Letter #26 from Mary

Hey family! I love the moab pictures!!!! Dad, you are so cool. The Elders
were all very impressed. I am not going to lie, i am a little jealous. Cant
wait to go when i get home!!!! It sounds like you two are playing more than
ever. Whats that like again? I cant remember.

Destin, what is it like being a missionary in Russia? Do you guys knock
tons of doors? How many contacts do you get a week? What do you guys do
all day? Do you focus on the same investigators for months and months? Its
got to be the same, but so different because we find people and teach them,
and if they dont progress, we drop in 3 weeks. I would love to know what
you guys do over there. Lots of activities, or what?

This week we helped a family move, the whole zone did a service. but it
wasnt your typical move job... here its a little different. We took apart
the whole house and carried all the materials to the new lot to rebuild the
house. We literally moved an entire house. So much work, and of course we
didnt completely finish, but the majority of the house we moved in about 4
hours. We were beyond tired, but its always a good feeling to serve others.

Welp family, love you so much! i love the mission, we are struggling a
little with the investigators right now, we havent had one baptism this
month, but we have 3 that can get baptized the 28th, so we are really going
to focus on what they need, and see if we can help them gain a testimony.
And if we dont reach our goal of 3 baptisms this month, its okay. the most
important thing is that the people we baptize really have a testimony of
the gospel. Baptize converts is the goal. Anyway, love you tons family and
friends! tell maddie happy birthday!!!!


Romanette!!!  Chica, yo le puedo llamar por su nombre ahora! <usted es la
presidenta de mujeres jovenes, eh? lo maximo. No lo puedo creer que usted
ya se fue para la casa, y esta viviendo normal!!! Que raro! Que bueno que
mi hermana le accepto por face, por fin! Usted va a subir todas las fotos
para que las pueda ver despues de la mision, ¿ya? No se olvide de su hija
aca en peru, en la mision! Le quiero mucho, y se que las chicas en su rama
le necesitan, y van a aprender tantas cosas de usted.  Hasta luega
mamita!!!

Hermana Swartz

Letter #25 from Mary

DAVID, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  I didnt forget your birthday, I just forgot to TELL you happy birthday last pday, but I thought about you all day! all the elders in my district wore their american flag ties and put up flags all over, and we had soda to celebrate being americans, and the latinos celebrated with us. some of them even know the pledge of allegience haha. we are all very very patriotic hahahaha. man, the states. how i love being american.

yes the strap broke, I just took them to get them repaired on friday, and they are working great. its only about 24 soles, like 10 dollars to fix both pairs, so they should be good to go. Thanks for responding though :) holy cow, Mckenna looks incredible! i cant believe she is married. super wierd.

Okay here is the update with me. I got a call on saturday morning from president Calderon, the mission president that i was flying out to cusco at noon because there was another musical conference, and he wanted me to sing again. so i flew out from puerto to cusco, and stayed the night in the mission home, my comp stayed with the others sisters in puerto. Then I went to church in the morning, and right after church they put me on a combi to sicuani, its a 2 hour bus ride thats jam packed with people. so fun. so i get to sicuani around three, we have practice at 4 until 6 and then at 7 we performed. THere were about 700 or 800 people there. I sang sigueme again with hermana martinez, and this time I was the soloist for the song his hands, in spanish obviously. and i didnt forget the words this time!!! There are three of us that are going to be traveling all over the mission to do the musical presentation. Elder Galvez on piano, Hermana martinez is the choir director, and sings the duet with me, and I am going to be singing. We are going to Quillabamba, Valle sagrado, Puno, Abancay, puerto maldonado,  all over. Its really fun, but its not so fun traveling on bus for hours and hours, so it was cool to fly in, much easier. I just got back about an hour ago from cusco, and am back in puerto for pday. Its really a gorgeous presentation, there are tons of members, and investigators, and the missionaries are coming out of it with people with baptismal dates. its awesome.

I hope everything is going well back in utah! sounds like there have been a lot of fires... wow!   its strange how quickly life moves. especially when I am watching from the outside hahaha. Well family, I LOVE being a missionary, I have been so blessed to be here at this time. I feel like the Lord has just taken my hand and lead me to the places where I would grow the most, and where I would find the most joy. I love you guys so so much! miss you all tons, but I know i am exactly where i am supposed to be. 

Letter #24 From Mary

Hey family! it sounds like everything is going really well in utah these
days. I love hearing about how Boston is in tumbling! oh my gosh, i wish i
could see him running around. Man i have some cute nephews and a super cute
niece. So you guys had the driest summer ever huh? I have to say i miss
dry weather just a little. And Mckenna is getting married, and Jessica had
her baby!!! oh my gosh! that is awesome. What did she name the baby? That
is great that Kevin and Jill are grandparents! wow, thats weird that kenna
is getting married. so weird. I didnt get destin´s email this week, and
can you please PLEASE tell me about the shoes!? this is the 3rd week i have
asked, and nobody has told me what i need to do.  i need replacements!!!!
please look into that today! and let me know what i need to do. i am almost
positive there is a warranty, and both pairs went out after only 6 months.
nope. not acceptable. please let me know please let me know please let me
know. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

Okay, now the good stuff. We had a baptism on saturday, Klebert got
baptized! it was really awesome. Klebert has 4 daughters and all are
baptized and his wife is a member too. He gave his testimony and said that
he had listened to countless numbers of companionships of missionaries, and
never accepted. other times, he shut the door in their faces. He said he
was so grateful to me and hermana caicedo, he said that we were the only
ones who were able to touch his heart. Its so strange, because we had no
idea that he had been dificult in the past, he seemed to us like a golden
investigator because we didnt have a registro, a teaching record. wow, that
took me and an english elder about 3 minutes to remember how to say
registro in english haha so funny. anyway, anyway, its interesting because
i know that it will be the same with some of the people we had to drop,
that one day, some of them will accept the gospel, they just arent quite
ready yet, or are waiting for the right person to explain the gospel in a
way that they can understand.

