When is Summer over again!?!?

This past weekend I was suppose to have three baptisms, and three confirmations; Ben, Sam, and Pamela. Sam decided to take a trip back to Cali to tell his dad face to face he was joining the church. He was suppose to be back Friday morning for his baptismal interview...but he never showed. We called and called, nothing. His fellowshippers, the Pututau's, had not heard from him either. DAYS go by, and I'm thinking, "Great, Sam's dad killed him and now he's buried in some open field." Or, "He's locked up in a basement and his crazy dad won't let him out!" Finally we get word this week that Sam is fine, has NOT told his dad about him joining the church, and will be back this week for the start of school. He's driving me nuts! Well, at least he's alive, so we should be able to have his baptism in the next week or two.

Ben's baptism was amazing. If anyone was ready for the Gospel, is was Ben! He's the one holding the little girl, his daughter Penelope. His twin brother Nick is next to him, he baptized Ben. I confirmed Ben a member of the church the next day at church, that was a great experience I'll never forget. He called me later in the day to thank me and say that he picked the right person to confirm him. He loved the blessing and said it made him cry. Gosh I love this guy, I know I'll see him at the temple in a year when he gets married, he's a stud and will have no problem finding a wife AND preparing for the temple, he wants it more than anything!

Pamela's baptism was equally as memorable as Ben's. She's also ready to live the Gospel. Loves it, has met many of the women at church, and already has a group of friends. She's only 21, it blows my mind that she's my age! As you can tell from the picture, I was the one that baptized her. My first times this weekend both baptizing and confirming....you better believe my journal entries that night were LONG!

This weekend we have a baptism for a woman named Shelly. She wants to be baptized so badly. Her family is not receptive to us, so I'm afraid they'll drag her down and she'll become in-active. She loves to meet with us though and loves the church, and is meeting people at church, so hopefully that won't happen! We then have another baptism for the 4th of September, Daisy, so I'm pretty pumped for the next couple of weekends. We already have new investigators that look promising, my favorite so far is a black Muslim man name Raouf. Our first time meeting him he straight up asked, "How can I find out for myself that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God?" .........duhhhh WHAT!?! We're planning on taking him to see the Joseph Smith movie this week, man I love being in Salt Lake. The weather is still hot, walking doesn't get easier. We did have a crazy weather storm this past week. The pictures of Elder Burkard and I with the pink Victoria Secret umbrella come with a funny story. We were walking and it just started POURING down! We were at a members apartment talking and had to get going to a lesson. We didn't have an umbrella, the day started off fairly nice. She offered us her umbrella and we accepted, little did we know it would be this pink sexy looking thing! I said, "Ya know what, I'm from Washington, I LOVE the rain, this isn't too bad." As I finished that sentence thunder cracked the skies and it came down even harder. So to my reluctance I gave in. We walked all day under that thing, which I'm sure brought many smiles to people passing by, we received many honks and waves that day!

Everything else is going great! It's crazy thinking school is starting back up. I'm excited to hear how the Washington/BYU game turns out. I'm not sure who I'll be cheering for? Football season will be tough to have to miss, but I think I can focus on the work. Come the Utah and BYU game though, I don't think I'll be able to escape it, I think I'll even cheer for the Utes. GASP! I know I know, shame on me, but I'm surrounded by Utes everyday, I don't want to be ran out of town!

Best regards and much love,
Elder Scotty

It's Been a Long Week

So! With transfers this past week, not a whole lot happened. We're at the point where all of our investigators are getting baptized, and we need to find new ones. The first couple of days were slow, not much to do. We're getting more referrals now and appointments with new people, so things should be picking up. This Saturday we have three baptisms!!!! I'm so pumped! Sam is getting baptized at 10AM, Ben at 1pm, and Pamela at 5pm, a full day of baptisms! I'll for sure be sending tons of pictures next week. Then next Saturday, the 28th, we have two baptisms for sure. A woman named Shelly, and a girl named Daisy.

This week my zone had the opportunity to do service in the temple. We were down in the basements cleaning out storage and putting old furniture and things like that away. Afterwards we got a little tour with the guy we were helping. He took us to see the foundation of the temple, the original stones, that was way sweet. He then took us to the 5th floor, the solemn assembly room! This is the room that has the round and rectangle windows you see from the outside. Solemn assembly is where the general authorities of the church meet and hold special meetings. This room is enormous! We all sat where the apostles sat, some Elders sat where President Monson does, I didn't dare do that, I felt like lightning would strike me or something :) We also got to see the desk where James Talmage wrote "Jesus the Christ", it was exhilarating, (Ok, so it was just a really old looking desk, but still cool!)

