Goodbye San Diego

Well here it is folks- the last letter from me as a full time
missionary. How did that happen!? It has been the craziest two years
of my life, and I have loved every minute of it. God allows us to grow
through the good AND the bad times, and I'm so grateful for the
journey that I have had here in San Diego.

This week was a great week! We found some cool people, talked to some
crazy people, and got yelled at by some people. All in a normal week
here in City Heights. On Sunday we went to he Mission President's
Devotional, which is a cool devotional that the mission presidency
puts on once a month, and this one featured Alex Boye! I went to
another one of his devotionals at the beginning of my mission, so it
was fun to come full circle and go to another one. Socorro Maldonado
and her husband came, which was awesome. Jesus came to church again,
and hopefully Socorro will be able to change her job soon so she can
come.

Other than that, not too much happened. Today for my last preparation
day we went back to Embarcadero Park and played flickerball and
basketball. Driving through Downtown San Diego for my last time was a
surreal experience, and I am going to miss this beautiful city so
much. And the PEOPLE!!! The people here are unlike any other. Well I
guess I'm biased because San Diego is the closest thing to heaven on
earth (apart from 9829 Sanford Rd. Lodi, OH), but I will definitely
miss this place. Luckily if there is anything I've learned on my
mission it's that God is in control and is watching over EVERY SINGLE
ONE of His children. He has a plan, and it's so much better than our
plan.

Well I had hopes and dreams of making this last email super epic, but
it's time to go back to work for my last week. Thank you for all of
your prayers and the love that you have all been sending my way. I
know God lives. I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that the Book
of Mormon is true. The Restoration happened, and the Church that Jesus
Christ established has been restored to the earth again. How blessed
we are to be a part of it. I love you all, and I'll see you soon.

Elder Dahl

1. Amen City Heights!
2. Look who I saw at the Mission President's Devotional with Alex
Boye! This is the Ortiz family! I ate my first meal in the mission
with them way back in Sweetwater! Bless their hearts.
3. Elder Taunauta can spot papaya trees from a mile away :) He is also
a great tour guide!

1. Here is too much fun in this companionship
2. Look at my new friend!

Crazies in City Heights

This week was just filled with crazy people, which led to some
fantastic memories. I hope I can do them justice.

First, we visited this less active man named Jose. Jose is crazy. The
whole atmosphere of the lesson just made us laugh hysterically. He is
an older, Mexican man who is married to a Cambodian Buddhist. His
house was filled with statues of Buddha, elephants, and paintings that
he made of his wife in very little clothing. As we begin to sit down,
we see some steel drums, so naturally we ask him if he played. We then
had the pleasure of listening to him for the next two minutes play us
a song called "Alabanzas a Dios," which we believe was an original.
Then we taught the Restoration, got some free mangos, and left. Bless
his heart.

Second, as we were getting into our car after visiting with a member,
a man approached us and asked who we were. We explained that we were
missionaries, and then he continued to tell us about how he had
received intimate training from Christ himself for three months as a
result of a snake demon entering his room one night. He then put his
hand up in the air and said he was going to make all the trees shake
violently! Then when nothing happened he was just like, "Now is not
the time." And that was basically the end of our conversation.
Classic.

Third, we talked to a lady that believed at cancer, death, and old age
were all man-made. It is all made possible by newscasters that want
stuff to report about. City Heights for the win. :)

That's the end of the craziness. This week we had exchanges and Elder
Laws came to Elder Siebers and me in City Heights. We had a blast, and
it was super fun to be with Elder Laws again. We also got free
Colombian food because the server said at no missionaries should ever
have to pay. Life=Made.

I will send lots of pickles to make up for the lack of info this
week.....oops I meant to say pictures!

Elder Dahl

1. This is Elder Siebers' street contacting face!
2. We were given free Colombian food on exchanges! Tender mercies.
3. LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!
4. We love mango smoothies!!!

1. We sure do love ice cream!
2. Elder Taunauta is going to be a model.
3. Did I tell you the story about how we sent off a Swahili/French
referral for this family of ten that just moved here from the Congo a
few months ago? Google translate for the win.
4. Selfies at baptisms! We all took investigators to a baptismal
service that may or may have not been recorded by the missionary
department.

