Dec. 24th, 2012

Hey family! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

 

I have no clue when i am going to be able to call you to be honest. I was going to have to call today, but there is not going to be time! I am going to call in the morning.... i hope you are all going to be together! Ill probably call around 9 or ten ish.

 

I love you all tons and tons. But i am so excited to call and talk to everybody! Ill call one of your cell phones, probably dads.

 

I have to say it is really cool to be able to be a missionary during christmas time and share messages about jesus christ. I love it, this whole season is so awesome. Its so interesting that the world really centers itself around christ. He literally marked history and we now measure the years since he died. even the biggest holdiday of the year, is centered on him. I love it, i am soooo blessed to be able to be here, and be teach people about christ. I also have the most awesome family, and looking around here in peru, its not very common to have a family like we have. What a blessing. I love you all, thank you for being my family.  

 

Welp, I think thats it for now. love you!!!!

 

Milagros y presidente!

Espero que mi carta les llegara! les evie hace una semana mas o menos. Espero que tengan una feliz navidad!!!! manda mis saludos a raquel y americo, julio y keila, katia macahuachi, y tatiana, marta y jose y todos!!!! les amo muchoooo!

 

mamita Romi! Eh! FELIZ NAVIDAD! Elder Nina manda saludos, y dice VIVE CHILE PE!!!!! jajaa. que chevere que esta con su sobrino y su familia para navidad! Todo esta bien aca en peru en la mision. Hace freaking calor, pucha. no tanto como puerto, pero casi! nunca he pasado una navidad en el calor, pero siempre hay una primera vez para todo, no?  le quiero mucho mucho mucho, y espero que tenga una feliz navidad!!!! Su amigasa para siempre, Hermana Swartz

Dec. 16th, 2012

Hey family! wow so much to tell you all! first off, my shoes are really truly broken this time. both pairs, the sole is broken in half. i can still use them. but water comes in and i have replaced the inside on both pairs, but its not going to last long. and i still have 6 months of hard work!  the straps are broken too. Do you need me to send a picture, or can you just go to missionary mall and they have the receipt on record. Peru is kind of rough on shoes. So i am not sure what we can do, but if you can find out.. that would be great.

 

Christmas... This year i have to call on Christmas eve, I can call at any hour. I am thinking at five my time... not sure what that means your time... does that work okay? I HAVE AN HOUR!!!!  woot! ahhh! so awesome. Ill make sure i have enough credit.

 

Alright, so awesome rachel and chris are bck! how awesome. How cool! I hope you all have an awesome christmas! cant wait to talk to you all. oh, JILL! happy birthday! hope your birthday rocked chica. love you tons.

 

Destin! Freaking cool about your investigator! that is so awesome. I will pray for her, wow, how aweful, but how cool that the lord has really prepared her to recieve the gospel and she will bwe able to see all her family again, and the lord will bless her for her obedience. The gospel rocks

 

Alright this is whats happening in peru. We had a baptism on saturday, David got baptized!!!!! He is awesoem. So we go to the church, and there is no water to fill the pila bautismal, so we go to the other church, and there is no water there either! So we think, hey! lets go to the river! so we go to the river, and it was with waves of like, 4 feet because we are in the rain season. Really, it was moving boulders the size of the metro, and sounded like thunder. so we thought... huh. But David was determined to be baptized, so we went to the pool and it was a really awesome baptism!

 

Also, Beder who i have been teaching since i got here, in september, finally accepted a baptismal date! It was a miracle because his mom wouldnt give him permission, but his dad got here and we talked to him and he talked to the mom and they agreed! Beder is soooo awesome, when i got here, i once said that if i accomplished nothing else, but helped beder get baptized, i would feel like i have done what i had to do here. and now he is getting baptized the 29th, and i really really feel like i had to come here to find him. He is awesome, he told his mom, Mom this isnt the church of some guy, its not just any church like the baptist, or catholic, or maranata, its THE  church of Jesus christ, and i am going to be baptized in it. Wow, so powerful his testimony.

 

Also we found someone named Andres, He rocks. 6 months ago he fell from the 2nd story and smashed his head hard and had to have brain surgery and now suffers from short term memory loss. He cant remember anything he did the day before. He started crying because he has lost all his friends because they all tell him he used to be funny, he used to be a certain way but now he is different. some friends. anyway he is 21 years old, and wants so much to be healed and to find christ in his life. its awesome. I am expecting it to be something like the movie 50 first dates... we are not sure how its going to work exactly, haha but he is awesome and we are going to do our best.

we are working hard with the less actives, and they have given a ton of references! Also a great way that an elder told us to find new, is an activity with the youth. They made missionary badges for the youth, taught them how to contact, teh lessons, how to challenge people to get baptized, and sent them out in companionships, and they knocked doors, they challenged people to baptism, they contacted their friends, and took out return appointments! They have no fear whatsover, and now the missionaries have tons of references! how awesome! We are going to do that in our branch in the next week, or two weeks.

