Snowing in May! (lots of cool pics)

Hello Brentwood!!! So Happy late Mothers day to all the moms!!!! With out Moms this world would be one craaaazy place! They keep the world in order!!:) Thank you for all that you do Moms!!!!

  Well i got to skype home yesterday and see my awesome family!! I always love skyping home and seeing how everybody is doing!!! Man i'm lucky to have a great family! I love them and miss them so much! Yesterday i was especially thankful for my mom! We would go to houses yesterday of people in our ward and talk about moms, we would go around the room and share what we love about our moms it was so cool to hear everybody talk about their moms in all the houses! So This is my turn to share with all of you if i could pick out 1 thing that i love about my mom it would be the LOVING PATIENCE she has. I probably wasnt the easiest kid to raise but no matter what i did my mom was there to love me and had the patients to deal with all of my junk and help me learn and grow every day. Im so grateful she cares about me enough to love me through any situation i put myself/her through. She is an amazing example to me and to what i'm looking for in my future wife. My mom is a superstar i'm so lucky to have her in my life!! I LOVE YOU MOM!!!<3 

  So yeah Thermopolis is going great! i truly love it here. I love how beautiful it is and how nice everyone is!! We are teaching a good amount of people and are having a lot of fun!!! We are moving today! So its gonna be a long but pretty fun day!! We are moving like literally 3 seconds away hahaha but still got a lot of junk to move!! So this past week it of course SNOWED! its MAY WHY ON EARTH IS IT SNOWING?!?! This is not okay because i made a promise that i would put all my winter clothes away till next winter, makes sense right? well not in wyoming hahaha but hey i made a promise so i trucked around in my short sleeve white shirt;) hahaha no but it was fun!!:) Man i love being in the outdoors! i love this back country here its so pretty and has such beautiful wildlife! i cant wait to come fish and hunt up here after the mission!!!!:) OH.....so another thing that happened hahahaha.... driving home one late night this week i was driving from Basin to thermopolis so i had to go through Worland and it was late and we were tired and we just wanted to go home so i bumped up the speed and next thing you know those lights were flashing.... They busted Swishdaddy!! haha got a nice speeding ticket and the cop toatally laughed when she saw i was from california!!! i was so mad about that! hahaha but yeah that was a bummer of the week but i guess i can laugh about it now? hahahaha Well i think im out of stories!! I put captions on all my pictures this week. I hope everybody has a great week i love and miss everyone!!!!

Love, Elder Swishdaddy

 dressed for our basketball tournament (yes we had permission)

 This is a hot spring in a members backyard. They pump this water into their swimming pool. They swim year round, even in the snow! 

 my bishop's snow cat

 sledding behind the snow cat

 this is Pete. He lives in Thermopolis. That is a pet raccoon he is carrying on his neck. It even wears a shock collar so it stays in the yard. Everyone here puts shock collars on their pets. Cats, dogs, and yes even raccoons! 

working hard tracting

 its beautiful here

This is what 90% of the roads look like here

3v3 Tourney!!!

Hello everyone,

                    The work here is going solid. So last week we decided to make a big goal. We decided to teach 30 lessons! We taught a solid 23 lessons this week falling short of my high goal of 30 but hey not to shabby! We will try again next week and see how many we can teach. 

                    So Thermopolis is a tiny town in Wyoming but one thing I have learned is this is a small world. In my ward I have made so many connections. Brother and Sister Snow's family live in Brentwood (B3), the McCarthy's, My sister's ward mission leader in Virginia has family here, and my mom says Sister Hanberg does too!! 

                So today for pday we are going to my bishop's cabin!!! Its gonna be a lot of fun! we can't drive into the cabin because there is too much snow so we have to snowshoe 2 miles to the cabin!! Its gonna be so fun! And then when we get there we get to go hike some more and go shedding. Shedding is where you find antlers that have been shed by deer. He's also gonna drive us in his snowcat. I'm pretty pumped for it! It should be a fun day! 

