Love Wyoming!!

Hello people at home!!! so this week was pretty  fun! the AP called me and needed a comp to go to Wyoming north and south with so I got to pack up and go on a road trip and help teach other missionaires about some stuff! I stayed in a town called Basin and a town called Greybull! I loved Wyoming so much!! I can't wait to skype home on Christmas I seriously am so excited!! so just a quick letter today but I just wanted to remind everybody to keep Christ in CHRISTmas and I know as you do this that the holiday will mean so much more to you and your family and that you will definitely feel peaceful and true happiness. I love you all and I promise to write a super long letter next week to make up for this one!:) 

Shortly, Elder Swishdaddy

Hello from Shepherd!

Hello Everyone

So this week I transferred to an area called Shepherd. My address is Billings though. I have two companions. One is from Utah and one is from North Carolina. They are really cool. We are over about 5 cities. Each city has between 100 and 500 people. The areas are very rural. We drive about 150 miles a day to get to our appointments. It is exciting because I went from teaching 1 lesson a week to 24! I am learning a ton. The pictures below are a family that I loved in Great Falls and my companion from Great Falls. So my best friend Carson is serving in Georgia. His cousin is serving in my mission and we ran into each other (pic below). Well I don't have long to email anymore. We don't have wifi in the wilderness and the three of us have one computer to share for an hour. Have a great week!

Love Elder Swishdaddy

-40 degrees and pictures

TRANSFER WEEK! Well its a no longer hello from Great Falls... I'm off to a little town called Shepherd just outside of Billings! I hope it'll be good. I leave wednesday and yeah thats about all i know haha buuuut this last week well I guess it was 2 weeks ago I just forgot to tell you guys, so we went out to a tiny town called Ulm and we helped fix up a chicken coop and help clean their horses and burn a bunch of burn piles. So that was really fun! thats the kinda work I was expecting to do coming to montana! haha I loved it:) but this week... weeellll it was in the negatives ALL WEEK!!! but on tuesday and wednesday we shoveled like 10 driveways... I was sore, I'm glad I never had to do that growing up hahaha but then the rest of the week was -40s hahah soooooooo cold it literally hurt to be outside!! So we had to stay inside for 3 days straight.... I was going crazy being in a small room for that long!! haha but on friday we had our ward christmas party and that was fun we got to eat a lot and talk to everyone it was really fun!:) The hunting season is over so we havn't seen deer tied on cars and hanging out of truck beds so that is not as fun to drive around anymore hahahaha but yeah thats about it from me! so next time I write you I will be in Shepherd Montana! Wish me luck!!:) I love all of you have a great week!!:)

much love, elder swishdaddy

Elk!! Yum!!

hello from Great Falls!! well it was a good week! thanksgiving was fun! We got invited to eat at 3 family's houses.... I thought I was going to die!!! and then we got invited to another 4 family's for dessert! and holy cow i have never eaten so much pie in my life!!! But we all know i love pie so i was in heaven. We had a sweet turkey bowl, i'm so out of shape i thought for sure i was gonna get hurt haha but it was fun to get out and play. On wendsday i had food poisoning or something cuz i was up all night throwing up, we had lasgana that tasted like it was freezer burned and had been made 20 years ago and i barley made it to the car before i puked hahaha. But we keep getting Deer steaks from people and last night we had Elk tacos!!!! Elk is bomb.com!!!! way better than deer. but yeah the weather this week is looking BAD!!! on thurseday we have a high of -2 hahaha with out wind chill!!! im gonna literally freeze. ill be missing california weather for sure this week!! ummm lets seeeee well you would think cuz of the holiday season people would be nicer to us... think again haha people are even more mean it seems like!! hahaha i think the door was slammed in my face a total like 8 times just this week. But hey ive learned to just laugh...kinda... okay not really i still get mad but i need to get better at not getting mad!! But yeah people are hard to catch here because they are always out hunting or ice fishing haha but thats okay cuz when we do catch them i have plenty to relate with them! i just relized my letters are like all over the place haha i dont stay on topic for very long so sorry if they dont make sense!! We all know how my english grades were in school...;) hahaha well thats about it from me hopefully i have some sweet stories for you guys next week so i dont bore you guys to death!! I love you guys and miss you!! see yall in 21 months!!!:)

much love, Elder Swishdaddy

Go Grizz!!!

Hello everyone
This is a short letter.....But this week we worked a lot of hours at a soup kitchen. I love service!!! So I have a new holiday. Me and Elder Evensen named it Griz Day! That is the day when Montana State plays plays the University of Montana Grizzlies. We decided we are Grizzly fans. So we bought Grizz t-shirts and wore them under our suits!! hahaha We are teaching a handful of people. It is exciting! Hopefully they will keep their baptism dates. So have a happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Miss you all!

Love Elder Swishdaddy

Snoring like a jet plane...

