Missionary work is the best!!! :)

Wow! What a week here on the East Coast! Christmas was great! I GOT SPOILED! Thank you all so much! Now that the New Year is coming... I can't believe how much has happened this year.. .who would of ever thought I'd be on a mission right?? ha! But I am so grateful for the way this year went and I am super excited to see what comes about in 2014! (I have been graduated from high school for 3 years.. that’s gross… I am getting old!)

Well this week went great... slow in terms of missionary work... but we had some great memorable things this week! :)

TUESDAY: Christmas Eve! You know, it is weird having Christmas on the mission... it didn't even feel the same! But it was still a great day! We were able to have our studies, then we had a meeting with Elder Kay (he is our ward mission leader) to go over plans because were in charge of the 5th Sunday lesson! So we went over that! Then that night we were able to go caroling! :) We went to visit some of the Elder’s Investigators and then some of ours! It was great to be able to bring that Christmas cheer! Then that night we all went back to the Kays and we played Five Crowns and ate food! Funny... we were so excited to open our Christmas Eve packages! Well we got in bed and at 10:47 we remembered that we didn't even open them!!! Soooo I woke up Sister Legg and we ran out there and opened them up and changed in the living room then went right back to bed! haha But I couldn't still couldn't sleep... only thing that is the same about Christmas! I am still like a little kid!!!

WEDNESDAY: CHRISTMAS!!! YAY! Such a great day! We woke up and went straight to our presents! It took us forever to open them all!  (packages are a lot harder to open then regular boxes) but I got spoiled and thank you all so much! Then we got ready and went to Emerson for district meeting! That was really great! And after that we hung out as a Zone for a little bit and had a big present exchange! ha that was really fun! :) We all brought a $5 gift! Then we went back and visited our baptismal candidate and the new investigator we just met! It was great! THEN WE GOT TO CALL HOME! :) That was the fastest hour of my life but so worth it! :) I loved it so much! Thank you for being there! :) After the hard hang up… we went to make dinner. We made gluten free pancakes! After that we went back to the Kays and played 5 Crowns and I got the amazing score of 15! It was pretty great! Then after that the Fardale Sisters came up, and we had a sleep over with them! So that was our Christmas night! It was the greatest! :)

Thursday: Well we didn't just have a sleep over with the other sisters for no reason... haha they came over so that we could go to the temple together cause we got to go into the CITY on Thursday and do that! :) That really was a great Christmas present! :) We met up with our whole zone in West New York, NJ in the morning and rode a bus through the Lincoln Tunnel and then we were in the city! We walked like 30 blocks and through central park and all that (all I could think about was home alone...hah that movie!) but the temple was amazing though! I am so grateful we had the chance to go to that! The peace you feel there is so incredible and it was just amazing! After that we walked on back and it was cool to see the city cause it was almost dark and it was so light! Then all we had time for was coming home and going to bed! hah long day but sooooooo worth it! :)

Friday: Guess what? We finally got to work on Friday! It is crazy how much I missed it! haha! But on Friday we were able to see our baptismal candidate and we had this great lesson with her but at the last minute I had this feeling we needed to change it and ask her the baptismal interview questions... so we did! And it was really great because we found out how much she really knows! :) And we also found out that she needed to be interviewed by President Jeppson! So it was really great that we switched that because we needed to schedule that in because she is on date for next Sunday! So I love those promptings! We also were able to see our recent convert! Who we haven't seen in forever but we had a great meeting with her and talked about her reading! :) So that was fun!

Saturday: We spent the morning getting ready for our Member Missionary thing again then we were able to go and see our baptismal candidate again! :) She is super prepared to get baptized! But that was really our day...

