Another Week in Bristol

Knock knock!
Who's there?
The Mormons!
*a pause, some shuffling, the TV cuts off, then silence*

Hey folks!

This week was super quick. I can't believe it's already Monday again. Although sadly it wasn't quick because it was busy. We had a lot of appointments lined up that fell through, which was unfortunate. But we had some good experiences so it wasn't all bad. We had a really good discussion in ward council on how to improve ward council. We had another good appointment with Anna. She is crazy close to accepting the gospel but she's still just not ready yet. She also had us over to her church again on Friday for another dinner service (they've been having Friday dinner services for lent for the last few weeks apparently) and we made chocolate hazelnut bars at her house for it (thanks for the recipe, Mom!).

We also had an appointment with a couple of old investigators named Travis and Katie. Well, they're actually a fairly young couple, but they're long-time investigators. They're close friends with some of the members and they've investigated off and on for awhile. We and their member friends are pretty sure that Katie will get baptized if Travis ever does. His main concern seems to be with the priesthood. They've got a 3 year old boy and they just had another baby within the last few months, so we're going to emphasize eternal families. We think this might finally be the right time for them. And they're really awesome. They have a lot of real intent. They both want to know if it's true. Travis was saying he just hasn't gotten an answer yet for some reason. We'll focus on helping them find answers to their prayers too. They could sure use your prayers.

We are being blessed with some opportunities to work with new people. Remember that family I mentioned? The one wit the grandma Charlotte we gave a blessing to in the hospital, and the grandson Skyler we got in the door with, and the grandson Tanner's girlfriend Kelly we also gave a blessing to? Well, Charlotte's brother just passed away this week. And as a result, at least one of his less active daughters and her non member fiancée are wanting to come back to church and meet with us to take the discussions. It's neat to see God working in their lives. They are going through such a hard time, but at the same time so many blessings are coming throughout all the hard stuff.

We could use your prayers too, for help finding new investigators and for some guidance on how to help the investigators we have, and so that we can actually meet with them (Jon cancelled every appointment we had with him this week because of his dying mother in law keeping them awake all night. We have to be patient, but it can be frustrating).

I'm short on time, as usual, but I'd like to leave a brief challenge. Take some time to prayerfully examine your Sabbath day observance. It is a "sign" between you and the Lord (as Elder Oaks put it) of your desire to obediently serve Him and consecrate your life to Him and of your gratitude for all He has given you. Do you need to make some changes? Make them!

We've been watching training videos in Ward Council from the Brethren on Sabbath day observance. Here are a few quotes I wrote down.

Our Sabbath observance is a sign between us and God. Personal preparation for the sacrament begins long before you walk into the chapel.

"Every week we have access to the powers of Godliness that help us in our ongoing process of sanctification." -David A Bednar

Sabbath day observance should not be regimented by leaders but should be decided by individuals in council with the Lord and by families in family councils (also with the Lord).

"As we humbly seek the Lord's help He can help us progress from good to better to best" -Linda K Burton

"As we keep this one commandment it will increase our capacity to keep all the others." -Russell M Nelson

"The particulars of exactly how each of us tries to keep the higher law don't matter [as much as] that we are truly and sincerely trying to keep the higher law, and as we do that He will enable us... As we do that our homes will become [a] refuge... -one of the members of our ward council

And finally, one from an email from our mission president about self discipline:

"I’m not asking you to turn over a new leaf today, or commit to a new program. This is merely an invitation to live life as Christ intended, which includes difficult choices, some hard work and increasing capacity to enjoy all the goodness the Savior offers those who come unto Him. Choose to worship, serve and love the Lord this day."

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support. The Gospel's true! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler

Fotos:

1-2) The new district, from left to right: Elder Hill (who is actually not in the district but was on exchanges in place of Elder Nelson), Elder Dyment (district leader), Elder Baird, Elder Collins, me, Elder Lambert, Sister Crawford, and Sister Johnson.

3) One of the members we do service for on Fridays is building a geodesic greenhouse in their backyard.

4) I got a new haircut! (I know it looks just like the old one, shhh...)

5-6) Elder Lambert and I pranked the other Elders last week with the fake poop my mom sent me. Elder Baird was FREAKING OUT. He was like "how does anyone even poop like that?!? You'd have to like grab your ankles and have, like, explosive diarrhea!!!" To top it off, even after chipping off the "poop" with a q tip as it started to peel off, they STILL haven't sat on it since. They're too grossed out. This was last Monday. :D

 

Under Restoration

Hey hey!

