Quick email!

I have a lunch appointment with an investigator in t-minus 13 minutes! We have to email at the stake center, and it's only open for two hours. The whole zone comes here, and today we got here a little late and every computer was in use.

 

Answers mother:

 

1) Christmas? I have no idea what I want, hair is still on the list, but santa's been ignoring that request a few years now. I'll think about it some more

 

2) Yes, we eat dinner practically every night with a member, I'm at the point where I need to call the day before and say "no dessert please" cake, ice cream, and pie every night is not going to do me any good, especially this time of year.

 

Our baptism Saturday went great, I have pictures, but the camera man was far away and didn't zoom, so they didn't turn out well. I'll take a picture with the two kids this week and get it to you all next week. Tooele is still amazing, many many Halloween parties this past week, I am so stuffed of chilli the thought of meat and beans makes me ponder my chemo days and how I felt then :)

 

Wish I had more time, but I have to run, the Lord's work comes first, and this investigator is so close to baptism!

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty

Southern Baptist and a Hospital Visit

Pics: 

Elder Burkard and I reunited! He's my zone leader! My apologies mother, I realized afterwards that I folded my arms in these pictures. So when you say, "Why is he folding his arms, he looks like a doofus?!?" don't worry, I am fully aware of my doofyness.

The baptism from last week with the sisters that began teaching them

 

Elder Owen and I, my second trainee

 

 

This week we met with Danielle, our Southern Baptist gal. She is a nurse and she is a hoot! We met with her at the bishop's home, and had one of the best lessons I've had thus far. She has amazing questions, she knows her bible very well. She definitely won't be someone I can just say the words to and she'll nod her head up and down, she'll pull out scriptures and compare them with what the Book of Mormon and we are teaching. She is prepared, she just doesn't realize it yet. Heavenly Father has been shaping her life in such a way that she has come to this point. I bore the most powerful testimony of the restoration of the gospel and The Book of Mormon I ever have. Tears coming down my face, she started to cry as well. My goodness gracious. She has read nearly all of the first book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon on her own, and so far as she can tell it's not "the devil's book" like everyone says it is :) She is excited to meet with us again.

 

Later in the week, a ward mission leader called and said a member of the ward was in the ICU with a heart condition. We were not able to go that day, but had to go the next. As we entered the ICU, lo and behold, Danielle is sitting there at the front desk! We talked with her and then went in to the sick member's room to give her a blessing. In the evening we stopped by the the fellowshipping bishop's home to tell them about the fun run in with Danielle earlier. Sister Clayson, bishop's wife, told us Danielle just texted her ten minutes prior to us coming over. Sister Clayson said that was Danielle's first day in ICU, that she normally wouldn't even have been there since she just became a registered nurse not too to long ago...coincidence??? I think NOT!

 

This week I also had exchanges with Elder Willnauer, a member of mtc distrcit 14E. He's my district leader, and how fun it was to be with him. We talked about the mtc and how far we've come since then and all the crazy things that have happened to us. I stick with my conviction that no mtc distrcit has ever been as close as mine, we are all best buds!

 

Everything else is going well, I still love Tooele. We spoke in a ward yesterday and will be speaking in another this upcoming Sunday. With 15 wards, I'm sure we'll be speaking a lot more in the next few months! I'm still feel excited about missionary work, I still have tons of time, but I feel like I'm on my A-game as far as doing what I have been called to do.

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty

 

I thought I was Serving in Tooele?

This past week I had to travel to Salt Lake City three times! New missionary training, zone conference, and then my cancer check-up. Lots of driving!

 

Yup, still cancer free. There was small new dot in my lungs that wasn't there before. It's too small for the doctors to know anything about it, they informed me it's not an uncommon thing, it's most likely nothing at all. Instead of seeing them in 8 months I will see them again in 4 months, February 13th, to make sure that dot isn't anything serious.

 

Our baptism Saturday was a well-attended, spiritual feast. I'll get a picture of it here next week. The two boys, Jaiden and Gavin have such strong testimonies. I've only known them two weeks, but I'll be staying in touch with them after my mission for sure.

 

We have some exciting new developments happening. A woman who grew up Southern Baptist wants to meet with us. Her fellowshipping family is the bishop of the ward; his wife and this woman work together. How excited I am to meet her this week! A woman who has a son on his mission in Everett Washington says that his best friend, who is not a member, would like to meet with us as well and learn about the church. We'll be seeing him this week too! People will come out of no where, as we do our best, Heavenly Father will provide for us.

 

I'll let you know how everything turns out, we have many other people who are soooo close to embracing the fullness of the gospel! Good things will happen this week.

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty

See Ya Salt Lake City

 No no no, I am not in Wyoming (prayers are answered!) BUT! I am now serving in the Tooele and Tooele East Stakes! We cover over 10 wards. Quite the change of scenery wouldn't you say? I went from serving in between mountains, to serving IN the mountains. We cover a good chunk of Tooele, and the towns of Stockton and Vernon to the south. Well let me tell you, I think Tooele is heaven on earth. It's so open, and quiet. At night I can see stars! The people here have treated us like royalty, they are very missionary minded. Every Bishop and member we have spoken with has given us names and people the wards are working with. They understand that missionary work is a team effort, and I couldn't be more excited! We came into the area with 5 people on date for baptism, two of them are this upcoming Saturday! My favorite area so far has been Stockton, it is a very, very small town. Houses are well spaced out, and at night, it's dead quiet, but the views are breathtaking. I can definitely stay here a long time, no problem.

