We Met Falafel Phil!!!

Woahhh Tuesday letter from Elder Ditto... getting crazy. I have been up since 4:30am this morning....Today we went to the Bountiful Temple! It was awesome. A temple is an amazing place where we make some special promises and covenants with our Heavenly Father. It really was a great experience and I felt God's love for me. I hope next time we go it doesn't have to be quite so early tho haha 

Early morning Bountiful temple 

Okay here are some funny stories from this week:

- I broke a bike chain and got a metal sliver in my hand... this metal piece is still in my finger, so if you have any tips to get those out then let me know. Hopefully, I don't get tetanus.

Poop

- We lost our car fob, so we had to interrupt sacrament meeting so we could go find it and then the alarm beeper thing started going off and we couldn't figure out how to stop it...still don't really know how I got it to stop, but we found our fob and now we are all good #thankseldernogueira 

Elder Quorum with Antibus 

- I got to teach in Spanish again! I'm definitely not good at Spanish and always get it mixed up with Japanese vocab or grammar. But it's fun and causes me to really think! 

Lazer dog

- Walked into a wing place and this guy (looks like falafel phil) and he yells "IT'S CLOSED!!!" and "THEY HAVE NO WORKERS!" Then he starts praying and the worker/owner walks away during the middle of the prayer after the prayer ended he just hyped the restaurant up and said "goodbye." Bro, it was so weird. And especially weird cuz the Falafel Phil guy doesn't even work there hahaha. He was just some random dude. Pray for Falafel Phil

The McRib is back 

Other notable-ish events:

- I "got to" ride a bike again this week

- had exchanges almost every day (5/7 days... no thanksgiving and no Sunday)

- Ate Thanksgiving with a nice part-member family. They hooked us up with an extra plate of food too 

- Currently, we are teaching over 60 people... way too many lol. We have been trying to "stop teaching" people like crazy. It's amazing how many people we get to meet who show real interest in changing and following Jesus Christ and then flake on us 

- I saw lots of blessings this week from being bold and persistent with people we met, members of the church, people we are teaching, missionaries, etc. 

PLEASE pray for Antibus this week!! He is a beast. 

Antibus learns more about prophets

Antibus!!! Learns the Word of Wisdom 

Quote of the Week:

- "Those cookies were bussin bussin... Well...not bussin bussin. But bussin." - Jovanni 

Song of the Week:

- Clarity by Zedd

Scripture of the Week:

- Alma Ch. 11 (The Book of Mormon)

In case any of you are DYING to send me a letter or some Christmas cheer, here you go:

Elder Tyler Ditto 

Utah Salt Lake Mission

3487 S 1300 E

West Entrance

Salt Lake City, UT 84106

Love you all,

Elder Ditto 

Utah Celebrities and Slipping in Poop

I hope this week was a good one. I really love Salt Lake. Crazy that this "Mormon hub" as many people would say...has SO many people to teach. We started teaching a ton of new people this week and came close to breaking our record for how many people we helped get to church! I am grateful for this time I get to serve a mission.

Selfie with janet and Jovanni in the back 

This week... 

- our mission president's wife stuck her tongue out at my at MLC cuz she thought I was going against one of her comments  

- got some crazy 7th DAY Adventist pamphlets

7th Day Adventist pamphlets

- I saw Elder Both!!! Crazy. Shout out to Cam (Sister Both). Ur bro is a beast!

Elder Both

- soo manh crazy busy days and exchanges. This week we had like ZERO downtime. I was so tired.

- Apparently the COSTCO in our area is the biggest Costco in the world. I dont have google, so I can't fact check that...but you might! So let me know if that's true.

mirror selfie 

- We were headed to a lesson and saw some people moving. We walked up and asked if we could help. The lady in the moving truck started tearing up and saying we were an answer to her prayers. They actually had a ton of big and heavy stuff, so they like really needed our help. It was pretty cool to be able to be an answer to a prayer!

The Plan of Salvation (LOVE) with Antibus 

- I shook a Muslim ladies hand, and then this other lady got mad cuz I guess they aren't allowed to touch men... oopsies.

- Lots of poop on the sidewalk. To quote Elder Hamner... "this is a kind of area where people let their dogs poop on the sidewalk and don't pick it up." But this one was in an apartment complex hallway 

Elder Nogueira with the pooped someone slipped in 

- We had a cool opportunity to teach this guy early in the morning before a missionary meeting we had. Always gotta be ready to teach. He was a pretty nice Jewish man, but we found out he didn't really have an actual desire to change or have faith.

