Farmington Again...

February 29, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

It has been a wonderful week here in Ft. Defiance. We switched our trucks for the 3rd time in the month of February. Today we are heading to Farmington for our MLC, but we have to go the long way. One of the Districts in our zone is completely out of Books of Mormon so we have to make an hour and a half to two hour detour through Many Farms, but I guess I can't complain about hard work.

Things have been great for the Elders here in the Zone. The work in Ft. Defiance is going great as well! We were able to get in with some new people this week, one man we have been trying to see for a while and he really is ready for the gospel but is struggling, in a fight between the spirit and his "rational" side. We also met an amazing family, they were a referral from a lady who didn't know if they were ready for the gospel. They were very inviting and it seemed they really wanted us to come back. It is hard to stay on top of our area we start focusing on some people and then realize that we have been completely neglecting others. We are going to try to get bikes for our area, it is just the right size for such, since when we walk things are just a little too far apart to be really productive. Well time is up have a great week y'all.

Elder Warnick

Sick

February 22, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

Well not much of a week here. There were things that happened but nothing out of the ordinary. Elder Inman was sick on Saturday so Elder Van Meter and I took turns babysitting him and working with Elder Szendre. The Email server in Salt Lake went our last week so don't know if you got my email or not. 

Well an update on some of the people we are teaching... we didn't really get in with them. We saw David "the Blind Guy" and he is doing great. We are trying to get him a ride to church. The ward here is really close to getting split, we are still waiting for the new Bishop's name to get approved. However the ward is working on it already. They are getting all of the home and visiting teaching split so they will already be taken care of when the wards are split. There is not much more so say, have a great week!

Snake

February 15, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

Once again it was a good week in Ft. Defiance. We have been blowing through our miles and are much past where we should be. We are at 1,300 and we only have 400 for the rest of the month. Whoops. 

We are working a lot with the garden program now and are trying to find all of the who were once on placement. If you've read past letters from me you know that this is a lot. Here in the Window Rock Ward we have about 150 people come a week, but we have about 10x's the amount on the rolls... The ward is just around the corner from splitting, the name for the new bishop is submitted and we are just waiting on that, it will be interesting to cover 2 wards again. The other missionaries in the ward are going to have it easy just covering 2 wards but we will get both. 

Here in an update on some of the people that we are teaching. Sam, he is still on date to be baptized in the beginning of April. He is very excited, inviting former missionaries to the baptism, and looking for a good place up in the mountains to do it. Dennis, still hasn't come to church but we have re-set his baptismal date for a couple of weeks later and are praying that he will come back. The Begay family was busy this week and when we went over for our lesson and they were gone, so we didn't get to see them. Saturday we went wood hauling, it felt so good to do some hard work. 

So in Navajo culture snakes are bad news, you don't do anything with them whatsoever, well in Gospel Principles I told the analogy of the young Native boy who climbed the mountain and found a rattle snake up top, was tricked into taking the rattle snake down with him then the snake bit him... well, when I finished relating this story and the moral, one of the ladies in the back said to one of the Sister missionaries who was sitting next to her "boy, now that's a white boy story." Once I hear that I laughed. We also know a guy this by the last name of Snake. He is from a  tribe in Minnesota, and he said that his wife's family was not happy with her choice to marry a Snake.

Thanks for all of the prayers, have a great week.

Wow!

February 8, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

 

Let's try that again. It has been an awesome week in Ft. Defiance. There was a lot of administrative work to do this week. It was very cold here as well. Well the time is short and the internet is slow today so I will make this pretty concise. 

 

I am very excited for the coming week because it is supposed to be pretty warm in the 50 and 60's. We started teaching a great family here, the Begays. They are a Part Member Family. We had been teaching the husband who is a LA Member and he was sharing it all with his kids and wife who we could never catch at home. Well we were finally able to begin teaching them. They are so wonderful, they were also full of wonderful questions like: tell me about priesthood authority; will you teach me about faith; how does Jesus make us feel good; and I want to start fasting can you teach me about that? 

 

This family, the Begays, already have an eternal perspective and have a goal of getting sealed in the temple, I know that we have been blessed to find this family. I am very excited to start to teach them this week more often. Well I have got to go. Have a great week. 