I hope you all had a great week. We had a pretty good one. Once again, though, I'm short on time. :/ I'll try to give you the cliff notes version.

We went to a dinner and a service at Anna's Episcopal church! It was really pretty and the people were super friendly. And she cooked, so of course the food was super good. I like going to other churches. Although my favorite part always seems to be coming back to our church afterwards. There's such a difference in the Spirit I feel at ours. And she is making progress. Thank you for all your prayers. Actually this week she made a little comment that stuck out to me. She said "it took me 50 years to leave my last church. I hope it doesn't take me that long this time."

We had stake conference on Sunday, which was really good. This really cool area 70 from Atlanta came and spoke. He could've been a black Baptist preacher. He was awesome. And Elder Maynes from the presidency of the 70 came too. They both gave some really good talks. One thought I really liked was from Elder Maynes: "Why don't we treat our children and those under our stewardship the same way we treat investigators, with the same level of attention and care and planning and effort?" As missionaries, we put a LOT of thought and planning and care and preparation into each individual investigator. It would make a huge difference if we all did that in our other church callings and roles in life.

Dusty and Amber didn't come to church. :( Actually Amber has all of a sudden decided she's not interested at all. But we're still in contact with Dusty and he's still interested, at least we think/hope so. We'll keep trying. Prayers would be appreciated.

We finally had a lesson with Jon! He REALLY wants to get baptized. And he came to church again this week. So that's awesome.

Also - I heard from our new zone leader, who just came from Rockwood, that Ronnie is on date for baptism!! Do y'all remember him? He was the first person I ever talked to about the gospel on my mission. He let us in because we mentioned we play guitar. And we could never get him to pray. Well, they finally got him to pray, and apparently it was such a powerful experience for him that he started crying right in front of them. And afterwards he accepted a baptismal date! I was so happy. :) And the area sounds like it's really blossomed. The Jennings had their baby too!

My message this week is to follow the promptings of the Spirit. The Lord has a marvelous work to perform and He has a crucial part for each one of us to play. If we will all do those small things He prompts us to do, even if we can't see the full picture, He can use us to bring about great things. For instance, I've been told that on average a convert has positive contact with at least 7 members of the a Church before being baptized. If any one of those members didn't speak up or live up that person might not have been baptized.

Gotta go. I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler


P.S. Everyone go watch and share the new Easter videos, Hallelujah and Follow Him! They're awesome.


Fotos:
1) Here we see the Tennessee missionary in his natural habitat

2-5) We found an old house or jail or something in the backwoods and thought it was cool that they knew about the Restoration too :)

6) The Hillbilly 10 Commandments

Priesthood

Hey folks!

Man, I've gotta come up with some more salutations. I'm sure you're all sick of reading "hey folks" every week. Suggestions are welcome.

I hope you're all well. I'm great. We had a pretty good week this week. We finally heard back from Dusty! He had worked 84 hours in 8 days and so he hadn't really been able to get back to us. He took us out to eat again (this guy! My goodness) and we answered some of his questions about the Book of Mormon. He's awesome. Although he and his wife are kind of struggling in their marriage right now, they could use some prayers. They'll be coming to stake conference this week! That should be good. :)

We also had a really good experience this week giving a blessing to a girl named Kelly. She's the girlfriend of the grandson of a member in our ward (and the grandson is a former investigator). The grandma called us and asked if we could give her a blessing. She asked Kelly (the girlfriend) and Tanner (the grandson) if they'd like us to and they both said yes. Kelly was in the hospital at the time and was really struggling spiritually and physically. And she had been having some pretty scary experiences with seeing evil spirits (seriously). We gave her the blessing and afterwards it was amazing to see the difference. She was crying and you could visibly tell she felt better. She told us she felt a lot better. We gave her a Book of Mormon and told her if she reads it when she's struggling she'll have the Spirit with her. It was a huge blessing for her and for us, and it came because of a faithful grandmother who hasn't given up on sharing the gospel with her grandsons. Please keep them in your prayers too!

I'm completely out of time, but I'd just like to bear my testimony again of the power of the priesthood. I saw it work again this week in Kelly's life. She says she has been doing so much better and I know it's because of the power of the priesthood. I'm so grateful for the Spirit of the Lord that directs this work. I love you guys and I really appreciate all your prayers! The Gospel's true! Make yourselves another great week!

