Bowling is like the Gospel

Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

Well I might as well just start out by saying Happy Birthday Old Man!

You did not think that I would be forgetting that now did you, and also
that the island is ok and yes mom I did get the package. Only bad news
is that the pants are a little too big for me. When I asked for them
they would have fit but when they got here I have already lost more
weight so they are a little long and big in the thighs. But they look
good and they feel good to so that is all you can ask for over here.
Your week sounds like the best you have had getting everyone back on a
schedule is just what mom loves. Man it feels weird not to be getting
ready for school this year but its all good because I just get ready
for a new and crazy experience everyday.

I will just work through the days one by one and see if that will fill
all the space I need it to. So Tuesday we had District meeting and I
was finally able to get a good picture of the whole District. They can
be a handful, but this experience has helped me so much with my mission
so far. The focus of our companionship this week is our two
progressing investigators. Sister Roxane Norico and her brother
Rexson, have both come to church 3 times and are fully involved in all
the youth programs that we have in Tigbauan.

Thursday I went on splits with Elder Stevens in Guimbal and he gave a
great hair cut. I have never went the whole hipster way but he gave me
a very hip haircut and I appreciate the good work he did. We had a
great time with their investigator family, the plan was for me to
interview them for baptism but the mom and dad think that they need a
little more time. Elder Stevens and I taught about faith and for the
first time in my mission my language was pretty good. It felt good to
switch back and forth with the spirit really laying it on thick in the
room. It was a great time even though when we got home the power went
out and the house flooded and we killed the largest lizard we have
ever seen. I forgot to mention that while we were sleeping a large
heard of dragon moths flew in the house and died all over so when we
woke up we had some serious cleaning to do.

Saturday we had a FHE with the Norico family and it was so much fun
even though in the middle of it was the largest rain storm I have been
apart of rolled through. I really thought the house was gonna get
sweep away with all the flooding. But we had a great time and some
great food that me and my companion cooked before the FHE. Sunday was
good as well because we had our two young investigators come to Church
and enjoy in the awesome classes that we taught. One cool thing was
that the primary teacher did not show up so Elder Lorido and I taught
Primary and it was so fun for the both of us.

Today we woke up early and headed for Guimbal, I was able to buy these
Original Leather shoes for Only 50 Pesos or about $1.20 so yeah I was
pumped about that. They we all headed to the city to eat at this all
you can eat Buffet at this really nice Hotel. It was a really nice
change of pace to eat food that was good quality and really was
healthy. To top of a great day we went to this Bowling ally that is
strait out of the 70s. But despite the fact is was so much fun and of
course you know that I was the big winner. I don't just talk the talk
I bowl the bowl.

I really have been thinking this week about the family and how much I
miss all of you. As my year mark comes up real close I think about all
that has happened this past year and how fast it went and that in just
14 short months I will be rolling back through Sardine Canyon and
hitting the Cache Valley sunlight again. Just that is enough to give
me chills. You never know what you have until its so far away you can't
have it. I have found a great deal of strength in the Scriptures and
prayer. Everyday I read about how the Prophets of old relied on the
Lord with all they had to do great and small things. And by their
faith it all came to pass. My goal is to become the Missionary that
the Lord wants me to be and to have the faith to move the "Mountains"
that we all have in out lives.

I love you all and thanks again for the package it was greatly needed.
Mom I will send a pic so you know that it all got here safely and the
candy was perfect all my favorites. Tell all the kids and family that
I love them and pray for them every day.

Love Elder Swanton

Happy birthday to me

Updates from Jacob....

Aug 17 at 5:21 AM

Dear Family,

Well, I think that Mom will be expecting a very long and detailed email
but I don't know if enough stuff happened this week to fulfill the
request. I will start by saying I have never missed my big, crazy,
overwhelming family as I did on Saturday. It's funny that saying that you
don't know what you have until it's not there. I will now try to go day
by day and get out all the dirty details of the week.

On Tuesday, we had our monthly Zone Training. Elder Larson and I had
the sweet opportunity to give some trainings at it. I gave mine on companion inventory. 

For all of you who don't know what that is, it is a
time after we plan for our week that we take time and talk about all
the problems with us and how we can fix them and have the spirit more
often. As you all know, this has been a large part of my mission these
past few weeks. The training went way good and everyone participated,
so it was everything that I could have hoped for.

Nothing really happen for the rest of the week, just the same old same
old. Most of the people that we needed to teach were not home or did
not want us to come back. One cool thing that did happen is that one
of our less actives agreed to a deal that I gave him. He has a problem
with smoking, so I said that for every week that he does not smoke at
all I will buy him dinner. The other side is when we catch him
smoking he has to invite us to a dinner appointment. But yeah I
thought that was way sick because I don't have very much support money left
for the month, so we are always looking for him, haha.

On Friday, the Guimbal Elders invited us over to have a day on the
river catching some big old juicy shrimp and crabs. There was no way
that I was going to say no to that. So early morning Friday, we headed
for the river and had a great day with some of the locals. We ended
the night with a super fun family home evening with some of the investigators.

Well, now we are to the best day of the week for me at least. I woke up
Saturday and did what I do every day; workout, shower with my bucket,
and then hit the personal study and companion study. For lunch, we all
headed over to Guimbal to have a small party. When I got there, it was
so sweet they had bought a cake. We all put some money in a pot and
cooked some of the best fish adobo I have had. When we got home that
night I took the time to update my journal and get ready for Sunday.

