Ahoy Mi Maties!

Hey world, sorry this is going to be super short. A few hours ago I
had an operation on my eye (I had an infected stye thing.....it was
nasty!) and I'm writing this in the car and not feeling the greatest.
Thus, this will be short.

And yeah I just decided I'm done. I love you all, you have my love,
etc. etc. keep me in your prayers. Yes I'm wearing an eye patch, and
yes I fully intend to use that to contact people. I've been working on
my pirate voice all day long. I will send home pictures. Have a great
week!


Before shot. People were always asking me, "Do you know you have
something on your eye?"........nah somehow that alien volcano escaped
me......yes I noticed

Office Missionaries

  This week I had the opportunity to feel like an office missionary.
We had a few meetings that we had to plan for, prepare, and then do a
whole bunch of work for. The worst part was that the meeting that took
up the most work was canceled :( But it was ok because we should be
having it sometime this week, so we are all ready.
  Each night we had about two hours in our area, and we were flying to
appointments, and it felt very literally. There are almost no cars on
the road as we travel from Brawley, to Westmorland, to Calipatria, and
back, so we get moving real fast. Too much driving, not enough
teaching.
  But we did find some cool people! And we are really emphasizing
working with the members this month, and so we are already seeing some
cool miracles from that. This week sacrament started with forty
members, but by the time it ended there were about sixty. We are going
to see that number explode!
  Last week Elder Rodriguez and I were able to go to a meeting in San
Diego, which was a blast because that means ROAD TRIP! Haha but for
real we spent over four hours just in the car, which is a ton in this
mission, but it was so fun. We listened to some awesome talks and had
a blast.
  More fun info about us missionaries here in Brawley. So in our
Spanish branch there are two sets of missionaries, the Hermanas and
us. Hermana Gallagher is from Colorado and Hermana Lopez is from Utah
(but her family is from Mexico) and they are the best! Also in our
district are Elders Sharp and Searle, who cover the English work in
our area. Elder Sharp is from Australia and is training Elder Searle
from American Fork, Utah. The six of us have way too much fun,
including morning workouts, district meetings, and switching from
bikes to cars and so forth. It's great to be surrounded by positive,
upbeat missionaries who are always there for you!
  One of the talks we heard on the way to San Diego was titled "The
Inconvenient Messiah" by Jeffrey R. Holland. This talk just blew my
mind away. He talks a lot about the temptations that Christ had, and
how He could have made it so easy for himself if He had chosen to, but
instead he chose the "inconvenient way" and followed the will of His
Father. Sometimes we have to do things that are "inconvenient" like go
to church, read our scriptures every day, visit someone who is sick,
etc. but the blessings we receive when we do these things far outweigh
any inconvenience it may have caused. I love this gospel and I love
sharing it! Go out and make something happen today! Be a walking
miracle for someone today!

Elder Dahl

Here are some fun cures that we too while bowling today! Included are
the shot of me totally winning the game (not prideful or anything),
our zone picture, and the Brawley District!

Jesus' Baptism

   I'm absolutely positive that about 3 minutes ago I remembered everything I was going to write....and now my mind is blank. I will just start writing and hopefully something engaging will come.

   We didn't get to do a lot of biking this last week because Elder Rodriguez's bike broke and we had a member fix it (Sorry Dad, I have failed you. I can't do diddlysquat when it comes to bike repairs). But it worked out ok because we didn't really stay in Brawley much. We had to travel up to Westmorland and Calipatria (two of the little towns about 20 minutes away from Brawley) a lot this week. We found this super awesome family and we had some really spiritual lessons this past week.....and then the members that have been visiting them with us told us that they were baptized into another church this past Sunday.....and on Monday we had a lesson and everything and committed them to be baptized.....awkward. haha Well I guess you win some and you lose some. We can't decide if we should keep on teaching them or not ;)

   Also, JESUS WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! No, I'm not talking about the account in Matthew 3, I'm talking about the 12 year-old wonder named Jesus Velasquez! Him and his dad are so awesome, and are so happy to be members of the church! Another kind of awkward moment- they had to leave church after sacrament meeting on Sunday because Jesus' older brother was getting baptized in another church that he and his mom go to.....again, you win some and you lose some :) haha to say the least we have had some interesting experiences this past week.

   We have a family that lives in the middle of a date farm, and their daughter works in the Westmorland Date Shake, which is a little store that sells all sorts of weird things, but mostly just date shakes. I have a new found love. How come nobody ever told me that dates were super delicious!?

