Hey Family!
I love writing you guys! It is such a release!! Mom, I almost laughed out loud at your story about your phone going off during Janice Perry's talk! haha! I definitely understand that! I didn't have an embarrassing moment, but it happens all the time where the spirit prompts me to do something, but because I'm the new companion, I'm too afraid to say it and then it turns out that we should have done it. It's happened like, three times already. I need to have less pride and worry more about what the Lord wants me to do rather than what I think other people want me to do.
I'm sorry about not sending the emails to Dad or Rachel! I mean to, but I'm always in a rush and totally forget!
So this week, I took a train to Samara on monday and stayed there until friday. My companion had to leave the country to get his Visa renewed. He got to go to Kiev and go to the temple. I probably won't be able to go until next year. Temple trips are usually only in the summer. But at least I get to go at all. Before the temple was built, I would have not been able to. While he was there, I was on splits with the Zone leaders or other Greenies. It was really fun! We had pancakes every meal... haha!
After my companion came back though, we got in another argument. But this time, I couldn't take it anymore. I blew up at him after trying my hardest not to. I think it's the only time I've actaully gotten into a big argument with someone that wasn't my sibling. But we were able to work a lot of things out. things have been better since then, but I'm still praying everyday to get transferred. I know the Lord is having me learn a lesson, but I really hope that I've learned it and I get a new one... I just really want a companion that I feel comfortable around. We are just soo incredibly different. Our thought processes simply do not match up and it is so difficult to understand each other.
Russia is great though. I love the people. I love the members! I love the mission president! I love seeing Sarah Palin looking out from her backyard! I love it all!
To answer your questions: I have all my winter stuff other than boots. Luckily, it hasn't snowed yet, and I'm hoping to get a good pair of boots today. I don't know if we can chew gum. I've never been a gum chewer, so it's not an issue for me. I'd imagine not though. Yes, everything is refrigerated! I was so grateful for that!! All of the dairy products are really good over here! I really have ZERO complaints about the food!
Russian fun fact of the week: Hmmm... well the wild dogs aren't so wild here. in fact, they're really sweet and calm. I love seeing the wild dogs running around in their little gangs! It's adorable! You can usually pet them, although I don't just to be safe. The cats are great here to. They are so adorable. They just have so many diseases navyerna that I try to avoid petting them to much.
Our investigators here are great, but it is so difficult for them to actually progress enough to get baptized! They like meeting with us, but when you set a baptismal date, it always falls through. I wish I could do more, but without any skills in the language it's sort of difficult. As effective as sitting there radiating with the spirit is, it hasn't gotten my investigators to baptism just quite yet. I think being able to speak with them would help...
I love you all! And I'm grateful for your prayers! I can feel them strengthening me and I know that God is helping me everyday. Satan is pushing at me more and more, but I know that I have more than him in the end and that as I am backed up to the wall of my faith, it will stand. I didn't spend my life building it up for it to fall down here on my mission.
I love you all!
Elder Swartz!
Elder Swartz
Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Letter #5 from Russia
Heeeeyyy!!
So this week has been a good one. But before I get started I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! (A few days ago...) This is great! Even if I forget your birthday, I have a while to remember before I write you! haha! Just kidding! I remembered on the day of. I even wrote it down in my journal as proof and so that I would remember to mention it in the email home!
Please underline your questions every time! It helps! To answer your questions:
1) My companion is from St. George.
2) I'm not even using my own bedding, they already had stuff here... haha! In fact I'm not even using any blankets, it gets so hot in our apartment! You can't adjust the heating here, so you either have heat or you don't. They turned the heating on and boy is it hot! It is meant to keep things warm in like, -40 F, so right now, when it is 35 F, it's like an oven.
3) We watched Conference in the branch building on a computer.
4) I made two withdrawals because... I don't remember. There is a limit on how much you can take at one time. That's probably why.
Mary better go on a mish. Just kidding. She can get married. But seriously. Go on a mission. But you can get married if you want. After your mission. No, do what's right... mission.
Also, I should tell you, if a russian guy tries to add any of you as a friend on facebook, it's probably Valyery Belonoshkin. He's wonderful and he has pictures to give you. So family, check your facebooks!