Basically i love my companion, i love quillabamba, i love the people i am teaching and i dont want to leave quillabamba at the end of this transfer. i know i have 3 transfers, but it feels like 1 and i want more time here! but we will see what the lord has planned.

Honestly, serving a mission is the most awesome thing that has ever happened. I lack soooo much... especially patience. But I can not imagen my life with out this time serving the people here in peru and serving the Lord my God.

i love you all, Merry christmas!!!!!

 

Hermana Swartz

Dec. 10th, 2012

hey fam. i accidently deleted my email i just wrote, and now i have absolutely no time left. awesome. so this will be brief. mom you can forward this to everyone? 

next- june. huh. welp, that is the day i am headed home. just go on your trip and ill see you when you get back. its really not a huge deal. Just send someone to pick me up and i can see you a few days later. dont cancel your plans, go have a good time. i realize the change of plans is a surprise, so go enjoy your trip! :)

Life is good on the mission , we had some cool esxperiences.. we gave a lesson to carina, and it wasnt planned but after she asked if we knew something. we said no... then she opened up about how she thought someone had told us her situation because the message was an answer to her prayer fromt  he night before. its awesoem to be able to follow the spirit and help someone. the lord knows so much better than we do what people need.

I love you all! 

Hermana Swartz

Dec. 3rd, 2012

Grandma,

You are the best. In difficult situations, i have often thought to myself, What would grandma do? You have a gift to make others feel like they are special and like they matter. Grandma I love you so much and the example you have set for me in my life.

 

Grandpa, Thank you for being a rock. Whenever i have questions about the gospel, i know i can look to you. You have achieved so much in your life, and have truly been a servant of the Lord and an instrument in His hands. I love you so much!!!

 

 

Okay, so that is all i have time to write, sorry, i'd love to write more, but there is not time! My new comp is named Hermana Munoz de lima. She is awesome. I loooove her! The 4 of us who share a room are having a blast, but still working hard. i love it. We have one investigator progressing with a date to be baptized the 15th, his name is David. He rocks. He was adventista and knows tons about the bible. he said he got an answer that it was true and accepted the date! i love when that happens.

 

Hna Munoz and i are studying the old testament and i love it! Moses was a cool guy. Its awesome to see all the connections between modern day revelation and the old testament. That is one of the best things about serving a mission, is that we have time to learn so much about the gospel. I dont think i would have ever taken the time to really pick apart the scriptures in the way that i have if it wouldnt have been for this time. Its so cool the way they just, open themselves up to you when you take the time to read them. And pray. we taught an inv. that reading the scriptures with out prayer is like eating your chocolate cake with out the milk, it doesnt work.

 

Another thing. They announced that they have changed the dates that  we are getting released. I will now be coming home the 4th of June. they changed the amount of time in the mtc or something and it affected the dates we come home. Just an FYI.

I cant believe i only have 6 months left! What happened to the time i had? I feel like they chopped a month off, just like that! But Thats how it is. Ill just have to work hard to make up for the time lost.

 

Welp fam, i love you tons. I miss you all, and serving a mission is so awesome. best. choice. ever.

Nov. 26th, 2012

Hey family! wow i had about 15 emails to read! mom i did not open any
presents! I know you so well, i knew you would write on the presents
"dont open till christmas". Called it. Thank you so much for sending
anything at all, i am super super excited to open them on christmas!
Also I will send home the letter to grandma and grandpa next week,
this week i am not going to have time. So, whats funny is that
yesterday someone asked me about what thanksgiving day was in the
states, and i had completely forgotten about that holiday!!! Did not
even remember that it existed!!! We did absolutely nothing special, we
ate regular peruvian food that day.. which is good and all, but thanks
rach for sending pictures of my favorite meal ever.
Tell Aunt Lynda i say hi and i cant wait to see her next
thanksgiving. its awesome she is in utah,. its the place to be. its
sort of weird that the two sides of the family all live in utah...
weird. all thats left is doug and derrel. tell them to get on that.
dad-- love the pics of Indiana! i love indiana.

