I forgot to bring my Alpha-smart keyboard today. I had a whole email prepared, but I'll have to stick to the old format today.

I had to say goodbye to Elder Luke on Tuesday, but my new companion is Elder Adams! We have been getting along really well. We have been able to do a lot of service so far. We even went to Red Mesa to help a returning less-active put chicken-wire around his little tree sprouts so that the jack-rabbits don't eat them. We also helped a member in Mancos fill a trench and pick up a lot of branches. 

The chapel at church was super full today presumably because of Memorial Day. We had a hard time finding a place to sit, it was so full! Elder Adams has some kind of fondness for the Masons. There's a Mason lodge right next door to the church, and I guess it makes him happy that we have one right next to the church. We even went around the lodge trying to find secrets. Elder Adams taught me that a lot of famous people were Masons, including Joseph Smith. They seem, for lack of a better word, interesting.

We had an overall good week, though. The senior missionaries for our zone came and graded how clean our trailer was, and we got a B, even though we tried so hard to make is as spotless as possible before they came. They're hard! They came the next day to give us some food because they thought we were going to starve with the amount of food that we had. That was nice of them.

Thanks for everything you do!
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Monday

We got to go to Mesa Verde today! I already talked about it last week, so I won't go into detail. It was fun, though. After P-day hours were over, me and Elder Luke decided to visit some members named the Hamblins, and they gave us some candy and a bunch of tumbled agates, which was pretty neat.

Tuesday

We visited Vance today. He is the one that me and Elder Luke helped with branding cows. We only visited for about 15 minutes but it went well. We also had dinner at a member's home today. They made coconut cupcakes that were pretty tasty.

Wednesday

I went on exchanges with Elder Lindsey in Cortez. He is the district leader. We went to a place called Community Connections and we played music and did hand signs for mentally handicapped people. I lead the music along with Sister Allred. All of the Cortez missionaries were there too. We also visited some investigators, and at night we did some roleplays where I was the missionary and the rest of the Elders in the apartment were investigators. 

Thursday

We had district meeting this morning, which is always fun. After that, me and Elder Luke got back together and on our way back to Mancos we got a text from some potential investigators named Vicky and Rohan inviting us to come over. Elder Luke had been trying to meet with them since before I came to Mancos, so we were pretty excited. They had recently moved from South Africa, and they are super nice. We had a great lesson, and at the end of it they blessed us with oil on our hands, which was almost correct! We'll teach them more as we continue to visit them. Later, me and Elder Luke helped Brother Ashkroft rake pine needles in his backyard, which I had a lot of fun with. 

Friday

We went to Cortez early in the morning today to answer questions for a bunch of seminary students. They asked us some weird questions like "Which shoe do you put on first, right or left?" and "Have you ever gotten into a fight?" It was fun, plus we got to do it with our whole district. Later in the day we ran into a couple who had just returned from a river rafting trip, and we helped them pump up their raft and we talked to them about random stuff plus the gospel. 

Saturday

We attended Roma Riffle's funeral today. She is the past owner of the Millwood here in Mancos, which is a super fancy restaurant where we get to eat for free! She was born in Mancos in 1924, so she was ripe and ready to harvest, I guess. I got transfer news! Elder Luke is going to Lukachukai, which is deep in the reservation. I am staying with Elder Adams as my new companion. He is getting transferred from Cortez 2nd ward to here. I am super excited to be able to serve with him, but I also found out that I will be the designated driver! This honestly scares me because I have next to no practice driving. Well, now I'm going to be getting at least 6 weeks of practice, so I'm excited for that.

Sunday

Church! Gospel principles class! Also Young men's class! We talked about prophets with the young men. It was good. We visited our investigator named Jeremy today, and he is still open to us coming by and likes us over. We also got to meet with Rohan and Vicky today! We talked about a ton of deep doctrine in the Bible. I forgot to mention that they have studied the bible inside and out and know every little piece of doctrine within it. They almost have the same beliefs as us, which is pretty neat. 

I am very excited for transfers! I already know Elder Adams, and we get along well. 

Thanks for everything!

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To Grandma Thomson:  I have been craving apples from your garden, especially the golden delicious! I have even bought apples from Wal-mart a few times, but they aren't nearly as good as the ones you and grandpa grow in your yard.

Yeah, I really happy to be out here serving the Lord. I get to experience so many miracles! In fact, our district leader has challenged us to text a miracle that happened each day to the district group chat. It's great being able to see other's miracles, it puts into perspective the positive side of things.

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Monday

The best part of today was playing board games with Elder Luke. We had a weird lesson with an 8-year old boy named Darius. His grandmother requested that he go through the lessons before he gets baptized, so that is exciting!

Tuesday

Me and Elder Luke put in some screws in one of our neighbor's walls to keep the wall from falling over. We also filled a big trench in somebody's yard. We had dinner at a member's home, and they fed us banana splits for dessert!

Wednesday 

Today we exchanged with the Cortez 2nd ward missionaries, so I was with Elder Adams and Elder Luke was with Elder Lindsey. Elder Adams taught me a lot of stuff about ancient Egyptians and Greek gods and stuff like that. He is super smart. We were able to meet with our investigator Diane today, and the whole time we were answering questions! We are super excited for her, she is showing so much interest.