1 & 2. The Mexiqueen strikes again with cookies and cream cupcakes and
choco-flan.
3. I think this picture just describes the past month for me.
4. Elder Siebers' first time having mole (pronounced mow-leh)!

1-4. We had fun at the science museum last week! Here is us going
brought some tunnels of light, and one of e tunnels was made up of
hundreds of roles of tape! At' not cool at all, but it was he most fun
thing there :)

Banana Brothers

The title of this is "Banana Brothers" because I wanted to report that
Elder Siebers single handedly ate twenty bananas in two days this
week. I promise that isn't the most exciting part of this email, but
it still amazes me.

This week was dedicated to a lot of finding. We talked to a lot of
different people this week, and found a big apartment complex that we
have started to call "Little Persia" that has been fun to explore. One
moment you are in City Heights, and e next you feel you are walking
through a village in the Middle East. I took my picture with these
four super nice little boys that only speak Arabic (luckily I can say
hello in Arabic!). They are refugees from Syria, and it just made me
so thankful for the church and everything it is doing to help
refugees.

We visited Yadira this last week, who had a surgery in Tijuana on
Tuesday and can't really do much right now. We got to show her how to
explore and use all of the different church websites. She is such a
trooper.

On Friday we had to go on splits because we had too many appointments,
and I went by myself with a member while Elders Taunauta and Siebers
went off with another member to visit someone. Both groups had good
lessons, but it was so weird to be apart from my companions! I'm
really glad that God gave me the opportunity to serve here with these
two for my last transfer.

I'm not sure if I've told you about Hermana Quintero, but if I
haven't, let me repent. Hermana Quintero is this super sweet lady in
our ward that invites us over every Sunday for a feast. And I'm not
talking about just any regular Sunday meal, I'm talking about a feast
for a small army! That woman can cook! Her voice is also just really
cool, and we decided that she sounds like royalty, so we have started
to call her the "Mexiqueen." This week was steak kabobs wrapped in
bacon, barbecued chicken, watermelon, rice, corn, rolls, ice cream,
and cheesecake. Bless her heart that woman is an angel. She is living
proof that the fastest way to an Elder's heart is through his stomach
;) haha nah just kidding, that's only partially true.

For July 4th our ward had a picnic at a park, and we had three
nonmembers come- Carlos Gonzalez (Blanca's son), Socorro Maldonado,
and Reynaldo Hernandez, who is a random man that we talked to on the
street last week! We had a great time! There was carne asada, pollo
asado, and hot dogs :) Along with a large variety of fruits and other
good stuff.

The Book of Mormon changes lives! For example, when we talked to
Reynaldo on the street last week he started telling us about how he
could never believe in anything outside of the Bible, or that God
continues to speak to man today. About three minutes into talking to
him, we opened the Book of Mormon to 2 Nephi 28. As we read to him you
could physically see his countenance change, and after we read a few
verses HE asked US if we could come teach him more. If you aren't
actively reading the Book of Mormon right now, sacrifice whatever you
need to in order to read at least a little everyday. If you do so, I
testify and promise that Satan will have no power over you, and your
doubts will be replaced by unshakeable faith.

Elder Dahl

1. Look at this hat that Elder Taunauta has! There is a lot of Tongan
pride in this companionship.
2. I came out of the bathroom and Elder Taunauta was sitting like this
listening to a conference talk. I took over a dozen pictures and he
had no idea. Now that's what I call "pondering the scriptures"
3. Sometimes you just have "one of those days."
4. My last zone conference picture!

1. Poor Ramoncito is so bored while his mom, Yadira, is recovering
from surgery. Haha
2. These are the four Syrian kids! They were so sweet and adorable.
They kept on yelling hello to us in Arabic and giving us high fives.
3. Sometimes when you are just trying to rest on your super comfy
couch, your companion just all of the sudden ends up forgetting that
you were already on the couch, and then this happens.
4. I love this statue outside of Rosa Parks Elementary School.
5. Elder Siebers takes a lot of pictures where he and all of his
friends just make straight faces at the camera just because it's
funny. We are trying to do it, but man it is so hard not to smile when
you are actually thinking about it!

Mission: Chantaca

I can honestly say that this week has been one of the craziest,
stressful, and rewarding weeks of my mission! Let's start at the
beginning!