This Friday night Elder Burkard and I are going to the Joseph Smith movie with Ben and his brother and sister-in-law. I absolutely love ending my night seeing that film at temple square! We always see the 7:30 showing, and it works out perfectly. Our investigators usually come out crying, saying that it was such a spiritual experience that they loved. I expect Ben to be the same, he's so solid. He knows the church is true, he reads non-stop from the Book of Mormon, he's doing a complete 180! He use to smoke and drink heavily, and he's done with both of those. He even said, "I've never been more sure about anything" in regards to his decision to be baptized and become a member of the church. It's still blows my mind that I'm in Utah, being so close to a lot of family and friends, but I know this is the place where I'm suppose to be. There's so much opposition here in SLC, Satan is trying so much harder here than anywhere else, but there are so many good people here ready to find the truth, which is why we continue to be the highest baptizing mission in the world. I'm truly humbled to be able to be here where the church headquarters and leaders are, I still feel somewhat inadequate when I stop and think about it. I got many letters from friends this week, even though I try to act like I don't miss people, I do. I still have a long ways to go, but when I remind myself that after this transfer I'll have four months under my belt, it blows my mind. The mission is going so fast, I need it to slow down!

I wish I had some good stories from this week to share, along with some pictures. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone. But NEXT week, that will be one very long email! So stay with me, I promise things will get better!

Take care, I love you all

Elder Scotty

Pictures

At temple square with Pamela, along with her fellowshippers, the Joyces!

Sister Turner and I. She's my Tongan Sista!

The Granger Zone! I'll miss this group, we have 6 new Elders this transfer, a whole new make-up of missionaries

Guava juice and watermelon oti, the elixirs of the gods!

My new companion!!! Elder Burkard from central California! He's been out about 7 months, this is his first transfer as senior companion, he's awesome! He plays football, hence his ginormous size! He's getting me in shape, 6 weeks from now I'll be looking good!

Elder Dodge and I (The Elder with the shaved looking head with me standing on the left) He's my favorite from the MTC, him and me will be good friends for life!

Transfers, 180 missionaries all in a church parking lot, waiting to see where we'll all end up.

First Transfer DONE...Only 16 More to Go!

This week was much better! I pretty much lived at temple square this week. I went and saw the Joseph Smith movie twice, and then we get to go to the temple on P-days. We put other people on date for baptism, WOOP WOOP!!!

Right Now we have the following people:

Ben O: August 21st

Pamela A: August 21st

Sam M: August 21st

Lori B: August 28th

Daisy O: August 28th

We have a few more investigators I think we can put on date for baptism this month, if not for sure in the early weeks of September. I'm sad Elder Barnett is gone, but change is good. I'm excited for the next 6 weeks. Elder Burkard is a stud, he wants to work hard, he's super pumped, all in all he'll be one of my favorite companions I think! We're back to just being in the Granger Zone, so no more bikes!!!!!!! Words cannot describe the excitement I feel every time I say that, NO MORE BIKES!!! The weather is still hot, I'm looking forward to Fall, but as long as I keep getting some color here and there it's all good. That's the jist of this past week, with transfers things have been kind of low key. I got letters from Jill Beeler and Geneva Smith this week, that was awesome! Keep them coming friends, I love getting mail! There are days when I think about friends and everything back home and what's going on in the world, and I get a little sad. But for the most part I have the right attitude, and I know that I'm out here for the right reasons, and I've learned that days when I'm "GO GO GO" the time just flies by. So my new goal is to forget myself and go to work! Before I know it I'll be on a plane back to good old Washington. Life is too good to be distracted by all the garbage in the world. People that are depressed and unmotivated, get up and do something! The best times I've had out here so far have been when I'm serving others and I put myself second. Until next week, God bless and get out and do some service for someone. I love you all

Elder Scotty

Some Pictures

Scotty didn't send any captions for these, sorry. But I bet he thought this sunset was "flippin amazing. Holy crap, the coolest sunset I've ever seen in my LIFE. Hands down!" ;)

I'm sure this is Rico.

Competition in SLC during the Pioneer Day celebrations/parade

My First Transfer Comes to an End

The picture is of me and Sister Hardy, she's the bomb. She does anything and everything for the Elders, she even does our laundry for us! She'd for sure be part of the Mormon BBQ crew :) the other is of me and the two Canadians, Elder Lybbert is the tall one with Elder Barnett in the middle.

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm down to my last week of the transfer, huzzah!!! It's flown by, the Summer is already coming to an end, what the?!? I've done a ton of growing up I feel. The biggest thing I've worked on so far is my pride. I HATE asking people for help, and I hate getting freebies and hand-outs from people. I'd much rather do things on my own and hold it all in, rather than asking for help. My teaching I felt was lacking, I didn't think I was doing a good job, and I was extremely frustrated with myself. I finally got so tired of it I talked to my companion and district leader about it. I'm glad I did, at the time I didn't like and I felt dumb. But I realize a mission is hard, and you're not gonna know what to do exactly your first couple of weeks out. I think I'm a pretty patient person, with all the cancer stuff I went through I have no problem waiting on others and keeping my cool. But I need to have more patience with myself, and I'm finally starting to get some.

