I'm From Lakewood, Elder...this is Nothing!

This past week, as we were leaving the note on an investigator's door, a bunch of trucks and suv's were pulling up across the street one by one. The property across the street is a compound, this area we were in is more farm-like, with cattle all around. All of a sudden, police jump out of all the vehicles and swarm the compound. Guns drawn and all sorts of yelling going on. As my companion is ready to wet himself and tells me we need to get out of here, I stand in awe and say, "COOL!" As he looked at me confused I reminded him of my upbringing, "I'm from Lakewood, we're on the show COPS every week, this is nothing." 

Wonderful, just spectacular things have happened this past week. We have four people on date for baptism. Two of them are so elect, I think they should be teaching me. One man in particular is from Togo, Africa. He's been here a few months and is living with family members, who are all members of the church already. He accepted baptism the first night we met him, and on Sunday he leaned over to me and asked if he could go up and share his testimony, since it was fast and testimony meeting, or if you had to be a member to do so. As I told him he could, a few minutes later he walked up there and gave a simple yet powerful testimony of the Savior and how good he felt being there at church. 

Our mission is struggling. We only had 20 baptisms last week. The goal of 3,000 for the year is still reachable, but every companionship needs to be baptizing each week. I'm definitely up for the challenge, but I'm making sure the people I help baptize are ready, none of this meet them, teach them everything in one week, and baptize them the next Saturday when they haven't met anybody at church. No no, that will not do. Quantity AND quality as Elder Ballard puts it!

Every thing else is just peachy. The weather is cooling down, I have people to teach, conference is coming up, there's nothing to complain about. Yesterday during preparation day we went to the Gateway Mall, which is in our zone. I'll tell you, if you want people to stare you down and avoid you like a plague, slap on a missionary name tag and white shirt and tie and you got it! BOY was it weird, I don't plan on going there anytime soon during the next 9 months, nooo way!

Love,

Elder Scotty

Someone Turn off the Sun, Please!

Ok, this week was ridiculously, can't even laugh about it, HOT! Even with a car, getting out of it was like opening the oven, a wave of heat would hit me. Since we live on the top level of the home we're at, nights are tough too with the heat, no blankets for me!

Yesterday we talked in two of the wards here in Granger North. I love speaking, absolutely love it. Elder Gene R. Cook talks about not preparing a formal talk to give, but rather preparing beforehand and then saying whatever the spirit wants to say through you. I'm trying that more and more and I'm getting better at just speaking from the heart, using only scriptures. The area is doing good. We have good referrals coming our way and I know one or two of them will turn into something solid. It would be excellent to leave this area with a few more baptisms and more on date for the weeks to come. 

My district will be interesting. The rest of my district, three companionship's, live in the Wells Stake, which is on state street and going east. Here in Granger North, I'm past 3000 West. Oh boy. It will be difficult to check up on them being far away, hopefully they all behave well enough :) The district is chill, Tongans, a Samoan, an elder going home this transfer, a fellow white boy from Florida, and two fairly fresh ones (my companion included). We'll have fun.

Last night as we were knocking on doors, I ran into a couple that I taught over a year ago in Granger Stake! It was so funny when we looked at each other and did the whole, "How do I know you" stare! They're so not interested still, but I wasn't too bother, I gave them our number and told them the time to church on Sunday. Yeah, I'm getting to be one of the older missionaries.

There is an amazing couple in the stake, the Flitton's. They are my parent's twins, I kid you not! Their definitely the missionary parents here, and every time I speak with them it feels like I'm talking to good old mom and dad. Sister Flitton is a school teacher and is very VERY loud and talkative. Brother Flitton is very chill and easy going, and has a sweet work shop, where he builds all sorts of things. It's terriffic. SO after the mission, I'll have to introduce my real parents to the "dimension X' parents of mine, that will be a sight to see!

The morning has been fun, we had to take an elder to the DMV at the fairgrounds, and that was over by 9:30, so we went to breakfast at the Nauvoo Cafe at Temple Square. I sat and looked up at the temple, how magnificent the Salt Lake Temple is! Only another month until conference! We're plucking away at people and names, I pray next week I'll have new investigators on date to tell you about. Thank you for all the prayers, I definitely can feel them during those tough days and hours. I love you all and thanks for the letters Laura, Dani (not Pete), Court, and Hjelm family, letters will follow!

Love,

Elder Scotty

Another Transfer in Granger

President Winn called me and told me I'll be a district leader. The district leader now is going to be a zone leader, so I'm assuming I'll be back as district leader in this area. I really like the stake, the members are terrific, so another 6 month area, that's cool. "How long you been on your mission? Almost 17 months. Oh, where have you served? Only three areas!" HA! Oh man, after this President will need to bounce me around a little bit more, I need to learn this city, and so far all I know is West Valley!

