September 21 2015

A lot of people are asking if I got hit by a tsunami! I’m okay! Our mission didn’t get evacuated. Our president hasn’t even told us anything so I’m sure everything is okay :)

Wow not a lot of time but we had an awesome experience this week. We went to a sister’s house to teach her about the word of wisdom. She’s one of the progressing investigators that we have. She’s so willing to change and get baptized. When we ask her about her baptismal date she just says yeah I want to get baptized already! I don’t understand why it has to be so far away?! Haha she’s awesome. Anyway, we knew she drinks coffee and tea so we were kinda worried about how she would react. We get there and have an awesome lesson. The spirit really taught her the importance of the commandment. She accepted to live the word of wisdom and then we closed with a prayer. She wanted to give us some sandwiches and juice so we said it was okay haha. We offered to help her wash some plates so we could use them and she said it was alright. We went into her kitchen and she had a ton of tea! I was like hey hermana what’s this? And she’s like oh yeah throw that away it’s no good. So we put it in a little garbage bag. Then we found some coffee and we also put it in the bag to take with us and throw away. Then she was like hey is there anything else that I need to throw away? I looked around and saw a big bottle of vodka haha. I was like hey you should probably get rid of this. She kind of hesitated and then said ahhh this is from Argentine and was super expensive.. Ah whatever just throw it away and she just laughed it off haha. This is a true desire to change. I’m excited to see how she progresses.

What she taught me is that we should always be willing to throw away the garbage that we have in our lives. No matter how much we like it or how much it tempts us to stay. Just like the anti nefi lehitas, we need to burry our weapons of war deep in the earth. They were willing to die before using their weapons again. They were willing to die before sinning. I think that if we all live in this same way, we will be so much happier. 

Well. This week there is a chance of a transfer. I don’t know if it’ll happen but I’ll let you all know. I have 6 months here already so we will see. I do love training and I love my companion. And I’ll miss it so much haha but if its God's plan then I’ll go where he wants me to go :)

Have a good week!

Love Elder Dahlin

September 14 2015

Aloha a todos!

Another awesome week here in the mission. I don’t think there’s a week that goes by that we don’t learn something here in the mission. Well first of all, I COMPLETED A YEAR IN THE MISSION! I feel like in the last year I have learned more than my whole life put together haha. I’ve definitely gained a testimony of this church and have come to know that God loves me. I love helping other people find this knowledge too and there is nowhere else I would rather be. So I realized that I haven’t sent pictures in a few weeks so here are some of my favorite pictures that I have taken in the last month or so haha. There’s not a whole lot of time to write right now but the mission is seriously the best. I wish there was more time cause I could seriously be here all day and tell awesome stories from the mission. Every day we see miracles because of the priesthood and the will of God. There are people here that are so prepared and I’m stoked to be able to be here finding them and teaching them how to be baptized. Well I’m out of time haha but next week I’ll tell you all an awesome story #Cliffhanger.

I love you guys! Enjoy the pictures :)

Love Elder Dahlin

This is something that doesn't need a description. People just love us as missionaries. Even 3 year old girls haha. I'll definitely miss this after the mission..

We went to the temple this week!

My one year shirt!

They don't call me pondering Peter for nothing!

Before

BURNING MY SHIRT! During.

After. haha I almost died.

September 7 2015

Aloha!
I couldn’t write last week cause I had to go in and extend my citizenship here because I'M COMPLETING ONE YEAR IN THE MISSION! How weird is that? Didn’t I just leave like 2 weeks ago?

This last week we had the opportunity to see Elder Bednar. He came and talked to us as a mission. There were also some other missions from Lima there. The day I went, the CCM went, Lima Central, Lima South, and Lima West. Sadly, I could not see Hermana Bergeson, because she was in the group that went the next day. But wow the reunion was super super cool!! When he walked into the room you could just feel the autoridad and poder that he has. Just by seeing him you can feel that he is a servant of God and that we should probably listen to what he says. It was the first time that I saw an apostle and I will never forget it.

Wow so much is happening. We are continuing to see miracles everyday here in the mission. On Sunday we were able to go by a members house and bring them the santa cena because they weren’t able to receive it because the grandma had a surgery on her hip. But let me tell ya, the spirit is always so strong in any opportunity that we have to do a priesthood service. I love doing it and we pray for experiences to serve everyday. I think that’s why we are so happy as missionaries :) Yeah its hard. It’s super hard. But once we get the hang of it, the language and new culture, and recognize that everything that we go through is so that we can learn, its so much fun. I love this.

Bueno no tengo mucho tiempo. Pero me es increible que en un año he aprendido tanto. No puedo empezar a explicar la importancia de lo estoy haciendo. Cada dia aprendo mas acerca de Jesucristo y quien era, y quien es. Aprendo cada vez mas acerca de su amor and la suerte que tenemos de estay vivos en estos dias. Y a tener el evangelio de jesucristo. Se que Dios me ha dado dones para poder compartir este mansaje con las personas aqui. Solamente a saber que puedo hablar en español es algo que me ayuda a saber que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo y que la iglesia es verdadera. porque so no fuera asi, Dios no me dejaria aprender tanto y con tanto rapidez. ya pues, la mision es lo maximo, y estoy bien animado por servir aqui por un año mas. No hay otro lugar donde me gustaria estar.

I love you all and I can feel you praying for me! Please always keep my companion and me in your prayers so that we can help the people here come to the truth and so that we can be protected while bringing it to them.

Have an awesome week! Next week I’ll put up some cool pictures.

Love Elder Dahlin

August 24 2015

Aloha!

