Did Someone Say....Barbeque?

Did you say Barbecue?

Yum!

mmmmmmmm!

Dear Family, Friends, Everyone,

Its great to hear that you all had such an busy and excellent week, full of work and church callings and exercising and activities.  It sounds like you're all starting off 2014 on the right foot.  This past week was a really good one for Elder Sercovich and me as well.  Firstly, we got the news about changes (transfers), and Elder Sercovich and I are staying together...WHICH MEANS, that I will be ending my mission HERE IN LA REINA!....Which I am very, very excited about because I love this sector.  This is Elder Sercovich's last change, so I am going to do everything that I can as his comp to make it his best change too.  Sadly, Elder Bunderson, one of my roomates is getting changed, which is lame because he was and is a good friend of mine; but the cool news is that he is going to Chiloé, my old sector, so that was pretty awesome news.

This is the 2nd year that they have done EFY in Chile.  From what I have heard, it is basically the same exact program as EFY in the states, with the classes and services and dances and breakout sessions and morning devotionals and everything.  Everyone is grouped into companies like at EFY in the states too, they have counselors, the whole shabang.  But I think the biggest difference is that they don't do it on a college campus; they do it on a big church owned property outside of Santiago called "Casablanca" and all of the participants and leaders have to sleep in tents for a whole week, but from what I can tell, it has had the same fantastic, strengthening results here as it does there in the states.

This week we found a new family that we are starting to teach -- they are Peruvians, so they get along really well with Elder Sercovich already -- they have that special Peruvian connection, and we found a couple of other new investigators this week as well.  I think that was probably the biggest blessing of the week.  We had our usual district class on Wednesday -- Elder Cottrell, our district leader, always does a good job at those, and on Friday, we had our "deep cleaning" that we have to do every transfer, and on Saturday we did the inspections.  All of the apartments in the zone la reina are squeaky clean -- they always do a good job.

Other than that, it was a normal week in the mission -- it's kind of really hot here, and we didn't spend too much time in the street, but THIS week that is starting today is going to be a really good one, I can feel it -- Elder Sercovich and I have lots of good stuff planned throughout the week.

I know that this church is true and that God loves us and knows all of us individually.  Sorry that I didn't have too much to say this week.  Thank you all for your love and support, and have a great week!

Love,

Elder Schwartz

Zona La Reina!

The Zone

Scripture covers -- Christmas gift

Rainy Days and Flooding....

Elder Andrew Schwartz in the local Favela

Dear Family! 

Thanks for the awesome letter!  I'm happy that you're feeling better, Pops.  It's good to hear that you all are happy and staying busy.  I'm doing great over here.  The weather is still pretty crazy. Hot during the morning and rainstorms in the afternoon.  Elder Watt and I actually got stuck in a home after teaching a lesson because the favela started to flood up to waist deep water and there was no way to get out. The house we were teaching in actually started to get some water in it, but we were able to help out and do what we could to get the water out.  That's an experience I'll never forget! 

Well, this past week was pretty good.  We weren't able to teach some of our investigators because they are traveling, but hopefully this next week everything will turn back to normal.  We are working with a lot of good people, but it's just still really hard to get people to church.  I don't know if I written about Luana and Kleber before, but they are a couple with two little boys that have been taught for awhile. They are an awesome family, but they're just a little hesitant about baptism because they had been baptized in another church that they ended up not liking very much, so they want to know the church really well before they make a commitment.  They have a lot of good questions and share their doubts, but it's been really hard getting them to church.  Finally, this past Sunday they came and they loved it, and now we have a Family Home Evening marked (set up) at a member's house tonight.  It was awesome to see them there and we're excited to continue working them.  This week we started teaching a woman named Raquel.  She lives in the favela with 6 kids and her husband is in prison.  She is really humble and she really liked the things we were teaching her.  It was her house that we got stuck in because of the flooding, and we were glad to be able to give a hand to help keep the water out.  Unfortunately, she wasn't able to go to church but we're going to do everything possible to help her get to church this next Sunday.  This week we had our normal district meetings and we got our whole zone together to make a good ol' american breakfast with bacon, pancakes, french toast, and eggs. It was amazing!  Our zone is so awesome! 

Well sorry that this letter is a little short but I still have to write President Tanner, but I promise next week's will be longer.  BUT I have pictures this week, so at least that's something, right?  I just want all of you to know that I love you, and I know that this work is the Lord's work. 

