April 14th, 2013

Hey everyone! 

Mary, I forgot to say, last week, I really enjoyed the picture you sent. We think alike... I tried taking the exact same one, but my companion thought it was disrespectful and refused to take it... haha! I showed the sisters in my district. They said that you'd be the kind of girl they would judge and hate because you were so pretty. Then I said I had no idea what they were talking about and they flipped out at me because I obviously had no taste in women or something(I know you're pretty, but It's hard to judge when it's your sister). They said you looked like, model material or something. Don't let it get to your head. haha! If you didn't get that this was a compliment, it was, but I felt awkward saying it.

So... this week, two of our elders are getting kicked out of Russia... They accidentally walked on to a secret airforce base or something, which was not marked obviously... being secret and all... now they are never allowed to come to Russia ever again... yep. Glad it's not me! But at the same time, they'll probably be going to the prebaltics or Ukraine, so actually they're lucky cuz Ukraine is beautiful!

Elder Bukanov is leaving to Ulyanovsk to train. And I'm staying here in Penza training again. I'll probably finish my mission here in Penza, which I'm way happy about.

Hmmmm... So we have this member, Alyona, she is wonderful, but she randomly decided to leave the church a little while ago, because she found this tool boyfriend. Karoche, this week she secretly called Lilya, one of my favorite members here and told her that she wanted to come to conference but her boyfriend didn't want her to. She said she was sick of him and made the biggest mistake of her life deciding to marry him. She caled off the marraige and told him she was going to church and he told her he wouldn't let her, so she snuck over with Lilya. I was at the church building and these guys were waiting for Alyona so that they could grab her and drive off. They figured she would try to sneak out. She ran up to the door, but her slimy boyfriend grabbed her and was trying to get her into the car. I ran out of site and sound of my companion to go and rescue her, but this huge guy appeared out of nowhere and the look on his face was serious. I knew I wouldn't be able to get past him. Lilya ran up and grabbed Alyona, she was in better range, but another guy went up and was ripping her off. That's when I yelled for my companion and Zhenya to come and help. Zhenya comes out, a tough guy with tatoos (in Russia each tatoo has a specific symbol, and his tatoos were a sign to anyone who understood that he was VERY dangerous)  and the other big guy almost wets himself and backs off. We get the guys off Alyona and call the police, but they take off. I got the license plate number though and was pretty much a hero... haha!

Pretty dramatic. That's a really fast, watered down version of the story, but essentially... I hate satan.

I'm out of time, I wanted to say so much more! We've got a baptism coming up if the husband doesn't forbid it! Prayer for her! Her name is Elmira!

Love you all!

Elder Swartz!

April 8th, 2013

Hello family and friends.

This week has been an adventure. We were pretty much outside of our area the entire week on splits. First with the sisters, then off to Samara on a day train to go on splits with the leaders there. oh if you're confused about the sister splits... you should be. so were we. oh well. haha! It was really just us working all together for a day, knocking, contacting, meetings. pretty fun. Splits with the Leaders were fun as well, but because of all the hustle, we got 3 days in our area. Even then, we did well and we were just as successful as any of the other elders and sisters in our district. Yeah for an understanding Heavenly Father. Ha, so on the train, my companion had gone to sleep and I got up to go to the bathroom and there was this drunk guy who got mad at me... for... uh... being. and he tried to punch me in the face, but very much missed. But he hit my shoulder pretty hard. It didn't hurt, I was more just confused. So I just turned around and went back to my cabin and chuckled for a moment. Russia. haha! 

I love how Russia is two weeks behind everything because I don't get caught off guard with holidays or Conference! I get emails about how awesome it all was and I remember "oh yeah, that stuff exists" and then I am ready when it comes to Russia. Conference should be soon here, so I'm excited about that.  So right now our area is doing well, We really have some stud investigators and I have pretty high hopes for their baptisms. They may not get baptized with me, but I feel like it will happen eventually. I really feel like this is the prime of my mission. I'm not nervous at all about my teaching ability (finally), although I still have not Mastered Russian, I am rarely misunderstood. I feel like the spirit is guiding me and I feel as though I am seeing the fruits of my labor. I just received news that a girl I found and worked with in another city is getting baptized this next week. There is nothing else that I can think of that brings more peace to my heart than knowing that the Lord is the one in charge of it all, even when I forget that. Even when I don't get to see the whole scheme, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. That's the whole point of our message, finding faith in things that you've never seen. 

So I'm really happy to say that... well... I'm just happy. I can't think of a better place in the world for me right now. Not Home. Not Asia. Not Disneyland. Here. My goal now is to come home on a stretcher from working so hard. I hear it happens. haha! Mary, push as hard as you possibly can to the end. I want to be able to say that I worked harder than you, but I don't want to win just because you slacked off at the end. (I'm absolutely positive that you aren't, but we're all human, right?) Yes. That's a challenge.

I love you all. 

Elder Swartz!

April 1st, 2013

So people, how's the weather?

This week has just been a whole bunch of Russia being indecisive about warming up. Lot's of melting and freezing. Spring is on it's way though. I'm pretty much ready for it. Puddles = Satan when your shoes are already filled with almost two years of hard work... and big holes... So Elder Michaelis just showed me a picture of his neices and nephew and said "These guys totally beat your neices and nephews" and I have to admit, the picture was way adorable... but then I threw back all the stories that Rachel has told me about Maddie and Boston... and he knew he was defeated. I'm serious, you should have seen the look on his face when he realized that my neices and nephews were better. haha! He didn't admit it out loud though.

So also, we now have permission to email friends because of a first presidency decision... I may not be super good at rezponding depending on how often I get emails, but I thought I'd throw that out there. 

It was easter on sunday...? Huh... weird. Here in Russia, Easter isn't until May 5th... happy easter I guess though!

Mother, I was thinking the other day and I was reminded of a recipe that would be very good. You know that one baked chicken and rice stuff with the cream of chicken and bacon/ham sauce? yeah, thad be kool if you tossed that my way. We've been having cook offs with members, competing who can make the best meals as of late... it's been really fun, and filled with more dinner appointments I've ever had. Sometimes I win, sometimes they win, but it's all just delicious food in the end... haha! I'm ashamed to say that I have gained I think five pounds of the unfortunate kind of weight. haha!

So this week, I yelled at my companion... yeah. It wasn't his fault. I had just gottten chewed out by people on the phone and other circumstances stacked up and I was doing a good job at keeping my cool and being patient and then he did something really small that he was just joking about and I meant to "play" frustrated, but a bit of realy frustration spilled out and I raised my voice a bit. only for one word and I bit my tongue and felt really bad and went red in the face... he is SOOO great though because he immediately shrugged it off and we were friends again in three seconds. Man, that's the second time I've let my emotions out of hand, the first time was my first cycle in an understandable situation, this one I felt waayy bad for though... But I learned a lot about myself though!

So to be honest, I'm... how do I put this. I'm not an "Always" missionary. At least, not the kind of Always missionary that I wanted and expected to be. I don't "Always" put in 100% like I wish I would and there are SOOO many times where I KNOW I should do something and I KNOW it's a prompting from the spirit... and I DONT DO IT!!! So there's that... and yes. It bothers me. BUT! I've become an a different kind of Always missionary in the fact that I understand that I can ALWAYS change. I can ALWAYS come back to Christ, because he is ALWAYS waiting with open arms. And I've been prepared to be an ALWAYS person. As a normal person, I'm not always going to be perfect. That's not the game though. It's about ALWAYS coming back. always trying again. Always doing a bit better. So, yeah, I haven't become the perfect, "Always" missionary that I expected, but I've become something that I didn't expect. I still have time though, and I can do a lot better before the end of my mission! I'm going to finish off with no regrets! Thanks for your constant support and encouragement! Love you all!

K bye.

Elder Swartz!