November so far...

November 4, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Transfers came!! My new companion is Elder Viza from Peru. He’s new as a ZL and has a little less time in the mission than me. He was in the MTC in Bogota with me but had to go home for surgery and is back now. It should be a good time!! This week went really well. We saw a lot of progress in our investigators and had 12 at church yesterday. That just goes to show that we are on the Lord´s timetable. We´ve been in a group of 3 since Friday with Elder Campos, the missionary I trained in Jamundi, which has been cool. It was fun working with him to see how much he’s learned. We went to Jamundi to visit some converts today, it was good. They are still active and it’s awesome to see how much they’ve grown in the gospel. The biggest lesson I learned this last month is that the Lord knows us. He knows what we are going through and he knows why we go through it. Its easy to say ¨Why me?¨ but that’s not what he wants. Faith is the first principle of the gospel for a reason. If members of the church would just keep hanging on a little but longer, there wouldn’t be so many less actives. He loves us and that will never change. I’ve seen it, I’ve taught it, but more importantly I’ve felt it. And he had to teach me this lesson again. I love you guys so much. Thank you for always being there for me and please know that you are always in my heart :)

Con mucho amor

Elder Dahlin


November 11, 2013

Hola Familia!!

How are you guys!? Things are a lot better here on my end haha. My new companion is a lot better than my old one. It’s always hard getting used to a new companion but we are working a lot better together. We should have a baptism this weekend, we are pretty excited. It’s a 13 year old kid named Sebastian. We found him through a reference and a member of the church made friends with him right away and for the past 3 weeks he’s been coming to church in a white shirt and tie. In 2 weeks he´ll be passing the sacrament! This area is still pretty tough, no one is married and no one wants to get married...haha. But we are working hard. We want to do more activites because the ward is pretty boring. In Colombia there’s hardley ever mutual or other youth activites and the missionaries are always the ones who have to plan them. I don’t understand it haha. I sent a bunch of pictures in a USB I hope you like them :) We had a really spiritual experience on Friday. We were in a small town called Yumbo just outside of Cali. There’s not a church there but there are a few members and we go every week to visit them. We printed out the roster of members that same Friday to go look for less active members and right as we were about to take the bus back to back to Cali I was flipping through the roster and there was a name highlighted in green. It said ¨Gomez Sanches¨ and I still don’t understand how it was highlighted but we went to the address and talked to the grandson of a lady that was baptized almost 50 years ago. He told us that she was really sick and that she was in the hospital just 2 blocks away. We met up with the lady´s daughter that told us “It’s about time you guys showed up”...Apparently this lady, whose name is Mercedes, had been calling out “Elderes” (Elders in Spanish) several times the night before. We walked in on a lady so frail that she couldn’t move on her own. We were able to talk with her for moment and then we gave her a blessing. She smiled and said “thank you for answering my prayers”. It was a really great experience.

I love you guys so much:) 

Elder Dahlin


November 18, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Well we`re a little bit sad because we didn’t have our baptism on Saturday. The kid’s mom called me the day of his interview and said that she wants him to wait a little bit longer. We are going to visit them tomorrow we`ll see what happens.  Hopefully we can work with her and she will give her permission because this young man is awesome.  Crazy things are happening in the mission right now. Between now and the end of January about 60 missionaries are ending their missions and more than half of these missionaries have leadership possitions too. Yesterday there was a problem in Buga with some missionaries and President Prince had to do a whole bunch of transfers to solve obedience issues. 2 zones were made into one, 2 areas were shut down, and 3 zone leaders were taken out of their positions and I’m pretty sure a missionary is getting sent home.  I have no idea what happened, I just found out about all this stuff this morning. Crazy stuff. This week was good, we are struggling to work with the members right now, missionary work and the ward are not connected. It makes things a lot harder and we really want to change that. The zone isn’t doing too well either, the only area that is going well is ours. Its frustrating when missionaries don’t take feedback or are disobedient. My companion is a little weird, we don’t really talk much. I dont know what to say to get him to open him up. He’s a cool guy and for the most part we teach well together. Pray that we will have baptisms! haha I can’t believe that November is halfway over....wild.

I love you guys so much! I hope all is well :) Thanks for everything you do for me!

Con mucho amor 

Elder Dahlin 

End of September & October

Here is one letter from the end of September and all the letters from October.

September 30, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Well I am finally getting transfered. My new zone is Cordillera, my new area is Versalles II, and my new comp is Elder Guerrero. I’m still going to be Zone Leader,  I’m excited to work in a new zone with a new group of missionaries. My current zone didn’t do too good this month, it has been a struggle. I read a talk yesterday that says that the Lord was a “do as I do leader” not a “do as I say leader.” Sometimes it’s frustrating when the missionaries don’t take your example and don’t listen to tips you give them on how to be a better more effective missionary. It definitely showed in this month´s stats. Even with some of the challenges I’ve had in this area, I’ve been looking back on my mission and this has been the best area and the best transfers I have had. I can feel the Lord working through us and I can see His love for each one of us. When Nephi said that he was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which he should do I can say that I have had those experiences. The Lord is moving His work forward and it’s a great opportunity to be a part of His church. I’m so greatful for all that the Lord has done for all of us and for our opportunity to be together forever. That’s what drives me. Families can be together forever. My family is pretty good too so I’m not too worried :) haha

I love you guys so much!