Kassie is the best. I am glad she had a good homecoming! I have that
poem she read... well, had. not sure where it is at the moment but its
one of my favorites. and Elle went over for thanksgiving and mark and
bart, eh!? thats awesome. I love Elle so much, she has been one of the
few people to write me consistently. not that i blame the people who
havent... i was one of those people who never wrote missionaries
infact hahaha. Hey i have a letter for tiff, but does anyone know when
she comes home? i dont want to send a letter to hungry if she is going
to be in her house when it finally gets there.

there are changes tomorrow, my comp is leaving and someone else is
coming. changes are good, but i feel like we finally learned how to
work together, and how to love eachother, and now shes leaving! but
thats life i guess. The mission rocks. I love it, its sooooo hard and
super exhausting but holy cow is it rewarding.

Milagros! Te amo mucho, parece que los elderes estan trabajando
durazooo! que vacan! tambien tu esposo y los lideres. que tal hermano
Jose luis? como esta? y marta? estan bien? Un dia voy a regresar a
puerto para visitarte y tu esposo y a todos en puerto. Te quiero
mucho!!! tambien voy a mandar la lista de mis conversos para tu esposo
y los misioneros.

Mami Romi!!! eh que tal! todo bien aca, todavia estoy en quillabamba,
mi compañera tiene cambio, no se quien viene. vamos a ver. Estoy
aprovechando cada momento de la mision xque se que voy a extrañarla
despues!!! Romi usted es lo maximo, le extraño muchisimo y espero que
un dia volvamos a vernos!!!

Hermana Swartz

Nov. 19th, 2012

Hey family and friends! another week has gone by on the mission and i cant believe it. i almost have a year... so wierd. Hey i got my Christmas package!!!! Yay!!! Everyone wants to try american candy... but i told them I am not sharing. is that bad? Its been a year!!! I clearly lack in my christ like attributes... but i am working on it.

Hostess went out of business!!! Dad... what are you going to do? Bummer. i love eating zingers from daddys cookie drawer. and kass came over! yay! that is awesome. i love her. i miss her. it will be super fun to see her and tiff after the mission and talk about all the craziness that happens. Also jill, and Dani. I hope they are doing well... i dont hear much from them, but i  miss them tons too. And everyone else too. but that time will come, there is a time and season for all things.

 

Destin, i am super glad you got your letter! How awesome that the spirit can work in such cool ways? I hope Kevin likes the letter i wrote to him. Send him the original and the translation! and congratulations on the baptism you had. I could not be more happy for you, i really do pray for you and for your investigators, please take pictures so that we can look back together over all the cool people we met. Hey! i met a Russian from Tula, He is half russian half peruvian! He grew up in tula, and is Catholic Orthodox. He is an interesting person. He looks like one of the people from the russian pass along card you sent me hahahaha. Awesome.

 

My companion and i have a baptism this week! Her name is Yasseli, She is sooo awesome. it has been such a blessing to find her and jsee the spirit work with in her and really change her heart over the past month or so. Her mom passed away and her dad isnt really part of her life. She had some rebelious years and grew tired, and really has changed so much. I love her!!!! One day i would love to be able for you mom and dad to meet these people who i love so much.

 

Welp i dont have much time, I love you all. I got some great letters this week, thank you soooo much! I will try to write you back, but if i cant, just know i love you and will give you the stack of letters i wrote to you but didnt have funds to send. :D

 

PRESIDENTE CHIANG!!! Gracias por escribirme! ¿Como le va su llamamiento!? Felicitaciones en subir a presidente de rama!!! Estoy triste que usted no estuvo cuando fui para visitarles in puerto, pero un dia quiero regresar con my familia y visitarles. Ustedes me ayudaron tanto, nunca voy a olvidar el servicio y amor que me dieron. y si, he bajado de peso un poco!  jaja, gracias por decirme!  Y claro que si, tengo la lista de mis conversos alli, voy a mandarlos la semana que viene a usted por correo para que les pueda buscar. :D Mande saludos a milagros, y alexa! y a toda la rama!!!

 

Romi!!! hola amiga, que tal! Espero que toda le vaya bien en chile! No se olvide de mandarme fotos de su boda, se que la va a tener pronto jajaja. 

Nov. 14th, 2012

Hey family! Sorry i am writing late this week, we got permission to write today because monday we were in MACHU PICCHU!!!!!  Definitely the coolest place i have ever been. There is such a different feeling there, its obvious why the incas considered it a sacred place, i have never seen anything like it. It was sooo awesome!!!! We left sunday night.. 5 hours from here to cusco, then at 2 am monday morning we left from cusco to valle sagrado, got on the train and got to maccu picchu at like, i dont know, 7 ish? no sleep. and then we left the same day in the afternoon, went back to cusco, then back to quillabamba at 4 am. No sleep at all. It rocked. 

