Where do the days go?

Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

I think mom used the right words when she said the week flew by. Elder
Mudrow and I had about 4 days this week were when we walked in the
door at 9:30 PM we both said "where did today go?". I love it and at the
same time it is super hard to catch up on sleep so our body are really
starting to feel it. Ok so now for the week which I am sorry if it is
not all that long because I really can't remember that much of it.
Tuesday we had our district meeting and Elder Faamoe taught a lesson
about it is important that we learn how to teach people, not lessons.
Over here sometimes missionary s get the idea that the number of
lessons is more important than the quality of the lesson. We are not
here to teach lots of lessons. We are here to help people come unto
Christ. It was good for the district to think about all the lessons
they teach in that way.

Wednesday Elder Mudrow and I have become the Branch Home Teachers for
real. We spend most of our time each day going to each and every
member in the area we are in and we visit them and see how they are
doing. Then we see if they need any help and we share a verse with
them to so that they can feel the spirit after we leave. It has really
been sad to see that even when we do all we can to help people
sometimes they still chose not to come back to the fold. But as
missionaries all we can do is invite and remind them that God is
waiting for them to do their part and they need to step up.

Thursday I was able to go on splits with Elder Faamoe. He is serving
in Guimbal and he is kinda new in the mission, he has been out about 7
months. He is from Samoa and we both get along really well, I don't
know what it is about Island people but we click. It is always a
complement when they say "if you came to my place my family would love
you and not try to kill you" hahaha for me it feels good to know that
I can get along with all kinds of people. We had a good day full of
Hood rat things or playing Basketball with little kids and helping as
many people as we could with chores. As always super fun and when we
got home it was strait to the workout so that when we get home we look
good for all the ladies. I forgot to mention that he was a
professional Rugby player in Samoa so the mission was a huge life
change for him so its always sick to see someone who is willing to
give it all up to serve the Lord.

The rest of the week was full of being punted and teaching all the
less actives we could find. With Transfers coming up I have this
feeling in my stomach that I am out of here so I am really trying to
give it my all to get just one more baptism. Tigbauan has really been
the hardest test a missionary could ask for. We work day in and day
out but the work seems to stay the same, just like the people. This
area is famous for having the rudest people in the whole island
because the Catholic church is so strong here. Just the other day we
met a woman and she said the Pastor at her church told her that
Missionary are just Satan in nice clothes so when we get close the
members should tell us to leave. I hope that someday the people here
will wake up and see that the truth has been right in front of them
the whole time. But one thing is for sure the missionaries will be
here through the good and the bad, the rain and shine.

I love you all,
Elder Swanton

Mission Tour and "it"

Updates from Jacob....

Dear Family,

Well, I will just jump into the week and see how things go. This week
was spiritually uplifting for me and it has really shown me what I am
doing over here no matter how slow or challenging the work gets.

So Tuesday we had District Meeting and it was a great time. I taught
how we need to take the Sabbath day more seriously especially over
here on the mission. How can we teach about these things that we
should not do on Sunday if we as missionaries do them all the time? We
all had a great talk about how we can set the example in all that we
do over here. Tuesday night we had half of the zone at our house
because the next morning we all needed to be at the mission office at
7:30 am and that is not easy for the far areas. It was good to be able
to catch up with Elder Larson and see what has been happening to him
over in Miag-ao.

Wednesday we had our Mission Tour. That is where a member of the Seventy
comes and talks to us about how we can improve and what we need to do
to become the best mission in the world. Anyway it was also really
cool because I got to see a ton of the elders and sisters from my
batch and the other zones. After we had all settled down and were
waiting for the Seventy to get there, we found out that it was going to be
Elder Bowen who would be training us. When he arrived we all went
outside to take pictures and then his wife gave a training to the
sisters and the elders about when we go home, how will we chose a good
person to marry, and how we can take the mission experiences and put
them into our lives when we get home. I really love when they do that
because I think that every day is preparation for the real world back
home. Elder Bowen trained about three steps to help us have a
successful mission. I had what you would call an epiphany. He told us
that it is the simple rules that most Elders don't follow that hold us
back from miracles. One, we all need to arise at 6:30 am and when he
said arise it not just wake up! It's be ready for the day at 6:30. I
know that it is true. When I wake up at that time and work out I am not
tired or lazy that day I just want to get after it. Two, always do
daily planning even when you are very tired, just do it. Me and the
comp have been doing that for a long time. We feel when you plan the
night before for the most part the plans will go through but they
always have the chance of not working. But it's good to be prepared.
Three is to use time wisely. I did not come all the way over here to
sit in the house and not go out and talk to people. He really went
after the lazy elders in the mission. If we want to waste time then we
should wait till it's ours to waste.

