Costco Baptism?!

This was a fast week!! Here are the highlights for it! If you want more details then you can email me (tyler.ditto@missionary.org) and maybe I can explain more:

Dope cars

- We almost got caught up in this like little gang trying to jump someone we used to teach 

- one of our friends gave us her pack of cigarettes!!! She wants to quit, so I made her a spiritual pack or cigs haha

Spiritual cigarettes

- One of our friends set a baptismal date for this month!! Dude, he is seriously so ready. And he does WWE which is rad 

- We had a dope lesson with this kid we are teaching and his friend who wants to be a missionary helped out 

We got these sick old Book of Mormons on exchanges. 

- went to Costco for lunch and this guy walked up to us and asked what tithing is and if you have to pay it to be baptized. Then he walked away and came back asking how soon he can be baptized CRAZY! Sadly he lives outside of our area so we sent him over to the local missionaries. Hopefully, they don't drop the ball haha

- met this congo lady who I shared a scripture with and the whole time her little baby was like trying to nurse 

- said "bye" to Elder Anderson 

Bye Elder Anderson!

- There is a rumor that six different people I was teaching with Elder Salaiau in my other area might move to my new area! 

- I sprained my finger 

Light painting during a storm

- I saw Elder Holland and Elder Oaks in the Area book

- Someone's phone went off playing the Star Wars theme song during the sacrament meeting prayer 

If you want to ask me and Elder Wright any questions about ANYTHING, you can send me an email and we will make a vlog with a Q&A type thing   tyler.ditto@missionary.org

Sunset!!

Quote of the Week:

"Maintaining the change takes effort" just like a heart transplant 

Scripture of the Week: 

- 1 Nephi 16:29 (The Book of Mormon). I LOVE the ending of this scripture, where it says that it is the small things that allow us to accomplish the great things in life!! What a killer blessing 

29 And there was also written upon them a new writing, which was plain to be read, which did give us ^aunderstandingconcerning the ways of the Lord; and it was written and changed from time to time, according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus we see that by ^bsmall means the Lord can bring about great things.

Song of the Week:

- I Hope by Gabby Barrett. Having the hope and faith that things will get better is so important. I challenge you to have more hope.

L O V E , 

Elder Ditto 

Back at it again

Hey Hey Hey! This last week was transfers week, so I got a new-ish companion! Now I am companions with Elder Wright AGAIN! 

Elder Wright and myself back at it again!

We were companions a few months ago when I served in the Granite Park Stake. It has been way fun being back together. So now I serve in the South Salt Lake Stake, and I am a Zone Leader with Elder Wright in the Salt Lake Zone. I have yet to serve in that zone officially, so I am excited I get to be here. 

Nothing really crazy has happened this week but I will leave you with some notable events...

- We got LOTS of rainstorms and lightning and thunder. That was way fun. And tbh I miss the rain when being in my biking area. Now I am in a car area and it's not quite as fun haha.

- Had to say bye to all my new friends in the Pioneer Stake. I was able to take some pics with a few of them

Lots of goodbyes!

Gonna miss Elder Salaiau 

- Meeting lots of new people again (hence the new area)

- Going on lots of exchanges (when you switch companions for a lil bit)

- During church, there was this guy who was FEASTING (not upon the words of Christ...like literally with food lol) right in the middle of church. He even pulled out a can of soda and opened it during class hahaha. It was hilarious 

- Being very very busy 

One thing that was way lame was I was only able to serve in the Pioneer Stake for 1 transfer (6 weeks), and sheesh that was not enough time. Made me sad to leave right when I got to know everyone. 

Goodbye Elder Moffett and Elder Aholelei 

More goodbyes

Scripture of the Week: 

- 3 Nephi 19:9 (The Book of Mormon). This scripture talks about how the 12 disciples prayed to have the Holy Ghost with them because it is what they desired. We need to have the Holy Ghost around all the time in order to effectively teach people. And that is something I really have been praying for and want to especially focus on the next lil while. If you have any suggestions or places where I could read or listen to any speeches about it, send them my way. 

9 And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the ^aHoly Ghost should be given unto them.

Song of the Week:

- The Climb by Miley Cyrus (My sister, Alysee, sung this in 2020 for her virtual high school graduation)

- Elder Ditto 

Loads of bad news

Sheesh I'm not gonna lie. 

Sunset at the park

This week was pretty lameee. We got out in quarantine cuz Elder Salaiau got sick. So we were inside for like half the week. And Thursday (Aug 12) was my ONE-year-old being a missionary mark, but I literally did nothing for it  I didn't even really get to do missionary work lol. Kinda lame tbh. 

Uncle Matt surprised me by dropping off donuts on my one-year mark!  That meant a lot!

So I will provide for you some Highlights and Lowlights of the week... 

Highlights:

- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD! Birch and Sara both had BDays this week, so that is exciting. Wish them a happy late birthday if you haven't yet

I got to talk to my mom on her birthday.

