January 2014 Letters

Here are Elder Dahlin's January letters! They just keep getting better and better (so does Jason :). He's doing awesome! There's a chance he'll be coming home in JUNE! If not June, it'll be mid-July, but we're crossing our fingers for June ;)

January 6, 2014

Hola Familia!!

Happy 2014!! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here but its all over now haha We went to a member’s house for New Year’s Eve and made a bunch of food and hung out with them, it was pretty fun. We should have a really good month. We got everything set up for the wedding, it’s this Friday at 3pm if you guys wanna come haha and we should have 4 or 5 baptisms this weekend too if all goes well. All the hard work finally paid off! Jose Aragon (the guys whose wife passed away) received the Priesthood yesterday, it was pretty awesome he seems so happy. He’s given us a bunch of referals too to go visit all his family, it’s awesome. The zone is doing really good, everyone seems happy. There were a few problems over the holidays but we just had interviews with President Prince so everything got taken care of. I can’t believe that I only have 6 months left in the mission :O Its going by way too fast. I love you guys so much, thank you for all the stuff you sent me, you made all the missionaries in my zone very happy haha!

Con mucho amor!

Elder Dahlin

January 13, 2014

Hola Familia!!!

Whats up?!!! How are you guys doing?!! We only had 2 baptisms this weekend, the wedding didn’t happen. There was another problem with the paper work. Turns out there’s 2 people with the same name and we got the papers for the wrong one, of course..haha but it’s alright, we are doing all that we can to be able to get everything fixed. The 2 baptisms that we had were Luz Corralez and Sofia De Leon. Luz is 76 and she was a referal from her sister whose a member. She is really nice, she’s a little shy but we slowly gained her confidence and her sister helped us out alot. Sofia De Leon is 10 and her parents were less active for a long time. They came to church about 3 weeks ago and we started visiting them and Sofia got baptized. Her dad was excomunicated for a problem that he had but he’s starting the process to get baptized again. It’s complicated what happened to him but the good news it that he has a strong desire to be sealed to his family in the temple. We have stake conference this weekend, Elder Grow from the seventy is coming. Rumor is that Cali is going to lose a stake. It’s tough here, last year our mission baptized 1660 people and the church attendance only rose 300. Alot of people are starting to fall away from the church. We are starting to work more to retain and reactivate so that there’s a real growth here in Cali. Its a great time to be a missionary, the Lord is really hastening his work.  I really love the mission, I just feel good being here. I want to have like 100 more baptisms, I just want to explode in these last six months. I love you guys so much thanks for everything you guys do!

Les quiero much!!

Elder Dahlin

January 20, 2014

Hola Familia!!!

THE BRONCOS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!! I think I need to come home for the weekend to watch the game haha. How are you guys doing? We just got back from the hospital, one of the elders in our zone had a siezure we had to take him to the ER. He’s doing better now, they are going to do a bunch of tests to see if he’s alright. We were playing soccer with a bunch of missionaries when we got the call from the Mission President. Not the funnest p-day hanging out in the hospital but that’s alright. This week was really good. The old guy who lost his wife, his son got baptized on Saturday, it was awesome! We had Stake Conference this weekend which was awesome too. Elder C. Scott Grow came from the quorum of the Seventy. I got to have a personal interview with him Friday before a special training we had later in the day and it was awesome. We talked about sealings and the purpose temples, and a little about the plan of salvation. It’s not everyday that you get to sit down with a member of the Seventy and listen to him talk about temple ordinances. I learned a lot about what it’s going to be like in the Celestial Kingdom and about the repentance process, along with the mercy that God is going to have on us. He stressed that the Lord really does want all of his children to come back to him and He’s going to try as hard as He can to make sure it happens. On Sunday he talked about the importance of the family and President Prince talked about what Elder Christopherson said about how to get to know Christ. 1) You need to study His life. How He acts, how He responds to questions and handles different situations 2) Put in practice what you learn 3) And gradually over time you will see that you become more and more like the Savior. Before my mission I had never read the Book of Mormon or the Bible, I couldn’t tell you much about Joseph Smith or even bare a good testimony. But after these 19 months I have felt my relationship with my Heavenly Father grow and I have seen how He has changed my heart. I have a lot to learn but I am so greatful to be where I am today.  It is never too late for anyone to change.  I love you guys sooo much!! I can’t believe that I’ll be home this summer!! :D

Les quiero much!!

Elder Dahlin

January 27, 2014

Hola Familia!!

