New Apartment - New Life

The highlight of my week this past week has been that the Sanchez
family moved to a small apartment away from Miguel's parents, which
means that we can go inside to teach their family! Woohoo!!! We are
hoping that this new step in their lives will allow them to start anew
and focus their lives on the Gospel. Keep on praying for them!

This week we were also able to help some less active families come
back to church, so that was cool. We had a meeting in San Diego on
Friday, and some paper work that we had to do for the stake president
on Thursday and Saturday, so we didn't have a super active week this
week.

But this next week is going to be awesome because President has
started a new proselyting technique called Power Hour. Every
companionship in the mission will set aside an hour everyday and take
a nap to recharge and be able to function better! Haha Just
Kidding!!!!! For an hour we get out of our cars and we solely plan on
just talking to every person we see! Now most of you are probably
thinking, "Well don't you do that already?" But no this is different!
Every night we pray and ask the Lord where we need to go for our Power
Hour the next day, and we have had some very spiritual experiences
because of our efforts. It has really increased our faith that the
Savior is really preparing people all around us, and all that we need
to do is listen to the Spirit and follow the guidance we receive.

This last Sunday was one of the best Sundays ever. When I walked into
the Spanish Group Sacrament meeting to play the piano my heart
dropped. There were only three people: the group leader, Hermano
Garcia, Iris Paredes (our recent convert who I just wrote about a few
weeks ago), and me. We have been trying so hard to help this little
group, and as my companion walked back to the English meeting to be
with Miguel I felt like a complete failure. We have tried so hard to
rally the members here and help this little group grow, but as I sat
there playing "Nearer My God To Thee" I felt so far away from
understanding what God wanted me to do here in El Centro. Well our
available speakers for testimony meeting were looking slim, even after
6 more people walked in a little late. The whole meeting I just kept
on thinking about what was I doing wrong and how everything we were
doing just seemed so useless.

Then with 10 minutes left on the clock, Iris, who has only been a
member for a little less than two months, went up and shared how she
gained a testimony of the church. Once again this God-sent daughter of
God bore powerful testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and talked about how her life changed when her sister-in-law invited
her to learn more about her faith and meet with two missionaries that
she considers to be sent from God. You can all only imagine the tears
that streamed down like a waterfall as she looked me in the eye and
thanked me for serving a mission and sharing the Gospel with her. I
will forever be thankful for the opportunity to have taught and known
Iris. I feel like she has taught me more than I ever taught her.

So yeah that was our week for ya! Miracles were everywhere and the
hand of the Lord was very much present. It always is when we have the
eyes to see and the ears to hear. I love you all!

Elder Dahl

P.S. I should also mention that Rafael and Maria Aranda weren't in the
Spanish group because they had a cousin die in Mexicali. They are
still doing great though!

1. This is Elder Hampton! I have lived with him for his whole mission
so far! I love this kid!
2. Speaking of kids I love, look at what Ivan's wearing!? He is going
to be the best missionary ever!