What else happened this week? I have changed my mind again about dogs. before the mission, i wanted one. then i didnt want one after one bit me in cusco... but i have had a change of heart. We were sitting in our room planning, and i see out of the corner of my eye, something black run across the floor. Yep. a huge rat. It ran into the other sisters room. so, my comp and the other sister were on chairs, and hna choc and i had brooms and were looking for it. But we couldnt get to it, so we talked to the land lord, and he came and looked, and called for Lassy. Lassy is a German Shepard where we live, and I love her! Anyway, Lassy came in, they shut the door to the room, there were some sounds coming from the room, my companion was screaming in the background while we were trying to give the numbers to the District leader and Zone leaders, and then Lassy got it. So now i want a German Shepard.

That is soooo awesome Destins investigator is getting baptized!!!! there is not a feeling that is better in the whole world. We have some good investigators right now... we had a cool experience the other day too! We went to visit our investigator Miranda, and her friend was there with her. We asked if we could share a message with them, and they accepted. We were not sure if we should share something more basic because it was the first time we were going to teach Kati, the friend, but we decided to go on with the plan to teach word of wisdom to the two of them. We shared the message, and it turns out that she has issues with her health and it was exactly what she needed to hear. Then she told us she dreamed the night before that she was with her son, Miranda, and an angel, and that she woke up with a really good feeling. She told her mom what she dreamed and her mom told her that she should not be surprised if she had a spiritual experience that day, and that God had a message for her. And then we found her!!!! How cool. She does have a kid, and her boyfriend is studying in cusco, but it doesnt matter. It was a really cool experience, and she came to church on sunday!!! I am just hoping her boyfriend will come back soon so that they can get married. 

over all, life is good, i am trying not to be so stressed out all the time, because it doesnt help anyone. I loved hearing about Dad in indiana! Super Jealous. i want to go visit when i get back. and eat Mary lous. and Dog and suds. and Arnies pizza. mmmmmm. 
Mom, i love the pictures! So david and amber moved in with you? how come so soon? dont they have another month before rach and chris get back? Share a room with bastion eh? send me a picture of him!!!!!! I am okay with that, I am sure he is super cute. Welp, i love you all. I love this gospel so much, and i love teaching people about who Christ is and seeing lives change. I just wish people wouldnt complicate things so much! if they would just read their scriptures, pray and come to church, they could actually progress!!!! Its soooo simple, and yet so difficult for people to actually do. but i realize i need to do a better job at not being a robot and focus more on teaching people according to their needs, or just being a friend. anyway, i love you all! The church is true, the book is blue. I would love to hear from Kenzie, she wrote me but i lost her address! Tell her to write me again so i can write her back - look her up on facebook! I keep thinking about her, and have dreams about her too! Tell her to write me. 

Romanette! fui a machu picchu! fue super chevere! Nunca he visto un lugar asi en todo mi vida! Puede creer que tengo casi un año? Que raro, no! Hace un año usted me recogio en el aeropuerto en cusco! El tiempo pasa rapido mi amiga. no lo puedo creer. Le quiero mucho, siga siendo una luz para su familia, y dando todo de si. Ciou

Hermana Swartz

Nov. 5th, 2012

Hey family. 
I dont mind hearing about how the elections go, i think its interesting, but it seems like destins not the biggest fan haha. just let me know who wins. i LOVE all the pictures you all have sent!!! mom, you win. your costume is the best costume i have ever seen. i love it. I would like to know who failed to take a picture of dad being grapes? and of david and amber and the stranger who is their son, because nobody sends me pictures of him! throw an apple in there and you could have been fruit of the loom ahahahahaha. oh my lanta. so funny. and i love that picture you took of me dad, how did you get that of me? i would like to point out that i am holding the bow and arrow correctly. 
The work here is... progressing? ish. We have some investigators, but they each have something stopping them from progressing. The other sisters who we live with literally have people come up to them and are like, "baptize me. tomorrow." what? who does that happen to? it happens to the sisters we share sector with like, every week. not sure how, but they are doing something right. But we are happy for them, we just have to keep working hard and have to figure out how to overcome the challenges, the road blocks that are stopping all the people we are teaching. 
We had an activity, there wasnt exactly a ton of support from the branch. but the good news was that people showed up, we did a reenactment of the dream of lehi and the iron rod, it was cool. lots of work, and most of the references we took by force hahaha, and are under aged and their parents are all catholic, and want nothing to do with us. but hey, you got to start somewhere. My companion was struggling a bit, had her bags packed and was ready to go home, but changed her mind this week and decided to stay so that was good. Its been interesting here in quillabamba, i am learning more about perserverence and really have to question myself why is it that nobody is progessing? what are we doing wrong? Why am i so tired? the truth is that its hard, but we will figure it out. I remember that rachel told me that if i needed to learn one thing, its how not to quit when things get hard, and she was right. That is something i have always struggled with, but i am grateful for this time of trial because if i have ever had to stick it out, its now. and the best part is i dont even want to quit, i just want to figure out how to be better. 
Welp, thats all the time i have for now. i love you all so so so much! thank you for sending all the awesome pictures, i am so blessed to have such a cool family.

