Zdravstvuitye Cemyu!
So It's hard to imagine that I've been here for nine weeks... Yeah, it feels like nine weeks... but it also feels like I shouldn't be leaving in three. Wooh! The MTC flies by when you have new elders in your language! It is honestly so much fun!! All of our new elders are so great!! haha! I love them! It's really funny because they look up to us as the "older districts" and consequently, they all feel as though we are older people, but in reality, some of them are older than I am.
Hmmm... I don't really know what to write about this week. I saw a kid shove ten bowls of lettuce down his pants at lunch. He didn't think anyone was looking... the MTC does weird things to people. My russian in coming along fine. I'm not really good at it or anything, but I'll survive in Russia. Oh man, I'm soo excited to get out of here! I should be getting my flight plans next week and my Russian name tags as well! Things are actually starting to wrap up. My teachers are incredible! I'm so totally getting in touch with them after I get back! Also, I'm so excited to talk to people in Russian when I get back!! I'm not getting trunky or anything, don't worry! It's just an exciting thought! *(Seriously Destin? You're still in the MTC, you've got a LONG way to go)*
Let me think... Oh, before I forget! This message is to Erika Handley! I need you to write me with an address that is where you will be living this next year at BYU, I'm not sure if you're still living at that one place or not anymore, so I don't want to send my letter there! So hurry and write me and tell me your address that you'll have for the next year so your letters don't get sent to some creepo freshman who thinks I'm in love with her or something! I chose to tell you this because you're the most responsible... well, maybe Kristi... as long as she's not too hyper or something. anyway, I just want to be able to write you guys without having to worry if my letters are getting to you!
So one of our last devotional talks that we had talked about this little boy who was walking along with his dad through a canyon or something like that. I can't remember exactly how it the story goes, but the little boy stumbles or is startled and yells out. After a moment, he hears someone else yell out. Surprised and curious, he yells again. Sure enough, he hears a shout come back at him. The little boy shouts "Who are you?" And receives "Who are you?" back in response. "I asked you first!" The little boy shouts back. "I asked you first!" He receives. Frustrated, the little boy shouts "Coward!" And the voice shouts back "Coward!" Finally he looks up at his father. "Dad, what is going on?" The father smiles at his son and shouts "You're wonderful." After a moment "You're wonderful." comes back. "Have a nice day!" "Have a nice day!" The father again looks at his son and gives these wise words. "People call it an 'echo' but really, it's just life. Everything you receive in this life depends on what you give." I loved this story. I had never heard it before, but it's so true! Our life is merely a reflection our our actions. What we say and do will determine many of the blessings we receive in this life and even more of the blessings in the life to come. Really, this story helped build my testimony of obedience. Those who think they can break the rules and still receive the blessings that others receive who are obedient simply do not understand what an echo is. If you are being unfair to God by taking shortcuts or doing things your way, do not expect life to treat you any differently. When you stay up past 10:30 every night, you might be irritating your neighbors, which may cause them to not be as nice to you in the coming days. Haha! I'm not bitter...
Anyways, I must take flight! Soon quite literally! I love you all!
CT. Swartz!
Elder Swartz
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Letter #7
Hey Cemyu!
Tak Shto, this week NEW ELDERS CAME!!!!! YES!!! And, I got to HOST Elder Brandon Warner!! It was the best!!! I love that Elder! He was really nervous, but seemed to be doing just fine! I'll help him out! (Don't worry Chelsi, he's in good hands!) Mom, that sounds really exciting that you get to eat tiger or rattlesnake or whatever... I hope it tastes good...? haha! My laundry soap is working fine! Thanks so much for it! This past week has been great! I got to say goodbye to some of my favorite Russian elders and Japanese elders. Soon, I'll be the one receiving the goodbyes!! I'm starting my eighth week today!! Wow. Oh, and I see Kristen Nelson (Spellcheck?) Every wednesday! It makes my day!! I really love it! I'll try to get pictures with the people I have yet to obtain pictures with yet and send them home! I really don't know what to talk about this week... Oh! Matt Christensen sang at the devotional in front of the entire MTC and he was AMAZING!! The speaker was so touched by his song and I was too. Afterwards we just talked and we bore our testimonies to each other. I'll miss seeing him. Haha! That Elder is the best! Elder Payne and Elder Collinsworth left this week as well. That was sad. But I'm so happy that they are finally out of here! The MTC for 14 weeks is too much.