Hey!!! So we had an awesome week!!!! Well actually didnt start off so hot, so we had to house these two other missionaries, hahahah they are funny guys but then when they fell asleep.... i swear it sounded like jet airplanes flying through the room!!!!! Me and my companion could not fall asleep!!!! it was awful hahaha so finally at 1:15 AM i told my companion i was going to sleep in the bathroom hahaha we had to get up early the next morning and i had to drive to Helena, so i go into the bathroom and i finally fall asleep on the nice cold tial and then i hear the door open and my companion walks in and lays down hahahaha we both slept in the bathroom... worst night sleep ever but probably looked really funny. So the next day we had meetings in Helena which is boring... but the drive is beautiful we have to drive through this canyon and its awesome after we drove through it i thought man everybody back home would love to see this... but you know me i totally forgot to take pictures soooo just use your imagination hahaha:) but yeah then we got to teach our investagators and we put them on date to be baptized!! it was awesome!!!:) oh and this week i discoverd that Almond Joys are not just for old people, my whole life ive assumed that only old people eat them but HECK no they are awesome im gonna get so fat just from eating almond joys and huckleberry stuff haha. TURKEY KILL IS THIS SATURDAY:( first time i will have missed it my whole life!!!!!!! Man first thing i do when i come home in 21 and half months is kill a turkey hahaha so you guys better kill some turkeys for me!!! Im expecting Klint and the Babos to take care of my job for me;) hahaha The pictures with the boxes are from a night when we couldn't leave the apartment because of a storm so we made up our own games to play! well i love you guys and i miss everybody and i hope all you mean people are enjoyinmg the sun while its freezing here! hahah have a good week everybody!!!:):):):):)

Much love, Elder Swishdaddy

Pictures!!!

Brad was sick this week and did not write a letter for the blog. But a wonderful woman that checks in on him and makes sure he is taken care of sent these pictures to me. Made my day! Enjoy!
Much love
Tara

Free Hot Chocolate!!!

HELLO!!! So pretty boring week! We are trying to find contacts so we had a free hot chocolate stand trying to meet people. We thought no one noticed but our zone leader said he had a handful of people ask about it! It snowed again last night and my companion likes to sleep with the window open so I'm freezing at night. I sleep with hand warmers everywhere and like 5 blankets! We also cut wood a lot for service here. Saturday we cut wood for like 5 hours! Me and another elder broke 3 axes so we got demoted to wood stackers. I felt terrible! Football is huge here. Friday night was the cross town rivalry football game. No one was home everyone was at the game. One game we worked the snack bar for service. Coffee was on the menu and no one knew how to make coffee....except me. My grandma Swisher taught me to make coffee for her when I was little! haha So who knew it would come in handy on the mission!! Next week will be awesome!! haha love you guys!!! 

Much Love, Elder Swisher

Blizzard and Pictures!

HOWDY!! soooo i represented Swisher Cement this week i got to help pour a slab of concrete for a shed or something and they were shocked i knew how to edge and float! haha it was hilarious! So yeah its BUTT COLD here!! As we speak its a blizzard outside haha its insane! its not California thats forsure! Elder Brock is from Arizona so we are both freezing out here! Driving in the snow.... its weird hahaha i drive like crazy slow so it takes forever to get places but its pretty sick when you slide and kinda just have no control haha its like mudding but cold. haha freezing cold! hahaha but yeah just doing the same thing trying to find people and chopping a lot of wood for people!! im trying to get the nickname started "The Lumberjack" catchy huh? yeah if only i could grow a beard it would be real hahaha but yeah its good im working a lot cuz if i didnt i would be fat as heck... i eat way to much... but yeah found out i can wear my cowboy boots when i do service so im gonna need my momma send them to me!! oh yeah minor detail... We got IPADS!! its so sick, we have a bunch of videos now and if somebody lives far away we can facetime them and teach them its sweet!! but i had a problem at home with breaking my iphone so im trying to be extra carefull and not break it haha that would stink!! but yeah thats about it from me in montana! hope you guys are warm... cuz IM NOT!!!! hahaha have a good week i miss everybody and my home but hey only 22 more months hahaha love you guys!!!!

love, elder swish daddy

AWKWARD....

HELLO!!!!!! I hope my sister is like spell checking all of my stuff cuz yeah you guys know me;) hahaha but the mission life is AMAZING!!! Im loving everyday out here! Me and elder Brock have a couple investagators! its crazy how you grow to love the people you teach even when you are just spending a couple of hours with them a week! our baptisim this saturday bailed on us....:( they saud they wernt ready for it, but im still gonna bug them every week until they feel ready;) haha ive come to except that as a missionary EVERYTHING is awkward hahaha like seriously they should put that in your call letter! But i have learned to love the awkwardness because well i dont know but missionarys here live for the awkward momments haha But yeah life is good and the weather is warm today cuz Montana weather is bipolar and cant make up its mind if its winter or summer! haha but its beautiful and i love it here!!:) hope all is well back at home i love you guys!!!!!!<3

Love,

Elder Swish Daddy

Emergency Transfer!!!!