- Last week we set a goal to find a certain amount of new people to teach. On Sunday night, we were 1 person short to meet our goal. I had been praying all day to meet someone new who was ready to listen to us. Then it was like 8:57 (our curfew is 9pm), and we decided to knock on one last door. Then this really nice guy named Dave answered. At first, he was pretty closed off and apprehensive, but after talking for a bit, he allowed me to share a scripture with him. Anyways, long story short, we got to teach him and he really wanted to learn about our community and he said we could come back. Prayers are answered!

 

Elder Salaiau

- I have now been a missionary for ONE year. Whoop whoop. 

Lowlights:

- Haashi's foster program took him for a week due to the death of Kaison. We don't know for sure if will be back or not. He might get moved somewhere else, which would be really bad for him. Haashi was supposed to get baptized this last Saturday, but since he was gone, it couldn't happen:( 

Memorial for Kaison

- Elder Salaiau was sick... lots of sleeping 

Poor guy

- Quarantine SUCKSSSS

I had to come up with stuff to do while stuck at home for several days.  Lots of bracelets made to give away!

- COVID Tested (came back negative... YAY)

- Had to lead District Council online, and man that was terrible lol

Before Elder Salaiau got sick we road our bikes through the International Peace Garden.  It was beautiful!

Super sad news....

On Thursday, I found out some really sad news. I don't know if any of you remember but back when I was in the Japanese area, I met this really cool family, the Richards, and they totally treated me and the companions I had when we visited them like family. 

On Thursday I found out that Brother Richards passed away unexpectedly. He even fought back and miraculously his heartbeat came back at one point. He was put on life support and eventually they had to make the decision to take him off life support. Please please pray for their family. Even though I didn't get to spend a crazy amount of time with him, he seriously treated me like family. 

Cute kids!

Scripture of the Week: 

- Alma 31:38 (The Book of Mormon). I KNOW that we can find joy IN Christ and that it is because of Jesus Christ that our families can be together forever. This is something I KNOW. And honestly, I don't KNOW all that much. So it is what I really hold on to. 

38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of ^aafflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in ^bfaith.

Song of the Week:

- Child of God by The Bonner Family. 

心から、

ディット長老

God Calls Back One Of His Children

What a week with a roller coaster of emotions. 

I saw Elder Peterson and Elder Wright

I wanna start off with the sad news. At church yesterday after sacrament meeting, I went over to Haashi's foster family and asked why Haashi wasn't at church. They said he was here, but he was really sad. I turned around and saw that he has just been hiding between the pews and bowing his head. Then they went on to tell us that a little boy named Kaison died Saturday night in a fire incident. Kaison and Haashi (another boy that we are teaching) were hanging out and Kaison wanted to play with some fire, so they went to the back alley and he decided to spray some kerosene on the fire and then some got on Kaisons shirt and face. He got burnt really bad (over 90% of his body) and passed away a few hours later in the hospital. 

Pray for Kaison

Haashi was there the whole time during the fire incident and told us about some really hard things he had to see. Kaison is a 7-year-old kid that we had taught a few times whenever he would join in with our lessons with Haashi. One of the hardest parts was that a lot of the local families know Kaison and sometimes he was a pretty rebellious and wild boy. But even though he did some things that maybe weren't the best, I KNOW that he is living with God now and that he isn't in any pain. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the Plan of Salvation, and the hope that it gives to me. Please pray for Kaison and his family. Also for Haashi and his family and foster family. 

Here are some good things that happened this week:

Elder Salaiau is a sleepy boy 

- Got to play some pickleball 

- One of our APs walked in on me pooping at church and he didn't really look away that fast... kinda concerning if you ask me 

- Lots of smoke from fires; which reminds me about running XC back in high school lol

- Walked in on a meth house 

- We had youth conference this weekend and six people we are teaching came to it! It was super cool and they learned a lot and made lots of friends. 

Youth Conference

Some of the people we brought to Youth Conference

Okay I want to end saying how grateful I am for the temple. I got to go to the Jordan River Temple on Friday, and it was amazing. I hadn't gone since the first week of November last year. So it had been almost a full year and I went to the same temple that I did when I first came to my mission and got to go with dad and Alex. It was so awesome. I really was trying to focus on the feelings I got. I really just felt like God loves everyone and he gave us this BEAUTIFUL earth because He loves us and wants nothing but the best for us. We are here to experience joy. 

The temple and the squad 

 Cool sunrise before we went into the temple 

Scripture of the Week: 

- 2 Nephi 2:25 (The Book of Mormon). We are here to feel joy and we can all feel it!! I love this scripture!

25 ^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have ^djoy.

Song of the Week:

- Our Song by Taylor Swift. This song is wayyy good. Honestly, Taylor Swift has made so many hits. Gotta respect 

Video of the Week: 

- Reflections. This is a really cool video that my buddy Tanner posted. Please watch it!!! 

Love,  

Elder Ditto