Monday- Operation Chantaca commenced! We went over and helped Blanca
and Ruben make the phone call to schedule an appointment to receive
their marriage license. The rest of my day consisted of me calling a
million members trying to find someone that could take them because
their appointment was for the next day!

Tuesday- We finally found a member (bless that Sister's heart), and
everything went well! They got their license and they were so funny
because they were going crazy. Ruben kept on throwing up Blanca's hand
yelling, "te vas a casar!" (You are going to get married!). So funny.

Wednesday- Sisters Trujillo and Allen bought Blanca a dress, shoes,
and a tie for Ruben.

Thursday- We had Blanca try the dress on, but the top part was too big!

Friday- We scrambled to find someone that could sew, and then we had
to find someone that could take them to the person that could sew
(bless Hna. Quintero's heart. She dropped everything she was doing in
the middle of grocery shopping and came to help us out), and only
through much prayer and ripping out of hair were we able to find
someone. Ruben and Blanca also passed their baptismal interviews.

Saturday- The wedding was beautiful and they looked gorgeous! Our ward
mission leader took Ruben out in the morning to buy some clothes, and
everything was just perfect. Well not super perfect, but it was
beautiful nonetheless. They looked awesome in their baptismal clothes
as well :)

Sunday- The  Chantacas were confirmed members of the church and our
quest was complete. Oh my heavens that was the short version. This
whole process has just been living proof that the Lord has not left
His servants alone. This is His work and I'm just the guy that makes
all the phone calls.

Another awesome experience we had was going to the temple on Friday
with Maria Juarez to do baptisms for he dead! It was a great
experience for her, and she was so happy! She said, "I never want to
leave. I want to stay in here forever." We had such a beautiful
experience.

Love you all! There is only one month left until the end of my
mission! I am so grateful for these past twenty-three months, and I am
stoked for this last month!

Elder Dahl

1. Elder Siebers- This man cracks me up every day.
2-4. District Pictures! The first two are of us acting like the
coolest boy band around.

1. Elder Taunauta is the Banana King.
2. Is is Elder Taunauta right after lifting a gym in another
missionary's apartment. He is terrifying!
3. We played Flickerball for probably my last time at Embarcadero Park
by the bay behind Downtown. Had to take a selfie with some of my
favorite missionaries! Elders Taunauta, Laws, & Siebers, and Sister
Allen!

Elder Siebers!

Our new companion is named Elder Siebers and he is amazing! He is 19,
went to BYU for a year before his mission, is from Michigan, and might
be one of the funniest people I know! He is so happy all the time and
it is just contagious to everyone. This past week has just been
constant laughter and constant awesomeness.

Well except for the fact that every single one of our appointments
canceled. Every single one of our solid investigators (except the
Chantaka family) that were progressing have gone totally missing in
action since last Tuesday. So that hasn't been the greatest way to
start off poor Elder Siebers' mission, but we are making the best of
it. That man has no fear when it comes to talking to strangers! Elder
Taunauta and I are very lucky to have him as our companion.

Ruben and Blanca got their marriage license today! They are scheduled
to get married and baptized this Saturday! Please pray for them
because everything in their lives has seemed to go wrong recently.

This past Saturday there was an activity where the young women were
selling tacos to raise money for girls camp, and they had a talent
show to go with it. The young men made a boy band called "Out of Sync"
and asked us to be their bodyguards as they came walking in. We got
some good laughs from that. I will try to send pictures next week.

I love you all! I can't believe that I'm almost at the 23 month mark!
What the what!? Thank you for all of your prayers!

Elder Dahl

1. Yadira gave us posole after we painted her kitchen! It was Elder
Siebers'first meal in San Diego!
2. Then we went to the Colombian restaurant. Sooooo good every time.
3. Elder Siebers says the best prayers, haha just kidding we weren't
praying quite yet.
4. This was in the courtyard of our church building....we got a sad
phone call....and I melted. Haha

Trio Training

We received the news for my last transfer! Elder Taunauta and I are
both staying....with our new trainee! Woohoo! We are getting him
tomorrow! What better way to end my mission than by training!? Elder
Taunauta and I are stoked out of our minds!

Last week for pday we went to Embarcadero Marina Park by the bay right
behind the convention center in Downtown San Diego. We played a game
called flickerball, which is a mix between basketball and ultimate
frisbee, but you play with a football. It's super fun.

