November 14-28th, 2016....." It was the craziest experience I've ever had"

November 28, 2016


Cool experience.

Last week Wednesday we went and visited a super sick member by the name of Sister Deborah, she had cerebral malaria. Super deadly. The malaria had actually attacked the part of her brain where speech is concerned. So we could only communicate through yes or no questions. At the end of our discussion we asked if she wanted a blessing. She nodded. So we proceded to give a blessing. Then we left and never heard anything til yesterday. We net her small daughter and two older daughters at church (all nonmembers) they told us that the following day after we have her a bless g she woke up able to speak. Her voice came back!! She had no medicine or anything. It was the craziest experience I've ever had

Elder Scatena

November 7, 2016

So we had a baptism this week!!! I had to do the baptizing again. She chose me. The work is on fire here. We hope to have 4 baptisms by the middle of December. Which, in case you didn't know, Is a good think. We walk alot here though hahaha. Miles and miles every day. I'm so used to walking that I honestly don't even feel it anymore hahaha. We normally work with Ackim. Since he is a returned missionary he is a very good teacher. Plus he's a super hard worker so he doesn't mind working with us hahaha. On average we teach about 3-4 investigator lessons a day. We also teach about 2-3 less actives a day. As well as 1-2 member visits a day. On a good day we can have like 10-11 lessons a day. But as of late we have been bumping up or investigator lessons cause we want to baptize more converts. Soon we want to go to the dam again. Probably next week Monday. We've earned a chill day hahaha. Our zone here is on fire too. In the month of November, every companionship baptized. Which is super crazy cause this zone used to struggle. Especially my area, it used to be nicknamed "the atonement" cause you'd come and suffer here. But we've flipped it around and made it nice. Hahaha. The work is tough but it is made easier cause the product I'm selling is the best hahaha.

I hope that's long enough hahaha.

Elder Scatena

October 10, 2016..."The power of studying is beyond me"

One "long email" coming right up.

So this week was one of the more interesting ones. We had many lessons and by many I mean MANY! We had the privilege of meeting alot of new people and inspire them. We also had companionship exchanges with the elders in Kawama.i was with the kid Elder Thomas he's pretty new he is in his last week of training this week. But we were able to teach many. 

One specific experience that was pretty cool is the enlightenment that I had while talking to a man on a bus. I can't remember the man's name but he was a member of the church that follows the man William Burnham. A man who says he photographed god lol. But the enlightenment I received was how valuable studying is. This man immediately, without provocation, started to attack the means of baptizing in the name of the father, the son, and holy spirit. Luckily that same week I had studied that, I was able to defend by pointing out that they were indeed the separate individuals. That sparked the argument cause their beliefs are in the Trinity. So I brought the facts to him by bringing up the fact that Stephen saw god and jesus. And that since Christ wasnt a ventriloquist at his baptism a separate individual had to have been speaking. Then lastly I asked him who was Christ praying to in Gethsemane if they were one. The man, now in a dazed stupor, had no rebuttal. Mind the fact that this was all on a public bus and alot of people were listening to me preach at this man. He was super embarrassed cause I'm just a young man and he is an experienced old man, that and people were laughing at him hahaha. The power of studying is beyond me. Hahahaha.

Elder Scatena

July 25, 2016......"Elders, I sense something different about you, I like you two"

Hello!

It has been a long week. we have had referrals pouring out of the heavens. we have picked up teaching two older gentlemen this week. brother Mushamba and brother Thembo. bother really good guys and really interested in the church. we also met with some of our recent converts. one of which has 2 more children that we are starting to teach which are both on track to be baptized. we have been walking sooo much and working super hard to try and find more people to teach and it's working quite well. later this week, a young man in the ward has like 4 friends that he wants us to come teach so there are some more people and the branch president's wife has a referral as well. so the area is good. as for now me and Elder Essliflie are the only two missionaries in the entire Kitwe. so this whole city is our area. we have a pretty big area. lol. but everything is good. thanks so much for the stuff in the package. i killed the ramen in like 2 days. loll. but there weren't any glasses or belts. just your scriptures, candy, trousers, my card, seasoning, ramen, and drink flavorings. 

