Sunday, April 24, 2016

NEW MISSION ADDRESS

Lillie's address for mailing letters and packages has changed. Her mission home where her letters get delivered has moved.

NEW ADDRESS
Hermana Lillie Swallow
Misión México Cuernavaca
Calle Francisco Leyva #109
Colonia Miguel Hidalgo
Cuernavaca, Morelos 62040
México

April 18- Well, changes.

Dear Family,
It was a good week:) A little stressful, but the Lord is in all the details:) We had changes today! Guess what? My trainee, Hermana Rodriguez, got called to be a trainer!! WHAT THE WHAT!:) She just barely finished her training and now she is training someone new:) She will be awesome. We thought when she was called that I would be the one to leave, we even told a bunch of members, haha, but she is actually going to open an area and I am staying here in Insurgentes in another trio companionship... I will send pics and more information next week:) 

This is me and Hermana Amsi:) She loves the missionaries and for Hermana Rodriguez's birthday last week we both got balloons and earrings! Best day ever!;)

I got so much free cake because all the members love Hermana Rodriguez!:) 
This was our District before this change:) Literally every single companionship was in training- they called our district the Day-Care District;) It was a lot of fun:)
Mama and Hija:) Now I am going to be an Abuela;) 
It is getting so hot here, haha.Our neighbors have this air conditioning unit and I like to fill up my skirt with cold air before heading out to the desert sun- it makes a difference;) 
They like to smash peoples faces with their birthday cake:) I was just happy I got to eat more cake:) 
We also went on divisions with the Sister Training Leaders this week:) They are so amazing and I always learn a whole lot!:) 
This is one of the neighbor kids, Pibis:) He likes it when I stick my fingers under our door to play with him at night:) 
Some recently baptized converts brought their cool parakeet (parrot?) to Stake Conference yesterday, it was pretty sweet:) 
Yesterday our wonderful investigator Dulce was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints:) She is amazing,and it has been really great watching this change take place for her and her family:) Where they live got switched to a new ward last week, so now they actually are with different missionaries but we were really blessed to be able to attend her baptism yesterday:) 
I also got some really cool covers for my scriptures:) 
Well, I love you all so so so much! Keep on lookingup and looking for those tender mercies!:) I know that God lives and that He loves His children:) I love you, too!!:) 
Love, Hermana Swallow

Sunday, April 17, 2016

April 11- I love being a Missionary!

My Beloved Family! 
I hope you are all doing well I love you all and I hope you had a great week! I had a good week:) Things are just moving along out here in the Harvest of the Lord!

We were in a trio for two days this week with Hermana Muñoz she is awesome and from Aguascalientes:) She is the sister missionary who is the exact same age as me:) A funny experience we had while walking along the highway was that we heard this HUGE noise right beside us and we all thought it was a gun-shot. I still have the hardest time differentiating between gunshots and fireworks, so any load noise makes me jump, haha. So we heard this BOOM! And we all  got ready to hit the ground when we saw that it was just a comvie who blew a tire right beside us, haha. But what was funnier was that when I saw that the tire of the comvie had blown out, I still was looking for the person who I thought had shot the tire, haha. But they calmed the white girl down and it was just a blown tire;) 
I got a HUGE SURPRISE! When I received a package from my girl KAT!!! She is serving a mission in Colorado Springs, Colorado and out of the kindness of her heart sent me some beautiful Easter candy:) I was dying with the reeses and cadburry eggs!!
We call these hermanos our ''Papas Olguin'' Because Hermana and Hermano Olguin love us so much and they call us their daughters:) They love to spoil us and this week they took us out to eat at this fancy seafood restaurant. They were like ''You like seafood, right?!'' and we were like ''RIGHT!!!'' But inside I was like ''dang it.'' Haha, because here its not like the Mexico restaurants at home where you can just order Chicken fingers if you dont want Mexican food;) (Right, Dad?;)) But I am learning to like seafood, I had some really nice fish tacos and the next day another Hermana in our ward gave us shark filet, and that was pretty good:)
I have now learned another new skill here in the mission- how to clean a tank of water:) This is the water we use to wash the dishes and clean and stuff and we had to clean it out this week and now I know how to make suction-water pressure with just a tube and the power of gravity! If my physics teacher could see me now...:)
I broke down and finally bought some shoe-inserts with some extra birthday money I was hoarding and the world has become a more beautiful place:)
Sometimes I think my companion just gets stressed out but doesnt want to admit it.
 
