Three for One Deal

I am not going to lie- this week was exhausting! But it was exhausting in the best way possible! All three of the baptisms went through and it was AMAZING!!!!! On Tuesday we had Armi and Ivory's baptism, which was super Spirit-packed and absolutely beautiful. It was such a special day for them, and we had a packed house in our primary room! I will never forget that day! One of the coolest parts was after the service when Armi was testifying to an investigator of the other elders about how this message was true :)

Then on Saturday we had Iris' baptism in Spanish. She bore her testimony at the end, and wow she has such a powerful testimony. She was truly prepared by the Lord to accept this message, and we hope to help her go to the temple soon!

My new companion is Elder Laws! He is from Loveland, Colorado and he has been on his mission for about a year now! He is a great missionary and it has been a fun, packed week for him. We haven't had a normal day so far, and with Christmas this week it doesn't look like we'll have one anytime soon! Elder Laws is a basketball champ and he also played baseball. HE'S TALLER THAN ME! That is the first time for my whole mission, and will definitely take some getting use to. We have already had a lot of fun, and it is going to just keep on being great! Fun fact he swallowed a quarter when he was 10.

Today the Rolfes invited all of the missionaries over for lunch and to squeeze oranges! We also had a meeting with our stake president and President Schmitt today, so we invited President Schmitt too! We had a really fun time and got some great pictures!

Miguel is doing well and so are his kids! There are a lot of other people in the woodwork that we are working with, and we can't wait to help them all come unto Christ and help the Church grow here in the great Imperial Valley! I love this place!

Have fun this year! Serve others! Carol at the top of your lungs! Have a blast no matter what! It's Christmas! Make it the best day of the year! I love you all!

Elder Dahl

Slipped My Mind

.....Dear World,

Somehow....someway.....writing this blog email slipped my mind.....and I forgot. This is pathetic....my mom's going to kill me. I promise next week is going to be super good. Pray for the Sanchez family, the Valdovino Family, Iris, and the Alvarado family. I'll explain everything next week. I love you all!

Elder Dahl

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Wow was this Thanksgiving a crazy one! We only had one dinner scheduled forever, but that all changed the night before when we got invited to two more with people that we just couldn't say no to! It was nuts! Also, did I tell you all that I was back on the "no desserts" fast again? Well one of our investigators is giving up alcohol so that he can be baptized, so I joined on in like I always do. But this happened the Monday before Thanksgiving! The temptation was so real, but I stayed strong, and I only ate three plates total within a four hour span......we barely made it out of there alive.

   I went on exchanges down in Calexico with Elder Schipman and Elder Welch. For those of you who don't remember, Elder Welch was my trainer, and Elder Schipman has been in my zone for the past eight or so months, and so I call him my part-time companion because we have gone on so many exchanges! We had a blast and we saw a lot of miracles, including a baptism for the Calexico Hermanas!

   Yesterday we had MTEs (Missionary Training Exchanges/Experience) and Elder Schipman came with me in my area! We had training in the morning and then we went out to work! Oh fun fact, I was also joined by a personal close friend of mine, none other than President Schmitt, my mission president! He was with us until 5, and man did I take advantage of that! We had lessons with Armida and the Sanchez families, and he was able to testify and teach and it was awesome! I love that man! Our lessons were awesome and we also had members there with us. We have the best members in the world! Armida came and a lesson at the Rolfe's house (the Rolfes also gave all of the missionaries lunch after the training- they are so awesome), and then Brother and Sister Ball came to visit the Sanchez's with us (I love the Ball family way too much- they are amazing). IT WAS SO AWESOME!

   Then one of the biggest miracles I've ever seen happened. After President had left, we went to go a house to drop an investigator who wasn't progressing. The lady wasn't home, but her son, Jesse (whom we had contacted before), answered the door. Without really thinking I blurted out, "Can we show you a two minute Christmas video?" (Fun fact, I hadn't even seen the video yet, A Savior is Born, and I was not planning on teaching him at all when I knocked on the door) After entering the apartment and watching the video, we asked how he felt. After a few moments of silence he began to cry. Long story short, he has been on the wrong path for a little while, and he fell into his old drug habits again after being clean for a little while. We testified of the Spirit, and that he could feel it with him forever, and he said that this was his answer. The Spirit was so strong in that room, and all of us were touched by the hand of the Lord. He committed to come to church this week and we are very excited to teach him and help him. That question of if we could show him the Christmas video was not mine, but it was truly sent from heaven. 

I love you all so much. Don't stop being the best you can be! Make sure you give everything you have everyday! The Lord will bless you as you exercise your faith and trust in Him! I PROMISE that is true!

Elder Dahl

1. The El Centro missionaries helped prep Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless at the Salvation Army on Thanksgiving morning! It was so awesome and fun!

2. Ok I've got my plate ready!

3. Yeah no worries Mom, I didn't go hungry.

4. Ladies and Gentlemen, Calexico is my favorite place ever. haha

Opposition in All Things

Wow what a crazy week this has been! I have a strong testimony of opposition in all things. In order to know the good we need to know the bad, but wow the bad took a cheap shot this week. The Sanchez family (investigator family, single father with three awesome children) couldn't come to church this last week because the grandmother stole them away to Mexicali until next week! Oh that lady is simply not nice at all! This family needs some Cindy Dahl prayers right now.

Armida and her family are doing awesome! We had a Family Home Evening with the Zinn family, who is an awesome couple in our ward. It was so fun and the girls really liked it. They are doing great and are totally getting baptized on December 15!

Fun fact, the Spanish group always provides food after sacrament meeting. Last week we had mole (it's like chocolate, Hispanic chicken) and it was delicious!