Elder Dahlin

October 14, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

Sorry I didn’t write last week, things were a little bit crazy with the transfers. The first week with my companion was horrible. I’ve never seen someone that has so much hatred towards me. It seems he hated me even before I got here, shouldn’t you get to know someone first before you hate them, haha. I wasn’t able to enjoy conference very much becuase I just felt terrible.  I am still not sure what his problem is, it’s pretty strange. I had to call the Mission President and last Monday we talked with him.  The President just told me to help fix this elder.  As of now things are good. However, I’m walking on egg shells to not do anything wrong to make him mad and we work at his pace which is pretty slow. I feel stressed all the time...haha

The mission is doing great right now. In September we baptized 272 people as a mission. 2190 investigators went to church in September too. It was a wonderful crazy month. We have set a goal to baptized 325 people as a mission in December which would be the highest number of baptisms in the history of this mission ever. Pray so that we can find families that are married haha My new area is huge. It’s the biggest area I’ve had. The members are cool, a lot of them speak English. An average of 110 go to church each Sunday. It’s nice to be in a church again because in Palmira is was a house used as a church. There aren’t too many investigators here, we have a lot of work to do. The problem is that I can’t say anything or my companion will get mad.................Only 3 more weeks haha I love you guys soo much! My last Christmas is coming up. Packages are always welcome ;) haha Let me know how things are going!

Les quiero muchisimo!

Elder Dahlin

October 21, 2013

Hola Familia!!

How are things going? This morning there was a big soccer tournament in the mission and our zone took 2nd. We lost in penalty kicks. It was pretty fun. This week has been pretty difficult our area is really big and we lost alot of time walking all over the place. We have some investigators but most of them arent married and dont want to get married.....Its alot different here than in Palmira I miss Palmira. My comp is still pretty tough I work at his pace and do what he says because if I dont he´ll get upset. Sometimes I dont feel like a missionary I just feel like an object playing follow the leader. I dont know what the lord wants me to learn. Maybe its payback for all the things ive done wrong haha Halloween is coming up everyone here has their decorations out its pretty cool. And everyone is startin to sell chirstmas stuff. I cant believe its christmas time again. My last chirstmas!! I love you guys sooo much. I think about you guys everyday. I had a dream about lake tahoe the other night the last thing I remembered was hugging grandpa.

Love you guys!

Elder Dahlin


October 28, 2013

Hola Familia!!

So I haven’t really told you guys about this area so I’ll give you a quick overview. It’s a huge area and without a car it’s a lot of walking. We have 3 neighborhoods with a good amount of investigators in them. It’s really comercial in some parts, lots of restaurants and stores, and other parts are really industrial, lots of factories and warehouses. We live on the second floor of an apartment building that’s pretty ghetto but not really dangerous. About 80-90 people go to church each week and there are a lot of less active members. One of the neighborhoods in our area is really close to another ward´s church building and they dont want to have to pay transportation to travel to the church building in our ward. That’s a big problem with a lot of the members too. The members are really nice but aren’t really connected with missionary work. That’s our focus right now. We made the ward mission plan and this week there’s a big push to work together members and missionaries to find a lot of new investigators to teach. There’s alot of work to do here haha.

This week was another tough one. Things with my companion are the same.  This guy has some serious issues. I try talking with him but he shuts down so much and gets mad for any little thing. When we ride in busses he puts his backpack on the seat next to him so I can’t sit next to him, at lunch instead of saying a prayer together he does it individually, and in lessons he always contradicts me and says the opposite or doesn’t let me talk.  Mostly I feel bad for the zone and for our investigators because they are both suffering. The good news is that transfers are next week haha It’s been a big learning experience for me. Hopefully November and December will be good months because we didn’t get anything accomplished in October.  I just want to be a missionary and work hard but it’s challenging when your companion stands in the way.

Christmas time is almost here people are starting to put up their decorations, I love it. This year has flown by. I hope all is well at home! I love you guys so much. Thanks for all your love :)

Con mucho amor

Elder Dahlin 

Weeks 63 & 64

I counted all the weeks Jason has been gone. I hope my calculations are correct, haha.

September 16, 2013

Hola Familia!

How’s it going!? How was your week? This week was good. We had a baptism on Saturday which was awesome. My comp and I sang a special musical number and Sister Prince (Mission President’s wife) was able to give a talk. Her name is Claudia and we found her contacting about 3 weeks ago. She started reading the Book of Mormon and said that since that moment she has never felt so good. Yesterday she told us that her whole family won’t talk to her anymore because she got baptized and all she said is that I’m sure they´ll come around haha. She’s great. We have been working more closely with the zone and have found that there is a lot of disobedience with some of the elders haha. We got to one area´s house at about 10am and they were still sleeping. Other areas we have found have more of a friends only relationship with their investigators. The problem with that is that if they think of us as just friends when it comes time to invite them to do something they won’t do it. Tough stuff, we have a lot of work to do this week. Hey, I saw a robbery at gunpoint last night which was wild. The problem with our area is that we have a neighborhood which has almost all of our investigators in it. The government gave away all the houses and so a bunch of people came from all over Colombia. The problem is that this neighborhood borders with the most dangerous neighborhood in Palmira and all the bad people from that neighborhood come in and mess with all the good people including our investigators. They call themselves the “300.” We have to be more careful now because at night it’s not that safe anymore. It’s cool because sometimes the Colombian Army roles in with all their big guns. I want to go with them sometime haha. We are hoping for 2 or 3 more baptisms this weekend we´ll see how things go. Things with the comp are good. Nothing else to report. I love you guys soo much!

