Peace out Pennsylvania!

That's right, Swisher is coming home! I can't believe that these two years have come to an end and on Friday I will be flying back home! Being with Elder Moon, who is going home with me has been funny because he is always telling when we do something for our last time! hahaha like our last Sunday, or our last Saturday, or our last p-day! It's pretty funny!

Well this week nothing too exciting happened. We have been tracking down less-actives and finding houses vacant or someone else lives there. So not too much success there but it's been fun being in a trio. There is definitely nver a dull moment.

This week we had a zone training with just our zone. It was fun to be able to have a training just with the zone and learn about how we can all be better missionaries. I got to see a lot of good mission friends. So it was good!

Last Monday a family from Elder Moon's old area came and took us to the Zoo and to lunch so it was a blast!

President took us out to lunch and it was fun to be able to just talk to him on a personal level and get to know him! It was pretty fun!

We also had a special conference last night where our area seventy came and spoke to our stake. His name is Elder Kunz. Well I remembered that the Sutton family from back home knew him! So I went up to him and introduced myself and told him that I knew the Sutton's and he started freaking out. hahaha come to find out that I played in a turkey bowl with his son and I am also good friends with his nephew from EFY! hahaha small world!

Well this has been a great adventure! I am sad to be leaving but proud of the service I have given. Thanks for all your love and support through this amazing mission! I love and miss you all! Have a good week and see you in 4 days!

Elder Swisher

Transferred!?!

So this was a big shock! But this week I got a phone call from President Bednar saying that a missionary went home and they had to emergency transfer the Johnstown Walk elders and close down the area. So Elder Segon got transferred to Uniontown to replace the Elder that went home for knee surgery and I got sent to be in a trio in a place called Pleasant Hills which is just right outside of Pittsburgh! So we got the call Wednesday and we got moved out Sunday. So yep I am now in the Pittsburgh area in a trio with Elder Young and Elder Moon. Crazy stuff this week!

So I will only spend one Sunday in this new ward before I go home. And yes you can bet I did not unpack my suitcases! Hahaha I don’t see a reason to unpack if I’m only here for 9 days! Hahaha

So Elder Young is a fairly new Elder he has been out for about 7 months and is from Utah. And Elder Moon came out with me so he is going home with me! Hahaha so we have two dying missionaries in this companionship. Haha

So highlights from the week was at first I went on exchanges with Elder Torgerson and that man is a stud it was a fun exchange! And on the exchange I got the phone call from President and everything after that was preparing the area to have the sisters take it over getting the apartment ready to be moved out and packing. So not too much of an eventful week.

We had one last lesson with each of our investigators and it was hard to say bye to some of them. Johnny wasn’t too sure about the Sisters so that was funny! Kazia was excited to talk to girls for once instead of guys. And Russ didn’t care too much! Hahaha I made sure to get pictures with a ton of people!

Thanks so much for all your love and support. Sorry not much this week. I will have better stories next week!

Elder Swisher

PA weather

So this week we got a taste of the wonderful PA weather. This week it warmed up to about 50 degrees so you bet I was outside in a short sleeve shirt loving the warm weather and then the next day we got a bunch of snow and it dropped to 5 degrees... Yes that’s right ladies and gentleman that is dropping 45 degrees over night! Hahaha welcome to Pennsylvania!

So this week we tried to have a lesson with CJ our awesome new investigator but he has kinda fallen off the face of the planet... so we ended up having a lesson with these two guys who are members their names are Jesse and Spencer and they are about 19 years old and they attend a community college out here the same one CJ attends. So we went to their dorm and Spencer invited like 4 of his non-member friends to come meet missionaries! So we sat there in this small dorm room filled with these kids and we taught the restoration. And gave them all Book of Mormons. They loved it and friended is on Facebook and have been asking us questions about the book so yesterday we went back over and some of those kids came back to read some of the Book of Mormon with us. So what turned out as a bad situation with an investigator cancelling turned into an awesome teaching opportunity!

This week we also had interviews with our mission president. And let me tell you this was my last interview and I think president had too much fun making me want to go home... hahaha he was asking me about my plans and giving me advice and telling me all the details of the day I go home. And then gave me a temple recommend interview. So ya I guess I’m all set to go home... so that was an interesting experience. Hahaha

Other than that it was a pretty slow week. But it was good! Thanks for all your love and support I love and miss you all!

Also the picture is of all the way back at Christmas Eve with the Andersen family!

Elder Swisher

-18

Well this week started out good with an exchange with my man Elder Walker but that lazy bum didn’t send me the photo from the exchange so that will have to wait till next time. Hahahaha but it was good I finally got to leave Johnstown and went to Somerset were I got to enjoy a car for a couple days! It was great we were able to set this amazing guy named Eric on date to be baptized! So it was a pretty good exchange!

When I got back to Johnstown on Wednesday we got an email telling us that Thursday through Saturday are going to be some of the coldest days recorded in PA so we are not allowed outside for more than 10 minutes without somewhere warm to go to. Well since everything even the buses are more than a 10 minute walk from our house that meant we were grounded... we spent 3 whole days inside our apartment... it was the longest 3 days of my life. Hahahaha but one night we got a text from someone telling us that it got down to -18 with windchill. So we counted our blessings that we did not have to walk around in that! Hahaha I definitely got a lot of reading down those days!

