VC Love

Familia, holy schniekes this week has felt like a century.

Business: i depart tuesday, the 6th at 5 am and my flight id at 8:30, so you will get to talk to me on the phone sometime during then, so be sure to have your phones charged and ready. oh and my mission home address in AZ is 6265 N 82nd st, scottsdale, az, 85250, usa, so you can send my mail and jazz there after tuesday.

Monday-Wednesday Hna Turner and I had to wake up at 3:45 to ship off Hna Turner and Cole and do morning service. Wed we started our visitor's center training and let's just say we didn't look so incredibly rough that they changed our calls to serving regular missions. But on wednesday, I rode in a CAR for the first time in what 2 years? and we went to SLC Temple Visitor's Center, got a tour by some sick sisters and basically it rocked my world. Holy cow. I have fallen in love with visitor's centers. there is so much crap that goes down that no one even has a clue about!!!!!

So part of visitor's center training is that we get put in a room with a ton of people, then they give us 5 minutes to get to know someone on a deep personal level, discern their needs, and then powerfully teach a lesson accustomed to their needs and leave them with a compromise (or some sort fo promised action for the future, like pray to know god exists,e tc). nbd. They basically ask me to talk to people, and with the size of my mouth i'm a pro. Except that i still need to work on getting to know them on a deep profound level and not surface level, which is tougher but i love the challenge. But here's the part that absolutely rocks my world: WE TEACH PEOPLE ONLINE VIA CHAT. the church is SO BOMB and SO ON TOP OF THINGS. hardcore. So mormon.org has this thing where you can chat with an online representative (aka VC sisters, aka ME), and the incredible thing is that we teach them lessons, and they can become our online investigators and we prep them for baptism. OH HOT SLAMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! it's absolutely wild and incredible and rocks my world. Not only do I use my first name Agent[Rachel] to talk with these people but i'm literally teaching people all over the world. it's unreal. Yesterday, hna turner and i taught this lady in uruguay(oh yeah in spanish, rock solid), a guy in chile, a guy in denmark and a guy in jersey. Okay, story time: Denmark man- starts off with my family is strict muslim but i've been meeting with the missionaries and i want to be baptized, but i'm dependent on them financially and they will disown me if i get baptized, but i know i need to get baptized and i want to because it's what god wants from me and i want to follow the path god has given me, yada yada. how do i tell me family i want to get baptized. hardcore awesome. the guy from jersey, ronny, asked us about this article some byu prof just sent out about blacks and he was asking us why they weren't allowed to have the priesthood before the 70's. go figure he's black, goes to fsu, and the way to convo was going he was getting upset(like i haven't dealt with that before, pobre hna turner was freakin out) and so i asked him "are you a part of any faith?" and he said nope, i just don't know how to choose a church. gold. we turned the convo around, taught him about the restoration of the church and IT WAS CRAZY!!!!!!! oh my freakin word, so part of our chat is that we can see what the person is writing before they send it and we literally saw his heart soften during our chat, he would start writing really offensive and rude defensive things but he would delete them and ask something completely diff and believe it or not i actually felt like i was teaching with the spirit VIA CHAt. do you know how rad that is? and i get to do that everyday for the rest of my mission. SO HARDCORE.

Tuesday night devotional Elder Holland came, and basically that means my world got rocked hardcore (he's one of the apostles of the church). Pulpit pounding, check. Basically he said if you're going to come back from your mission and regress to the exact same person you were then you failed your mission, you did something wrong. And you know what, he's right. I feel that applies to anything we do in life. If we choose to go through something challenging and life changing and then learn nothing from it, remain the same person we were before we went through that experience, then what was the point? The whole point of life is to constantly be progressing and becoming the person you want to be. If you're not doing things in your life that's making you into the person you know you have the potential to become, then something is wrong, you're failing life. This mission is already helping me see my flaws and strengths and helping my mold myself into the person I know I have the potential to become. It's freaking hard, and I straight up love it. If I come back from my mission and you don't see an obvious change within me, then I would have failed. So expect change, and don't be freaked out (Mom) when I say i'm going to change. It's more along the lines of just becoming a better version of my self, and that's sweet action. I'm super pumped to be heading out to Mesa VC. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that is EXACTLY where I need to be, there are people there that only I will be able to teach and reach their hearts, there are experiences I need to have there and shoot I am ready to be shipped out for service.

THE MISSION IS ZE BESSSTTTTT!!!!!!

Los quiero!! hna schwartz

Look at that Jew in her boots

Yes family, that is a direct quote from Hermana Turner. Apparently she meant to say "Look at you in your boots" but I promise you that is not how it came out.