Hello!

so I got my new comp he's pretty chill and we're busting out work. We have one kid set on date for the 7th of August and we hope to put 2 ladies on date for the middle/end of August so we are working hard. The new mission pres is cool. I've only talked to him once so that's about it. we have a lot planned for our area over the next two months. hopefully all goes accordingly. this week was weird. i had a moment of some sort in a lesson with a difficult old man. he started arguing with us and then rather than argue back (which i promise was my first instinct) I sat back and chilled. In the end of the lesson I was able to mention to him that we encourage questions and he was so blown away and impressed cause he realized that we didn't argue with him (he had met some Jehovah's witnesses earlier the day before) and he said "elders, i sense something different about you. i like you two." it was not just  good experience but a learnt lesson for me. sometimes (i really mean sometimes) arguing isn't the answer. 

June, 2016....."We had referrals pouring out of the heavens"

Hey what’s up!

I’m on now. it has been a long week. We have had referrals pouring out of the heavens. We have picked up teaching two older gentlemen this week. Brother mushamba and brother thembo. Both are really good guys and really interested in the church. We also met with some of our recent converts. One of which has 2 more children that we are starting to teach which are both on track to be baptized. We have been walking sooo much and working super hard to try and find more people to teach and it's working quite well. Later this week, a young man in the ward has like 4 friends that he wants us to come teach so there are some more people and the branch president's wife has a referral as well. So the area is good. As for now me and elder essliflie are the only two missionaries in the entire kitwe. So this whole city is our area. We have a pretty big area. lol. But everything is good. Thanks so much for the stuff in the package. I killed the ramen in like 2 days. lol. But there weren't any glasses or belts. Just your scriptures, candy, trousers, my card, seasoning, ramen, and drink flavorings. 

Elder Scatena

May 30, 2016.....Pics from Zambia!

April 11, 2016.....Well, if I didn't email you, who else in Africa would?"

well if i didn't email you who else in Africa would? hahahaha this week
was a long one. I got the flu (cause its flu season and I'm a disease
magnet. so I ended up having to waste tons of time and money on rest
and medicine. We got out at the end of the week to go see some people.
We are teaching one kid who is super ready. his name is kondwani. we
have taught him all of the restoration and about 2/3  of the plan of
salvation. He is super spiritually directed and this week we want to
try and visit him thrice so we can blast out the rest of the plan of
salvation and gospel of Jesus Christ. whatever tho. just working
hahahaha will you send me some recipes? I can buy whatever i need to i
am about to become sick of instant noodles cause  I've eaten them for dinner
every single night for the past month and a half. I just want some
different food hahahaha. well transfers are next week.. actually they
are on Saturday so one of us is probably being transferred so pray for
me. other news. our branch is sorta falling apart. The branch
president last week announced that when you are at the pulpit and are
giving a talk there is not allowed to be a translator anymore so if
you give a talk in English it just gonna be in English if its in
chichewa its just gonna be in chichewa. so our entire branch is
throwing a fit and just about on the verge of apostasy cause they (the
people) suggested that the article of faith that says that men may
worship how when and what they may means that we can change the rules
to translate the sacrament meeting. almost all of the women of the
branch didn't come to church cause almost none of them can speak
English... so yeah we had a massive debate about it in branch council
meeting in which me an my companion gave a dump truck load of fire to
anyone saying that they should just do what they want hahahaha. but I
just pray that it gets sorted out.

Elder Scatena

March 28, 2016......"They're aiming to make this area a stake in about 2 years"

Hello Everyone!

so this week was super good, but kinda boring. we had zone conference and then district conference. they are aiming to make this area a stake in about 2 years... so after im home. hahaha. me and my companion had a lot of success this week. we met a lot of people and got to teach a lot. we should be baptizing like 3 people on the 24 of this next month. transfers are either at the end of this week or the end of next. im pretty sure that me and my comp are gonna be split cause we've been together for almost 18 weeks now.  dk im not too excited. I dont like transfers. they give me stress. yeah tho a companionship, it is like marriage. except its like a marriage in which your wrists are shackled together. cause you have to be together 24/7 lol. i just miss lying down in my room and binge watching random tv series on Netflix hahahaha 

.  We taught a man about the restoration this week and he was begging us to be baptized at the end. so that was cool. idk nothing much is new. im reaching 7 months in like 4 or 5 days so that kinda weird. idk when that happened but it did hahaha. in two months after that ill be at 9 months and i swear just yesterday it was Ammon reaching his 9 month mark. idk whats going on. and where the time is going but it sure isn't sticking around hahaha.