Sunday: We had church which was great! :) Then we had got to teach the 3rd hour of church! We taught all the members HOW to be a missionary and for them to have a plan! It went really well and we hope this will get them super excited to share the gospel with their friends! :) After that we had studies then we went to get our baptismal candidate with the Kays and bring her to the church because President came up to Interview her! President is the most amazing man! He interviewed her then after he gave her a STRONG blessing... Her shoulder has really been giving her problems and so he offered that and it was so amazing because after he was done she looked at us and said... "Wow! I feel great!" She had no more pain! It was so amazing to witness a miracle with the Priesthood! Oh yeah AND SHE PASSED HER INTERVIEW! :) So this week we will be preparing for that and next Sunday she will be able to be baptized! :) Pray for her! :)

That was our exciting week! So much happened! But I am excited and honored to be a part of this sweet sister’s experience! She is an amazing lady and it's so cool to just be the women in the middle. Because I know that it wasn't my teaching... it was ALL the Spirit! I was just that person the Lord used to put the words in my mouth that could touch her heart! :) Missionary work is the best!!! :)

Well hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! :) As you are watching the ball drop in times square... just remember.. I AM LIKE 20 MIN AWAY FROM THAT! :) how cool is that? haha wellll hope you have a great week! I love you all very much! :) Until next week...

Sister Dahl

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :) :) :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! :) :) :) Can you even believe it!??!?! We get a whole day to celebrate our Lord and Saviors birth! Cool thought... We wouldn't even be celebrating His birth if it wasn't for His Atonement! Everything is so centered around His Atonement! I am so grateful to be able to celebrate the fact that we CAN live with our Father again because of Jesus Christ! Because HE came into the world! Because HE was born!

Well let’s just say this week was a little rough... it was supposed to be the best week of the mission! :) But guess who was a sick little duck? :( Of course. But all is well! I made it out alive! :) And I am ready for Christmas! :)

Well I already told you how Tuesday went right?? So I think we need to start back up with...

Wednesday! Well Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to Morristown in the morning for a meeting with all the new missionaries and the trainers. They get them all back together and we all talk and see how we are doing... it was great! :) I have a really great trainee... ha! Sister Legg is the best and so easy going! I am very grateful! :) We had a full day of that! Oh this day I also told President that if he put me in a place with horses that I would knock on all the doors... He just laughed... I think I might have to bring this up to the man upstairs... But after that we were able to go on exchange with the Sister Training Leaders! Sister Ward came with me in New City and Sister Legg went with another Sister in Emerson. So it was great! We had a busy night! Sister Ward has already served in New City so it was fun because she got to see people again! :) We went to see our LA and had a great lesson with him about recognizing the Spirit then we were able to see our baptismal candidate and talked with her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about repenting every day! It's so amazing to be able to get people into that habit! Something that is so important! :) And that was our night! But it was good! :) p.s. this night I started to have a sore throat... :(

Thursday: We exchanged back with our companions and then were able to do weekly planning! Needless to say I did not feel good at all this day... :( We also helped set up for the ward Christmas party this night at the church!

FRIDAY: Well today was the day were we had an ALL mission conference in Morristown! Every missionary was going to be there ALONG with the famous singer... ALEX BOYE!!!!!! :) Greatest day ever right?? Well guess who wakes up Friday morning with a 102 degree fever?!?!?!? Thats right... I do! Joy to the world... I was delusional! haha I couldn't even walk straight! haha But I was not going to miss this day!!! Sooo we called the nurse and she said take some pills and I could come if I was anti-social and didn't talk to anyone... (that's super hard for me.. but I agreed!) But the greatest part was that I was able to receive a Priesthood blessing and I went on! :) I kind of slept during the first half of it so I don't really know what was going on... ha but by lunch I was feeling much better! :) Then during lunch ALEX BOYE (who is Presidents son-in-law) he sang Christmas songs for all of us! So funny... he is a great performer! Had us all laughing! :) Then after that he talked to us about setting expectations! He is a great speaker too! :) After that we were able to get pictures with him and then we were able to go into a room where alll our packages were!!!! There were sooo many! So we grabbed all of them and put them in our car and went on home! :) So I was super glad I went and didn't miss out... I tried my hardest not to talk to people... haha but all is well! I went home that night and my sweet comp cooked me chicken noodle soup (gluten free) and then I went to bed!

Saturday: I woke up without a fever! WOO! :) hah but we were able to go get everything ready for the Christmas party again then we went out and worked for a little bit, we were able to see our recent convert! :) We hadn't seen her in a while so that was a great chance to meet with her! :) She is doing good! :) Then we were able to have the ward Christmas party that night! :) We had a great turn out!!! There were so many non-members there it was hard to talk to them all! But it was great! :) The ward came out with presents for us missionaries! It was so sweet of them! :) I really do love this ward so much!

