The Sequence and Order of Life: Death Included

As A$AP Rocky would say..."Praise the Lord." Another good week in the books. But also some sad very news from this last week. 

We went to the Capital last week!

Last Monday night, we went by our friend's house to see how he was doing. He was supposed to get baptized that coming Saturday, so we wanted to make sure he was still doing well. He lives with his dad and recently his health had gone downhill pretty fast. He's only 64 year's old so he isn't even that old. Our friend, Stanley that was getting baptized is ten year's old. Anyways....we knocked on the door and didn't have a very good feeling because there was a bed in their living room and we thought we heard sirens that morning. Then his mom came out and told us that his dad past away that morning. So sad... man I loved Stan Sr. He was so funny and a really good guy. It was sad to see his health go from pretty good to really bad and then he got better for a while and then got even worse. 

Please pray for their family. 

This week in a nutshell:

- We started teaching two Jehovah Witnesses friends. Super interesting what they believe. I am really grateful for all the knowledge I have about my Heavenly Father and what my purpose is here. I am excited to learn more about that religion from the source, though.

We got an ottoman.

- After someone gave a talk in church, this guy started clapping  it really was a good talk though, so I didn't blame them Haha 

selfies

- remember when we helped get 21 of our friends to church a few weeks ago? Well we found out something cool the other day. We were told by the APs (assistants to the mission president) that we set a new mission record for most people at church. Pretty cool. I am putting this info in here cuz this is basically my journal. lol

Elder Cleverly was super tired and fell asleep during a lesson with Riley. hahah

- We got to go to a trunk-or-treat, and some members of the church brought their friends to the party. Then we got to talk to them and got to know them pretty good. Now we are going back again on Thursday. This shows that bringing your friends to activities and not being scared to be a "missionary" works! 

Trunk-or-treat party

At the Capital Building.

- There was a talk given by someone at church, where he were talking about Christlike attributes and how we can pray and ask to grow/gain that attribute, and we won't just get the attribute all of the sudden. But that we will be given experiences and trials that (if we go in with faith and have the desire to grow) will help us gain that attribute. 

We got to go to the Patagonia Outlet!!

Okay one more cool thing. Last week we were in a meeting with another friend who we hadn't gotten to meet with for like 1.5 or 2 months probably. He is Muslim and loves the Quran. And now he LOVES The Book of Mormon too. Last week we read Moroni Chapter 10 with him. We were blown away. And talking about how he gets such a good feeling when he reads The Book of Mormon and how it literally couldn't be a "normal book." SOO RAD. He was like "when I read the Quran, and when I read this Book...same feeling. Feel so happy and good..." Amen bruther. I love seeing other people love The Book of Mormon and learn from it. We literally couldn't get him to stop reading the book. We had to tell him we needed to pray and leave because we were going to miss our curfew. Pray that this love of The Book of Mormon can turn into action and increased faith. 

Seeing some old friends from my first area, while on exchanges. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (The Old Testament). This is CRAZY! First off... shoutout to Belle for being on the same page as a talk that was given yesterday. She was telling me about this scripture and important it is to go about life in the way and order that we are supposed to. Then in, someone brought up that dame scripture and taked about the blessings of following the order that God designed for us. There is order in everything :)))

1 To every thing there is a ^aseason, and a ^btime to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A ^atime to be born, and a time to ^bdie; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to ^alaugh; a time to ^bmourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to ^aget, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to ^arend, and a time to sew; a time to keep ^bsilence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to ^ahate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Song of the Week:

- Anchor by Mindy Gledhill. This song is SO GOOD. Shout out to Alexa for reminding me about it. And shoutout to mom for getting me on the Mindy train 

Love,

- Elder Ditto 

Baptizing and teaching in another language

What's goooood?! I really hope life is treating everyone well. This week was packed full of crazy things. But first off, I want to thank everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! It was definitely a happy bday and now I am 21 years old. Super legit. 

Got to see my favorite member of the Holliday stake 

I think I am going to do another list of events that happened this last week: 

- We had Zone Conference, and I learned a lot! Especially about Joseph Smith, and all that he did and sacrificed for the church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I KNOW he is a man of God and that without the Restoration, we wouldn't be here today and have the good news we have. 

- ANGELINA got baptized! 

Angelina got baptized! 

- RILEY got baptized!! Shoutout to Riley who is reading this 

Riley got baptized!! 

- it's actually getting COLD! Like I have to wear coats sometimes, and there is snow in the mountains

Beautiful fall colors!

- our friends Stan and Stanley (if you remember... we met them like 2 months ago) are doing well except for Stan's health. PLEASE pray for him. He needs it

Elder Cleverly with some of our weights 

- Did the Blazin Challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings

- it was my birthday (I opened like all my presents in the morning cuz I couldn't wait) 

Went to taco land #thanksmatt

- Had a super weird Sunday school lesson. We talked about how the "Keys to the Priesthood" are physical keys that you can hold. Then we had to clarify and correct that they are more so metaphorical haha 

- both the baptisms that happened on Saturday started late

Cold rainy day drives 

- A member was talking to us about how South Salt Lake has the highest crime rate in all of Utah. GNAR

One of the peeps we are teaching got a kitten 

Oh also, this week I taught my first whole lesson in...SPANISH! Not Japanese sadly  but it was way sick. I have done street contacts or door-knocking with some Spanish companions. But this was my first like legit lesson. It was way hard, and I definitely didn't carry. I also had to say the prayer in the end. It was cool tho cuz the guy and my temporary companion (I was on exchanges) told me that they really felt the spirit and even though it was poop Spanish probably, it got the message across. 

Scripture of the Week: 

- John 14:27. Jesus Christ gives us PEACE

27 ^aPeace I leave with you, my ^bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be ^ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.

Song of the Week:

- Praise to the Man!! We sang this at Zone Conference, and wow I felt the spirit so strong. Such an amazing song when we all sang it together. FIRE

Love,

- Elder Ditto 

You'll never guess what I did....

Howdy their partner. I hope you all had an enjoyable week. We got lots of rain!! It was pretty legit getting so much rain and lightning and thunder. I still have mixed feelings about rain. But I definitely like it more than I used to. It's good for the earth too, so I gotta like it. 

Walking to church with Antibus

Miracle of (last) Week:

We are teaching this family, and they have been going to church every week for a while, read the scriptures every day, pray every day, etc. Basically, they are WAY ready to be baptized. Like super ready. BUT they feel like they want to be baptized on Christmas Day. They want to give Jesus a present.  Which is dope....but they are missing out on all of the blessings they would be getting in between that time. They NEED the Holy Ghost, which is the one who will help them in school, work, daily life, make good decisions, etc. Anyways...they watched General Conference and we went over after and they said that they had their questions answered and they want to get baptized this weekend. This was such a cool testimony builder that the prophets and apostles of Christ's Church are real! Like they actually are the ones who help lead His church. And if we go in with Questions to General Conference, then we can get them answered through the Holy Spirit. THAT IS SO SO COOL! 

Fall colors are gnarly here

Speaking of baptism - right now, six of the people that we are teaching have chosen that they want to be baptized. Some of them are very ready. Some of them are going to have to make some life changes and really show their dedication to follow Christ before it can happen. But man I am hyped. Four of those people should be getting baptized this weekend😊 

I got a ring mandrel! Now I can make rings.

Highlights of the Week:

- BRUH. There is this homeless guy who always tries to get into the building and sleep there. Church buildings are not homeless shelters. It's super sad but this has happened a lot on my mission. If we let everyone in all the time, then all church buildings everywhere would be full of homeless people. Anyways...the other day we when we were walking into our apartment complex, we were greeted by one of the homeless guys who always camps out by the church right by our house. He was not very nice and was demanding us ti microwave his noodles lol. Then was demanding all this other stuff, and gosh dang dude this guy was a jerk. Oh ya! He lied to us last weekend about having permission in the building and meeting with one of the church leaders. Then he lied to us again cuz he said he was leaving to Logan that night. But we saw him the very next day waiting for us at our apartment. 

- I shaved my head. I also shaved Elder Sedgwicks hair. It kinds like peer pressure it onto each other. Not the worst idea. But not the best.

Some bald pictures 

- I ate goat and some weird African leaf meal 

General Conference! I saw Jacob Stucki! Crazy 

- we got a bench! Now we work out every morning and lift at night. So sick 

- Witnessed 2 guys rob a store... got a picture and they ended up finding them. But wack 

- Made some more vlogs :) 

The squad after a missionary meeting 

We made ribs!!! They were actually way good! 

Scripture of the Week: 

- 1 Nephi 1:1. FAMILY is so so important 

1 I, Nephi, having been ^aborn of ^bgoodly ^cparents, therefore I was ^dtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many ^eafflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a ^frecord of my proceedings in my days.

Song of the Week:

- I Need Thee Every Hour

Love,

- Elder Ditto 

General Conference Blessings

Hello hello! First off... GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS HEATTTTT. SOO GOOD. If you have no idea what that is...basically it is when God's prophets and apostles speak to the world and tell us what we need to do and how we can improve. It happens every six months and is such a blessing. Anyone can watch it. 

Solomon (our WWE buddy)

Peeday basketball 

This week was good but I can't remember that much and forgot to write down lots, so here are some bullet points:

- We took Riley's coffee. Riley is probably reading this too haha. No sneaking coffee Riley 

- Met up with this guy who really opened up to us and then after the long talk he had with us (we barely said anything), he just said thank you for listening. He said he felt so m.j much better and felt empowered. There is power in listening. I really felt like I could feel God's love for him for a few seconds while talking to him. It was amazing.

- Oh also that guy we found out that he was living with (who we used to be teaching) is actually a crazy dope dealer 

- Twenty-one people we are teaching got to watch General Conference this weekend!!! That was sooo cool!

- We ate a grasshopper 

- I learned how to thunderclap 

Sage and her mom 

Bye Elder Hurley:(((

One of the many "wizards" of SLC

Oh, also this week we had transfers. It was sad to say bye to Elder Wright. It was fun being with him again. I got two new companions...Elder Cleverly (from Moses Lake) and Elder Sedgwick (from Orange County). They are both way cool and funny. Being in a trio again is #lit 

 Someone snagged a pic of me at transfers 

New comps 

For the month of September as a Zone, President Prier set the goal for the Salt Lake Zone (the zone I'm in) to baptize 21 people in one month. This was the highest amount of people who have been baptized in one month in the last +3 years. Crazy. Much much higher than any recent month. Well...as a zone we got dang close this last month. We all helped 19 people come closer to Christ by being baptized. It was so cool. Next month we will hit it  There is power in setting goals! 

District Council

Pizza!

Scripture of the Week: 

- Mosiah Chapter 2 (The Book of Mormon). This chapter is soooo good. Give it a read or a listen, please.

Song of the Week:

- Wildfire by John Mayer 

Love,

- Elder Ditto