May 27th, 2013

Hey everyone!

So firts off, Happy Birthday Mary!!! S dnyom razhdenya!!!!

So, next... we went to Elmira to give her a present (we made their family peach cobbler) in hopes to soften the hearts of her family members... yeah... didn't work... Maybe if it was the daugter, but the daughter was gone with her boyfriend and Elmira's husband was in a BAD mood. She answered the door and thought it was so sweet we dropped by with food and invited us in... then the husband blew up at us. I've never been treated more like a dog in my life. He just acted as if we were animals that had wondered into his apartment. Pretty much threw us out, just yelling the whole time. Elmira ran out and talked with us to make us feel better, she said her husband had had a bad day at work and they were just working on replacing their shower, which had broken, so he was in a terrible mood. So much for being guided by the Spirit to come on a good day... After talking it over with my companion though, we came to the conclusion that it didn't make thigns any worse, and who knows? Maybe he'll like the peach cobbler... and feel bad for how he acted and next time he'll apologize and then get baptised... yeah... probably not any time soon... 

I really don't know what to do about Elmira. We're honestly trying everything possible. Other than Divorce. I don't think she has the guts, and honestly, I couldn't ask her to do that wen she still has a daughter living at home. That's not what our church is about. We want families to stay together and heal... She seems pretty worn down by this guy though. She tries so hard to serve him, talk with him, and let him know she loves him, and he treats her like dirt and ignores her.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'd love to see her get baptized, but the husband is not budging. As much as I'd love to say that if we all have faith, something will happen, but when we really understand what a prayer of faith really is, it is not to change the will of the Lord. I have to be content with His timing. Even if that means someone else is suffering and I won't be here when they finally find releif. Man, that's a bummer. I guess I'm lucky, at least I don't have to watch innocent women and children get burned because of their faith. I should count myself blessed.

This week, other than that, has truly been awesome! Although I am still sooooo far away from perfection, I can honestly say that I feel good with the amount that I'm pushing. There is so much I could do that I honestly don't... but I really feel like I can say that I know the Lord is pleased with me... at least at this moment... haha!

I love you all! I look forward to hearing from you next week!

Elder Swartz

May 13th, 2013

So, once upon a time, I talked to you all on Sunday, last night.

That was great. However, I feel as if I don't really have much to talk about now because... well, I already talked about it with you all. Oh, I guess I have a story.

So we were going to this less active guy named Felix. His record said that he posed a lot of questions and was really critical. I wasn't too excited to deal with that, but I figured we should probably figure out if this guy was still alive. Seriously, 70 years old is OLD for here in Russia. So we go over, and his wife immediately invites us in. No yelling. cool. He comes out and sits down across from us. He has a SUPER nice apartment that felt so welcoming and honestly felt like home. We sat down and he was very nice. We talked about life, purpose, and God. He was a very intelligent man and very sharp. There was no arguing, no bitterness toward the church. Only fond memories and respect. We asked him why the last time he came was ten years ago, and he said that he couldn't fake being a believer. He said he'd love to believe, that his life would be better if he did, but he wasn't going lie to himself and say he did. He said he had tried, but he couldn't continue because if God really did exist, he wasn't going to mock Him by pretending. It was very interesting. As we were talking, he simply expressed so much doubt and felt like things many saw as the hand of God were simply coincidences. I mentally poured out my soul to the Lord for this man, asking what I could say to lead him back. I got this impression to ask him what his thoughts were on death. He seemed to not know what to say. He said that it had always been something he thought about, as with everyone else. I specified the question and asked if it had recently been something troubling him. He didn't really know how to answer and finally said that the older you get, the more it hangs over you. I testified about life after death and how I knew that there was more than just the material world. If you didn't know, for some reason on my mission, I never cry. I cry everyonce in a while during personal study, or during testimony meetings at Zone conference, but on lessons, there have been very few occasions that I have even shed a tear. This was one of those rare times. As I testified, for some strange reason, a few tears began to flow, and I was surprised. I had testified thousands of times about the same thing. Why was I feeling it so strongly right now?  My companion came in and testified and backed me up and before he could say anything we said that we were out of time and said we'd like to pray to end. I meant to ask him who he'd like to pray, but for some reason I asked him IF he'd like to pray. I was surprised I even said this and expected him to refuse because of him previously saying he didn't like to put on a face of believing when he really didn't. Even more surprising was when he said yes. We all kneeled and his prayer went like this "Heavenly Father. Today was a very bad day for me. This morning I was diagnosed with a heart disease that the doctors told would kill me if I didn't undergo an operation. And even the, my chances of living they said were hard to determine. Thank you for sending these young men to me today. Not Yesterday, nottomorrow, but today. I am a man of many doubts. But one thing I know for sure. This morning I was devastated, where as now I am filled with peace and happiness. I know that was no coincidence." 