So Russian fact of the week: Milk comes in bags. It makes perfect sense. Also, people here are so superstitious! We saw these two women freak out about a black cat crossing in front of them. We pet it and they were so confused why we would do that! haha!
So we have this investigator, Faina. She is so great. She randomly started singing opera for us in the middle of our lesson. She's really good. We're going to try to get her to help some members here because NO ONE CAN SING IN RUSSIA! it's terrible. I love it. Well, Faina can sing... but other than her... no one. She's so sweet to. She was saying that there were a lot of things that she did not like about our members, (she's very proper and a lot of our members are very poor and... well... not very proper.) and she wasn't sure what was so different about us and different churches. So we asked her why she kept coming and she started crying as she said she came because two young men cared about who she was and bothered to call her every night simply to see how she was doing. it was very sweet and at that moment I realized that we really can make a difference. Even if all I got on my mission was that one experience, the knowledge that just one old woman benefited from our kindness and felt loved, than my mission was a success.
But obviously I want baptisms.
I had a dream that I saw patrick at a restaurant. It was funny.
We ran into this guy who knew English very well and lived in America for a while (When that happens, it is the best day ever.) and we actually got to talk to him!! not just bulldoze him with the gospel because we didn't know what he was saying! It was really funny because as we were talking to him, he said he had a friend from Colorado and he randomly just started talking about these "mormons" (here, we call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so he didn't know that we were in fact "Mormon") Apparently the mormon church was founded in the 1700's by some immigrant from Europe. We tried asking if it was Brigham young or Joseph Smith, but he kept saying it was someone else. He then said that The Mormons were very much like free masons and that they "hardly relate to Christians". It was really funny. We wanted to correct his knowledge, but he suddenly had to go. I wonder if he figured it out by reading the pamphlets we gave him that used the word mormon quite liberally...
Well, I have to go! Pray for me please! I pray for everyone back home everyday! I hope everything is going well! I love you all!
Elder,
Love Swartz. (haha! I thought it was funny.)
So this week has been a good one. But before I get started I just want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! (A few days ago...) This is great! Even if I forget your birthday, I have a while to remember before I write you! haha! Just kidding! I remembered on the day of. I even wrote it down in my journal as proof and so that I would remember to mention it in the email home!
Please underline your questions every time! It helps! To answer your questions:
1) My companion is from St. George.
2) I'm not even using my own bedding, they already had stuff here... haha! In fact I'm not even using any blankets, it gets so hot in our apartment! You can't adjust the heating here, so you either have heat or you don't. They turned the heating on and boy is it hot! It is meant to keep things warm in like, -40 F, so right now, when it is 35 F, it's like an oven.
3) We watched Conference in the branch building on a computer.
4) I made two withdrawals because... I don't remember. There is a limit on how much you can take at one time. That's probably why.
Mary better go on a mish. Just kidding. She can get married. But seriously. Go on a mission. But you can get married if you want. After your mission. No, do what's right... mission.
Also, I should tell you, if a russian guy tries to add any of you as a friend on facebook, it's probably Valyery Belonoshkin. He's wonderful and he has pictures to give you. So family, check your facebooks!
So Russian fact of the week: Milk comes in bags. It makes perfect sense. Also, people here are so superstitious! We saw these two women freak out about a black cat crossing in front of them. We pet it and they were so confused why we would do that! haha!
So we have this investigator, Faina. She is so great. She randomly started singing opera for us in the middle of our lesson. She's really good. We're going to try to get her to help some members here because NO ONE CAN SING IN RUSSIA! it's terrible. I love it. Well, Faina can sing... but other than her... no one. She's so sweet to. She was saying that there were a lot of things that she did not like about our members, (she's very proper and a lot of our members are very poor and... well... not very proper.) and she wasn't sure what was so different about us and different churches. So we asked her why she kept coming and she started crying as she said she came because two young men cared about who she was and bothered to call her every night simply to see how she was doing. it was very sweet and at that moment I realized that we really can make a difference. Even if all I got on my mission was that one experience, the knowledge that just one old woman benefited from our kindness and felt loved, than my mission was a success.
But obviously I want baptisms.
I had a dream that I saw patrick at a restaurant. It was funny.
