S2:E01 "Ganja... Ganja everywhere"

Hey everybody! I made it to Oregon safe and sound, don't worry. Everything is going well with me, in my life, personally. So nothing really happened in the MTC since I wrote you, I just packed that day then left the next morning.

When I got to Oregon it was quite boring. We just had this orientation meeting, which involved sitting, and them saying that almost everything they were teaching us didn't apply to "visa waiters". Then we drove to my area, which is Cave Junction, got back at like 11:30 and went to bed because I was dead tired. (But on the way we got taco bell, which is AMAZING!) 

The next day the mission life began, woke up at 6:20, and went for a run on this awesome track that is surrounded by trees. It would be perfect for playing ultimate. Got back from that whole experience and showered and began studying/planning. We planned, and studied, and planned some more. Then we went out. The first thing we did was go to a place called Taylor's Sausage. They have amazing fries, and now I have a huge love for beer battered fries. We went finding for a bit. Did my first door approach, and boy was it exciting. I got to introduce myself, then he shut the door after saying "nope, nope". There is the tale of my first door approach. 

So I got put into an area where there is going to be a baptism  His name is Paul, and he is the coolest person ever. He is getting baptized this weekend which is cool, although I had nothing to do with it. :P

But continuing on, the mission field is cool. We are spoiled here, because the ward is feeding us every single night... it's gonna be a slap to the face in Europe, when I actually get skinny because they aren't cramming food in my face. But I am super appreciative of the ward members, they are amazing people. I will now tell you some random contacting stories that have happened to us this week.

So, this story began before I was even in the field. They had contacted this girl, who was very interested and they set up an appointment to meet with her. When they went to meet with her, they found her husband, who didn't want them to come in and teach his wife something that he didn't know. (trying to protect his family) So this guy ended up going to the church (that was across the street) and telling the bishop to not have missionaries knock his door anymore. So later on, I come along, and we met this lady on the street who wanted us to pray for her. So we prayed with her, and taught her about the Book of Mormon and gave her one. We planned on meeting with her at the park by our house the following day. So the following day comes up, and we are chilling at the park, and she doesn't show up. So we start playing hacky sack while we wait. Then, to our dismay, the guy that told the bishop to not have missionaries knock his door anymore comes over and starts playing with us. We talked and played for a bit, then we got talking about religion, and we contacted him and he was open with it. His name is Don, and he is a great man. I believe that when his life settles down he will be a strong investigator.This was a miracle, pretty much. :P

Onto the next one. This happened last night. We were walking home from our meeting with a less active, and we we walking through the park that the first story talked about. We saw this kid playing basketball and we asked if we could shoot with him. So we were shooting around for a bit, talking, and once again we talked about some religion and he was interested. So we have an appointment with him this week, which is awesome. 

So I'm pretty sure that park, that is filled with hobos and drugs, is a place of miracles.

But as the title says, i'm pretty sure I am in the zone with the most use of marijuana. (That stuff is everywhere) Random fact of the day for you all. 

Oh yeah, so we were meeting with this less active who was drinking some beer... a little buzzed. But then her brother comes along who was completely hammered. He mainly just tried to argue with us, and whenever he would talk he would start off by saying "You know that I'm a Christian, right?" But it's like all of his points didn't really make sense. His main thing was that the bible was enough scripture and that the Book of Mormon wasn't from God because of that. Then my companion pulled out his scriptures and started flipping through them. The drunk guy just started telling him to read marked scriptures. So he read one in Corinthians, I can't remember what it was. Then he read one in Moroni... after he read that scripture in Moroni, the drunk guy said... "That was one kick #$% scripture." Then he said that it was definetly from Jesus. We both were just like... You're right, it is from Jesus. It's also from the Book of Mormon. He was shocked, and it was cool. I know he won't remember it at all. But it might have helped his sister build her testimony. (oh drunk people -.-)

But anyways, the church is true, stay awesome in everything that you do.

I love you <3

Elder Swan

S1:E06 "A mouth full of razer blades"

 

Hey everybody,

 

    So, I didn't get my visa ;_; but that's okay, in the mean time I will be serving in the Eugene, Oregon mission. I'm hoping it won't be for very long at all, because right now I am quite worried about forgetting the language, because that would not be very good for when I actually get my visa. I'm really excited to go to Denmark, the past couple of days our teachers just went through their missions in Denmark, and showed us pictures and all the works. It is going to be an awesome mission when I get out there. But at the same time I am thankful that I can serve in Oregon as well, because I know that there is work to be done there, and I hope I can contact and teach in English seeing how I've only done those in Danish so far.

