that was fun. Send some more of those questions anytime! I know I'm not the best at answering your questions when they're not in bullet format and I want to be able to keep you in the loop.

 

About the lappy top. I think it's just the fact that my laptop is an 09 Mac. and the old Macs don't respond to the new Mac chargers. So try finding an 09 charger at that Mac store if you go...I think that should solve the problem. Thank you for putting so much effort into getting that charged up for me. Much appreciated.

 

Bah!! Mom...this Gold's Gym thing...it's probably driving you nuts!!! I'm so sorry that I wasn't better at asking questions and figuring out what the contract really said...but again! thank you for helping me out.

 

And I'm over here just shaking my head thinking "What in the world?!" when you tell me about all these ladies hurting themselves on ice and roller skates and all these other contraptions! Tell them to PLEASE be careful, goodness!

 

Kenzie sent me a really nice email telling me about her temple date and such. I am so so super excited for that girl! She is going to be fantastic.

 

Hope I write enough...I never know what to include...so much happens in a week. I could write for 3 hours and still have more to write.

 

OH! also. we are no longer over 3rd ward...we will be over only 1st and 2nd now. I cried at our last 3rd ward council meeting. I love those people so much. And then they asked us to bare our testimony since it was our last sacrament meeting yesterday. Do you think that I could keep the tears back...? I'll let you answer that question yourself...haha. wow...Missionary work has turned me into a ball bag. I fall in love with these people so easily and just spend all day thinking about them...then when you have to leave them. it's just really tough.

 

But until next time, This is Sister Swayne, over-ing and out-ing :)

From Jade to LuWana

Monday, March 4, 2013

From: Jade Swayne <jade.swayne@myldsmail.net>

Subject: Re: Finally some sunshine!

To: "Penny Paxman" <paxmanp@yahoo.com>

Date: Monday, March 4, 2013, 11:55 AM

Yah'te'eh! 

Yes! before I forget. The answer is "yes!" I did get that package. and wow! My skin is looking beautiful thanks to you :) So thank you!

Also I have been waiting to read this e-mail all week! I have been imagining all the places Kenzie would go and honestly, I was betting on the Philippines. But now that I think about the Kenzie in Missouri I see that her call is absolutely PERFECT for her! The visitors center sisters are some of the most beautiful, friendly, and personable missionaries, in my opinion. But I might be biased ;) haha. But between her and Ivy sending me mission info I am beyond happy over here. It really warms my heart to see my girls coming out to serve. They will never regret it. Now we just need to get some of the boys on the missionary wagon, right?!

***Story time*** Basically, our numbers have been really low here in Kirtland and regardless of my optimism it is still hard to struggle... We have been working really hard but the numbers just aren't reflecting our efforts.. I had an interview with President Batt this past Saturday and told him about our area and the struggles that it is currently having. We are trying really hard to re-establish missionary-member-relations. Because it seems that past missionaries have really damaged the trust between the two groups. So Sister Heimbigner and I have taken it upon ourselves to fix these relationships, find new investigators, reactivate Less-Actives and baptize as many as we can. I know that we have our work cut out for us here...but finding that balance between teaching current investigators, re-activating others and finding new investigators is a tough balance to find. Especially after not having this balance for a long time. So we are in somewhat of a transitional stage. But it was so nice to talk to President Batt to see his trust in us and to know that he believes in us. He knows us well enough to know that we aren't just slacking off and that's why numbers are low. He is so understanding and has amazing perspective. I truly believe that I was sent to this mission partially because of him. He is very into obedience and so am I...it's the most important thing to me. And we really connect on that level...it's great. He's great.

I know that I haven't been the best about keeping you updated on the area. So I wonder, what do you want to know? Are there specific questions that you have for me about the people, the area, the work, my companion anything?

Let me know ;)

Love all of you

P.S Please, tell Cookie and Clay to keep their heads up. They will get to Brazil. The Lord probably has to prepare a few people before He is ready for them to get there. What kind of missionary work will they be doing out there? Did you tell them that I thought I was going to Brazil? Also, what mission are they going to??

Mon, 4 Mar 2013

Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2013 11:37:50 -0700

Subject: Re: Hello there SISTER

From: jade.swayne@myldsmail.net

To: pattivance@hotmail.com

I HAVE BEEN WAITING ALL WEEK TO READ THIS!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh! I'm so so so so excited for Kenzie!! I almost stuck my head on the computer desk because I was so overwhelmed and happy but then I realized that I'm at a public library and putting my head on the desk would be detrimental to my health. All those germ-ies. NO ME GUSTA! (ask Kenzie what that means ;) But I know Kenzie is busy but will you ask her to write me when she gets a second? I need the missionary to be perspective on this call of hers :) I'm just so excited for her!!!! I would say that "I'm tickled pink" like everybody in Kirtland says haha but I feel like I'm not old enough to say that yet. But please let her know that I'm thinking about her and that I have sooo much confidence in her missionary abilities. especially that mission! She will be amazing! And she's going to love Missouri and the people. Also she will get to go "outbound" meaning she will get to serve in any mission of her choice in the states for two transfers, since she is a visitors center sister :) Maybe she can come to New Mexico ;) or even Philly to see Ivy Ann :) 

On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 10:20 PM, Patti Vance <pattivance@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Sister Swayne

Just a note to tell you I love you and think about you all the time. I have your beautiful picture on my fridge and I say hello to it all the time.  Yes, Mckenzie got her mission call...Guess where!!??

Nope, not there she has been called to the Independence Visitor Center in Missouri. Wow I was a little shocked because I wanted her to go foreign...but the Lords has a better idea for her. She reports to the MTC May 8th.. 65 days and counting. She gets out of school on the 24th and her farewell is the 28th...so time will FLY!! Sooo excited for her..

How is things for you. Always thinking about you and wondering what you have been doing. On Saturday Grandma, Grandpa. Penny and I went to a fun class. It was called Happiness 101. This speaker was a motivator speaker and we all learned a whole lot. He was funny and man he hit it on the head on some of the things he talked about. Learned that the choices we make is what makes us happy or not :) SO MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!

Well, LOVE YOU sooooooo MUCH MS Jade...Thanks for the shout out last time and remember Jesus wants you for a "SUNBEAM" to SHINE for HIM each DAY!!

Love Patti with an I

PS LOVED LOVED your letter you sent to Grandma about your hands...priceless