Hey there friends!
Sorry I've been bad about writing emails that past two weeks. I guess that means I have to write this week. 😊
So lots of things have happened the past few weeks! A few examples are a mission conference with Elder Montoya, talking with a crazy person and getting to use sign language!
So I'll start with the spiritual side of things. Last week we had a mission conference that replaced our zone conference. Our guest speaker was Elder Hugo Montoya of the Seventy! He really challenged us to work with members more often because it is one of the most effective ways of teaching people. It was really cool to meet a lot of the other Elders and Sisters in the mission!
Next story! We were riding our bikes to an appointment when a man yelled at us "Hey! I wanna talk to y'all mormons" so we went over because it was a teaching opportunity! Well anyways we pray with him and then after we say amen, he starts telling us how he is a Charles Manson worshipper (cult leader) and loves the devil. Then he started showing us verses in the Bible that reference the devil and started getting mad that we didn't know everything about the bible. It was super wack! Then he demanded our leaders number so that he could report us for not knowing our stuff well enough. We wouldn't give it to him so he threatened to call the cops 😂 we just rode off because we did nothing wrong. But then he yelled and told us to watch our backs. Super weird situation all together!!
Now I saved the best for last. I think it's the best story! So we started a bible study last week and it was a flop. No one showed up so we decided to go out and invite local people that live by the church to come to it the next week! We were knocking on some apartments and invited some people and then we stopped to talk to a man and woman in a car. I noticed the woman was awfully quiet and I felt prompted to go over to the other side and sign to her. Her name is Maryann and she is actually deaf! I was able to invite her to our bible study and she said she will come! It was awesome. About an hour later she ran back up to us with a Book of Mormon that was very used and marked! She told me that she wanted to learn more. I was able to sign to her with signs that I've never used in my life! It was an amazing experience! I don't know what to call it because it's not the gift of tongues so I guess it's the gift of hands! 👐😂
Anyways I just want to invite y'all to watch general conference this weekend and go into it prayerfully with a question and you will receive an answer!
'Til next week folks!
-Elder Swallow
