Take me out to the Ball Game!

Today we've been given permission to go to the Padres baseball game! WOOHOO! all of the missionaries have been encouraged to go, so that we will be able to help spark curiosity as to why we are missionaries, and hopefully we will be able to find some people that we can teach. Worth a shot right? What an interesting way to share the gospel!? I'm excited!

This week has been crazy! On Wednesday all of the missionaries in our zone were given their iPads, and the conference that we had was absolutely inspiring. It was all about the Great Tool of the Harvest- THE BOOK OF MORMON! that's right, in a conference that we thought was going to be all about iPads, we really just focused on the Book of Mormon! President Schmitt is definitely led by the Lord in how we can do the Lord's work in the most effective way possible.

We were also able to add two families this week! Inez and her beautiful family (it was kind of like a secret mission adding them- more details to come next week) and the rest of Victor's family. We are seeing some miracles everyday!

Please pray for Angie that she will know whether she should be baptized this coming Saturday or not! That would be appreciated!

Well sorry I'm off to the game! I love you all!

Elder Dahl
This is a picture of Trevar that was posted to the San Diego Mission Moms and Dads Facebook page. This was taken at a zone conference.

Amazing Gospel Awesomeness!

SO much happened this week and I have no time to write. Do I say that every week?

We had about 18 hours of meetings and preparing for meetings this week, which was crazy intense. But overall I learned a lot about how to better serve my zone and get ready for them all to get iPads tomorrow (it'll be like herding goats all over again).

Craziness happened all over the place this past week. Here's an update:

Claudia and her family have gone totally offline. We can't ever find them. Pray for them :)

We had kind of a drop lesson with Flor. She is not in a situation to leave her boyfriend (only because her divorce papers in Mexico are taking forever) and quit her job. She told us she would rather have us spend our time searching for those that could be baptized right now. Oh I almost cried my eyes out. We are going to meet with her once a week to check up on her Book of Mormon reading. Pray for her :)

ANGIE CAME TO CHURCH! She also has a baptismal date for June 20th! Pray that she will be able to get her answer before then! She is progressing quickly and asking some great questions!

I don't remember if I mentioned Victor, but long story short he was a referral from the Arabic Elders, and we had taught him a few times, but recently we've been seeing him more, and he is taking everything more seriously! We just got to teach his family yesterday too at the Mormon Battalion and they all want to learn! PRAY FOR THE ECHAVERRIA FAMILY! Victor agreed to be baptized on July 11th!

We've been talking to everyone....literally every single person. This past week we were able to send out over 17 referrals to other missionaries! The Lord is moving His work forward! My prayer is that I'll be able to keep up! haha

I love you all! My time is up and it is ready to go! Have a great week!

Elder Dahl

2. Havin' fun at our noche de hogar misional!

 1. It's always a party in our car!

Elder Swenson, What's That Square Thing?

First, my companion! His name is Elder Swenson and he is awesome! He is from Salt Lake City, Utah and he played football for East High School. He is going to play football for Utah State after the mission and he is a beast! He started his mission in Mexico, but after getting pretty sick there he was reassigned here, and I am so thankful for him! He loves to talk to everyone and we don't let anybody go by without talking to them. It's been a blast, and I'm excited to see how much I will learn and grow in my time that I have with him.

Second, so Elder Swenson and I got iPads last week! We are slowly starting to incorporate the iPads into the mission so that we will learn how to best use them effectively. So far it's been a crazy process, but we've loved showing videos and talks to our investigators. We are learning to use them as tools to help us focus on our purpose as missionaries! Alas, since it's not a goat I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with it......awkward.

Keep on praying for Angie! I think I've talked about her before, but she hasn't been able to come to church for a little while, and we were getting worried about her. Within this past week though she has been able to ask some really awesome questions, and she has been praying to know if what we are saying is true. She's so awesome!