She also cant figure out how to just walk away and leave the people who are hiding inside and pretending not to hear us in peace, haha. 
We have this one investigator who it is easier to catch if we wait for school to get out when she comes to get her kids, then we help them walk the mile to their house:) 

This is an awesome family- Familia Jaimez that are investigating the church:) They are progressing really well and know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God:) Eros (the younger brother) said that he knew the book of mormon was true because he said a prayer to ask God and then right after his Cat had her kittens- ''It was like a sign from God.'' Haha, as long as they know its true, I am good with that;) 

Hermana Rodriguez obviously wasnt as scarred as I was from the traumatic branch-breaking experience two weeks ago and she is still pushing her luck by picking flowers;)
We had a little friend in our house yesterday, actually it was a pretty big friend. A 7-inch friend. I have NEVER seen a centipede this big in my life, all of its legs were like a centimeter long and it came to attack us in the kitchen;) We screamed and ran for our Neighbor Hermano Max to kill it, haha. 
This week we had some pretty big-sad news. The ward boundaries for all the wards here in Iguala have changed- and Hermana Rodriguez and I lost about half of our area and a lot of our investigators, but we know that this is still the true church and the new wards and new missionaries will take care of our investigators- including the one who is going to get baptized this week. This is the Hermana Maripaz and her Daugher Soni they are amazing members of the ward but they will now be in the Balsas ward. 
The Familia Jaimez (as shown above;)) Will also be going to a new ward from now on, but we know that everything will be alright:) 
Hermana Elizama and her daughters:) Also, her niece who is investigating the church- they will now be going to the Tamarindos ward:)
Haha, so there is this one river that crosses our area and their is this large family of wild pigs that live there. It is so weird, I dont think anybody really knows how they got there but the baby piglets sure are cute:)
One of the members served us fruit cocktail yesterday- straight from the can! Just like home:) Haha, it was so weird eating it, but I took a picture to show my brothers and sisters that I got one of the precious cherries;)
Today is my companions birthday:) She is 24 years old and is having a good day! I was in the middle of curling her hair when the neighbors came to sing to her and give her presents:) 
Happy Birthday Girl!:)
Well, I love you all so much. I love being a missionary, I am finding so much joy and satisfaction knowing that I am where I need to be, doing what I need to be doing, and becoming who the Lord needs me to be. I know this church is true:) I hope you all can feel that joy as well:) 
Love, Hermana Swallow

Sunday, April 10, 2016

April 4- No Subject

My wonderful Family and Friends,
The week was good, conference was amazing, and time is short:) 

So, sometimes people just think I am so stupid, haha. They are just like ''Oh, little white girl you are so cute and naive.'' And that happened this week, haha. I was buying some candy from a street vendor and I saw gummy-eggs, haha. And I thought ''That is so weird, I am going to buy them!'' So I said ''How much for the eggs?'' and she looked at me like she was concerned and was like ''Those aren't real eggs, those are gummy... '' *facepalm*
My nose bleeds have calmed down a ton:) After waking up on Tuesday with blood all over my sheets we decided to tell someone about it, haha. We have a nice Doctor in our ward who gave me a free consultant in a sketchier hospital than I would care to remember, but he gave me some nasal spray that has helped a lot!:) They also checked my blood just to make sure, and we took a picture to remember;) 
There are lots of lizards here and the little ones are my favorites:) This little guy is about the size of a
 quarter:) 
We were in a taxi the other day when I felt like I was being... watched. Haha:) 
We have this one  ''river'' or canal in our area that is literally full of poop. It always smells super awful and we always have to pass by it. I call it Poop River. We took a picture to never forget;) 
Well, I love you all so much! I hope that you were all able to listen to general conference and learn something that the Spirit needed to teach you:) If you missed a session- go back and watch it! Download the audio, listen while you exercise! (That's what I am going to do :))
I love you all! I am going to send some videos that we took this week, too:) 
Hermana Swallow

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Mar. 28- And the Awkward Continues

My Family!:) 
Happy Easter! It was a good week:) It was a little more catholic than usual, but things should calm down again and people should start listening to us again;) Ï hope that everyone is getting really excited about General Conference this week! I hope you can really do your part to attend all 4 sessions. It is an enormous blessing to have a living prophet and to get to hear from him and the other apostles, it is another enormous blessing that you have to hear them in their actual voices and not a translator speaking over them. Remember that, be grateful, attend all the session, and receive revelation from the Spirit!:)

Now for the pictures:)  
This is us with Hermana Anna, shes really cool:) She is a recent convert of about a year and she likes to visit investigators with us:) her testimony is pure power and she is getting ready to serve a mission as well!:) But her boyfriend who is a returned missionary is the person helping her fill out her papers.. so we'll see how far she gets, haha. 