 

My new trainee is Elder Owen, from Anchorage, Alaska. He is a very tall young man, standing at 6 foot 6 inches. He hunts and fishes and all that good stuff. He is awesome! I don't feel like I'm training, he came pre-trained. He talks to people, he knows how to explain faith to people, I don't have to do anything with him! We will have a great deal of success here.

 

Some interesting people to report on here in Tooele. We met a 97 year old woman in the ward in which we live named Maxine Grimm. She lives up on the side of a mountain in a enormous house. She was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to the Phillipines. There, with her husband Colonel Grimm, knew very well General Macarthur and General Eisenhower. While there in the late 40's she met President Hinckley, and they became very good friends the rest of their lives. She has many pictures of her and President Hinckley together. He would come to Tooele ofen and visit with her and bring his family. The pictures were taken there at the house. Yes, I was standing and sitting in the same living room President Hinckley had sat in many many times! She knows personally all the older apostles, and goes downtown to visit them in their offices. This is perhaps, the coolest old person I've ever met, her life beats the heck out of mine!

 

Historical fact for you: Heber J. Grant was the second stake president of Tooele, he was called when he was in his early 20's.

 

Also, the parents of Miss Utah live in my area, her dad is one of the bishops. Yeah...not as exciting as the things reported above, but it's still something :)

 

I assume I will be here for 2 or 3 transfers, so by the time I make it back over to Salt Lake I'll be wrapping up the mission, whoah!

 

Not too much on the spiritual side of things, so far we've just been meeting with leadership trying to figure out both stakes, but with the support of members and investigators already lined up, I know miracles will happen and I'll continue to become the person my God needs me to be. Enjoy the pictures, I'll be taking tons out here.

 

I love you all,

 

Elder Scotty

Yanick and I, the young man from Togo, Africa we baptized a few weeks ago.

The King Family, some of my favorite members I've met on the mission!

 A few of the elders I lived with and Sister Kitchen outside her home in West Valley. I lived with Sister Kitchen for 6 months, we have a very good relationship! I'll definitely be kicking it with her after the mission.

The views of part of my area at the top of a mountain....How lovely it is!

Still a district leader

Yes Yes, I was called to be a trainer. Now I'll have two elders running around saying, "Elder Warczak's my dad!" So long Elder Kodama, but the question remains, Will I stay in Granger North Stake one more transfer, making it a 7 1/2 month area?!?!? The suspense will continue until tomorrow morning. If I leave I would be thrilled. To be white-washed into an area would be exciting. But if the Lord wants me in Granger North one more time around, that will be alright.

Conference was like fresh air to my heart, it was the best one so far on my mission. I took much from every talk given. Some that stood out to me a little bit more than others were Elder Cook of the seventy "Look up!", President Packer's address to the youth, and the emphasis by Elders Callister, Ballard, Holland, and Perry about standing up for the church and opening our mouths to correct error and to testify to those around us. We shouldn't be shy to share the truth with people, I hope the members world-wide take heed to their words. As we departed Saturday night, walking to the tracks to take back to West Valley, we ran into Elder Cook, the one mentioned above. Him and his wife stop and talked to us for a few minutes. He is definitely as humble as he appeared during his talk, what a guy! As he walked away he hollered, "Remember to always look up!"

The huskies were in town playing the Utes this weekend. I saw these two men in husky purple walking through the crowd, and chased them down. How I love to talk with people from Western Washington! Sadly they were already members of the church, so I couldn't preach to them and send missionaries to their homes in Seattle, oooooh well. I saw some dear dear friends of mine as well. The former Emily Stott came with her husband Tyler and found me. I was a little shocked when I saw them. The fun continued when Laura Turner showed up on the scene! It doesn't end there, Rebecca Sellers came on Sunday, she having returned from her mission in Toronto not too long ago! My Polish brother Corey Wozniak was there, but to my dismay I forgot to take a picture with him. All of them are friends from my freshmen year at BYU, I definitely have a special place in my heart for freshmen year peeps. But most importantly, I was able to see my brother Todd, and younger sister Courtney. My family rocks, go Warczak's.

I have my next cancer check-up on the 17th, I still feel good, and no odd lumps on me anywhere....soooo I think I'm still cancer free! I'll wait until the scan though to come to any conclusion :)

Less than 8 months now, my oh my!

Love, Elder Scotty

LOVE,

Ensign Peak

This morning, a little under half of our mission went up to Ensign Peak with President and Sister Winn, which has significance to church history. If you want to know why, I'll just let you google it or something. At the top we read from the Book of Mormon and sang, "High on a Mountain Top." It was a beautiful day, especially to look down and see my entire mission, minus Wyoming and Tooele. Transfers are next week. Pray I stay in the valley, I'll freeze in a Wyoming winter. I saw the movie "17 Miracles"...no thank you.

 

Our baptism on Saturday went well. Sorry I don't have a picture of it, I left my camera at home. Another elder took some, I'll try to get him to send me them. Yanick will be a teriffic addition to the church, he is talking about going on a mission himself! Nothing new to report on, just the good old mission life. Some cool things happen, some things not so cool. So enjoy the pictures, ninja turtles for life, and God bless!

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty