With responsiblities comes....well more.

Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

Alright, well its good to know that you did not have any wifi service last
week because I was waiting for the email and then I thought about it
and was like they probably don't have a way to send that out. It's ok, I really wish I could have been at the reunion it sounded like a super
fun time. That is funny that Dax followed Micheal because I remember
when Karter used to follow me around. I miss all the cousins and the
family.

Tell the Uncles that they better make room in the races for me and
Micheal when I get home and then they will see what real speed and
endurance is hahah. I am way happy that you all got to spend some time
together with all the Uncles and Aunts. I sure do miss that, I cant
wait to get home and take Ethan and Michael on some sweet road trips.
You guys are funny, its seems that you are always tired and just
barley awake and yet sometimes your schedule seems more busy than
mine. I hope that you can all keep it up till I get home and are not
tired because when I get home is when the real party starts.

Alright so now its time for me to get down to business. This week was
super fun and at the same time it was one of the hardest weeks that I
have had. To start the week we had District meeting and I had the
opportunity to teach my first DL lesson. I decided to teach it on
something that most of the Elders and Sisters in the mission are
having problems with and that is Budgeting your money. I know, don't
laugh, you must all wonder how I could teach that since I am terrible
with money, but to my knowledge I am one of the best at it. I never
thought it, but I just woke up one day and said that I can do this and
I have not had to withdrawal personal money since and that has been
something that I don't want to ever do again. Anyways the lesson went
great and I added my own twist by handing out packets of laundry soap
as prizes. Most of the district was super thankful because they did
not have money for that soap on their own. It is my mark as a DL. I
think most of them loved it and it was super fun to bring it all back
to the Gospel and how we need to always be thinking about it and not
just let it all slip away. The next thing that happened was I had the
sweet experience of giving a deaf girl her baptismal interview. I
guess the gift of tongues is real because I was really able to
understand her through the spirit. I also learned a ton about sign
language and really feel good about learning it again.

The rest of the week was followed by the super hard stuff. My comp
and I have been having problems with the language barrier and it has
really interfered with the work. It even came to the point that my
comp called the Mission President and asked for a transfer. I saw the
call but just decided that it would be better for him to work this out
for himself. We went out to work that day and had a super good day and
it was great because we found some new people to teach and they seem
way excited to learn. The next day the APs showed up for a surprise
visit. I was caught doing some laundry because I had no more garments.
they were not to happy about that but when I explained the whole thing
they understood and then we worked with them for the rest of the day.
I got the whole story from them and it was all good. I have just
really lost some respect. In this mission and in life it is important
to address people to their face and not to talk about them behind
their back. It can lead to not the best of things happening but in
this instance it all worked out and we were able to have a good talk
and we are both going to try to become better.

I have really been searching the scriptures for answers this last
week. That was the only place I could think to go for answers, when I
was reading in the New Testament about all the things that Paul was
able to accomplish because he did what the Lord asked and did not
question. He took the Gospel to people that had never had it and were
at that time the ones that no one wanted to teach. I really found some
comfort in all his many adventures and how he never stopped.

I love you all so much,
Elder Swanton

A New Start

Updates from Jacob...

Dear Family,

Well according to all the emails that I have been receiving, back home
is the all famous Whitmer/Smith family reunion. I can say that I wish
my Mission President would have given me a small pass home so that I
could attend this amazing event. What has really gotten into my head
over here is how much I miss my family and all the crazy things that I have went through with them. When I look back on my life so far, all
the get together ,all the family trips and I can almost perfectly
identify things that I learned and how they help me in my life today.

This week has been super hard for me. We had transfers and I was
assigned a new companion. I was also given the opportunity to be the
new District Leader of the Tigbauan District. The Mission President
told me that I now have the largest district in the mission. It
covers 4 areas and has 12 Elders and Sisters with tons and tons of
people on the way to becoming members of this wonderful church. I have
already given 1 baptismal interview and have another one this week to
a little deaf girl. I guess the small amount of sign language that I
learned in Bugasong will now come in handy. Just another  example of
how things that you go through every day will help you in the near and
distant future.