Until next week!

Elder Schwartz

Our happy household full of elders

My Tie Collection

and my Keychain Collection...

January in Brazil -- Heat and Downpours

No new pics this week, so here's a recycled one.  Elder Schwartz and Elder Watt

Dear Everyone! 

Man, the weeks have been flying by! I can't believe that I'm starting my fourth week here in Cidade Leonor!  It's good to hear that everyone at home is good, but man, too bad about the niners.... next year I guess.  I'm doing well.  The weather is so crazy here.  It's like super hot 100 degree weather, and then at like four in the afternoon we get hit by a huge thunder storm.  It's so bad because we never know if we should bring our umbrellas when we leave to work.  In the morning it's super hot and sunny, then later it pours, so we've gotten drenched a few times. But hey, I guess that's the missionary life.  Everything else though is going good.

This week we had a lot of good experiences. Unfortunately, Augusto was traveling this past week so we weren't able to talk with him, and Luciano has been busy too so it's been pretty tough to see him but we are going to keep working with him.  I got the chance to do a few divisions this week. One with Elder Huxford who is one of the missionaries that we live with, who is new here in Brazil.  It's kind of weird because Elder Huxford waited for his visa for 9 months in the states and he just got here so he has more time than me on the mission.  It was awesome to work with him though, because he already knows how to be a missionary and how everything works. His only thing is that he is still learning Portuguese, but he is actually speaking really well for the little time he has here in Brazil.  I also got another chance to do a division with Elder Booth who is one of the Elders who works in the mission office.  Our zone is a little weird because we have the four office elders and the four in our house, and the rest are all sisters, so it's really hard to do divisions because the office elders only do full time proselyting on Saturday. But I got the opportunity to work with Elder Booth who arrived here in Brazil with me. It was a really good division. The office elders have a little bit of difficulty doing missionary work because they are in the office most of the time, but they have a lot of good potential in their area. 

This week, Elder Watt and I had a meeting that we set up with the stake presidency and the high counselor over missionary work and it was awesome. We were all able to discuss all of our concerns and worked together and made plans for the wards in this stake so that they will have more success.  It was a really good meeting, and we even marked another one in the future so that we will be having these meetings regularly.  It was really enlightening and we are really excited for the outcome. We are really trying to do what the prophet has said and have the members and missionaries work in unity so that we may help everyone come unto Christ and be happy!  I know that this church is true and that abiding by the standards of the church we can have true happiness. I'm having a lot of experiences out here, and I'm seeing how the world is, and how so many people are confused about what real happiness is.  I'm thankful for having learned the truth early, so that I won't have the same problems that many others have that could have easily been avoided if they lived the gospel standards. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Schwartz 

Chile in January

With familiar friend, Patrick

Dear Fam, Friends, Everyone!

Happy Monday!  Sorry that this email is going to be so short.  I am runnung out of time, and Elder Sercovich still has to do a few things, and there is just one computer in the church.........

It's sad to hear that my Niners lost, but it's okay, we´ll take it next year.  I am very happy to hear that everyone is doing well, though -- keeping busy and that they are talking a lot about missionary work over there in the Concord stake.  That makes me happy.

This past week was interesting.  It started our really slow, and stressful, but that all switched in the second half of the week, and it all ended on a high note.  At first, lots of lessons fell through, and we actually got told off by a few of the people we contacted, and that always hurts, but Elder Sercovich and I were able to push through all that, and come out on top at the end of the week.  A few highlights:  the youth had EFY (especially for youth activity program) this week so we took advantage of the spirit of EFY and did visits with them right after they got home on Saturday and had some STELLAR lessons, and they are all really excited to go on missions now.  I love visiting with the youth.  You guys arent going to beleive this, but one of the power families from my first area, Geronimo de Alderete, moved and now they are in my ward here in Tobalaba, The Jaras.  I am not sure if you remember them, but they were the ones that bought me the big birthday cake and shoved my face in it.  Seriously, they are one of my favorite families in the whole world, and now i get to work with them again.  On Saturday morning we did a service project.  The ward is constructing a house for a sister to rent out, so Elder Sercovich and I went over there and painted.  On Sunday we had a WAY cool experience with a sister and giving her a blessing.  Long story short, Elder Sercovich and I taught her and her ex-bishop, inactive husband (from another ward in the stake) by chance like a month ago because we were visitng her mom (who does live in our ward, Hna Pavez) -- they are all inactive.  Anyways, they left town because they have a beach house up north, so we weren't expecting to see any of them until like mid March, BUT Sunday at church an hermano (brother) pulled Elder Sercovich and I aside and told us to go to their house, because the daughter really needed a blessing as she is super sick.  But it was super cool because the sister specifically was searching for Elder Sercovich and I, so we found her and gave here the blessing and it was like this way big awesome experience that I can tell in more detail another day.  I did divisions this week too, with Elder Lee, another missionary in the zone who is AWESOME.  He has like 9 months in the mission and is a powerhouse, seriously, and it was so awesome getting to know him better too.  WE HAVE THE COOLEST ZONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD.  Seriously, all of the missionaries are SO awesome.

