Jan 5 2015

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

Wow I can’t believe how fast 2014 has gone. I remember SOO vividly counting down the seconds till 2014. And now 2015 has begun. It’s gonna be a good year, I can feel it :) I hope everyone has set goals and is siguiendo adelante. 

I’ve set some goals too! And ill share them with you Haha. Well, as you all know I’ve been gaining weight like crazy. And it’s true, I now weigh 190 pounds!! I don’t know if it’s because of all the food paneton and chocolatada, or if I’m full of the spirit ;) Haha but yeah I’m 20 pounds heavier than when I left the United States!! So I am going to lose 15 pounds in January no matter what. And to complete this goal, me and my companion run every morning for about 30 minutes to the chapel and then play basketball with about 10 other missionaries for an hour. And I’m eating better too. I’ll keep you updated! 

Also I am going to read the Book of Mormon 4 times this year. I’ll probably need to adjust this goal as the time goes, cause reading in Spanish is a little different Haha. 

New Year's was crazy!!! All the way up until 1145 it was pretty calm and quiet. But right at 1145-1150, BOOM! There were literally thousands of fireworks everywhere!! And the city is so tightly packed, every direction in the sky you could see fireworks. I’m going to attach a photo, I didn’t take very many pictures, mostly videos. But in the picture there are like 20 fireworks going off haha. Pictures never do justice I swear. Ill also attach a video. 

So a few of you told me that you liked the little video I sent last week! I’ll start doing that every week. It’s just had cause it has to be less than 15 mb. So it can only be a few seconds long.  But yeah New Year’s was great. The members took care of us and gave us tons of food and made sure we were happy haha. I’ll never forget this New Year’s. Sooo many fireworks. So loud. Looking at the sky it looked like all the stars were falling haha that’s the only way I can explain it. So awesome! Goodness I love Peru.

This week I had a super spiritual experience. We were meeting with an investigator that wants to get baptized. I’ve talked about him before. His name is Alberto Lopez. His wife is legally married to another guy but they are living together. So to get baptized she needs to get divorced and then marry her husband that she has right now. It’s complicated. This week we visited them and he told us that she doesn’t want to pay all the money to get divorced and married. He was super sad and crying. It’s crazy to see how much of a desire to get baptized he has. My companion was talking to him and I just had the strongest feeling that I should say something. I didn’t know what to say, but I started talking. I don’t know exactly what I said. But I promised him, as a representative of Jesus Christ, that one day I am going to baptize him. It was amazing because right when I said this, he stopped crying and he just looked at me. I could just see the peace that came over him. That is the Holy Ghost testifying of what I said is true. 

I know that if we just follow the spirit, and trust that everything will be okay, we will be happy. And in the end everything will be okay. Just trust, obey the commandments, and see what happens. 

It’s cool to see the gifts that I have in my pátriarchal blessing too. I can see them so clearly helping me on this mission. 

I had another cool experience! I was teaching a member about prayer. And the spirit was super strong, they were crying and I was tearing up haha. Even just talking about a simple thing like prayer the spirit was there. Anyway, at the end of the lesson they wanted me to pray so I was like yeah sure! So I was about to pray and la Hermana was like no no pray in English. This caught me off guard haha. I haven’t prayed out loud in English in 4 months!!! So I prayed in English and right away it was like something hit me. The spirit just filled the room. All my hairs stood up and you could just feel the spirit so strong. Not gonna lie I kind of forgot how to pray in English a little bit, haha but it was so powerful. I love this mission. There is no other place where I would have experiences like this. And I’m going to remember this all forever.

I know that prayer works. It’s a direct communication with our Heavenly Father, who knows us inside and out. And through prayer we can receive answers to any question. It just takes a sincere heart, a true intention, and faith. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

I hope you all have a good week!! Be safe and I will talk to you next week :)

I love you all and thanks for all the letters and the support!!

Love Elder Dahlin

These pictures are me and my two companions, Elder Christensen and Elder Flores. And then Elder Christensen’s companion. Son heavenly paneton. The most perfect picture of the average meal here, and the group of missionaries that play basketball together in the mornings!! Enjoy! I have a video of fireworks that I’ll send next week!!