Another Great Week

February 1, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

Well things have been going pretty good this week overall, we had an interesting day this week. It all started when we took David "The Blind Guy" out to a lesson with us. That was fun, he kept getting in the car backwards, and walking all the wrong places, but we made it work. Then we went to give a blessing at the hospital (which we did everyday but 2 this week) it was a unique experience. We went and checked in, as we went into the hospital room a nurse ran over and stopped us. She told us that we had to suit up. We put on gowns, gloves and masks. The little girl was terrified of us when we walked in, but we gave her a blessing and she did improve. Then we did quite a bit of service chopping wood and helping others move. Later that night we got the prompting to go and try to visit someone as we drove over there we found them in their Chevy Impala, trying to get up a very icy and very muddy hill. We got out and then worked our tails off to get them up the hill, we ended up very tired, very muddy, and with a return appointment. The priesthood is truly amazing, especially with the power it has comfort and to heal, I am grateful to bear that sacred mantle.

Wow

January 25, 2016

Ft. Defiance, AZ

What a good week. I spent the week recovering from my strange sickness that I have had but I am good now. We had a miracle week, not a single thing could have been better. Now this is going to sound strange but I owe it to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We spent the first 4 days of our week listening to nothing but MOTAB and they were great, then we switched to EFY music and that .5 day, day, and .5 day were very slow. After a discussion on what was different we switched back to MOTAB, lo and behold our success was back.

We had a great experience this week where we contacted a guy while tracting who wanted us to come back. When we did a 40 year old woman answered the door a couple of things happened. She acted very surprised that we made it past her dog. She then told us to leave, to never come back and to especially never bother her daughter again. We were shocked. She told us that some past Elders had taught her family and then accused them of practicing witchcraft. At this point I became infuriated at these missionaries. We wished her well and started to leave, then the spirit started to work on her. She called us back and apologized to us! She invited us in where she told us about her troubles and trials and talked to us about forgiveness. At the end of all this she told us to come back and to teach her daughter if that is really what her daughter wanted to learn about (funny part is we didn't even know her daughter).

Well that's if for the week.

Fun Questions to Answer

January 25, 2016

Ft. Defiance

 

Questions E-mailed by Melissa to Elder Warnick with his answers.

On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 11:29 PM Melissa Warnick wrote:

Dear Elder Warnick,

As I've gone over you last few letters and put them on the blog I've thought of a few questions.

1) What is your companion's name? I know you told us on Christmas, but I forgot.  Send us a picture you two together. :)

1.My companion is Elder Van Meter. He is from Barryville, Virginia (the Shenandoah Valley). I don't have my camera today but will do it next week.

 

2) Are you in a trailer again? Are there four of you in the trailer together?

2.Yes we are in a trailer, there are very few places in this mission that I wouldn't be. It is just like the one that I lived in in Bluff. We do all live in the same place, it can be quite the mad house but having 4 elders really encourages us to keep it as clean as we can.

3) Are the sister's in a trailer close to you guys? Because you said you put the stewed candy on their porch.  How did they like that candy?

3.Yes the sisters trailer is very close, which is the only place in our mission that this happens. We have to be very careful about the things that we do and say to the them because of this unique situation, because anything that could be taken the wrong way is not stood for at all in this mission, and especially in this situation. There are a lot of missions where the Elders and the Sisters can hang out (in large groups of course) but our mission we are barely allowed to associate with them at all. They didn't exactly enjoy the candy...

4) Are transfers this week?

4.Yes transfers are this week but my situation is staying the same.

5) Is your transfer schedule going to be adjusted because the MTC has lengthen training again?

5. I didn't even know that the MTC was changing, How long do they have to go now? I do not think that it will change, there are 6 week transfer cycles around the world so I think it will stay the same.

6)  I really, really love the picture of you in all your beautiful turquoise. Have you bought most of it or have people given some to you?

6. Not all of the turquoise was mine, but yes it has all been gifts to me from people.

7) What about the feather?

7. It is just a turkey feather. Infact it usually hangs from the mirror in the truck like a Hopi Prayer Feather, but i need to re-attach it.

I love you!
Mom and Dad