Anyways, I love you guys, and I hope that you're having a great week.  I finished the Book of Mormon again on Friday -- IT'S TRUE.  If you havent read it yet, I invite you to do so, it will change your life, and thats a promise!  

Lots of love!

Elder Schwartz

Trees

6th Commandment -- Thou shalt not kill

Service

After Service -- or maybe a little gray hair...

Visiting with a man on the street

During Correlation Meeting

Ruby Tuesday's

Elder Kern and Teaching with the Youth (Elder Nate Schwartz)

Dear Family,  

This is probably going to be a really short email.  I hope that's alright.

It's great to hear that everything is going so well back at home.  It sounds like you all had a really busy week!  But I loved hearing that you had such a great stake conference.  It's always fun being able to hear from general authorities.  And the Dolls are coming back to Chile!  Best decision they´ve ever made!

This week was good, but nothing really too out of the ordinary to write about.  We had to teach our monthly zone class on Wednesday, and President and Hna Wright paid a surprise visit to observe how Elder Sercovich and I do it.  That was a little nerve racking at first, but it ended up being a really really good class with lots of fun, and lots of participation.  Elder Sercovich and I also had our meeting with President Wright and the stake president on Wednesday night -- those are always fun, especially because we have a really really cool stake president.

On Saturday I went on divisions with Elder Kern -- he is a newer Elder in the zone, but it was cool because it met his older brother when I was in the MTC, as he is a teacher there.  It was really cool to find that connection -- it's a small world after all! (cue the music).  It was a really good division.  Elder Kern has 6 months in the mission and feels like he is struggling with the language, and it was SO WEIRD helping him with that.  It was this weird deja vu moment, because I felt like I was asking my leaders the same thing just yesterday.  It was so weird for me being the "helper" for someone who is struggling with the language, because I remember so vividly being the one asking for help.  ANYWAYS.  It was a really good division, we had a ton of fun together, and Elder Kern is a really dedicated missionary and a powerful teacher -- I really did learn a lot from him.  

We also spent a couple of days with the youth in the ward doing visits.  On Tuesday we spent the whole day with a joven (young man) named Byron.  He is going to be an awesome missionary when he leaves in December.  We spent Friday with a kid named Gabriel.  They were both great, and it was a lot of fun working with them.  We found some new investigators together and taught some really good lessons.

It's really really hot here in Chile right now.  Just so everyone knows -- also, I am sunburnt.  So just think about that when youre walking around with your sweaters and scarves.  I love you all so much.  Thank you all for your love and support and prayers.  I know that the Church is true, and that Christ is our Savior, and that only through Him, through His example, atonement, and gospel can we be with our families forever and enjoy the fullness of the blessings that our Heavenly Father has prepared for us.

Have a great week!

xoxox,

Elder Schwartz

Members and Missionaries Working Together (Elder Andrew Schwartz)

Dear Family,

Thanks, Pops, for the sweet email.  It's great to hear that you guys had great experiences at stake conference.  Also thanks for the heads up about the new mission President. (Philip Broadbent from Idaho, according to Church News).  He sounds like an awesome guy and it will be great to work with him this up coming July.  So, unfortunately, I don't have much time today because we started emailing late today, and also I won't be able to send you guys pictures because the computers that we usually use are not working and at this Lan House they won't let me put in my camera, BUT I promise lots of pictures next week.

