Sushi Time, No More Japanese, BAPTISM

Not gonna lie I am mega sad today... I just got news that I am bring transferred out of the Japanese area. Like noooooo. I love this area and Elder Peterson and me get along well so I'm mega mad sad. Oh well. I hope I get to go somewhere cool and with a good companion. Trusting in the big man upstairs. But here are some of the highlights of this last week:

Sushi timeeeee with Brother Abe 

Wow I made that! You can call mr a sushi chef (shootout to Danette for teaching me all I know. I miss your sushi!)

Elder Peterson and myself with our sushi 

- Made sushi with the Abe's and it was sooo good. And Elder Peterson hates fish and pretty much most Japanese food so I got to eat like all of his sushi so that was hype. 

Elder Leon posting up

- It snowed this which was weird since it was 80 degrees just like 2 days before then🤯

- I read this FIRE talk ("Three Sisters" by President Uchtdorf) and then met this lady later and shared the talk with her because it totally applied to her situation. It was random tho cuz that talk was from a women's session so like why would I listen?Heavenly Father helped me be ready at the right time and place!

- Met this AWESOME girl who is SO ready for The Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has so many good questions and really wants to learn. She said she felt "spiritually full" 🥨after one of our lessons. 

- Bishop Uemura translated for all of the Sunday conference sessions. ️➡️️So if you listen to them in Japanese then you'll hear my favorite Japanese bishop. Oh and Elder Stevenson translates his own talks to Japanese for conference the last two years. 

- Met a guy who makes big bass fishing boats and loves to fish. It made me sad I haven't fished in a long time. 

Travis and his baptism!! Lookin fly 

- Travis GOT BAPTIZED! So exciting and I got to baptize him which was great. I realized I never really talked about him in past emails but he is a really cool 13 yr old kid and really loves God. 

- On Saturday we were supposed to have 2 baptisms, and GUESS WHAT... BOTH of them were CANCELLED the hour before the baptism. Now that was frustrating. But Travis's still happened on Sunday so that was good. 

- I apparently had a nice conversation in my sleep with Elder Peterson about baptism and missionary work. Still on the sleep talking and walking grind 

Quote of the Week: 

"JESUS! JESUS! How have you been?" - Gas Station man talking to us 

I LOVE this pic of Jesus called "For All Mankind" by Liz Lemon Swindle 

Scripture of the Week:

- 3 Nephi 17:7,9 (The Book of Mormon)

7 Have ye any that are ^asick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or ^bleprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will ^chealthem, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their ^ablind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

This scripture talks about compassion and how Jesus Christ showed compassion to others. So my challenge to you is to show more compassion to the people you come in contact with this week. 

Song of the Week:

- Goodbyes by Post Malone ft. Young Thug.... (Goodbye Japanese people who I love...) 

- I Will Trust In You by Elenyi. You gotta put your trust in the Lord that he knows what's best for you. 

Love you ALLLL

- Elder Ditto 

Kendama and Table Tennis

What's good broskis! This was a good week that ended with a bang. General Conference was straight fire (aka really good) and got me pumped for the next 6 months. 

Covid vaccine with sunny squinty eyes

Japan is still closed but apparently they are gonna have all the elderly vaccined by June. So good progress. I also got my vaccine one Saturday. I love Japan and hope to go there one day

More ants 

Shrimp stir fry I made

I FINALLY GOT TO PLAY PING PONG WITH KOHTASTSU! We got to meet up and talk about Easter and the gospel of Jesus Christ and then after we played ping ping and some kendama together. He was so hyped that I played kendama and then when I showed him my mad skillz him and his friend Antonio were so stoked. They said once I go go Japan that I should just walk around playing with it and people will flock haha. It was fun. I also almost beat Kohtastu the first game of ping pong (19-21) and then got destroyed the second game haha. Japanese is sick. 

General Conference was so good. I loved literally all the talks. I can't pick a favorite right now. 

You've been egged

To celebrate Easter my wonderful mother sent us Easter eggs and a sign so that we could "egg" people's homes and to help them remember why we celebrate Easter cuz one of the twelve eggs would be empty like Christ's tomb. 

Saying "bye" to Elder Hamner😟 

I also got to help one of our friend's, David, do some gardening and moving lots of dirt in between conference sessions. We had a great talk about our personal conversion and the importance of organized religion. 

Overall a solid week. Definitely some hard times with people not wanting to meet with us and it being spring break. But I hope you all had a great Easter. 

Finally got a board

Scripture of the week:

- General Conference! If you haven't listened to it then please go listen! Click HERE

Song of the week:

- "The Star Spangled Banner" Shout out to the constitution!

 Plane guy we met from the park

Love you all equally,

Elder Ditto 

Ant Infestation

What a good week! Honestly nothing really good happened but it feels like it was a good week haha. 