We ran into this guy who knew English very well and lived in America for a while (When that happens, it is the best day ever.) and we actually got to talk to him!! not just bulldoze him with the gospel because we didn't know what he was saying! It was really funny because as we were talking to him, he said he had a friend from Colorado and he randomly just started talking about these "mormons" (here, we call ourselves the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so he didn't know that we were in fact "Mormon") Apparently the mormon church was founded in the 1700's by some immigrant from Europe. We tried asking if it was Brigham young or Joseph Smith, but he kept saying it was someone else. He then said that The Mormons were very much like free masons and that they "hardly relate to Christians". It was really funny. We wanted to correct his knowledge, but he suddenly had to go. I wonder if he figured it out by reading the pamphlets we gave him that used the word mormon quite liberally...
Well, I have to go! Pray for me please! I pray for everyone back home everyday! I hope everything is going well! I love you all!
Elder,
Love Swartz. (haha! I thought it was funny.)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Letter #4 (we'll post #3 later)
Hellooooo My family!
So I have good news for you guys and bad news for me! haha! I got homesick for a second this morning! I had a dream that I was with our family last night and when I woke up, I wasn't feeling well. I might have actually just not been feeling well, but I figure that's the closest thing I've felt to homesickness. haha!
Dad! I'm sorry I didn't email you with everyone else! I had about one second left when I sent the message last week and I forgot to add you and rachel! Make sure Rachel is getting these too! I also want to say that I was going to write some really good things about my companion, but I ran out of time! haha! I don't mean to be a complainer! He is a great trainer and an excellent person in general! He just needs to work on his patience! I need to work on so many things as well. We talked it all over last night and he said he didn't even realize he was doing those things. Hopefully it will get better! Other than that though, the work is great, the city is great, the member's are great! Oh, so there is a sister in my district from Alpine, Lisa Callister. She graduated two years before me.
Okay, to answer your questions: I'm on foot, or on bus, or on marshootka (Minivan thing that is faster than a bus, ask Matt or Kristi about it if you want to know more) and rarely taxi. There's only two elder's in my apartment. It's a really nice apartment, but the other elders in our district have probably the nicest apartment in the mission! it's sooo nice! It has not snowed yet, but it has gotten quite cold. I have a coat now, so that's good. I got gloves to, but I got scammed... haha! I thought I was getting a good deal, bargaining like a devil, but I lost about fifty bucks between the gloves and the coat because we didn't have a member with us to help us. I learned my lesson! We are having a member help with getting boots and everything else! I may need more money... haha! I'll try not to get scammed again...
Russian fact of the week: Women here love to die their hair purple! Especially older women! All over the place, they just have purple hair. it doesn't even seem strange to me anymore to see it. Also, everyone here calls me Forest Gump. All the members think I look just like Tom Hanks... haha! And Aleskei Gladkov, one of my favorite people in the world, told me that my ears stick out too much and that if he were my father, he would have paid for plastic surgery to get them pulled in! haha! He said he did that for his son and it was only 650 US dollars! what a deal! Maybe I'll do that when I get home! haha! I may have already told you that in an earlier email, but I can't remember, so you get it again!
Mother, did you remember to mail that stuff for my loan deferment or something? it was supposed to be sent oct 1st, so if you haven't done that, please do it soon and don't forget to do it next year either!
So conference was good! We watched it this last weekend in english! Thankfully! I don't know if other missionaries got to, so it was definitely a blessing! Randall K Bennett Spoke! you know, The guy who almost drowned but the life guard saved him? that was our old mission president a year ago! I heard he was a nazi, but turned the mission around and made it the highest baptizing mission in all of the eastern European missions. Also, I don't know if you had the opportunity to see the Women's session of general conference, but my favorite talk was in that one! It was from Uchtdorf and it was about the Forget Me Not flower. I loved it so much. I really got a lot from it. I was expecting a golden ticket (golden companion) when coming out here, but when I got an ordinary chocolate bar, I became frustrated. I need to do better at enjoying what I have.
So one last thing, so lately it has been really hard finding new investigators because of the weather. They don't want to talk to us in the cold or in the rain. But the other day, the Lord blessed us with 10 new investigators in one day. That's probably like, normal in Brazil or somethin, but for Russia, that's not a typical occurance. I was very grateful for the Lord for that! We'll se how they progress! I still haven't seen a baptism yet, but We are so close! Hopefully by the end of the month, Anya (Anastasia) will be baptized. I found her by the way. haha!