Also we went to visit Jorge, who was our first baptism out here in puerto,
he has sort of been flailing lately with the gospel, skipping church, and
we just felt like he was different. So yesterday we went to go talk to him
to figure out what was going on with him. At first he was really closed
off, but then opened up about how whenever he does something good,
something bad follows. He said, i know if i pray today and read my
scriptures, tomorrow, bad things will happen. and it true, he told us all
of the bad things that happen right after he makes a good decision. He said
he is not happy at this time in his life because he knows he is making bad
decisions, and he knows the gospel is true, but whats the point in praying
or going to church if horrible things follow. We explained to him that yes,
there are times of trial. But that we are here to be tried, and tested and
the people that remain faithful in the times of trial are the people that
recieve the blessings. We have to stay strong. I told him he needed to
repent, and come back if he wanted to be happy. its not easy to be a member
of the church of Jesus Christ, but it is worth it.

The gospel is true. I am so grateful to all my friends and family who have
sent letters, i love hearing about all the things i am missing. Its
interesting looking in from the outside, and watching how quickly life
moves. I love the gospel, I am working hard to be exactly obedient, my
companion is so great! I love the mission, I love peru, I love the
people, I love the gospel.

Love Hermana Swartz.

Letter #23 from Mary plus pictures!

Hey family! Everything is really good here in puerto maldonado. My companion is wonderful, she is so great. we have a good number of people progressing, we had 5 investigators in church yesterday, so that was great.  Thats hard with destins companion, its hard to be a good leader. I feel the same way, that i dont deserve to be a leader. but if the lord wants me to train, i will do the best i can. I have had dark circles under my eyes this entire week and last week from the stress of everything, it had everyone asking me if i was eating okay, or if i was getting any sleep. but last night i finally felt like i was able to get a good 8 hours. its hard because we are always running, always stressing over what the investigators need, what do the members need, what do the leaders need, what does my companion need, and I forget about everthing else!

The mission is good, i wish i had good stories for you, but this week, we just worked hard and we should have a baptism this saturday, Klebert.

Rachel, holy cow! you almost died it sounds like! i am so so so glad your kids and house are okay. That would stress me out so much, i dont know what i would do or how i would feel, not knowing if the next time you see your house if it would be in ashes or not. scary. but awesome that it turned out okay!

Momma, you are home it sounds like! its good, i think daddy missed you :) I love you daddy, love you mom, and rachel and chris, david and amber and destin, and all my cousins and grandparents, and friends. i have been so blessed to have such a strong foundation of people who love me, i am so grateful for all of you, and the support i have recieved here.

can some PLEASE look into getting my shoes replaced asap??? i know there is a warrantee, and my two pairs i bought are broken. what do i need to do to get more??? i have a pair i am using, but its a cheap pair, and wont last long here in the jungle.

 

Love you all. Hermana Swartz.

Letter #22 from Mary

Hey Daddy! HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!  I hope
Fathers day rocked, even though your favorite child is serving in Peru. 
But I miss you and I thought about you all day! I hope it went well, one
more fathers day, and I come home right after! I am just sending this to
you, can you forward this to mom and rachel, and david and the family?

This week was a really busy week! I got a new companion, hermana Ayala,
and she is the best comp ever. I absolutely adore her. She is from El
Salvador, but lived in Costa Rica. We are in Cusco right now but just for
today! we go back to puerto maldonado tonight. This week, we had our 2
weddings, and the two couples got baptized saturday morning. The fifth
drank the night before, so we are going to keep working with him. It was
amazing to watch the two couples bear their testimonies, there is a joy
that comes from bringing others to the gospel that cant be explained. Right
after the baptisms saturday, we got on a bus to Cusco for the recital.
There were about 1000 people there, and it was amazing. There were three of
us that sang solos and sang together, and it went really well. Well, except
for the fact that I had to start the first song, and got lost for about 5
seconds, and it was the longest 5 seconds of my life. I was super
embarrassed, but I found my place and picked it back up.

Also, yesterday I had the chance to go to attend the ttio ward, my first
area. Jose, our investigator who only looked at the ground, and who had
made so much progress and then i left to puerto, he and his pareja got
married, and he blessed the sacrament yesterday. I could not help but cry
as i heard him pray. He has truly had a complete change of heart in his
life, i have never seen anything so drastic, and its all because of the
gospel. The lord truly blessed me to be able to see the fruits of my labors
yesterday, and i am so grateful. most missionaries do not get that chance.
What a blessing.

Life is good, I love you all, i´ll try to send a picture soon of the
mullet. It rocks. you will love it. The church is true.

Hermana Swartz.