Japanese koto

As a missionary, we live, sleep, eat, think missionary work all the time. So sometimes it comes out in my sleep since I sleep talk (Elder Ross and my brothers know what I'm talking about). Anyways, this week in my dreams Elder Peterson told me that I said, "Will you be able to come to church tomorrow? And then Elder Peterson said, "Yes" and then I said "お願いします” ("please"). Which doesn't really make sense but kinda funny and Japanese dreams are cool.

Japanese candy

We also got to speak in our church service in one of our English wards. We talked about deepening our discipleship with Christ and missionary work. Writing and giving talks as a missionary is so much easier too  I've always enjoyed speaking with people but stuttering makes it a lot harder. But since being a missionary I feel like I've seen a bit less stuttering in myself. I can't say the same with Japanese but it will get there, haha. 

We helped this other guy move and found this sick mascot head.

I got to see Kohtastsu again this week so that awesome! It had been a long time since I had seen him. He's doing well. Keep him and his family in your prayers please! 

We moved this guy this week and I got to borrow his skateboard for a sec.

Update on the nasty apartment we live in... I tore out the nasty bathroom rug thing and cleaned it to the best of my ability. Then we got a new rug (and it will NOT go next to the toilet). Seems like progress right? 

After we took out the nasty rug 

But then I noticed that in our kitchen I have been killing quite a few ants. Then yesterday and today I killed easily over 100 ants. So I called our housing guy and turns out we have an ant infestation (duh). SICKK. Thanks nasty apartment.... and thanks to the other elders who lived here before and trashed this place. 

So ya that was pretty much my week. We also helped some people move some stuff and clean. So that was good. If you wanna send me a love note or something, then here is my address:

Elder Tyler Ditto
Utah SLC Mission
3487 S 1300 E
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106

Elder Peterson and me

Oh also don't forget that this weekend is General Conference and Easter weekend! Double whammy... so sick! I am excited to listen to our modern day prophets and apostles talk. Make sure to really focus in Christ this week! 

Song of the Week:
- I Know He Lives by David Archuleta.  My mom sent me this song this week.  So good!

Scripture of the Week:
- Alma 62:41 (The Book of Mormon). 

41 But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their ^aafflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility.

This scripture is fireee. I loved how even though everyone experienced the same sort of issue with the length and difficulty of the war there were still two different responses. One side was all hardened and mad and the other was softened and humbled themselves. 

Love you all!
Elder Ditto

Getting Kicked Out of The Hotel?!?

Wow, what a week....

Cool Japanese garden

It started off with us getting a call from out AP's (assistants to the mission president) saying that Elder Cooper was getting Emergency transferred that night. So we had to do all the visits and lessons we had for that night and then hurry and help Elder Cooper pack and he was gone by like 9:30pm. So now its just me and Elder Peterson. 

Stories of the week:

We are moving:

Saying "bye" to the hotel Elders squad

Friday night we got a call saying we had to move to this apartment in Holliday... I was not excited. So we had a crazy weekend. We had to pack up all our stuff and be out in less than 24 hours. 

My new apartment is pretty nasty and old. Too many nasty missionaries have lived here I think lol. 

There is this mystery rug duct taped to the bathroom floor that probably has like 20 years of missionaries on it and gallons of urine. Lots of cleaning ahead for me.

かわいい:

We visited this family from the Japanese ward and this grandma who didn't know we speak Japanese looked at her granddaughter said (in Japanese : "Wow look at that cute boy! He is cute isn't he?!" And then  the granddaughter was like "Grandma he speaks Japanese!" And then she started blushing and I started dying laughing and said "ありがとう.” It was funny. 

Japanese garden with Elder peterson

Skinny Elder:

Sister Gates told me I looked extra skinny the other day haha

Dreaming in Japanese:

Elder Peterson said that the other night I started speaking in Japanese and then at the end said ”ちょっとやばい” 

Saying Bye to Mace:

Saying "bye" to Mace 

I had to say "bye" to my man Mace (the guy who gives us breakfast in the hotel). It was sad. I've seen that guy almost every single day since October... we were good friends. I made sure to get a pic with him too. 

Meeting Zoe and Getting Fed:

Our first day moving into the apartment was a lame day. Everything was going wrong and then we went to go do some missionary work and I thought we should run by this lady's house who we had been trying to contact for a while. Then when we knocked on her door she let us in and her niece was there and we started talking about God and Jesus. She turned nine years old that day and said she wants to get baptized! So crazy and such a way to turn the day around! Then later that night I had skipped dinner because I was cleaning and unpacking. So when we were out visiting people that night I was starving. Then we visited a woman named Fia and she brought us "Mo Betta's" (Hawaiian take out)! Another answer to a prayer. So good.

Our new whip!