Okay quick story time: we went to Costco for dinner the other day, and it was so crazy. I have never felt like such a celebrity. In the few case minutes were in there, we had SO many people high five, fist bump, say "hey elders!," one asked to pay for our food (too late cuz we already bought it), etc. There was one high five in specific where we walked past this guy, and he didn't even say anything. He just stuck up his hand for a high five and gave us "the look." It was hilarious. I felt like I was an NBA star or something. Definitely some funny perks for serving in Salt Lake City 

Teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ with Nick 

Quote of the Week:

- "Oh no...don't drop your blunt"

Song of the Week:

- Joseph Smith's First Prayer. We sang this song during one of the sacrament meetings we went to this week, and it hit me hard. I love this song and I am so grateful for that prayer Joseph Smith offered. It changed my life.

Scripture of the Week:

- Alma 34:38 (The Book of Mormon). Thanksgiving is this week. Let's give THANKS all year round!! We receive so many blessings, and there is power in giving thanks and being grateful. 

38 That ye ^acontend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the ^bname of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and ^cworship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in ^dthanksgiving daily, for the many ^emercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

I would LOVE to hear an update from you and hear about all the amazing things you are doing. Let me know what's cookin' good lookin'. EMAIL ME! tyler.ditto@missionary.org

- Elder Ditto 

Meeting James The Mormon?!?

Slam dunk hunky monk. It was a good week. 

Here are the highlights/lowlights:

- Had to say goodbye to Elder Cleverly and Elder Sedgwick:(( super sad. But they both made it to there destinations safely, so that's good!

Selfie with Elder Sedgwicks fam

Goodbye Elder Sedgwick 

Goodbye Elder Cleverly 

- I SAW JAMESTHEMORMON! Me and Elder Cleverly saw him while heading home Monday night. Super dope 

James the Mormon (picture from LDS Living magazine)

-My new companion is Elder Nogueira; he is from Atlanta Georgia. His parents are originally from Brazil, so he speaks Portuguese. We hung out pretty often back when I was serving in Murray. We both like to skate too. But sadly we arent allowed to anymore, which is a huge bummer. He is been out on his mission for 9 months now. 

We had to film an interview for Elder Nogueira. This was a snapshot!

- Went to the Clark Planetarium. SO SICK!

The gateway on the way to the planetarium 

- Made like 10 more packs of spiritual cigarettes #quitsmoking

- I drank canned rainwater 

Canned rainwater 

- I called this guy that missionaries call "Elder Guapo." He helps missionaries help people they are teaching get married and he is really good at what he does. When we called him, his wife answered the door and we asked for Elder Guapo. She said he isn't available now...so I asked if we could call back later that night. Then there was a pause. She started breaking down and said he was dying right now. And that we need to pray for her and him to pass away without pain. It was so dang sad. I am amazed how many people that I talk to have died. So then I just tried to comfort her and we said we will pray for her a lot. Please keep them in your prayers

Me and Elder Nogueira 

Scripture of the Week: 

- Doctrine and Covenants 29:4

"Verily, I say unto you that ye are chosen out of the world to declare my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, as with the voice of a trump."

I am so grateful to be a missionary right now. It is a blessing. It's daggum hard sometimes, but it is so worth it. I hope you all are being a great "missionary."

Song of the Week:

- I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz

Dinner with the Dotsons! They are the coolest!

Much Love,

- Elder Ditto 

Crazy Animal Love

Another FAST week!  I am sad to say "goodbye" to Elder Sedgwick and Cleverly this week. Elder Sedgwick is leaving to the Czech/Slovak mission today and Elder Cleverly is finishing his mission this Thursday. So I will be getting a new companion this Wednesday. Maybe one day we will reunite haha. It was a really fun transfer, but I am excited to see what is to come. 

Here are some gnarly highlights from this week:

- someone we are teaching has lots of animals. One of which is a parrot. This parrot was pretty shy and didn't want to do much with us, but after a few minutes of getting to know each other, this parrot get pretty curious about my brown leather shoes. Soon after, this parrot started to "hump" my shoe. He continued this for a few minutes. Now my shoe has a stain on it from a mystery parrot liquid. If you want to see the video, then let me know, and I can send it to you 

I got to hold a Lizard

Elder Cleverly holding a lizard 

- I felt real sick last Monday for a few hours. It sucked. 

Halloween night w/ a weird filter 

I saw the Harvey's!!!! Love this fam 

- Elder Sedgwick and me went on a run! It was super fun and I was pretty dang sore after. 

morning run and sunrise 

- Elder Cleverly farted SOO BAD that we got ejected from the car. We couldn't go back in for many minutes. It was the worst smell I have ever smelt I think. It was so bad that it forced me to stop driving.

flossing in the car 

- met this really interesting guy who had to borrow our phone to call the cops cuz he thinks his WHOLE apartment complex is spying on him and hacking his phone. He called in multiple police units and was NOT happy (definitely on some sort of drugs)

- we got a call from the APs APs that Elder Sedgwick will be getting emergency transferred to fill in for another missionary. Then we got another call a free hours later saying he will be staying till he leaves for the Czech!! 

Elder Cleverly looks very tired/mad in this selfie 

- Someone we are teaching lots a snake in his house a few weeks ago and has no idea where it is lol. I hope next time we come over we find it  oh she also has a naked cat and lots of dogs/cats

naked cat... 

our friend Jake!! 

Picture with President Mattinson

Quote of the Week: 

"It had been my experience that more prayers have been answered on my feet than on my knees" 

-Brigham Young 

Scripture of the Week: 

- 3 Nephi 14 (The Book of Mormon). I LOVE this chapter. Especially this week. We had lots of opportunities to not judge others and I love that message that's found in this chapter. Give it another read:) 

Song of the Week:

- Sleep On The Floor by The Lumineers. I love this song! So good!

Much Love,

- Elder Ditto 

Quarantined AGAIN?!?

Yup. You read the title right. I got quarantined AGAIN on my mission! I'm tired of it haha. On Wednesday, Elder Cleverly started to feel sick and throw up. Then we found out we were potentially exposed to someone with COVID. So we got tested. Then we were quarantined until Saturday. 

quarantine 

Elder Cleverly felt 100% better by Wednesday night, which is crazy. We got our results back and we were negative. We got to do a lot of phone work and also tried to do some zoom lessons, so it all worked out.

 

Cold Stone Creamery to celebrate being out of quarantine!

Here are the highlights of the week:

-We had a "sleepover" with ourselves during quarantine lol. We pulled all or mattresses into the living room. It was pretty fun!

sleepover 

-Monday night it rained like CRAZY!!!! I lost "what are the odds" and had to jump into this huge puddle/pond.

 fall colors 

-we built a Halloween gingerbread house 

Bob Ross energy drink 

- Last week our friend, Antibus, came to church and he was DRIPPED OUT (had good style and looked good). He showed up with a nice button up shirt. It was CRAZY! He has come a long way. Definitely slow progress, but progress non the less. He also told us that he hates being drunk and being around drunk people. Which is a huge switch up from where me and Elder Wright found him 

Me and ma boi Antibus 

- We got a call early in the morning yesterday from someone who basically just needed someone to talk to. She was very distressed and needed help. It was pretty cool that she trusted us and knew we could help. It was a big change from how she treated us previously. It reminded me that as a missionary, I always gotta be ready. We ended up talking for almost an hour, and she said we were really able to help.

- We attended a community Halloween parade and met a lot of new cool people!! 

Our first Halloween candy 

I listened to this AMAZING speech this week. It was given at BYU this last week by a fellow Christian named Andrew Teal. I highly encourage you all to listen to it. The WHOLE thing. So many good questions were asked and it made me reflect on how I do as a Chrstian and believer of Jesus Christ. How can I improve and how can I show more love? 

Here is the link: 
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/andrew-teal/building-a-beloved-community/

 The day after I got a buzz cut a few weeks ago. 

Scripture of the Week: 
Moses 7:26-27 (The Pearl of Great Price)

26 And he beheld Satan; and he had a great ^achain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with ^bdarkness; and he looked up and ^claughed, and his ^dangels rejoiced.

27 And Enoch beheld ^aangels descending out of heaven, bearing ^btestimony of the Father and Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many, and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion.

Elder Sedgwick shared this scripture with us and some members yesterday. Pretty cool how it talks about how real Satan is, but even more so how real God is. He loves us and all we need to do is choose his side again.

Song of the Week:

- Can't Help Falling In Love by Ingrid Michaelson. What a good song. My girl Ingrid is so good too. All her music is heat. Shout out to mom for liking her too.

Luv,
- Elder Ditto