            Okay so here's my awesome week I had,  So we kept hearing about this 3 v 3 basketball tourney going to happen this last weekend and apparently it's a big deal and stuff. so me and my two comps went downtown and signed up for this 3v3 tourney!! This used to be the nations biggest 3 v 3 tounery!! They used to get up to 300 teams. They literally shut down all of downtown and some other streets in town and set up about 120 half courts!!!! Teams come in from Chicgago and Denver and a college from Texas! hahahaha So thank goodness we signed up for REC play not the competitve play. But still rec play had some really good ballers! So we played in our white shirts and tags with our shorts and basketball shoes! hahahahahaha we looked so funny! People were staring at us and laughing! hahahah It was awesome! so we go out there in our first game on saturday and we were thinking we were gonna get shut out but we some how pulled the worst team! haha So we whooped up on them! and being missionaries and looking like missionaries playing ball we attracted a crowd to our game so everybody was laughing cuz the "Mormons with ties could ball" hahaha! Anyway we go to play our next game and the crowd followed us and we show up to play and its a team from Denver! with all these big guys over like 6 foot 3! hahaha they looked at us and were like "ohhhh shoot boys were playin against Jesus's team ain't no way we got a chance against Jesus!" hahaha they were just super funny they were really cool guys but were really good ballers!! they beat us 16-10 but were not trying and were not sweating after the game hahaha then you look at elder swisher and I'm drenched in sweat! Then we played some other team who were good but were at the same level as us(we really weren't that bad!) so we had this battle and they ended up beatin us 16-14! So there ends "The Elders" team for 3 v 3 basketball hahahaha BUT so many people saw us it was crazy and everybody loved us after all was said and done hahaha it was a really cool experience! 

So that's about it. 30 lessons next week!!!!

Love and miss you all!!

Love Elder Swishdaddy

                

          

Jail? and face plant!

Hello Brentwood!!! Well just another awesome week in the mission field!! Lets see this week the weather has been really good except for today it is raining but I can deal with that as long as its not snow;) Its so beautiful here I love it. Well I finally have a fun story! So yesterday we get a call from somebody in our ward and she wants us to teach her daughter.... who is in jail! hahaha it was intense walking through the jail and then sitting with a phone talking through glass to someone wearing all orange! hahaha! crazy times! haha! But she was very nice and liked our message so hey it wasn't a waste! But yeah thought that was an interesting experience! Let's see so Thermopolis is getting ready for hayin season! So we were able to help clean out some barns and get things ready for the new hay! I'm excited for it, I'm sure we will be asked to help out cuttin the hay and bailin it! I've been told though that once hayin season is over the town gets pretty ugly everything turns brown and it gets hot and desserty lookin so I'm enjoying it while it lasts;) hahaha But yeah I cant believe it's almost May....Where has the time gone?! I'll be hittin my 8 month mark pretty soon and that is a scary thing! hahaha Time is goin by fast I feel like it was just yesterday I was sayin bye and headin to the MTC! oh wait I got another story! So we are walking down the street and this dog escapes his leash and bolts under this barbed wire fence and this little kid was so worried so I was thinking in my head "you can jump that fence...right?" so here's Elder Swisher (wearing pants that are a little tight because I've gained some weight) drop my stuff and try to jump this fence...... well because my pants were a little tight I couldn't get my legs over this barbed wire fence and my shins caught the fence and I face planted on the dirt..... hahahaha pride shot down hahaha So as I'm laying there with my pants and shins shredded by the this stuipid fence I watched the dog just keep on running and my companion just keep on laughing at me! haha hopefully the kid got that dumb dog back haha! so yeah needless to say white men can't jump. hahaha well I think thats all I got for y'all! Hope you have a great week and are staying warm!! I love and miss everyone!

Love, Elder Swishdaddy

smells like cow POOP!!!

Hey Brentwood!!!! Well say goodbye to Montana and say hello to Thermopolis Wyoming!!!!!!!!!! Im so pumped!!! I am in love with it down here! The people are so nice and love to just wave at us and have us do service!! So I am training a new missionary and his name is Elder Archie. He is from the LA area and has never smelt cow poop in his life...... good thing for him no matter where you go in thermopolis it smells like cow poop... I love it:) hahaha He's cool though, he's brand spankin new from the MTC  (Missionary Training Center) and was a little scared his first day but is now settling in nicely! Well I was assigned to drive a new mission truck from Billings to Thermopolis and it was such a pretty drive! Deer everywhere and antelope! There are literally rivers everywhere you look that are beggin me to fish them!! So yeah that was pretty awesome!! But yeah other than that lets seeeeee...... The wether is awesome! I forgot what the sun was like and it is feelin great on my skin!! hahah Here in Thermopolis we have several investigators and a lot of less actives we are working with, so I am excited to get to work! I hope Easter was good and that we all  are able to remember the reason of Easter! Its crazy to think of how our Savior Jesus Christ beat physical death and was resurrected. What an amazing blessing for everyone in the world no matter what religon or faith or bad or good everyone will have a perfected body. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and the example he is to me and everything he has done for me and everybody else!! Love y'all and hope its a good safe week:)

 

LOVE, Elder Swishdaddy

Free Golf!!!

