Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Where do the days go?


Updates from Jacob....

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Mission Tour and "it"


Updates from Jacob....

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

If we put in our time then the Lord will help us






Updates from Jacob...


Thursday, September 10, 2015

Church issues new mission cars in Philippines!



Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

Well this week was full of tracting and tracting and guess what more
tracting. But on the bright side I can say that I could not be having
any more fun. This week has been some of the funnest times in my
mission. On a more real note, I don't think that I have ever been this
tired in my whole mission either. One thing that we made a goal was
the first few day we would walk for the most part our whole area. So
this week was a lot of long long day that turned into long nights.

So some info about my companion his name is Elder Mudrow and he is
from Bountiful Utah and went to Woods-Cross High school. He has been
on his mission about 3 more months than me and we are a pretty good
team. He has no fear so our new favorite past time is Oyming the
biggest houses that we can find. With that in mind we had some crazy
cool things happen this week.

So on Tuesday I had the opportunity to teach district meeting again
and it went well. I taught about how we all need to fulfill our
Purpose. I think that sometimes over in these high baptizing missions Elders and sisters get too caught up in the numbers and not in the
people. I would rather have 5 baptisms instead of 50 if I knew that
those 5 would never leave the church and they would get closer to
their Savior Jesus Christ. It was hard for me to share that, but the
spirit was strong and I feel like all my District felt the same way.

Wednesday we headed out early in the morning, something that we have
been doing more and more often. Anyway we went to follow up with
someone we talked to the night before. His name was Melvin and he is a
Seaman and over here that means that he has a good amount of money.
When I got to his house the first thing that I noticed was that he has
a Pink 1969 Beetle out front and also that his house was just like an
American house.  He told us to come out back and meet his friends,
they were all chill and spoke English well. Then he asked us if we
wanted to see his armory?? I said heck yeah the next thing I know he
is showing us. Come to find out they
thought I was a Marine over here on a Business trip. So then we told
them about why we are here and what our purpose is. They said we could
come back anytime and see them.

The rest of the week we just worked with some of the members which has
never been done here because the members were in the other Elders area
but now we see them every day. They are going to help us work with
some families so that we can really start to help this branch. As a
result of our hard work last week some people asked us to come back
and share more about what are church can do for them. I really feel
the greatest joy of this work is telling people how they can be with
their families for ever. Family is not just a here and now kinda
thing. It can last forever if we do the right things while we are here
on earth.

The last thing that I would like to share is a experience that I had
today while I was hanging off the back of a jeepny. We were coming
back from our basketball in Miag-ao, and the guy standing next to me
asked what we were doing in the Philippines. I told him who we were
and what we were doing here. He then asked me what makes our church
different then the others. I told him about how we believe the gospel
is centered around families and also the atonement of Jesus Christ. He
said that he was looking for a church that could help his family and
teach his kids the right things to do. Now mind you that this is all
while traveling 50 miles an hour and standing on the back small rails
holding on for dear life. But despite all that we were still able to
have a talk about the gospel and how is can bless his life.

Anyway long story short I got his name and number and said that the
missionaries would be coming to see him very soon and he said alright
he would be waiting. If anything this week is a testament that people
have been waiting their whole life to hear our message. And all it
takes is one second to share it with them.
Happy Labor Day weekend family and keep the missionaries in your
prayers. Cause you know you are all in ours.

Love your Son,
Elder Jacob Swanton




Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Last Man Standing


Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

Happy birthday old man I think I was a little bit early last week so I
will hit it one more time. I hope you all celebrated it well and did
not have to much fun with out me. Mom, don't worry I will try to answer
all of your questions in this very crazy email.

Alright so now I will try to get the whole week in this one email. So
yes the rainy season is coming to an end and that means that the sun
and the heat have moved right on in.

Ok so now onto the week, so we thought that only Elder Chapman would
be transferring. So the whole week we have just been working and
trying to get our investigators to come to church and progress. So now
we are on Wednesday night, we all headed to Guimbal to have a farewell
dinner for Elder Chapman and Elder Stevens. When all of a sudden the
clock stuck 9 pm and I got the transfer text from the Zone Leaders. The
next thing I know my whole house was on the transfer list and just
like that I was alone in Tigbauan. I would have never thought that President would transfer my whole house. So that night was crazy all
three of them were frantically trying to get all there stuff packed up
and ready for transfer meeting the next morning. Plus we had to head
to an FHE with the Lopez family one of our less actives, I guess you
could call it the unofficial Last supper because they all thought they
would be staying one more transfer but in the end Elder Swanton is the
last man standing . I feel bad because Elder Padua and I were just
starting to have a great time and really get the work moving smoothly
but I guess the Lord has a time table for everyone in the mission and
ours was over.

When I woke up the next morning it felt weird to think that I would be
getting another comp and I have only been here for 2 transfers. But
we loaded up that morning and headed for the Mission home. When I got
there it was like a family reunion, I got to see all my brothers in
the mission and we also got to meet all the new white sisters that
came in and you will never guess where they are from... Utah. Anyways
as the meeting went on I had a feeling that I might get a white
companion. The next thing I know The APs say that my new comp Is Elder
Mudrow from Bountiful Utah and he is a fireball of fun. His last area
was the island of Guimeras and now he is in heaven in the city with
all these people to teach. We have already been attacked by two dogs
and had the rain shut us down for a day.

I can feel that this transfer is going to be different, we are going
to have some success if it kills us. We also had a record breaking day
at church with a total of 53. Now the next goal is getting my comp
back to perfect health because right now he is trying to get over the
flu.

It sounds like you all had a great week and I hope that even though
you are all busy you will keep up the scripture study and prayer. I
love you all and not a day goes by that I don't think about each and
every one of you.

Love your Son,
Elder Swanton