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

July 27 2015

This week I really understood how happy this work makes me. The best feeling is seeing other people being happy. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about love and happiness, and to be the one going from house to house sharing these things is so awesome. There is nothing else I could want more.

We visited the sister of Jorge (a recent convert that we baptized on the 18), and she’s so cool! She said that she was jealous that Jorge was able to be baptized haha and so we invited her and she accepted a date to be baptized too! We’ll see how it goes with her. We are seriously being so blessed with tons of people to teach and baptize. This week we are going to have 2 more baptisms! Both of them are 9 years old and they’re so awesome. I’m going to baptize the little girl and my companion is going to baptize the boy. Haha these little kids love us so much.. They love the missionaries. That’s something that I’m definitely going to miss when the mission comes to an end.

Well there isn’t much to write this week. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in Peru! So next week I’m sure there will be some pictures of some fiestas patrias and lots and lots of banderas.

The mission is great. The people love us. The food is better than ever. My companion is awesome. And we are learning probably even more than we are teaching about God and his love for us.

Have a good week and thanks for all the emails and all the support :)

Elder Dahlin

July 20 2015

Aloha!

Another amazing week! Every week in the mission is amazing haha but this week I think will change my mission. We had three baptisms! Jose, Jorge, and Ronald! They’re all so solid and have goals to go to the temple and grow even closer to God. It really is amazing to see people change their life so that they can get baptized. Throughout this mission I’ve come to know for a fact that the only true happiness exists when we do what Heavenly Father wants us to do. The Prophet Thomas S Monson said that if we do what God wants, we WILL be happy for eternity. If we don’t do what he wants, we MIGHT have a glimmer or temporary happiness. It’s so true. Doing the will of the father and keeping his commands is the only way that we can truly be happy. I’m happy here in the mission because I’ve seen so many people change their lives and find this happiness that I have. They always ask why I’m always smiling and I guess it’s just because, I know who I am. I know why I’m here. I know that I have a father in heaven that loves me and that I have an awesome family that has the same goals as I do, to get back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. If this is the goal, and we honestly do everything to reach it, we’re going to be alright. But faith, patience and diligence are key.

Sometimes we have to wait for his will and his perfect timing.

Well I don’t have a ton of time but thanks for all the prayers and for all the emails. I love you all and I love hearing about what’s happening back at home. Have a good week and remember to think of what you’re willing to do to have real happiness :)

Love Elder Dahlin

This week we went and played futbol with another stake of missionaries. Is it just me or are they starting to call me goalie gordon?

When we baptize, we celebrate. Here are some of my best friends.

This week I finally saw a llama!!

Jose

Jorge

Ronald