Torrejón de Ardoth

It's kinda loco moving cities. This past week I moved to Torrejón de Ardoz which is a municipality of Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. Shoutout to everyone who has moved in their life, gotta be tough but also a good learning experience. 

My new companion, Élder Roddy, and me

One thing that I appreciate is the things that are the same. Like if you move with your family to Japan or something, at least you have the same family. For the missionaries...at least the gospel is the same, you know? So I just focus on the things I know how to do, like do missionary things. 

Goodbyes

Farewell

Aight yall, take advantage of the little things this week!! Tootaloo

Love, Elder Ditto

Farewell Pamp!!!

Hola Mandem!

God has called me to Torrejon, Madrid. It is going to be hip. I spent five months in Pamplona and nine months total in País Vasco/Navarra (Northeast Spain).  Northeast Spain and Madrid are super different from each other. It's going a be hype, I am excited. My comps name is Élder Roddy and he has been out for longer than me. I want to learn from him.

Our recent convert Luana spoke in church yesterday and I did too. I am thankful to Heavenly Father for the times I have been able to be a part of His Plan for other people. Especially the Glennys 

Familia de Gorka all doing their talents. Legit one of the dopest families ever. Left to right: preaching×2, DJ, drawing anime, playing piano, track y field, mtn biking.

This week we found a few new amigos and some of them came to church, por fin bro! I am happy to see the work in Pamplona going good and that the members are willing to work with the missionaries.

Galatians 6:7-9

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

Went fly fishing for the first time. Also first time fishing in España. Didn't catch any fish but got 2 bites and saw like 200 fish. 

What you sow (do), you will reap (receive) "in due season." If you plant corn, you grow corn. If you stop keeping covenants, you stop receiving the promised blessings. If you study the Book of Mormon you receive the promised blessings.

Adios fellas! 

Daño en el Baño

On my mission, I have only been unable to finish all the food on my plate two times. One time was this week Élder Hill and I whipped up a BOWL of goulash then straightway headed to a member meal. They made us lomo saltado (Lomo saltado is a popular, traditional Peruvian dish, a stir fry that typically combines marinated strips of sirloin with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and other ingredients; and is typically served with rice). I literally asked them to make lomo saltado cuz I love it. We ate it up then they gave us a "poco" more and that thang was big. So I went in again and got like halfway done, and then it hit. I was gonna throw up! Maybe, maybe not. I didn't know. But I have seen Home Alone enough times that I thought of a scheme. I excused myself to the baño. The bathroom door didn't work of course, so it was like slightly open. I full blasted the sink (noise cancellation), quietly puked in the toilet, then realized the sink drain wasn't working so I plunged it and then I blew my nose, and rice and tomatoes came out. I'm pretty sure no one noticed because I left the baño all within 5 minutes. Super goofy tbh.

Elder Moyle and I at the Madrid temple.

Without a doubt, the highlight of this week for me was the temple! I feel super blessed to have been able to enter the temple right after President Nelson invited us to go with more frequency. Elder Hill had a residency appointment in Madrid along with another new missionary so we had to capitalize. Elder Moyle and I woke up early and took three metros to the temple, we got there are 9:01am and couldn't get in that session so we waited for the 10am sesh. Even though I wasn't directly participating in an ordinance for myself personally, I think it has been the most impactful experience I have had in the temple. 

1.  Covenants with God are serious, and commandments are serious too.

2. It is probably impossible to keep all your covenants and the commandments without daily reading the Book of Mormon and praying.

3. God forgives us, and it is important to Him that we know that we are forgiven.

DyC 112:1-3

"Verily thus saith the Lord unto you my servant __________: I have heard thy prayers; and thine alms have come up as a memorial before me, in behalf of those, thy brethren, who were chosen to bear testimony of my name and to send it abroad among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, and ordained through the instrumentality of my servants. 

2 Verily I say unto you, there have been some few things in thine heart and with thee with which I, the Lord, was not well pleased. 

3 Nevertheless, inasmuch as thou hast abased thyself thou shalt be exalted; therefore, all thy sins are forgiven thee."

Abased = humble

I know that Jesus made it possible for us to be forgiven. Forgiveness allows us to be happy and confident.

Love, Elder Ditto

Opps Stoppa

General Conferencia was nice like always. I especially loved Elder Stevenson's talk about suspension bridges and the two great commandments, Elder Christofferson's talk about having a testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and how we go to His church, not the bishops' church. And of course, Presidente Nelson came in nicely with the talk about temples. I am going to study more about the covenants I have made. I also loved the 2nd song in the Saturday afternoon session, "Count Your Blessings."  It was a spirit bringer and it was super impressive when the choir all paused in specific times.

I am studying about how we can help amigos with a baptismal date be fully mentally y spiritually prepared and excited for their baptism and confirmación day. Also, I have been trying to use way more analogies in my lessons and things, so the analogy of a wedding came to mind. Literally the exact same thing. Secret for all the lads preparing to go on missions, it is a LOT of planning, planning weeks, days, lessons. Baptisms, Sundays, rides, activities, exchanges, travel, food etc. Kinda like a mom. Maybe I can come home and be a wedding planner, here a  pic below:

The only relation between a baptism and a wedding that was the same thing as "problems" in a baptism there is always a problem or something that goes wrong, (font doesn't fill, amigo doesn't feel ready enough...), and in a wedding plan probably a lot of things go wrong idk. In school there are problems, in the family there are problems... I don't think anything on this earth is exempt from having problems. In fact, the Book of Mormon talks about this:

2 Nefi 2:11

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad."

I think I used to not like this scripture, but I like it now because I know that there will always be oposisión (problems are probably the wrong word tbh) in everything that happens. There was a talk about this at conference too. So, be prepared for the oppas! Jesus will help.

YOUNG CHAP!!!!

Èlder Ditto

Pascua.wav

I beat the eggs but He beat the grave

If you wear His yoke, then He'll take your pains

All I got...the song skills are most likely diminishing lol. 

Running with the lads

This week we worked hard and found many people! We had a wholesome street contact with a family from Independencia, Peru (my favorite place in the mundo tbh). If you are serving your mission there rn you are a lucky boy. 

Potluck with members of the church in Independencia, Peru

We had a hype fast object lesson with a member family de Honduras , hype place, probably second favorite lugar in the mundo. And they invited a family to participate and that family came to church on Sunday  

Jesus Resurrected!

The sabbat was planned out well. The first talk was about the Garden of Gethsemane, the second was about his death and the third was about His resurrection. 

Comida de la República Dominicana

General Conference is this weekend, it is literally Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash (music concert festival) spiritual and important version. Don't be caught lacking and not watching revelation fall from heaven. 

Bolos

Just went bowling with Otros Misioneros and two recent converts and absolutely got destroyed, idk why I was so bad but it was sad. Have a good week fam!

Love, Elder Ditto

Jesus is Awesome

 Hello, Homies. This week was loquito otra vez. I had Chick-fil-A sauce for the first time in nine months (wild), we got lost, and Jhonatan got baptized and confirmed! Basically the highlights of the email.

Enjoying the beauty of the town called Echaurri.

I'd love to come back here after my mission and go rock climbing.

I listened to a super good talk from way back when (the older the talk the better it is) and the apostle talked about "He made me mad" or "I lost my temper", that kinda thing. And he was talking about how those two phrases are impossible to be true! In fact, no one on earth has the power to make me mad. Why? Well, it is not hard to explain but it is hard to do. It is because all of God's children have agency, the power to choose between good and evil. We can choose the decision but we do not have the power to choose the consequence. So that's super cool and all but Elder Ditto why are you saying that? Well because as a missionary you deal with other people's agency all the time. As a parent you also do probably, idk, and as an employee or a teacher or a friend or grandparent. Sometimes I think it would be awesome to have all the people who say "Ya we will come to church!" Actually, come to church 100% of the time (we would all love that) But, people need to learn to use their agency wisely. 

Here's an example of the power of agency:

"During all of the taunting, the abuse, the scourging, and the final torture of crucifixion, the Lord remained silent and submissive. Except, that is, for one moment of intense drama which reveals the very essence of Christian doctrine. That moment came during the trial. Pilate, now afraid, said to Jesus: “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?” (John 19:10). One can only imagine the quiet majesty when the Lord spoke. “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11). What happened thereafter did not come because Pilate had power to impose it, but because the Lord had the will to accept it. “I lay down my life,” the Lord said, “that I might take it again. “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17–18)."

I have ZERO power over our amigos/investigator's lives. Kinda sucks to say, but at the same time, I also have 100% power over my own life. Only I can make myself mad, is what I'm going for. 

Doctrine and Covenants 123:17

"Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

My goal this week is to NOTGETMAD once. Anyways, cool week, gonna have to rely on my boy Jesus mucho. Happy Easter! 

Chik-fil-A sauce from USAAAAAa

Jhonatan the first time he came to church

Jhonatan before his baptism

Hanging out with the "causas"

Lost

Love, Elder Ditto

March Madness

I'm staying in Pamplona! 4th transfer here and we are all excited to keep working, none of the six missionaries here are leaving. Our district is getting Hermana misioneras in San Sebastián, which is a big WIN for the district. My day one boy, Élder Smith and I are parting ways for the first time in both of our missions which is actually wild. We have served in the same district for 9 months (almost). And he is gonna love it on the Canary Islands  Élder Miranda is going to train a new missionary in Madrid!

 Lil Fotita

Cumpleaños Feliz

I am 20 years old! So are Élder Cox y Élder Kemp! My cumple was super good, a normal missionary day but two Elders from Logroño had an exchange here so they celebrated with us as well as Betzabeth, Maryori, y Luana. My actual 2nd family fr (for real) The Peruvian version. 

New comp (Élder Eduardo)

Hornada (from Ecuardo, so good!)

A member named Eduardo got called as a ward missionary last week, he is a classic Spaniard grandfather and super awesome. For fun we did a compañionship study with him, that day he invited us to eat with him, then later he helped us in a lesson. I saw Élder Eduardo three times in one day jaja. Mucho. After Eduardo was like, "Hey, I'm done for the day haha" agreed. We are gonna buy him a name tag today. 

Miracle caught on camera

Milagro time: about the Holy Ghost

Two weeks ago during an exchange Élder Hill y Élder Smith had a lesson with an amiga in her house. We have half of her address so I told Elder Hill during daily planning that we were going to visit her and that he would need to use the Holy Ghost to remember, or guess. I don't even know if he knew which floor and room she lived in. So we got there and he thought about it for like 5 minutes then pressed 3D and boom...it was her! 1st try! She came out and we were able to talk to her for a few minutes pray with her, and set up a lesson. It's been a while since I physically went to an amigos house without a lesson plan, so that was a nice time for me to remember to be more bold and active.

Redbull Rampage

The weather is so prime right now, Mangas cortas, short sleeves baby. Been zooming around the ciudad on the biciletas, and eating yummy grub también. Trying to make District Councils more spiritual and helpful and bring more people to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope everyone prays for a miracle this week and can remember it when times get hard. Love y'all!

Tony Kroos signed mi pelota de fútbol (Real madrid played vs Osanuna (in Pamplona)

Elder Ditto