July 25 2016

Aloha!

I LOVE MY NEW WARD!! It makes me sad that I won't have much time here. But wow am I grateful that I have been able to come here and meet all these new awesome people :)

So contacting people in this new area is a little bit more difficult than it was in my last sector. It's a bit harder because this new zone that I'm in is a bit more advanced and wealthy than my last zone. So I think these people maybe just have more distractions in their lives and maybe pride. This week we studied pride in our zone conference and wow I learned so much! Pride is all around us and it's probably one of the most underlooked sins. There's a cool talk by President Benson called 'Beware of Pride' that has taught me a ton too. But yeah so being more humble is something that I'm constantly working on now.

So since contacting isn't tan effective here we really are learning to trust in the spirit. It's so cool because everytime we really feel like we need to contact someone we either meet them and they are super awesome and want to meet with us, or they are super super Catholic and don't want anything. Either way it helps me grow because I either see how important the spirit is and I can see how it helps us to find those that are prepared, or I see how confused the people are and how desperately they need us. The truth is that if they can't be humble enough to accept us, learn and receive an answer of the truthfullness of all these things, be baptized like Jesus Christ was by someone who has the authority from God, the same authority that was restored to Joseph Smith, and then stay faithful till the end, they can't enter into the kingdom of God. So even at the end of my mish I'm seeing how important we are in this work and how much it can help us to grow. 

So me and my companion go out to run every morning and dang is it rough! Not only because we are in the middle of winter, or because we are breathing like 98 percent humidity, or because there are crazy dogs that chase us as we run, but also because it's been forever since we ran and I'm getting used to it. Plus I'm pretty sure I've grown and eh I think it's gonna be kind of rough to get used to sports and what not again haha :) I love the mission and I cherish every day that I have left. It's teaching me so much.

Oh! This week we felt a few earthquakes!! Haha people always freak out here when they feel little earthquakes. It scares me too but I think it's cool haha. Until there comes a big one.. that's going to be scary. But yeah it was cool to feel another earthquake haha. The first time was when I had 2 months in the mission! That's probably something I wont feel again for a while!

I'm out of time but have a good week! I love you all! Keep praying for my companion and me so that we can be protected and have success :)

Elder Dahlin

Two of my favorite foods here!

Aji de pollo.

Bistec a lo pobre

July 18 2016

Well I got transferred! I was definitely NOT expecting to get transferred my last transfer. We had some awesome people that were progressing and doing well and I have grown to really love so many people in my old ward and my companion. Wow saying goodbye to Elder Morales was rough. I have grown to love that guy and it was the first time I have cried with a companion saying goodbye.

So this week I was kinda stupidly getting down on myself wondering why I had been transferred. I decided to see what God has in store for me here. My new ward is called Elio and it's in the stake called Maranga. I'm not gonna go into detail but lets just say this week I had the most powerful spiritual experience of my whole mission. Of my whole LIFE. And was able to help a few people have a spiritual experience as well. I think it would be much better to tell the story in person to be able to explain it well (that is if my English starts to work again haha). But wow I know that I am specifically needed here. Let's just say I pretty much recognized some friends that I had before coming here to earth. And we felt the spirit so strong together and cried together. haha it's kinda a general explanation but I will tell the story in like 4 weeks in person! Wow only 4 more weeks....

So my new companion is Elder Quispe. He is from Peru from a place called Chiclayo. He is my 12th and last companion. I'm excited to be with him here too. It's weird how different every companion is ya know? We are all so different. We all have different strengths and different weaknesses. He is going to help me and teach me in these last few weeks. I'm grateful to still be here as a representative of Jesus Christ. and I know that God still has miracles for me to see while I am still here. and he still has some special people that he wants me to meet. This mission is 100 percent inspiration that's for sure and I'm loving every second of it :)

So yesterday I was at church for the first time in this ward and I was walking down the hall when all the sudden I hear someone from behind me say Elder Dahlin is that you? It was a familiar voice and I was like who could that possibly be? I guessed it might have been someone from my first ward cause my first ward is like 15 blocks from here haha. I turned around and it was Hermana Loayza!! No se como se escribe su nombre.. jaja lo siento hermana! It was my teacher from the CCM! It was such an awesome moment to see her and catch up after almost 18 months! She isn't in my ward but we share the church building haha but it will be fun to see my teacher from the CCM every week. It was so nice to see a familiar face. Someone that I met right when I got here and someone that has helped me so much to get used to being here and to learn Spanish too. So yeah that was a cool experience. Then after church another hermana named Marissa comes up to me and she's like 'Hey are you Eric's brother?' I was like what! Yeah! I guess she met Eric in Utah haha so that was fun too! 

I'm out of time. But wow am I excited to be here to finish my mission. I love this work. I love the mission and I love this country. Most of all I LOVE Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. And I know that they care so much about us.

I included some cool pictures haha.

Have a great week! I love you all!

Love Elder Dahlin

My new companion Elder Quispe

When I was carrying my suitcases down all those stairs my pants ripped AGAIN!! They dont call me sewing Spencer for noting!

Jhostin, one of my best friends in my last ward.

Just before getting a taxi to go to my new sector. It's amazing how many awesome friends we make in the mission. I love it!

HERMANA LOAYZA!! My teacher from the CCM!

Eric's friend Marissa

A few of the Elders in the new zone!

July 11 2016

Hey everyone!

