Where did 2014 go?

If somebody were to ask me what I did in the year 2014 I would literally have no idea. I can barely remember what I did yesterday let alone for the whole year. That's why missionaries have their agendas.....except I lost mine this week and I literally feel like my identity has been stolen. haha

My district went caroling on Christmas Eve and Christmas, and it was the best thing ever. Caroling in San Diego in Spanish is super fun! I highly recommend it. We also opened our presents as a district on Christmas, and yes my family sent me a spatula and an electric skillet. It was perfect. And those 1/2 lbs. Reeses Cups!!!!!!!!!!! I also highly recommend eating those with an apple for a healthy (......), well-balanced breakfast. 

But the best part by FAR was Skyping my family on Christmas day! I love them so much! Best Christmas present ever! I never understood why people got so excited when they could Skype their families.....I've been enlightened. We also went over to Medina family's house for breakfast, and let me just say that American-Mexicans make the best Christmas breakfasts ever. French toast, eggs, tamales, posole, peppermint chocolate-covered Oreos, cheesecake.......I love that family :)

Also, last P-day we went to Sunset Cliffs to watch the sunset and....well you can see the picture. It was gorgeous. I'm not going to lie- San Diego is really quite wonderful. I am super blessed! Now if we only had some solid people to teach! AHHHHH!!!!! It is so frustrating when we send texts, call, send reminders....and still get no results and no responses. Craziness, but we are still moving forward and looking for those people that are ready to hear our message! 

I love you all! I hope you had a very merry Christmas! Take some time to make some goals for 2015! I'll be making mine too! Now go have a great day because there is a loving Heavenly Father that loves you perfectly, and that makes all the difference :)

Elder Dahl

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

First off, Merry Christmas everyone! Christmas is the best, but for missionaries it feels like the same. Every day is Christmas when you're a missionary! All you do is talk about Christ and how He is the Gift (check outchristmas.mormon.org if you haven't yet!)!

I do have some tragic news.....my two-year streak of never being sick has finally come to a sad end. I had a nasty cough last week.....more like a nasty sneeze. I never want to sneeze again. It didn't keep me from working, but I did sleep in through three mornings of exercise (which was really bad because my family sent me goat fudge.....oh heavens) and my Spanish sounded REALLY weird. haha Spanish report- I can basically comprehend everything I read more or less in Spanish and my love for talking has carried over into this new language, so that's been awesome! The gift of tongues is real and the Lord definitely helps his missionaries!

Update on investigators and my people- Cecilia is seriously gone. Saddest thing ever. Pray for her because she has vanished and we have no idea why. And just about every investigator has decided to stop texting and calling us back.....it's kind of driving me crazy. I'm really feeling for poor parents like mine when their kids aren't answering their phones. It's horrible! So we're still in a little rough patch right now, but we are working SO hard, so the blessings will come :)

Elder Welch and I are having a fabulous time though. We have almost no Christmas music, which translates to Elder Dahl singing at the very top of his lungs at all times and in all languages. It's pretty great....at least I think so :)

I love you all so much! If you want to do something for me for Christmas, then here it is- 

Write Sister Emily Sommers a card and send it to her! Missions are a roller coaster of extreme happiness, and then extreme craziness, and then sadness, and everything inbetween. I know it helped me a lot in the beginning to get packages from my family, emails, and letters from my friends. I'm pretty sure she can't email outside of her immediate family, so send that awesome Sister a letter for Christmas!

And then keep on being awesome yourself! The Lord lives! He loves you! I'm obnoxious and talk to everyone I meet about how the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth, but I'm not really obnoxious at all because I love these people so much! And I love you! So smile and be happy, and spread some Christmas cheer to every person you see!

Elder Dahl

1. The package my family sent me....you all have no idea how excited I was....and still am :)

2. My district in Oldtown, California. Basically we belong in a movie or TV show or something because...well I mean just look at us!

3. I found my future home!

IT RAINED!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it!? In the past two weeks it has rained TWO whole times! It's been crazy! They weren't super intense or anything, but I (being official because I'm from the land of rain, clouds, and wind) qualify it as a good rain. I got to use my rain jacket, which blew my mind! Also we got to do service where we were shoveling wood chips around this field, and I asked if I could use their snow shovel because that's what I used back on my farm...........I'm an idiot. A snow shovel in San Diego Elder Dahl? hahaha

This week was great because Elder Welch and I are becoming really great friends, which has caused our unity to go through the roof! The bad thing is we have been smacked in the face with canceled appointments. This seriously should never happen in this area, but here we are. So that's been a struggle. But then Elder Welch and I just look at each other and say, "We're missionaries and God loves us." What more is there to say? There's no reason to be sad or upset when you remember God's love!

Speaking of which, check out this video! He is the Gift- christmas.mormon.org

I have seen this video change people, which is so cool. Street contacts are the best. You start talking to this grumpy, punk teenager, you show him this video on his phone, and about 3 minutes later you have a return appointment for the English elders in your area to come teach him about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! Awesome? Yes, yes it is.

Update on our work: Las familias Tafolla AND Tezo came to church on Sunday and both loved it. We had three other people lined up to go with rides and everything, and within the hour before church started they all canceled. Please pray for Janet, Miguel, and Juan. And me too please! Now go do something absolutely amazing, like opening a door for someone or baking cookies for a friend. Extra points if you do them for missionaries of course :) I love you all so much!

Elder Dahl

Here are two pictures that I don't know if I sent or not! The first one is us lawn bowling on Coronado and the second one is me and a member of the branch named Jesse (he's the best!). It was during Halloween, and I don't know why I'm so red!

Go To Gethsemane

This week has been......special. La familia Tafolla came to church on Sunday!!!!!! OH MY HEART IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER!!!!! We went over to their house last night and they are excited to come back to church, and now that they have started they are never going to stop again! We also found another less-active family, la familia Tezo, that was baptized a few years ago, moved away, and are now back. They are so sweet and we are going to be working with them and teaching them the lessons again, but they are super committed to come to church and we are super excited to help them! Being a missionary is the best!

And then sometimes you just want to die. HAHA Elder Welch and I hit a low point last week. There were some miscommunications (probably because of my Spanish) and we were both expecting the other to change because we both felt as though the other was wrong. It was HARD! There was no reason why the two of us shouldn't have been along, but I justed wanted to scream! 

Which leads me to my thought of this week. The theme for the month of December for our mission is the Atonement, and we have heard the phrase "Go to Gethsemane" a lot. At first I was kind of puzzled; moreover, I was absolutely perplexed. How can we go to Gethsemane? What does that even mean? Thus, my journey had begun!

We were asked to read two talks by Elder David A. Bednar: "Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease" and "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality". Elder Bednar focuses on the enabling power of the Atonement- how we can change our lives and grow through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So I decided to put these words to the test- I would go to Gethsemane.

And what a journey it was. It took a lot of humility, which I have never been good at, a lot of patience, and a lot of talking with my companion. And that took me just to the outskirts of the Garden, I hadn't even gotten in yet. I needed to find Christ, and I needed some divine help for that, so I prayed. And oh what a prayer it was.

A lot of things happened for me during that prayer. Prayer really is a two-way communication, and anybody that tells you otherwise sure is missing out. I went to Gethsemane that day. I have felt the enabling power of the Atonement- it's real. I know Christ is there for us, but we are the ones that need to make that journey to Him. But you know what? He's already there right beside you, and that, my friends, is awesome.

Elder Welch and I are doing great :) which is good because we just found out that neither of us are leaving for the next transfer! Woop woop party in San Diego! Thanks for reading this really long post! You are all amazing. Go to Gethsemane- make it part of your life. Check out this video called "He is the Gift" at christmas.mormon.org too! I love you all!

Elder Dahl

P.S. Please pray for Cecilia. She was supposed to be baptized this Saturday, but she has fallen off the face of the planet and we haven't been able to find her since last Monday.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was really awesome! We ended up having two thanksgiving dinners, which probably wasn't our smartest idea, but somehow we managed. haha I am so thankful for my wonderful family, my opportunity to serve as a missionary for Jesus Christ, and my obsession with goats!

The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways! I want to share two highlights of this past week for me!

1. We took Janet, one of our investigators, to the Mormon Battalion on Wednesday. We were so excited because it was going to be a fantastic lesson with her, but also super fun for us too. The Mormon Battalion Museum is amazing. If you ever come to San Diego and you don't check it out, then you're missing out because it's great. So we left with PLENTY of time to make our appointment- we got on the bus, took it to the trolley, and got about a third of the way when I asked Elder Welch to send her a text saying when we would be there. He just looked at me and said, "I don't have the phone, you have it"........but I didn't have it....that is I didn't have it since I set it down on the bench at the bus stop back at our apartment!!!! That was a 25 minutes ago at a busy bus stop, and we had no way to find Janet once we got to our last trolley stop! So we had to go back for what was surely going to be the worst nightmare of my life. The whole 30 minutes of traveling back I was just praying. Praying that the phone would be there, praying that Janet would be able to go and feel the Spirit, praying to help me stop being an idiot.....you get the idea. So about an hour after we left the bench we were coming back. and we looked out the window of the bus as we passed.....and there it was. That stupid little black box that is so central to us doing the work here....still sitting on that bench. That phone should have been gone in a heart beat. Oh the power of prayer is really quite ridiculous. God surely does watch out for his missionaries, but let's just say I haven't been holding on to the phone for the past week or so.....

2. We didn't have a single investigator come to church today.....and we were supposed to have at least 4. That kills a missionary on the inside...and for me on the outside too. I was so upset. We also had some AMAZING lessons planned for later that night because we were having an activity to go see the lights at the San Diego temple, but now we couldn't go because everyone had bailed, and we had no idea why! So we made our way back and just said a prayer along the lines of, "Heavenly Father, our plans are ruined. We have no idea what to do, and we need to be guided by the Holy ghost more now than ever.....please help us." And you know what? We had AN AMAZING DAY! We were able to add 4 new investigators, visit with a lot of potentials, and set up a lot of appointments for the rest of the week! The Lord's hand is in our lives in all that we do! I am so sure of it!

I'm so grateful to be a missionary. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real, and it is here in its fullness on the earth once again, which is pretty cool. Please take advantage of that. Also check out this video that the Church just put out: christmas.mormon.org      I'll talk about it more next week! Love you all so much! Go do something awesome today!

Elder Dahl

Look at that Thanksgiving table! I couldn't get over it! 

Mexican turkey! haha It was delicious! (that's Hermano Medina in the picture!)

La familia Medina has a pet turtle......that's the coolest thing ever. It was huge.