Quite A Week

January 19, 2015

Polacca, AZ

Well everyone this has been quite a week. It started out with us going to Winslow to go to Walmart to go shopping. I'll tell you what I am terrified to leave my area because that will mean the possibility of being in a city and it is freaky driving around there! And one way streets are especially confusing. Well anyways our shopping trip went well and we were able to make it back to the Rez without any problems. Earlier that morning we were at the gym working out and we were approached and asked if we were the new firefighters. I guess that's what happens when you can actually move some weight around in the gym.

The next couple of days that followed were great. We ended the week with 7 new investigators and the attendance at church was awesome! There were over 90 people attending our branch and 13 of them are investigators. 

Wednesday was pretty awesome. It had rained almost all day Tuesday so that means mud. We got a very energetic call from a member and she needed our help, she got her little Mazda stuck in the mud. Good thing we carry shovels in our truck and don't care about how dirty we get. We spent the 2 hours following pushing, digging and slipping before we could finally get the car the quarter mile down the road to where it could actually drive on it's own. The end result of this was wonderful lesson with this member's son who is very torn and seriously contemplating the church, since the traditions have become so corrupt. We left Second Mesa and made the horrible choice of taking the old mission road down the side. Usually it is just cool to drive on, it is a gravel road and consists of a cliff on both sides one going up and the other going down. Well all was well on the way down until there was a random patch of mud that was very slick. our truck slipped and was sliding sideways down the road, but thanks to some urgent prayers in our hearts I was finally able to get the truck back under control and not slip off the edge. The end result of that day was a very, very muddy truck.

The next day was district meeting, and we drove to Tuba City in our Muddy truck. We had a wonderful meeting and learned a lot, but when we came out there was a note on our truck from one of the Senior Sister Missionaries on our truck telling us to wash it immediately. We left in a bit of anger but washed our truck at the car wash in Tuba. After the other missionaries had a discussion with her they found out that her husband had tried to get her to relax because he saw the shovels in the bed of our truck and knew what we were doing, but she didn't listen and took a picture and sent it to our mission president. Luckily he knows what we do as missionaries and nothing bad came from that.

While we were getting our truck washed we were driving up to the gas station and saw a missionary. This is the sequence of thought that went through our heads;

     Hey it's Elder Beck! 

     Wait why is he in Tuba?

     Hold on where is his companion?

     What!? He's with a girl! Who is she?

     Their getting into the same car! What is going on?

     OH, wait he's going home... it's his mom.

We got out and talked to him and his mother and he was touring the mission before going home. Boy oh boy it was a confusing few seconds.

Friday I was sick and it was not fun. I had lots of stomach pain and the next day was not much better. We got some hamburger and hamburger helper form our neighbors and decided to make it. Let's just say I remember why I don't eat that stuff now.

Well that's just some of my week. I hope that you all have a wonderful week as well.

Love, Elder Warnick

Oh Leroy our Recent Convert also got the priesthood this Sunday and is a priest.

This is what our New Years consisted of.

Elder Warnick and Elder Tippetts

Elder Warnick on New Year's Day 2015

and there is some random slush from a snowy day

Not A Tasty Slushie

and yes there was actually snow here

Real Snow! Jan. 1, 2015

Here are some pictures from after we were getting the car unstuck 

Attempt at being happy

Attempt at being stoic

okay just the truck

This is my shoes from after pushing the car

Muddy Shoes

all of my shoes 

My shoes

a sweet tie pin. My nickname is Hoonaw or bear because I am so big compared to my companion and he is a cougar, lean and small.

new tie pin

The final is a basketball I kind of popped while trying to dunk

whoops!

Burglary and 6 more...

Polacca, AZ

Jan. 12, 2015

6 more weeks that is... transfer news came and Elder Tippetts and I are both staying in Polacca for 6 weeks more weeks. I am so happy that I still get to be here. I will get to see 2 more people that we're teaching be baptized in the next month. We have been having a lot of fun here in Hopiland and have had some of the best numbers this past couple of weeks that this area has ever had.

We had zone conference this week and it was awesome! We learned a lot of new ideas and even received some awesome revelation for our area. One thing that we are starting to do now is to bring  up the Baptismal Interview Questions the first time that we meet with people so they know what we are trying to help them understand and learn.

We have been teaching a lot of lessons lately and are finding all sorts of new people to talk to. This week we found an investigator that I was teaching in the past. He was in Winslow for a couple of months, now he's back. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, stopped using drugs and alcohol, and he really wants to be baptized! 

