Elder Holland's Visit

Elder Holland came to Santiago last week

Dear Family,

I am sorry but this is probably going to be the shortest letter that I ever write you, I opened my inbox today, and I was amazed to see all of the emails that I had received, so I took a long time writing to everyone.  Todd, and Andrew, and Anthony, and Grandma wrote me!  I sure felt loved.  It is great to hear that you made it back east safely, and that you are having a great time out there.  Thank you for the pictures too!

This week was super, SUPER good!  Mercedez and Walter are doing great, same with Claudio.  Claudio actually came to church this Sunday, that was really cool.  It was the primary program, and both he and Mercedez really enjoyed that.  Like I think I said earlier, we are now starting to teach Mercedez´s boyfriend, Walter.  We actually taught him a lesson with President Wright this week, which was super cool, and we helped him out with a little service on Saturday morning.  Then they made us a KILLER lunch; Peruvian food is SO GOOD.  This past Wednesday we had the monthly meeting with the stake president and President Wright, which went really well.

Okay, the Elder Holland experience was AMAZING.  We got to the chapel at 5am to make sure that we got good seats.  Actually, our whole zone was there before 6am, and the meeting started at 9:30.  We all have the front two rows, it was awesome!  He did an AMAZING job.  It wasn't the first time that I had heard him speak, but this time it really impressed and moved me, probably because I have the tag on.  I need to know and love the Book of Mormon even more than I do right now -- that was the biggest thing that I learned.  So I left the meeting committed to improve.  It's so interesting because every time I leave a meeting with a general authority, I just feel so good, like anything is possible, that the sky is the limit -- it is so cool!  I know that Elder Holland is a man called of God, without a doubt.

Anyways, I would love to go into more detail about the week -- it really was an awesome one, but I am totally running out of time.  Just know that I love you, and that I miss you, but I am having an amazing experience here, and that I know that the church is true.  Thank you all for your love and support, and thoughts and prayers.

I look forward to hearing for you again next week.

with much love,

Elder Schwartz