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!
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