Love,
Elder Alex Swindler

Fotos:
1-2) Companionship selfies (as requested by my mom)

Some videos and a picture from our adventures this week:

Y'all're Mormons

Hey folks!

Whoa. It's March already?? That was fast...

Things are going well here in Bristol. We're working hard to find new investigators still. And we're trying to meet with the people we've found. Things are proving somewhat difficult though. The devil sure doesn't like the work here in Bristol to progress. What with appointments cancelling, people not answering their phone, and people getting sick, we haven't been able to see very many people this week, including Dusty and Amber and also Jon. :/ But! We'll keep trying this week.

We did have first lessons with a couple of new investigators this week. One is named Carmen, she looks to be in her 40's and she's a really neat lady. The lesson with her went well, and we had a really great member with us who did an awesome job in the lesson, but we haven't been able to get ahold of her since. :/ The other is a super spunky old lady named Louise. We had a really great lesson with her too, and had another really great member team-up. But this time we did get a return appointment with her for Wednesday, so hopefully that'll work out and she'll actually be there. :)

Anna is still progressing slowly but surely. We had a really good lesson this week about eternal families. She says she still doesn't fully understand the doctrine, but it is something she wants - to be with her family forever. That's something to build on. Some of what she doesn't understand is how things will work with family relationships that aren't so good - when husbands and wives, parents and children, or brothers and sisters may not want to be together in the next life. As I've thought about that, the thought that keeps coming to mind is the infinite nature of the Atonement. The Atonement of Jesus Christ can literally heal anything. It requires that we allow Him to heal us, and that we exercise the faith and put forth the necessary effort to be healed. And healing is not always a pleasant process. But it can be done. And it's worth it.

Funny story from the week: on Tuesday we were helping a member move and Elder Lambert fell right out of the back of the truck flat on his back and smacked his head. And then right when he started to sit up and smile to let us know he was okay, the boards he had just been holding fell down too and smacked him on the forehead. Once it was apparent that he wasn't dead it was actually pretty stinking hilarious. But then he started feeling nauseous a little while later, so we called the mission doctor and he told us he probably had a minor concussion. So, lucky me, I got to wake up every two hours that night to make sure he hadn't stopped breathing or anything in his sleep. :P

Funny story two: we knocked on a door yesterday and the man who answered rather bluntly informed us "Gentlemen, you're Mormons, I'm not interested, goodbye" and shut the door. Thank you, sir. Somehow as soon as you opened the door I totally forgot who I was and why I was standing on a stranger's doorstep in a white shirt and tie over a thousand miles from home, so I really appreciated your brilliant and kindly observation that I am, in fact, a Mormon. Way to go, Einstein.

Anyways. Message for the week. I'm low on time, but I just wanted to bear a brief testimony on the power of the priesthood. This week I was reading through the notes I wrote in my journal after being set apart as a missionary of what I could remember from the blessing. It was amazing to me to realize that I can now see many of the things I was blessed with coming to fruition. I know that my stake president was led by the Spirit to pronounce those blessings, and I know that it is because of God's priesthood power that he holds that these blessings are coming to fruition. We live in a glorious time - a time when God's priesthood power has been restored to the earth along with the fulness of His gospel! That's amazing!! I testify to you that it is real - and that He is real - and that He will change your life if you will apply His gospel to your life. The priesthood is restored! Find that out for yourself, take advantage of it, and then share it with others! What are you waiting for?! :)

I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler

 

Fotos

 

1) P-day selfie

 

2) And another one, because I love y'all (unbeknownst to Elder Lambert).

 

Two New Investigators!

Heyyy folks!

Great week this week! Sadly I don't have time to tell you much about it! But suffice it to say that things are starting to pick up here in Bristol. :)

I've got time for one story really quick. We went to contact an old potential investigator (he filled out a survey at a fair way back in like 2014) named Dusty. We talked to him once before but we had to cancel our return appointment because of snow. When we got there he was out on his porch, and we started talking. He was asking us questions about what we believe and what makes us different. Then like 5 minutes later his wife Amber pulled up with their 5 year old son, and out of the blue he asked us if we wanted to go out for dinner. So they took us out to Mellow Mushroom! Turns out they are both super awesome and are sincerely interested. He asked us if it would be okay if they came to church soon, and if the Book of Mormon was available online for him to read (I'm sure we looked like a couple of puppy dogs after the doorbell rings, we were so excited). It was awesome. :) We're gonna be seeing them again hopefully this week, and we're hoping we might even be able to teach them in a member's home!