   This week I have been thinking a lot about leaving our comfort zones. There are so many people out there that just won't listen to our message because they are "good where they're at." Applying this to myself, how many opportunities have I passed up because I was too afraid to leave my comfort zone? Who isn't really nervous or even scared of change/the unknown? There is a series of short videos by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles called "Patterns of Life" where he describes how sometimes we feel like we are surrounded in a mist of fog, and we can't see in any directions. He explains how we want an immediately flash of light, or an absolute knowledge of where we are going or what we should be doing. But the Holy Ghost almost never works like that. Normally our path is lighted just enough ahead to take a few steps, and then another few steps, and so forth. We don't even recognize that it's the Holy Ghost until we've taken those first few steps and try it out! That has been our focus this week- following the Holy Ghost. It's hard, but our path is already made for us by a loving Heavenly Father, who is guiding us little by little. Hope that made sense!

   I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Dahl

1. Loving that date shake! And they gave them to us for free!!!!!

2. This guy just came waltzing into the Laundrymat this morning. Coolest ride in town.

3. For some dumb reason we decided to eat here...the only restaurant in Westmorland.....notice how there are no people eating here with us....there's a reason for that. Gross tacos!!!!!

4. How many people live here again? And what the what is that a river? The farmers are super good at irrigation systems here!

4. Me and my beastly companion! Elder Rodriguez is a stud!

5. I got sad and hid in the cabinet....oh the weird things we do...

6. This is Hermana Chabolla! Is an a super awesome member that lives up in Calipatria and has chickens and a turkey! I love it here!

7. Chicken Selfie!

8. Elder Rodriguez cleaning out the cockroaches from the baptismal font....yeah it's gross.

9. I saw my friend, Sister Sommers, was reppin the "abandoned shopping cart" look, so I decided to follow suit!

10. We get a little crazy out here in the valley!

Bring on the Heat!

What's up everyone! Right now I'm writing to you from the Imperial
Valley in Brawley, California! I literally went from being the
farthest west I the mission to being the farthest east! And boy is it
hot! Haha actually I kind of like it!

My companion is Elder Rodriguez! He is from Boston, his family is from
Guatemala, he is a super hard worker, and we are already the greatest
of friends! It's been a huge blessing to me to come out here and have
the opportunity to work with the amazing people here. And the best
part is that if you aren't amazing, then it's too hot for them to
care, so they don't mess with you! Haha

The Brawley Branch is wonderful. It is about the size of the La Mesa
branch. I think about seventy people came to church last week. They
are all super great and I'm already loving this branch a ton. Here are
two companionships in the Spanish branch, ours, and then there is a
companionship of Sisters that BIKE!!! Bless their souls, Hermanas
Lopez and Gallagher are troopers! So how it works is they cover the
northern half of the main city, Brawley, then we cover the southern
part, and some small towns that are anywhere from twenty to twenty
five minutes from Brawley. It's the bomb! We have been planning our
days so that we spend a big chunk in Brawley and we ride our bikes
while the sisters can get out of the sun for a bit and use the car.
And boy has that been an adventure! I have literally been grinning
from ear to ear every time we leave the apartment, and I have come to
accept that I should just be used to being drenched with sweat. It's
just the thing to do out here in the valley. :)

There is a twelve year old boy of a recent convert that wants to be
baptized this Saturday as well!  He is so cool! Pray for Jesus
Velasquez! This past week he came into church with a a missionary name
tag that said, "Elder Velasquez" and we just about died.

I am so happy! This is the restart that my "mid-mission crisis" needed
to put my head back on straight, set some goals, make some plans, and
then make it happen! It almost feels like I'm in a completely
different mission! Haha I can't wait to tell you more awesome stories
next week!

Elder Dahl

1. Ice cream is a dairy too right?

2. I'm we are becoming professional bakers. I can ship from the Imperial Valley if you're interested in purchasing the weekly Elders Dahl's special

3. I got to go on exchanges with Elder McNaughtan! It was way fun! He came out just a little bit before I did, and we had a blast!

4. Two of my super good mission friends, who got to come all the way out to the Imperial Valley to give us some training!

4. I decided that since I ride a bike now I better get a backpack....any objections?

5. We totally bombed somebody's birthday party! We basically just walked down their driveway and started talking to them, and it was hilariously perfect.

6. The birthday girl had some beastly burgers!

Hasta Luego Logan Heights

Another transfer has gone by, and I received the news that I'm leaving the beautiful shores of San Diego! It was kind of a surprise, but not really at the same time. I will miss all the people, the ocean breeze, covering Downtown San Diego, and my beautiful branch so much. But the Lord is in charge of this, not Elder Dahl, so I'm ready to go and do everything I can in my new home.