This last week we went to a Narcotics Anonymous group with one of our
investigators. That was an experience I will never forget! Haha it was
really awesome! The whole thing was in Spanish too, which made it
extra exciting.

Also, if anybody needs to get married in the state of California,
Elder Taunauta and I are pretty much professionals. We did all the
research this past week for Ruben and Blanca, so hopefully we can get
everything moving along with that.

Elder Taunauta's family is in Tonga right now, and he told the, to
bring me back a lavalava! That's the traditional skirt thing that they
wear! I'm stoked!

This week from an outside view was kind of hard because a lot of our
appointments fell through, but Elder Taunauta and I had a great time
regardless! We talked to everyone and laughed a ton! We are going to
have the best transfer ever!

Elder Dahl

Service, Service, Service

This week was so much fun! Yadira, the awesome lady who was baptized
in early April, is redoing her back house, and we got to help tear up
the old flooring, paint the walls, and then fill a dump truck full of
trash this past week! We had too much fun! She also fed us a ton this
week for all of the work we did, so that was awesome. No better way to
end some service than Mexican food.

Another awesome note from this last week was that we received a visit
from Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy! Two apostles and a Seventy
within three weeks!? We are too spoiled. His visit was amazing and he
talked about a lot of different topics. My favorite part I think was
when he explained the Doctrine of You. He talked about who we really
are, and our relationship with God. It was really inspiring! He also
at one point told a story about a Tongan in his mission, so Elder
Taunauta got a cool shout out.

Ruben and Blanca were sick on Sunday, but everything is good for them!
Pray that they will receive an answer to get married and baptized on
June 25.

We are teaching some really cool people right now! We met this lady
named Angelica on the street two weeks ago, and she is soaking up the
gospel like a sponge. Her only problem is that she works on Sunday,
but she is figuring it out so she can come to church. We are also
teaching Yadira's son, Jaime, is super awesome. He really wants to
know if this message is true, and he is just an awesome guy in
general. The Lord is really blessing our area right now!

My little sister just informed me that I have less than 50 days left!
What the what! It is going by way too fast. One more week until the
last transfer!

Elder Dahl

Requesting Bananas

The subject is only referring to the quantity of bananas that Elder
Taunauta and I go through in a week. I think last week we bought
twenty or so bananas. I'm not really sure why I'm sharing that, but I
thought it was funny so hopefully you all do too.

Blanca and Ruben are still doing amazing! They are reading from the
Book of Mormon and bore their testimonies of it in our last lesson.
Today they invited all six of us missionaries over to eat! They made
fish, and I'm talking about a whole fish! Bones and everything! We
also had a salad, pineapple juice, and this super yummy/interesting
yucca...bread? It kind of had the consistency of what I imagine
fruitcake has, but this tasted better.

We went to a baptismal service with Jaime, Yadira's son, who is doing
awesome! He really liked the baptismal service and has a sincere
desire to know if this message is true. Pray for him! We did some
service at their place yesterday where we were taking out the linoleum
flooring. That was pretty fun.

This past Sunday was the fifth Sunday, so it was all about missionary
work! We sang a musical number and I also spoke in sacrament meeting,
which was fun! This is such a fun ward, and the members are really
great. Every Sunday there is a wonderful lady named Hermana Quintero
that feeds us, and oh my goodness she always does an amazing job. She
makes a ton, and it is all so good! For dessert she gave us this big
Oreo cake! How did she know!? Some people are really in tune with the
Spirit I guess ;)

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came and
spoke to our mission! What an awesome experience! It's probably the
closest thing to a spiritual pep rally that exists. It was a great
experience getting to shake his hand for the second time in my life!

I'm going to end this email and make sure to send a lot of pictures. I
love you all!

Elder Dahl

1. A member took us to the Colombian restaurant again! Look at that fish!
2. This is what I got! Classic carne asada.
3. Hna. Quintero's cake for us! Bless that woman.
4. All of the missionaries eating at Blanca and Ruben's on our p-day!
5. Sister Trujillo was amazed at how big my shoes were! Haha

1. I found this for you Dad!
2. Temptations for days! Don't worry, I stayed strong!
3. Elder Taunauta showed me how to wear a lava lava

1. Look at this cool mural we found in City Heights!
2. Just chilling in the laundry mat!
3. This was some service we did this past week. The whole yard was
covered in plants and trash. Isn't it sweet?