I really liked the scripture that you shared with me, Dad, about a missionary and a member working together.  Because that is pretty much what makes up the highlights of this week.  We have been really trying to focus in our zone to work with the members as much as possible to help us find and teach people.  This week we had two fantastic experiences with a member named Custagio.  Custagio invited us, one day, to stop by his house and teach a message to his friend, Luciano, to whom he had given a Book of Mormon.  We excitedly did so, and we taught Luciano about the Restoration.  As we were discussing about how we can ask God to know if something is true or not, Luciano asked in his mind in the moment whether or not what we were saying was true and he was hit right then and there with an answer that it was true.  He said that he felt as though he was about to cry and that he knew that it was true.  He accepted our invitation for baptism, but unfortunately he has a rough work schedule and he doesn't know when he has days off, so going to church for him may be difficult.  This next week we are planning on beginning to teach his family. The other experience we had with Custagio was when we taught his daughter's boyfriend.  He had already been to church the week before and liked it a lot.  We also taught him about the Restoration and he understood everything and he did everything we invited him to do, so the next day at church he told us that he knows that it is true and that when he woke up that morning he was super excited to come to church and tell us.  The only thing with him is that he lives out of our area but we might be able to get permission to be able to teach him because he goes over to Custagio's house every weekend.

Well, sorry the letter is so short, but I am out of time now. I know that if members and missionaries work together to share the gospel, miracles will happen.  I know that this church is true and I promise that I'll be able to write a longer message home next week.

Love,

Elder Schwartz 

Watt! Elder Watt, again?

Back with Elder Watt and happy about it!

Dear Everyone!

Uhhh, so you guys aren't gonna believe me, but my new companion is Elder Watt...again. So, I'm a Zone Leader with my trainer.  How crazy is that?  I'm super stoked for this transfer because Elder Watt is a powerhouse and a stud of a missionary.  We're going to tear this area up!  So my new zone is called Zona Sul and my new area is called Cidade Leonor.  It is part of the city of São Paulo, and it is one of the oldest wards in all of Brazil if I'm not mistaken.  There is a lot more poverty here than there was in São Caetano, so the way we work here is a little different.  We work mostly in the favelas (slums) here and we meet a lot of new people every day.  The people here are a lot more receptive to the gospel and there are a lot of good hearted people here.  I'm super excited for this upcoming transfer and all the experiences we're going to have in the future. We live in the back house behind a member's house, and we share the house with another companionship of missionaries, Elder Frost who is one of our District Leaders and Elder Huxford who just got to Brazil, and is being trained.  I'm not gonna lie, I love living in a group of four; it is way funnier. 

So I'm sorry that you guys were expecting an email yesterday, but we had a leadership council for the mission, so our P-day was moved to today (Tuesday) instead of Monday. Next week it will be on Monday for sure. This past week was filled with so many experiences, so I'll try to give you guys some good highlights and some info on who we're working with.  So, we have been spending a lot of our time doing what are called "mini-lessons," where we instead of just doing plain contacting, we start right away teaching people on the streets.  Here in Cidade Leonor, it is a lot easier because everyone is on the streets, not doing too much, and the people here are more humble and eager to talk. This way we are able to teach a lot of lessons and see who are ready to hear and learn the gospel, and who are not.  I have never taught so many lessons in one week since arriving in my mission.  After these mini lessons we set up with the people we teach another day to visit them for additional lessons, and that's what we've pretty much been doing all week last week. We already have a few peopel that have been investigating for a little while, that have a lot of potential to be baptized here in the not-too-distant future. We are working with two different couples.  One is Marcelo and Keila, and Marcelo actually was baptized some time ago, but his membership records were lost after he stopped attending for a while, so we are going to baptize him again and his wife too as soon as they get married.  We are also helping Keila to quit smoking so she can get baptized.  All of the kids are already baptized and are active so we are just trying to help give this family an opportunity to get sealed in the temple.  The other couple we are working with is Luana and Kleber, and they are awesome!  They have been investigating for a little while but are taking things slow, because previously they were baptized in a church that turned out to be not quite what they expected.  They are taking their time and really seeing if this is the church they want for their family.  This past week we were able to have dinner with Luana and Kleber at a members house and we had waffles! I didn't bring my camera so I didn't get a picture.  It's weird because every time I'm with Elder Watt, we get waffles from members.  We are also working with a part-member family where the mom, Neuza, is not a member and her husband is somewhat less-active but their daughters are super firm in the church.  Neuza has problems with smoking, but we are setting goals with her and the rest of the family so that they can help the family grow stronger and closer together. 