So this week, We were learning about teaching people not lessons and I thought that was a way cool idea. It should be so obvious, but all too often it is so easy to forget. My investigator that I am teaching, his name is Slava, he is having a really tough time with drugs and stuff and even though he's not a real investigator, we are still expected to be able to discern his needs. This is not an easy thing to do. so we asked our teacher and he explained to us the importance of teaching people not lessons. The first part of this is: 1) asking inspired questions. He said that while he was in the field, they had these exercises where one person would be the missionaries would have another person next to them who periodically would tell them "Stop. Ask an inspired question." The missionary would sit in complete silence until they felt an inspired question. Many times they would ask a question to break the silence, but it was obvious when that was the case, so the person acting as the spirit would say "No. Stop. Ask an inspired question." They would wait for minutes at a time, but when the question came, it would typically be simple, but it would throw the investigator for a loop. The next part is to 2) LISTEN!! So often we are worried at what we will say next or we think that we have an answer to what we assume is their questionand we fail to truly listen. But If we listen, they will ALWAYS reveal something about themselves and what they need. This is where 3) Discernment comes in. This can be one of the most difficult gifts to have as a missionary, but if we follow the first two steps of teaching people, not lessons, discernment is already set up for us. If you have asked an inspired question and have truly listened to what they have told you, it will be SO much easier to distinguish the needs that they have from what they say. The spirit will always help you with this. The last part is 4) teach doctrine. Take what you know about them and what they need and teach them a FUNDAMENTAL, SIMPLE doctrine from the gospel. This should be the easy part! Well, anyway. I'm out of time! I love you all! Say hi to my friends and tell them I love them!
Tak Shto, this week NEW ELDERS CAME!!!!! YES!!! And, I got to HOST Elder Brandon Warner!! It was the best!!! I love that Elder! He was really nervous, but seemed to be doing just fine! I'll help him out! (Don't worry Chelsi, he's in good hands!) Mom, that sounds really exciting that you get to eat tiger or rattlesnake or whatever... I hope it tastes good...? haha! My laundry soap is working fine! Thanks so much for it! This past week has been great! I got to say goodbye to some of my favorite Russian elders and Japanese elders. Soon, I'll be the one receiving the goodbyes!! I'm starting my eighth week today!! Wow. Oh, and I see Kristen Nelson (Spellcheck?) Every wednesday! It makes my day!! I really love it! I'll try to get pictures with the people I have yet to obtain pictures with yet and send them home! I really don't know what to talk about this week... Oh! Matt Christensen sang at the devotional in front of the entire MTC and he was AMAZING!! The speaker was so touched by his song and I was too. Afterwards we just talked and we bore our testimonies to each other. I'll miss seeing him. Haha! That Elder is the best! Elder Payne and Elder Collinsworth left this week as well. That was sad. But I'm so happy that they are finally out of here! The MTC for 14 weeks is too much.
So this week, We were learning about teaching people not lessons and I thought that was a way cool idea. It should be so obvious, but all too often it is so easy to forget. My investigator that I am teaching, his name is Slava, he is having a really tough time with drugs and stuff and even though he's not a real investigator, we are still expected to be able to discern his needs. This is not an easy thing to do. so we asked our teacher and he explained to us the importance of teaching people not lessons. The first part of this is: 1) asking inspired questions. He said that while he was in the field, they had these exercises where one person would be the missionaries would have another person next to them who periodically would tell them "Stop. Ask an inspired question." The missionary would sit in complete silence until they felt an inspired question. Many times they would ask a question to break the silence, but it was obvious when that was the case, so the person acting as the spirit would say "No. Stop. Ask an inspired question." They would wait for minutes at a time, but when the question came, it would typically be simple, but it would throw the investigator for a loop. The next part is to 2) LISTEN!! So often we are worried at what we will say next or we think that we have an answer to what we assume is their questionand we fail to truly listen. But If we listen, they will ALWAYS reveal something about themselves and what they need. This is where 3) Discernment comes in. This can be one of the most difficult gifts to have as a missionary, but if we follow the first two steps of teaching people, not lessons, discernment is already set up for us. If you have asked an inspired question and have truly listened to what they have told you, it will be SO much easier to distinguish the needs that they have from what they say. The spirit will always help you with this. The last part is 4) teach doctrine. Take what you know about them and what they need and teach them a FUNDAMENTAL, SIMPLE doctrine from the gospel. This should be the easy part! Well, anyway. I'm out of time! I love you all! Say hi to my friends and tell them I love them!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Letter #6
Hey Cemyu! (yeah, that's family)
Okay, Rachel, just email me because I keep forgetting to bring your email address with me to send this letter! haha! So if you just send me an email, it would be a lot easier.
