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 

Lightning, Fresh Pig , No Toes

This is crazy...I met this lady from one of the wards I cover and she knows Grannie!!! She was like "you don't know Debbie Ditto but chance, do you?"  When I told her I did, she got kinda emotional and ran inside. Then she came out with a recipe and she said they were friends back in Phoenix and she gave her this recipe that she LOVES. so crazy!

This week had interviews with President Prier. We got to talk about a lot of good things, but what stood out most was when we talked about when people hate on us missionaries and disciples of Christ. How they sometimes don't treat us well, or persecute us, etc. I expressed my frustration cuz a few weeks ago someone said something to me that really hurt me. I have been told to go kill myself, hang myself, go to hell, that I don't believe in Jesus Christ (now that just doesn't make sense), cussed out, called so many names, etc. But this one hurt differently. They attacked ME. Like my soul and spirit. 

Anyways, President Prier said that since I brought in the spirit to that scenario, that they really weren't attacking me...they were attacking Jesus Christ. My Savior. Your Savior. Their Savior. He told me in those situations to just totally hand it over to Jesus and to boldly bear my testimony (as I was able to do), and walk out. That made me hurt even more (in a different way) because I don't want anyone to do that to Jesus Christ. But He already felt all our pains and suffering and emotional anguish. So just hand whatever is on your plate over to YOUR Savior, Jesus Christ, who is waiting and reaching out for you. 

Got to stop by this crazy truck and cool car shop. I forgot what it was called but it's something Diesel lol 

Here are some other highlights of the week:

- We had SO many LIGHTING storms!!! I got some pretty rad pics tho check out the pics 

More storms!! Got some good lightning pics on the way home from a lesson 

- We got RAIN!  This is actually a blessing straight from God. Over here in Utah is has been sooo DRY and we got like no snow. We also had almost no forecasted rain for this summer a few months ago, but we have gotten 1 HUGE storm and lots of other storms filled with rain. What a blessing! PRAYER WORKS!

 

- We almost got our bikes stolen but we scared the dude off

- Met a guy with NO TOES. He was way nice and pumped up our bike tires for us 

- Balled up with this kid and played him 1vs 1 and we ended up teaching him about God and now we are meeting with him regularly! 

New bball shoes

- I taught this older man in ALL SPANISH. Bro it was so hard...okay I guess I used a lil English. But woah kinda hyped. Basically trilingual 

- We got fed this SUPER fresh pig. Like the whole pig. Thanks to the awesome Tongans. I don't think I've ever been so full of meat. We had pig, corned beef, shrimp galore, cow, rolls, Tongan "sweet potatoes," and other mystery meat

My companion, Elder Salaiau, is a sleepy kid

Scripture of the Week: 

- 2 Nephi 31:20 (The Book of Mormon). Make sure you are FEASTING upon the words of Christ. Not just eating or surviving. We can actually learn things when we FEAST.

20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

Song of the Week:

- Love Is a Verb by John Mayer. Holy cow I love John Mayer. Such a good songwriter and singer. And man the guitar.... wow. But this song totally relates to loving all the people I meet here. Love totally is a verb. Even tho I couldn't honestly define what a verb is. I am pretty sure it means like you gotta show it and can't just "have love." It takes work. If I am wrong, then oh well. I still stand by my statement lol 

P.S. - if you made it this far, then I've got a lil suprise... I am going to the temple this Friday! Soooooo stoked 

Love,  

Elder Ditto