I was a Branch President:

During our Sacrament meeting with the old people branch, the branch president couldn't read the paper he was trying to, so I got to read all of the branch announcements and act as the Branch President for like 5 minutes haha. Probably will never happen again. 

My new calculator watch

Blessings:

I got to bless the sacrament in Japanese this week. I also gave some priesthood blessings to some really special people. I am grateful for those experiences. 

Overall a pretty weird week with lots of ups and downs

Song of the week: 

- "Big or Small" by the 2017 EFY album 

Scripture of the week: 

- Alma 57. So so good. Read it.

Love you all!

Elder Ditto 

Praying with a Zombie

Yoooo whats good its Elder Ditto. Here are this weeks stories:

James and Nori Johnson (and their family) used to live in Yakima.  They now live in Utah and came to the Dah ichi ward!  It was so fun to meet them (I was really young when they moved away.)

"GIVE ME MY MONEY":

Due to the fact I live in a hotel, our neighbors change almost daily. And some of our neighbors are a little louder than others. We have heard quite a few crazy parties or interesting couples staying near us. Most of which are not enjoyable experiences. The other night there was this huge group of people hanging out in the room right next to us that shares a wall with our bedroom. The noise level wasn't too bad until around 2am when this girl started freaking out because someone owed or maybe stole her money (not sure which). But boy oh boy she wanted this money NOW. She would not stop yelling and was like attacking this dude. It was tough to sleep that night.

Elder Neichman was given money and hair from some homeless lady. 

Litter Box Lady:

We have been visiting this lady and reading The Book of Mormon with her, and she is a nice lady. However, her home has the most rancid (as Poppy would say: foul) smell ever. I feel like I'm gonna pass out every time I go in there and when I walk out I wanna throw up. Anyways, this week was the first time taking Elder Peterson, so we warned him of the smell and he wasn't too worried. Until he was in there. Poor guy. Then when we got out he threw off this mask and said "my mask smells like cat anus now!".... not a good smell to have on your mask lol.

I got to hold some crazy reptiles 

Zombie Lady:

We stopped by this lady's house because one of our bishops wanted to know how she was doing. When I knocked on the door and she answered I could tell she was not all there and she was making crazy sounds and would start twitching and like spazzing out. So I asked her if we could pray for her right there. She said "yes" and while we were praying with her she started to run at me and grab me. She continued to say random things and then later we gave her a blessing. She said she has arthritis and Hep C. So all the drugs she is on makes her crazy I guess. It was really sad to see.

I GOT TO SKATE!:

I have been wanting to skate for my whole mission and Tuesday was my lucky day. We were walking by his skatepark and I started to talk to this guy and wanted to see him do a nose blunt on this ledge (skate trick). After a few tries, I asked if I could borrow his board for a sec since I haven't skated in like 7 months now. Man it felt good to skate for a few minutes. I miss it a lot. The dude was really cool too and has just moved here this year. 

Changing a flat

Survey Time:

We have been doing this family history survey with people on the streets wuote a bit the last few weeks. One night on exchanges (when you swap companions for a few hours), we were doing this survey in Sugarhouse. At the very end of the night I wanted to get in one more survey so while walking back to our car we say this lady and I asked her if she would take a survey...she said "yes"...but right away I could tell this would be an interesting one. Every single question I asked she just looked at me like I was stupid and when I asked her if she knows of any inspirational stories from her ancestors she started going off on how she felt judged and how her life is hard because of white people and how we were judging her, etc. It was just crazy because we were being so nice to her and just wanted to learn a little about her family, but she just wanted to go off on us for some reason. Honestly this was the worst survey I've done and that's because the spirit was not there. The whole experience was uncomfortable and not enjoyable at all. I don't get why people cant just be nice and if they don't wanna talk then just say that nicely. Bruh moment of the week (Thanks Ben)

Nick Townsend:

Elder Townsend 

Yo I got to see Elder Townsend (one of my roommates from BYU) this week and that was so sick. It was great to see him again. He looks better than ever and I wish we could be companions one day. 

 

This week was also Zone Conference, so that is always fun to get to see everyone and learn a lot too. This time it was a lot about obedience and using technology safely. 

Lots of driving

High up in Highland

NEW UPDATE: Utah is opening up vaccines to everyone 16+ so that is super exciting. We as missioanries are supposed to get it in the next 6 weeks or so. I am excited and hopefully that helps me be able to get to Japan. Oh and also we just found out that we are now allowed to eat meals with members and have member prepared food. We are also allowed to tract (hopefully I never do this tho since it's no very productive), which is when you knock on random doors. 

Scripture of the Week:

- Alma 34:41 (The Book of Mormon). Patience is so important and something that we should always be working at to be better.

41 But that ye have ^apatience, and bear with those ^bafflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Song of the Week:

- Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Vocal Point. I love this song and Vocal Point is fire too. Always brings the spirit. 

Love you all!

- Elder Ditto