Okay, I have to go! I love you all so much! I really do miss everyone! Family, friends! But I love it here in Russia! I know I'm supposed to be here! I'm so excited for Mary to be a missionary in Peru! To quote elder Holland, I'm happy to say that "in this family, we serve missions."
With love, Elder Destin Swartz!
So I have good news for you guys and bad news for me! haha! I got homesick for a second this morning! I had a dream that I was with our family last night and when I woke up, I wasn't feeling well. I might have actually just not been feeling well, but I figure that's the closest thing I've felt to homesickness. haha!
Dad! I'm sorry I didn't email you with everyone else! I had about one second left when I sent the message last week and I forgot to add you and rachel! Make sure Rachel is getting these too! I also want to say that I was going to write some really good things about my companion, but I ran out of time! haha! I don't mean to be a complainer! He is a great trainer and an excellent person in general! He just needs to work on his patience! I need to work on so many things as well. We talked it all over last night and he said he didn't even realize he was doing those things. Hopefully it will get better! Other than that though, the work is great, the city is great, the member's are great! Oh, so there is a sister in my district from Alpine, Lisa Callister. She graduated two years before me.
Okay, to answer your questions: I'm on foot, or on bus, or on marshootka (Minivan thing that is faster than a bus, ask Matt or Kristi about it if you want to know more) and rarely taxi. There's only two elder's in my apartment. It's a really nice apartment, but the other elders in our district have probably the nicest apartment in the mission! it's sooo nice! It has not snowed yet, but it has gotten quite cold. I have a coat now, so that's good. I got gloves to, but I got scammed... haha! I thought I was getting a good deal, bargaining like a devil, but I lost about fifty bucks between the gloves and the coat because we didn't have a member with us to help us. I learned my lesson! We are having a member help with getting boots and everything else! I may need more money... haha! I'll try not to get scammed again...
Russian fact of the week: Women here love to die their hair purple! Especially older women! All over the place, they just have purple hair. it doesn't even seem strange to me anymore to see it. Also, everyone here calls me Forest Gump. All the members think I look just like Tom Hanks... haha! And Aleskei Gladkov, one of my favorite people in the world, told me that my ears stick out too much and that if he were my father, he would have paid for plastic surgery to get them pulled in! haha! He said he did that for his son and it was only 650 US dollars! what a deal! Maybe I'll do that when I get home! haha! I may have already told you that in an earlier email, but I can't remember, so you get it again!
Mother, did you remember to mail that stuff for my loan deferment or something? it was supposed to be sent oct 1st, so if you haven't done that, please do it soon and don't forget to do it next year either!
So conference was good! We watched it this last weekend in english! Thankfully! I don't know if other missionaries got to, so it was definitely a blessing! Randall K Bennett Spoke! you know, The guy who almost drowned but the life guard saved him? that was our old mission president a year ago! I heard he was a nazi, but turned the mission around and made it the highest baptizing mission in all of the eastern European missions. Also, I don't know if you had the opportunity to see the Women's session of general conference, but my favorite talk was in that one! It was from Uchtdorf and it was about the Forget Me Not flower. I loved it so much. I really got a lot from it. I was expecting a golden ticket (golden companion) when coming out here, but when I got an ordinary chocolate bar, I became frustrated. I need to do better at enjoying what I have.
So one last thing, so lately it has been really hard finding new investigators because of the weather. They don't want to talk to us in the cold or in the rain. But the other day, the Lord blessed us with 10 new investigators in one day. That's probably like, normal in Brazil or somethin, but for Russia, that's not a typical occurance. I was very grateful for the Lord for that! We'll se how they progress! I still haven't seen a baptism yet, but We are so close! Hopefully by the end of the month, Anya (Anastasia) will be baptized. I found her by the way. haha!
Okay, I have to go! I love you all so much! I really do miss everyone! Family, friends! But I love it here in Russia! I know I'm supposed to be here! I'm so excited for Mary to be a missionary in Peru! To quote elder Holland, I'm happy to say that "in this family, we serve missions."
With love, Elder Destin Swartz!
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