So Saturday we get a text from a guy in Texas telling us that he is a member and his friend out in Johnstown wants to be a member... so we call up his friend named CJ and we invite him to church the next day and set up an appointment with him for after church. So without meeting CJ ever he shows up to church the next day and loves it! He said it had such a warm and welcoming feeling more than any other church he has been to. So after church we taught him about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and he said he wanted to be baptized. So he has a date to be baptized on the 27th!! It was a miracle! I have never seen this happen on my mission ever! But let’s hope and pray that CJ keeps it up! He is only 21 years old and is just awesome!

So the video is of district Meeting. I had to give an obedience training. So I made my district reenact the Battle of Jericho and then after I asked how they felt. And then compared it too the white handbook. Just like how they felt silly marching around playing trumpets unexpected miracles came from it. So some rules may sound ridiculous and may make us feel stupid but if we do them in faith we will be blessed beyond imaginable.

Other than that nothing much has happened just sitting in the apartment chilling and reading! Thanks for all you do! I love and miss you all! See ya soon!

Elder Swisher

Home Invaders!

So top story of the week is definitely when we were tracting a street
we both felt so good to knock on this certain door. So when we knocked
this 15 year old girl opened the door and yelled for her mom. So her
mom takes one look at us and says “come in” so we got pumped we just
got let into this house! So this girl very confused let’s us in. So we
then ask to if we should take our shoes off and when we finally get
our shoes off the lady looks at us and realizes she does not know
us... she thought we were family friends... so two of her teenage
daughters were standing in the room looking at us petrified. And she
finally told us to please leave. And all of them were looking at us
like we just invaded their home. So we awkwardly put our shoes back on
and walked out the door while these three women just look at us
terrified! Hahahahaha most awkward experience of my life! Hahahaha

Other than that it hasn’t stopped snowing and it is freezing but we
still go out and work. And no one likes to stop and talk to you in a
blizzard while it’s 5 degrees. Hahaha but that was about my week.
Thanks for all your support! Enjoy the videos of me playing in the
snow!

Elder Swisher

Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!! My last one away from all yinz!

Well this week has been hard with everyone preparing for the holidays not many people have time for us so it has just been a slow week.

But we decided to knock this street and we went out and the first door we try this lady named Faylynn came to the door and we start talking and she said she isn’t attending church because a lot of churches don’t believe what she believes although everything she believes is right in the Bible. She proceeded to tell us how she knows the Bible is not complete and that we need to decent through the spirit what is true and what is not. So we had a good talk with her and she was interested in learning more so we are planning on going back and talking to her some more after the holidays. But she was just so awesome we look forward to sitting down and talking with her!

So Christmas Day I got to skype everyone witch was great! It’s weird every time I have Skyped in the past afterwards I get really homesick but this time I was not homesick at all because I know I will see all of them soon enough! Hahaha last skype of the mission! That’s weird to think!

We also took shovels and just shoveled everyone’s walkways in our neighborhood for 5 hours straight because no one like to talk to us on Christmas Day but everyone was so appreciative for the shoveling s9me people came out and brought us cookies and were so happy for what we did on Christmas Day! It was truly amazing to be able to serve all Christmas!

Our investigator Kazia came to church Sunday and Johnny has been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and said he is starting to get an answer! So the investigators here are progressing so much!

Our investigator Russ had car problems and his car wouldn’t start for like a week and he couldn’t figure out what’s wrong. And so we went over for our usual lesson and we taught him about prayer. So the next day he got so frustrated with his car he went back home and prayed asking Heavenly Father for help with his car. He then took a nap and when he woke up he heard a voice tell him that the starter was broken. So he went down and surely enough it was the starter so he fixed it and the car started working instantly! Hahaha he was so excited to tell us about how God answered his prayer!

We had Zone conference this week and it was my last one so president had me give my departing testimony. Since I was the only Elder in my group going home at this conference that meant that out of everyone in that chapel Elder Swisher had been out longer than everyone! Even President! Hahahaha that made me feel really old! But it was great and got some pictures with some good friends that I said bye too!

Well that’s about it. Thanks for all your love and support I love and miss you all!

Elder Swisher

Walking and Snow.....

Well this week it started snowing pretty hard for 2 days and then stoped but the snow piled up pretty good. Nothing too big but a lot for Elder Swisher! Hahaha and in a walk area any snow is a lot... but it’s been good. I had to learn to dress warm again and we definitely have fun going to and from places.

So this week was slow because the buses shut down during one of the storms and people like to cancel appointments because of weather so not much happened due to the weather. We were walking around and saw this guy stuck trying to get out of his drive way. So we gave his car a push and my companion ended up hurting his arm bad enough that the mission nurse told us to stay in the next day. So I got a lot of reading down. And got to stay warm that day.

During the storm we had an appointment with a guy named Tom we met on the bus. He took us out for Pizza for lunch and it was great! He is one of the nicest men I have ever met! He looked up stuff about Mormon missionaries so he had all kinds of questions and they were all good. We had s great lunch with him and he wants to do it again with us! He also said he would read and pray about the Book of Mormon. So it was great!

We had dinner at this family’s named the Andersen’s and they have 4 kids the oldest being 10 the youngest being like 2. And they are just awesome kids and I think all but the 10 year old tried to sit on my lap and the parents had to keep pulling their kids off of me. And they were all laughing pretty hard. It was just a fun night!

The videos are of us having so fun in the snow!

Elder Swisher