This week has been pretty hectic. I'm not sure I was ready to lose Elder Ramirez (that man is a saint), but through a lot of prayer and help from our Savior things have turned out alright. Thank you all for your prayers, and ask God a question this week! I know He will answer you!

Elder Dahl

Reunion of my district form Sweetwater! Elder Welch, Hermana Jones, and Hermana Wilde!

"We can be kind of normal sometimes..."

Surprise Baptism

Juan Zamora was baptized!!!!!! WOOP WOOP!!!!!! He is so cool! We taught him three times this week just to make sure he was ready, and then he was baptized on Saturday! Bad news is that I was gone on exchanges twice this past week, and only taught him once.....but he's pretty cool so it was fun. Also, I played the piano at his service and the window was open and turning my pages, and then a huge book fell and slammed on the keys in the middle of the opening hymn......brilliant Elder Dahl....brilliant. haha

For one of my exchanges I went to YSA work for the day and even went to institute at SDSU! Crazy fun! My goal is to open the first Spanish YSA branch in the U.S....haha, just kidding.

Flor is doing well. She might be quitting her job so that she can come to church! THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME! I can't remember if I mentioned, but she was married in Mexico, but then moved here without divorcing (very common here) and is living with someone here. she is working on her divorce papers because she REALLY wanted to be baptized. Pray for her!

We are teaching a super cool family! Claudia, her three children, Mary (18) , Genesis (14), and Damian (12), and Mary's boyfriend, Cesar (17). Mary and Cesar have a little boy named Jasper who is 6 months old. They were found before I got here, but we hadn't been able to teach them, until this past week when we found them at home. We talked about how the same authority and power that was on the earth when Jesus Christ was here had been restored, and they said that they felt something different when we spoke to them. Then Genesis prayed and felt "amazed- like a burden had been lifted from her chest." And then she asked us when was the soonest that she could be baptized......THIS MESSAGE IS SO TRUE! The Lord is preparing people EVERYWHERE to accept His message!

Other things from this week: We had a seven hour meeting last week, and yesterday we had meetings for a total of ten hours. But they were so awesome! We have learned so much about doing missionary work and really being guides for our brothers and sisters to com enjoy the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a great week! I'm SO excited to talk to my family this Sunday for Mother's Day! I love you all!

Elder Dahl

There are more pictures, but I'm out of time, and I will send more next week!

1) Juan Zamora!!!! He's so great!!!!

2) My Filipino friend, Elder Notarte! He is a new zone leader for the English zone that covers the same area, so together we are totally lost, but a whole lot of fun!

Logan Heights!

The results are in and I am currently serving in the Logan Heights Branch in San Diego, California! So some cool things about my area:

1) My area goes right up to the San Diego harbor! I can see the ocean everyday! 

2) My companion and I cover Downtown San Diego! WOOP WOOP PARTY!!! Except we never go there because it'd be absolutely pointless. Nobody actually lives there, they just sin there. haha just kidding.....well you can all imagine.

3) Our area is the end of 28th Street all the way to the end of Downtown. It's really small compared to my other areas. EVERYBODY IS MEXICAN!!!!!! It's so fun and I look so out of place- it's the best :)

4) Our branch doesn't meet in a church building. We have church in Logan Elementary...yeah it's weird. During church I can also learn how to count by 10s!

5) Yes the zoo is in my zone and yes you may send me tickets to go to the zone if you so desire to serve the missionaries in the nicest way possible, haha

6) PETCO Park where the Padres play is in our area too....we can't go to baseball games though so definitely don't send tickets for that.

This is going to be so fun! OK now time for my companion! Some cool facts about him are:

1) His name is Elder Ramirez! He was born in Tijuana and moved to San Diego when he was 12, and then to Orem, Utah when he was 15. Yes he is very fluent (oh my heavens I'm devouring that humble pie right now. He helps me out a ton and I love it!) and he loves to work!

2) Don't even try to Facebook stalk him because he never used it.

3) He loves soccer and basketball and matching whatever tie I'm wearing.

4) It's his last transfer in the mission field :(

Other fun facts:

1) I live in a 4 man apartment! We share with Elder Norman (from Utah) and Elder Neilson (from Canada, who just started his mission!), but there's only one bathroom!!!!!!! Luckily the funness outweighs the lack of bathroom....ness.

2) I'm driving again this transfer and my new car is no fun. The brakes are super sensitive and I miss my old car :( And I got a ticket for not turning my wheels on the slightest hill ever......I love Logan, but Logan is not loving me!

3) There are 5 companionships of missionaries in my branch! CRAZY!!! There is so much work here! Also, Elder Welch (one of my trainers) and Elder Clair (my first companion in La Mesa) are in my branch serving with me! SO WEIRD!!!

I have had an amazing first few days! Of course there have been some struggles, but the awesomeness has far exceeded any struggle there has been. I'm ready to get to work here in Logan! Keep on sending those prayers! I love you all so much! God does too! Have a great week!

Elder Dahl

Elder Reyes is the coolest!

 Best Easter bunny ever! Thanks Mom and Dad!

 Elder Ramirez (The new companion)! He's so cool!

Transfers? So Soon?

You read it right....transfers are tomorrow......I got a phone call last night telling me to pack my bags because I'm leaving! WHAT!? I've only been here for three months! Why am I leaving so soon! Oh right because the Lord wants me to. I almost forgot.

My three short months here have seemed like an eternity and also an instant. I LOVE the La Mesa 3rd branch- they are the definition of member missionary work. They are always trying to help us, and are willing to drop everything to do their part in hastening the Lord's work. I will miss them dearly.

And my investigators! Oh my heart I'm going to miss them so much. Armando came back, Benjamin and Jessica are progressing at an amazing rate, and Cookie came to General Conference (have I ever mentioned Cookie? She's like a grandma here for the two of us. We love her.)! Armando, Benjamin, and Jessica are definitely going to be baptized next transfer, and I'm so sad to be missing it.

But the Lord works in mysterious ways. My work here is done for now, and it's time for me to move on and start chugging away again. The Lord is preparing people to hear this message! When I got here some missionaries told me that this was a dead area- what a bunch of hogwash! We are not alone! We have divine help in this work! Miracles have not ceased!

I'm going to go get to work! You all do the same! I'll let you know where I am next week :)

Elder Dahl

1. NOOOOO Goodbye Elder Reyes!!!!!

2. He's too cool for me anyway.

 3. Look what my branch president gave me! We're twins!

Because He Lives

This is a miracle e-mail! So the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a new Easter video called Because He Lives. All y'all need to go to HeLives.mormon.org right now and watch it because it's like 2 minutes of pure, spiritual awesomeness. Don't believe me? Here's three experiences to prove my point:

1. The very first day the video came out we shared it with a young man named Daniel out walking his dog (fun fact every time someone is walking a dog I always use Beedo, my sister Erica's dog, to stop them and talk to them. Good work Beedo, you're saving souls in San Diego) and we were able to show him the video. He went from being not interested at all, to giving us his information and asking us when was the soonest we could come by.

2. We just started teaching a lady named Ramona. Our first visit she told us that she only wanted to read from the Bible and she didn't want to talk about "that Joseph Smith guy." Long story short during our second visit we were able to watch the video, and her heart just melted. She's now reading 2 Nephi 31 from the Book of Mormon and wants to know if what we said was true.

3. Repeat story #2, but with a 15-year old named Jazmin.

Guess what people!? Miracles are so real, and they are all around us. We just need to be obedient to the commandments and work! Boom plop here we go!

This week we also did service for two different ladies that we know, and oh my heart they fed us just mountains of food. One of them was telling us about different technology and movies that are coming out and I was just thinking, ".....wow I've been out of the loop for a long time!" My world basically revolves around scriptures, teaching the Gospel, beans, meat, and tortillas!

I love you all! Thanks for your prayers! You are all amazing! Go share the video and watch the miracles flow!

Elder Dahl

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