Hello everybody at home!!! 

So mission life is crazy! Never know whats gonna happen!! We had an emergency transfer this week!! So my trainer got sent to Billings and now my companion is Elder Brock!!! We were in the MTC together! We are like brothers its awesome I love this guy!! So yeah we are training each other cuz his trainer got moved as well! So we are really excited to be together!! We are working hard and the days are already flying by!! The weather here is insane..... it can go from 20 degress to 65 degrees in a couple of hours!! Its so bipolar its nuts!! I'm ready for the snow though... Bring it on!!!!! hahaha not really, me and elder brock are not excited to freeze our butts off even more than we already are! haha But yeah I love the people here in Great Falls they take really good care of us and feed us most of the time... hahaha me and elder Brock got some intresting looks the other day, we were outside the grocery store eating fried chicken on a bench and as people were driving by they were staring at us like "what the heck?!" haha it was great we were dying laughing! haha we have been trying to find as many people as we can but its weird cuz we are both new and are training together. we kinda just wing it and see how it plays out hahaha sometimes good....sometimes not so much. but thats okay we are learning a lot together so its good!!! Well thats all from Elder swish daddy! i love you guys!!! stay warm for me... ;) haha

love, Elder Swisher

I even like my v-neck sweaters!

Another week in great falls was good as always!!! cant complain living the mission life!:)  a lot of service this past week! which is always fun!! i get made fun of being from california and wearing my wranglers hahaha but its all good i love these people here they love to joke around a lot like me so we bond pretty well!:) Its crazy that ive only been out for a month!! its gone by really fast!!! Ummm ITS BUTT COLD here!! hahaha im like layring up with all my clothes... yes even my v neck sweaters have become my best friends hahaha but itll go from freezing to 70 degrees overnight!! its crazy! haha But yeah confrence this weekend was CRAZY good!!!! Maybe cuz its the first one ive stayed awake 100%

through hahahaha now i know what ive been missin out on all these years!! haha we had an investagator drop us this week cuz hes moving to canada to be closer to his CFL team! haha so that was a bummer but thats just how missionary life goes i guess!! so we will just have to work harder to find more people!:) well i know im terrible at writting long updates so i apologize!! haha but i love you all and hope everybody has a great week!!:)

Love,
Elder Swisher

Huckleberry! YUM!!

Heloo people back in brentwood!!!! Man Montana is great! Im doing great and i am very happy!!! Theres nothing id rather be doing than serving the Lord!!:) Well, its freezing here to start!! im all bundled up with whatever clothes i can find!!! haha And the people here just laugh at me and tell me to get ready... that scares me a little bit!! haha but its great the people here are awesome and treat us really good!! They feed us a lot of food... dad might be right on me coming back fat:( hahaha so have you heard of Huckleberry?!?!?!?!?! ITS THE BEST!!! They have huckleberry everything!!! Ive had huckleberry pancakes and shakes and ice cream!! haha ill send some home cuz its the bomb!!! Um there are TONS of dogs here! like every house has at least 2 giant dogs haha they dont like missionarys very much... haha but ive only gotten bit once so far so thats good;) haha but yeah so one of our investagators came to church sunday!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!! haha it was the best feeling ever to see him smile and feel the spirit! Hes getting baptized on october 26th!! so im pumped for that and so is he he never stops talking about it! haha:) We are on an egg nog kick! weve had 4 cartins of egg nog in the past week! haha umm im excited for Christmas so i can skype home!!!!:) but yeah thats the life of Elder swisher right now!!:) I love you all and cant wait to see you guys in 23 months!!!!

love,

elder swish daddy

First Week in Montana!

So I'm in Great Falls Montana!!! Its one of their bigger cities...:/ so not the little country town that I wanted! but it's still awesome here!!! I love everyday! Me and my comp have a butt load of investagators and we teach them often!!! and we have a lot a lot a lot of less actives that we have had to work on! we have one of our investigators set with a baptisim date in october so hopefully it comes through and me and my comp can get our first baptisim! ummm well mission life is awesome and the people here are loving and caring and definitely make you feel at home!:) I'm on a bike and its actually kinda fun riding! haha and probably good so I don't get hecka fat!! But yeah thats all I got for you this week! well since I havn't been here for a full week even I'm pretty boring;) haha love you guys!!

love,

Elder Swisher (swishdaddy)

Pictures from the MTC (missionary training center)

Brad arrived in Billings today! Can't wait to hear from him next week. These are the pictures from the MTC that he emailed to us! These are the missionaries in his District.