Letter #35 from Russia

Man, it seems like life is so wonderful for everyone!

Mom, You must be having soo much fun in spain! I love getting your random
emails through out the week! I love hearing about all the little adventures
you're going on! So awesome! That is supah cool that you are gonig to
Africa for a day as well! Next year you should come to Russia for a day!
haha!
Dad, I know you may think that your life is not nearly as exciting as the
rest of your family's right now, which... okay... maybe it's not. haha!
BUT! Eating stake sandwiches and brownies and icecream with your daughter
and her family is something not to be taken for granted! Which, I'm sure
you don't anyway, but I'm just saying. There is nothing that I want more in
world than to eat a home made dinner from an American Mom. haha! I love the
Russian stuff, and I'm excited to bring some recipes back with me to show
you all, but I think I like my hot dogs with out horseradish. haha!
Speaking of recipes, I really want to know how to make Pesto! Rachel, I
need your help... again. haha! Also, a good replacement for ranch, or how
to make it... and how to slow cook stuff with out a crock pot. please get
back to me on that!
So this weeks been an exciting week. Elder Maksimov, an elder from kiev in
our district, had his 19th baptism or so...? He's going home soon and his
goal is twenty. so awesome! Some people are just blessed in different ways.
haha!  We had a successful week as well, just not a baptism or anything. We
found a lot of people who are interested and have been getting more
meetings with people in general. The Lord's really blessed us a lot this
week!
I love you! I'm getting kicked off!

Elder Svortz!

PS: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD! I love you and I know you love me to because
you send me more letters than you did to Rachel and David.

Letter #34 from Russia

Hey! How is life back home!!!

So I come home in a year from... yesterday I think... I'll find out exactly when as time goes along. It is so insane how time flies by here.. SOOO weird! I love it! Everyday is a gift from God, even the days (weeks? months?) that are the hardest where you don't have any potential prospects! Those are the times where you grow the closest to the Lord and learn to rely on Him the most! Even if I didn't come back from my mission with any success in baptisms or stuff like that, I will have come back just having learned how to rely on the Lord every moment for two years. At least it will change me. And who knows, maybe I'll go back in forty years as a missionary again or even just to live there and I'll be that much more effetive because I'll know Russian and the culture and how it all works! I know I'm not here in vain and I'm doing a marvelous work and a wonder for the Lord... That being said... this thing is tough as nails. The hardest thing is being in a district with people who are getting baptisms every month and have had twenty baptisms on their missions and stuff. I just don't understand what I'm doing differently than them! haha! Oh well, maybe I'll never know, but I'm certainly learning HOW to be a missionary here. I decided that's the thing I want the most from my mission, is to become a missionary. If I come back without having done that... well, I would say I failed. haha! 

Hermana Swartz! That's way cool that you are going to have sister assistants. Weird. We had travelling sisters in our mission, but shortly after I got here, the rules changed and it wasn't allowed. Sad. That's crazy though, it's just like the district, where the girl is like "I decided that I'm going to be the first Sister assistant to the president and my companion will be the other one" We don't have enough sisters in our mission to do that right now. All five of our experienced sisters are training right now, and then they all leave next cycle... getting replaced by five new sisters... meaning that the sisters who are getting trained this cycle are all going to be training next cycle... haha! That will punch them in the face. in a good way. hopefully. 

Mom, I'm glad you are having a great time in spain! Trains aren't all they're craced up to be. They're fun though, way more fun than 14 hour bus rides accross the mission. Luckily I haven't been in one of those cities. My cities have required trains! That's cool about the story at the temple! There really is such a difference in the spirit that you can feel. 

Dad, I;m glad you are having fun! Don't get too bored! You sould take up Russian if you get to bored! I love you gotta go! 

Elder Swartz!!

Destin's Latest email

So I don't have much time this week at all!

Man! I love my mission! It is the hardest thing I have ever done! But not in like a "I want to stop" sort of way... don't worry. In fact, I was talking to another missionary and we both felt like if we had the opportunity to stay another year, we would totally take it! the ability I would have as a missionary after two years! I would just be at my prime! Who knows what I'll really feel like at the end, but if I had to pick right now, I would stay.

Chelsi, I got your dear elder. I'll write back, I promise! Ne perezhivai (don't worry)

So... I have two minutes.... haha! Nothing happened this week other than people being rude or people being nice or people being drunk, or people being weird. We're still not experiencing any success right now, which is frustrating because we don't know what we need to do to fix that problem. We've been working hard everyday for so long, but no results! haha! It's now time to learn the difference between working hard and working smart. If you don't work smart, work doesn't work.

I am having a blast! I love you all! I know this church is true, even if no one else believes me!

