October 26 2015

Aloha!

Another week in the obra del señor.

So transfers are coming up and I think it’s my time to go. This is my 5th change in this sector! Some people maybe might have wanted a change at about this point, but I love it here. The people here are like my family and there are so many people to work with. I think that when I got here I wasn’t very excited because there wasn’t much to work with, but we had faith, we fasted and prayed and keep at it, and eventually there appeared tons of people to teach and baptize. I guess when we want something, or when we want blessings, we just have to trust in God and obey, and he will bless us.

This week I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about the Sabbath day. I think that sometimes we see this commandment as a small commandment or maybe something that isn’t as important. But if that’s the case, why would we allow a small commandment or something that’s not too important to delay our eternal progress? It’s something so simple, and sometimes we let it keep us from being worthy, which is really sad. The Sabbath day is more important than we think, and it also shows our faith and love towards God, just like any other commandment. So if we aren’t going to church, or if we aren’t paying attention during our classes or if we play on our cell phones during our Sunday meetings, we should probably rethink the real reason that we are there. And rethink how much we really love God. Because by our obedience we show him gratitude. I think that sometimes we need miracles in our lives. Sometimes we want blessings and we want things to work out the way we plan them. To receive blessings or miracles, first we need to show our faith and obey. I think that if we don’t obey, it’s much much more difficult to receive blessings. So we should all make sure that we are obeying this commandment. Maybe a small and simple commandment, but it’s the door to blessings and happiness.  These are just some thoughts that I had.

Well I’m like out of time. Sorry if I haven’t had time to write some of you or respond to your emails! I read every single one of them and I’m always so grateful to have awesome friends.

Have a good week! Thanks for all the letters and all the support:)

Elder Dahlin

Este es mi hijo amado!

This is Chicha Morada. It's Purple corn and they boil it in water and then put pineapple and cinnamon in it and some other spices! My all time favorite drink.

October 12 2015

Wow I feel like every week gets better and better as long as we are focused on the work. The more I focus on this work with all my heart might mind and strength, the happier I am and the more success we have :) this week we literally saw a miracle. And I’m a witness of the perfect plan that god has for us and the power of his priesthood here on the earth.

So we have been teaching a sister in our ward for a long time. Almost for the whole time that I have been here. Recently her mom died and so she started thinking seriously about baptism and how serious this life is. Anyway, a few weeks ago she decided that she wanted to get baptized, so we planned for this weekend that just passed, October 10th. the morning of October 10th we were in the chapel cleaning the baptismal font and she calls us and told us that she had had an accident had burnt herself in the kitchen and that she wouldn’t be able to get baptized. We were kind of bummed and didn’t know what to do. We told her we were going to come to her house at the hour of her baptism to just visit her. Me and my companion were thinking during the whole day about what we could do so that she could be baptized that day. The baptism was going to be at 5 and at like 4:40 we go to our room and pray. We felt like we should go to her house and give her a blessing of health so that she could be baptized that day. We get the baptismal clothes together and leave the room ready to baptize. We get to her house and she was kind of confused to see the baptismal clothes. She went on to explain to us again that she had the accident and wouldn’t be able to enter in the water. We taught her about the priesthood and faith and works. She agreed to receive a priesthood blessing. My companion gave her such a powerful blessing and totally put the situation in God’s hands. We accepted the fact that if it was his will, she would be healed and be baptized, but if she want ready or prepared, she could wait another week or 2. We gave her the blessing and told her that the most important thing we could do now is act. We told her that we were going to go to the chapel to finish organizing the seats and everything for her baptism. We left and were just trusting in the spirit and that this sister would have faith to go to the church. We were cleaning and getting everything ready when all the sudden we hear a knock on the door! We run to open it and there is the Hermana Berita :) so willing and ready to be baptized. I can’t express fully how I feel about the faith of this sister and the importance of acting when we have decisions. But I think I learned so much this day about how we can trust in God no matter what the circumstance. She was baptized and didn’t say that she was hurting or anything. I know that some people will call this story crazy or that it isn’t true. But I know it’s true. And you can email me if you have questions or doubts :)  daniel.dahlin@myldsmail.net

God has a plan that’s so perfect. And knowing that he is the same yesterday, today and forever, I know that he keeps working miracles today. I know not because someone told me or because I have heard stories. But because I have felt the spirit confirm to me that it is true and because I have experienced it. Here in the mission we are having experiences and seeing things that will change us forever. The mission is so cool :)

Having an awesome companion like Elder Cabrera is really such a blessing too. Some companions don’t get along and that makes it so hard to have the spirit. And without the spirit, it’s impossible for someone to learn from us and have a real and lasting testimony. Me and Elder Cabrera are buds haha. I’m enjoying so much being his companion. Please keep praying for us and for the people that we are teaching :)

Well ya se acabò el tiempo. But thanks for all the prayers and support! I’ll try to write more next week!

Love Elder Dahlin

Ps. I completed 13 months this week!

October 5 2015

Wow an awesome conference weekend for sure! I was so anxious to see who the new apostoles would be. They all seem so humble and ready to serve and that’s how I want to be! I watched it in English this time and wow was that different haha. I understand it in Spanish but it’s just not the same. I’m glad I can be here teaching the people so that they can hear the gospel and the voice of the prophets in their own language too :)

Well I’m now the teacher of English for the San Martin Stake! It’s super cool because every week I have the opportunity to teach like 20 misioneros English for an hour. Sometimes it’s hard and I’m not sure what to teach but just like any other teaching, if the spirit is there, they’re going to learn. It’s way fun haha.

I think my favorite talk was by Bradley D Foster. He talked about an interview that he had with un hermano. This hermano said that his dad raised him super well and came to him and said that he was his age once and probably knows how he feels. His dad knew what he was going to go through and if he ever had a problem, he could trust in his dad to help him, because he had already gone through it. It was a cool story and he told it better than I can haha. But it got me thinking more about Gods and Jesus` love for us. Jesus Christ literally suffered every pain that ever existed in the world. Every stress or sickness. Every frustration and every loneliness. And the reason he did it is so that we don’t have to. He loves us so much that he was willing to come down from the paradise of heaven and suffer the most horrible and unimaginable pain. And his Father, our Heavenly Father, was willing to sacrifice his only son and watch him be tortured and crucified because HE  LOVES  US. And that’s the only reason. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for either of them, and I don’t think that anyone will ever be able to imagine it. But what we can do to show our thanks for them both is obey. When we obey we show our love for God. The commandments aren’t here to restrict us. They’re here to protect us, yet another act of love from our Father in Heaven. I’m grateful for the commandments because they’re like a set of instructions that we can follow in order to have happiness in this life and a happy eternal family in the life to come. And the coolest thing right now is that I’m here sharing this message with people. So that they can have the same hope and faith :) this is seriously the coolest thing ever haha, I love the people here. 

Well this week was the best. We had 2 baptisms! One was the lady that let us pour her whiskey down the drain, and the other is a kid that contacted us in the street and wanted to learn about God. Both are awesome and I can see them being leaders super soon in the ward. 

We also found a guy that had a ton of Cuy! They cook these things and eat them haha. I still haven’t tried it yet but I will soon :) it’s like a guinea pig!

Also I decided to put in a picture of a typical plate of food here. You can’t see the food very well though. Its rice, chicken and potatoes. And of course inka kola. If you are ever going to come to Peru, preparate para comer esto. Pero lo chevere es que es bien rico. Entonces vale la pena.

I love you all. Thanks for all the prayers and support. I’m blessed with such awesome friends and family that always help me out. Write me! : D daniel.dahlin@myldsmail.net

Love Elder Dahlin