Sunday: Well we woke up and went to church! :) We had a Christmas program in Sacrament full of music! We did a song as missionaries and it went great… minus I couldn't sing! haha I mouthed the words and everyone else sounded wonderful :) then after church we were able to go and teach a family who has been coming to church! They are kids and their grandma is already a member so we talked to them! :) It was super great! They are confused about what church to join so going over Joseph Smith was awesome! :) Then we were able to go to Morristown AGAIN and have a missionary fireside where all the English missionaries sang songs for people about the Christmas story! It was great again! Minus the singing part for me haha but he Spirit was super strong! :) And there were members from all over...even FARDALE that came! :) So it was fun seeing them again! But then we drove home and went to bed! :) That was our Sunday!

That was really our week! :) I am feeling much better... it was just scary at first! :) But hopefully I will be alllll better for Christmas! :) I can't wait to talk to you this week! That will be the best present I could get! I really love you all and am so grateful to have you in my life!
I am also so grateful for my Lord and Savior coming into this Earth to suffer and die for me! I know HE lives! I know that He is what Christmas is all about!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goooooood night! :)

XOXOXO

Sister Dahl

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Us and ALEX BOYE!! (don't mind my ugly hair...hah didn't get ready)

 A sweet Sister and I at church!

 

The 4 girls i came out with! :) Love them!

Amazing how much you appreciate working...

Welll. well well. So sorry I am a day late emailing... this week has been nuts!!!! All I can say is this...

We were on lock down because of the snow for 2 days, church was cancelled, AND we got in a wreck... But don't worry, it wasn't even my fault!

So I don't have very long... but I will give you the quick run down version of my week! Know that I love you all and that I love the Savior too! :)

Tuesday: We were supposed to have an activity with the Jeppsons at the mission home this day but it got cancelled because of all the snow... :( Well pretty much it snowed all morning long so we got a text this day that said that we weren't allowed to use the car for the morning... So we sat inside and waited for the snow to stop... then that night we went outside and finally worked! Amazing how much you appreciate working when you get told that you need to stay out of the snow... :( We were able to see a less active and our new baptismal candidate! :) She is doing soo good and is sooo prepared to be baptized! I don't know if I said anything but her date is on Jan 5 and so we will be having a baptism right after Christmas! :)

Wednesday: Noo SNOW! WOOT! :) We were able to go out and work! We had district meeting in the morning then we were able to go and see a less active and our baptismal candidate again. Since she lost her job she told us to come over whenever we want! :) So we are! :) She is amazing!

Thursday: Weekly Planning and our walking day! YAY... ha! But it was great because we were able to walk to a members work and have dinner with her... (minus the herbal life shake again..) but we walked there and after we had Elder and Sister Kay pick us up and we looked at the temp and it read 18 degrees... ha! We walked in that! But we survived! :)

Friday: This was a great day and we were able to see some great people! We saw a new investigator! He LOVED the Restoration and he totally understood Priesthood power. It was soo cool to see it click in his mind! So we were able to commit him to praying to know if it's true! He is a great kid that really wants to do the right things!! Then we were able to see another sister! She is so sweet! Had a lesson with her then we went back to see our baptismal candidate again! We had a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and out of nowhere she looks at us and says... "Of course we have a prophet!!! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!!!" :) haah we weren't even talking about prophets but we were so happy to see that it clicked in her mind! She is gaining such a strong testimony! :) Then we had the opportunity to go to Emerson, NJ and sing carols for a big ward thing they were doing! That was fun! :)

Saturday! BIG SNOW STORM!! It snowed from 6:30 until 9:00 at night… all day! :( so guess what that means? We had to stay inside again... :( So sad! But we got some studying done and then we decided to have a snow ball fight then the Kay’s had us come over and we talked with them for a while! :) It was sad because we had a ward Christmas party and it got cancelled...