Business first: Berto has mailed me and I must say it has been the absolute best letter I;ve ever received. And I have received my fair amount of top notch letters from folks. If a letter could go viral, then Berto's has in the MTC. His special valentine=spread amongst not only my district but Souer Reintjes' french district as well. His letter has provided my compas and I with quotes for the rest of the week, our personal fav: "They always see you feel as good as you look, but since I basically look like Brad Pitt everyday, i never worry." The entire MTC gym had the pleasure of me  reading his letter aloud and we created a tv show called "Brett's World" it has a theme song and all. Golden stuff. Taxes- I would contact my old work, BYU Police department: Traffic my boss is Steve Messick but you'll probably want to get ahold of Katrina, just call BYU info and they will be able to connect you and they should have all of my tax info. Hna Tamsyn Turner and Hna Rachel McCullough, both are mailbox #127 (same as mine, we share), but i would prefer if only you and mom and brett would send letters cause i don't want them thinking i sent out a mass email of pity about them. Ma, I'm glad that you get paid to play mahjong, isn't that what delta's all about? Thanks for the addresses! Faja, everyone loved the dictionary, especially the elders.

The best way I could describe this week as would be "slap happy." There has been many a time when Hno Painter has caught me in a laughing fit/me doing something retarded. I don't know why but EVERYTHING has been absolutely hilarious this week. So my district got travel plans this week, which means this is our final week together which is basically super depressing, but i haven't really thought about it. Oh, Dad, there are some elders flying throught he atlanta airport who want to hang out with you while they wait for their flights, if you're interested in doing this lemme know and i'll let you know their flight schedules. I would like to take a moment and talk about how much I adore my alternative companions; Elders Wright and Gardener. They're the zone leaders and since i'm coord sis, we get to be compas during meetings and orientations etc. They are my fav=] We would be friends in real life and the best part is when I make hna turner mad when i say how much i love my real compas, the elders. hahaha she hates me.

The success of the week: MY NAME GOT CALLED ON THE LOUDSPEAKER: 3 TIMES!!!!!!!!! I've had one dream, one desire since being here at the MTC, and that was to have my name announced on the loudspeaker which goes throughout the entire MTC: after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My elders have had the blessing of being called 4 times and every time i may or may not have become unrationally upset and demanded to know why. I've asked many an mtc employee how to accomplish this (lose things, pres of mtc wants to meet with you, travel plans, dry cleaning needs to be picked up), and i've been wondering if my compas would do a service activity for me and steal my name tag and give it to the front desk without me knowing, but none of the above had occurred. And then, on Tuesday night after devotional, i was helping this new sister who had just flwon in from Sydney, AUS  get accomodated etc (she's presh btw) and when i get back into the room hna cole (who had earlier lost the aussie sister) very scattered brainedly told me" hna schwartz i don't know what i did but you're name got called on the loudspeaker for our floor saying they needed you and i'm sorry" and i was like "hna cole are you on crack? are you sure my name was called on the loudspeaker on our floor?" and she said yeah and so i went to the hall phone and talked to the front desk and they said i had lost my scriptures. funny story, i was holding my scriptures in my hands and i assured them i was holding them in my hands and then a thought popped into my head "Huh, i bet i left my spanish Book o mormon at the deovtional because i had brought it to read before choir practice" and i asked the lady if they were in spanish and she said yes and told me to come get them. GLORY BE MINE! no way was i going to go straight away and pick them up, my name had only been announced on the loudspeaker of the 4th floor of where i live, no one else heard it but those random chicks. So I milked all the rest of the next day=] My name got called tat breakfast and i fistpumped with joy and got applause from a table of elders. Lunch=name called. Dinner= name called. And i fist pump everytime and make my entire table shut up to hear my name. During planning session at 9pm=name called, and i then took the walk of fame and glory down my hallway with my entire district congratulating me as i walked to pick up my forgotten scriptures. I've been a pretty big deal this week, because during devo the camera guy zoomed in on my face during the choir performance, and then my name was called for a day straight. NBD.

I know you may think that's a really pointless and long story, but I've literally had dreams about my name getting called on the loudspeaker, so yeah. The other day I was alone (in the restroom, the only place of solace) and I just thought all of a sudden "I love being a missionary. There is abs9olutely nothing else I would rather be doign with my life right now than this." and then I looked at me wearing my nametag in the mirror and got this fatty smile on my face, and then i felt awkward cause i was smiling at myself and i rejoined my compas. But honestly, this is the best life ever! Yesterday was our final lesson with Ivelisse and i straight up committed her to baptism and the spirit bore this hardcore testimony through me and she cried and i teared up and she said yes she'd get baptized in 3 weeks and dude. Hard core. So pumped. I have been super blessed with having the spirit teach through me this week. I literally have said things to my investigators this week that has been perfect for the lesson and i don't even remember what i said, because it wasn't me, it was the spirit. and it's because i've chilled, and i've started focusing on my investigators and what they need and not just teaching alesson but really figuring out what they need to hear and just being open to whatever happens, but still perparing myself. ugh so bomb. hot slam this work is freaking ill.

love ya, have a sick week=]

Hna Schwartz