That was easily the highlight of the week. And we had some other adventures, including a referral named Earl. First thing he told us was that he referred himself just to prove to his mom that we aren't the Jehovah's Witnesses. Another star moment was when he asked us if we knew about a website called "MormonBoyz." We told him we didn't. He told us it's a pornography website... And the best part? He told us Elder Lambert looks just like one of the guys on there (and he even pinched his cheek when he told him)... Yikes. Hahaha right about then I spoke up and told him we actually had to go. Like, right now. We hightailed it to the car, and once we got over the creepiness of the whole thing we about died laughing. Hoo boy. Missions are great. :)

But really. This week was great. I wish I had more time to tell you all about it.

Another quick message this week.

Something that really struck me at church this week was that the Savior really can heal anything in our lives - and that sometimes the adversity and trials and weaknesses and struggles we face ARE part of the cure. Some things can only be healed through the furnace of affliction. The beauty of it all is that even when He does not always take away our burdens from us when we ask, He doesn't ask us to bear them alone. He bears them with us, if we will let Him.

If you get time, look up the Mormon Message called Bearing Our Burdens With Hope. It's about how our burdens can actually enable us to get through things sometimes. It's a great one. :)

I gotta run. The Gospel's true! I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler


Fotos:

There's this giant countdown clock in downtown Bristol for this huuuge College Football game between the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech at the Bristol Motor Speedway. People here are crazy about football.

Let Me Check My Schedule So I Can Avoid You (But I Won't Say No)

Hey folks!

I'm super late today and also pretty tired so this week's email is probably gonna be pretty short.

This week we had a few appointments fall through, which was kinda dumb. But we also got in contact with a few potential investigators and a less-active lady who said they'd be interested in meeting with us! And we tried to contact a referral again that we've been trying to see for a month, and after they didn't answer (again - even though we had an appointment) we tried the neighbors and they said they'd like us to come back! Which is great too! Only when we showed up on Sunday at the time they asked us to come, surprise! They weren't there. :P But other than that it was a fairly good week. The work here in Bristol is beginning to pick up. It's nice to start to see some fruits of our labors.

We did service on Tuesday and Friday for different members in the ward like we usually do. After the service on Friday we ended up having an epic snowball fight with the other elders that was super fun. And we saw Anna a couple times. We're focusing on helping her learn to recognize the voice and fruits of the Spirit for herself in her life. She read Alma 32 and really liked it. She read it like 2-3 times and she wants to read it some more if she has time to try to understand it better.

My message for the week is some homework, if any of y'all get the time. Dust off your copy of Preach My Gospel if you have one (or download it on the Gospel Library app, or find it on LDS.org), go to chapter 4 ("How Do I Recognize and Understand the Spirit?" - an awesome chapter to study in general if you have the time), read the section called "Learn to Recognize the Promptings of the Spirit" (pg. 96-97) and do the study activity. :)

I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler

Pics:



1) Elder Swindler, Rooster Wrangler (from a member mom)

2-3) Good ol' Stars and Bars.

4) A member in the Abingdon, VA ward gave the Sisters some squirrel, so they decided to fry it and bring it to district meeting. It was pretty tasty.

5) "Hey Sal! Ahbaughtchyeuh truck! It's just fer you!"

Ups and Downs

Hey folks!

This week was kinda crazy. We did a lot of trying to contact old potential investigators and less-actives. And we had some success! And it was nice to get to drive on back-country Southern roads again. I haven't gotten to do that since Rockwood. The South can be so stunningly gorgeous... I'm so grateful to be serving in one of the most beautiful places in the world. :)

Well. Some bad news. On Tuesday, Michael (Tonya's husband) called and dropped us. :( He wouldn't tell us why and he wouldn't let us talk to Tonya. And before we could even try to talk to him he just hung up on us. We were pretty upset about it. We were sitting there wondering what on earth to do and feeling kind of shell-shocked, so we decided to try praying about it. After praying, discussing, praying again, discussing again, and praying and discussing one more time, we both felt that we needed to go over there anyway that night (even though he asked us not to) and try to talk to them about it all.