Sunday: Well here is the day... We were still on lock down that morning... AND our Bishop decided to cancel church... :( But the roads were fine around the afternoon (people just don't know how to drive here... it's sad... haha) so we went out to work! We saw a member then on the way back we were sitting at a stop light and minding our own business when suddenly I looked in the rear view mirror and a see 2 cars behind us not stopping and slamming into the car right behind us then all I remember is the car behind us coming towards us!!! Then BAM!! We got hit too! It wasn't bad we were totally fine! Just a little whiplash... and the car just had a baby scratch on it... We got realllly lucky (angles were protecting us that's for sure!) The car behind us was pretty bad... but all is well! The girl that caused it said that the light was green... however we were two cars in front of her and we hadn't gone yet! hah it was sad... so we spent the rest of the night getting all the paper work filled out and so that was fun... not! :) But I am grateful we were okay and that it wasn't my fault... hahah!

MONDAY: Well now to why I didn't email you... Our Jingle with the Jeppsons got re-scheduled to Monday so we woke up and went straight to the mission home and had a fun morning with them! Our whole zone went and it was a blast! :) They cooked us breakfast and we sang and then had a real spiritual moment reading the Christmas story with president! He is amazing! (p.s. they even cooked me GLUTEN FREE waffles! :) ) I love them so much :) Then after that we had to go to a singing practice because next Sunday the missionaries put on a missionary fireside where we sing Christmas songs! So we had to practice up for that! Then by the time we got home, we had family home even that night and that was that! So it was a long day! :( But still sooo fun! :)

TODAY: Then today we wake up and it snowed ALL morning again but luckily I don't think President knew it was snowing in New City cause we still drove! :) ha! We had district meeting then we were able to go to Costco with Sister Kay cause we didn't shop yet... ha! Oh…she made a cake and saved ME some frosting!!! After that we were able to see a new lady we met the other day and she is such a sweet heart and just wants to learn more! So we told her about the Book of Mormon and we will see her again next week! :) Then we saw our baptismal candidate again today and we showed her how to use LDS.org and she loved it! We watched the Nativity with her! Such a great tool! :) so then that brings us to now! :) wow...

So sorry this is the crazy run down version... but know I am safe and that I love you all! :) Also thank you soo much for all those that have already sent me things! You are all so sweet and I love you so much! :) Well all is well and know that I am being protected by angles!!!! D&C 84:88! He really is on our left and on our right and not just during those scary moments but in the times when we need His support! I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ! Love you and have a great week! :)

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 Playin in the snow!

Me n the Jeppsens! Love them!! NJMM!!!

always REMEMBER your Savior!

Holy Smokes! It's almost Christmas! :) Ah I love this time of year! :) I love the Spirit of Christmas! If any of you got to watch the fireside last night I loved what they focused on... Christ’s role in our life! To start of my email I wanted to share my favorite line from Russell M Nelsen... He said: "Christ made mortality a reality and eternal life possible!" That is so true! He made our life have purpose! And that purpose is to make it back to God, something we couldn't do without Christ!! I love being able to stand as a Shepard, or a Witness, during this Christmas! To be a witness of Jesus Christ during this time is the best thing I could ever be doing! :) I love it so much! Oh... and I miss all of you too... :) We had a really rough week... but the Christmas devotional made it all better... thinking about the fact that what I am doing is still important! :)

Wellll to start of the week (this was really our last normal week this month! ha starting this coming week... we will have so many Christmas things to do... it’s crazy! ha)

Tuesday: We had zone meeting clear in West New York, New Jersey (that is quite the mouth full to say...) but it was a great little drive down there! It was Sister Legs first time seeing the city and she loved it! :) And guess what, I didn't even drive on the bridge this time! haha But we had a fun Zone meeting! We got there and our Zone Leaders gave us Santa hats so the pictures below will show that! But it was a lot of fun and the message was great! This month we are all working on Remembering Christ! That is one of the most important things... if we but Remember Him, we won't ever have to worry! :) It's just the remembering that becomes the hard part! But I am grateful to work on that, along with helping our investigators as well! After that, our young investigator called us! She had been having some family problems so we hadn't seen her in a while, but she called us and told us she was available and to come over! :) It was a great lesson and she is still wanting to be baptized and come to church! She is an amazing girl! Keep praying for her!