Conference tickets have been given out. So all you who will be around for it, come and see me!

This last week was busy, we taught 28 other lessons. All from door knocking and street contacting. We need new investigators. One cool experience we had. We had no plans late one afternoon. We prayed to know where to go or who we needed to see. I pulled out my map and one street jumped out at me, Baty Drive. I didn't say anything, I really wanted Elder Kodama to have the same impression. So we sat in the car for nearly 10 minutes. I could tell he had no clue, but I sat there and waited patiently. Finally he said, the Granger 15th ward, which is where Baty Drive is, but he still didn't know which street or why that ward.  We drove over there and parked at the chapel. Again, 10 minutes of silence as he studied the map. When he spoke he said he felt good about Baty Drive. CONFIRMATION! I told him that's the only street I noticed on the map, and I could tell he was pretty excited about it. We went to it and taught five lessons in one hour to people on Baty. We didn't get any new investigators, but it was an amazing afternoon to be able to share our testimonies with others and to give them the Book of Mormon. I hope it was a good experience for Elder Kodama, he needs more of those to build his confidence.

Other than that all is well. Still doing great at being healthy, I'm sitting at 179 right now. 170 here I come!

Love,

Elder Scotty

Leadership Training and a Mission Tour

Last week I had two days of leadership training, what a blast. Being with 30+ missionaries for two days, and now I'm at the point in my mission where I know everybody. It's was always a dread to go so missionary functions as a new missionary, where you know maybe 3 or 4 of the elders there. Glad that's behind me. Tomorrow we have our mission tour with Elder Paul V. Johnson of the seventy, an all morning and afternoon event. I won't lie, have no idea who he is, but I'll learn great things from him that will have me saying, "I LOVE ELDER PAUL V. JOHNSON" next week.

This week the rest of our people for the month of August fell off date for baptism. We had four Cambodians, three siblings and a woman. The parents of the kids are less active members, who have a desire to have the gospel back in their lives and for their children, but they don't want to force it on them. The children are pre-teen age, so of course religion is not on their minds right now. Sad. The other one, the woman, looked promising but just picked up another job, and now she is never available to meet with us.

This is the last full week of the transfer, and being a trainer has made it fly by. The end of next transfer is conference, and after that, only ONE more conference to go! That will be exciting, the last conference for a missionary they receive plaza conference tickets, and sit right in front by the side all the leaders enter. My dad wrote me and said something along the lines that not every week will be a spiritual high in the mission field, that sometimes the trials just continue on. That definitely was this past week. Nothing too amazing happened, we contacted many referrals and none turned out to be interested. Talking to people on the streets and out walking didn't want to hear about it, and investigators dropped us themselves this week. I feel like I'm clearing up the desk and organizing it, before I can bring out my books and start studying. Right now and just getting things ready for when those who are prepared will have the attention and focus they deserve from us.

But there was one miracle in particular that occurred this week! This morning, when I stood on the scale.....179.2 lbs!!!! HUZZAH! I haven't seen a "7" as the second number since high school! So there's one thing going right for me :)

Keep the faith, and don't get discouraged when things go wrong, it will all figure out.

LOVE,

Elder Scotty

Three Weeks of Baptisms

Vicky and I, sorry for the terrible lighting. She has been working with missionaries since October. I've known her since my first week in the area. I'm blessed to have been the one to help the Savior in bringing Vicky back unto Him

Now that our solid investigators have been baptized these last few weeks. We're back to finding. Names we've received haven't turned out to anything. As far as our numbers for the week, we didn't have a great week. We went by all the bishops last night, and our starting from the ground up. We have some new referrals and things to check, so I hope to be baptizing again soon.

The workout with the bike continues. Down to 182. There's this bridge going over the freeway in my area, that we ride over a few times a day. It's a good climb. Every time I start climbing it I start singing Mulan's "I'll Make A Man Out Of You". It makes all the difference. I've incorporated it into everything I do. Sometimes I want to quit, like Mulan and the rest of the gang, but as I keep pushing, I eventually overcome all the obstacles in my way. Isn't Disney great!? Why Disney songs are not approved for all missionaries is beyond me! Come on Mormon Tabernacle Choir, let's get the Disney ball rolling!