Les quiero mucho

Elder Dahlin


September 23, 2013

 

Hola Familia!!!

This was a good week. We had 2 more baptisms which were a little stressful but we did it haha Andrea was baptized on saturday. Parents arent married but we are working on that. They love the church. The husband was in the army so hes a little tough on everyone but he has good intentions. Belliy was baptized sunday morning before church. She got put on house arrest for being in a house where there were a bunch of drugs but she had nothing to do with that she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. We got a permision from the police so that she could leave from 8-10am sunday morning to get baptized and then confirmed haha Right now we have a few good families that we are teaching. Its sad when people say that they are going to go to church on sunday but dont show up. Saturday was a holiday here in colombia which means that everyone parties hard all night. Transfers got moved to next week because pres prince wants us to finish out september with all the goals that we have in the mission right now. The next transfer will only be 5 weeks. Crazy story we were in the neighborhood that borders the dangerous neighborhood visiting some converts and when we got done we decided to walk a different way to get to our next appointment and along the way we ran into a member thats a taxi driver and he gave us a ride to our appointment. We got a call about 10 min later from our convert asking where we were and if we were alright. Apparently there was a big shootout between neighborhoods and if we would have gone the usual way home we wouldve been in the middle of it.....crazy right!

I love you guys so much. Sometimes I get a little homesick but then I remember that this is where I need to be. Thanks for all you guys do youre great!

Hey if you wanna send me candy I wouldnt get upset haha :)

Love you guys

Elder Dahlin

Four Recent Letters

I feel like the last month or so has been a roller coaster for Jason. He's in a pretty tough area, and he says the adversary is working really hard on the investigators and members. A couple of weeks ago, an Elder was tragically killed in the Cali Colombia Mission. We're so impressed with how Jason handled it and his knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. We've been sending lots of prayers to that Elder's family, the Cali Colombia Mission, and all the missionaries in general. We have to have faith in the Lord's work and plan and that He looks out for His missionaries. Jason is doing great and just pushes through all his trials. He's truly an inspiration to all of us.

August 15, 2013

Hola Familia!!

How are you guys doing?!! Well this week is transfer week and I’m stayin here with my same companion. I kind of wanted to leave but I’m fine with staying too. All the other areas in our Zone have transfers so it’s going to be a little crazy this week with all the changes. And there’s a few “ify” elders coming into the zone...haha.  But I will help them see the vision haha. The zone did good this week! We had 33 investigators at church in the zone, 9 of which were from our area. We had 5 baptisms this week as well. We had 3 in our area and another couple got married and then baptized. The Florez Family is now an eternal family!! :)  They are the ones that got married last week. There are 2 pics attached from the baptism and the 3rd is me with a totally awesome kid named Edward. He’s 3 and he’s the coolest kid ever. In the middle of our lesson yesterday he threw up and then just started laughing. He talks like hes 10! I’m a little worried about this transfer because I’m not sure where we are going to find new investigators but we`re going to do it!  The Lord always provides. I love you guys soo much! Sorry this letter is so short. Let me know how everyone is doing!!

Con mucho amor!!

Elder Dahlin


August 26, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

How are you guys doing?! Sorry last week´s letter was a little bit sad. I feel like sometimes agency is the worst. haha You do all that you can to help them and they go and tear it all down.....I guess that’s why they say that enduring to the end is the hardest part. haha This week we didn’t have our baptism. The kid had some problems that we need to overcome before he can get baptized but I’m sure in September he will be good to go. Our goal in september is 6 baptisms in our area so keep those prayers coming!! haha We had a Zone Conference on Friday which was awesome. We learned about Charity, Initiative, and how to work more with the members. There is alot of excitement in the misison right now we are setting some big goals. This Sunday the mission goal is to have 1000 investigators in sacrament meeting. Its about 10 per area. We have a pretty busy week to make it happen. I’m getting a little fat again. haha  I love you guys soo much. Thanks for everything that you do :)

Les quiero mucho!!
Elder dahlin 

 

September 2, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Sad news in the mission this week. On Saturday at 4pm, 4 missionaries in Cali were sitting at the table in their house eating lunch before a baptismal service that they had when they heard a gunshot. A stray bullet entered into the house and hit Elder Encarnacion in the head and he died instantly. He is from the Domincan Republic and had the same time in the mission as I do.  We were in the MTC together in Bogota.  They are calling it a stray bullet but no one knows if it’s true or if it was intentional. The police are investigating and they still haven’t released the body to take him back to his country. This was a tough week. We had a goal as a mission for church attendance but our branch didn’t support any of the activities we did, the investigators arent progressing like we want them too, and things with the comp didn’t go so well, and we only had 3 investigators at church yesterday putting us in last place as a zone.  We will just have to do better next week. We learned a big lesson after the death of this Elder. Being here in the mission is a privilege and is made possible by our families, faithful members of the church, and by the Lord. I know that the Lord needed this Elder in the spirit world and that his misisonary work has just begun.