Wednesday: Now this is where the sad day comes in... ha! But it was just because we had back to back appts. and all but 2 juked us! But it was okay because we were led by the Spirit to be exactly where we needed to be at that moment! It was amazing! So we spent all day getting juked then that night after our last lesson juked us, we had a Zone goal to ask to people to be baptized this day! ha so I told Sister Legg, since all our appts. had fallen through we had to go and ask someone!! So I had this feeling to go to Spring Valley, which was really far away from where we were... but we decided to go anyways! So we get there and we were going to go to this main street that had lots of people on it we could talk to when suddenly we saw a Recent Convert (his mom is one of our investigators who is going to be baptized soon and also juked us that day...) so we saw him walking and he looked lost so we yelled out to him! We told him to follow us! We went and parked and he said that he didn't know where his mom was and he was locked out of his apt! So we said okay, let’s go try again and if not, you can come out and be a missionary with us! :) haha so we just kind of made sure he was okay... so we went to see one of his friends and invited him to be baptized! That was great! But then we went back to try to see if his mom was home yet and we were ringing the door and finally she came up and answered and she was a wreck!!! She said she had come home and pretty much passed out and didn't hear anything! She was soo grateful her son was with us... she was just getting ready to go out and look for him! It was so amazing to be driving in the right place at the right time to see him! I felt like a little angel watching over him! But this is the sad but really cool part! She really wants to be baptized but she hasn't been able to come to church because she works on Sundays... Well she told us on Wednesday night the reason she was sleeping was because she lost her job that morning and she came home and just cried herself to sleep... she was really struggling.. It was really good for us to be there at that time to comfort her as well! But one last cool thing... We have been praying for months now that she would be able to somehow get Sundays off so that she could come to church... As sad as it is that she lost her job, we saw that this is the way the Lord was preparing her to be able to follow the commandments and get baptized! It was an amazing thing to see the Lords hand in this whole entire day! :) So hopefully she will be baptized on Jan 5! She was even at church on Sunday! :)

Thursday: We actually had a great day! We did weekly planning and then we were able to see a new lady! She was really sweet... she told us she was almost baptized once, she was a former investigator and so we will hopefully be able to set up another time to see her! :) After that, we were able to see our young investigator again! We just read with her then she came to Young Womens that night and had a lot of fun as well! :) But that was really all that we did... still a good day! We also came home to a package... from my awesome grandma! A CHRISTMAS TREE! :) Our apt looks soo cute now! :) Love you! :)

Friday: We had appointments all day... and everyone juked us! :( Sad... but for dinner Sister Legg and I cooked up some really good chicken and rice... we got all creative and that helped us feel better! :) Plus we were able to find lots of Potentials! :)

Saturday: Full of service day! We spent the morning helping the youth clean up garbage off the road... ya know what those troubled youth do when they pick up stuff off the high way? Yes... that was us! haha but it was for a good cause! Our ward adopted a highway so we have a sign up that says the name of the church so it's good for them to see then all we have to do is clean up the road 4 times a year! So that was fun! :) haha After that we were able to go to Super Saturday for Relief Society and we did some more service there by making stockings! :) Then we were able to go and see a family in the ward and ask them to help us get an investigator to church! We have a plan to get him there next week! :) That way he will have a friend!

Sunday: What a great Sunday, after a roughish week, we were able to be blessed and have two investigators at church! :) One was a guy that we met on the street one day! He is actually a mailman and he is from the Philippians and he said he talked with missionaries there... so he said that he would come to church! Sooo he did! And he loved it! :) So hopefully we will be able to start teaching him soon! He is super prepared! :)! We also visited a member that night then we were able to watch the Christmas Devotional! :) That was super good! I loved it! :) But that was our night!

It was still a good week! :) And even when things don't go the way we want, I have realized that the Lord always has a better way! And if we are listening HE will place us right where we need to be! :) Wellll Hope everyone has a great week! Remember that I love you! :) And always REMEMBER your Savior! :)

Love, Sister Dahl

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 Zone Meeting and our Christmas Hats!

 Crafting snowmen from our 25 days of Christmas

package from Mom!

 

 Our beautiful Christmas Tree from Grandma!