So the other day, there was a speaker and he spoke a bit about the parable of the talents and how just because you come into the field as a 5 talent missionary, you don't have room to relax. The missionaries who come in with 1 and 2 talents and leave with 2 and 4 are more pleasing to God than a 5 talent missionary who leaves with 8. I'm not sure how much I agree with that if you get into the technicalities of it, but I love the idea of it. I decided to finish out my mission as a twenty talent missionary! To do the best I can to please the Lord and grow and better myself while I am on my mission! I was also thinking about Charity. We had a lesson on it on sunday and I had been inspired to already be pondering it for a while before the lesson. Charity is sooo vital! It is what turns a member into a saint. A person into an angel. With out charity, no good would ever be done! "Hope hopeth, Faith believeth, but Charity? Charity acts." Oh! That is so great! Charity is that force that proves you love God! It reminds me of something I heard in my New Testament class with Brother Moore. There was a poem, or something... anyway it went something like "I was naked and you told me you were sorry for me. I was hungry, and you thanked the Lord for your food. I was sick and you prayed for me." If any of you could find this (Lindsey, you might remember.) That would be so great! It is such a powerful reminder that without charity, we are not Christ-like. Have all the hope and faith you want, without Charity, you are nothing. For Charity never faileth! So those were the thoughts I was having this past week. But even with all of those thoughts, I'm still terrible at really being edified! The night I had really pondered about these things, I, for whatever reason, was getting really annoyed with my companion. It was soooo stupid! He was telling me a spiritual thought and all I could think about was how annoying his voice was!! How terrible is that!? I knew I was wrong, so afterwards, I prayed to Heavenly Father and told Him I knew I was wrong and asked Him to help me come out of the irritation that had overtaken my emotions The Lord very clearly told me to go to where I was reading in the Book of Mormon and pick up from there. He told me my answer was waiting for me there. It was so clear that was what I was supposed to do, but I didn't understand why. Nothing what I was reading about at the time had anything to do with what I was experiencing. But I read and no joke, After reading for like five minutes I came upon Ether 12:35 (and the verses preceding it) It's Moroni talking about how he was worried that the gentiles would mock him, not for his words and their meaning, but for simply they way he wrote and the awkwardness of his words. But the Lord reassures him and Moroni says what he says in verse 35!! I'll let you look it up, but it was totally the Lord speaking directly to me! I was totally being like the gentiles!! I was annoyed at my companion not for his words, simple the way he spoke! Just earlier that day I had a set a goal to be a twenty talent missionary and to be more charitable and by that night, the Lord is chastising me and warning me to be more charitable or else he'll take the talents that I have and give them to someone else more worthy! What a straight and narrow path! What a strong and piercingly specific answer! I have so much I need to work on! But that's good right? I can't quadruple my investment for the Lord if I've got everything going for me already, right? I need to be less prideful.
Mom, My sheets are fine, thanks for checking. I love you all! The MTC Is great! I'm so excited for the New Russians to come in! They got delayed a week, so they aren't coming until next week, so that's a bummer, but whatever! More time to become more intimidatingly mediocre at the language! Love you all!
Elder Swartz!
Okay, Rachel, just email me because I keep forgetting to bring your email address with me to send this letter! haha! So if you just send me an email, it would be a lot easier.
So the other day, there was a speaker and he spoke a bit about the parable of the talents and how just because you come into the field as a 5 talent missionary, you don't have room to relax. The missionaries who come in with 1 and 2 talents and leave with 2 and 4 are more pleasing to God than a 5 talent missionary who leaves with 8. I'm not sure how much I agree with that if you get into the technicalities of it, but I love the idea of it. I decided to finish out my mission as a twenty talent missionary! To do the best I can to please the Lord and grow and better myself while I am on my mission! I was also thinking about Charity. We had a lesson on it on sunday and I had been inspired to already be pondering it for a while before the lesson. Charity is sooo vital! It is what turns a member into a saint. A person into an angel. With out charity, no good would ever be done! "Hope hopeth, Faith believeth, but Charity? Charity acts." Oh! That is so great! Charity is that force that proves you love God! It reminds me of something I heard in my New Testament class with Brother Moore. There was a poem, or something... anyway it went something like "I was naked and you told me you were sorry for me. I was hungry, and you thanked the Lord for your food. I was sick and you prayed for me." If any of you could find this (Lindsey, you might remember.) That would be so great! It is such a powerful reminder that without charity, we are not Christ-like. Have all the hope and faith you want, without Charity, you are nothing. For Charity never faileth! So those were the thoughts I was having this past week. But even with all of those thoughts, I'm still terrible at really being edified! The night I had really pondered about these things, I, for whatever reason, was getting really annoyed with my companion. It was soooo stupid! He was telling me a spiritual thought and all I could think about was how annoying his voice was!! How terrible is that!? I knew I was wrong, so afterwards, I prayed to Heavenly Father and told Him I knew I was wrong and asked Him to help me come out of the irritation that had overtaken my emotions The Lord very clearly told me to go to where I was reading in the Book of Mormon and pick up from there. He told me my answer was waiting for me there. It was so clear that was what I was supposed to do, but I didn't understand why. Nothing what I was reading about at the time had anything to do with what I was experiencing. But I read and no joke, After reading for like five minutes I came upon Ether 12:35 (and the verses preceding it) It's Moroni talking about how he was worried that the gentiles would mock him, not for his words and their meaning, but for simply they way he wrote and the awkwardness of his words. But the Lord reassures him and Moroni says what he says in verse 35!! I'll let you look it up, but it was totally the Lord speaking directly to me! I was totally being like the gentiles!! I was annoyed at my companion not for his words, simple the way he spoke! Just earlier that day I had a set a goal to be a twenty talent missionary and to be more charitable and by that night, the Lord is chastising me and warning me to be more charitable or else he'll take the talents that I have and give them to someone else more worthy! What a straight and narrow path! What a strong and piercingly specific answer! I have so much I need to work on! But that's good right? I can't quadruple my investment for the Lord if I've got everything going for me already, right? I need to be less prideful.
