Christmas coma!

I am in a Christmas Coma! I think I gained like 10 pounds yesterday on
food and candy!!

Well Christmas was awesome! I had a good time. So we went to church in
the morning and then we went to a family named the Fultz for some
lunch and to be able to Skype my family!! And then we went to the
Licon's and we had dinner and played games with their family. It was a
great Christmas and was great to be able to be on my mission for it.

So highlights of this week was we got a referral for an Egyptian
family. So we went over there to drop off a Bible like they requested
but when the dad answered the door he had no idea what we were talking
about! But when we asked if we could share a message about Jesus
Christ he opened the door and said come on in! Me and Elder Furniss
froze and we looked at each other and we both were trying to frighten
out if this was actually happening!! Both of us had never been let in
a house like that before. So he brought his family in the room and we
shared a Christmas message and the Book of Mormon and they were pretty
interested. So that was for sure a highlight of this week!

Next we had no appointments planned and so we were trying some
less-actives and we were walking down the street and I went to
demonstrate a squat and right as I did it I heard a loud rip!! I just
stopped and my face turned bright red and Elder Furniss just started
dying laughing! And so I stood up and looked and my pants weren't just
ripped a little bit it was a huge rip!! First time I ever ripped my
pants!

Well the last highlight was on Tuesday. We had another exchange with
the Lebanon Elders! So I went to Lebanon and got to walk around again!
Looks like I will never get fully away from a walk area. But I was
Elder Nelson and it was a fun time we taught one of their
investigators Modesto he is from Puerto Rico and he is hilarious! He
loves the gospel but his health is keeping him from attending church
but he was amazing to be able to teach!

Well I hope all of you had an amazing Christmas!! I love and miss you all!!
Elder Swisher

Christmas!

Another week in the life of Elder Swisher!

So this week was a good week!

I went back to walking! On Tuesday we had exchanges with the walk
elders and I went to their area so I got to go back to walking for a
day! And let me tell you I do not miss it! Hahaha but we had a good
time I was with Elder Madsen and he is a beast missionary he has only
been in the field for one transfer but he is such an awesome
missionary already!

So other news my investigator from Pittsburgh got baptized and Elder
Holley my trainee was the one that baptized him!! I was so happy to
hear that be able to see that picture! Martez is going to make an
outstanding missionary!

So on Tuesday we give service at a bike place that fixes bikes and
donates them so I got to use my awesome bike skills again and fix up
some bikes for kids that don't have a bike. We go into this garage and
they have so many awesome bike parts all over the place and they tell
us to grab a broken bike and start fixing it. It is a lot of fun. I
realize how much I like working with my hands!

Another awesome highlight is that we went to a nursing home with our
Ward and we went around caroling to all the elderly and disabled
people and it was such a cool experience so I guess you could say I
had a pretty awesome week!

Oh also the picture at the bottom is of me and the guy that wrote the
topical guide!!!!!

HBG!!

Harrisburg is awesome!!!
I love Harrisburg already! The ward is amazing and so missionary minded!

So highlights is:

We had a lesson with a part-member family named the Kings. They have 2
daughters one is 19 and one is 15. So during the lesson the mom comes
out and says I am going to embarrass my 15 year old daughter! She ends
up saying that her daughter has a huge crush on one of the
missionaries. But since I just met them I knew it wasn't me so Elder
Furniss was hoping it would be his old companion but nope the girl
looked right at him and said it's you! It was the funniest thing I
have ever seen! So ya we will have to make sure we have a good team up
for those lessons! Hahaha

Other highlight was our Mission Leader Conference we drove half way
across the mission for all the Zone leaders to get together and
discuss future ideas for the mission. It took all day but it was fun
to see how I can help this mission progress!

Another highlight was the ward Christmas party it was so amazing to be
able to meet the ward and get to know everyone they all treated me
like family and it was just a fun experience I can already tell I'm
going to love this Ward!

Other then that the rest of the week was just me trying to learn about
how to be a ZL and trying to learn a new area!

Is president feeling ok?

So this week was intense because it was the last week of the transfer.
And the dreaded leadership phone calls was coming up and I'm not sure
if president is feeling ok because I have just been called to be a
Zone Leader... yep that's right I'm leaving I'm heading to Harrisburg
to be the Harrisburg Zone Leader. I'm excited, nervous, scared, and
everything in between.

My new companion is actually going to be one of my good friends Elder
Furniss! He is a big goofball and can't wait to be his companion!