Love, Elder Skvortz!

Letter #32 from Russia

Hey Family! I really enjoyed talking to you yesterday. It was so great to see you all! I really don't know what to say now though because, well... we just talked... So right now we're not really experiencing any success in our area. It feels like we're just swimming against the current in an ocean of butter. Russia is a tough mission. The people here are wonderful, but really difficult to get them interested in our message. They have all been taught that other than the Russian Orthodox church, all other congregations are a cult and have darker intentions behind their proselyting. You can go all week and not meet one person who doesn't think you're a cultist. It's really frustrating. We met this one guy the other day who said that all you have to do to repent is confess your sins to a priest and then pay them, and then you can go do whatever you want. It was so frustrating because so many people here are caught in that disgusting lie! It feels like Satan has his grasp so strongly on these people's hearts! They are nice people and you can't help but love them, but that doesn't save them. I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned on my mission is how to love the sinner but hate the sin. I cannot stand the things that people do and say here, the lies the priests tell and the terrible spirit that seems to haunt and hang over so many people. But I can't say that I don't love any of them. I love the people who do the terrible things. I love the priests because at least they read the bible. I just don't know how to get them to see the light. That there is something very vital that they are missing. People here know they are unhappy, but they are unwilling to change, even if we can PROVE that our message has changed our lives, our families and friends lives and countless others. There's a phrase they have here "Nam mnoga ne nada, no mnoga noozhna." It means "We don't need anything but we we need a lot." It's a contradictory phrase that plays fun at the Russian's stubborn nature about not wanting help from anyone but also illuminates the fact that they complain about not having enough. All in all, I'm having a great time! I'm loving my mission! We are definitely in a down slump right now, but that is what the mission is about! I love you all and I will probably miss you eventually! But as for now, Russia is my home, it's where I belong and I have no problems with that. Loves, Elder Skvortz!

Letter #31 from Russia

Aloha! Horosho! So everything is going well! The temple was awesome! I got sealed to The president and his wife for time and all eternity! haha! Well, sort of. haha! We got to do a session as well, so that was awesome! However, while I was in Kiev I had two really important envelopes in my backpack, one of which was for an elder's family who lives there that I was to deliever. The other one was all my registration to live legally in Russia... I got them mixed up and gave the registration to a temple worker in Kiev and flew back to Russia and then realized what had happened... so I'm actually getting kicked out of Russia for three months and coming back to Utah until we can get it sorted out... Just kidding. Nothing bad happened. They got the registration all sorted out. I just wanted to scare you. Yo My Oh just means my goodness, or something like that. It is most definitely not a swear word... at least where I'm serving. Maybe in some other part of Russia. Rachel, I loved hearing your story about Boston washing his hands in the Toilet, but at least it wasn't his Jacuzzi. haha! Mary, cool story about the guy totally turning around! I wish I could get that to happen! By the way, could someone send me Tiffany Johnson's address! That would be great! Thanks! So this wednesday is victory day here in Russia. If there was any holiday to drink more than New years, it's Victory day... so we can't leave the apartment again. haha! Bleen (dang) I only have like five minutes... So my companion is calling home at about 6:00 my time, which means I'll be calling about 7:30 - 8:00 my time. Which is like 9 or 10 your time or something. Karoche (in short), just be ready to for me to call sometime around then. Love you all! I've gotta go! I feel like there was more I wanted to say, but I forgot... oh yeah! Happy Anniversary!!! K loves! Elder Skvortz!