Last week a member family in the ward invited their sister-in-law to come over for dinner and also talk to us. Her name is Iris and she is wonderful. She was filled with questions, and the Hernandez family did an amazing job at explaining her answers and it was awesome! Her husband died a few months ago, so we talked about temples and the Spirit was so strong. She is super interested and we are so excited for her!

Life here in El Centro has been pretty chill for the most part! We are super busy everyday and it has been a blast being here. I hope I never get transferred!

I love you all!

Elder Dahl

1. Bunk bed selfie fun!

2. I love all three of my companions!

3. Too much fun.

We are on Fire!

GOOD AFTERNOON FRIENDS!

This week was so much fun. Armida and her family are still doing great, and she made us enchiladas on Saturday so that means they are doing extra well! We love them so much!

Please pray for Miguel and his family! His grandfather died last Friday and we have not been able to see him since. They weren't able to come to church, although they did let us know, which was nice. They are so special and we hope we get to see them soon. 

Transfers last week were super awesome. Do you all remember that kid named Elder Welch who trained me? Well he has two transfers left on his mission and he just got transferred to Calexico and he is in my district! WOOHOO!!!! Round 3 here we go! I am so ecstatic that he is back!

Yesterday we destroyed this rock formation in the background in one of the backyard's of a part-member family. It was awesome and we hammered that thing hard!

That's all for this week! I love you all mucho!

Elder Dahl

1. This one's for you Mom! Just imagine that I'm not at a funeral and that this is all for you!

 2. Just invited to a party with a surprise Mariachi band! Sister Clawson, another missionary, is in the background with the best face ever. I still can't tell if she's disappointed or impressed :)

3. Just the Elders that I live with and I having a good time!

4. We are having a Biggest Loser and a "Who can spend the less this month" competition. I'm so going to win this. haha One taco Elder Dahl? I crack myself up.

5. Elder Rodriguez hurt himself and Elder Aguirre had to carry him for a bit. No worries, he was fine by the next day.

 6. Safe and sound in bed.

7. Elder Hampton is pretending to be a caterpillar again. Silly Elder Hampton, everyone knows that missionaries don't turn into butterflies.

 8. Elders gone transformers. Robots in disguise as missionaries!

 11/17/15 at 5:02 PM

9. Elder Aguirre loves me too much! I almost died!

 10. This cat at the Rolfe's pool house just about kills me. That's the biggest bed I've ever seen!

 11. We did some service where we destroyed this huge rock formation with some sledgehammers! It was too much fun!

 12. I swear this picture makes me look like a pansy, but I was really tearing it up.

13. We go to extreme measures to give our investigators nice furniture. The Mama Ship was stuffed full!

 14. It wouldn't be a true Hispanic house without something like this inside.

The Curse has Been Lifted

Transfer calls were today and I'm proud to report that the curse has been lifted! Elder Rodriguez and I are both staying together for a third transfer together, which is the first time that has ever happened! YIPPPEEEEEE!!!!!  We are so excited!

We have had some awesome miracles this past week! We had a family home evening last night with an awesome family that we have been teaching, and we had some amazing member teach the lesson on baptism, and the family we were teaching decided to be baptized on December 15! They are so awesome and Elder Rodriguez and I love them so much. (In this family there is a Mom named Armida, and three daughters- Cassie (13), Ivory (10), and Sophie (7))

Speaking of baptismal dates, there is another family that agreed to be baptized on December 5th! (In this family there is a Dad named Miguel, and three kids- Angie (12), Ivan (11), and Sarah (9)) Both of these families are so near and dear to our hearts! My life has been absolutely and completely changed because of the incredible Spirit I have felt here these past few weeks in El Centro. Miracles are real and the Book of Mormon is true.

We had a super cool open house this past week where we had a devotional filled with mostly music and videos, and then people could eat homemade desserts and stuff as they toured the gym of the church and could look at different booths with activities and information about the church. The movie Meet the Mormons was also playing separately in other rooms. The activity was a huge success, and the chapel in our stake center was FILLED! It was awesome! 

The next big news was that we had cleaning inspections this past week. Mom, you are going to be so proud of me because we won! You taught me well! You too Dad! I'll try to send pictures if I have any.

I love you all so much! Have an incredible week!

Elder Dah

Burgers and Beer

Yeah you read the title right. Somehow or another we have eaten at this awesome restaurant three times during these past two weeks. Between people giving us gift cards and members paying for us that happened to be there at the same time, Burgers and Beer seems to be the most popular place for the Mormon Missionaries. We also by happenstance ran into the Hermanas at Golden Corral. We had a gift card from a member, the Hermanas on the other hand........the chocolate fondue fountain can get to the best of us. :)

The next fun news of the day is that Elder Hampton, one of my apartment companions, cut my hair and wow is it crazy! Let me know what you think world because I'm still uncertain....

We are so busy here in El Centro! We are teaching a few families that have been coming to church, and a bunch of part-member families. Our goal is to help 10 people be baptized before the end of the year! Say a pray for us!

Next fun story. While we were studying last week we had knock on the door by none other than the El Centro police department! The officer asked if we were victims of a bike robbery, to which we responded with an awkward "not that we know of." Well Elder Aguirre had bought a new bike the night before, so he left his old bike outside on our balcony. Luckily we have nice neighbors who tried to catch him in the act, and the cop was already on his case after twenty minutes. The bike is still gone, but we found the whole thing absolutely hilarious. I probably shouldn't have written this down, no worries Mom we won't get robbed ahead!

I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary of the Lord! It is the best decision that I've ever made, and it has been eternity changing. Prayer is real! Counsel with the Lord! He will always be there for you, so make you are there for Him!

Elder Dahl

 P-day photo shoot!

 1. Elder Rodriguez is going to be a model for cell phones. I know it!

 2. My green shake was left in the fridge overnight......halloween magic!