Elder Christopher Waddell from the 70 is coming to Cali this week he`ll be here for 3 days. We have a conference with him on wednesday. Im excited it should be a really good experience.

I love you guys so much. Thanks for all that you guys do for me and for the prayers to me and to all missionaries. You guys are the best :)

Con mucho amor
Elder Dahlin

September 9, 2013 

Hola Familia!! 

This has been a really good week. The visit from Elder Waddell from the 70 was awesome, we had a 3 day mission conference with him. We had time to talk with him and we talked a lot about how we are going to “rescue” all the inactive members here in Colombia. He said that it’s time to start baptizing converts and to stop skipping the steps of faith and repentance. It was really inspiring and this week we have seen some great progress in our investigators. We have an investigator, Claudia, that is amazing. We contacted her about 2 weeks ago and she is going to get baptized this Saturday. It’s truly amazing how the Lord prepares the hearts of his children to hear our message. Everything we have taught her she’s accpeted it without problem. We taught the word of wisdom yesterday and she’s a coffee drinker but she said that if the prophet Joseph Smith felt that it was necessary, so do I haha. Each week as I look back, it’s crazy how much we have done. It’s even more crazy how much more we can do......haha. Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview David for his baptism on the 21st. His 2 kids are already baptized and his wife and him are up next. It was a great interview. We need more people like him. He understands the Power of the Priesthood and said that if his kids have any chance to succeed in life he needs to be there as the example. He told me something that I will never forget. He said that in the Catholic church there is a priest for every 10,000 members. In a normal Christian church there is a priest for every 1000 members. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints there is a priesthood holder for every family. I loved that and will always remember that experience with him. I love you so much family. I am so grateful to be here on the Lord´s errand. I got all the letters from Tahoe and the dearelder Thia sent me :).  Also, attached is a letter from the Mission President to our families regarding the Elder that was killed last week.

les quiero mucho!!

Elder Dahlin

 

July Letters (and one from August)

Here are some recent letters from Elder Dahlin!

July 1, 2013

Hola Familia!!

Things this week were a little crazy. Transfers are on Wednesday I’m going to be training a new Zone Leader. I’m pretty excited but really nervous too. The zone is changing a little bit, hopefully we get some good elders because right now I love the missionaries in our zone. We didn’t get much done this week because my companion was sure that he was getting transferred so he didn’t want to do anything, it turned out he was right about getting transferred, but chump, move it!! Haha. There are always sad elders that wanted to get transfered but didn’t get the call so we have to get them excited again. We should have some baptisms in these coming weeks but we need to find more people to teach. Like always haha. The crazy story of the week is that we almost got robbed! After lunch from about 1-3pm its really dangerous because everyone is in their house and the streets are empty. We were walking to an appointment and 3 guys on 2 bikes started following us. We walked to a little store and went inside so they took a lap around the block. As we started to walk towards a member’s house they came up behind us. One of the guys on the bike cut me off and as I looked at him I felt a knife in my back from the 2^nd guy. The 3rd guy was on lookout. As the guy in front of me told me to give him everything and to not say a word the member that lived nearby opened their door, we were able to get away and we ran inside the member’s house. It was a miracle. If she not opened the door who knows what would’ve happened........Ive never been so scared in my life haha. But don’t worry the Lord has our back :).  The mission policy is we can’t fight back because we will most likely get killed.  Pretty good policy.  But after you are robbed you have to call the Mission President and fill out a Rob report. I love you guys soooo much! 1 year down, I can’t believe it!

Con mucho amor

Elder dahlin


July 8, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

How are things going?! I got my new companion on Wednesday. His name is Elder Faundez hes from Chile Santiago. He’s got 16 months in the mission and he’s a cool guy and likes to work. He worked for a circus before his mission so he can juggle knives and all that crazy stuff. This week was just helping him get to know the area and the zone. We had 3 investigators at church yesterday. We were planning for 10....This is a tough area.  No one seems to want to go to church and when they say yes they will go, they hide on Sunday morning when we come by....We are starting English classes this week so hopefully we can find some people through that. We are going to do a talent show too which should be pretty fun. Noone tried to rob us this week don’t worry haha. I hit the 1 year mark on Saturday!  I can’t believe it has gone by so fast. Sorry there’s not too much to report on. Pray for us a lot we need some miracles in the area.

Les quiero un montón!!!

