Week 17: Dog days

Hey family,

Things have been going well here in Murfreesboro. Except the weather is getting way hotter. It's now in the 70s and 60s. and it sure is humid here. My new companion is Elder Jorgensen and he is awesome. He is from Sacramento California. and he has been out on his mission for a little over 18 months now. He is a super hard worker. Our first day together it was pouring rain and we had to bike like 20 miles during that day. Elder J got bit by two dogs and ran into a mail box on his bike. so it was a very nice first day for him. We have been working with the members a lot to find part member families and people who are repentant. Things are going well with our Haitian investigators. They just don't speak English to well so we ordered a Haitian book of Mormon for them so they can read it.

Last I heard from president this is going to be my last transfer in the boro. We will see about that thought because things can for sure change in a couple weeks. I get to be the designated driver this transfer and I am pumped. For a while there I didnt know if I would be able to drive on my mission at all. It looks fun back home with all of that snow. and the puppy looks cute. Although this week I got to hold a cute puppy so that made me feel a lot better. Well that's it for me this week. I love yall and hope it will be a goodn.
Elder Swanton

Week 16: Transfers

I'll just start off with the biggest news! I'm not going anywhere. I'll be staying in the Boro for one more transfer. My comp Elder Taylor is getting transferred to the Franklin zone to be a zone leader. And I am receiving another zone leader from Clarksville named Elder Jorgensen. He's 6'4 and supposedly a very good missionary so I'm very excited. This transfer will only be 5 weeks. So it will be a short one. And when President called he said I'm leaving next transfer. But things could change who knows! So that's the big news so far.

This week was really good. We are finally starting to find people to teach again. We have this awesome family from Haiti that we are teaching. It's kinda hard tho because they speak Creole and French better than English. But we are doing our best. We also found a younger military couple that are really interested in learning more and I'm very excited to be teaching them. Elder Taylor is kinda chapped because we are just finding some really prepared people and he is leaving. I'm gonna miss that guy tho. He sure is a party. It was really nice to have a companion from Cache Valley for my first one.

Besides that we had the opportunity to give a blessing to a lady at the local hospital. And while walking in we encountered a lady who was beside herself and very angry. She tried to run into us and then proceeded to follow us to the elevator. Me and Elder Taylor didn't feel very good about it. Some interesting paranormal things happen here in the south that's for sure!

Oh and I met my first anti Mormon guy on a porch knocking doors this week. He told us that according to the King James bible we are a false cult. And that the book of Mormon is garbage. Then he said I hope you guys are okay with heat cause your going to hell. We smiled at him and said have a blessed day sir. People in the south are pretty cool:)

I finished training this week. My 12 week course is officially over. And I'm kinda sad, but now I have to take the training wheels off so that's exciting. And I might get to drive next transfer ! So that makes me super happy. Besides that things are going well here. It rains all the time! Thanks for the update mom. I love you guys lots and I know the book of Mormon is true! I hope you all have a great week.

I tried to do better at taking pictures hope you like them.

Week 15:

Well this week has gone pretty good. Not much to report on. We tract so much and we have really been finding a lot of people to teach. But whenever we try to go back and teach them they are always busy or gone so that's sad.

Transfers are next week. So that's when I'll know if I'm going to be staying again or not. And since this driving record thing is taking so long I'll probably not be driving for another transfer which makes me pretty sad. But that's alright.

Sound's like things are going good back home.

Love you all and hope you have a good week.

Week 14: 3 months...where did it go

Hey family!

Big Big news! It was just announced That at our next zone conference we will be receiving smart phones. This is a mission wide thing. And We are super excited for it. We have been using a flip phone and it's been pretty hard to communicate with anyone. Today We are moving one of our investigators to Michigan and they have so much stuff. We might be here all day. Actually We got them moved out. It was quite an ordeal but I have faith they will be baptised in Michigan. I can't wait to hear about it!

This week went by pretty fast as well. I know I say that a lot but having p day on Wednesdays just makes the weeks fly by. Bridger just hit his 5 month mark and I just hit my 3 month mark today so I'm pumped about that. We Have been doing a crazy amount of tracting. Knocking doors for more than 4 hours a day sometimes. That get kinda exhausting but me and Elder Taylor just keep working hard. We have a few new people who we are teaching who could really end up getting baptised. But if there is one thing I've learned going door to door in Tennessee is that everyone knows Jesus, and everyone is related to a preacher. Either your daddy is a preacher. Or you are. Or your grandfather was. It's kinda crazy. So consecutively since I've been here I've had Mexican food every week from member family's. I'm super grateful but I'm kinda confused at where this wonderful southern food is supposed to be. I've been able to use my bike a lot more recently as well, which makes me super happy. But the weather is just nuts. One day it's 66 and sunny and feels amazing, and the next day it is 32 and freezing with a wind chill. The saying is if you don't like the weather wait ten mins.

We have been doing a lot of tracting in the hood. And we have almost been destroyed by a pit bull. One literally almost broke though the owners legs and ate us. The owner was blocking it. Besides that the only other super scary dogs are German Shepards. When those come at you, you find the nearest tree and climb as high as you can.

I have two more weeks of training and the  I'll probably be on my own in a new area. Hopefully they keep me and Elder Taylor together cause he is a great missionary. Nothing too fun happened this week. Just a zone conference. And that was a blast.

That's about it for me this week.

Pic one. Elder taylor and me at town square today checking out some shops
Pic two. Me in a 200 year old family farm cemetery at a house we knocked on.
There are tons of dinky little cemeteries everywhere here. And lots of confederate flags😆