Elder Dittmers Journey to New Mexico

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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