Elder dahlin

July 15, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

You guys all suck! All the letters I’m getting are of all the family vacations and trips and cool stuff you guys are doing....haha! This week was good, we’ve been working a lot with the missionaries in their areas getting to know the investigators and helping them get excited. We had some really good experiences finding a few families. On Thursday we were in Cali for a leadership council. We ate sooo good. I found out that there is a Cosco here in Colombia!!! It’s called Pricemart but its the same thing and its filled with American food! We talked about the goals we have and what we need to do to get ready for these next few months.  There’s a big push for church attendance and working with the less active members. They want us to start focusing on that more and more. We are workin with a family, The Flores Family, planning their wedding so that they can get married and then get baptized!!! I’ve never planned a wedding before haha The Lord really wants this family, they have had sooo many experiences with us its incredible. Through blessings and a lot of prayers and fasting they set the goal to get married August 1st and to get baptized the 3rd. It’s amazing to see how the lord works through us to help others. I’ll keep you updated on how the plans are going!

Another boring letter I’m sorry! I’ll try to get robbed this week or somethin hahaha

Les quiero mucho!!

Elder Dahlin 

 

 

July 22, 2013

 

Hola Familia!!!

I can’t believe its Tahoe time again!! I’m super jealous haha I’m really sad to hear that Uncle Ole passed away. When I read that tears came to my eyes but at the same time I felt something in my heart that told me that the Plan of Salvation is true. That calming feeling reasured me that I’m going to see him again. We are all together. Send the Chirstensens my love. We just got done with a big lunch we organized to raise money for the family that is going to get married. It’s the other family that you (dad) wrote the letter to. They are really excited. The plan is that the get married the 1st and get them baptized on the 3rd. We should have 2 baptisms this saturday if all goes well. An older lady named Belli and a girl named Jessica. Keep them in your prayers we need all the help we can get!! The zone is going alright but we are really behind in baptisms. There’s a couple companionships that are tough to work with but we´re working on that haha It’s tough when the weekly stats come in and they’re not that good. It’s not about numbers but it definitely shows the effort you put into the week. We have all that we need to be successful as missionaries, its just frustrating when the missionaries don’t apply it. But hey everyone has a bad week haha I hope you guys have a great week!! Tell Uncle sam not to be like Uncle Bob with the boat this year hahaha I love you guys with all my heart. We truely have the best family:)

Con todo mi amor

Elder Dahlin 

 

 

July 29, 2013

 

Hola Familia!!!!

This week was nuts. Super stressful. Many of the baptisms that the zone had planned fell through for lack of planning and waiting till the last minute to do things. Last night was tough writing down all the stats from this week from each area. It definitely wasn’t something that I wanted to send off to President Prince. We had one baptism on Saturday which was really good. Jessica Arboleda, 14 years old. We hadn’t talked to her all week and she finally called us Friday night saying that she would be ready at 3pm for the baptismal service that started at 5pm. She showed up at 4:30pm.......she had her baptismal interview, passed, my comp baptized her and I confirmed her yesterday. It was a miracle. The sister missionaries in our zone almost got robbed again. This time some guy pulled a knife on them but they took off running and screaming. They are getting taken out of that area in the next transfer and elders are coming in. The family that we are teaching, if all goes well, are gettining married on Thursday and are getting baptized the 10th. Keep them in your prayers!! I’m still trying to figure out how the Lord works and how to recognize the spirit but I’ve come to the conclusion that that’s a life process haha I’m so grateful to be here, I’m getting a little nervous because time is flying by...haha

 

I love you guys so much. I want you to know that I’m so grateful for all that you guys did to get me here. This year has been the hardest, but at the same time the best year of my life. Time is flying by way too fast and before you know it I’ll be home and we´ll be in Waterworld or in Tahoe!! You guys are the best!

Con mucho amor

Elder Dahlin 

 

 

August 5, 2013

 

 Hola Familia!!!

How are you guys doing?! This will be a week that I’m never going to forget. On Tuesday my convert, Helen Restrepo, lost her dad. He had disappeared a long time ago and news came that he was killed by some gang members. She took it really hard. She’s been going through a lot lately she dropped out of school, she doesn’t want to go to church and with this......On Thursday we had the wedding!!! At 4pm we went to the court house and they did a little ceremony there. It’s nothing like a temple wedding......haha. Then at 5 we ran over to the church to set up for the party that we put on for them. I got a call at about 5:15 from Helen`s sister crying and screaming. All I heard was Helen won’t wake up Helen won’t wake up.....I yelled to me comp and we took off running to her house. When we got to the their house Helen was screaming and shouting like I’ve never seen before. She would be at it for 4 or 5 minutes and then would pass out and then she would start up again. It was really sad to see this family in such a sad state. After about 30 minutes she calmed down and we gave her a blessing and then went back to the church. The party went really well there were about 50 members there. We decorated the church, we had dinner and a cake, there was dancing. I was really happy. They came to church yesterday so all is well for their baptism on Saturday. Yesterday another one of Helen`s cousins died and her boxing coach was killed as well. I still can’t believe it. She said it was because they were baptized in the church but I let her have it for saying that. Where they live borders with a really dangerous neighborhood that has a gang that’s called the “tres cientos” and she’s getting caught up in that :( There’s a crazy girl that fell in love with my companion that’s causing problems too. Crazy week. haha Im just happy this family got married :)

I love you guys sooo much!! let me know how things are :)

con mucho amor

Elder Dahlin 

 

 

Here are some pictures from the wedding and another baptism!

 

Recent Letter

Here is Jason's most recent letter! He's doing awesome! His letter speaks for itself :)

June 24, 2013

Hola Familia!!