Well I am officially a burglar.... A member of the Branch was out of the country for a couple of weeks over the Christmas break and his house was empty. We have taken care of his house in the past setting fires to make sure the pipes don't freeze. Well he hadn't asked us this time but we knew that it was getting down to single digits a few nights, so we went over and started a fire a few nights. Now here's where it gets interesting. When he got home his neighbors told him that people had been breaking into his house while he was gone. He looked around and noticed that nothing was missing, but he decided to fill out a police report anyway. He was about half way through the report when he thought he should call us. I answered the phone and after a minute of discussion telling him that we couldn't reach his phone while he was in Ecuador and that it was us, all was well and he was very grateful to us for taking care of his house. We've now learned that next time we do something like that we will leave a note if we can't reach them. We are so grateful for the prompting he received to call us. 

Well that's it for this week.

Love,

Elder Warnick

Editorial notes:

This picture is the Kuna "boyz" of the New Mexico Farmington Mission with President Batt. They were at zone conference together on Jan. 6, 2015.

Elder Dallin Warnick, KHS '14 and Elder Tanner Patterson, KHS '13. 
Dallin was super excited to open his call. It was only a few minutes after opening it that he remembered that "T-Pat" is serving in this same mission. The news traveled fast and Elder Patterson's mom contacted Dallin and gave him Elder Patterson's e-mail address. They e-mailed back and forth several times before Dallin left. It was very helpful too. One thing Elder Patterson told him was to bring everything on the list clothing wise. He'd need it. It's already proven to be true!

Kuna Boyz with President Batt

 These two pictures are from October 2014. He just sent them today.
 

Elder Warnick and Elder Patterson

Happy New Year's!

Polacca, AZ

Jan. 5, 2015

It has been a good week here in Hopi! We have been working our tails off and now that December is over we are a lot more productive. December is the time for the dead and traditionally you shouldn't be outside and doing thing especially after dark. We have had a lot of good lessons this week. We started teaching Leroy's nephew. After Leroy's baptism, he came to us and told us that he felt a good feeling when Leroy was baptized and that he wants to be baptized. We have been working a lot with him this week. He and his girlfriend are preparing to get married so that they can both be baptized.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference and have be in Tuba City literally the whole day! It will be grueling. 

New Year's was interesting. We had to be in early because of the craziness that happens. So we had a little party in the church with ourselves. We watched church movies and ate nachos. It was fun and quiet. Then we went to sleep at 10:00. Missionary life is awesome! Well that's about all to report on this week. I'm sure that I'll think of something more during the week. Love you all.

Elder Warnick

 (this is a second e-mail sent later in the day)

Oh it's transfers not this Tuesday (tomorrow) but next week. I would appreciate no mail because I have a good possibility of leaving...

Last week we also tried to go to the buffalo dance (a traditional dance that is meant to bring snow) but it didn't work out. I literally drove through every single village on the Hopi Rez looking for it after we couldn't find where it was in the village that we were originally told that it was in, Kykotsmovi. It was a lot of driving around for nothing that night (but it was new years so that's okay).

The other investigators that we have been teaching are doing really good as well. We currently have 2 on date for baptism one on January 17 and one on February 7. They are both doing very well and will very likely make their dates., We are so excited to be teaching as many wonderful people as we are. And are so blessed to be in this area. We just finished cleaning our truck for inspections tomorrow and I do have to say it looks pretty good. We have had an awesome P-Day and I now wish you all a wonderful week.

Week 16 in Hopi / Ya'at'eeh Kesh-Mesh

December 29, 2014

Polacca, AZ

Ya'at'eeh Kesh-Mesh 

Merry Christmas

It has been a wonderful week here in Polacca. The snow has come and gone everyday this week and it is still very cold here, at night it's sitting around 4 or 5 degrees. Christmas was wonderful, thanks for all of the thoughts and gifts, and it was even better because we didn't focus on ourselves but upon others. We spent the day going about trying to talk to people about "He Is The Gift" and gave people we know pictures of Christ as a gift. The best part of my day was when we went to visit a sister whose sons are all with their dad for the Holiday break. As soon as we walked in you see she just needed a visit. We talked to her for a minute and then gave her a couple of different pictures of Christ (because she's awesome) and she began to cry.

Another awesome thing that happened this week was Leroy's baptism. I've been working with him my entire mission and it has been amazing to see his growth. The baptism was awesome but the even better part was to see the family together again. Leroy's son just turned 8 and wanted for his father to see him get baptized so they decided to have the baptism here in Polacca. This is what gave Leroy the motivation to go cold turkey on all of the addiction that he was battling. On Saturday they were both baptized and confirmed, Leroy by me and his son by Bro. Polacca.

Elder Tippetts, Leroy, Elder Warnick, and Leroy's son and daughter

We're teaching lots of lessons and have a lot of people who are wanting to grow closer to their Father in Heaven. We are both doing very well and I am growing each day. I was told my first week in the mission that this is a advanced level course on life. It is so true, not only have I learned so much about myself, but I have also learned so much about others. I can see what kind of thing works in peoples lives and what doesn't. It's kind of funny as a missionary everyone who doesn't slam the door in your face (there are plenty of them) opens up to you and spills their life story to you. I've heard and learned lots out here. Hopefully I'll be able to apply that in real life.

