Monday
We went to the church in Aztec and played lots of basketball with most of the zone of missionaries, plus a returned missionary and an investigator who wanted to come play basketball with us. Afterwards, we got some delicious ice cream slushies at Sonic! Me, Elder Daffer and Elder Bruning drove around town trying to find a few people after prerparation day hours, and then turned in at the trailer early so I could get packing to my new area.
Tuesday
We left at around 8 o'clock in thte morning to get ton the Apache building in Farmington where I met with a bunch of missionaries who were getting on the transfer van, including Elder Asher, my first new companion. Elder Bruning was with me in the transfer van until we got to Gallup, where me and Elder Asher got together with Elder Cahoon, my second new companion. I said goodbye to Elder Bruning, and then we drove all the way to Steamboat, Arizona! When we arrived at our trailer (which is really nice), we got a phone call from the president's assistants who asked us if we got the mattress in Farmington, which nobody told us about. Since we didn't get it, we ended up getting a cot from the senior couple next door, the Wetzels. We hung out with them to get to know them for a bit, and they gave us ice cream at the church and we played ping-pong until it was time to get back indoors.
Wednesday
We visited a woman named Rosie in the morning and we gardened her yard for about 2 hours, thenwe helped her lift a skinned/decapitated goat into a tree. That was pretty gross. Later, we went with the Wetzels in their car and drove to a bunch of appointments, and later went to a restuarant called Keam's Canyon, and we got some tasty food there! We drove home afterwards.
Thursday
This morning we witnessed a dog get hit by a truck going at least 50mph! That was the first time I'd ever seen that happen in my life. The truck never stopped, either. These are the things that happen on the reservation! We drove out to Ganado to have district meeting, and I played piano for that. On our way back to Steamboat, Elder Asher hit a bird with the truck. Today is just FULL of people hitting animals with vehicles! We had a lesson with a lady named Laura who is a returning member and she lives on a golf course, which is pretty neat. Apparently this golf course is free for anyone who has a golf ball and a golf club, so maybe we could go there on Mondays for preparation day. We went out tracting for a bit in the neighborhood across the street from the church and met an old lady named Irene who said she would come to church and we gave her a Book of Mormon. Later in the evening we had a Book of Mormon study class and we studied out of Mosiah.
Friday
We helped Sister Hildreth, a returning member, fill in a trench on the sides of her house that was still being built, and after that we visited a man named Derron and we prayed for him and pulled out a bunch of poles that were in his yard for him. We returned home and did our weekly planning session, and later visited the Begay family. They have a son named Chris who is always ready to help with whatever is put to the task, and another son named Jacob, who is off-the-wall bonkers. We spent our last few minutes to visit somebody at Cody's home to wish him a happy birthday. He is a member.
Saturday
We went to the fire department in the morning for exercise time and we got together with Chris and played basketball at the Fire Department's driveway. After that, we got into our service clothes and helped Sister Cleveland, a returning member, weed her yard for a couple hours. We rerturned home and get dressed in our proselyting clothing and visited a few people towards Ganado, and afterwards came back and got dressed in our service clothes again to help a man named Tom weed his yard for a couple of hours. By the time we were done with that, I was exhausted! Later in the day at around 6 o'clock President Attson who I think is one of the counsellors gave us a call and asked me to give a talk tomorrow. The late notice stressed me out a bit, but I just decided to use a talk that I had already prepared.
Sunday
We prepared the sacrament in the morning at the church and Elder Cahoon and brother Begay blessed the sacrament while Elder Asher passed the sacrament. I gave my talk about what I have learned on the mission, and I spoke to about 20 people. After sacrament meeting was over, we went over to the other church building and we taught the young men. After church was over we had lunch at the church which the Wetzel's prepared for us, and Sister Wetzel made a fruit pizza for me because I told her I liked it. That was really kind of her! Later, we visited a man named Roy who gave us some food grown from his church garden! His cantaloupe was all yellow and it looked like a squash! It was really good, though. After that, we returned home and shot rubber bands at stuff.
Sorry about the previous blank emails, my Alpha-Smart keyboard was being wacky.
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I have some news for you, mom... I can only check the mail once a week every Thursday! I am in such a deep reservation that they don't have a mailbox here. I will try to continue sending letters like normal.
I heard I already have a package from the Ganado missionaries, and I have no idea what it is. I am excited to see it!
Steamboat is pretty crazy. I have already handled a dead sheep and I have done many hours of service in people's yards. The houses here are super spread out across the reservation so it is hard to reach people. My trailer is super nice though! Apparently it has only been here for one year so it hasn't gone through very much missionary abuse. The plan for today is to go explore an abandoned town! I will take pictures for the fam back home.
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-Elder Asher Zen style
-a rain bug. A Navajo man once told me that when one squishes a rain bug it summons rain upon the earth. Missionaries call them squash bugs because they are so juicy.
From Grandpa Thomson:
Blister beetles contain cantharidin, a poisonous chemical. Other species of blister beetles are common in alfalfa hay and can kill or cause other ill effects on livestock who feed on this hay. I don't know what this one feeds on, in particular, but others are parasites/predators of grasshopper eggs and their populations can fluctuate with grasshopper populations.
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Thoughts from Mom on hitting the one year mark:
One year!!!!! I have many thoughts about this day and the changes that have been happened over the course of the past year. My heart feels close to bursting with happiness and love for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so extremely proud of Elder Isaac Dittmer and the amount of progress he has shown, the testimony that is continually growing, and the example he is to me of never ending service. 
My testimony has also evolved in areas I didn't realize would happen. I feel closer to my Savior as I study the scriptures and conference talks, and especially when I see these amazing servants wearing black name tags!
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