Dec. 31st, 2012

Hey family! 

So... I was happy to read the copious amounts of emails I got this week! So exciting... seriously... 

Mary! Congratulations on David's baptism! That's really cool that you got out of your rut! Question for you? How many new missionaries are you getting because of the influx? Chris sent me a letter and said he's getting 60 new missionaries! Crazy! 

So this week, we had a lady named Anya come to church. She's a mongolian woman with a korean husband and she is so great! Her mother just got baptized... somewhere far away, somewhere in Asia and her brother lives in Provo, he's been a member for a long while now. She's so prepared, hopefully her husband will be on board as well... we'll see. 

Also, Mom and dad, I wanted to apologize! I realized that I may have come across as ungrateful for your package over skype. That is not the case!  I am sooooo happy for the candy and macaroni and cheese and stuff! I've already eaten it all of course, so that's sad. I just wanted to say thanks so much for the package, I just feel like I came off the wrong way when I said that I would rather have you send money than packages. I wasn't even thinking about how it was obviously an expression of love, not just money from your wallets. So please don't think I was ungrateful for your wonderful christmas present! It was awesome!

Well... I don't really have anything else I want to say... hmmm... We're on Lock down right now, so as soon as we get our groceries, we're back to the apartment for 2 days. Too many drunks... 

I think this is the first time I've finished my email home early... like... a half an hour early... maybe next week if you don't send me SO many emails, I'll be able to write more. *cough*... Oh maybe I'll write a note in Russian! Dlya tex, kto ponimayut: Russiya - ochen horoshaya strana. esli vui seichas ponimaete to, shto napiseno, to pochemy ya eshyo ne poluchil picmo ot vas? Maya sestra vsegda gavarit na espanskom kagda ana pishet, tak shto ya tozhe hotel gavarit, no ne na espanskom konyeshna, a po Russki. No... Vcyo. Lyublyu.

Welp, C Novim Godom.

Elder Swartz