How are you guys doing?! Transfers came and I’m going to be here for another transfer. 6 months in one area haha I’m pretty happy, we have a lot of good families that we are teaching right now so it should be good. My new companion is Elder Chamorro from Ecuador. I don’t really now him but I hear he’s a cool guy and I’m excited.  We didn’t have any baptisms this week and the old guy´s son that we recently baptized didn’t get confirmed on Sunday. He told us on Wednesday that he had to work a lot this week and we haven’t heard from him since. Hopefully we can talk to him this week otherwise he´ll have to get baptized again. The family that was going to get married is still having problems getting the correct papers, its really frustrating. Our ward is going through a bunch of changes right now, most of the ward leaders are inactive so we are working with the Bishop to be able to fill in the holes. I basically ran the ward council meeting yesterday. The members here don’t understand that ward council isn’t to talk about ward rosters and budgiting. I told them that this is sacred time for us to look at families in need and how we can help them. All the other stuff is for all the other boring meetings you have haha. Things are going really good though, this should be a good transfer. The zone had a few changes too, some of the elders are a little iffy. My old comp Elder Ruiz from Popayan is coming so it should be good to talk to him. It’s his last transfer. When I was with him he had 7 months in the mish...time is flyin by!

The new grossest thing I’ve eaten this week is: Pig heart. It was sooo bad and the after taste was the worst. I didn’t even know you can eat things like that haha.  It was the worst, it was so gross haha. They had just barely taken it out of the Pig, cleaned it, cooked it and gave it to me. It was the size of my fist. I wasn’t happy haha.  What’s weird is that with all the gross things that I have eaten here I still don’t like potatoes haha.

I love you guys soo much! Thanks for everything:) 4 months left, I can’t believe how fast my mission has gone by!!

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Dahlin

December Letters

December 2, 2013

Hola Familia!!

How are you guys doing?! So I got back to my area yesterday. This whole week I’ve been in the mission home which was pretty nice. Finally sleeping in a bed where my whole body fits, pillows that aren’t hard as a rock, hot water haha The food was super good too. For the first half of the week I was just in the house reading and helping out where I could and then the last half of the week I was in the mission office helping out the secretaries. It got pretty boring, I’m glad to be back in my area. I missed the members and the investigators a lot. You really get to love these people. I feel better, I got my stitches out on Saturday. The cuts still hurt but I’m sure that will go away soon. The spirit of Christmas is definitely here now. I helped Sister Prince set up Christmas in their house which was fun. Here in Cali there are a lot more houses with lights and other decorations. The problem is that in December the Colombians start to party hard haha The music gets turned up and the people start drikning from the moment they wake up till the moment they go to sleep. We should have some baptisms this month, finally. We have a family that want to get married so keep them in your prayers. The date is the 21st! It sounds like Thanksgiving was fun, that’s awesome everyone was together. I miss the snow. I miss big turkey dinners too haha Next year I’ll be there! I love you guys soo much!!

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Dahlin

December 9, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

Whats up?!!! How are you guys doing?!! Healthwise I’m doing better. My stomach still hurts walking up hills or stairs but its getting better. Sometimes I try to do sit-ups which in the moment doesn’t hurt but later on it kills haha I learned my lesson, hold off on the sit-ups! Here in the mission it seems like everyone is thinking about anything but religion haha. Starting last Saturday until the end of December there are parties every night in the streets, loud music and a lot of drunk people. It’s been really hard finding new people to teach. Even the members in the ward have stopped going to church which is strange.  The Christmas devotional last night was really good. We do need to be more focused on people rather than things. Where our hearts are at will determine if it was a good Christmas or not. We have a family of 3(mom, dad, and son) that we are working with and they are awesome. When we first found them they didn’t want anything to do with marriage. They said that they didn’t love each other and that they are just wating for their kids to get out of the house to split up. But they have had such a big change of heart that the plan is that they get married the 21st:) The Lord works in mysterious ways but it’s been such a cool experience being with them. The problem is that we have to find the papers for their wedding which are in Bogota somewhere so keep praying that they’ll turn up! The Christmas lights, big santa clause inflatables, and gifts are all great, but what I’ve learned is that being with the family is the greater. Helping others is greater. I can’t be with my family but I can sure help others to have that great experience. I miss you guys soo much. It’s hard to be away for Christmas, surrounded by peolpe who shut the door on you, missionaries in your zone that don’t want to do anything, appendicitis...haha but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I love you guys so so much. Thanks for everything that you do and remeber that you are always in my thoughts and prayers :)

Les quiero mucho!