Mom, My sheets are fine, thanks for checking. I love you all! The MTC Is great! I'm so excited for the New Russians to come in! They got delayed a week, so they aren't coming until next week, so that's a bummer, but whatever! More time to become more intimidatingly mediocre at the language! Love you all!
Elder Swartz!
Letter #5
Hey! Cemyu!
Okay, so I know I'm not going to be answering a lot of questions in this email because I logged on to my email and realized that I didn't have my notebook with me of things I was going to write! So, Sorry Rachel, I'll get you on this email next time! So... This week has been very different. I got released as district leader and my companion was called as the new one. haha! He sure buckled down on everyone! At first I was really worried that the elders were just going to be really irritated with him and not listen to anything he said, but the spirit of the Lord was truly behind his corrections and while they were all annoyed with him slightly, they knew in their hearts that what he had to say was true. He's an incredible District Leader! Much more than I was! It made me jealous a bit because He was able to learn about our district before hand and understands it's needs, where as I was thrown into it the second day, not knowing how anyone would think of me, and not knowing the district at all. But whatevs. I'm just happy that our district might actually change for the better!
So on Saturday, The former President of Ukraine came to the MTC. Not mission president. Just president. I can't remember his name, but anyway. He came and talked with the 4 Ukrainian speaking elders. Just him, his wife, a member of the seventy, and them! Isn't that so incredible! Not only that, it was a personal little discussion with him, not just some formal conference. They weren't allowed to give him a book of mormon or anything, but they said that when they were sharing their testimonies, everyone was crying. Including him! He also took a little phrase book from the Elders that essentially has the essentials from preach my gospel translated to Ukrainian. He said he wanted to use it to learn english. I hope he learns a lot more from it though. So that was cool.
So, I had an interesting thought about the atonement the other day. If any of you have already thought of this, congratulations. I hadn't. haha! So I was reading in 2 Nephi 9:7 and it talks about the atonement and how it's required to be infinite. And this entire... I don't know... Thing just hit me! So as a missionary, we wear upon our chests the name of Jesus Christ. We do that becuase we are, in a way, types or shadows of him, if you will. As a type or shadow of Christ, Our mission symbolizes his mission on this earth. We are to follow his example. This mission will, if we're doing it right, bring us higher and lower than we've ever felt before in our lives. It is when we are at the lowest of lows (rejected and despised by the people you're supposed to love, pleading with our heavenly father for one of his children that we have come to know and can see are struggling, etc) that we touch upon the atonement. That right there, to me, is incredible!! For man to have the privilege to touch upon the atonement! I hope this is makng sense. Think with me for a moment. If you take infinity and divide it into an infinite number of pieces, you end up with each piece being just as big, just as infinite as the sum of their parts! For a man, such a crude, carnal, and finite being, to be able to touch upon the infinite is such a blessing because the part we touch, that infinitely small portion we are able to comprehend of Christ's atonement is infinite in of itself! The atonement is when the finite is able to partake of the infinite. As a missionary, I am able to touch and undersland a sliver of infinity. I am able to become a part of Eternal. A part of Forever. A part of God. That to me is incredible!
Shoot, I have no time! I love you all so much! I'm sorry I wasn't able to really address anything that anyone wanted me to be able to this week! I'll try to answer your questions next time! Or maybe in a letter home. Oh! Tiffany Jonson says hi and that she loves you! I see her oft.
Love, CT. Swartz
PS: I have to get a shot that's 90$ Ugh! The Hep A&B Shot. Not pretty. It'll be near the end of my stay her, but I thought I would let you know!
Okay, so I know I'm not going to be answering a lot of questions in this email because I logged on to my email and realized that I didn't have my notebook with me of things I was going to write! So, Sorry Rachel, I'll get you on this email next time! So... This week has been very different. I got released as district leader and my companion was called as the new one. haha! He sure buckled down on everyone! At first I was really worried that the elders were just going to be really irritated with him and not listen to anything he said, but the spirit of the Lord was truly behind his corrections and while they were all annoyed with him slightly, they knew in their hearts that what he had to say was true. He's an incredible District Leader! Much more than I was! It made me jealous a bit because He was able to learn about our district before hand and understands it's needs, where as I was thrown into it the second day, not knowing how anyone would think of me, and not knowing the district at all. But whatevs. I'm just happy that our district might actually change for the better!
So on Saturday, The former President of Ukraine came to the MTC. Not mission president. Just president. I can't remember his name, but anyway. He came and talked with the 4 Ukrainian speaking elders. Just him, his wife, a member of the seventy, and them! Isn't that so incredible! Not only that, it was a personal little discussion with him, not just some formal conference. They weren't allowed to give him a book of mormon or anything, but they said that when they were sharing their testimonies, everyone was crying. Including him! He also took a little phrase book from the Elders that essentially has the essentials from preach my gospel translated to Ukrainian. He said he wanted to use it to learn english. I hope he learns a lot more from it though. So that was cool.