I’m going to start writing smaller letters cause I always run out of time and then don’t have time to write to everyone! But this week was really good. We saw a miracle! We are visiting a guy that’s been an investigator for like 2 years. He just can’t commit to baptism. So we visited him and told him that we aren’t going to be able to visit him anymore cause we have a lot of other people to visit. We knocked on his door and he answers and is crying and limping. I guess like half an hour before he was playing football and like broke his ankle. He said he twisted it super bad. So we taught him about faith and kinda burned him a little bit haha.. But then I gave him a blessing and we left. We came back like 2 days later and he was walking and laughing and he was almost back to normal. A lot of people will say that that’s how it works, the body can heal and what not. But being there firsthand and seeing how bad his ankle was, I can say that I know the priesthood is real. 

I have the best family in the world and I got a package from them. The letters are always the best part haha even though the candy is way good from the US :)  I’m seeing more than ever the importance of family. Not just because they send me packages but because it’s the place where we can feel the most love and we can go back to our Heavenly Father with them! Ah I’m already out of time. But I’m going to put in a few pictures that we took this week. 

Have a good week and talk to you all soon!

Love Elder Dahlin

August 17 2015

Aloha!

Hey I literally have like 5 minutes so this will be short.

This week I had to say goodbye to elder Ramirez. He was my companion that I had the most success with and I’m definitely going to miss him. He’s like a brother for sure. 

I’m training! My sons name is Elder Cabrera and he’s from Plucalpa Peru. It’s cool to have companions from Peru because you can learn to talk like them. The new missionaries always have so much excitement for this work. Excitement that we should carry throughout the whole mission. He reminds me how amazing this work is. He’s 18 years old and he served a little mini mission before he came here. He was in a ward in Pulcalpa for 6 weeks and lived with the missionaries there. So he knows how to teach already. I’m really learning how much of an example I am though. He looks up to me for everything. The way we teach, the way we talk to people. The way we knock on doors. Even the foods I buy, he buys!! haha. He follows everything I do. It’s pretty cool haha cause I can already tell that he’s going to be an obedient missionary. Training is an awesome experience cause you can really see the importance of every little thing you do.

Well I’m out of time but I’m gonna put some pictures in here!

Also! This week I ate Tacush! It’s disgusting. Its rotten potatoes that have been soaked in water for months. I almost threw up no joke haha. I have a video that I’ll try to send later. Thanks for the love and the support! Don’t forget to pray for all the missionaries out here. Love you all!

Love Elder Dahlin 

August 10 2015

Hey I figured I would start another email with just family and friends that are on the mission cause the other emails were too big.

This week we have been visiting a lot of families with Elder Ramirez saying goodbye because he is finishing the mission this week. It’s seriously so crazy how much the people love us as missionaries. The old grandmas would cry when they said goodbye to him even after knowing him for only 3 months. I love the people here like crazy.

So all this week I was thinking who is going to be my new companion? Who am I going to receive? Transfers are kind of scary sometimes cause you don’t want to get a missionary that doesn’t know how to work or that doesn’t want to work. I was getting pretty nervous. Anyway, we were at stake conference on Saturday and after it was over my zone leaders come up to me and they’re like Hey congrats!! And I was like what did I do? haha. They’re like you’re going to be a dad! WHAT!? :D haha I was soooo stoked. So this next transfer I am going to be training my first son :´) to say the least I couldn’t be more excited. I hope I can be the example that he needs in his mission. 

I’m pretty sure I’m going to be learning from this experience more than I am going to be teaching my son haha. I’m so grateful that I have this opportunity!

So we had a training this morning for the people that are going to receive new missionaries. They talked a lot about the wise use of our time. Also during stake conference the area seventy that was there, Elder Wakincosta, talked about the importance of what we do with our time. He said that the most important thing that we have here on the earth is time. Because what we do with our time is what will determine the rest of eternity. And it’s so true. I’m happy with these short 11 months that have already passed in my mission. And I’m looking forward to the thousands of experiences that I am yet to have and the hundreds of people that I haven't met yet.

As always, the mission is the best. Even on the bad days it’s the best. Because we only have this short time to be missionaries, so there isn’t time to have a bad day.

Have a good week and thanks for your support! 

Love Elder Dahlin

This is the ice cream man here! They drive around on bikes and sell ice cream.

My comp from the ccm and some other awesome Elderes

August 3 2015

Hey next week I’m going to start another email but just to my family and then from there they’re going to put it on my Facebook! Sorry haha but having so many people on it makes it take forever to load. 

We finished off July with 2 more baptisms. Diana and Jardy. Two awesome kids! This month will probably be one of the months that stands out the most in my mission. We have seen so many miracles and so many people change. I know miracles exist now. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of his children. We were lucky enough to be the missionaries that would help these people become closer to our Heavenly Father. Now I have to work harder and harder to have more months like July of 2015. 

I have like no time, but I want you all to know that the mission is still the best. Even on bad days it’s the best. God lets everything happen for a reason. He knows the plan PERFECTLY. Sometimes we don’t know why some things happen in our lives, but if we trust in God and trust in that he knows the plan perfectly, then it’s okay. We don’t have to understand it perfectly because we know that he DOES. If we can trust in him and trust in his plan, everything is going to be okay. And we are going to be able to realize that each experience we have strengthens us and makes us better people. 

The mission is the best. I’m learning about God, myself, other people. The food is great, the people are awesome. 

I know the Church that Jesus Christ established when he was here has been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith. I know that he loves us. And that he wants us to return and live with him again. And that’s why obedience is so important. No unclean thing can live in his presence. So we should try to be better every day. I love the gospel. And I’m more excited than ever to be here sharing this happiness with the people of Lima Peru.

Love Elder Dahlin

At the templo with our awesome convert Sandro and some members of one of my favorite families ever. La familia Estella.

How many Peruvian flags do you see? I counted 27

I baptized Diana and my comp baptized Jardy