The other day we were walking down the street just contacting everyone we could come in contact with. It's so fun to talk to just EVERYBODY like Preach my Gospel says because we meet so many different types of people. They all have different questions and it really makes us think and understand the gospel. The more questions people ask me, the more I realize and gain a testimony that the gospel seriously makes so much sense. We returned a few days later to a house of one of the people that said we could come back and visit them. We get inside and we were talking to a grandma, her son and her daughter, and her granddaughter. Turns out the grandma and the mom are members but haven't been to church in forever because they didn't understand temple work and it freaked them out haha. We explained it to them and it was such a spiritual experience. Because at the end the spirit could teach them so much and they learned that they shouldn't be afraid, but that they should have hope and happiness because temple work joins together families. I'm so grateful for temples and for the opportunity that we have to be together with our families forever. 

So the grandma ended up coming to church. I don't know how old she is.. probably like 75. And while we were in the Gospel Principles class we started talking about the baptismal covenant and what it means. She was silent during the whole class but when we started to talk about the covenents we make she raised her hand and said ´I have been baptized in this church. I am a member of the promise but I was inactive for a while.´ Then she said something that really struck me. She said  ´Thanks to the Elders I am here. Thanks to them I now have the right to receive blessings based on the promise I have made with the Lord´. She was crying her eyes out when she was saying all of this and it made me a little emotional too haha.. I am here representing the most sacred important person that has ever lived. I know that we as missionaries are assigned to a specific place because God has a perfect plan and based on that plan there are people here than need us to talk to them. I don't know if that grandma would have talked to another Elder. Maybe, maybe not. But I'm grateful that I was able to help her come back to church and have such a spiritual experience there. In one of the lessons we had with her she made us a super good plate of food called Tacacho. It's pretty much fried banana and then you mash it all up and put salt and oil on it haha. It's super good though. 

I'm running out of time. Today marks the beginning of my last transfer in the mission. I'm so grateful for the things I have learned and the things that I am going to learn still. I love the mission :)

Have a good week! I love you all.

Love Elder Dahlin

4th of July! #Gringo

This is a chicken foot!

Tacacho

The name of the ward I'm in

July 4 2016

Hey everyone! This week was so awesome. President Larson called together a quick meeting with half the mission on Thursday and the other half of the mission on Friday to have a cool little training about how to commit people to go to church. We talked a lot about giving specific promises and blessings as guided by the Holy Spirit. and I learned more about the calling we have and the authority we have to promise people things in the name of Christ. It was an awesome experience and we learned a lot about the blessings too. God literally promises us that if we keep the sabbath day holy, EVERY ASPECT of our lives will improve. Consequently if we do not keep the sabbath day holy, every aspect of our lives will get worse. All we have to do is trust in him, go to church, do other uplifting things on His day, and he promises to bless us and help us. How simple is that?

haha so on the way home from the meeting we were trying to catch a bus to get back home. and for those of you that havent been to Lima, to get on a bus you seriously have to be on your toes. The bus pulls up in the middle of crazy traffic, stops for like 10 seconds and a guy yells out the window the different bus stops that the bus goes to. He yelled 'Caja de Aqua!' which is our stop. I was with my companion and 2 other elders in my district. I got on first and paid the bus driver and started to make my way down the isle. when I got to a spot on the bus where there was a little more space and it was a litle more comfortable (cause the buses are seriously PACKED here too. The whole world can fit in a little bus here), I looked out the window and there I saw my companion and the 2 other Elderes. I was like what the heck! I motioned to them to get on the bus cause it was going to leave soon but one of them was buying some cookies from a street vender so they were taking a little too much time. They started making their way to the door to get on when BAM! the door closes and the bus lurches forward. I looked out the window and waved goodbye to my 3 companions. I was alone! After having a constant companion for 22 months here and always having someone to talk to and to be with, it was seriously the weirdest thing ever to be alone on the bus. It was a feeling that I didn't like at all. I immediatly called them and told them I would wait for them at our bus stop. I got there and like 15 minutes later they arrived too. When we saw each other we all laughed it off but wow it was such a weird experience. It was like an emptiness to be there alone without my companion. I think that it's a lot like how we feel when we distance ourselves from the Spirit. Maybe we don't pay too much attention and we do something that seems normal but really isn't okay. Like when I got on the bus and wasn't really aware that my companions hadn't gotten on behind me. When we aren't in harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spirit can't touch as strong, we are in a way distanced from God like I was on the bus. But there is a way to get back. Thanks to repentance and the love that Christ has for each one of us there is a way to get back. I had to wait at the bus stop for a while and honestly I was a little scared to be there alone without anyone at my side. We can repent and get back in touch with the spirit but it also takes time. And not only that but a broken heart and a contrite spirit. After that experience I will make sure every time I get on a bus that my companions are behind me. And in the same way, after a bad experience that distances us from the Spirit and after repenting and making things better, we are also more aware of the things that we do and we can be more careful. 

Well I'm running out of time. I know that the Atonement is real because I have seen it in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters here in Peru. This week a sister that we are visiting told us about some things that she has done in the past and she felt a little embarassed and wanted to be forgiven. She wasnt really sure if it was possible. I began to speak and then just stayed silent for a moment and the words were put into my mouth. I testified to the sister that Christ thought specifically of her and of each one of us while he was being tortured, whipped, spit on, beaten, and especially in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. I know he thought specifically of me and that he loves me so much. I love this gospel :) and I love being here helping people grow a better relationship with our Savior. The truth is that he is 100 percent aware of us. He watches over us everyday and he laughs when we laugh, and cries when we cry. Even though I have never seen Him, I love Him with all my heart and I have the most perfect assurance that one day I will see him with a perfect resurrected body and somehow try to express my gratitude to him for all he has done for me. I know these things are true. And that the only true happiness is available to us when we belong to the same church that Jesus Christ established in Jerusalem and then in the Americas. It's only possible through the saving ordinances that are available through the priesthood of God that was restored to Joseph Smith and that have been handed down in an unbroken line to the current living prophet of God Thomas S Monson. I love the church. I love the blessings that I can help people recieve and for the things that I learn everyday. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.