Hello everyone,

So this letter is going to be short. I have an important appointment. The local golf course lets ministers golf for free on Monday's. So tee time is at 11:00!!! Well I have had a couple of great weeks. After my companion went home I was the temporary traveling AP (assistant to President). I was on the road dropping off and picking up missionaries. So for the big news....I am training again....I get my new missionary on Wednesday. And bigger news we are shotgunning (both new in the area) in.....Thermopolis Wyoming. A town of 5,000 and a lot of members there. Next week I will let you know how Wyoming is. The picture below is of Elder Evenson. I met him in my first area and we saw each other at the mission home. Friends for life. Well gotta go golf! Love and miss you all. 

Love

Elder Swishdaddy

Dog suffering from second hand smoke!!

Hello!! So this was a crazy busy week!! But was tons of fun!! We got to teach a lot of people that haven't been coming to church. We literally had no time to think this week wich is good cuz that makes things fun!! Crazy to say that next week is the new transfer!! 6 weeks has already came and past and we shall see where i end up! It sounds like i probably will be transferd...... Yet again!!! hahaha Man if i do get transferred i hope i stay in that area for a LOOOOONNNNGGG time! hahaha im getting tired of packing and unpacking haha!! So i feel bad cuz i didnt tell you all about general confrence that happened this weekend!!! So General confrence is when the prophet of god and his councilors talk to us!! It is always so powerful and you can feel the Holy Ghost so strongly!!!!! It is such a comfort to me to know that there is a prophet on earth who recieves revelation for all of us and as long as we hear his words and follow them that we are following Gods will for us. WHAT A BLESSING!!:) So I worked out for 5 days last week!!! i want to say i feel good but i just feel sore.... so i ate my sorness away with dessert last night... Cherry pie is my weakness and i may have eaten almost half a pie after dinner and then they gave the rest to me and i had some more before bed;) thats what i call "feelin good";) haha i decided ill start my diet and work outs after trsansfers.... hopefully.... hahaha ill keep you updated on that. If you start to not recognize my pictures cuz it looks like i ate myself... let me know and i will know its time to start;) Well funny story for the week.... So we go to this trailer park and knock on this door and this lady opend up and let us in. It smelled like smoke so badly that i coughed walking in...It looked like it was foggy in her trailer i could barley see her!! So anyway we are just sitting there talking to her and i hear this weird noise. I literally have never heard this noise before and i just ignored it and went on but a few seconds later it happend again and me and my companion looked at eachother hahaha so i asked her... "Umm whats that noise?" Shes like ohh thats my dog peanut! hahahahahaha i look behind the couch and this dog coughs like a human!!! like seriously the weirdest thing i have ever seen and heard!! this poor dog has second hand smoke so bad hahahaha it was crazy... maybe just one of those things you had to be there for;) hahaha well thats all i got for ya this week!! I hope you all have a great week and are safe!!:) i love and miss everybody!!!!

Love, Elder Swishdaddy

Crazy few Weeks!

Well Brentwood, Its been a crazy few weeks. My companion was sent home but its better for him to be home and get the help he needs so im grateful he's there and I pray he will be okay:) I'm grateful for the lessons he taught me. He helped me grow more than any other companion just not in the way we would excpect. I have grown now from looking back on what happened and am grateful for the struggles and trials I went through. Well enough of that.... who knows how to turn off the cold weather? I'm sick of it hahaha Montana has set a record of snow fall for themselves.... everybody here is so proud of that, why on earth is that even an accomplishment?!?!?! hahaha seriously bring on the springtime and the sun cuz this cold white stuff just aint flyin with me anymore. But i have been transffered!!! I'm still in billings but just a different ward!!! Its been so great so far!! For now im a happy camper in Billings gettin fat!! Yes ITs official..... my waste has moved from 32 inches to 34 inches..... Now thats an acomplishment!!!!!;) hahaha I keep trying to tell myself im gonna work out buuuuuuuut its not looking like its working;) i scare myself everymorning when i look in the miror before i shower hahahaha it looks like the app where you make your self look fat except i can just delete the fat picture cuz its real life.... hahahaha So i love being a missionary and i love helping other people learn about our savior. I wish everyone would pray to feel his love more abundently in their lives so they can see the happiness that comes for him! Well thats my speel for the week! I love you all and miss you all and miss brentwood!! Hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Swishdaddy