I'm out of time. 

Elder Swartz.

May 6th, 2013

Destin just said the pictures took so long to upload that he had zero time to write. So enjoy the pics this week! Sorry I couldn't/wouldn't rotate them. :) You'll just have to turn your heads. :)

April 29th, 2013

Hey!! How are you all!?

So we have this investigator, Elmira. She is an angel. She is so ready to get baptised, and she worked up the courage to tell her husband and his reply: "You can do whatever you want... after we get divorced." 

Devil.

So he put this ultimatum on her, and she's determined to get baptised, but she doesn't want to get divorced... so she's stuck between to flames right now. 

She brought her friend and her friends daughters to chuch with her this week. They all loved it and are coming next week. I love people who have caught the fire and just want to spread the joy with those around them! It's one of my favorite part of seeing someone's progress in the gospel, because they become this big... candle! that's not under a bushel! 

This week ahs been really bi-polar weather-wise... cold hot cold hot. It's not too bad, but the rain ruins it. I don't like rain very much as a missionary. 

So I didn't write anything down in my planner about what I wanted to share this week... so I'll just share 5 things I'm grateful for about serving a mission here. These are not in order of appreciation, I'm just thinking of them as I go.

1: I love learning how to live with someone. If I didn't learn how to do this, then what on earth would make me change myself so that I was more pleasant to be around? honestly, I would do what I wanted my way all the time and... no one likes that guy.

2: I love learning what a companion did for you months, even years down the road. I'm still learning things from my trainer, things I didn't realize he taught me at the time. Yeah, I had a tough time with him, but as every trainee does, I take back the way I thought I felt about him. 

3: I'm grateful for the faces I've remembered. Many of these people I won't see until the other side of the veil, but now I realize that that's simply what I said to them last time too. Luckily next time, I won't ever have to say that again. Plus, this time when I go through the veil, I won't forget them.

4: I'm grateful for strengthening my friendship with God. To paraphrase Regina Spektor, many people laugh at God until something bad happens in their life. No one's laughing at God when their kid doesn't come home from his party. No one's laughing at God with their husband walks out on them with three kids and no job. I'm glad to say that now, I really understand a lot better my relationship with him. I'm happy to say that I can laugh with God.

5: I'm grateful for my family... finally. haha! I always loved you guys and everything, but I had a hard time showing it. And honestly, I don't know how easy it will be for me to show it when I see you again, hopefully easier... haha! But honestly, I did not appreciate what I had. I have seen a million and one different paths of life at this point. I have seen dark paths and light paths. Crooked paths and straight. I can never deny that the straightest, brightest path I have seen out of all of them are the paths of people in THIS chruch when they work together as a faimly. I want to cherish that more. it's a rare blessing in this world.

There are a billion other things that I'm grateful for because of the knowledge and experience I have obtained here, but my little activity to drain time worked... and now I'm out of time. 

Love you all!!

Elder Skvortz.

PS: Christy, I'm sorry, I don't have time to write you back this week!!! Write me aother email and I'll write you next week!! But write me so that I don't forget!