So those are the people who we are currently working with.  The council that we had yesterday was amazing.  I learned so much about how Elder Watt and I can make our Zone the best in the mission.  We are making a lot of plans, and we are excited for the future here.  I am glad to hear that everything is going well at home for everyone. Congrats on the 1000th Geocache find Pops!  I'll be expecting you to hit 2000 by the time I get home.  Give everyone my love!  I know that this work is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that it is through following His example we can be truly happy in this life.  I hope everyone has a great week and I will talk to you guys next Monday!

With Love,

Elder Schwartz

Last Day with the Old Zone

My Desk

How they get rid of beehives in Brazil

Elisa's Baptism

Elisa's Baptism

Dear Family,

Well, it sounds to me like you all had an excellent week!  Very busy, as normal.  It sounds like you had a fun New Years, and you were able to spend some time with the family and that you had a really good sacrament meeting.  All great things! 

Like Dad thought, things are starting to normal out here again, but shortly everyone leaves town again for summer vacations.  They basically leave Santiago abandoned, but on Saturday we had a mission leadership council, and we talked a little about that.  We have lots of good plans made as a mission to have success during the summer season.

This week was amazing for Elder Sercovich and me.  Really, there could not have been a better way to start off the new year.  I am not going to get into too many details as much as I would like to, SO to make a long story short, we have been able to keep teaching the family that we found (well, technically they found us) last week.  We visited them the whole week, including with the bishop.  And the Daughter, Elisa, who is AMAZING, and very intelligent, got baptized on Friday night -- the first baptism of the year.  The baptismal service could not have been more perfect -- lots of ward members showed up to support, even though it was a Friday, and there were great talks and musical numbers -- it all just went so smoothly.  The confirmation happened during sacrament meeting on Sunday, and Elder Sercovich and I both were able to participate in the ordinance.  Right afterwards, Elisa, the little girl got up and bore an awesome testimony.  They are seriously the coolest family ever, and it has been such a blessing getting to know them over the past several days.  We will be teaching them on Wednseday with President Wright after our monthly meeting with him and the stake president.

Claudio is doing great.  I am not sure if I told you guys that now he works at the supermarket right next to the house, so now we see him on an almost daily basis.  I have lots of faith in Claudio.  He is going through lots of trials right now, but I know that he really want and needs the gospel in his life.  We found lots of new investigators this week, and that was a huge blessing too.  We`ll see how their progress goes -- they are all really great people.  David is doing great too, we ran into him yesterday in the street and we will be teaching him this week.  His back is healing really well, too.

Today for PDay we went down to Puente Alto (former area) to have lunch with one of Elder Sercovichs old investigators from Pirque and it turns out that they know the Dolls. They had done family home evenings together, and they just had so many great things to say about the Dolls -- it was really sweet to hear.  

New Years was fun, nothing too special.  We had a nice little feast in the apartment and then watched fireworks from our windows, which was really cool actually because we were able to see fireworks from three different counties just from our window.  I seriously can not beleive that we are in 2014 now.  I actually don't like thinking about it, so Im just going to pretend that its still 2013 if that's alright with you.

I love you all SO MUCH.  Thank you all for your love and support and everything.  I hope that you have an excellent week!  

Love you all!

Elder Schwartz

The Bishop, Elisa's Family, and Hmo Santibanez

Elisa's Family

Christmas Treats!

I guess you can find these everywhere

Dear Fam,

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  It really was fantastic being able to see all of you last Wednesday -- just like Dad said, that was the best Christmas present EVER!  The Christmas week passed by really well for us out here, and I am pleased to hear that it passed by well for you all too -- especially that you were able to do so much fun stuff with the family.  Yes, it is still CRAZY hot here, and that makes the days drag a bit sometimes, but is really cool also because we normally end the day at 10 pm and the sun is just barely setting.  Of course, like Dad guessed, the work is a little harder during the holiday season, as there are less people to visit because everyone goes off to the beach to vacation, but we are making the best of it.

 

Like I said during the skype call, we were able to spend Christmas morning with the missionaries in the zone in a little devotional.  The senior couple from the zone spoke to us and we had a little testimony meeting, and that was a ton of fun.  Elder Sercovich and I made a little zone Christmas card and passed on out to each zone member as a little reminder of our Christmas together.  On Christmas eve, we had a big dinner in the apartment.  Elder Surmik and Elder Bunderson (the other missionaries in the ward) are both really good cooks, so we took advantage of that.  We were able to pass out the rest of the little packages that we made.  Claudio was especially grateful because we went to his house on the 27th and it was his birthday.  He was super happy that we were able to pass by.

