Yugoslavia & Bruce Lee

To quote A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie: "I'm feeling marvelous." This week wasn't out of the ordinary in any way really. It was the last full week of the transfer, so stay tuned to what changes this next week. Pretty curious to see what happens. We know Elder Wright is leaving but I don't know who is coming in. 

Janet and me!

Someone we are teaching "stole" my phone and took s picture of me lol

Here are some of the things that happened this week:

- We met someone named Mustafa from Yugoslavia!! Throwback to the Green Guy! #bestmovieever 

- Had a killer exchange with Elder Heggie and Welch. Elder Welch is from the Seattle area, which is always fun to talk about. I miss Washington!

- We worked so hard this week with someone we are teaching who was supposed to get baptized on Saturday. Like daggum. But he said he feels like he needs to feel more conviction before he gets baptized. He is so ready and just needs to not just have one foot in. He's gotta just jump all in!!! 

- Saw our friend Jimmy and he was wearing a Bruce Lee shirt. He said his ex-girlfriend made it for him lol. He still loves it tho

Crazy car we saw in the church parking lot. This whole car got junked in a day. They literally stole everything from it. 

Elder Wright and me

Elder Wright hopped on the film camera train! 

If you want to send me a letter, here is my address (it's the same one it always is):  

Utah Salt Lake Mission

3487 S 1300 E

West Entrance

Salt Lake City, UT 84106

 I am learning how to embroider! 

Scripture of the Week: 

- I'm actually just gonna share a little spiritual thought. Someone at church gave a talk about prayer and why it is so important to pray for people we love and care about — especially when we are around them. I thought that was really cool, and I hadn't really ever thought of that. She was saying how many bad things and arguments it would eliminate. Cuz like imagine you praying that your brother will have a great day and will feel confident while trying out for basketball tomorrow. Then like an hour later (as a brother would), you guys start arguing about something dumb. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just move on and apologize if you had both just been a part of prayer on his behalf? Think about it. 

Song of the Week:

- Did You Think to Pray? 

Also, I made a vlog this week so if you wanna see it then send me an email and I'll probably send it.

Love,

- Elder Ditto 

UTAH IS READY!!!

YOO first off... DAVYN GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK! Holy cow it was such a crazy day. I will tell you more later...

I listened to this really good BYU Devotional from like a week ago. I loved how focused it was on love and Jesus Christ. We need to set an example for those around us and see everyone as children of God. Please give it a listen, whether you go to my church or any other church:
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/kevin-j-worthen/hearts-knit-together-in-love/

Kendama golf

This last week we saw a lot of examples of how important it is to have the Spirit with you. We would be talking to someone and they would pretty quick inform us that they are not interested, and then after we kept talking and would share a scripture or testify of God's love for them, etc. They would say that we can come back and talk to them about it more. That really got me thinking about how daggum important it is to have the Spirit with you all the time. The Holy Ghost is what teaches them. Not you. Not me. Not us. The Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ. 

Fridge Boys: We helped these 2 guys who are from Ethiopia that were trying to move this huge fridge by themselves into this new daycare center they just bought. They were very appreciative of our help and it was pretty funny figuring out the best way to fit the fridge through the door. It barely fit!

Took pics of a kid we are teaching skating 

All We Do Is Teach: The other day, while I was on an exchange with Elder Otutaha in our area, we had such a good day. All we did ALL day was teach people. We taught so many people and went from lesson to lesson. And in between lessons we were even able to fit in meeting new people and we got to teach them too. Teaching and talking about the gospel is by far one of the best parts of being a missionary. 

Davyn's Baptism: Okay so I got a call earlier this week from Elder Salaiau saying Davyn wants me to come baptize him this weekend. We got permission, and I was so hyped. He was supposed to be baptized at 3pm, but he was over 1.5 hours late!!!! Sheeeesh. 

Davyn's baptism!!!

It all happened and now he is baptized and has the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so good getting to be there and be a part of the special day. Very stressful and frustrating but it ended well. Because it went so long, we had to skip dinner and were late for a lesson.

Elder Wright and I helping at a family history event.

Salt Lake is SO Ready: Okay so we are teaching over 40 people right now... like woah. This is probably the most people I have had in a teaching pool. So wild. For all you people that say SLC or Utah is ALL "Mormons"... boom wrong haha. It's crazy how many people are ready to learn and want to learn. There are so many people who can be found. 

Speed Baptism: We are teaching this kid named Riley, and he has been going to church for a while but hadn't felt ready to be baptized. His dad is a recent convert to the church and is hopefully going to baptize him THIS Saturday! We invited him to be baptized this Saturday, and he didn't believe us haha. He thought we were joking. But he said he wanted to be baptized ASAP, so we said we could make that happen. Now he is hyped. 

Best Compliment: Someone we are teaching told us that we are really good missionaries and teachers. Seriously the best compliment I have ever gotten. 

Super sick picture that we helped Sister Laub hang up 

Side Notes: 

- Please pray for Solomon. He is supposed to get baptized this week but didn't come to church the last two weeks. It may be cuz someone at church embarrassed him in front of everyone (sooo lame and that story is for another time...). He has some big changes to still make but he is so ready. 

- I got to go on an exchange with Elder Moffett one last time 

Sleepy Elder Wright 

Scripture of the Week: 
- John 11:1-44. The story of Lazarus. I was actually reading this earlier this week and then last night someone was telling me about it again and it reminded me about the story. She was focusing on Mary and Martha and how Jesus took the time to weep with them

Song of the Week:
- Anything that my little sister Chloe sings 

Love,
- Elder Ditto

Hacky Sack and Connections

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a gnarly week and got to spend some time doing what you love. 

Brother Escabedo's brother! 

This week went by real fast. And I am glad I take notes of stuff that happens cuz if I didn't, I would have no idea what to write this week. Here are the highlights of the week: 

Hacky Sack League: We met a guy named Matthew, who really likes to play hacky sack. He is actually way good too. We met him at the Towers on Main (super sketchy place) and started to talk to him about God, what he believes in, etc. It is fun learning how to better incorporate God and Jesus Christ into ALL of my conversations.

Elder Townsend's MTC comp's dad

LGBTQ Flag: Late in the night, we had a few minutes left and we were not sure who to visit since it was so late. I was looking through Area Book and saw this person named Olivia. I felt like we should go visit her. So we walked over and once we got there, Elder Wright saw the flag and was like "dang it, everyone with these flags doesn't want to talk to us." We still knocked and then she ended up being pretty hyped to see us and said she wanted to ask us some questions. Anyways...blessings. People who you won't expect are ready to hear the gospel.

Al-Qaeda Gang: We met these guys last week who are in Al-Qaeda and they wanted a Book of Mormon and said we could come back. They canceled our last lesson but we are going again tonight. Maybe we can convert Al-Qaeda which would be rad. 

Fun guy we met at the blanket tying day.

Rude People Galore: We had lots of NOT cool people talk to/at us this week. I don't know why everyone can't just be nice to each other. It's not that hard! lol

Elder Wright and I after eating at an amazing dinner with members.

Satan is Real: One of the guys we are teaching got his stuff stolen the day he was supposed to pray about baptism. He said he still prayed but when we saw him that night (which we weren't supposed to, so that was a blessing) he was pretty distraught. He said he feels like everything is going wrong. Satan is trying to stop these Children of God get blessings. NOT COOL. Oh and we met a guy who yelled at us "666. HAIL Satan." I bet he thought he was so cool after that.

Elder Ezell

Day of Service: Got to help make blankets for children and families in need. It was dope seeing everyone come together from the community.

Blanket making 

Adrian's Referrals: This little kid who's like 10 years old, told us to visit like five people on his street because they have Jesus pictures in their house. It ended up leading to some fire lessons and Bible discussions. Now we are going back this week. Thanks, Adrian.

We also got to help some people move this week and I got to speak in two different church meetings. I spoke about climbing and how we need to trust in God like how we trust in climbing gear. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- Matthew 8 (The New Testament). I love the stories of Jesus Christ healing and performing miracles. There are still miracles happening all the time. We just gotta look for them.

Song of the Week:

- This is Where I Belong from the movie "Spirit."

Love,

- Elder Ditto 

The net will not break

Yuhhh welcome back to another email. It was a good week that went by really fast but also it feels like it took forever. I was looking back at pictures from exchanges on Tuesday and I thought that was like last transfer haha. 

Elder Wright and me with a tall crane

This week we had a killer zone conference. President Prier shared so many good things and I will share a few quotes from it in a second. But basically, we really focused on how we NEED to have the Savior in our boat and make sure to use The Book of Mormon because it WILL NOT BREAK. Referring to the disciples when they were fishing and the Savior told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat and then they caught 153 fish and the net DID NOT BREAK. The Book of Mormon is our net in gathering those fish and it will stand strong. Have trust in The Book of Mormon. I know it's God's word. 

Quotes from Zone Conference:

- "It's kinda like a celestial Easter Egg Hunt. It's fun! Go find those golden eggs!" - President Prier 

- "To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never done before" - Richard G. Scott

- "THE NET WILL NOT BREAK" - President Prier 

Other noteworthy parts of the week:

- You probably don't remember this... but back in the winter when I was in the Japanese area I met this man who LOVESSS shoveling snow. WELL... I met him again this week! He helped us with a lesson this week. Crazy

Downtown SLC exchange with Elder Bailey

- I slept talk again this week. I gave a baptismal interview in my sleep I guess 

- Our dinner hour got moved to 4pm-5pm and we have seen a LOT of blessings come from that! We got to teach SO many people this week because of it. Lots of new people to teach 

Rainbow

- Our friend Stan wants to baptize his son Stan Jr. But we just found out that his health is going downhill fast. So please keep him in your prayers, because he wants to baptize Stan Jr. 

- Met a guy named Trevor and man this guy was a Debbie Downer. He has like no faith and he wasn't willing to do anything to gain more faith or ask God if He is real. He really just wanted to argue. 

- Our WWE friend (who is getting baptized soon) bore his testimony in church on Sunday!!! It was so cool 

- Another guy we are teaching chose to fast on Sunday! Blessings 

- Our buddy from Iraq is gonna hook us up with a sick gold Muslim bracelet and a ring from Iraq. Their family is so nice

Our Muslim Iraq friends

CHALLENGE:

- I just started re-reading The Book of Mormon, and am highlighting all the references to Jesus Christ. I am going to finish by the beginning of December. If you want to join me (and our whole mission) with this challenge, PLEASE DO! I have already loved learning more about Jesus Christ through this and am impressed with the many references there are. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- Moses 7:62 (The Pearl of Great Price). The Book of Mormon is REAL and it REALLY is the word of God. It testifies of Jesus Christ.

62 And ^arighteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear ^btestimony of mine Only Begotten; his ^cresurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to ^dgather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called ^eZion, a ^fNew Jerusalem.

Song of the Week:

- Any Young Chap song. They are fire. So good. Shoot him out. 

https://soundcloud.com/nathan-ditto-663863845

Elder Garcia is going to his original assignment 

Elder Niechman is going to Mexico

Elder Moffett!!!

Love,

- Elder Ditto