This week has been a crazy one. La familia Recendez (Perez) came to church for the first hour, but then had to leave because they volunteered to help an older couple that can't move or do anything move, and Sunday was the only day the older couple could do it. Wow they are so perfect. :) We also had a girl named Adriana come to church (shout out to my Sister Adriana Dahl!!!!!) and she stayed for the entire time. She is a family friend of a family in the branch, and she is doing awesome! Angie is doing well in Arizona, and we have also been teaching this other man named Flomencio is super awesome, knows the Book of Mormon is true, and wants to be baptized! IT has been a blessed week for us.

Also, to celebrate my companion's birthday his dad paid for all five of us to go to the cheesecake factory! Heaven on earth! haha Attached pictures will show the new love of my life- the macaroni and cheese burger. WOW!!!!! My arteries are still thanking me for that one, haha. And yes we split pieces of Oreo cheesecake and an apple stroussel cheesecake. It was glorious!

I wanted to share a scripture that has been on my mind recently. During a conference we had with some missionaries in our neighboring zones, a Sister missionary shared the following scripture-

2 Nephi 33:3 But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry

This scripture from the Book of Mormon has brought me a lot of comfort this past week. I am not a perfect missionary by any means, but I always try to do what the Lord would have me do. I love the people I work with and I love being a missionary. I love you all so much, and you are included in my prayers.

Elder Dahl

1. Look at how big that thing is! Even my huge mouth had trouble biting into that!

2. Elder Larsen, Elder Canar, and Elder Neilson are thinking, "Wow living in this cramped five-man is finally paying off." haha

3. BUT FOR REAL THOUGH IT'S MASSIVE!!!!!!

 

4. Two of my best friends in the mission are going home today! Sister Jones and Sister Wilde were in my district in Sweetwater! Best of luck to you Sisters in the outside world!

Please Don't Go!

This week has been a crazy one! Here are some updates!

Angie- She got back from her week vacation. We went to go see her and she said she was leaving the next day for a month! I was devastated! I wanted to die! I couldn't believe this was happening! I was about ready to fall over and say, "I quit!" But luckily I was with my good friend Elder Browne for the day because of exchanges and he looked her right in the eye and said, "Will you be baptized the Saturday you get back!?" She thought about it, looked at us, grinned, and answered with an excited, "Yes!" Mark your calendars boys and girls because September 19 we will be having a baptism for her!

Osvaldo Recendez and Maria Perez- Bless their hearts they are perfect! We taught the Word of Wisdom and they thought it was awesome. He has a problem with coffee, but he really wants to fix it. He sounded almost apologetic for ever touching it in the first place. They came to church again :)

This past week was crazy! We had a Mission Leadership Council meeting, zone meeting, a meeting with the Stake President that we had to plan for, more training from President Schmitt the day after zone meeting, and we helped someone from the branch clean up her yard because she is moving to Tijuana. Phew! I'm exhausted! But it has been great! We have seen a lot of miracles this whole week, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord! We are really working with some really awesome and prepared people right now! I will tell you all more next week when things calm down a little bit!

Love you all!

Elder Dahl

1. I got to have lunch with an old friend! Elder....I mean David Hulet! It was awesome!

2. Our Branch President was released and moved back to Miami! You will be missed Presidente Lopez!

3. Partying at Sunset Cliffs with our zone! I got to catch up with my old friend Elder Reyes!

4. My super awesome district!

5. Exchanges with Elder Browne! He is the best! I love this guy!

6. Bye Bye Angie! We will see you in a month!

One Year Mark?

Did anyone else realize that my one year mark was in two days!? I surely did not! I'm having an extreme mid-mission crisis right now! Shouldn't I be like an expert by now or something? haha We'll see if that ever happens!

The Perez family came to church! They loved it and they have asked us to teach them everything that they have to do so that they can get baptized! WWWHHHHAAAATTT!!!!!???? They are so awesome! We are working on getting her divorce papers in Mexico all solved out, and the entire Logan Heights Branch has been so welcoming and inviting to them. Everything has worked out so perfectly, and it has been a huge testimony to me that this is the Lord's work. He is in charge and He will work His miracles!

Angie was gone on vacation this past weekend, but we are thinking that she will be baptized either this week or next week! Stay tuned!

Today we are going to Sunset Cliffs as a zone, so that is going to be super fun! It's a super cool craggy cliff where we can watch the sun set over the ocean. Yeah it should be really really nice :)

Being a missionary is the best! I've got to go, but I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week! Everybody make sure to go to the Medina County Fair this week and go see the Dahl Family exhibit! They have goats, snacks, and normally one or two sleeping members of the Dahl family taking a nap in the pens with the goats! Love you all!

Elder Dahl

We are the most spiritual elders ever.