Six More Weeks of Nepali

I am still serving in the Nepali program. Elder Clerveau was transferred, and I am now with Elder Wilkinson. He was just serving in Wyoming, and is happy to be here in Salt Lake. He is from Tennessee, and is a convert to the church, he joined about a year 1/2 ago. I am now a district leader, and I truly am my mom. I have purchased all sorts of things for my trainings, it's going to be like primary class, a lot of fun! I am excited, this will be a good experience for me.

 

As far as our area, we have a hit some new speed bumps. Our main translator is now working at D.I, and is working more and more. Our afternoons have been slow, and we are at the point where we have to knock doors in our one ward we serve in, since we can't do much with the Nepali people. Also, there are many Nepali outside of our immediate area, who we would love to get to church, but with no Nepali branch yet, there are not enough service missionaries to help with rides, and since the local wards where these Nepali people live don't have translation available, we really don't know what to do with them. I'll have to talk with President Winn on this one. Elder Wilkinson and I are trying to learn more Nepali, we are going to start doing language study. Hopefully we can learn much and gain more of the trust from the Nepali, and become greater friends! I'm still excited to be here, but another transfer here would mean another 6 month area. I would be at my year mark with two of those, and I don't think I would like that. That's a long ways off though, so I'm just focusing on this transfer. Elder Wilkinson has not had many baptisms yet, and I want to do my best to give him tons!

 

At transfers we had our mission celebration for breaking those baptism records. We had Elders Clark and Franco of the seventy come talk to us. Apparently Elder Oaks was not available to come, but promised to come and speak to us in the next few months.

 

Perhaps the most interesting thing to happen this week was a dinner appointment with a member. The family just joined the church about a year ago. The father is a chill man, but the wife you can tell definitely used to be part of another church (meaning, the "hallelujah, praise je-SUS, southern preacher style...) My first question to her was about the earthquake in Japan and what's going on with that. Her response, "It's Jesus showing forth his power. The people don't pray and worship him, and so God is sending them and the world a message." WHAT!?! That opened a can of worms. She went on to give us a sermon about gospel related things, I felt like her kitchen had transformed into a chapel! It was one of the craziest conversations I've been a part of as a missionary. She then went on to look at each of us individually and tell us what we were hiding and needed to work on. She told Elder Wilkinson to be happy with who is he and have more confidence in himself. She then looked at me and said, "I haven't quite figured you out...but I got something, you want me to bring it out?" I thought, "Is she going to confess my sins for me? That's my job!" She said something about being myself and this and that. I just went with it, I didn't want to disagree and unleash the fire and brimstone. HA! She actually is a very cool lady, I had a good time with her.

 

I am so sorry I haven't sent any pictures. I've tried playing around with it here at the church library, but I would have to install new software and I don't think I could do that here! I'm trying to be as obedient as I can be, so I don't want to use a member's computer or have them do it for me. Ugh, so sorry, I'm trying to see where else we can email, but we don't have access to any church buildings with a family history center.

 

No baptisms too soon. We have some lined up for the end of March, and early April, but the man for March smokes and drinks, and the April ones we just met last night.

 

Elder Scotty Warczak

Where'd My Fire Go?

March is off to a slow start. We have two Nepali people on date for the 19th, but the husband smokes, which is too bad. We need more Nepalis to come to our area. None of them drive, and since there's no branch we can't do anything to help people get to church, the service missionaries we have are already do so much. Transfers are this Wednesday. Elder Clerveau may stay, but he has been here six months. With the success we had I can see President leaving him here. But I can also see me becoming a trainer. Who knows, I really don't have a preference.

 

But to more positive things, our mission had 88 baptisms last week, which broke the mission record set the week before of 87. We also broke the mission record for baptisms in a month with 283 in February! So this Wednesday, the entire mission is coming together at transfers to celebrate. This is Salt Lake, so who knows what will happen there. We know there will be lunch, but maybe a special guest appearance?!?! Get this! As I and the elders I am with are driving up south temple today,  we turn right, between the conference center and the church library. Sisters Bates and Tagawa, Sisters in our zone, are at the corner. We roll down our windows to talk to them, and they say Elder L. Tom Perry just crossed the street, and they got to shake his hand! We looked towards the conference center, and sure enough, Elder Perry was walking with another man, rocking some blue jeans and an overcoat! Dang it!!!! Another missed chance to meet an apostle!

 

So, conference talk has begun. I hope everyone who is planning on going to conference makes time to see their favorite Elder! To answer my mother's question: No, I'm not learning much Nepali. I know phrases and I'll write things down, but there's really nothing written in Nepali for me to study. For church things, all they have is the old gospel principles book, the articles of faith, and one of the proclamations by the first presidency in Nepali. No dictionaries, no Book of Mormon yet, zilch! So yeah, don't expect me to talk in Nepali anytime soon, I can say basic stuff, and random phrases here and there, but that's it. We really do rely on our translator, and he does a great job. The power of the spirit can still be felt there, even though half the time I'm just smiling and praying things are making sense to investigators. Teaching people who I can't communicate with using words, and having to teach them about Jesus Christ, a person they know nothing about, and why He means so much to their lives, it's a huge undertaking. I wish I could do more, sometimes I feel helpless. But then again, 19 Nepali people were baptized last month, whatever we told them, they felt it. Many of our recent converts were able to go to the temple last Saturday and do work in there, and they all loved it! The church is still true, no matter what language it's being taught in, and what culture the people may have that are hearing it. All of it has a familiar "ring" to them.