Con amor, Hermana Swartz.

Oct. 29, 2012

Hey family!

Thank you so much for your emails! Also I got a letter from Meaghan Reese, she is awesome. Welp, this week has been good. We have found some really awesome new investigors! its really exciting, because they dont have anything holding them back!!! i love it. 4 of our investigors came to church, we just now have teach them and help a few of them get permission, and the rest, just keep em warm.

Beder said a prayer the other day and in his prayer thanked me and my companion for helping him, and for filling the hole is heart he didnt know he had. Beder is sooooo awesome. Just pray that his mom will allow him to be baptized. we are teaching her and really trying to show her that baptism is a good thing for her son.

I dont have too much to tell about this week, we just keep moving forward, keep pushing even when things are difficult. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the oportunity i have had to share the message with people who accept it. i love watching lives change, and its so hard knowing how the gospel could help someone, and they dont put their part. you have to live the principles before you can get a testimony of them. you have to show that faith before you can recieve the reward. if you never show faith, and never live the principles of the gospel, how can you know if its good? If there is food in front of you, you have to taste it before you decide if its good or not. Thats whats so hard for me is when people just arent willing to try, to see what could happen to their lives. But the people that do, makes it all worth it.

 

I love hearing about halloween!!! i love this season. They dont celebrate halloween here, they know what it is, but dont really get into it. Halloween is definitely more fun in the states. Next year, we{ll all go to witches fest. and it will be awesome. I dont know if you know. mom and dad, please send pictures of your costumes, and of david and amber, and my nephew who i dont know. and of the whole fam. granparents, cousins, tias, tios, you know. The whole brady bunch.

 

Anyway, i love you all tons and tons!!!! i miss you, but i know i am exactly where i need to be at this time, so thats a good feeling.

 

Mila y romi! ustedes tienen que traducir mis cartas jajaja. basicamente, todo esta bien aca en quillabamba. Romi, todo lo que yo le dije es verdad, lo que yo deje para usted en su recuerdo. para que sepa. todavia le extrana y espero que un dia me pueda visitar. Usted tambien Mila, con su familia!!! les queiro un monton.

 

Con amor, Hermana Swartz.

It's been too long!

Hi Mary's friends and family who read her blog! This is Rachel. While in England I had very little access to a computer so I got behind...here's her latest email! I'm hoping to catch up soon. :) Enjoy. 

Hey family! mom... holy cow. My mouth is watering from the pictures of your cakes!!!! so good! Hey when i get home, I want some of that and probably cofee cake. that would be a good plan i feel like. And all your grandchildren are blonde with blue eyes! How weird, but they are all so big and adorable!!! Have i really been gone that long? 
Daddy, i am super glad your classes are going well, keep working hard and youll do great. Do you feel like your perspective has changed since you were in the university before? I bet its more fun now. < love you daddy. 
Rach!!! Thanks for you letter. so do you guys even work, or do you just take trips and play all the time? I dont even remember what its like to sleep, so make sure and take some naps for me while you are on the beach, yeah? Also, Chris, i understand. putting in contacts is a traumatic experience. 
David, its good to hear from you so often. Keep working hard, love you tons.
Destin, Its about 34 degrees celcius here, not sure what it is in faregnheit either, and i dont remember how to spell that either lol. But its cookin here, not as much as puerto, but its still hot. Hope all is well in Russia. <love you little brother. 
Let me know when tiff gets home. I know its coming up here. 
Welp, Here in peru things are good, Andres and <omar got baptized saturday!!! so that was awesome! We are stoked about that. They are so awesome! We are teaching some really cool people right now, its awesome. Its so interesting because when we are so tired and we keep going, thats when the lord has blessed us the most. I feel like i have changed so much since i first came on the mission, and yet, i am still me. :) Its just interesting.   I love you guys tons and tons. I hope everything is going well there in utah. If there is snow, send me a picture! i havent seen snow in so long.... maybe if i look at a picture of it, it will be like a little bit of ac here in quillabamba. 

here are the pictures of my shoes. They are pretty much hashed, both pairs. not sure if they can send me a replacement, or what, but let me know what they say! Thanks! 

Hermana Swartz

 Mary's shoes after 1 year of Peru! Thank Heavens for a warrantee!