Yá'át'ééh abini!

I got my transfer news yesterday and found out that I will be going to one of the most southern parts of the mission: Sanders, Arizona! And I'm going to be in a trio again! Their names are Elder Viola and Elder Linney. I haven't met them before and they are both about 4 months into their missions.

I think the best part of this week was sacrament meeting yesterday. It was a branch conference and over 40 people came! There was also a potluck afterwards, and there was a lot of food and people in that tiny trailer. 

I will be attending my farewell potluck tonight, so I'm excited for that. I will be leaving Tuesday morning and I'm excited to meet new companions.

Hagoónee! Have a good week!

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I'm staying on the rez! I am going just over the hill south of Steamboat to a place called Sanders, Arizona. I will be in a trio of missionaries (again!) and I will get to say hello to Sister Laughter, a member who moved out of Steamboat at around my 2nd transfer! She attends church in Sanders, according to some of the members who know her. 

My companions will be Elder Linney and Elder Viola. All I know is that Elder Viola is from Canada and that both of them have been out for about 4 months. 

I asked if he was okay staying on a rez: Of course! The deeper the rez, the better the experience!

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(You can double click to make it readable)  Looks like he's right next to the freeway and train tracks.

Church and basketball court.  Next door looks like an abandoned gas station (Stop and Go Café and Filling Station).

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That's Jackie Todachine. He lives in the middle of nowhere behind Toyei. We visited him a little, he loves the missionaries. That stack of wood back there was the most impressive wood that I have chopped, and it was FUN!

Roselyn, Ricardo, me, and Raymond.

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Sanders

Population 630

Elevation 5,865 ft

Sanders' English name either comes from C.W. Sanders, a railroad office engineer, or Art Saunders, who had a trading post nearby.

Sanders is surrounded by the Nahata Dziil and (north of the town) Houck chapters of the Navajo Nation. The latter is made up of local Navajos of the area and relocated Navajo refugees from the Navajo/Hopi land dispute. That dispute relocated hundreds of Navajos to the Sanders area from the western Navajo Nation, mainly around the Hopi partitioned land. The area was mostly ranch land until the U.S. government bought it and added it to the Navajo Nation in 1981.

There is even a mine (Cheto mine) that extracts a valuable type of clay used in the oil industry, a calcium bentonite, known as "Cheto" bentonite.

The vegetation of the surrounding region includes juniper, pinón pine and a variety of native plants such as prickly pear cactus and sagebrush. Wildlife includes pronghorn, deer, cougar, coyote, elk, turkey and quail.

71% Navajo, 22% white

My time in Steamboat is finally coming to a close. I spent a fourth of my mission here and I loved it! I am going to leave probably on the 29th this month, and I still don't know where I'm going. I will have to wait until Saturday when transfer news is announced!

Yesterday, I wasn't expecting to give a talk, but President Yazzie suddenly asked me to come and speak about my testimony and how it grew while I have served my mission. I got to bear my testimony and give some advice to the congregation. I wasn't even nervous, which I realize is a big change in me. I would totally have been wigging out if I got called to give a talk out of the blue at the start of my mission. Maybe I'm more comfortable speaking to smaller congregations, haha!

I have learned to really love serving the Lord. At a door approach, I always try to introduce the Book of Mormon. In the picture of me with the sheep, I met a lady who was very strong in her own religion, but even though she wasn't going to listen to us, I still tried to ask her if she believes that God can provide more scripture. She didn't really listen to us much (she was kind of crazy) but she was very friendly and even let me get the picture with the sheep when I asked! 

Thanks again for reading my email. Adios, amigos!

 -Elder Merritt when he took my phone and took a bunch of selfies without me knowing

I petted a sheep :D

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I shoveled snow once or twice. It's all gone now. Just extremely thick mud that is dangerous to drive in now. We have yet to get stuck, though!

I am going to miss Steamboat. I have a lot of friends here. One older guy named Raymond (I think I mentioned him a couple times maybe) really likes the missionaries and is even making me another kachina doll for 25 dollars. It's a lot bigger than the one I already sent home! He needed the money to have gas in his gas tank so he can cook food and have warm water. He is custom making the base of it for me. He's almost done with it! I'm going over there later today.

Yeah, I saw the eclipse. Not very impressive from where we are. It was really hazy that night and the moon was barely visible.

I still play piano every week. Last week I blessed the sacrament and this week I spoke at the pulpit for like 10 minutes or so. President asked me to speak while he was at the pulpit, which came as a surprise, but it turned out really well. I wish I could have recorded it for you! It was just my testimony and some words of gospel advice to the congregation. Last week I did the come follow me lesson by myself.

I will miss all the active members in Steamboat! Their testimonies are stronger than most.

Well here I am in Steamboat emailing once again. I sure do miss emailing on the computer!

Not too much has happened over the past week, but we did have a ton of short lessons and messages that we shared with other people. 

Wow, well I'm out of email time. That was way too quick! Here's some pictures at least! Thanks for reading my astronomically short email!

 The missionary in the truck is Elder Curtis. He is the best!

 My strawberry plant and it's seed packet instruction/description.

 Elder Rogers petting a dog randomly.

A random cat driving our truck.

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The great thing about this eye doctor is that he is a member and offered to do it for me for free! Also, white people aren't technically supposed to go to the hospital I went to, only Navajo people. Brother Barton did the eye check up during his lunch break for me! The Bartons are the people that let us use their phones and computers on Christmas day to call our families, too. Brother Barton just randomly happened to be a whatchamacallit eye doctor! I can't say that I don't see the hand of the Lord in this. Woohoo!

 Brother Barton emailed this nice message along with his prescription:  

Elder Dittmer is the bomb! Thanks for letting him serve us here.

On the bright side, we met a couple people down the road here that each accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! It was a mom and her son.  We met them both at different times. They are apparently Christian, or at least have a christian background. That is probably why they were so willing to accept a copy. Somewhere down the line I hope to be able to meet with them again.

It feels like I have been on the mission forever. I find myself missing you guys more and more as the months drag on. The work in Steamboat has been very slow and I have been here for a long time. I would not complain if I got transferred next transfer day, but Steamboat needs us to help further the work! 

Time flies by so fast on the mission! Earlier today the majority of my district was high-fiving each other fo being 4 months on the mission. I was laughing a little because I can't remember what I was doing when I hit my 4 month mark. I'm pretty sure I was in Zuni!

Well, not too much happened this week. One great thing that happened was that we got together with President Yazzie a few days ago and spent some of the day visiting people out in Jeddito! President Yazzie also said he would be willing to come with us whenever and all we need to do is call. 

Another great thing that happened was that we met a guy who was in his senior year of high school named Anton (the "o" sounds like it would in "rock" or "flop") and he seemed genuinely interested in our message! We explained what the Book of Mormon was and he gladly accepted it from us. He even said we could come back sometime! We are looking forward to meeting with Anton again in the future.

Other than that, not too much else happened. We chopped some wood for some people while it was snowing. LOTS of snow in Steamboat right now. There's more than they have had in a long time. The snowflakes yesterday were clumped into huge balls probably an inch in diameter. Elder Rogers enjoys drifting the truck on the snow all the time.

One of the people that Elder Asher and I met with a few times passed away a couple days ago. His name's Shawn, I'm not sure if I've mentioned his name too much on my emails. So that's a little depressing, but he's in a better place.

Anyways, all is well here in good old Steamboat. Thanks for reading my email!

-Elder Dittmer

Another cat! I like cats, if that's not obvious.

Cats on cats on cats!

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