Sunday, I fasted that we would have some of our investigators come to
church and to my surprise we had three young single adults come to
church. They were so excited to meet all the branch. Then, to top off
all the miracles, we had 50 at sacrament which for me is an area high
since I got here. Then we come to right now and the happenings of
today. We went as a zone to these waterfalls up in Miag-ao and it was
a blast. It was so fun to have everyone together to bond and get to
know one another. When we finally got to the falls, they were awesome
and we got to soak down were the water level was lower. It felt good
on some sore legs and backs.

I don't really feel older. In fact, I feel kinda sad that now when
people ask me how old I am that I now say 19, but for me this week and
birthday was really different from the others. The other 18 were about
me and this one was totally about the work that I am doing right now
and I did not fully understand that until the day actually came. I
love you all and thanks for all you have done for me in the last year.

Love, 

Elder Swanton

Relax at the fish spa

Updates from Jacob...

Dear Family,

I am glad to hear that the family is doing well even with all the
crazy hospital visits. That is crazy that it all happened so close to
each other. Over here, we have just been dealing the affects of what
happens when bad sickness hits a small house like ours. Elder Chapman
got way sick two weeks ago and then this last week me and my companion got
the same sickness. We were both more lucky than Elder Chapman. His
took him almost 10 days to get over and for me and the comp it took only
about two days.

This week was super slow for us with not too much to report on my end, but I
will do my best to think of some things to email home. Well something
that is new is that the rainy season has just started again and now it
is worse than I have ever seen it. When it starts raining over here it
never stops. I think while we were sick it rained for about two straight
days. To say that the water tables were up is an understatement. But
even with it being as bad as it was we were able to work one day and
head to some of our investigators. We have this one family that is
really progressing well. The Norico family. The main member is
Sister Roxanne. She is 15 years old and we just headed to their house
and asked her if she would come to church. She said yes maybe, so we
kinda counted her out. But then when Sunday came around, she was there
at church and that is so sweet for us to have someone who wants to
come and progress to baptism.

Yeah other than that we have just been getting better and catching up
on the reading and journal entries. It's funny I feel the same as I did
last year when my birthday rolled around. Last year I was working and
now this year we are just fully engulfed in the work with not too much time
to celebrate. But yeah I am pumped for this Saturday. We have a small
get together planned for that day but not much. Today was super fun. We
all headed to Miag-ao to chill with Elder Larson and all the boys from
up north. It was way fun. We decided that we wanted to do something
crazy. We headed to this sushi place that is owned by this Japanese
Brother. The place is way sick. It also has a fish spa in the back that was
crazy. It does feel way interesting, not the most relaxing thing but
still fun.

I love you all and wish that I could spend this time with you but this
is the life of a missionary. I hope that you all have a good week and
try to take is easy and not get too crazy with the schedule. I love you
mom and dad. Tell all the brothers and my sister that I love them too and
for them to behave and listen to you.

Love Elder Swanton

The good, the bad, and everything else...

Updates from Jacob...

Dear Family,

I really can't believe that the kids will be heading back to school
and that it is already the 8th month of the year. I really feel like
just the other day we were in Bugasong and the New Year had just
rolled around. But I guess that is how it is when you are on a
mission.

Alright, so this week was full of the Good, the Bad, and a little of
everything else. So on Tuesday we had our quarterly Multi Zone
Conference. This time Iloilo South Zone was having the conference with
Antique Zone so I was super exited to see Elder Bontoyan (my son) and
Elder Francisco (Elder Larson's son or my nephew). I can say that it was
so good to see them and my bata has not changed very much. I kinda
wish that I could have stayed comps with my son for most of my
mission. He is a great kid and I am super proud of him. The conference
was super good and we had a couple of trainings from President and his
Assistants. It really was so nice to take a day and only have to worry
about catching up with all my brothers back in Antique. About half way
through the conference, President asked me to share and explain a couple
of scriptures. I was given John 10:11-14.

The spirit was way strong and I talked about how we are the shepherds
of our specific flocks on our missions. The first verse says, "I am the
good shepherd." And I asked everyone to put their names in that space.
It really hits me hard that the Lord has placed us in these areas and
as Verse 14 says. "I, Elder Swanton, am the good shepherd, and my sheep
are known of me and I am known of them." Satan would like for nothing
else than for everyone over here in our mission to stop the work. It
is hot and it is raining and we are fighting with our comps. The
excuses are never ending but in the end we just need to get out and
hit the pavement or mud in some cases.

I took a lot of what we learned and tried to imply it in to our work.
We were able to have some success this week and extend some baptismal
dates for August and September. We really just tried to follow the
spirit since we have not had much success when we try to plan and
follow it. It took us to some places that I never thought we would go.
We found some new people that are super ready and just have some small
things to get right before they hit the water. Anyways, it will be
challenging for us to do this but we will be able to make it happen.

Today, we all went and chilled in Miag-ao with Elder Larson and all the
elders from the north end of the zone. It was way fun and something
that was interesting is that the more weight that I lose, the better I
seem to be getting at basketball. We had some great games with some of
the locals that were chilling around the court. The other cool thing
about Miag-ao is that there is a college there and it is really well
known so that means that there are a ton of small little Cafes that
have the best food and chill atmosphere. We ate at one today called
Cafe Deim and it was the Bomb.

Alright now for the hard part of the email the answering of all the
questions. First off, thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the mailing of
the package. As for P-days dad, we work in the evenings when we have an
appointments, but it is super hard to find them so most of the time we
are out tracting and oyming all the people we can find. I bought some
pant material I hope that it will be done the same time as the package
gets here but who knows over here. The work is good it is just slow
and steady. Tell the family that I love them and that they are always
in my prayers.

Love your son,
Elder Swanton

Pictures of the Bugasong boys back together, And also of the food that
we have been eating in Miag-ao. And we also talked to this couple
fishing and they were perfect investigators. They talked about how
important it is that men and women work together in raising a family.