Well that's it for this week. Happy New Year everyone.

Elder Warnick

(This was a reply to Melissa's email.)

Everyone,

Sounds like you all had a crazy Christmas. So many awesome gifts! I'm glad that you are all having a good break. I am also happy Luke likes my present so much. (He gave Luke an Origami Yoda book, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus,--which is Luke's favorite series right now.) I hope that you have all been having good dreams. (He gave all the boys dream catchers to hang above their beds.) You boys all looked so old I can't believe it! Well have a great week.

What A View

The Beginning of the Storm (also the new truck and the nicely insulated trailer)

Hopi Swag

P.S. to It's Almost Here!

December 22, 2014

This week was a bit slow because Friday through Sunday was Prayer Feather ceremonies. Everyone traditional or not was on the mesa involved in it (it's much more cultural than religious). They are an eagle feather that after prayers gives you protection, you put one in your house, in your car, some people even put them on their dogs. Well Anyways just a little insight.

It's Almost Here!

December 22, 2014

Polacca, AZ

 

Christmas that is. Christmas is just around the corner. As a missionary that doesn't mean it's much different than any other day except we get to Skype with our families and even less people will be around than usual (everyone is heading into Phoenix).

But what I'm even more excited about that is happening this week is on Saturday. Leroy, a guy I have been teaching my entire time out here, is getting baptized! He's gone through a lot of adversity and has turned his life around. We are so excited for him to be able to make those covenants with our Father and to see him finally reach the goal that he's been working toward for so long.

I went on exchanges this week and got to go to a Christmas program in Tuba City. It was awesome! It was beautiful to see people mixing their culture with Christmas. I heard a song that some kids danced to. It was a traditional song but it was Christmas oriented. "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Ho ho hooo, ho ho hooo, ehh-ya ehh-ya" and so forth it was so cool. There was another song as well this was the 12 days of Christmas Rez Style.

     1 sack of BlueBird flour

     2 mutton ribs

     3 pieces of ach'ee

     4 fry breads

     5 Kneel-down breads

     6 bags of Pinions

     7 cans of Spam

     8 ears of steam corn

     9 rez puppies

     10 text messages

     11 bowls of mush

     12 bales of hay

The Branch Christmas Dinner went off with out a hitch. There was a lot less people than for Thanksgiving but it was just as good. Lots of fellowshipping and a cute program by the kids. It was awesome.

Well I met my Grandpa this week... Elder Merrill who trained Elder Hooton and Elder Hooton trained me so he is my grandpa. He served in Polacca over 2 years ago and came back to visit. He was at sacrament meeting and very obviously a former missionary (how many other white men in their 20's come to church on the Rez?) Well we got to talking and figured out a connection. He's a cool guy and it was a neat experience, not very many missionaries get that opportunity.

Well everyone I wish you a merry Christmas. Have a wonderful week.

Love, Elder Warnick

Week 15 in Hopi

December 15, 2014

Polacca, AZ

Well everyone on Saturday I hit 4 months...

It has been a good week out here in Hopiland. We are making some great progress with those we are teaching and with those that we are not.  We should have a baptism coming up here at the end of this month. It has been incredible to see him turn from being a known drunk and trouble maker, to living a completely sober life. Now he doing so much better. I have seen his health and countenance change completely. 

This week we had an experience like no other. A member invited her friend over to a lesson with her son at her house. Then her friend came to church this week, and he was the first one there! He spoke to us after the meeting and very emotionally said that "the way you teach and speak is like you personally know God and Christ. You guys speak with power and the spirit, it is so comforting. I just want to know where I can start." We are teaching him tonight. He is such an awesome guy.

As we get closer to Christmas we are trying as hard as we can to serve others, doing anything and everything from chopping wood, setting mouse traps, and fixing leaky roofs. It actually snowed this week! If gave us a break from the fog that we have been constantly experiencing for over a week now. It had been raining for 2 days straight and finally on Saturday morning it turned into a very heavy snowfall. It was funny seeing all of the people going 20mph when they could have been going a lot faster, but I guess that's just because I'm from Idaho and know how to drive in snow. Well the snow only lasted for a few hours but it was here and awesome while it was. It stayed on the mountains in the distance and makes for some beautiful scenery. 

Now here is something strange, we've knocked into a ridiculous number of southerners this week. Elder Tippetts loves it and they do too. They love to talk about things and places back east that I have no idea about. However it is awesome because we've got a lot of people that we've met this week who we really hit it off with. We also got to have a great discussion with a Jehovah's Witness about our beliefs and about her's. We had a good in depth discussion and came out respecting both sides, we also have been invited back to talk a little more with her about what we believe. The best part is that there was a very minimal amount of bashing and a lot more of just talking.  

Well this week has been great I wish you all happy holidays.

Love, Elder Warnick