Elder Scatena

March 21, 2016........"ndimakukonda kwambiri!!

ndimakukonda kwambiri!! 
the weird language i sent means i love you very much. well i had to
buy another belt cause one of them broke a few months ago and the
other just broke 3 days ago. i had to get a new back cause the
backpack was stolen off out drying line and the other one that you
bought was being mended cause it got ripped in a mini bus. since the
exchange rate is going up all the prices are too. so it almost costs 2
times what it did to buy groceries when i just got here. this week
just wasnt a good week for living. but for teaching it was insanely
good. we have like 4 new investigators (serious ones) we could baptize
like 6 people in the course of 1 month if everyone is willing to do it
hahahaaha
they have many types
of junk food, alot of potato "chips" we call them crisps. there are
guys here who cook "fries" on every corner but we call them chips.
they do have peanut butter, but jelly is super expensive. cheese as
well. i cant tell you when the last time i had real cheese was. it has
been hot with a side of hurricane weather hhahaha. just about every
other day we get blaster with theses massive rain storms. transfers
are in 3 weeks.

Elder Scatena

Feb 29-March 7....."I got food poisoning"

Hello,

March 7-Nope no package yet! church was good. kinda sucked b/c fast Sunday and

i love food. but it was ok. its hot here and kinda rainy hahaha.
nothing interesting happened this week. i got food poisoning then the
sister car broke on Saturday so we had to tow it (we hooked it up to
the zone leaders truck and i drove behind them steering the broken
truck.) and that took all day. so we have done very little this week.
transfers are in like 4-5 weeks. i know im gonna stay in Malawi. but i
might go to Blantyre.

Feb 29--the week was good! we taught a lot of people be have 2 guys near
baptism so that's good! one guy got baptized yesterday ill have to
write more later... here is a pic of the baptism!

February 22, ..."Leave it to me to find a Mexican food restaurant in Malawi"

Hello Everyone!

well glad we cut right to the chase with the first question hahaha. ummm i
was hopping off a mini bus, and my wallet fell out either in the actual bus or
at a stop. i was about half way on our long walk home from the bus
stop when i realized it was gone. We are teaching alot of people,
mostly recent converts and less actives but we have 2 guys and 1 lady
progressing towards baptism so thats good. their names are joel,
twister and im not sure how the ladys name is spelt hahaha. well we
showed up at the guy twisters' house and we taught him a lesson.
before this lesson (we have been teaching him for weeks)  he wasnt
being serious bout coming to church but now he is cause we had a
really nice lesson then gave him a lil bit of fire. something funny?
well we had correlation mtg on Saturday and in the meeting it was
just the 1st and 2nd counselors. we were bringing up a lady named sister
gondway, so the 1st counselor turns to the 2nd and in all seriousness
he goes "who is sister gondway?" the 2nd responds "oh! its the husband
to brother gondway" and the 1st says "oh, yeah!" me and my comp just
looked at each other and started laughing sooo hard!! hahaha favorite
food? well there isnt much of a selection like we eat beans and rice
everyday. but on Monday, believe it or not i found an actual Mexican
food restaurant! hahaha leave it to me to find a mexican restaurant in
malawi! hahaha

Elder Scatena

February 15, 2016...."Snake Bite....Spiritual experience"

