Joseph Zaturka

A SPIRITUAL MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE

Written 9-23-05

Frank B. Yazzie, Jr., a Native American Navajo and the foster son of Robert and Donna Putnam, served as a missionary from August 1979 to August 1981 in the Connecticut Hartford Mission. When serving in Massachusetts, Frank and his companions had the opportunity to teach a man by the name of Joseph Zaturka, who was born in Russia and emigrated with his family to the United States when he was very young. Joseph’s grandfather, father, and uncles were very much interested in religion, and that topic was discussed often in their homes.

Joseph shared his conversion experience in a tape recording that is in Frank’s possession.

From the time he was a child, Joseph searched for what he felt was the true religion, as spoken of in the Bible. When he was about sixteen or seventeen, he had recurring dreams in which personages all dressed in white would tell Joseph about religion and life. Yet upon awakening, he could never remember their words, even though he knew what they said was true. Each time he would become heartbroken and depressed, feeling that if he could only remember what the personages told him, his life would be fulfilled.

When Joseph moved to Mexico in the late 1950s for his business, he visited the Yucatan Peninsula to try to discover the truth. A group of Mayans he met there had a picture of a large man with a beard carved in stone. When Joseph asked who the man was, the Mayans said he was God.

One night in approximately 1973, Joseph had a very vivid dream in which he saw a figure who appeared to be a very old Native American dressed in beautiful, fringed, white buckskin, and a full ceremonial headdress. He told Joseph that when he awoke this time he would remember what he’d been told. The personage reassured him not to worry about finding a religion; he would send one of his own people to teach Joseph. When he awakened, Joseph wrote down what he’d been told, some of which was about a group of people on the American Continent who had divided into two different groups, one bad and one good. In the following years, he investigated various religions, and visited Indian tribes in North and South America, seeking for someone who could teach him the things from his dream.

After Elder Yazzie and his companion taught Joseph Zaturka three missionary lessons, he said everything they taught made sense to him; it was what his father and grandfather had discussed concerning what religion should be. During this time, Joseph had been under the impression that Frank was of Asian descent, and that his last name was Yat Zee. It wasn’t until he asked Frank’s companion what nationality or ethnic group Frank came from that Joseph learned he was indeed Navajo, a Native American. He then said he had something important he needed to tell them. For a couple of weeks Joseph continued to say he had to discuss with them something that was very important.

It was then that Joseph Zaturka shared his dream with Elder Yazzie and his companion, and a few weeks later entered the waters of baptism.