So we did. And not too surprisingly Michael was angry that we'd come. He still wouldn't let us talk to Tonya and he still wouldn't tell us much about why they were dropping us. It was so frustrating. They were doing so well! And it was hard to say goodbye like that after coming to love them. But they have the Book of Mormon and they know what they need to do to learn if this is true and the way God wants them to go. When the time is right I hope the Spirit will move upon them to try investigating again. And they'll be stronger because of the opposition.

But the night wasn't a total flop! We were in the car wondering what to do, and one of us had the idea to drop by a person we've been trying to get ahold of for awhile. His name is Skyler, he's the grandson of the sister we gave the blessing to last week (and it was when we gave her the blessing that she told us where his house is), and he was once investigating the Church and almost got baptized but he got mixed up with some shady people and kind of fell away. We've tried his house before but he was never home. But he was just down the street from Tonya and Michael, so we decided to try again. When we knocked, no one answered, but just as we were getting in the car he and his girlfriend Logan walked up! They'd been out walking the dog. So we ended up having a pretty good visit with them and getting two new investigators. And if we hadn't prayed, followed the Spirit, and gone to visit Tonya and Michael, it wouldn't have even happened. God does answer prayers.

We also had a good lesson with Anna this week. And an investigator in Elder Lambert's last area got baptized, and we got to video-call in to watch it, and Anna came to watch too! Afterwards the investigator got up to bear her testimony, and she talked about how she joined the church despite having no support from any family or friends - which is one of Anna's concerns (she feels like she'd have no support if she joined). So that was good.

We had an investigator named Jon come to church this week! He told us he's been thinking a lot about baptism by authority and he's decided it's something he wants. He says he's willing to work for it. It's gonna take some work, he has some significant word of wisdom concerns, but that's awesome. And we also had a guy named David come too! He's an excommunicated member who has decided on his own that he is ready to come back. He came to church and said he had a wonderful experience. :)

We also had a great lesson last night with a member named Ryan's stepdad Hank at Ryan's house. Hank has been around Church members for years but has never expressed any interest at all until recently. Ryan (who is a newlywed of like 2 weeks) bore a powerful testimony of the blessings of an eternal family and really opened his heart about how much it would mean to him to be sealed to Hank and his mom. It really seemed to touch Hank and he agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon.

I'm short on time so I'll keep my message for the week brief. I've been studying President Monson's recent conference talk "Be an Example and a Light" (Oct 2015) which is really good if you have time to study it. Something that stood out to me from his talk was being an example of the believers in the way I speak:

"Each of us came to earth having been given the Light of Christ. As we follow the example of the Savior and live as He lived and as He taught, that light will burn within us and will light the way for others.

"The Apostle Paul lists six attributes of a believer, attributes that will allow our lights to shine. Let us look at each one. "I mention the first two attributes together--being an example in word and in conversation. The words we use can lift and inspire, or they can harm and demean. In the world today there is a profusion of profanity with which we seem to be surrounded at nearly every turn. It is difficult to avoid hearing the names of Deity being used casually and thoughtlessly. Coarse comments seem to have become a staple of television, movies, books, and music. Bandied about are slanderous remarks and angry rhetoric. Let us speak to others with love and respect, ever keeping our language clean and avoiding words or comments that would wound or offend. May we follow the example of the Savior, who spoke with tolerance and kindness throughout His ministry."

Even as a missionary, I feel like the way that I speak is an area I need to improve on. The way I speak to / about others, using slang, the humor I use / laugh at... I'd like to work this week on watching and improving my language.

I challenge you to read President Monson's talk and pay attention to what stands out to you! Pay attention to the Spirit, choose one thing to work on this week and work on it. That's another thing I learned this week - we have got to improve steadily, but we've got to do it one thing at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself. Listen to the Spirit and follow it's promptings. The strait and narrow path leads onwards and upwards. Take it one step at a time. :)

I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!

Elder Alex Swindler


Pictures:

1) District selfie with President and Sister Griffin. They had me take it because I have long arms. :P

2) Personal prayer win.

3) Yes, that is a Prius with flame decals. Welcome to Virginia.

4-5) P-day selfies featuring Elders Hopkins, Baird, Lambert, and yours truly (complete with fresh haircut).

Video: Some companionship fun. (Elder Lambert is under the pillows)