It has been super hard because my new comp does not speak the mission
language at all he speaks strait Tagalog and that is super not easy to
understand. I really felt super comfortable with my last comp we had
our teaching theme down and it was really good. But now I am just
brought down to my knees being humbled yet again. The one thing I
would say to all of my cousins getting ready for a mission get ready
to be humbled every day and not just a little, all the way down to
your knees. Were you are praying, begging, hoping that if you try hard
enough that things will get better. This week I have been putting in
my share of work, just hoping that maybe things will get better. And
they will if you keep going.

I have a small feeling that what I need to work on is patience while I
am on my mission. I really feel that if I try my hardest to let the
little things go and just use my skills to the best of there ability
that I will be successful

I guess this email is just talking about what I have figured out this
week. As you all gather as a family this week. I would say thank you
for all you have taught me, grandpa you are scared of no one I have
never seen you back out of a conversation and as a kid I thought aww
here we go Grandpa Smith is talking to some more people and now here I
am on a mission and this is my life. My uncles for showing my that
things will get hard and if you dont get up and keep going then what
the heck are you a failure. That won't be happening while I am still
alive and kicking, and lastly thanks to my parents for teaching me
everything I need to survive in this world. Its all the small things
that you either said or did that are helping me now.

Maybe the title of this email is a new start, I think from now on I
will be using all my talents and everything that God has given me to
help all those around me. To look at all the obstacles that I come in
contact with and knock them down. We did that this last Saturday, we
had a baptism. Sister Nicole was baptized and she was super happy and
we broke the streak of no baptisms. It all up from here.

I love you all and hope that this week was super fun cherish these
memories and do something crazy for me. Love Elder Swanton

Ok, so don't be late to meetings....

Updates from Jacob,

Family,

Alright now for the hardest part of my week is sitting hear trying to
remember all the things that happened. To start off I will say that I
am really going to miss the family Reunion this year and all the crazy
things that happen at that epic event. Also I think the rain might
have stopped because we are on our second day with no rain just crazy
hot temperature. I think that it might be a sign that something really
bad might be coming our way. It is the calm before the storm.

Alright the week, So Monday came and went with the super awesome Multi
zone activity that I talked about last week and then we were moving on
to Tuesday. We had district meeting as usual and then we went with the
Guimbal Elders down to shop for some food and what not and then when
we came home we headed strait over to our soon to be baptized member
of the Church. We went to go review the baptismal questions with her
and see how she and her mom were doing they were both super pumped for
Saturday because that is when we had scheduled the date for. Wednesday
rolls around and the rain comes back with a vengeance, half way
through the day we all receive text messages from President Aquino that
we should keep working and not let the rain slow us down. He said that
umbrellas would protect us. My comp and I had been battling the rain
and then it started to come down we both open our umbrella and then
they both snapped in half under the weight of the rain. That was super
fun running back to the house almost a mile. Lucky for me with all
this weight I have been losing I was able to run pretty darn fast
haha. I will now skip through the end of the week because Saturday and
Sunday are the most exciting days of the week by far. Saturday we had
a service project down with the Zone Leaders in Oton.

The news was that we would be loading sandbags on our back and
carrying them to the house of a member who lives on the beach. Their
house has a tendency to flood up to their knees during the rainy
season and yep that is the current season. It was super fun and the
best workout that I have gotten all week. Three non stop hours of
loading 60 pound bags of sand on your head, back and arms and running
them the house before the fast approaching storm takes out their house
again. But when we were done I have never felt better the family was
super happy and they even fed us some food. Bonus because I was super
hungry. On to Sunday, Me and the comp were a little late to church due
to the fact that my comp did not have any Gs so he washed some and put
them in front of the fan and we waited. But O what a mistake being
late to church today, when we rolled up hot we saw the Van of
President Aquino. Our hearts sank into the ground, we were able to
sneak into the back of priesthood, but then President stood up and
asked my comp to go out so they could have an interview. Well lets
just say President and my comp are not the best of friends, we could
hear the yelling from down the hall. After he called our whole
district into an interview. What happened next was a butt whopping, he
really got into all of the Elders there about attitude and how they
should be following more rules. He really did not go at me that hard
and I think that is because I was the only one doing weekly emails to
him. The rest of the day was super good we visited all our family and
made appointments for the next week and we moved our baptism to next
Saturday so I am super excited for that.
Today we headed up to Mia-gao to visit Elder Larson and play some
basketball and eat at some really good food joints. Man they live
super close to the University of the Philippines so they have really
Americanized town and it was super fun. And we got some homemade Ice
cream and grilled pork. What a great way to relax and spend a P day.

