Pocatellllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Brazil will be postponed for a while as Elder Schwartz waits for that darn visa!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

So, I'm sure it's old news by now, but I got my temporary reassignment until I get my visa. I get the opportunity to serve the people in the POCATELLO IDAHO MISSION!!! I am way excited for that! I already know that I'm supposed to be there, because someone out there needs to hear the message I'm bringing!  Everyone in my district got reassigned, except Elder Ross, who got his visa.  I guess he is needed in Brazil right now, while the rest of us are needed elsewhere, which is AWESOME.  My companion Elder Bond and Elder Johnson and Elder Despain from my district got reassigned to serve in the Mesa Arizona mission.  Elder Smith got reassigned to his home mission in Tennessee (what?!?), and the Sisters got reassigned to Iowa, Colorado, and Michigan.  So, I'm the only one going to Idaho from my district. There is another sister, in another district who is also going to Pocatello, so at least I'll know someone going there.

 

This week has been amazing, as every week is. There were a few downsides, though.  Our district actually didn't get to Skype with the Brasileiros this week, so that was kind of a let down. On Sunday we had a fantastic devotional given by the head of the Missionary Department.  It was amazing. He had prepared a message, but then changed it as the Spirit directed him, and it ended up really uplifting to me, and I'm sure to everyone else here in the MTC.  That night, we got to watch Sister Monson's funeral service.  It was a beautiful service with many great people giving us details of what a wonderful person she was.  On Tuesday, we had another devotional given by Elder Zwick of the Seventy.  He instructed us how we can have better Christ-like attributes.  It was phenomenal!  So uplifting!  On Wednesday, I got the opportunity to be a host for the new missionaries coming in.  It was sweet to see the families drop them off and how much love they had for their missionaries. Even though my drop off was better (right Devin and Cindy?), I liked being the one to introduce the new missionaries to the MTC life and being their guide for a short time. 

Thursday kinda went up and down.  The ups were infield orientation and getting my reassignent.  Infield orientation was a blast.  It was all day, but I learned so much!  Even one of the missionaries from "the district" led some of our breakout classes.  The down of that day was that our room got vandalized by some missionaries on our floor.  I felt sad for the missionaries that did it because they were'nt really being missionaries.  Everything's fine, they just made a huge mess, but we got it all taken care of. Today has been awesome so far.  I just got the package that Nate sent for me and I loved it. It's seriously the best thing to happen besides my reassignment.  He gave me so many neat shirts, talks, and food -- I love it!  Our district also had a nice little picnic and we had a bottle of Martinelli's and we toasted our reassignments.  It was great. And later today I get to go to the temple!  I love P-days!

District Picnic

Guess who found me at the temple?...........It's cousin Cindy -- Awesome!

Thanks everyone for all the letters, packages, dear elders, and emails!  They all really help and make things better for me here at the MTC.  It's good to hear that everyone is doing well in their lives and that everyone is happy.  I know that this Church is true.  I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that he saw the Father and the Son.  I know that through Him, Joseph Smith translated the sacred records into the Book of Mormon.  I invite all who are reading what I write to know that this is what I believe, and if they have any questions, just write me a letter or email and I will gladly respond.  

I love you all!

 

-Elder Schwartz