So, I had an interesting thought about the atonement the other day. If any of you have already thought of this, congratulations. I hadn't. haha! So I was reading in 2 Nephi 9:7 and it talks about the atonement and how it's required to be infinite. And this entire... I don't know... Thing just hit me! So as a missionary, we wear upon our chests the name of Jesus Christ. We do that becuase we are, in a way, types or shadows of him, if you will. As a type or shadow of Christ, Our mission symbolizes his mission on this earth. We are to follow his example. This mission will, if we're doing it right, bring us higher and lower than we've ever felt before in our lives. It is when we are at the lowest of lows (rejected and despised by the people you're supposed to love, pleading with our heavenly father for one of his children that we have come to know and can see are struggling, etc) that we touch upon the atonement. That right there, to me, is incredible!! For man to have the privilege to touch upon the atonement! I hope this is makng sense. Think with me for a moment. If you take infinity and divide it into an infinite number of pieces, you end up with each piece being just as big, just as infinite as the sum of their parts! For a man, such a crude, carnal, and finite being, to be able to touch upon the infinite is such a blessing because the part we touch, that infinitely small portion we are able to comprehend of Christ's atonement is infinite in of itself! The atonement is when the finite is able to partake of the infinite. As a missionary, I am able to touch and undersland a sliver of infinity. I am able to become a part of Eternal. A part of Forever. A part of God. That to me is incredible!
Shoot, I have no time! I love you all so much! I'm sorry I wasn't able to really address anything that anyone wanted me to be able to this week! I'll try to answer your questions next time! Or maybe in a letter home. Oh! Tiffany Jonson says hi and that she loves you! I see her oft.
Love, CT. Swartz
PS: I have to get a shot that's 90$ Ugh! The Hep A&B Shot. Not pretty. It'll be near the end of my stay her, but I thought I would let you know!
Letter #4
Hola Mi Cemyu!
I really appreciated your spiritual thought mom! That's great that Dad spoke in Sacrament Meeting! And I'm glad to hear that sister Johnson's Farewell went well! I've been looking for her today, I'll probably see her a lot, That's what I'm hoping at least. We're both here for so long, you know? Also, Matt came in today too!! Well, at least I think he did... haha! So, woohoo! I'll be looking for him every moment I breathe. I met a sister that could very easily in his district, so I told her to say hi if that's how it ends up! It sounds like everything is sooo great at home! I'm glad that Life is going well for Maddy and Boston! And I'm glad that you have been having so much fun with them! So I get released from being D.L. on sunday! Sad because I won't be able to serve the elders in my district in the way I have been for the past four weeks, but happy because I will have a load taken off my back!! It'll be nice!
So I've been becoming much better friends with the "older" Russian missionaries this week and it has been so great! I can't believe I didn't let my self bond with them like this before! I guess I was just intimidated by them. But I've been having so much fun with them lately, and they're all so willing to help! It's going to be weird in two weeks when WE'RE going to be the older ones!! Crazy how fast time flies by here! Oh, also! I think you'll be happy to hear this! So the Russian's and the Italians pretty much are clumped together for EVERYTHING! Which is soooo great because Sister Nilson's (Katie Nilson) classroom is pretty much right next door to mine. Also, we play volleyball everyday together! It's so much fun! I love seeing her around and having the exact same schedule as her!
I saw grandma this week! She's probably told you all about it, but I thought I would mention it. I'll probably try to see her next week if I can, but no promises or anything. In fact, if you could tell her to stay until 12:30 so I could come and see her, that would be great! Just in case I couldn't escape class. Also, could you give me Rachel's email address so that I can email these directly to her? Also, another question: So there's this pioneer story about these saints who were crossing the plains (obviously) and they had to get down this huge cliff or something, so they took TNT and blew out this crevis (spellcheck?) and had to trek down this makeshift path. It was super steep, super jagged, and super dangerous. All the families had to go one at a time with a whole bunch of guys holding on to a rope behind the wagon, along with the help of oxen and horses and stuff, because it was so steep. The last family however, had no one to help them, even though people said they would come back. So the mother of a 5 year old, a 3 year old and an infant says "I'll hold the rope from behind and take the entire thing down." She had her children sit on a blanket and told them not to move while she prepared the wagon. Then, planting her feet in the ground and thrusting her faith forward, she proceeded to take her wagon down the dangerous slope. After making it all the way down the mountain, with her legs gashed and her horse dead from the endeavor, she climbed back up the mountain, over five hours later, to find her children hadn't moved an inch. This is the story as I heard it, but I would sooo much rather have a copy of the story in detail. I know I got some parts wrong and I have no idea where her husband was during all of this, so if you could dear elder it to me I would be very much happier in everyway.