Letter #30 from Russia

Hello Family! I quite enjoyed hearing about that big dinner you all had! It made me look forward when I would get to join you all for it! Everyone in Penza says I've lost weight... That's not really what I want, but at least I'm not getting fat. I've been eating healthy, increasingly healthy every cycle, and my food has been getting better tasting each cycle as well. haha! My companion loves to cook and he's good at it too. His name is Elder Strebee (spellcheck?) and he is from Arizona. He is really quiet, really respectable and really kind. He is in his third cycle and he speaks better than I do. haha! Not really, but his grammar is better than mine... haha! But he's motivated me to work even harder on my grammar. He reminds me of a mix between Jeff Lebaron and Mikey and Johnny Ruesch (spell check) all put together except he's like 200 pounds of muscle. It's awesome to back in penza! I'm loving it. There are still a few members I have yet to see, so I'm getting after them for not coming to church! It's interesting to be back because I had gotten aaccustomed to the culture of Saratov, so now being back here feels weird because I used to feel natural here, but now I have to get used to it again. It's better than going to some random city that I've never known before though. It's also frustrating because I remember having so much to do and so many people to meet with when I was here, and now I feel like there is no one to meet with in our area. We are doing a lot of finding. Which is great, I love talking to people and knocking and stuff, but I would so much rather be in teaching situations more often. I heard Peter Fox in a grocery store! I found out that one of my favortire members started drinking again. He's always had a hard time keeping himself sober, but he was doing so well last time I was here. I'm hoping to be able to meet with him soon and that we'll be able to get him rolling again and help him clean up his act. This week I met a bank robber, and two former Mafia members. (I'm pretty sure one, if not both of them are still involved in it) The bank robber said he wasn't interested, but the two "former" bandits came to an activity and want to meet with us more. I met another guy who was twenty five and SUPER rich. I asked him where he got all his money and he said from Money Laundering, is that what it's called? Essentially, he said from tax evasion and some other terrible stuff and now he's super rich. He doesn't do it any more, but that was where he got his start. Most people here say that that's just how life works here. If you want to have a good life, you need money. And if you want money, you need to pull some strings. Even government people and cops and stuff say that's just how things work here. It's probably really tempting for people here because they live in such desperate situations. Also, I totally saw Putin when I was in Saratov. I forgot to tell you all like two weeks ago when it happened. There (New president of Russia) were cops lining the streets everywhere and we asked a member why and he said that Putin was in Saratov. We got all excited and thought how cool it would be to see him, but knew obviously that our chances were like... nothing. Saratov is one of the bigger cities in Russia. But then, suddenly all the policemen's walky talkies went crazy and they cleared off all the cars on the road and then this huge chain of police cars drove by and in the middle were all these black vans and Putin totally waved to us!! Just kidding. he didn't wave. We couldn't even see in his car. But he was totally in the car. You could just feel it. Hey, I love you all! I'm having an awesome time and I am loving the Mission! I really feel like I have changed a ton, and my sense of humor has probably died, but I'm loving what Christ has made me into! Loves, Elder Skvortz!

Letter #29 from Russia

So Privyet everyone! So this week has been such a whirlwind! First I want to say... I'm going back to Penza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOSOOSOSOOOSOSOOOOO Excited!!! I love Penza so much!!! I'm going to be with an elder Named Elder Streebee (spell check?) I haven't met him yet... all I know is that he' quiet or something... haha! Anyway! I am so excited to go back to the Golden City! As much as I loved Saratov cough I am excited for the clean streets and the less threatening environment! This past week, Elder Dougherty and I were knocking and this guy answers the door with this super serious/annoyed look on his face and also... he had no pants. That was distracting. haha! His shirt was long enough, so who knows but it was still weird. But I just started talking to him like normal and he just seemed like he wanted to kill me... then I noticed that he was holding a gun pointed at my leg. That was odd... but I wan't nervous for some reason. Guns here are illegal, but I didn't really know what to do... haha! He looked with pretty cold eyes and said "Are you Mormon?" "Yep." "Are you American?" "Sure am." "...Good luck." He then put down the gun and shook my hand and took an invitation and shut the door. Elder dougherty said he was freaking out and had his hand on speed dial for the Zone leaders and was ready to run, but for whatever reason I just didn't care. haha! Then the next day, we were talking to this guy and this mentally unstable guy walks up to us and tells us to get out of here. We ignored him and kept talking to the other guy, but then the crazy guy pulls a switch blade on us and tells us if we want to live we'll leave. Again, elder Dougherty jumps back, ready to run. But for some reason I just thought it was funny. I just ignored him and kept talking to the guy, and the crazy guy walked away. haha! Pretty interesting. I don't know if it was the spirit of the Lord keeping me calm or I'm just stupid, but everything worked out for the best. So I'm really going to miss Elder Dougherty! He is seriously my favorite companion I've had so far! There was never even a moment of tension between us! Never a hint of frustration, even though at times we disagreed with how to teach an investigator or how to handle a situation, we simply humbled ourselves and solved it by listening to the spirit and worked out a plan that we both felt good about. I hope that I am able to work that well with most of my companionships. Normally you at least have a time or two where you are frustrated with each other or your pride gets in the way, but not once with Elder Dougherty! So great! I would love to serve with him again! I hope you all enjoyed the pictures! I'll hopefully send new ones again soon! Also, it's about that time that we need to organize our phone call again! So weird that it's already time again! Mother's day is May 13th I think? We can do it excactly how we did it before! I want to do it through Chris's computer again, because that one worked way better! So make sure Chris and rachel are there! Also David and Amber too! I want to see them this year at least! let me know some times that would be best for you. I can do it the day before, the day of or the day after. Just let me know! It's getting pretty hot here. We're all in short sleeve shirts now. It's incredible how fast the weather changed! I love you all so much! I'm having a blast and I am so worn out! I love you all!! Elder Skvortz!