December 28 2015

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

It’s been a few weeks since I could write all you guys. I was humbled to spend my last Christmas here in Peru and I really enjoyed all the Peruvian tradiciones and all the things that they do here. More than anything I loved testifying to the people of Christ’s birth and his mission here. A mission that would change all of us forever. 

We have been sharing a video with the people. It’s called a savior is born. And it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. You should all go watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_TEOyhy7Bg

I think the best Christmas present that I could have received was being able to talk to my family on skype! Seeing you guys was the best and made me want to work harder than ever so that people can be with their families forever, just like we will be together forever through temple ordinances. 

I thought I would have more time to write you guys but I’m running out of time already. I am going to include a ton of pictures.

I now that 2000 years ago my hope was born. And I know that we all must have been in heaven singing and rejoicing and crying because we would have the chance to be forgiven. I know that through Christ and his sacrifice, we can be clean and we can be happy. There’s that word again haha- happy. All we do is so that we can be happy. And I’m grateful to have found this gospel because I know that the only true and lasting happiness that I will ever have will come from the true teaching of Jesus Christ. 

I love you guys! Have a good New Years! And keep writing me and sending pictures too :)

Love Elder Dahlin

Papa Noel realmente existe! Le vimos!

We wrapped Books of Mormon in wrapping paper and went out and gave them away to people. It's the best gift they'll ever recieve!!

Fireworks in Lima!!

Talking to the family on Skype :) 

Talking to mi familia!

Paneton and chocolate!

Mission Christmas party

December 7 2015

Hola!

Wow the weeks are flying by. I can’t believe that it’s almost Christmas again! The traditions here are the best haha. Something that I’m going to miss for sure. So here in Peru there are a whole bunch of different districts. Like Cuzco, Iquitos, Tacna. Anyway, there are coins with pictures on them, like there are in the United States. I have been collecting them for a while but I noticed that they were kinda dirty. So I did something really dumb haha. I figured that a little bit of coca cola would do the trick. I put them in coca cola and was going to take them out after like 20 minutes. I forgot about them! For 5 DAYS!! When I found them and took them out of the coca cola they were stained brown and the picture wasn’t even visible anymore. And I couldn’t get it off. I tried everything, thinner, gasolina, Clorox. They were pretty much trashed, and I even started to spend some of them haha cause I figured it was pointless to keep them when I could buy like chocolate or some crazy fruit that doesn’t exist in the states. I was pretty bummed haha. I was talking to a guy in my ward and he told me that he had a cream that would help with taking away the stains! I was super excited and was anxious to receive the cream to try it out. One day he called us and told us that he was outside out house. I ran downstairs and got the cream and went back inside. After putting the cream on the coins and rubbing it in and scrubbing it, I removed the coin from the cloth and it was super super shiny. And the picture on the coin was so detailed and perfect. It was much cleaner and much much better than it was before the accident with the coca cola. Now my collection is looking good :) but there more to the story than that. I think of this story and it makes me remember our savior Jesus Christ. We are all imperfect and we do things that sometimes we wish we wouldn’t have. Sometimes we do everything we can to take away the stain, or the memory, but nothing seems to work. When we discover the gospel of Jesus Christ and the redeeming power of his atonement, we get excited and want to learn more. And when we finally understand how to repent and understand that it’s a change of heart, we can be clean. Not just clean. But better and stronger than we were before. Just like my coins. If they never would have gotten stained, I wouldn’t have seen the need to clean them. And it turns out that after cleaning them, they were much better than before. Every experience that we have it to make us better. We all do things that we need to change, and when we apply the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives, we can turn our weaknesses into strengths and be better than we were people. I know that the Atonement is real. And I love this time of year because it helps me reflect the hope that was born into the world more than 2000 years ago. I’m running out of time but I’m going to put in some pictures here. I love you all and I’m grateful for your support. We should always remember that this time of the year isn’t about gifts and presents. It’s about the birth of Christ. The only person that can cleanse of imperfection and help us live with God again. Next week I’ll tell some crazy stories :)

Love Elder Dahlin

My best friends here!

This bug bit me!! but I'm okay :) #doterra saved my life

Cool Nativity at the temple

November 24 2015

So much has happened this week! There is this little old guy that we teach named Cesar. He’s so happy and is always laughing with us and making jokes haha. Anyway, this week he decided to be baptized and asked me to do it. Cesar uses a wheel chair so it was kind of difficult to baptize him. It ended up working out better when my companion got in the water with us and we both baptized him. The coolest thing was to see him in his white clothes before his baptism praying in front of the font. He was so grateful that he had met us and that God had answered his prayers with the message that we brought him. The coolest is when people call us the angels. Even the gangsters here in Lima always call us the angels haha. I’m grateful that in some way or another I could help Cesar be happy.

This week was also my companion’s birthday! Here there is a tradition where they just smash eggs all over your head and then dump flour on you haha. Luckily they didn’t do it to me in April haha but I’m sure they will for my birthday that’s coming up. Anyway, we dumped eggs and flour all over him. I’m going to put some pictures in here a little later.