So after almost a month here in the MTC I was starting to feel a bit odd. I did not feel as though I had grown spiritually like everyone else seems to do when they enter the MTC. I felt as though I was completely the same (spiritually) as I was before entering. This frusterated me quite a bit because I felt as though I was doing something wrong or wasn't trying hard enough. But finally, after a month of being here, I suddenly had the most amazing week!!! I learned so much about myself and about what I am doing here! I learned that I was doing nothing wrong at all, but instead being tested by the Lord in such a beautiful way that I'm irritated that I could not comprehend it before! I wish I could explain more to you about it, but I have like, no time left!!! Ugh! Just know that I know that the Lord grants unto each and everyone of us tender mercies that have been designed just for us and that we better not take them for granted! I love you all! Send me fake dear johns! Bye!
CT. Swartz!
PS: Mom, As far as I can tell, you spelled Priviet Moy CT right. I really only know how to spell it in Cyrillic, so good job!
I really appreciated your spiritual thought mom! That's great that Dad spoke in Sacrament Meeting! And I'm glad to hear that sister Johnson's Farewell went well! I've been looking for her today, I'll probably see her a lot, That's what I'm hoping at least. We're both here for so long, you know? Also, Matt came in today too!! Well, at least I think he did... haha! So, woohoo! I'll be looking for him every moment I breathe. I met a sister that could very easily in his district, so I told her to say hi if that's how it ends up! It sounds like everything is sooo great at home! I'm glad that Life is going well for Maddy and Boston! And I'm glad that you have been having so much fun with them! So I get released from being D.L. on sunday! Sad because I won't be able to serve the elders in my district in the way I have been for the past four weeks, but happy because I will have a load taken off my back!! It'll be nice!
So I've been becoming much better friends with the "older" Russian missionaries this week and it has been so great! I can't believe I didn't let my self bond with them like this before! I guess I was just intimidated by them. But I've been having so much fun with them lately, and they're all so willing to help! It's going to be weird in two weeks when WE'RE going to be the older ones!! Crazy how fast time flies by here! Oh, also! I think you'll be happy to hear this! So the Russian's and the Italians pretty much are clumped together for EVERYTHING! Which is soooo great because Sister Nilson's (Katie Nilson) classroom is pretty much right next door to mine. Also, we play volleyball everyday together! It's so much fun! I love seeing her around and having the exact same schedule as her!
I saw grandma this week! She's probably told you all about it, but I thought I would mention it. I'll probably try to see her next week if I can, but no promises or anything. In fact, if you could tell her to stay until 12:30 so I could come and see her, that would be great! Just in case I couldn't escape class. Also, could you give me Rachel's email address so that I can email these directly to her? Also, another question: So there's this pioneer story about these saints who were crossing the plains (obviously) and they had to get down this huge cliff or something, so they took TNT and blew out this crevis (spellcheck?) and had to trek down this makeshift path. It was super steep, super jagged, and super dangerous. All the families had to go one at a time with a whole bunch of guys holding on to a rope behind the wagon, along with the help of oxen and horses and stuff, because it was so steep. The last family however, had no one to help them, even though people said they would come back. So the mother of a 5 year old, a 3 year old and an infant says "I'll hold the rope from behind and take the entire thing down." She had her children sit on a blanket and told them not to move while she prepared the wagon. Then, planting her feet in the ground and thrusting her faith forward, she proceeded to take her wagon down the dangerous slope. After making it all the way down the mountain, with her legs gashed and her horse dead from the endeavor, she climbed back up the mountain, over five hours later, to find her children hadn't moved an inch. This is the story as I heard it, but I would sooo much rather have a copy of the story in detail. I know I got some parts wrong and I have no idea where her husband was during all of this, so if you could dear elder it to me I would be very much happier in everyway.
So after almost a month here in the MTC I was starting to feel a bit odd. I did not feel as though I had grown spiritually like everyone else seems to do when they enter the MTC. I felt as though I was completely the same (spiritually) as I was before entering. This frusterated me quite a bit because I felt as though I was doing something wrong or wasn't trying hard enough. But finally, after a month of being here, I suddenly had the most amazing week!!! I learned so much about myself and about what I am doing here! I learned that I was doing nothing wrong at all, but instead being tested by the Lord in such a beautiful way that I'm irritated that I could not comprehend it before! I wish I could explain more to you about it, but I have like, no time left!!! Ugh! Just know that I know that the Lord grants unto each and everyone of us tender mercies that have been designed just for us and that we better not take them for granted! I love you all! Send me fake dear johns! Bye!
CT. Swartz!
PS: Mom, As far as I can tell, you spelled Priviet Moy CT right. I really only know how to spell it in Cyrillic, so good job!
Letter #3
Priviet Moy Cemyu!
It does not feel like it has been four weeks here. INSANE! haha! But, actually... it kind of does. The language is going well. I'm not worried about it at all. I'm not good at it or anything, I just know it will come eventually. So, I've been super sick this past week with a nasty sinus infection that somehow turned into pink eye as well... it's been pretty bad. The doctor gave me a bag of salt and some cups and said to gargle every night. Thanks doc... So because of that, I haven't really had as much progression as I would have liked in the language and everything, but it's going well. I'm becoming better friends with CT. Collinsworth, haha! He's a cool elder, but I like the other elder's just as much. He's really no different than the rest of them.
