Fun Week!

Hello everyone!

 

Transfers are this week, ridiculous! By the end of this next transfer, conference will be just weeks away! The work is going well here in south salt lake. We have two more Nepali people committed for baptism on February 5th, they are the parents of the first two kids we baptized. We also have the "H" boys on date for the 26th of February, that one my friends, will be the baptisms of the year! It's a great story, the "H" family, I'll share details with you all as the end of February approaches! I hope my companion stays with me one more transfer. Getting to know someone new gets tiring after a while, I just want to serve with people I already know from here on out!

 

In other news, my basketball skills are getting terrific! We play this three-point shooting game on p-day and I make it rain with the hoop all...day...long! As far as "playing basketball" well, I'm still a short white kid, I just run around and try not to look stupid. I have learned that the overall moral of salt lake is greatly altered by the success, or the suckiness, of salt lake sports. Right now the jazz have lost four games in a row. What does this mean for me? Bad time to contact a white person referral, that's what. I don't know why people here in Utah are obsessed with their sports, but they are. Likewise, when the jazz are doing great, EVERYONE will talk to us! I can't figure it out, this is the best explanation I have. Also, I am learning which areas to avoid as a missionary. Sugar house and the east side....very interesting places. Sugar House especially, the people there just glare at us when we walk into a store, or when we are walking around the apartments there. But that is a large gay and liberal community, so that's an easy one to figure out :)

 

That's all for me. I need to run and take my suits to the dry cleaner and get all the Nepali curry smell out of them! Take care everyone, and hope to hear from you all and see how you are doing!

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty

Miracle Week!

Silly me, we forgot it was Martin Luther King Day, and so every public place was closed for emailing. We are emailing at a family research library at a chapel. I didn't think I would need my camera today, but nope, should have brought it so I could send pictures!!! Dang!

 

Well, as you know we had our two Nepalis baptized last week. I thought that would be the last of them for a while, but lo and behold, Thursday night we were teaching part of this family that we thought would be good for baptism, but they said they would wait. As we are talking, all of a sudden the two oldest daughters in this family start nodding their head and go on talking with our translator for a few minutes. I didn't think anything of it, this happens a lot. Finally they stopped and our translator says, "They want to be baptized!" My response, "You fool, you misunderstood your own language." (Me of little faith!) But sure enough, they DID want to get baptized! When? "This Saturday." So we began calling all our ward leadership and other missionaries, and set up their baptism interviews and the baptism service. On Saturday Soni and Chunkhu Monger were baptized! Four Nepalis in two weekends, huzzah! Other Nepalis may soon follow, like the rest of the Monger family, the parents of the first two kids baptized a few weeks ago, and a new family that just got here that said they want to come to church and learn about Christ. Aside from the Nepali people, we have an English family in the ward. There are four boys in the family, all baptism age. Their parents had been inactive for years, but the dad started coming back to church with his boys about two months ago. The mom is slowly but surely getting back. She has word of wisdom issues, and has some hard feelings still towards a bishop who treated her poorly when she got pregnant at an early age, but she likes us and says things during lessons that sound an awfully like things a person with a testimony would say! The dad was only a deacon, but this Sunday was ordained to a priest. The dad will baptize all four boys on February 26th, they have a nephew getting back from his mission in Arkansas February 22nd, and they want him to do the confirmations. The Hulsey family is an amazing story, I cannot wait for the end of next month!

 

My companion and I still get along. Nothing else really to say. He's really into basketball and the NBA, me...not so much. I'm sure one of my future companions will be like a best friend to me, where we just click and both have the same desire to work hard. I am a stubborn person though, and tough to please, so maybe I just need to relax a little and I'll find more in common with people. If not, oh well, I'm here to build the foundation for the rest of my life and future posterity, I really don't care about mission reunions and being the "cool" Elder in the mission. I'm here to work people!

 

That's my week, two surprise baptisms, and a family taking the rights steps towards becoming a family forever in the temple. Transfers are already next Wednesday, by the end of next one conference will be just a few weeks away. Whoa. I imagine I will be in this area through conference, I don't think I will do another six month area though, at least I hope not, one of those was enough for me. Take care, and I love you all.

 

Elder Scotty

Stinkin Church History Library!

So I guess I can't send pictures from the Church Library, the software doesn't match up! I have some awesome pictures too! I will try and find a way around this problem. The issue is that we email from here every week, that or go to the Salt Lake Library, which is packed. Mama mia, what to do. The south salt lake stake is still great. We had two Nepali baptisms this weekend, a sister and brother. I think those will be our last Nepali converts for a while though, the rest of them are so set in their ways. They are very influenced by other Nepalis. One night we commit a family of six for baptism, and they say yes and they are on date for baptism. The next night we meet them and they tell us that they will, "wait for rest of family to come from Nepal." I'm not frustrated I'm not frustrated.....DAHHH!!! Our Nepali translators are members, and even they are annoyed by their people. It's sad, we do everything we can, but they just can't get past their Nepali traditions. Another excuse they use is that if they become Christian, they will go to the bottom of the caste systems (In Nepal, Christians are not looked well upon.) We try to explain to them, that they are in America, there is no caste system. Can't convince someone of anything though, they have to have that desire to change themselves. They still treat us very nicely. They feed us a lot, I am getting good at eating with my hands. a skill I hope to carry with me after the mission. Hahaha the language is still a problem, I still just know the basic phrases, it's a difficult language to pick up, they talk really fast. They understand Hindi, and watch a lot of Bollywood movies, to give you an idea of what their language is like. My clothes smell like curry, I'll need to make frequent trips to the dry cleaners! The white people are not doing so well either, all our English speaking investigators are avoiding us.

 

Other than that all is splendid. I still go downtown a lot, and it's fun to see things I knew before the mission. Like driving up 700 E, and seeing places like Hires Burger. My freshmen roommate Pete LOVES Hires, and so every time I see it I think of the times we went there as freshmen. The weather is cold, but nothing too bad. Many missionaries get the chance to meet apostles and church leaders, as for me, my luck hasn't been there yet. Today we went to the temple, as I left the changing room, Elder Oaks walked in and shook hands with many of the Elders, dang! Others get to meet them at stake conferences, or in the areas they serve. Elder Holland is a fellow-shipper for an investigator, so Elders get to teach lessons with an apostle sitting next to them! I hope I get a chance to do something like that, but if not oh well, the church is still true.

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty