I Survived One

Bluff, Utah

April 13, 2015

 

So to continue from last week's letter because it was so short I am doing great. Well as the subject indicates I survived one suit season and only have one more to go. My new companion is Elder Gifford from Salinas, California. He is great. I am training him but he is already a wonderful missionary. We have been working very hard and are both pretty excited for today. We are about to go bowling in Blanding, that will be fun. This week I discovered that my area covers the Valley of the Gods and the Goosenecks so next week we will be exploring that beautiful area. We met some awesome people this week, yesterday we met a guy named Eno who is very religious and is very open to learning more about the church. Everything that he says he wants to find in a church we have. We also have been working with a Recent Convert whose wife finally wants to get baptized we are so excited for her. Also his brothers are now taking the lessons and one of them came to church yesterday. There is a lot of progress being made here in Bluff and we hope it will continue through the spirit and persistence.Thanks for all of the prayers. 

 

Until next week this is Elder Dallin Warnick signing off.

 A gross pond we found and an old car I saw.

Picture sent to us by President Batt along with a letter telling us Elder Warnick has been called as a trainer.

I have no idea how to turn this, it is normal when I load it. And it's a picture of a picture, but still worth seeing.-Melissa

Sorry and Short

Bluff, Utah

April 6, 2015
 
Sorry everyone but this one has to be short today because I'm off to Farmington for transfers today. I'll be staying in Bluff and training. That's right a brand new guy straight out of the MTC. We have been having a great week this week. It has been a little hard this week but good. When we were out and about this week we ran into a couple of people who haven't been seen for 2 months and we were able to start teaching them and that was wonderful. Well I will try to write some more tomorrow and tell you who my new companion is and about him a little bit, but I just have to let you all know that I am still alive. 

Love, Elder Warnick

Yup It's Spring

Bluff, Utah

March 30, 2015

 

Well as the subject suggests it in no longer winter and that is for sure. We have been going around in some pretty hot weather this week but that wouldn't be so bad if we weren't biking all of the time. This week we did a lot, Saturday we went 8 miles on bikes and 4 miles of walking and still not too bad but underneath my backpack I found that my shirt was soaked through. I forgot how it gets with a backpack on. We have had a lot of progress this week, but not on the reservation, in Bluff. We don't proselyte in the city itself but that is where all of the things we are excited about are happening. We have met quite a few amazing families in the area who were once strong members of the church but fell on hard times and fell away from what they knew, now they are super excited about the gospel. We have a recent Convert here in Bluff of about a year and a half, he got in a motorcycle accident a few year back and really hurt himself. He has some brain trauma and has a hard time saying what he's thinking (the words all just get jumbled in on the way to his mouth). We have been helping him with the sacrament prayers and he has been doing incredible, but now we started an even scarier thing for him. We have began to read the Book of Mormon with him. We was quite scared to start reading again (he hasn't been able to do it for 7 years) but the Book of Mormon is powerful in many ways. He has made a ton of progress in the past 2 weeks more that was ever thought that he would be able to. When he got hurt the diagnosis wasn't good, but he was given a blessing and in it it said that he would make a full recover in this life. He is determined to it and to get there and he is on his way. Miracles come in all shapes and sized. That's it for this week. Keep the faith.

Elder Warnick

Republican or Democrat?

 Bluff, Utah

March 23, 2015

It was very busy week here in Bluff. So this week we were all over the Rez and I had the most lessons that I have had in a week my entire mission, 25. Last week I forgot to tell you that when I was on exchanges with the Zone-Leaders in Blanding I taught my first white person! We also did a lot of knocking on doors this week. We knocked on one door this week and this is the exchange that happened:

     Missionaries: How are you?

     Navajo: What do you want?

     Missionaries: Well we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints      and we have a special message that we would like to share with you about Jesus Christ and his love for you.

     Navajo: Who is Jesus Christ? We don't know him, is he a republican or a democrat?

     Missionaries: I don't think that he is either.

     Navajo: Where is he?

     Missionaries: Probably in heaven.

Well anyways the exchange continued while we attempted to teach him who Christ was. That old Che' didn't know a thing about Christianity, but he will soon. He told us to come back. Sometimes I forget where I am and that a lot of these people don't know a thing about what we talk about. 

