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!