Alright now down to the questions so that mom does not get mad. For my
birthday I really dont need much, just some good snacks like gummy
bears and that kinda stuff just be creative haha, some letters and yeah that is all I really need, I
am supposed to be forgetting the world right, so yeah I am a simple
guy. I will be super grateful for anything.

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week and try not to
have to much fun without me at the Reunion. Tell everyone that I love
them and hope they are doing well.

Love Elder Swanton

The Pics are of What is flying around at night when you cant see, Also
chilling with Larson and his comp Dapat in Miag-ao. Also Elder Cinco
he is the sickest little Phillipeno he is transferring on Thursday and
when he heard me and Larson singing with the guitar he said " Elder I
am now your Biggest Fan" Love that Elder and will miss him

 

Night Fury uncovered

Me and Elder Larsen

Elder Cinco

Rugby and dyslexia and ya more rain....

Update from Jacob...

Dear Family,

Alright, wow it seems like every week you guys back home might have had
a crazy week like me. I can say that I miss all the crazy family
adventures that you all had. I wish that I could go back and join yall
on a couple more of them but there is always the future.

Alright well to start things off I have now officially been introduced
to the rainy season and for all of you who think that you have seen
rain, just come on over and I will show you. Non stop rain for the last
6 days and at some points we are praying for it to stop just long
enough for us to run were we need to. Ok so on Tuesday we had zone
training and I finally got to see Elder Larson and that was super
sick. He is doing great and his area is right next to University of
the Philippines to he gets to speak alot of English. He is loving it
and his comp is from Canada and who does not love Canada. Anyways when
we got home is when the rain really started to come down we worked
until we were soaking wet and them headed home to try to dry off.
Speaking of drying off, well as you might have thought when it is cold
and rainy our clothes have not been drying as fast as we would like.
We have improvised with fans all over the house, it is not as
effective.

Yes to answer dads question me and my comp have found the one thing
that we both love to do and that is exercise, so every morning and
every night me and him get in some P90x and maybe some rugby tossing
if we have time. That is one thing I did not think would happen is my
love for rugby to develop. Ever since I got here we have been playing
ever p day. Which reminds me of today, this morning we had the
opportunity to have a multi zone activity. 5 zones got together at
this park with some grass and we had the most intense games of
Ultimate Frizz-bee and Rugby that I have ever seen. Half way through
the game it started to rain and that just made it even funner. I will
send a pic of that next week.

Yeah as for our week just consisted of us trying to work and trying
not to get super sick from all of the rain but who knows what will
happen. Another bit of news is that I am pretty sure that I have
developed Dyslexia and it has steadily gotten worse since I have
gotten here. This week some of the elders told me that I have really
got to work on my reading because when I read at zone training no one
could understand me I was mumbling so bad and it was because the words
were all backwards. I really don't know but its kinda funny that I get
one more thing to overcome while I am out here. Thank goodness for
spell check or I would be in some real trouble.

This week with all the spare time I have started to dive into the
scriptures and the life of Jesus Christ. Every day some of his
teachings in the new testament just amaze me. He taught so simply that
even the children understood him and that is a true teacher. I am
forever grateful for what he did for me and all that has come from
his life and teachings. I love you all and Happy fourth of July.

Love Elder Swanton

The Pics are of me and Elder Larson and two days ago my comp came in
and said Elder, I made pancakes, he had the biggest smile and I said
yeah that is exactly what they should look like. Sooo funny. Also got
a letter from one of my recent converts back in Bugasong made my day,
How I miss the Sanol Family. Also a pic of Elder Chapman the other American in my house.

Elder Swanton and Elder Larsen

Elder Swanton and Larsen

"pancakes"

Elder Chapman