These pictures I take in the house are always so ugly, but a member stopped by one night to buy us tacos- they love us and spoil us so much here in our ward!:) I cant even believe it:) One hermana bought us new skirts and shirts this week, too!
This was a cute Senior-pic we took of me in the window of one of the Hermanas houses, I love her house. Its so weird here in Mexico. Some people live in beautifully constructed mansions and others live in single bedrooms with dirt floors. 
This is me with Hermana Naty and Hermano Silvestre, they are really awesome:) But they live in the Elders area so we hardly get to see them outside of church.

This Wednesday I completed a very special day in the mission... HALF WAY!!:) 9 MONTHS!:) It has gone so fast, I love being a missionary:) 
This is me and Mahanna, she is a girl in our ward:) She recently just got selected for some TV show that is like American Idol or something and will be trying out this week! So we took a pic before she gets all famous;) 

This last picture... has a story attached to it. I thought about not sharing it, but in the hopes of making the world a brighter place through laughter I will share one of my new top awkward moments with my loved ones. 
Something really awkward was bound to happen soon, actually, because about a week ago I tempted fate by thinking to myself that I am more mature and was now outgrowing my old 'Awkward Lillie' self. Not so. So, I like to pick flowers, right?:) Yeah, I love it:) I have this special kind of flower that is my favorite, and I am collecting all the colors. Well we were walking along the side of this huge canal in one of our areas one day this week when I saw a tree with my favorite flowers- in white! I still needed a white one:) But the tree only had one branch that had flowers on it and it was a little high- but I needed one. I told myself 'I just want one flower!' so I reached trying to pull the branch down so I could grab a flower when *SNAP* - I BROKE OFF THE ENTIRE BRANCH. #fear I told my companion 'We have to run!' and she said 'Well, then get your flower first!' When I heard the second most terrifying sound of the day- the sound of the door to the house opening. Nooooooo... But, yes. The owner of the tree came out and I was still holding the stupid branch from his beautifully pruned tree. Um... So I immediately apologized and explained that I 'just wanted one flowr' because I like to collect them. I complimented him on his beautiful tree and he was angry. He said 'Well, you already broke it, might as well take this with you and plant it' I tried to say no, but he kept saying 'but you already broke it' GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY. So he eventually just broke off the part with the flowers and took the large part of the branch with him. I thought to myself, 'Maybe this is Gods plan, maybe I need to bring this man the Gospel! Or maybe he shouldn't know I am a missionary or what church I am from so he doesn't hate us..' But I started to contact him anyway while my companion vehemently shook her head no, haha. But, he didn't want to know anything and shut the door on me. I can understand that. As we were walking away the embarrassment and guilt were welling up inside as my companion and I tried to keep cool, haha. When all of a sudden MY NOSE STARTED BLEEDING! What the what?! And not just a few drops of blood, we are talking a river. For some odd reason we had nothing like toilet paper with us so I just leaned over while blood poured out, and I ran to the edge of the canal to let the blood fall in to the river while my companion started running and knocking on the houses near by and yelling at the cars passing, hahahaha. Eventually a nice young man on a motorcycle stopped and gave me a shirt or something. #tendermercy and we decided we should go to the nearest members house to clean me up. Which happened to be the Bishop. And he and his family wanted to know why I was covered in blood... and why I was clutching a branch of a tree. 
 



Hopefully that was as funny for you as it was embarrassing for me. I have had a few more nose bleeds since then, we're not sure if they are induced by the heat or by stress, haha. But we can relate this story to sin- YOU CANNOT CHOOSE THE CONSEQUENCES of just reaching for 'one flower.'


I love you all, have a great week:) 
Hermana Swallow

More on the awkward side...


More on the awkward story, yesterday we were walking on the other side of the large canal that I spilt blood into and we saw all the blood splatters, hahahaha. If you zoom in you can see it all. Hopefully they don't think someone was killed there or something, haha. Love you all!
Hermana swallow