Elder Dahlin

December 16, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Next week is Christmas!!! December is flying by I can’t even believe it. This week has been really good, we had zone conference on Wednesday which was awesome.  It was like a Christmas party for the missionaries. I remember last year when you all wrote cards and sent them to Sis Prince and she gave them to us.  Not sure why she didn’t do that again this year, maybe it was too much work haha. We are struggling to get the papers for the wedding we were planning for the 21^st, the Bogota missionaries don’t want to help us find the papers, chumps!...So we had to push the wedding back another week. We have a lot of good people that we are teaching right now, things are just really crazy around Christmas time. Everyone is traveling or with family or don’t want anything to do with religion...haha We should have between 4-6 baptisms at the end of the year if all goes well with the wedding papers and people keep going to church. Transfers are this week and every area in the zone has someone leaving. We are getting some good missionaries transferred into our zone and I’m excited to work with them. I’m still going to be with my companion for another transfer. I started Christmas shopping this morning and it really makes me feel happy. I want to make up a few gifts for members in the ward and then just buy a buch of toys and wrap them up and hand them out to children on Christmas day. I gave a talk in church yesterday. It didn’t go as well as I wanted but it was still alright. I talked about the spirit of Christmas and where our hearts need to be. It’s sad to see that a lot of members have stopped going to church especially around this time. We gotta go get them and bring them back!

I love you so much!! I can’t wait to talk you guys next week!! Merry Christmas!!

Elder Dahlin

December 30, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

It was so good talking to you guys this week. I can’t believe that Christmas has come and gone again. This year has flown by!! This Christmas was really awesome! Something that Elder Nelson said in the Christmas Devotional about giving not recieving and being more interested in people than things really got to me. I made a bunch of gifts for members, we bought toys and handed them out to kids on the street, and for all the investigators in the zone I printed out a christmas story and put candy in bags when we went to each area and visited them. We had a really good BBQ as a zone Christmas Eve for lunch and for dinner we went to a members house and we had a really good dinner with them. They are into cold meats here for Christmas like turkey, ham, pork, and salami. We´ve eaten so much this week haha New Year’s Eve we are going over to a members house to eat with them it should be pretty fun.

This will really be a Christmas that I´ll never forget. The older couple that we were trying to help get married, well the wife was really sick and we tried getting all the paperwork together but the missionaries in Bogota took a month to send us what we needed and last Thursday Mary Castrillón, the wife, died. I was so sad and frustrated that we couldn’t get everything done before she passed away, but when we talked to him the next day, I felt such a warm feeling come over me that told me “the plan of salvation is real”. Jose Aragon, the husband, was baptized yesterday and I had the opportunity to do it, As we confirmed him I knew that in one year he will enter into the temple and he will be sealed to his wife. The First Presidency has to approve the sealing since they weren’t married for ¨time¨ but the temple president in Bogota said that there won’t be a problem.

Im so greatful to be on a mission. I can’t beleive there’s only 6 months left. I wish I could start over with all that I’ve learned haha I love you guys so much. Thanks for all the Christmas gifts they were very much appreciated :)

Les quiero much!

Elder Dahlin

The Appendicitis

At the end of November, Jason had an emergency appendectomy. Let me tell you, it was not fun thinking about him going into surgery in Colombia. Luckily he was in Cali (a well established city) and went to a good doctor. We're very grateful for skilled doctors around the world!

Hola Familia!!

Well after this weekend I feel like a new man haha! Who needs a stupid appendix anyway?! It has been a really interesting weekend, I still can’t believe that it all happened. Thursday night is when I started to have really bad stomache pains. I couldn’t sleep all night. Laying down or standing up the pain was so bad. I called the mission president Friday morning and he told me to take it easy and to drink sprite to see if that would help the pain. It didn’t. We went out to work like usual and at lunch I tried eating but the pain just got worse so I layed down on the couch and rested. At about 4:30pm I told my companion that I couldn’t handle the pain anymore and right as I was about to call the mission president he called me and said that he wanted me to see a doctor. I went in at about 6:30pm and the doctor, a member of the church, touched parts of my stomache and he found that the main source of pain was on the lower right side, Where the appendix is... He took us back to his house at about 8:30pm and he took a blood and urine test. The results came at about9:45 and showed that there was some kind of problem. I called my mission president and the doctor called a surgeon that he knows to get me into the ER. That’s when I got to talk to dad which was pretty cool. I was admitted into the hospital at about 11:30pm and got hooked up to an IV at about 1am Saturday.  I was going to have surgery right away but there was a bar fight in Cali and a bunch of guys that were all messed up took my spot in line. Jerks. haha It was a rough night. I was in a small recliner chair in a room with like 5 other people. The nurse woke me up ever 30 minutes changing the IV and making sure I was ok. At 6:30am I got to take a shower and at 8am I was in a wheelchair getting moved to surgery prep. I was there for about an hour and at 9:15am I got moved to the operating room and they put me to sleep. I have 3 entry points. 1 on each side of my lower stomache and one in my belly button. I get the stitches taken out in a week they said. I’m here in the mission home right now and I’ll be here for a few days trying to work with the zone getting things done. It’s a little boring here but it’s nice to be in a home-like setting after 17 months in Colombia haha Thanks for worrying about me. I remember asking dad and my mission president if it is safe to have surgery in Colombia hahaha they took good care of me.

I love you guys soo much!!

Elder Dahlin