 

    Elder Nielsen was here for the Tuesday devotional.  It was honestly an awesome talk. He talked about how we should work in the field, and what are purpose is. The main thing that stood out to me in his talk is when he said that we have the answer to ALL questions through Christ. Because, in essence, that is what the missionaries are meant to do. Answer peoples questions about this life, and God's plan for them. He talked about how we receive help from ancestors. They they are praying for us. The ancestors of the potential investigators are praying for them, so that there ordinance work can be done. He also said at the same time, we should be praying for the help of the ancestors on the other side of the veil, to help us find and teach everyone that is willing and prepared to receive the message that we have.

 

    I don't remember if I have brought this up yet, but for most of my additional study time I have been studying this ensign article on lds.org. It's a comparison of the book of Enoch that was found a while back, to Joseph Smith's book of Moses. It's crazy the things that are alike in the two different writings. I would recommend checking it out, just go to lds.org and search "Enoch part 1" and I think it's called something like... "something strange in the land, the book of Enoch part 1"...

 

    On Wednesday we got to host the new kids at the MTC. All that means is that we see them cry and cry and cry when they get out of the car, then we pull them away from their family for 2 years! It's pretty great. But it was nice to get to know new people when you are with your district for the past 6 weeks.

 

    Thursday we had "in field training" I don't know if Phill had to do this, but it wasn't that fun. It was a ton of sitting and be lectured about things that we already knew for the most part. (At least the 6 weekers) But in the middle of our 9 hour training we checked the mail and got our reassignments. Which was exciting, but the worst part about it, was that most people in our district lost their will to learn Danish because of the reassignment. We were told over and over again that we are still going to Denmark, and that is our mission, where we were called to serve.

 

So last Saturday, my teacher ate a piece of hard candy, and inhaled it and got it stuck in his throat. Because it was our super funny teacher, and we knew that he was okay, it was super funny when he started dry heaving to get it out in front of the class. (Sounds awful right?) But because of who he is, it is one of the funniest things that has happened in the MTC. He got it out and he is okay now. But Saturday night, me and someone else wanted to see how much cereal we could eat in one meal. So we sat down, and I had the terrible idea of trying captain crunch. After 10 bowls of captain crunch, my mouth was torn to shreds... I think it would have been better to have 17 razor blades in my mouth than to eat that many bowls of captain crunch. Not only was my mouth killing me, but I also felt ridiculously sick from it.

 

    Sunday was our testimony meeting with the two district of the Danes... it was such a spiritually uplifting meeting. Each and every one of the people I have met in the past 6 weeks are awesome and have the greatest testimonies that I know. They all have such inspiring stories about how they ended up on their missions. (especially the sisters) It was such an inspiring meeting, it made me realize more of why I am here now, I also learned more about who I am. Something that really stuck out to me is when one of the Elders, during his testimony said that "This gospel is for YOU" implying that it is a personal thing. I realized how true that statement is, that it is for us, that's why we wanted this gospel in the pre-earth life, it's for us, so we can develop and learn more during this time on the earth.

 

    Monday was our last day with our teachers... which was sad. Brother Pullan pulled all of us aside and talked to us. He told us to set goals about our missions and write a letter for ourselves after our mission. He has such a strong testimony and spirit, when he prayed at the end of our meeting, the spirit was there so strongly. In my journal I related it to a blessing. I honestly couldn't ask for better teachers, they were the two greatest teachers I have ever known.

 

I wish you all the best of luck! I love you all!

 

Elder Swan

 

I know I'm covered up in the top picture, but it's with my teacher.

Then the bottom one is my funny teacher, this is one of the strange photos where he isn't making a face... but ya

 

S1:E05 "The end of what could've been endless"

Hey!!!!!!

 

Another week has come and gone. It was a good week, we got our travel plans. I will be leaving the MTC on the 20th (Tentative), but more likely the 21st which is what we heard from a source which cannot be named.