Thursday

Today, we exchanged back to our normal companionships during District meeting, and me and Elder Luke did a lesson on having urgency for the work, which went super well. Our truck had a few problems, so Elder Wadsworth the vehicle coordinator switched a 2017 toyota tacoma for ours, and it turns out that the truck that he traded us was the same truck that I was in while I was serving in Kayenta! Not much happened today, it seemed like everyone was pretty busy.

Friday

The only super special thing that happened today was that we went to a ward party that was meant to celebrate everyone's birthday at once. We met an African couple there and they really wanted to meet with us.

Saturday

Me and Elder Luke moved a super heavy organ into the storage shed at church today. Today was a good day because we talked with a lot of people, and we eventually found someone pondering on the side of a river, and he was totally open to talking to us right there, and we were able to explain stuff about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless his life and bring joy and happiness. He gratefully accepted the book, but he told us that he will only be in Mancos for a couple of days. He seemed very interested in what we had to say, and we are hoping he might contact us or some other missionaries some time.

Sunday

We had a couple of investigators at church today. We also had dinner with the Fellows, and then another dinner at the Martin's household. Brother Martin was very kind, and he helped us set up his device so we could talk with our families today. That basically took up the rest of our day today, it was very good to be able to talk to my family again!

I am sending this email a bit later because I just got back from a trip to Mesa Verde! I'm going to try to send the pictures on my phone, so hopefully that works out okay. 

Thanks for all the support!

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Elder Luke climbing the ladder.

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Mothers Day!!!

 Elder Dittmer bore a wonderful testimony.  He has grown so much since last Christmas. 

Lots of laughter.

Monday

After preparation day hours, we went and saw one of our potential investigators named Diane. She had read seven chapters in the Book of Mormon since we last saw her, and on top of that she recently had a stroke so it's hard for her to read! She is now one of our most dedicated investigators and shows lots of interest in our lessons. Me and Elder Luke also got to eat hamburgers and cake for dinner at a member's home. Yum!

Tuesday

Me and Elder Luke got dressed in our service clothes early in the morning and went to Vance's (Investigator) farm to help brand cows! We first herded them into a pen with his four-wheeler, then we herded them into another pen on foot, then we herded them into ANOTHER pen on foot to thin out the calves that needed branding. We herded them into one more pen then we started shoving cows into a small passageway that led to a device that flipped the calf sideways. We flipped the calves sideways so that they couldn't fight back. Vance injected them with a growth hormone and then branded them and clipped off the corner of one of their ears, then released them back into the pen through the thin passageway. It was me and Elder Luke's responsibility to throw the calves into the passageway, and that meant that we were to grab the tail and wrap our arm under the calf and haul them in the right direction. It was a smelly but fun experience. Vance also brought us to a restaurant called Hamburger Haven and payed for some burgers and fries for us afterwards, and it was really good. Later, we went and got the mail and Elder Luke's mom had sent him a talk about blacks receiving the priesthood, and that same day we visited an investigator named Kathy and she asked us a question about blacks receiving the Priesthood, and we were able to answer her question because of the talk that we read! Later in the day for dinner some investigators named BJ and Daniel invited us over to the Millwood in town for Elder Luke's birthday. I got to get food too just because I'm his companion. Yay!

Wednesday

A while ago we told Wayne (one of our investigators) that it would rain if he came to church last Sunday, but he didn't come. Today, we decided to pay him a visit because it was raining/snowing. While we were there, he asked us if we could make it rain more and I said it would be raining a lot more in a bit, and it started raining super hard right when our lesson was over. I thought that was pretty neat.

Thursday

We visited some old members named the Martins and Brother Martin showed us his basement full of old swords and tools from other countries, mostly from Africa though. We also visited a member named Brother Ashkroft and he is just a super old person that comes to church every week. He has joked with us many times about being ready to die because he is so old (93 years old).

Friday

Not much happened today. We gave a little talk and had dinner at a fireside. It was at a family's house named the Martin's and we did it for the boy scouts. They were pretty roudy, but they were fun to talk with.

Saturday

We walked a lot today. While walking, some hippies invited us over to talk with them, and one of them was rolling a joint right in front of us, and the other one was drinking beer. They were nice and kinda curious about us, so we answered some of their questions about coffee and the Book of Mormon. 

Sunday

Me and Elder Luke shared our testimonies for the testimony meeting at church today during sacrament meeting. Throughout the day, we walked a lot and didn't really find anyone to talk to. Our appointment fell through with one of our investigators named Jeremy because he was in the middle of moving a big stove with the help of his hippie neighbor that we met yesterday. We also helped his family move someone who appeared to be his grandpa move his rolling chair into their house, and that was a struggle. They thanked us afterwards and we hurries off, hoping to make it to our dinner appointment on time. Our dinner appointment was with an investigator named Todd, and he has a super nice family and they fed us chicken wrapped in bacon and put on a shishkebob. 

Thanks for the support, and remember that Christ is always there in times of need! There is still a struggle with getting the photos to send, hopefully it will work next week.

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No, we don't memorize any scriptures, but sometimes I end up memorizing some from reading them so many times. 

Yeah, I'm pretty comfortable teaching lessons. Sometimes I feel a bit awkward, but that's life.

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