So highlights for this week:

Martez came to church!!!!! We got a text from Sora and Martez on
Thursday and Sora told us that Martez got work off on Sunday! And they
came!!! It was a great way to end my last Sunday in this ward. He is
getting so close to baptism it is fantastic! I will miss them so much!

Well the next highlight was on Thursday to go along with
#lighttheworld we did a day full of service! It was so cool to see how
because we wanted to dedicate this day to service the Lord provided
service for us it was great. So we started by getting with the other
Pittsburgh missionaries and cleaning our church building and then I
found out that a member was in dire need of help cleaning a
Presbyterian church so we went and helped them out and it just felt
great to be able to give service for the entire day!

The last highlight was on Monday. I was on exchanges with Elder Walker
and we were walking around trying to talk to people. And the first
lady I saw I went up too and asked her if she had heard of the Book of
Mormon before and she proceeded to tell us that she hadn't but was
very interested. So as I talked with her I came to find out that she
has been looking to change her life around and she has been praying
for some direction and then out of nowhere she said "you started
talking to me just now" "I don't think that is a coincidence" she
said! Greatest experience ever!!!!

Below is Sora and Martez at church!!

Soldier Down!

Hey so thanksgiving was very exciting!

So for me thanksgiving started out very interesting. We had a member
come get us so we could go play in the turkey bowl! So we started
playing in the turkey bowl but it wasn't to fun the old men took it
way to seriously... we were playing the 10 Pittsburgh missionaries
against the Elders quorum. We had some extra people so someone thought
it would be a good idea to have a D-line and an o-line of about 4 guys
on both sides always. So Elder Holley is not very athletic but he is a
strong guy so he is playing as a lineman and so is another elder,
Elder Rojas, who is brand new! And so one play we were on defense and
I was playing safety with another Elder and we see the QB throw this
deep pass towards us so me and Elder Walker go up and we intercept the
ball. And as we are celebrating I turn around and I see Elder Holley
laying flat on the ground... I freak out run over and see Elder Rojas
flat on his back bleeding out his mouth and his head! Elder Holley and
Rojas tried to sack the QB and they crashed heads hard! They both got
concussions Elder Holley's is pretty minor and no damage to him really
but Rojas has a big huge black eye and a pretty bad concussion! So
thanksgiving started out pretty scary!

We then gave Elder Holley time to rest and then went over to a family
named the Whites they had a mini feast for us and it was fantastic! We
then headed over to the Bellistons and they had a bunch of people over
and tons of food so we ate there hung out for a little bit and then
went back to the Whites to relax for the day with Elder Rojas and
Gray. And we played board games and ate some more. So overall a good
thanksgiving.

This week we worked hard. We went to forest hills one day and visited
about 5 less-actives all in one day! It was awesome to be able to
knock on their doors and have them answer and let us in to share a
message with them. We felt so good after that day because we felt like
we needed to be at each one of those houses that day!

We also were able to have a bomb lesson with Sora and Martez again. He
is so ready for baptism the only thing holding him back is that he is
having a hard time getting work off on Sundays to attend church. But
is just so great to see how much he has grown in the gospel so far.

So it was a great week for the SWISHVALE missionaries!! (Shout out to
Elder Hansen for the name)
the pictures below you will see the true side of the Swishtrict 2.0

Snow!

This was a pretty good week all around.

So we got to stop by and see Martez and Sora and we brought a team up
hoping that he would hit it off with Martez. And it worked we brought
Brother Cardiff and they got along great and are now like best
friends! But we set him with a baptism date of December 17. So it will
probably be after I'm gone but hey hopefully he continues to work hard
to make that date!

This week we stopped by sister Davis again and she had her friend
Charlie there with her. So we taught both of them and it was a great
spirit filled lesson. But when at the end I asked them to come to
church they just looked at me like I was crazy. We have never seen
sister Davis at church half the ward doesn't even know her. So I
thought it was a long shot but then I was sitting there in sacrament
meeting right before it started I felt a tap on my shoulder and I look
and it was Sister Davis and Charlie!!! They came! They actually came!
So they sat next to us and it was fantastic!

We also went on exchanges with the other elders in our Ward so I
stayed in my area and Elder Rojas came here. He is a funny little guy.
He is Mexican and speaks Spanish better then English so it's hard to
get him to talk to people but he started getting outside his shell a
little bit and started talking to people. We went downtown and took a
cool picture next to the steelers stadium! It was a fun time!

Well that was about it for a week! Nothing too spectacular but it was
a pretty good week. Except for the first snow fall for the year! Hope
you are all doing well.

Catching up with old friends!

So this week had its ups and downs. But it was all made up for when
the entire mission got together for a conference!!

