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 21st, 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
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