 

Well, keep the prayers coming, I'm always in need of them, and hopefully I'll get to see some of you all in a few weeks!

 

Love,

 

Elder Scotty

So February has come to an end. We had 22 baptisms and 19 confirmations, the three "H" boys will be confirmed next week, they had a family emergency that took them away this Sunday. Friday and Saturday were the best days this week. Earlier last week, the same woman from the conference center that called us for the tithing video called again, and she wanted to come out and film Elder Clerveau and I for a few hours, doing "missionary work". On Friday she and a camera crew came and spent a few hours with us. It started off going around to Nepali people and inviting them to the Nepali baptisms later that night. After a few of those is when we turned into models. The camera man had us walk down the sidewalk, then stand and smile with the mountains behind us, and a bunch of "action" shots like that, and then they asked us to take them to a nearby park, where we did more posing and staged missionary work. They said that stuff is for what they B-role, images and footage that go into church archives, and when the church makes a film, they can pull a bunch of things from this archives and use it. With the tithing video they wanted a couple of shots of us to inject into our interviews. I had a good time doing it, but I definitely don't expect to see myself in a video or magazine soon. Sure, maybe elder Clerveau, he's black, but me, I'm the white bald-headed missionary! HAHAHA!!! I think they would get someone a little better looking than that for a cover or a movie! I kept laughing to myself about that idea as the camera man would say, "Alright look back to me, now look back to the mountains, look like you're pondering something, now back to me..."

 

Friday night was special. We had eight Nepalis baptized, and the service was well attended. We had a temple square sister come, Sister Khadgi from Nepal, who helped us with giving tours to our investigators, and she brought a van full of other sisters, I think eight total! There were five brothers who performed the baptisms. Myself, Elder Clerveau, Bishop, our translator, and one of our recent converts. It was awesome seeing him baptize, I hope to have many other of our Nepali brethren receive that opportunity.

Saturday the "H" boys were baptized, another wonderful experience to be a part of. I invited President and Sister Winn to the baptism, and they were able to attend. Seeing the dad baptize his sons was really touching, I shed a few tears.

Right now we don't have any other baptisms lined up, which shouldn't be a surprise, we had 22 of them this month! But I know we can continue having this kind if success, the Lord wants more baptized, and I know if I have faith and continue to work hard, those baptisms will happen.

Another great eat discovered! On state street, right by the court houses, is the restaurant Himalayan Kitchen, straight up Nepali food, but OH so good!!!! We went there after the baptisms Friday with our two main translators, and the place was packed with white people!!! You know it's legit if white people like it!

 

I'm continuing to have the time of my life, things that use to matter don't anymore to me. I heard BYU beat San Diego St. Awesome, but at the time I was only concerned with getting the "H"'s ready for their baptism, and that was a great feeling putting what really mattered as the top priority! March is my district's "FFC: Fit For Conference" month, so hopefully I will look good for those of you that will be there in four weeks! Hey Mom, I love the care packages, but no more chocolate turtles and gardhettos, those are my weaknesses! :)

 

Elder Scotty

I Forgot to Mention...

Tuesday we received a call from our zone leaders to go to the conference center in downtown Salt Lake City and meet someone. We get there, and we noticed that a lot of black sisters from temple square were there. The church is putting together a video on tithing for parts of Africa, and since salt lake's black population is like zero, they had to get missionaries to come and be a part of the video, and since my companion is black, we were summoned upon. We went down into the conference center to the studio and both of us were interviewed individually with all these bright lights on us and a giant green screen behind us. The interviewer asked us all sorts of questions regarding tithing, it was way cool! So yeah, if any of you are ever in Africa, and see a video with Scott Warczak in it, now you know why :)

Baptisms and Tongans

Hello everyone,

Another great week, we had two baptisms this weekend, a married couple. This weekend is going to even better. Friday night we are having eight Nepalis baptized! The eight are made up of two brother's families. The younger brother and his family were put on date for baptism last week, and this other family was put on last night. In January, the two older girls we baptized, this second family is the rest of their family. Truly amazing.

This Saturday we also have the four "H" boys getting baptized. They are wonderful boys. About a year ago, circumstances that arose in life had "humbled" the family, and they moved into our area. The parents were not active, but the father started coming back to church and greatly desired to become active again, because, as he expressed, "It always felt like something was missing." His boys came into the church full force. They are involved in scouts, young mens, church basketball, you name it they're in it! They cannot wait to pass the sacrament and be baptized. The mom is still not interested in coming back to church, but I have faith she will soon, when she sees her husband baptize her boys, she'll feel the spirit.