I tried finding Grandma, but I'm right in the middle of class at the time she said she was available. I get out at 12:30 and go straight to that room, but I never find her. You should tell her to wait until like, 12:40 next time, because I can't really leave class early. She sent me the tide bleach though! It was through a package! That was great! I'm very happy to be able to have super whites again! That's cool Chris is in Paris! Tell him to have fun I guess. And it's also great you found his wallet! haha! The Lord is always watching out for us.
So Elder Isabell Had to go home yesterday. He is (well, was) an elder in my district, but he had a weird problem with his back, I think it was a slipped disk that was pushing up against the base of his spine, so he had to go home for surgery. It was really sudden. None of us excpected him to have to leave, so when we woke up and he had his flight plans and everything, it was a pretty sobering experience. He left that afternoon at two. His companion is now in a tripanionship and they all get along, but it's apparent that Elder Sprouse misses Elder Isabell. All of us in our district love each other so much, so it was hard to see one of us leave.
So we have this really funny sister from Finland in the district next to mine and she makes me laugh everyday. All the other sisters are great too! Sister Hooker is fun and she gives me updates on Taylor! And The other two sisters are great too! Thanks goodness for good sister missionaries! Even though we understand that we can't have any romantic relationships for two years, it's still great to be able to have them around! They can boost the spiritual level by sooooo much!!!
So At the Devotional on sunday, there was this great talk about a kid who was Japanese and was completely set on going to Japan on his mission, but instead got called to Columbia Spanish Speaking. Needless to say, he was very upset and he demanded his call be reviewed. The Prophet reviewed it and said "No, this is right." So the kid went to the MTC and learned spanish and struggled emensely with the language. Finally, when he was about to leave to Columbia, he demanded the prophet review his call again. It was the same answer. So he goes to Columbia, struggles with the language the entire time and doesn't feel successful at all. Finally, at the end of his mission, he runs into a elderly japanese man who says that he and some of his friends wanted him to teach them a lesson. He was Exctatic! When the elders got to the home, there were 65 Japanese people wating to hear the message, and since they had all been being taught by this man who had somehow obtained a book of mormon and taught them about it already, they all commited to baptism on the first day! Isn't that crazy! The Lord truly knows where we can be the most efficient and he will help us do great things if we do what he wants us to do and we go where he wants us to go!
My time's up! I love you all!
Love Elder Swartz!
It does not feel like it has been four weeks here. INSANE! haha! But, actually... it kind of does. The language is going well. I'm not worried about it at all. I'm not good at it or anything, I just know it will come eventually. So, I've been super sick this past week with a nasty sinus infection that somehow turned into pink eye as well... it's been pretty bad. The doctor gave me a bag of salt and some cups and said to gargle every night. Thanks doc... So because of that, I haven't really had as much progression as I would have liked in the language and everything, but it's going well. I'm becoming better friends with CT. Collinsworth, haha! He's a cool elder, but I like the other elder's just as much. He's really no different than the rest of them.
I tried finding Grandma, but I'm right in the middle of class at the time she said she was available. I get out at 12:30 and go straight to that room, but I never find her. You should tell her to wait until like, 12:40 next time, because I can't really leave class early. She sent me the tide bleach though! It was through a package! That was great! I'm very happy to be able to have super whites again! That's cool Chris is in Paris! Tell him to have fun I guess. And it's also great you found his wallet! haha! The Lord is always watching out for us.
So Elder Isabell Had to go home yesterday. He is (well, was) an elder in my district, but he had a weird problem with his back, I think it was a slipped disk that was pushing up against the base of his spine, so he had to go home for surgery. It was really sudden. None of us excpected him to have to leave, so when we woke up and he had his flight plans and everything, it was a pretty sobering experience. He left that afternoon at two. His companion is now in a tripanionship and they all get along, but it's apparent that Elder Sprouse misses Elder Isabell. All of us in our district love each other so much, so it was hard to see one of us leave.
So we have this really funny sister from Finland in the district next to mine and she makes me laugh everyday. All the other sisters are great too! Sister Hooker is fun and she gives me updates on Taylor! And The other two sisters are great too! Thanks goodness for good sister missionaries! Even though we understand that we can't have any romantic relationships for two years, it's still great to be able to have them around! They can boost the spiritual level by sooooo much!!!
So At the Devotional on sunday, there was this great talk about a kid who was Japanese and was completely set on going to Japan on his mission, but instead got called to Columbia Spanish Speaking. Needless to say, he was very upset and he demanded his call be reviewed. The Prophet reviewed it and said "No, this is right." So the kid went to the MTC and learned spanish and struggled emensely with the language. Finally, when he was about to leave to Columbia, he demanded the prophet review his call again. It was the same answer. So he goes to Columbia, struggles with the language the entire time and doesn't feel successful at all. Finally, at the end of his mission, he runs into a elderly japanese man who says that he and some of his friends wanted him to teach them a lesson. He was Exctatic! When the elders got to the home, there were 65 Japanese people wating to hear the message, and since they had all been being taught by this man who had somehow obtained a book of mormon and taught them about it already, they all commited to baptism on the first day! Isn't that crazy! The Lord truly knows where we can be the most efficient and he will help us do great things if we do what he wants us to do and we go where he wants us to go!