After his training, he came up to me and asked to speak with me in 30
minutes in the president's office. I was really nervous at first
because I was like I hope I have not done anything. It was funny
because this has been the hardest I have worked in my mission so far
and I thought I was in trouble. In the end it was so spiritually
uplifting. He asked me how the mission life has been and about my
family. He seemed to be trying to get a feeling for the mission and I
hope that I was able to give it to him. All in all it was a great
interview and I really have liked this new energy for missionary work
after it. It was funny when the two of us walked out of the office all
of the elders and sisters were just quiet. I had to tell everyone that
I was not in trouble. He just wanted to talk about the life over here.
Some people still think that I am headed to the office but who knows.
All I know is that the transfer is almost over and that is so cool.
It's almost my year mark and I will be so happy to be half way done!

Friday was a great day. Elder Mudrow and I taught 6 lessons and for us
that is a ton in one day. On our way home, we came to this back ally
that we have never been down. As soon as we headed in, I felt this cold
chill go down my back. Walking toward us were two figures; one was a
Bakla or cross-dresser and the other was a small guy. Elder Mudrow was
walking ahead of me and as he past it I could see that he was
physically shaken. As I walked  passed it, I saw it's face and I felt
and knew that this poor person had let one of Satan's servants flow into
it's body. It tried to brush up against me and I pushed it away and it
let out a shrill laugh. Then Elder Mudrow and I were out of there!
It really hurts me that a person can let their life mean so little. I
have never felt that close to the Adversary before. I could tell that
he had control of that person and God had lost His control. After we
were far away, we both prayed for safety and that we could make it
home in one piece. It was a good reminder that we are not the only
ones out here working day and night. Satan is putting in just as many
or sometimes more hours than us. It's our duty as members of this
sacred church to never let him win.

The rest of the week was full of lessons and Elder Mudrow and I
working our butts off. We are leading our zone in lessons every week,
so with hard work will come the blessings, at least that is what we
believe and pray for.

I love you all and just know that the work is true and I am proud to
represent the Lord at this time.

Love, Elder Swanton

 

 

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

Updates from Jacob...

Dear family,

Man all I can say is I miss the Valley more than ever right about now.
I remember how the nights get cooler and the days get shorter. The
leaves start to change and so does the atmosphere in that amazing
Cache Valley. The longer I am gone the more excited I get to drive
through that canyon and see the lights of the city. Anyways that is
about all I have been thinking about this week. hahah I am joking now
comes the part of the email were I break down the week.

Tuesday we headed down to the Mission home for our monthly zone
training. I am happy to say that my district is doing fine and we are
all pulling our weight in the Mission. The training's were good, right
now we are all preparing for the mission tour. That means all shirts
should be ironed and pants clean, shaved face, shined shoes. If you
know how we live you would know that its a lot to ask of a bunch of 20
year old Elders. But yeah after Elder Mudrow and I headed out and hit
the streets to teach this gospel to anyone who would listen. I am sad
to say that this area has all but stopped progressing. Not one house
we go to will let us in and almost all of the people we were teaching
have all but dumped us. But its all about putting in the hours on the
road.

Wednesday was Elder Mudrows birthday and he wanted to do some crazy
stuff. For all of us over here that means we all went out to lunch and
he bought a cake and ice-cream. It was nice to have some time for us
and then as soon as it started it was over. Back to the streets, our
focus kinda moved to strengthening the members. How can we get
baptisms if none of the members will help us. So long story short the
two of us for the next 3 days have turned into the Home Teachers.

Early Friday morning I knew that all that tracting was catching up to
me. We have been walking over 13 Km every day for the past 2 weeks and
it has finally caught up to me. I was barley able to get out of bed
but after popping some Advil it's back on the road and then when we got
back to the house the second time, I passed out for like 4 hours. It
felt good for my body to get some rest for once.

Saturday we went and did some service for one of our members. It was a
lot more than we were expecting, 4 hours later we walked out of a very
clean, weed free and perfect backyard. He was nice enough to feed us
some lunch, which over here means some rice and some soup like stuff.
It was good and then we got back to it. Elder Mudrow and I are leading
our Zone right now in lessons and also hours worked. The mentality is
really if we put in our time then the Lord will come through and help
us with this area.

The Mission life is all that I wanted and sometimes its more. I will
testify that nothing gives me more joy than sharing this glorious
Gospel to the ones who need it. It has been crazy hard for me
sometimes to understand why people past this by or don't want it in
their house. But that just comes with the job, all we can do is just
keep going back. Sorry this week did not have to much excitement but
it was more mental that physical for Elder Mudrow and I. Good news is
that I am still losing weight and for the most part my body has not
broken yet. I just want you all to know that the brown leather shoes I
am wearing were P50. Or about 1 US Dollar. So yeah anything is
possible in the Philippines.

I love you all,

Elder Swanton

Add caption

 

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

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