The week has been a difficult one as far as all the people we have talked to. It KILLS me when I can't help someone. So many see us and come running up to us in tears, with financial, drug, and family problems, and all I can do is say a prayer with them. I don't know who or where these people can go for temporal help. Obviously Christ is what everyone needs in their lives, but man, the world today does a good job of covering up the need for God in our lives today. People get mad at us, cry even more, or are kind and express gratitude for us for at least listening to them and saying a prayer with them. Here in Salt Lake, everyone knows who we are and who we represent. It never gets easy being under everyone's gaze. I thought being popular was all good and fun in high school and at BYU...but I don't really care for it anymore. As long as people can see Christ in me as they're watching me, that's all that matters. I wish I could see Christ's day. What it must have been like for Him to be the center of attention. People wanting everything from Him, people plotting ways to destroy Him as they watched like hawks to see if He would make a mistake, others too afraid to approach Him out of shame or fear of His power. When He atoned for us and died. The lonely journey in the garden, to the hill and be crucified, to have the spirit withdraw from Him for a time. I can never fully understand that, but I think serving here in Salt Lake  I can begin to imagine what His every day life was like. It's hard to have everyone see you and know what you're all about, or claim to be anyways.

I appreciate it all. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Love,

Elder Scotty

One More Month of Summer as Elder Warczak

August 1st, my second summer in the field coming to a close. It will be nice to leave behind the sweaty shirts and hot sun, but it's sad thinking I'm on the final lap of the mission, only one more of everything. The work is going steady. Two weeks ago we baptized Jeremy, and then this past Saturday was Mike's baptism, the tall man with the three of us elders. We have another baptism this week for a woman named Vicky.


The bike is still enjoyable for me, I'm down to 184 lbs, about a 6 pound loss since the beginning of the transfer. I'm getting really dark, especially the arms. We have investigators in the Cambodian branch now. We went to temple square last night with a woman named Sochan. We brought a translator and she had a remarkable time, she wants to get baptized. Training is a fun calling. I'm not a "touchy-feely" person, so having someone follow me like a puppy gets me a little claustrophobic, but other than that it's good!

Pioneer day was enjoyable. President Monson opened the parade, it was nice seeing him and getting a wave from him when he saw groups of us missionaries. I loved the Utah bagpipe club, Scotland the Brave blaring throughout downtown Salt Lake, love it! My favorite is Mama's Temple Church Choir, they've been in the parade for a couple of years now, I remember them when I was in the parade myself a few years back. They get me so pumped, singing songs like, "Ya know make me wanna SHOUT, kick my heels up and SHOUT, come on now!!!" I can see why people go to church's like that, they're dang good at entertaining. But I'll stick with the restored gospel.

I drew this "Defenders of Zion" picture at the end of last transfer, a little bit of it here, a little here. I'm a nerd, I know, but you have to admit it pretty cool! At the temple last week, Elder Tad R. Callister, who was just called to serve in the presidency of the seventy and is the author of The Infinite Atonement, was in our session. Salt Lake City, what a place to be! Today elders in our zone were at Dick's sporting store at the gateway mall downtown, and ran into President Eyring and visited with him for a few minutes. Best mission in the world!

Pray I continue to lose weight, and I hope all of you have a glorious week!

Love,

Elder Scotty

Aloha!

1) Elder Fifita and I rocking the Tongan look

2) Elder Warczak and Kodama!


My new companion, Elder Kodama, is from Hawaii, the good old island of Oahu. We're having a ball of a time. Our first day we of course went downtown to do extreme street contacting, where we just go and talk to EVERYONE downtown. I began the first hour doing the talking and greeting at first, but then I turned it over to him. It was cute to see him try and shake someone's hand but then back out at the last second and just say "hello". HA! Was I like that a year ago? It was great to see him just get thrown into it, I had many good laughs to myself. Since then things have been great. Elder Kodama's door approaches are getting better, I try to build him up and not say anything mean. Again, lots of fun seeing a new missionary talk to a stranger. Right now we have a baptism lined up for the next four weekends, and we're doing a lot of finding. Being a trainer is a good experience for me, it's making me push myself and really step up and bring my "A" game. Trainers spend one or two transfers with their new missionary. So at least another five weeks with him, or it will be three months total. We no longer have a car, we are doing the bike thing! I know, last year I wasn't a huge supporter of the bike, but now I love it. I'm getting tan, and I'm sweating like crazy, goodbye personal food storage! 

Pioneer Day is this next week. The craziest day in Utah. I'm sure we will be going downtown and doing what we did last year, that is passing out many cards and pamphlets and trying to find new people for the mission. It's suppose to be in the 90's all week, I'll be drinking water and spraying my head with sun block like there's no tomorrow.

I love where I'm at right now as a missionary. I feel confident in my teaching, I have no problem talking to people, and I'm having the most joy I think I've ever had so far on my mission. The next 10 months will be the best ones yet. 

Love,

Elder Scotty