 

This week we had an incidence in our zone of some missionaries being dumb -.- so we got lessons on obedience a lot. But Brother Pullan, one of my teachers told us a really powerful testimony about his mission and missions in general. He told us not to waste any time, that you don't won't a single regret on your mission, and that it is the most important thing you can do. He just told us so strongly how important it is to do everything you can while you are on your mission, and not to hold back anything. On Sunday we got to watch a talk by Elder Holland that talked about this. I believe it's called... "Mission are forever" or something to that extent.  He told us that this will mostly likely be the only 2 years that we apostolic, and that we need to treat it that way. He also said that this is the closest to the 12 we will probably ever get in our life. He also talked about how missions are real life. That your aren't leaving "real life" for two years, but your mission is the most real it will ever get. Another thing that stood out to me is that we have more power than the president, prime minister, etc. because of our calling/priesthood, and that we need to "act like it". But the main thing I got out of it, was when he talked about the atonement and conversion. He told us he has wondered many times why missionary work is so hard, why people don't just automatically believe in Christ. He said "Why is this so hard" (talking about conversion) then he followed it up by saying "Why should it be easy for us, if it wasn't easy for Him?", it made me realize just how strong the power of the atonement is, we need to take how we act, and what we do, every day, and realize that we are following Christ and that he is with us.

 

So Joseph Nemelka is in the floor above me in the residence halls. Which is cool because I can talk to him, and show him the ropes of the MTC. But Nick is in the other building, so he is on his own. Being in the MTC I realized just how great volleyball is. It is so much fun to play. Also, thanks for the cookies Lauren, they were good and my zone liked them. (Nick says thanks too.)

 

So on Saturday for lunch they had burgers, so I decided to be a man. I ate a 4 patty burger, which was amazing by the way. I'm honestly suprised I haven't had a heart attack yet considering how much food I have eaten.

 

The title of this email comes from something Brother Williamson (Teacher) did on his mission. After getting dear johned, he had a photo album of there relationship, and had to do something epic with it to get rid of it forever. So he tied a rock to it, went to the very top of U-land, (The part of Denmark connected to Germany, google map it). At the point of it he wrote on the book "The end of what could've been endless", and threw it into the ocean. (I though of Gob) I thought it was a fitting title because this will most likely be my last email to you from the MTC.

 

Yesterday for TRC we got to skype with someone from Denmark. It was really cool, i'm so excited to get out there. We just talked about what to expect and what to look for. Although I forgot to ask him what food I should eat when I get over there. He did teach me a tongue twister though:

 

Stativ Stakit Kasket

Kom nu sig det det da let

 

Which is pretty cool, I know that means nothing to you guys, but I may as well tell you.

 

I just want you to know that the church is true, we can feel Christ's love in everything that we do and that we should show love to everyone that we talk to or interact with.

 

I love you all, you are all the best <3

 

Elder Swan

S1:E04 "Elder Swan eats the chicken"

Hi!!!

 

I hope everything is going well in all y'alls lives. I'm still alive and well, even in the MTC. The language is still coming along, still teaching like 3 times a week, and TRC (teaching members in Danish) is awesome, although I feel dumb most of the time when giving a lesson to them.

 

So on last wednesday, my teacher looked up what was for dinner. Lo and behold, it read chicken cordon on bleu. Then he told us an interesting fact about what he had done while he was in the MTC. He told us his record, of eating chicken cordon bleu, was 5. I instantly knew what I had to do, and said "Challenge accepted." Dinner rolls around, and it began, 2 at a time I would get my chicken. I ate, and ate, and ate, until the sixth one came about. I felt like I was going to explode, but I can never give up, and never surrender. I continued to eat, until I got half way through my sixth one. That was my stopping point sadly... but 5 and a half chicken cordon bleus, I broke my teachers record, and earned respect throughout the zone. Because of this great task I had accomplished, my branch president thought it was fitting for me to be zone leader, and so it came to pass, I am zone leader.

 

Friday was an awesome day in class, Brother Stacy taught us about how when he was in Denmark, this retired lady would always invite them over for a HUGE dinner every week. They knew that she was spending most of her weekly income on them, and they were very appreciative. But when christmas rolled around she invited them over for dinner. Brother Stacy asked her why she keeps doing this, and that they can go eat with a different family. But she wouldn't accept. Brother Stacy felt so bad about her spending her money on them that he called his mission president, and his mission president told him that he needs to visit with her, eat her food, and be grateful. So that's what he did. But after they were done eating dinner, brother Stacy asked the sister why she would spend her money on them for Christmas and buy them gifts, feed them, etc. She told them that all the money she has spent on them is nothing, because she spent her Christmas with Christ. It made me realize what being a missionary really means. We are representatives of Christ, and need to act in accordance to that calling in everything that we do. It was a very touching and uplifting moment. It made me realize how good I should be for this calling.

 

On Friday as well, we taught a non-member foreign exchange student for TRC. It was crazy how strong the spirit was, I realized that even in super broken Danish, you can feel the spirit strong, and the spirit is a much better teacher than I will ever be. Our lesson was on the book of mormon and prayer, she said that she already had a testimony of prayer which is awesome. I'm so excited to get out in the field and begin working and contacting. (Although I'm not quite there with the language... -.-)

 

Saturday nothing really special happened. I almost broke my skull catching a ball that was thrown to me. The wall was much closer than I expected it to be. It was also a day we said to speak Danish only all day. It went fairly well even though everyone stopped this commitment around dinner time. We heard some of the funniest stories from Brother Williamson though. He talked about his worst companion, who got a 7 on the ACT. He said that he felt kind of bad because he knew he wasn't all there. But his companion wouldn't shower, or brush his teeth, and didn't know Danish at all. Brother Williamson told us about how he got his companion to brush his teeth. He would say "Let's have a contest to see who can brush their teeth the longest." But he had one of the 2 minute electric tooth brushes. So as soon as it would stop, his companion would yell "I won!!!!" But the way he told it is super funny... and super terrible. (Once again... a 7 on the ACT)

 

Fast Sunday was good, it wasn't nearly as bad as Phill said he was, he is just a whiner. Most of the talks we have been given in devotionals involve how often people get dear johned and how we should "lock our heart", but someone in this devotional pointed to his wife and said that she waited for him. This is when Elder Wawro enthusiastically said "He did it!!!!" (quoting the internet meme) it made me laugh super hard. Later that night, Chad Lewis was here and talked to us. He is an amazing man, and can jump stupidly high (I now know where Jesse gets it from) He talked about how we should always be missionaries, in everything that we do. Also that we should learn our language and be more than missionary fluent in it, and not to forget it. These two things are something I hope to keep with me forever.

 

Yesterday was a pretty good day. We skyped with the Dad who invited the foreign exchange student to live with him. It was a nice conversation, although he said something that really stuck out to me. After our lesson and talking in Danish, he said "Elder Swan, Sophia(The foreign exhange student) said something that I should tell you. She said that you have good Danish, and that you should speak more and not be so nervous." It made me realize something that I really have to work on. That I need to work on leading the discussions and talking more. (even in English I'm just a quiet kid.) But that is something I'm trying to work on this week. I hope I can fix it, because I want to speak and teach to the best of my ability.

 

Anyways, everything is going well. Still loving Danish, still living through the MTC.

 

Love you all,

 

Elder Swan

S1:E03 "Elder Swan's fiber levels go off the chart."

Hello everybody!

 

I hope all is going well in the outside world. The MTC is still moving along. The past couple of days have caused quite a bit of drama in my district, because they switched our schedule. Now our gym time is at 6:30 in the morning... but it's all good.

 

Last p-day after writing you all, I went back to the residence hall and played some hallway bowling. We set up 10 empty water bottles on one side of the hallway, and stood on the other side of the hallway. (15 yards or more) then would roll a tennis ball at the water bottles. (If it hit the wall it didn't count) I finished a full game with 10 points... and wasn't in last! It was surprisingly difficult, but a lot of fun. What I have been doing recently to satisfy boredum is play tic tac toe. But it's not the normal game you all think of. It's ultimate tic tac toe. You have one big board (9 squares) and in every square you have another tic tac toe board. You play on the little ones, and wherever you place your X or O, you make the other people play on the board that correlates to the spot you chose... if that makes sense. (i.e. I play in the bottom left board in the bottom right square, then my oppenent has to play in the bottom right board, because of where I placed mine. It is a ton of fun, and it utilizes a piece of my brain I haven't used since Starcraft.

 

I thank you all for the birthday wishes. It was nice to receive presents and love from you all. Although the cupcakes I received flipped over despite the kajillion notes on it saying "Fragile" or "Cupcakes", but they still taste fantastic and looks aren't that important when it comes to food anyways. On my birthday I learned just how depressing the english birthday song is compared to other places in the world. The Danish song is one of the greatest songs ever made. I will send you a video of it sometime if all goes well to show you how much fun it is. Just as a sneak peak, you pick 3 instruments, and fake play them in between every verse.

 

On my birthday was the first day we got to teach CRT. Which was a crazy experience. To try to communicate with other people (or outsiders) in Danish. It went surprisingly well with how little Danish I feel I know. I'm still loving Danish though. I think it is the best language out there. It just sounds so cool to hear, and to speak it. (Icelandik sounds like Danish except you roll every R, I'm pretty good at imitating it.)  But I digress...

 

Sunday was awesome this week. We have a fantastic devotional, where the speaker pretty much made fun of everyone who had a girlfriend waiting for them telling us statistics about what really happens. But he also talked about how we have to love our companion, and that we are all equals, and we all sacrificed something to be here on our mission.The main thing he talked about was that we will have trials. He compared us to the son's of Mosiah, and how they talked about when they got discouraged, and what they wanted to do when that happened.

 

For my personal study, I have been studying each of the twelve apostles. It really interests me to see their personalities and what they did. It makes me sad that we don't have a book of scripture from every apostle of Christ. We could learn so much from each and every one of them. (it makes me sad that 2 or 3 of the apostles only have their name's listed, and nothing else about them.) But I learned quite a lot about the difference in the apostles. This week I am studying Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Which means I will probably study one of them this week because of how long it will take. Something I have realized while being here is that studying the scriptures is so much better than just reading them. When you study a certain topic or person, you are diligently searching for links and things you can learn about said topic. I try to understand what is going on, and why someone did something. It has helped me so much to focus and learn more about the scriptures. 

 

Random thought, if you guys haven't seen the new bibles videos, look them up on YouTube. They are super duper good. (search... lds bible videos, that should work.) 

 

I'm sorry for not having a whole ton to write about. It's only been like 4 days since last p-day, and every week is the same schedule for me.

 

I love you all a ton. You all are amazing people.

 

Elder Swan

 

P.s. The title is because of all the cherries I recieved that I ate in 2 night...

Here are some district pictures I stole from my companion. (Sorry they are huge.)

Fwd: S1:E02 "The Cage in the bathroom"

Hej min familie,

 

The MTC is going well. Another week has come and gone. Although this week is different, because the field is FINALLY OPEN!!! (Good ol' Utah weather) It's been nice to see the sun for 50 minutes every day. Although my pale complexion can't really withstand the "hot mexican sun", it's still nice to enjoy the warmth and beauty of outdoors. Because of complaints I have recieved, I shall go into more depth on how the MTC is for me, and who my companion is:

First, the MTC is good. I wake up at 6:10 everyday. (Suprising, I know) except on P days, I wake up at 6:00 to go to the temple at 7:00. The first thing I do in the morning after preparing is 'study' for 30 minutes. I don't know if any of you have tried this, but when you 'study' before breakfast, right after waking up, it is hard to get anything done. Then comes breakfast, which usually makes me sick so I just eat fruit. Then comes class... which is by far the best. We have two Danish teachers, Brother Pullan and Brother Williamson. They both served missions in Denmark, although Brother Pullan was in Copenhagen while Brother Williamson was more in the hick towns. They both are fantastic teachers, and they both have excellent lessons to teach us. Earlier this week Brother Pullan was teaching us that we need to see our investigators in temple white rather than just in baptism white. Meaning that we need to commit to them, and help them build their own testimony and relationship with God. It was a really good lesson, and I learned a lot from it. The comes personal study, which is gospel study, then lunch, then personal language study, and then class again! It's a pretty repetitive schedule but it keeps us busy, especially with learning a language. (I can see how Phill got bored.) The MTC gives us BYU ice cream two times a week, which is when I summon my inner binge demon, and eat 2 bowls a meal. (at least 1 bowl) All the other food is alright, on chicken cordon bleu night I ate 4 of them, then worried about having a heart attack because of how bad it was for me.

 

Next comes my companion, his name is Elder Eisert, and he is from Lehi, Utah. In highschool he did ballroom (one of those kids... >.>) which I think is pretty cool. He is quite the awkward kid when it comes to anything social, which means I tend to explain things to people a lot of the time. If I were to describe his personality in a simple way... I would say he is like Tobias from Arrested Development. He tends to say things he shouldn't say (we keep telling him to record himself one day, to realize all the things he says), except he doesn't realize what he is saying. He also has that Tobias awkwardness to him, he is super funny though. We get along well, and we are yet to have an argument about anything.

 

Okay, now let me know if you have anymore questions you would like to hear, because I think that explanation was decent. :P

 

Oddly enough, Saturdays are my least favorite days here. They change up my schedule and it just seems ridiculously long. Anyways... one thing I'm appreciative of some people in my room is making fun of Canadians. Something one of the district members said was "She's Canadian though, completely out of the picture." Sadly I can't remember what we were talking about, but anything making fun of Canadians is funny.

 

Oh yeah, if you haven't seen Elder Bednar's talk, "character of christ", I reccomend looking it up. It is a very good talk, and teaches us what becoming Christ like really means. He talks about how whenever Christ could've focused on himself, he focused on others instead. The way he put it is to turn outwards, or towards other people, rather than turn inwards. It made me realize how selfish I can be at times, or how selfish we all can be at times. But instead of telling you all about the talk, I will just tell you to go look it up with the magical powers of the internet that are granted unto you.

 

 So the Nicolas Cage picture Lauren sent me is currently residing in our residence hall, on the back of a stall door. So when you go sit down he is right there, always waiting for you. It's been pretty great, that Nicolas Cage has been getting around our district.

 

Well... thanks for everything and stuff.

 

Jeg elske jer.

 

Elder Swan

FW: S1:E01 "The district meets the MTC"

Hello friends and family,

The MTC has been good, to answer all of your questions. The ice cream is fantastic, but the food in general is the same, and I'm starting to look for new things. I have already gained a few pounds here, which is no suprise when you see how much ice cream there is. My companion is Ældste Eisert. He did ballroom in highschool, and went to Lehi High School. He is pretty strange, and he is pretty much the opposite of me. Because he cares a lot about what people think about him and tries to fit in as much as he can. But we get along well. No problems are between us... yet.

My district is the greatest district ever, we have six Elders in our room though, which is a ton. But we are all like family, we already treat eachother that way. We all get along, and we all have different, awesome personalities. The sisters in our district are all nice. Which is always a positive thing. The teacher we have, Brother Pullan, is a great example to us. He is a Denmark RM, so he knows how things happen over there, but he also teaches us how to be spiritual, and what we should be searching for in people, as well as in ourselves in everything we do. Elder Wawro is a lot like Ty Singerman, he is super funny and he sings a ton. He is the Elder I share a bunk with... just thought I would share.  

Danish is coming along well. We started teaching an "investigator" three days into the MTC. So, three days worth of Danish is all we had to try and teach about recieving answers from prayer. We have been teaching the same "investigor" ever since though, and we are slowly understanding him better, and we are also slowing being able to say what we actually want to say. The MTC has taught me that the gift of tongues is a real thing. I'm able to retain a lot more in here than 2 years of German or Chinese in highschool.

On Tuesday night, Elder Scott came and talked to us about prayer, and our calling as missionaries. It was one of the best talks I have ever heard in my life. If you can find it, you should all watch/listen to it. He told us how to recieve answers to prayer, which is something I think we all have wondered at least once in our lives. I felt the spirit so strongly there. I filled up two and a half pages of notes on it. When an Apostle gives you an Apolostic blessing (I'm probably not even close to spelling that right), but you should listen to it. Because it is your own personally blessing, and it can help you through out your entire life. After he ended his talk, we sang a hymn but before the prayer could start Elder Scott had more things to say. It was the greatest testimony and blessing I have ever heard. He reminded the missionaries over and over again that we have been called BY GOD to serve where we are serving. But my favorite line from his testimony was "I know Jesus Christ lives, because I know him." The way he said that was so inspirational. It made me wish I could say that the way he does. Hopefully, eventually I can say that, even if it's in the next life. But I think we all will be able to say that eventually.

Jeg elske jer, I love you all. The church is true!

Ældste Swan

P.s. forward this to those who care. Phill can post on facebook and ask for email addresses of people who want it. (or mom)