 

As far as miracles go, we were able to find a few new investigators this week, and that was really amazing.  It was totally a blessing too, because it all just kind of fell into our laps.  We started teaching a neighbor of one of our recent converts.  His name is David, and he is a police officer and he just went through some major back surgery.  We found him the day after Christmas, and he was really excited to hear our message, and was really interested in the idea that families can be forever.  It's so cool because his house is sandwiched between two members' houses -- how lucky is he!  And then we also met this AMAZING family -- the dad is australian, the mom is mexican, and the daughter is chilean, and they came to church with the mexican lady`s sister, who is active in her home ward in Guadalajara.  So we went to their house to visit them after church with the bishop and it was an amazing lesson -- they're going to make awesome members.

 

Those were the two big miracles of the week, even though smaller miracles seem to be happening every single day -- but hey, that's what life is like as a missionary.  ALSO: Andrew, Zone Leader!?  HOW EXCITING!  He is going to love it.  Seriously, being a zone leader is so much fun and he's intelligent so he will do an excellent job.  

 

I just want you all to know how much i love you and how thankful I am for your love and support.  It really was amazing being able to talk to all of you on Wednesday!  I hope that you all have an excellent week.  Stay strong -- the church is true.  I love you all!  

Hasta la proxima vez!

con amor,

Elder Schwartz

Best Christmas gift ever!

Ward Christmas lunch

Soccer on P-day

Our District

Our Zone -- Crazy pose

Our Zone - Normal pose

Christmas Gifts

Christmas Gifts from the Relief Society Sisters in the ward

Dear Everyone! 

It was so awesome to be able to talk to you guys for Christmas!  I don't think I would rather have anything else.  I was glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that everyone is staying busy and is happy.  I can't believe that I've already been out for eight months!  Man the time passes SO SO SO fast!  Christmas here was fantastic!  Like I said, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the house of some members.  It was so fun, and there was SO MUCH FOOD.  I'm pretty sure I gained like 20 pounds, but it's ok, I'll walk it off.  And don't worry about me getting presents because all of the irmãs (sisters?) from the Relief Society brought us a lot of goodies and treats.  It was awesome and I'm so grateful for this ward.

So this morning we got the news about transfers.  I'm going to leave São Caetano and I'm going to be a Zone Leader in another area.  I'm a little freaked out because I just got more responsibility and I don't think I'm an adequate missionary for the job, but I believe that everything has a purpose, and I know that we are given weaknesses to be humbled and turn these weaknesses into strengths.  So that's kind of the big news.  Elder Fernandes is going to stay and another missionary is going to come and be District Leader here in São Caetano. 

So other than Christmas and the transfer calls, this week was pretty normal.  It's been really tough to find people to teach lately because it's the end of the year and everyone is either at the beach or are traveling somewhere.  Elder Fernandes and I have been trying to make the best out of it and do all we can.  Last week we got a list from our Bishop of 33 former investigators to go out and check on, so we've spent the majority of our time contacting these people.  Tuesday we had a Zone meeting with the Stake President, and he left a message with us about the goals he has for the stake.  President and Sister Tanner attended as well. It was a really inspiring meeting and I feel like this zone is really going to see a lot of success in the future.  The only thing that was super exciting this week was that, as we were contacting the list of former investigators, we found a family that is really awesome and has a lot of great potential.  We didn't get a chance to teach all of them, but we taught the son, Lucas, who is 23 and he seemed like a really awesome person.  The rest of the family arrived right after we got done with the message for Lucas, and they all seemed really interested in what we do as missionaries and what we believe. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see them again this week because they were going to travel, but I have faith that Elder Fernandes and his new companion are going to work miracles with this family and in this area.

Well, that's about all that happened that was super exciting.  Next week I'll be sure to get some photos of me and my new comp in my new area!  I love you all and I hope you all have a great and safe new year!

Love,

Elder Schwartz

Zone Rudge Ramos meeting with Stake President Costas (left) and Mission President Tanner (right)

Elder Andrew Schwartz talking to family and brother (Elder) Nate on Christmas Day.
Best Christmas present ever!