We also were able to go to the temple with a couple that got sealed! That was awesome. I had never seen a temple sealing before but wow it’s amazing. It made me really appreciate my parents and what they’ve done so that we can be together :)

During this thanksgiving season I’m especially grateful for these last 14 months that god has given me to be able to be here Lima meeting amazing people and learning so much. I’m grateful for my family. I’m grateful for the authority of God that’s been restored to the earth. And for the blessing that I have to know who I am and why I’m here. I love this gospel and I know that there isn’t anything else that can make us so happy :) Well I’m running out of time but I’m going to send a cool video home this week.

I love you guys! Thanks for all your letters and support. You guys really are the best.

Love Elder Dahlin

This is what happens when you play volleyball for ´just a sec´

Eggs and flour! haha

Here's the view from the roof of my house!

November 16 2015

Well I got transferred! It’s weird cause I have 14 months in the mission and this is only my 3rd ward that I’ve been in. But I feel that I’ve been able to help people in the wards that I’ve been in and more importantly learn from the amazing people that I have met. It’s kind of hard getting transferred because we have to leave behind all the people that become like our families here. But I’ll always remember them!

So my first week in this new sector we were walking down the street on our way to an appointment. We were looking for people to contact and all the sudden a door comes flying open and a little boy runs out into the streets to greet us. It kind of scared us and we were kind of confused. His mom walked outside and saw us and just started crying. We spoke with them and the sister explained to us that she is a member of the church and that she hadn’t been going for years. She told us that her son had been sick for weeks throwing up. The sister didn’t have any money to go to the doctor so her son had just been lying in bed sick for days. She was praying for help when all the sudden her son sits up in bed and runs outside and finds us. We gladly gave him a blessing and her and her son both went to church this Sunday. Me and my companion were both shocked at how perfect God’s plan is and how obvious it is that we are just instruments here in God’s hands. And it’s so true. The only reason I’m here is to help my brothers and sisters that are here that don’t know about the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we have prophets and apostoles and the authority of God here on the earth today. It really is a blessing to be here helping people :)

So far I like my new sector! There are lots of people to teach and we are already seeing some people that will be baptized soon! I’m going to be the English teacher here in this zone again so that will be fun to help the other elders!

I’m putting up some of the pictures from the last few weeks!

Thanks for all your support and love. Keep praying for us please :)

Elder Dahlin

                                                                 My old sector!

My new companion Elder Navarro. He's from Cochabomba Bolivia and has 10 months in the mission. One of the funniest guys you'll ever meet haha, I'm excited to work with him.

At soccer we played futbol with a whole bunch of socks wrapped up in tape cause our ball popped haha.

My first 2 companions here in the mission!! They're both finishing in Deciembre

Mi despedida en mi ultimo barrio. Ustedes son lo maximo en serio. Lo siento si no pude despedirme de algunos de ustedes. Gracias por todo lo que me han enseñado y siempre recordare a todos ustedes. Estaremos en contacto :)

November 2 2015

Hey guys!

So tomorrow there is a chance that I’ll be transferred. I have been here for 5 transfers, or 7 and a half months. So it’s pretty likely. All I know is that I LOVE this ward and the people that I have met and my companions. There are seriously so many opportunities to share the gospel and help the people here. I’m not positive if I’ll get transferred but I will let you all know :)

Wow so this week we had some surprises! I’ll try to tell the story quickly because I’m running out of time. So there is a family that we have been teaching. Their dad is a member. In July we baptized the daughter, Alison. And then a few weeks ago we baptized Berita. Anyway, Berita has a sister named Keila. Her mom recently passed away and so she came here to live in Lima with her sister and that’s when we met her. I think it was perfect because the day after her mom died, we met her and we were able to teach her that families are forever. She was so interested in the message and was baptized yesterday. But her cousin, Estefany, also lives there and she always listened to the missionaries before but never decided to be baptized. Finally when her cousin, Keila, decided to come here, she decided to be baptized too. But she has a little brother! His name is Brandon. He always listened to the missionaries before but never wanted to get baptized either. He would always run away when we asked him questions and we were never able to really teach him. Until Keila got here! He decided that he wanted to be baptized too. So yesterday we had a super baptism with the 3 of them. I think that yesterday it became even more clear to me that we are here so that families can be happy. Looking at them dressed in white made me so happy. A happiness that I think only a missionary can understand haha.  I’m happy that they can work towards going to the temple and find more happiness there. 

Well, having supportive friends and family sure does make this work easier. I love you guys and thank you for supporting me and always writing to me. I know that the time we have here on this earth is so important. And being here teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ has really made me realize what’s most important. The Gospel and families. With these 2 things we can live with God again, and for me that’s the ultimate goal :) Sorry this is pretty short but I hope you have a good week!

Love Elder Dahlin

I can't explain how much I love this place

Me and my compy!

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!