Tough week this one was with everything else. Still rocking the bike, my butt is killing me! Haha but it's getting easier, I'm more comfortable with it. A few people that were on date for baptism are going through hard times, financially speaking. It's frustrating not being able to do anything about it. Other than that the week was just blah, a few new investigators, gray skies, just nothing really exciting. BUT there's always tomorrow, and August is going to be amazing, West Valley is the best, I love this area. Yes, it's flippin ghetto, but I'm from Lakewood, I love ghetto! I'm excited to be here another transfer, the work is gonna continue to go!

the highlight of the week, however, is definitely one of my favorite memories of the mission so far. Sunday was Fast Sunday of course, and so people were able to get up and share their testimonies at the pulpit. Brother Grace, this black convert from Brooklyn who just got sealed in the temple to his wife last week, got up to give his testimony. He gave us a brief bio of his life at the beginning: "My momma was on the rock, and addicted to crack. I'm a crack baby...." Yes, he said crack baby! Oh geesh, I never thought I'd hear those words in church, and then it reminded me of the movie Mean Girls, "Say crack again. Crack"! Oh how I wanted to laugh. Brother Grace is the man, he helps us out a lot, he was even Rico's fellow-shipper.

I've developed a couple of addictions here on the mission. For starters, I buy and drink guava juice likes it's water. I can't help it, it's so good. Music has taken a new meaning. I am in love with Paul Cardell's version of"What do you do in the summertime", and then you throw in EFY music, game over. 2004 stand in the light is the favorite right now, track 4, the violin one...oh yeah. I heard a hip hop song today. The car next to us on the road was blasting "Hotel Romm Service" by Pitbull. It's a song I danced a lot to back at school, but when I heard it I thought, "Oh gosh, it's that dang rap music". I completely surprised myself with that. Listening to Mo-Tab music and EFY, saying flippin, I'm turning in to a Utard!!!

Elder Lybbert went home yesterday. Side note for miss Sarah Porter. Elder Lybbert was taught by Jayce in the MTC, he had pictures and I freaked out when I saw "Brother Porter" in some of them. I would think Jayce would remember him, and others like Elder Watt and Stevens! But back to the story, it was sad seeing him leave, and it'll be even sadder saying bye to Elder Barnett.

We should be having some baptisms in the next couple of weeks, hopefully I can send some pictures. I didn't think I would write long emails on the mission, but looking at this one...I guess I do have a lot to say! Haha, I guess I really do miss my family and friends, not so bad that I'm not focused, but I thought it would be easy to be away from everyone for two years. Being smack dab in Utah doesn't help that though! I want everyone to know that I love you all, I love hearing about what's going on in the outside world, and I'm so grateful for all the prayers coming my way!

Thanks for everything,

Elder Scotty

Another Amazing Week

This past week was the best of the mission. So much happened, I'll try to cover everything:

Pioneer day was a blast, we had a competition, each zone in Salt Lake was given a street assignment to cover during the parade, and we had to pass out as many things as possible, like pass along cards, DVDs, Books of Mormon, etc. We also had to teach lessons and get referrals. Giving stuff out and teaching got you points, and man, my zone dominated! We won dinner at the mission home that night. The parade itself was good, we were at the beginning of the parade, and we were right on the side of the street when President Uchtdorf and his wife rode by to start the parade. We got a good look at us, and he gave The three Elders I was with and I a big thumbs up! It...was....AWESOME!

The biggest news of the week, was Rico's baptism!!! It was definitely the best part of my mission so far. The baptism was beautiful, he had a lot of family and friend support there, as well as support from the ward. He was so happy, I couldn't stop looking at him. So to answer your questions Dad, the best part of the mission, is for sure baptizing, but not just baptizing, but seeing the joy in a person's face when they are baptized and become the newest member of the church. I'll never forget it, I made Rico promise that I'll see him at the temple in a year, so hopefully I'll get to write about that next Summer when he's sealed to his soon to be wife.

The weather is still really hot, and the bike thing....I still hate bikes with a passion. Hahaha, my first day on the bike i BIFFED it, riding up from the street onto the sidewalk, there was a bump and I didn't take a sharp enough angle, so my tire rode up against the bump and got caught, and I went tumbling down! I did a pretty sweet flip, I'm sure it looked cool. I didn't get hurt either, I just laughed as I cursed the contraption that caused the fall!

Take care,

Elder Scotty