This week we did a lot of exploring as well. Of course it was trying to find out of the way hogans, but hey if it just led to an awesome view then that's okay too. We ended up finding some cool ruins and looked around them. While exploring we also found a random canyon that would be prime location for a house but all that is there is oil rigs so I guess they are the ones who scored. Well that's it for week.

Love,

Elder Warnick

Monument Valley

Week Three in Utah

Bluff, Utah

March 16, 2015

It's still strange being in Utah, but I like it. We had an awesome week here, we have been very busy. I think that we have met all of the senior couples that we have, they are all awesome! We are getting fed a ton and I need to start refusing dessert because I'm getting fed so much of it. Luckily I think that they will understand. We have taught a lot of lessons this week and have some great investigators. One is named Duane, he is awesome. His body language says he doesn't care but he has such a strong desire to draw closer to our Father in Heaven. We have been riding bike a lot and have learned to correctly measure distances on a map, we accidentally rode 20 miles instead of 10. Whoops but hey it was a good workout. Well that's about it for this week. Talk to you soon.

Elder Warnick

Can't Sleep

Bluff, Utah

March 9, 2015

 

Well as the subject of this email indicates I can't sleep. Not because of anything I do but my companion snores like a bear. I have to leave the room at night and sleep on the lumpy couch on the other side of the trailer with my speaker turned up loud and the music playing and the bedroom door shut, and that still doesn't drown him out enough. I know it isn't exactly following the rules but I have to. Any remedies for a loud snorer? 

Well I have been having a great time out here. The mud has finally dries out and it is so much easier for us to get around this week. We have been riding our bikes out on those dirt roads and that was a much more fun sounding idea than it actually was. I had bruises on my hands and was also bruised somewhere else... boy oh boy that is the definition of saddle sore. But luckily we were paid a surprise visit but the vehicle coordinator and his wife and they just happened to have 2 new bikes in the back of their truck that they confiscated from a couple of missionaries in Monticello. They were nice enough to switch one for mine and it is much much better. 

We are teaching a lot of wonderful people out here. We recently found 2 new investigators who are very good at actually learning what we have to teach. One has been taught before and just remembers from that, he is apparently the lead singer for a  "famous" band on the Rez. They call themselves the Lower Deck Band. The other one who we have met is a young guy. He is just eating the gospel up. He loves it and already is knowing all of what we are going to talk about. We are so blessed to be here in this area.

Well until next week this is Elder D. Warnick signing off

Bluff Week 1

 Bluff, Utah

March 2, 2015

Well let's start by saying serving a mission in Utah is better than I ever thought it would be. 

The town of Bluff is tiny as we all know, but we don't work in it at all. The whole town, although it was settled by Mormons, is kind of against us. We have been directed not to work in the city of Bluff because of all of the bad feeling toward missionaries. I don't know why that started but it did. So instead of serving in the city we are exclusively on the Rez, thanks goodness. 

We cover Mexican Hat, Mexican Water, and the 5 points area south to the Arizona border. It's difficult not only switching an area and people but also switching a culture. But on the bright side Dine Bazaad (the Navajo language) is so much easier to learn than Hopi. I already know as much Navajo as Hopi. Something that is really cool about Bluff is that we have 2 parts to our branch. We have the branch in Bluff itself and we have a ministry on the Rez for the natives. Some of them are intimidated by lots of white faces. 

This week I was in Bluff and got to meet all of the newcomers. There is a fort here that is run by Missionaries. As of now there are 14 senior couples who live here and work at the fort. The best part about this for us is that fact that they fight over who gets to feed us. So this is kind of missionary paradise. 

Guess what!? I saw grass. Lots of grass. There is grass here in Bluff! The snow has started to melt off and there is green underneath, not just mud. That's a change for me. As is the trailer. I can actually walk around, stand up in the shower instead of hunching over. The shower is hot too. I can sit up in my bed without hitting my face on the ceiling. we have a real toilet! It is awesome. 

We are in Blanding which is way closer than Tuba City was to us, and I am actually emailing from Utah State. The Blanding campus of course but hey it's close. I am finally getting to know my way around on the Rez out here now that all of the snow is melting and I can actually see landmarks. Well that's about it for this week talk you y'all later.

Love,

Elder Warnick

Things the Navajo hide in the middle of no where on their Reservation.

Really nice Camaros

Polar Bears

and random lakes in the middle of the road that you have to drive through and almost get stuck in