One year from today!!! 7/14/2014

This is a BAT we ate..... Haha Nasty!

Well my family, another week passed and guess what that means! I come home a year from today!! Can you believe it! I sure cant! Well This week wasn't as eventful but there was a miracle or two! We weren't able to teach Saane and her family but we are going there tonight to teach! But we were able to get Sione and Fe'ofa'aki! They are both visiting from Tonga. Sione is 20 and is Catholic. His older brother is the only member of the church in their family and served a mission! So we have been teaching him! This is my experience with him.

My spiritual experience this week came while teaching a 20 year old boy about the Word of Wisdom! We had already taught him the first and second lesson but a few days after that we saw him really drunk. It broke our hearts because he didn't recognize us! But after seeing this we decided the next lesson we would teach would be the Lea oe Poto! Well He took it well! When we asked him if he would live with the word of wisdom he said, "Can I smoke one more cigarette tonight?" my comp said "No, think of it this way. If God gave you a gift would you trash it and throw it around and leave it outside??" He said no. "Then why would you want to do that with your body? Remember from the last lesson how we taught you your body is a temple and that it's a gift from God?" He said yes. then my comp went on and said "why would you want to trash it one more time?" Then I asked again "will you live with the word of wisdom?" He still had no idea so we asked if we could say a prayer and ask for strength and help! He agreed and I asked if he would say it! The spirit entered the room and everyone could feel it! I asked him again. He took 2 min to think then said "Yes, I'll just eat this banana!" haha. Then I said it's all your agency, but we are only here to help you, would it be okay if we took any cigarettes or alcohol that is in the house that may tempt you? He said yes and gave me a full pack of cigarettes and I DESTROYED THEM!!!!! Teaching this lesson taught me so much and it was a personal experience as I felt I was talking to someone I know and love! I know that Alcohol, Kava, and drugs of any kind are taking peoples lives. Not necessarily death, but their money, time and families. It's sad, but seeing this small miracle of one 20 year old boy making a decision and sticking to it is amazing! It is not impossible. There is a way out. Every door has an exit! Some find it easier than others. But I promise that there is an exit! After a few days a member told me that he was offered a cigarette by a members husband. He took it, but rather than smoking it, he threw it in the bushes!

God is here to help us in all our trials! He loves us and wants us to be happy! Some think the Gospel is hard when in reality It's the only intelligent thing to live by. The Gospel isn't hard. Life is. The things the world puts out, is hard! But with the help of God we can make it through any obstacle Satan gives us!

"Oh how blessed are we to have the never-dimming, always-glowing hope and the eternal knowledge that belongs to us and that we share with the world, that the Gospel has been restored on earth, that God lives, that Jesus is his Son, our brother, our mediator, with the Father, our Lord and our Savior, God's greatest gift to us." President Monson.

It was a good week and we are looking forward to baptizing Sione Ahovelu and Tolokina this Friday!

I love you all,

Elder Swan