I just want to start out by saying that Satan is a d-bag haha!! But we won!! We have been fighting for a family to get baptized and on Saturday and Sunday they were finally baptized and confirmed. This entire week this family has being having so many problems. They were fighting, lost their job, were sick, and so many other things it was ridiculous. We finally got things settled down and when Saturday came one of the daughters was in a motorcycle accident. We called every member in our branch and sent them over to their house to get her calmed down and they got her leg all patched up. The baptismal service finally came around and it was great. It took a lot of planning but once it got started everything ran smoothly. We had 10 baptisms in the Zone! 2 of which were surprises. One lady I interviewed on Thursday. Her husband and son are members. I showed her the pictures of Megan’s wedding and talked about the temple. It was a really spiritual experience. I told her not to tell her husband that she was going to get baptised. On saturday we told her husband that somebody wanted him to baptized them but didn’t tell him who. When he was there standing in the water and his wife came out all dressed in white. Tears could not be held back it was such a great experience. I’ll attach the pic of the family we baptized, the lady and her husband, and all of the missionaries with the investigators and the 1st counselor of the mission presidency with his wife. I baptized the mom and one of the daughters of our family. As the mom came into the water she started to cry. It was a really spiritual experience. The good news is that everyone was confirmed too! Haha.  Sometimes when you have so many people getting baptized it’s hard to keep track : ).   

I love you guys so much! Thanks for always being there for me :)

Con mucho amor!!

Elder Dahlin

Mother's Day

We got to Skype with Jason on Mother's Day! It was SO good to see his face. His smile is still as big as ever :). It was much easier to talk to him this time than it was on Christmas. He was much more homesick on Christmas, and there were a lot more tears when we signed off then. This time I felt so much peace talking to him--we all did. He loves his mission, and he loves serving those around him. He's just ready to get out there and do more work! I love the Spirit about him, and I love seeing the Lord work through him.

A few weeks ago, Elder Bednar visited his mission. He said it was an amazing experience. He said Elder Bednar is even cooler in person. Here's a picture of his mission with Elder Bednar. See if you can find Jason!

 Okay, I'll tell you...

Here are some of Jason's recent letters!

April 1, 2013

Hola familia!!!

How are you guys doing?!! I’m doing good. I’m really excited for this month. 1st because its General Conference again. My second one in the mission! 2 down 2 to go haha. 2nd is because we should have some baptisms the 13th and 20^th.  We have found a lot of great people that are ready to enter into this covenant with our Father in Heaven. I’m so grateful to invite others to come unto Christ. Keep praying for these people! 3rd is because ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING TO CALI THE 27TH and 28TH :D We have a conference with him and his wife and other special trainings!! I can’t even wait. That will be 3 Apostles that I have shaken hands with. I don’t know if I will wash my hand after this one haha. Things are going a lot better in this area. I feel like the Lord is teaching me patience and to trust in him. We are on His time table, not ours. I’m grateful to be here teaching the gospel; there isn’t a better job on earth. It’s the hardest job on earth and sometimes it sucks, but I love it hahaha. Things with my companion are good. He’s learning a lot and gaining more confidence talking with the people, I mean he’s got me for a trainer ;) I love you guys so much! I missed not being home for Easter because here it’s just a normal day. No special programs, Easter baskets, nothing! I miss you guys so much let me know how things are!!

Les quiero mucho!!
Elder Dahlin

April 15, 2013

Hola Familia!!!

How are you guys doing! We had 2 baptisms this weekend finally! We baptized an older couple after 2 weeks of teaching them. It was a great experience they are great people. The idea is that in 1 year they head off for the temple to get sealed! Now we are out of investigators haha Other than that this week was pretty normal. This morning we went to the Zoo in Cali which was pretty cool. We are trying to work more and more with the members to find references and get them to stay strong in the church. We found a family of 3 that are all inactive but all 3 play volleyball on teams around Cali so we are going to be playing alot haha My comp is good. Lets just say I get to the house real tired every night. Ive been thinking alot about you guys this week its been tough. Sometimes its hard to be here far away. The mish is tough I learn that more and more everyday. I know why im here though and I know that the lord is keeping you guys safe. All we can do is hope that the time goes by fast haha

I love you guys so much

Elder Dahlin

April 29, 2013

Hola familia!!!

 

Whats up!!! How was the week? This week was pretty normal. It rained a lot here with some pretty brutal lightning storms, we lost power twice. Theres also a problem with the water system so we haven’t had running water in the house for 2 days.....it sucks haha. I had to eat 2 gross things. One lady plopped a fish head on my plate with a big smile. That sucked. Then another family gave us chicken feet. Picture putting chicken toes in your mouth, biting down, and spitting out the toenails...gross haha.  We had 2 baptisms last weekend finally! We baptized an older couple after 2 weeks of teaching them. It was a great experience, they are wonderful people. The plan is that in 1 year they head off for the temple to get sealed!  We found a family of 3 that are all inactive but all 3 play volleyball on teams around Cali so we are going to be playing a lot haha. My comp is good. Let’s just say we get to the house real tired every night.  We are hoping that this week we can light a fire under the members and get them to do some missionary work. Saturday was amazing. All the missionaries got together for a 3 hour meeting with Elder Bednar!! It was soooooo good. He is awesome. He is so different in person. He looks a little older in pesron too. The best part was he talked in English and had a translator haha. He talked with us, not at us, which was the best part. We had the chance to ask questions, he asked us questions, and the spirit was so strong the whole time. He talked to us about how we need to stop being objects and become agents. We took pictures with him and shook his hand! Yesterday we had a conference with Elder Craig C Christensen of the Seventy which was awesome too.  I’m learning so much every day and it’s amazing how the Lord can change our hearts. I’m not going to let the little things get to me, I’m here to do what I need to do and what the Lord has planned for me to do. Every day is hard in its own way but I feel good being here.  Great weekend haha! I hope all is going well for you guys. I love you so much!