Hello 

my companion is still Elder Etiang he is from Uganda. I'm still in
Kalambo North which consists of all of are 25 in Lilongwe, Malawi. the
weather is really shifty like some days its hotter than hell itself
then others its cold and rainy. The branch is progressing right along,
i compare our work here with helping a baby walk hahahaha first they
could hardly stand by themselves but now, through equal efforts from
the branch and us, they are taking a few steps with little assistance.
The members are doing good everyone knows their assignments and are
magnifying their callings. We are teaching tons of people but we have
one investigator who will be baptized in 2 weeks his name is Joel. Im
feeling good. I no longer feel the pains of waling i just feel as if
im floating now cause we walk so much hahahah. what do i love about
being a missionary in Malawi? well i like most of the people, i say
most cause sometimes when you walk past a bar of drunkards they are
racist and rude hahahaha. but for the most part the people are cool. i
only got one "spiritual experience". on Wednesday night my companion
walked out side to put units on our power box and then he came running
back in and was kinda shouting like "Oh fetch, oh fetch" i was just
like "Hey! what the fetch are you yelling for?!" (cause i was kinda
dozing off) then he was like "i just got bit by a snake!" then i was
up. having seen Man vs. Wild i tie a rope around his leg just above
his ankle. (i say rope but it was actually a tie, i mean what
missionary has rope just lying around? now ties, i have a plethora) so
we call the zone leaders and the haul donkey to our flat and pick us
up. on the way to the hospital we give him a blessing in the back seat
of the truck. his foot was all swollen. by the time we got to the
hospital his foot was back to normal and he seemed to be just fine.
the doctors had no anti-venom so they just gave him a shot of pain
medicine. then called it a night. (did i say that is was about 10:30
pm while this was going on?) he was sick the next 2 days cause his
body was fighting the venom but he survived! hahahaha

Elder Scatena

January 11th and 18th ......"I'm just working hard to help people come to the TRUTH!"

life is good here! I'm just working hard to help people come to the
TRUTH!! hahaha I actually had the flu this week, it hit me like a sack
of bricks. we went to the area the first day of me having the flu
(that was the most challenging thing I've had to do yet hahaha) then
the second day it was worse so I went to the area half a day then the
third day we went the whole day but I'm feeling a little bit better
now! I'm so busy I don't even have enough time to be sick! hahha we have
2 guys prepping to be baptized in 6 days, the passed interviews so
that's good! both are really willing to serve missions and they love
going out and teaching with us! we have a few more investigators but
none that are super serious, we just met a guy yesterday that seems to
be a rally promising guy! God is great, ginger beer is good, and
people are crazy! lol

I've been studying a lot about the Sabbath Day because there are a lot
of sda (seventh day Adventist ) people here and when I used my normal

 reasoning to explain why  its on Sunday to a dude he called our church a creed and told me I was going to hell if I didn't change so I figured I had better do some more study hahaha.  My favorite topic has been learning from the New
 Testament and also Proverbs from the OT, I love Proverbs. hahaha like,
read Proverbs chapter 15:1. Words I try to live by that and 18:7.

We had 2 baptisms on Sunday and ya boy baptized them hahaha it was
awesome and they are two really solid dudes! my week was super crazy!
rain season has started again, last week it didn't rain very hard but
this week!!!! it was crazy!!! we actually have a few New
Investigators that we set dates with, Joel is on track for Feb 21st

 and another is kate for the 14th of Feb!! super awesome!

I have a story for ya bout kate!
yesterday (Saturday) while we were waiting for a bus I saw a lady on the other
side of the road and I felt like I should go talk to her but I decided
not to cause I needed to wait for a bus, god had other plans. it
started pouring harder than it has ever and she had to seek protection
in the shack... right next to me, I couldn't help but just look down
and laugh when she greeted me and started asking questions bout the
church!! hahaha it helps to know God is looking out for me, even when
 I'm stubborn!

Elder Scatena

December 28, 2015...."This is the height of all the doors here"

Hello Everyone!

Church was soooo good. we are having issues right now cause the
Priesthood leaders are unable to perform their priesthood duties so we
have to try and teach them everything. There are  80 people in our Branch and we have a  branch mission leader.  My companion is 23 years old and has been out on the mission for 17 months.  We are teaching quite a few people.  We try to visit these people a lot and we should have anywhere from 5-10 baptisms in January.
Here is a pic of me standing in the door.  This is the height of all the doors here and a pic of me and my companions.

Elder Scatena