Basically Swimming

This week kinda flew by. Got a lot done and had a busy week. Oh, also I totally forgot to tell you guys, but last week I went to Catholic Mass and I was blessed by the Priest (if I remember right, his name was Father James). It was pretty cool getting to be a part of the service and we went with this crazy alcoholic dude that is also a Priest.

Crazy dog 

Oh man....this week was also had a CRAZY storm. Like super wild. At least for Utah. We got SOAKED. And it started to hail too and we were biking around for our appointments. Sadly, I didn't get that many videos or pics of it cuz I was nervous about my camera and phone in my bag getting wet and ruined. So I covered it up with my body haha. It was actually way fun cuz it's about as close as I will get to swimming on my mission (besides baptizing people). 

Storm bus 

Post Storm Selfie with the flooded peeps 

The sad news is that the storm caused some people's houses to flood. Two of the kids that we are teaching (who are getting baptized this week) and their house got flooded. So we spent some time helping them move stuff and move water out of their bedroom and dry out everything. 

The two kids and their sister who are getting baptized. 

This last Saturday was PIONEER DAY. Pioneer day is like WAY big in Utah (especially for members of the church), so there are some sweet parades and BBQs and stuff like that. Sadly, we weren't allowed to go to the big parade, but we did put on a small one for the locals. 

The Pioneer Day Parade

Also, this week was Zone Conference. We talked A LOT about Jesus Christ and WHY He is our Savior. It is an incredible blessing that we have the Atonement. And The Atonement is more than just Jesus Christ suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane...it was His death, His journey, His resurrection, and His persecution. My challenge to you is to study the Atonement this week.

A guy from one of the wards gave me a sick tie. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- 1 Corinthians 15

Song of the Week:

- Come, Come Ye Saints. Pioneer Day made me think of this song. It was shared at our Zone Conference. I am so grateful for the pioneers who came and settled here in Utah

Love,  

Elder Ditto 

Horse Tastes Good

What's good bruthren. North Salt Lake life is treating me well. I guess I didn't really talk about where I am now in my last letter. I'm serving in the Rose Park Zone and in the Pioneer Stake. The Pioneer Stake is one of the very first stakes and it's where Thomas S. Monson and Harold B. Lee came out of this Stake. Everyone here is pretty dang hyped about that. I've been told that quite a few times already haha. 

Snakes!!!

Noteworthy things:

Stormy Exchanges

Fresh Horse: I hate some FRESH HORSE. I went on exchanges with some Elders that serve in a Tongan area and the night before this family butchered a horse. Then they fed us horse and sweet potatoes. They told the other Elder in Tongan to tell me it was beef hahah. But he just told me it was horse and it was actually way good. A little crunchy with some bones...but good. 

Snoop Dogg: Met a lady who is good friends with SNOOP DOGG and WIZ KHALIFA. She's been on some tours with him and spent some time living on his tour bus. Pretty crazy. We are gonna baptize her kids in like 2 weeks. Pray for them 🏽

French MMA: We are teaching this French guy who does MMA and has been reading the Book of Mormon cuz his friend gave him a copy a little while ago. We met him while we does doing HIIT workouts outside his apartment 🥊

Top Golf

Mini Golf: There is a guy in our area who has his own mini golf course in his backyard. We were gonna play with him but then he said he doesn't like missionaries or the church... sad 

Stolen Bikes: Someone almost stole our bikes. But our Stake President saved them and scared the guy off 

Quote of the Week:

- "When can we talk about God? I wanna talk about God" - Hashi (age 9)

Scripture of the Week: 

- John 3:16 (The New Testament)

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Song of the Week:

- Rescue by Lauren Daigle

Bro Turner 

Love,  

Elder Ditto 

The Importance of the Holy Ghost & a Soft Heart

New area, new comp, new angry people. And man I am really sad I left my other area. I loved all the people over there in South Salt Lake. 

Here are the highlights of the week: 

"Bye" Elder Nogueira. Sk8 buddy 

- Said "bye" to all my buddies from my other area. Honestly, some of them were hard to repost. I really love all the families and individuals I met there.  Pictures are at the end of the post.

 No more bike pedal 

- I broke my bike pedal and then crashed my bike while holding a red bull, so the red hull got crushed  RIP

- Man man Justin Nemelka gave me a SICK Ditto Louis Vuitton sticker as a goodbye gift

Eternity's baptism 

- ETERNITY GOT BAPTIZED! I got to go and watch her baptism but sadly it was like right after I left the area, so I didn't get to baptize her, but I did get to support her and watch:)

Church with some kids we are teaching 

- We got a lot of our friends to come to church this week 

Snake

- We petted this NASTY GREASY dog the other day. Holy cow I think this dog hadn't had a bath in years. It was so nappy 🤯

- Met a guy who doesn't have a belief in anything. We were able to have a pretty good talk and he said he finds peace in being able to know he dies and that's the end. He said we can come back and tell him about the plan we believe in. I am so grateful to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us. 

 Native food 

Okay so now about my new area... so I am follow up training Elder Salaiau. He is from New Zealand but moved to Missouri 5 years ago. He came right out of high school and likes to sing, play some sports, video games, and he plays the piano a bit. He's a cool guy and wants to work which is good. He was called here to SLC originally and has been out for about 1.5 months. I really am white wash training tho cuz his old comp didn't really train him or introduce him to the bishops or ward mission leaders or anything. So I'm having to restart, which is hard Haha. 

 Jumping for joy 

Okay, also this week I had a pretty interesting experience that really opened my eyes to the importance of teaching with the Holy Ghost. I won't go into details cuz it will take too long but basically, now I know how important it is to teach with the Holy Ghost, but even more important is that the person on the receiving end needs to be open and willing to feel those good feelings that testify of truth. Because we can try as hard as we want and provide that good environment, but if the other person is not willing or ready to REALLY listen...then nothing will change that. 

I KNOW that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that it is only through his Atonement that we can have a 2nd chance and continue to try to become better. 

Cool guy from New Zealand that we met. He served in Elder Salaiau's old ward.

Scripture of the Week: 

- Joshua 1:9 Don't let what other people say, change how you feel about who you are. 

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the ^aLord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Song of the Week:

- "How Firm A Foundation" -  Such a good song and is totally how I feel about my life and testimony. 

Goodbye pictures with my Murry, UT friends-

Much Love,  

Elder Ditto 

Getting Told I'm Going To _______

Seven more days down! Lots of ups and downs from this week, haha. I hope you all had an amazing 4th of July. 

4th of July Tie 

This is honestly by far the lamest one of my life (hopefully ever haha). I literally only saw about four fireworks total  But at night these people were going wild with the fireworks right by our apartment, but I couldn't even see them. So I just got the annoying sounds without the cool explosions and colors, lol. Oh well. You win some you lose some. 

4th of July Parade 

This week started off with this lady that we started talking to, and she was honestly pretty nice. She was from Montana, so we connected well over that and I told her that I have family there. Then we started to talk about God and she said she uses to be a member of the church but then got offended by the bishop cuz he wouldn't give her a good food order one month. Now, cuz of that she hates Mormons. She then told us that we are going to hell. I was not bouts argue about that so I told her that I know that God loves her. Right when I said that she just got mad and like commanded us to go to hell. I have never been looked at in the eye and been told to go to hell. Pretty weird thing to do if you ask me 

Wishing Julius a happy birthday 

Other notable events:

- We helped this 95-year-old lady do some weeding. She wanted me to tell everyone we helped the oldest lady in the while stake. 

- Met a lady who was in the same mission and served around all the missionaries that are in the missionary show "The District"

- Got to see a 4th of July parade for a few minutes 

- No masks during church now!!!

- Me and Elder Moss (an Elder I went on exchanges with) were relationship counselors for like an hour lol. This guy we are teaching just complained about his roommate/girlfriend the whole lesson 

- Lots of exchanges with other missionaries. It's always fun to switch it up and serve with some new Elders 

Saying bye to Larry😔

SHOUTOUT TO DODI for doing my laundry for the last 12 weeks. He's this super nice guy from the Philippines. He has made my shirts the whitest they have ever been

Evening ride 

Also crazy story: I literally almost died while biking this week. This car pulled out of a pizza place and wasn't paying attention and I had to swerve out so I wouldn't smash into the car. I didn't really realize how far out the car was gonna go pull out so I ended up in the middle of this really busy road and luckily (definitely a blessing from Heavenly Father) I didn't get hit by any cars or anything. Then that car that almost hit me drove by and just waved at me like nothing happened lol. It wasn't really that scary at the moment but looking back, it coulda gotten real bad real fast. Thanks for the prayers 🏽🤩

Saying bye to Elder Chadwick😢

UPDATE: This transfer ends on Wednesday and I found out I am being transferred out and will be training a new missionary. I am excited and nervous, haha. I am also really sad to be leaving this area and all the great people I have met here. But I look forward to making new friends and being in a new place. I won't know where I am going until later, so I will update you all next week. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- Moroni 7:33 (The Book of Mormon)

33 And Christ hath said: ^aIf ye will have ^bfaith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is ^cexpedient in me.

Song of the Week:

- The Star-Spangled Banner

Much Love,  

Elder Ditto