Les quiero mucho

Elder Dahlin

 

May 6, 2013

Hola familia!!

Whats up?! How is everything going? How was this last week? Things here in Jamundi are going better. We don’t have very many investigators but the ones we do I think are ready to progress. We had an investigator come to church for the 1st time yesterday and its amazing how the Lord works because she didn’t want to leave the church, she felt so good. She asked “what is going to happen when I tell the pastor of the other church that I go to that I dont want to come back”? haha. We are starting to work more with the members too, we pray with them that names of friends will come to mind and we go and contact them right then. We have had some good experiences with them. The bishop finally knows my name!! haha I’ve made alot of ground with him. He and one of the stake presidency counselors that is in our ward both say that I’m the first missionary that they have seen ready to work. Whats up??!! haha We are planning alot of good things for the rest of this month and in June. I also made a work plan for the district that now is being used by 3 other zones too! There’s still alot of work to be done but we are working hard. Other than that not to much is going on. Today (P-Day) we are just gonna kick back and sleep. I hope all is well and I can’t wait to talk with you guys on Sunday!!! I love you soooooo much!!

Con mucho amor

Elder Dahlin


May 20, 2013

Hola Familia!!

How are you guys?! This was a crazy week haha First things I got transfered. I’m going to be a Zone Leader in an area outside of Cali (north). Theres 16 missionaries, 4 of which are fresh out of the MTC. I’m also going to be a District Leader because in our district there’s sister missionaries. I’m pretty excited! haha Our mission broke the 200 mark, we now have 210 missionaries. We had a baptism this week which was awesome. Her name is Lina. She’s a single mom and her daughter is going to get baptized next month after she turns 8. She came to the church 2 weeks ago with the idea of staying only 1 hour and then going to her church but after sacrament meeting she didn’t want to leave. It’s amazing how the Lord touches the hearts of people. She’s a great lady with a strong testimony. She can recognize the spirit really quickly which has helped her tremendously. This whole week other people from her old church were telling her don’t go to that church, they’re full of lies, it’s of the devil and a whole bunch of other things. Her response was “I’ve finally found the Lord’s church. I’ve prayed, and he’s responded.” :D haha The last crazy experience was in Cali I had to do a baptismal interview. Turns out the guy  I interviewed is an ex-gang leader......There is a question, question 4, that makes sure that you haven’t done anything really bad in your life. At the time I didn’t know and when he told me that he had killed, alot, and had done a whole bunch of other stuff, My heart sunk. Tears came to my eyes because at that moment the spirit filled the room. The atonement is for everyone. Christ didn’t only suffer for certain people. It is such a powerful thing to know that through him we can be clean. I’ve  seen it in my life and I’m so greatful to be able to teach people about it. He won’t be able to be baptized at this time but he’s not gonna give up. Thats all I’ve got for you this week haha I love you guys soooo much!!! Let me know how things are  going!

Con mucho amor!

Elder Dahlin 

He's doing great! Keep writing him! Go to the "Address" tab above to see ways you can write him.

Love, Megan 

More Pictures!

Elder Dahlin e-mailed us some pictures today! It's always great to see where he is and to see his smiling face. In this last transfer he was made District Leader and will be training his new companion. He's really excited about the opportunity! 

Here are the pictures with an explanation that he gave of each one.

 Jason's first day in Cali at Cristo Rey.

 First baptism in Villa De Lago with Elder Zombrano. The girl's name is Kimberly Suarez.

 This mother and her 2 kids were Jason's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th baptisms. The mom is Sandra Orozco, the daughter is Camilla, and the son is Juan Sebastian.

They hiked this volcano in Popayan called Purace.

Holding the Colombian flag from about 14,500 feet on the volcano.

 Another shot of the volcano.

Jason said these three kids are his favorite! The little girl is Britney, the shorter boy is Anderson, and the taller boy is Dago.

In the house of an investigator.

They were almost robbed in this area, and right after they left, a murder happened. Now these cops are there all the time. Jason said that they are their protectors.

This girl, Jessica, is the cousin of the three he baptized in Popayan.

Sunset in Popayan.

He's eating what's called a Cholado. It has all the fruits of Colombia in it. Jamundi is known for these.