So the all mission conference was because Elder Stevenson came so we
gathered the whole mission together in Altoona. And we got to hear
from Elder Stevenson (quorum of the twelve), Elder Hallstrom
(presidency of the seventy), and Elder Kunz (area seventy)! So Elder
Stevenson grew up with President Johnson and Elder Stevensons son is
in my ward so no question on why he came here for a visit. Hahaha but
it was so cool to hear from him and the other General authorities. It
was such a great spiritual experience. I learned to always take
something from the meeting and act on it, and how to be an overall
better missionary through commitments. And it was just great to be
able to see a lot of old friends and companions!

So another highlight was one day this week me and Elder Holley were
walking around Hazelwood, one of the more ghetto places we cover and
we realize we are close to our less-active Alisha how has been gone
for a long time. Elder Holley said call Alisha and she if by some
random chance she is home and we can stop by. And so I did and she
was!!! So we went over there and it was exactly what we needed to do.
She was going through a hard time and so we were able to share a
message of hope with her. And she thanked us so much for it and she
actually came to church this Sunday!! We had no idea why we were in
Hazelwood until that happened.

Another highlight was when I went on exchanges with the zone leaders.
I went to their area with Elder Richens. And we were able to teach
their investigator Jackson. We started teaching him about some basic
commandments such as prayer, scripture study, and the Ten
Commandments. He said in the middle of the lesson "I'm surprised this
is stuff we have to go over. I thought this was common sense stuff."
Hahaha it was so great to hear that. He is defiantly an awesome kid
that is going to be baptized soon.

Funny story I made a bet with one of my Zone leaders that I could pass
out at least 1 Book of Mormon a day for the next week and a half and
so I was determined to do this. So the other night it was getting late
and I was running out of time to pass one out. We were walking downt
this road and saw this lady coming towards us and I got a little to
excited I literally ran up to her and almost just yelled "Have you
heard of the Book of Mormon?" I'm pretty sure I scared the crap out of
her. But it was hilarious and so once I calmed down I taught her about
the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to read it. She told me "you
were so excited to share this with me because the spirit told you I
was special." And I was like exactly!! It turned out to be fantastic.

So those were my highlights hope you are all having a great week. I
love and miss you all.
Pictures: me and all the friends I got to see again!!

Crazy Week!

So this week is full of interesting stories so hold on to your seats
as you read...

So it started with a lesson with an old lady named Carol she is old
and says she feels lonely so we dropped by to visit her with a team up
and we were going to teach her the Plan of Salvation. Well it was
going pretty good except she was an expert at the PA ramble. So we had
to interrupt her every single time she started talking so we could get
back on track. Well we invited her to church and she said that she
wants to come but she cannot physically walk through any church doors
since her husband passed. And so we didn't give up we tried to find a
way she would be comfortable in coming to church but we were
unsuccessful so we instead committedher to pray and she said "no I
will not attend church!" I was so confused... we then invited her to
read the Book of Mormon and she replied "No I will not attend church!"
At this point I had no idea what to say. Because everything I said
this lady responded with "No I will not attend church!" She was like a
broken record! Finally I looked her straight in the eyes and said I am
not inviting you to church! I probably could have said nicer then I
did but she looked at me and said "oh good." And that was the end of
that lesson... kinda frustrating... hahaha

So next lesson me and Elder Holley were walking down the road and
these guys were painting the inside of a house and they called us over
to talk to us. One guys would not be quiet and he kept talking about
how he was feeling like God hated him. Finally he let us talk after an
hour and we shared the Book of Mormon with him and he said "thank you.
You guys might have just saved me from killing someone. Because I was
on the edge of it." Yay I was a little scared after that but hey I
guess we saved a life!

So another great lesson of the week was with a younger guy. We took
Brother Dushku with us on a team up and thank goodness we did. So we
sit down with him we noticed something is a little off about him. And
I asked him if he has ever wondered why challenges have happened to
him and he tells us he is autistic. And it made sense about some of
the answers he gave us to questions. So I didn't know how to go about
this but then out now where during the Plan of Salvation lesson he
asks us a really uncomfortable question about morality.  I was caught
completely off guard. And Elder Holley's face turned bright red.
Hahaha Brother Dushku then proceeded to teach very simple the law of
Chasity and so what was only our second lesson with this kid turned
out to be a very interesting lesson. He then asked about pornography
and so I guess it was a great lesson we taught him about repentance
and how to pray and he said he would work on fighting temptation.

So yay we had so wonderful lessons this week that consisted of no
church, killing someone, and Chastity...