My time's up! I love you all!
Love Elder Swartz!
Letter #2
Hey Cemyu!
So, could you not send soooo much information in emails from now on? by the time I was done reading everything, I only had ten minutes left, so I won't be able to get everything down that I want to. From now on, it would be a good idea to send me a copy of the emails that you send me before hand so that I can have more time to respond. You can still email it to me just in case, but I liked what you did the first time. That way I had already read your email before I wasted any time on the computer. In fact, you can just copy and paste it onto dear elder and send it to me for free! I get it that day! Also, make sure you have the EXACT ADDRESS!! You've done it wrong twice now and your letters are getting delayed! I didn't find out about madison until today!
So funny story: I was walking through the lunch (Elder Hoggard says hi! haha! He just walked by.) room and an elder stops me and asks "Is your name Destin?" I look at him with an odd expression and say "Excuse me?" He repeats. "Yeah, My name is Destin." "So you're Destin Swartz?" "Yes, I'm Destin Swartz..." I'm very confused at this point. Then the elder continues. "I have a hymn book with your name on it." "Why do you have a hymn book with my name on it?" "I don;t know, it's been passed down from zone leader to zone leader in the MTC for generations in the MTC. (A "generation" in the MTC is a transfer period, or six weeks.) We've been waiting for a Destin Swartz to enter the MTC so we could give it to him." So I followed the elder back to his room, and he handed me a hymn book with "Elder Destin Schwarz" on it. There was a note inside that said that said the MTC spelled my name wrong even though they had been told how to spell it correctly. It was signed CT. Andrew B. haha! Isn't that the best! And it's wonderful because it's in Russian!! Russian Hymn books are impossible to get your hands on!! I'm totally doing the same thing for Chris Neilson! (Ashley, Lindsey, Jane, or whoever else may know Chris and if his last name is Nilson, Nelson, or Nielson, please let me know!) Anyway, I thought I should share that story! It was probably the coolest thing in the world! I also run into Evan's mom alot and we talk. Haha! It's interesting that I'm better friends with her AFTER entering the MTC. I barely knew her before. I don't have like, anymore time to write my email, so I'll just say I love you all and I'm doing well! The MTC is great and I have such great elders in my district! Elder Michaelis is my fav!!!! orite. yeeeey. He wrote that. But It's true. haha! And Rounds, and well, everyone! haha! K loves. Bye.
So, could you not send soooo much information in emails from now on? by the time I was done reading everything, I only had ten minutes left, so I won't be able to get everything down that I want to. From now on, it would be a good idea to send me a copy of the emails that you send me before hand so that I can have more time to respond. You can still email it to me just in case, but I liked what you did the first time. That way I had already read your email before I wasted any time on the computer. In fact, you can just copy and paste it onto dear elder and send it to me for free! I get it that day! Also, make sure you have the EXACT ADDRESS!! You've done it wrong twice now and your letters are getting delayed! I didn't find out about madison until today!
So funny story: I was walking through the lunch (Elder Hoggard says hi! haha! He just walked by.) room and an elder stops me and asks "Is your name Destin?" I look at him with an odd expression and say "Excuse me?" He repeats. "Yeah, My name is Destin." "So you're Destin Swartz?" "Yes, I'm Destin Swartz..." I'm very confused at this point. Then the elder continues. "I have a hymn book with your name on it." "Why do you have a hymn book with my name on it?" "I don;t know, it's been passed down from zone leader to zone leader in the MTC for generations in the MTC. (A "generation" in the MTC is a transfer period, or six weeks.) We've been waiting for a Destin Swartz to enter the MTC so we could give it to him." So I followed the elder back to his room, and he handed me a hymn book with "Elder Destin Schwarz" on it. There was a note inside that said that said the MTC spelled my name wrong even though they had been told how to spell it correctly. It was signed CT. Andrew B. haha! Isn't that the best! And it's wonderful because it's in Russian!! Russian Hymn books are impossible to get your hands on!! I'm totally doing the same thing for Chris Neilson! (Ashley, Lindsey, Jane, or whoever else may know Chris and if his last name is Nilson, Nelson, or Nielson, please let me know!) Anyway, I thought I should share that story! It was probably the coolest thing in the world! I also run into Evan's mom alot and we talk. Haha! It's interesting that I'm better friends with her AFTER entering the MTC. I barely knew her before. I don't have like, anymore time to write my email, so I'll just say I love you all and I'm doing well! The MTC is great and I have such great elders in my district! Elder Michaelis is my fav!!!! orite. yeeeey. He wrote that. But It's true. haha! And Rounds, and well, everyone! haha! K loves. Bye.
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