He's doing great. Keep writing him, and if you love him, send him a package :)

Love,

Megan

An Update

Hey everyone! I have been terrible at updating Elder Dahlin's blog. He is currently in Jamundi. He says he really likes it there. It's really hot, and apparently he is getting some decent sunburns. A sweet lady Jason met in Popayan sends me frequent messages about him and keeps me updated. I surely love and appreciate the families down there that take care of Jason.

Here are some pictures she sent me:

Doesn't he look great?! I love seeing his big smile!

Here are some of his recent e-mails:

January 21, 2013

Hola familia!!!

How are you guys doing!! I got transferred to Jamundi! It’s a city right outside of Cali. Its super-hot here.....There are 4 missionaries here and we live in a really nice apartment. Its super big, has an oven, 3 bathrooms and it’s so much better than what I was living in in Popayan. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone in Popayan. You get to know the people really well and they were like my family. Tuesday we went and said goodbye and took pics and it was good. I took a bus at 5am Wednesday to Cali and then we took a taxi to Jamundi. Elder Laws from my MTC group is with me. This is the last transfer for our companions so they don’t do much. They are always sleeping and wanting to go back to the house. My companion, Elder Vilchez is from Peru, he was my district leader in Popayan for a transfer. He’s a cool guy, he’s just super traunque(that’s what they say when someone is thinking about going home and not their mission). The ward here is good about 120 people go every Sunday. The members don’t like us very much I don’t know what happened so we have to change that. We don’t have very many investigators right now. There’s a lot of work to do!  But all is well there are a lot of members here who speak English which is nice.

The 49ers are going to the Super bowl and the Patriots arent :D!! haha This week was good. We had one day where we talked to about 5 different Jehovas Witnesses. It was nuts. They have crazy beliefs that I don’t understand. They wouldn’t let us pray because they say that not all prayers are heard by god...and they believe that when we die, that’s all she wrote...We were talking about the organization of the church about the prophet and the 12 and they said hey we have something really similar, and I said Hey I didn’t know you guys had a prophet and 12 apostles and they got up and left haha. We don’t have many investigators and not much support from the ward so it looks like we are going to have to start knockin doors which sucks but hopefully we wont get too many doors slammed in our faces. Crazy story last night we were sitting on a bench in a big park, there were alot of people around, and all of the sudden a guy comes up to us, says hi, reaches under the bench and pulls out a gun, puts it in his pants and continues on his way........My comp thought we were dead he was freakin out. But don’t worry we are A ok haha. Its super hot here I have to start using sunscreen cause im super burnt. Im getting a nice missionary tan though! Health wise I’m good, eating good, you guys would be impressed with what I eat now haha. I love you guys sooo very much!!! let me know how things are!

Con mucho amor!
Elder dahlin

January 28, 2013

Hola familia!!!

How are you guys doing!! Things are going ok here in Colombia. The ward isn’t too supportive of us neither is the Bishop which is tough. We are going to focus on strengthening those relationships this week. We don’t have any investigators. One kid was all ready for the baptism this last Saturday but his dad wouldn’t let him. The Jehovas Witnesses were follwoing us around one day and we lost 2 more investigators to them and another lady is having problems with her husband so she doesn’t want to make a decission right now. My companion refuses to knock doors so we almost always come home early and we leave late in the mornings. He doesnt want to be here anymore. It’s tough becuase he is a good Elder but being with another missionary from your same group is making it worse. Its super hot here its really tropical weather which would be nice if we werent in white shirts and ties. I’ve been sick since friday with a fever but I’m not going to give my comp the pleasure of staying home so the work goes on. Spanish is getting better each day. Its still a struggle but now its just a matter of listening to find out what I still need to learn. I love and miss you guys soo much!!

Con amor

Elder Dahlin

February 4, 2013

Hola Familia!!!!

How are you guys doing!! This week was alright, not too much happened. I have been pretty sick lately. Tuesday and Wednesday I barely had a voice but now I’m getting better. We started doing English classes this week and they are going pretty good. 20-30 people came this week and hopefully we can get more to come. We go over the basics of English and just hit vocabulary so they can learn some words. The classes get crazy at times because everyone is asking different questions or wants to know something different. It’s been raining alot this week which has been nice. Jamundi is really a nice city, I like it here. The ward is still a struggle.  I feel like the members are going to overthrow the bishop haha. He still doesn’t like us, and from what the members say he doesn’t like them either. We have been trying to set an appointment with him for the past 2 weeks and he gave us 20 min next Sunday in between conference sessions.........But we are still trying. My comp is slowing down more and more. He looks for any reason to leave late or come back to the house early. I feel like we aren’t doing anything during the week we didnt find any new investigators this week and taught 4 lessons....Not good. There is alot of potential here hopefully this month and in march things will get going. Other than that all is well. Our investigators are progressing slow and steady they all have different problems that we are workin through. Noone in Colombia is married haha But thats why we are here, to help! I love you guys soooo much! Thank you for everything :)

Ps If someone sent me a big thing of jiff peanut butter I would love you forever haha

Con mucho amor!
Elder Dahlin 

 ______________________________________________

Doesn't he sound great?! We love our Elder Dahlin and couldn't be more proud of him! Keep e-mailing him, and if you're feeling really giving, send him a nice package with peanut butter, beef jerky, and Skittles :)

Love,

Megan