Well I hope your week was more normal then mine. Hahaha but thank you
for all your love and support have a great week!

The pictures are of a place called Forest Hills. And the panorama
Elder Holley took he was not expecting me to be standing there. Haha
the other picture was Elder Holley after he fell out of his chair!
Haha

The Swishtrict (Britton's district)

This week has been full of trying to find the elect, and eating till I
almost puked!

So we did a lot of finding this week and ran into a couple people who
have been surrounded by mormons their whole life. It is awesome how
Heavenly Father leads us to these people. We knocked on a random door
and a lady opened up and said now is not a good time but come back
later because I love mormons my prom date served a mission just like
you guys! Hahaha funny how small of a world it is.

So we got a referral from https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https://Mormon.org&c=E,1,jgqI5oh6hMarT03tUu8QOsGYODy_vjbcAiAyJoCWUyRUu9yoIub36pg1QSSAmOC9M3CqRoyU01XpdwzIrRDVP2g1iWvHEiVK1iECPitIQZVB7Z45dP4rUPgz&typo=1for someone who ordered a bible.
So we went to his house and his mom answered invited us in and we sat
down with her and her son. We sat down at the table and proceeded to
talk about the restoration. The son is very quiet but he couldn't stop
smiling when we were talking about the Book of Mormon. The mom
surprised us she loved to talk but what surprised us is that she would
finish our sentences. We would say something about prophets and she
started talking about how of course it makes sense to have a prophet
on the earth today because Heavenly Father has always been the same.
And she said stuff like that the entire lesson. It was so cool to be
able to teach them. They are definitely prepared!

We had our ward Halloween party Saturday night. And the missionaries
were asked to be the judges for the trunks, the costumes and more
importantly the dessert!! We were told we had to try every single
dessert there and there was a lot! It took me 3 plates to fit it all.
Let's just say I felt so sick by the end of the night but it was the
greatest thing ever! Hopefully I don't get diabetes now. Hahaha

Well that was my week. Today for Halloween we were told to get home by
6 so it is going to be a relaxing day today. Hope you have a great
week I love you all so much.

All you can eat ribs

So this week was a pretty good week we were very busy and had a lot of
solid lessons. We also got fed every day this week so I was happy
about that.

So highlights for the week:

First it was my birthday on Friday and it was probably the best
birthday I have had! Because it wasn't centered on me at all and was
completely centered around serving Christ and fulfilling his work.
That day we worked are butts off and I couldn't believe how just great
of a day it was. I couldn't tell you why it was so great it just was.

The day before my birthday we had dinner with the Khalils again and
they made me a birthday pie and since they are from Syria they sang
happy birthday to me in Arabic! They are just such a great family.
They also expressed how their grandma might have leukemia. And so I
guess I am meant to be here at this time to help them through this
hard time. I find out more and more reasons on why I was saved and why
I was sent here.

We had dinner with Sora and Martez. Martez has been reading the BOM
and now has work off on Sundays so he will be able to start attending
church! He has grown so much in the gospel at dinner we were talking
about the importance of the BOM and he said "I know that reading will
make everything in life better and will give me more meaning in life.
I know that for a fact." It has been great to be able to watch him
progress and grow so much since the first time that I taught him.

A lady in our Ward also took us out to eat at this BBQ place that was
having endless ribs so I ate as much as I could! Well those were the
highlights of my week.

Have a great week I love you all so much.

Obama!

So this week was crazy with finding new investigators!! We have been
diligently working on finding people to teach and it has payed off! We
have found so many people to start teaching!

So highlights of this week we got my first member referral from our
stake patriarch! So we started teaching them and they are starting to
seem promising! Their names are Matt and Beth. We also have been
visiting a less-active and her husband needs medical assistance so we
started teaching his nurse and she loves it when we come by. And she
was so happy to accept a Book of Mormon.

Went on exchanges and me and Elder Herzog were walking around Pitt
campus and the whole main road was shut down. We heard from one of the
security officers that president Obama was in town to give a talk a
Pitt college!! And that he was about to drive by!! We got an awesome
video down at the bottom! Haha

We also had a Ward fiesta and tons of people came and it was so much
fun! We invited our investigator Martez, who is preparing for baptism,
to it and for a church tour before hand and the church tour went great
and then the fiesta made it so he met lots of members and so he is
getting work off sundays so he can start coming to church!!! He has
been making a good effort to make sure he is ready for baptism! He is
awesome!

Right now we have like fifty missionaries down at the church playing a
tournament of basketball!! Haha but thank you for all you do hope you
had a great week!!