The snow this week was fun. We came home the night of the storm and got inside. In case I haven't mentioned it, a pair of spanish elders live in the apartment below us, and a pair of tongan elders live next door to us. I heard a crash at the window, and saw that Elder Tupou had thrown a snowball. It was war. Elder Clerveau and I got dressed and ran out and started a huge snowball fight with the Tongans. Soon the spanish speaking elders came home, and they didn't stand a chance. We got them involved and soon six of us missionaries are running around on the street and everywhere else engaged in a heated battle. I love having the Tongans next to us, they make things so much fun!

I can't wait to get back to work, P-day has become somewhat of a drag for me. I'm so excited to see what other miracles will take place, and I know they are coming. I'm so continuing this success into March, this is what being a missionary is all about. I can't wait to tell you all about this weekend, and I'll make sure pictures get sent!

Love,

Elder Scotty

Baptisms Everywhere I Look

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! Just another day for me, my valentine is missionary work, how I love it so! That and Taylor Swift, but she doesn't know I exist, so I can't really claim her! HA! My deepest apologies for no email last week, I sent it I swear. I received a message today that said an error occurred, and the email did not go through. Lame, it said it did. Oh well, what cha gonna do?

 

This past weekend we had two baptisms, a married couple who are both 24, they have an 8 year old son. They were married when they were 16. Crazy, I know, gotta love Nepali people. We have 2 more for this weekend, the 19th. Tula and his wife. Tula was some work, he was baptized Christian in Nepal, and didn't see why he had to be baptized again. We taught him and told him to pray to know if the LDS church was true and promised him an answer. The next night he told us of the dream he had. It's very touching, I won't go into it, but he received his answer and knows the church is true. After them we have 7 on date for the 26th, our three "H" boys and a Nepali family of four. So as of right now, if all goes well, we will have 18 baptisms this month. There was a family of 6 earlier in the month that contributed to the 19 on date, but they will not get baptized at this time. Three in the family want to be baptized, but the man of the house said no, "either all of us do it together, or no one does it." It's sad, we know of seven people that want to be baptized in various families, but the head of the home won't give permission for that same reason, it's "all or nothing." I knew we could baptize every week this month, so when this particular family and others we hoped for didn't come through,  I wasn't worried about it. I knew I had faith, and if I worked hard, Heavenly Father would deliver and prepare people for us.

 

Last week I wrote about how a coordinator from the MTC was coming up to spend the day with us and see how the new missionary lessons were working out. His name was Brother Snyder. Very nice guy, we had a lot of fun with him. That night I discovered one of my new favorite places in Salt Lake, Moochies. It's this bomb sandwich shop on 800 south that has the best philly cheese steak sandwich. It was even featured on the food network, with that man with the bleached hair, Guy, on his show. It was voted best sub in Utah, so yeah, check it out, it's to die for.

 

Back to missionary things, the Lord is really blessing us with the Nepali people. We have others that look promising, and we hope to continue baptizing every weekend into March. I have really gone through a transformation so far this month. My attitude is much more positive, and I don't just believe that miracles can happen, now I know that they can happen, and that they are an everyday occurrence. Salt Lake has been the perfect place for me, I envision who it is I want to become, and I feel myself becoming that person.

 

I thank everyone for letters I receive, especially Sarah Porter, my new best friend! She's the only one down at BYU that talks to me, everyone else has moved on without Scotty Warczak. She's even married, pregnant, and working, and still finds time to write me a quick letter and keep me posted on her and her husband's life. So a shout out to you, Sarah Porter, thanks for being awesome!

 

I love you all,

 

Elder Scotty

Last Week's Letter

Wow, a great week for us. We had seven baptisms this past Saturday, a family of five, and another couple - the parents of the teens we baptized a month ago. We are hoping to have two more this Friday, maybe three, the couple's son may or may not be eight yet, so we're getting to the bottom of it. So as of right now, we have five or six people on date for baptism this month. A family of six fell off date, they weren't ready yet, but that's alright, my faith has been strengthened greatly in the past couple of weeks, I know others will take their place. Our goal is twenty baptisms this month. we have had I think some solid new investigators this week, and i know if I do my best and believe that our goal will be achieved!

 

Get this. We received a call from the assistants today. The MTC is sending someone up this Friday to spend the entire day with us and record everything we do. The success we have been having has become somewhat a big topic of discussion amongst the mission, especially with President Winn. The MTC wants to see what we are doing to have the numbers we are having. Cool huh!?! I hope we don't disappoint, we're really not doing anything outstanding, we're just being obedient and working hard. I'm excited for this, I'm going to work even harder these next couple of days to make sure Friday is a great day. We'll have more people on date by then, I have no doubt.

 

Everything else has been normal, I'm loving what I'm doing. With baptisms every week, February is just flying by. I definitely want to continue this. I'm excited for this transfer to be over, soon spring will be here and I'll be hitting the pavement without a suit jacket on! Then things will really take off! Elder Warczak, street warrior of righteousness!

 

Thanks for those of you who read my blog and keep me in your prayers, I feel the much needed strength to do this work everyday, and I know it's because of all the prayers being offered for me. I love you all, can't wait to tell you how this week goes!

 

Elder Scotty