It's absolutely FREEZING!

Mom. I am starting out this letter to you, I am sorry to hear that it has been cold in St. George. But I must say... I will take Utah Cold any day over this! hahah (I’m really trying hard not to complain..) but it hasn't gotten up above 30 degrees for two days in a row! It's absolutely FREEZING! That's all! But it was a good week! :) I have some exciting news...

Tuesday! Well Tuesday was our usual day, District Meeting in the morning then we had appointments that day and they ALL ditched out on us :( nooo fun! ha so we had to resort to being a missionary and trying to find people! We went around to different Less Actives and formers and old referrals and we found one way cool guy who is interested in Family History work! He had a Book of Mormon... but wasn't interested in lessons, but our ward has a family history library that should be opening soon so we told him we will be in touch with that! :) Then we will teach him that way! :) But it was a good day still! :) We still have the Gospel of Jesus Christ with us! Why not be happy?!

Wednesday: For some reason, Wednesdays are our busy days! But I am totally okay with that! :) It was a great day! We first saw a new investigator. He is from Haiti and his uncle is a member and he just wanted to learn more! We found him by trying to find his uncle who is Less Active! That was cool! But he is awesome and he really is interested so we had a great first lesson with him and scheduled another appt for this next week! Then we did service for someone the Elders met, we raked their leaves and so that was really great! Then we ran to pick up Sister Kay and we went to see an investigator. Goodness. He needs to be baptized already! ha he is just so great! We taught him the plan of salvation and it was really good! I think it answered a lot of his questions! Then we went to see our older investigator... we don't really know what to do with him. We had a great lesson, we just don't know if he will really progress. So we have been praying about him. Then we went to see a Less Active. She is struggling right now, so it was a good visit. Then we went to see another Less Active. He is so cool. We taught him how to study the scriptures! So that was fun! Then we met with our new investigator! He is the one that has loads of questions. We tried to help him and told him that we could answer every question he has with the Book of Mormon so we ended with that and we will try to study out his questions. We just hope he accepts them. However, he told us he had a friend that is interested in learning more too! So hopefully that will happen! :) Then that was our night! Phew! Needless to say, we were sure tired! I love busy days because you are able to fall asleep FAST! :)

Thursday: Well we woke up and started to study and all that and right during the middle of my studies we get a call from President! He asked to talk to me and extended a call to me to be a trainer for a new missionary coming in this week! AH! Of course I accepted and but I am super nervous! The rest of the day was us getting ready for the transfer. We did weekly planning, cleaned, and then headed to young womens! And that was it!

Friday: We had to wake up and start driving because there was a trainers meeting at the mission home that morning! So I dropped Sister Gaihe off in Passiac, NJ and picked up another Sister and went there! President is so amazing and it was a great experience. Really humbling to know that I have been called to train a new missionary! We had lunch and Sister Jeppson even had Gluten-Free Bread for me! :) She is the best! Then we went back to our area! That night Sister Gaihe and I were able to teach our investigator who is thinking about baptism! We had a great lesson with her and she said she is going to pray for a date to be baptized... she said when she chooses one, she will move it! But if the Lord chooses it, she will keep it! :) She is doing really awesome! She tells us stories about how she defends the church at work all the time! :) Then we met with her son, a recent convert and had a great lesson with him about the Book of Mormon! So that was really great! :) Then that was all we had time for that night.

Saturday: This was a great day! We were able to first teach a member who is really great! Then we taught a lesson with a less active who is really trying to change! She is so sweet! We had a great lesson with her about the Holy Ghost and how to feel it!

Then we had the great opportunity to meet with another Less Active that we haven't met before and she is going through a really rough time and she is really sweet! It was a good, get to know you lesson, and she said we could come back whenever! :) THEN we had a dinner with a member, Herbal Life again. Woot. She is just so sweet though. But while we were eating... I mean drinking.. IT STARTED TO SNOW! So Sister Gaihe got so excited so we went outside and took pictures! It snowed for like 5 mintues haha but it was still fun! :) and that was pretty much our night! :)

Sunday: Great day at church... only sad thing was no investigators were there! But a couple of Less Actives came so that was great! :) AH! Cool thing was one of our 3 members that really speak French gave a talk! It had to be translated for us but it was fun to try and catch some of the French words i have been trying to learn :) We took lots of pictures for Sister Gaihe with all the members and that was that! After church we had a busy day. Our sister investigator called us and said she was in the hospital, she has heart problems... :/ She is fine... but we went to see her! :) It made her day! We also were able to go and pick up food from a member who had a whole lot of stuff for us! :) That was fun! Then we were able to go see our recently baptized sister! She is still doing good! :) We love her so much! But that was our Sunday! Then we got the text to confirm that Sister Gaihe will be leaving and that was that!

I am sad to leave Sister Gaihe, I love her so much! She is so sweet and has taught me so much! So tomorrow we will have transfer conference all day in Short Hill, NJ and there I will find out who my new companion is! I am so excited but so nervous! It's crazy how much of an effect trainers have on new missionaries and I hope to live up to what the Lord expects!

But oh yeah, it's thanksgiving this week! AH! I think the Kay’s are having us over so that will be fun! Plus the mission is getting together in the morning for a TURKEY BOWL... I guess just to play games... our mission is out of control! haha :) I love it! But over all this Thanksgiving I am so grateful for my Lord and Savior for allowing me the chance to be a missionary! The things that I have learned, the people I have met, and the experiences I have had, I will never forget! I love my Savior more than anything and will always be indebted to him! Well Happy Holidays to everyone and know that I love you! :)

Sister Dahl!

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 Friends at Family Home Evening

Welcome to New York...and the Snow!

 A good friend!

...this work that I am doing is the best work that I will ever do!

Welllll Good morning!!! And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and gooooodnight! :) haha how is everyone?? Things are going great in the BIG NY!! (as usual. I'm a missionary. That's how things roll... but even if they weren't great, I'm pretty sure I would still be happy just because I have the amazing opportunity to invite people to come unto Christ! What greater thing can there be?) Wanna know one thing that a mission has REALLY done to change me?? I LOVE getting up at 6:30 and having the opportunity to STUDY. I know for those of you that REALLY know me, I did not like to study... anything.. before! But something has seriously changed and I LOVE LEARNING! :) (probably just because it's about my personal salvation and not about art or something I don't care about hah but still it's great!)

I am rambling again... but one last thing before I tell you about my week. New York is as weird as Utah in terms of the weather... One second it is freezing then the next second is it hot! It's crazy! But the beginning of this week was insane. It was soo cold! There was one day that it didn't get above 35 degrees. And all those people that told me that it was such a different cold over here... you are right! No matter how nice my coat is, it still cuts to the bone! Thank heavens we have a car that has a nice warm heater... :) (I am sorry Cade... Heavenly Father only sends the tough ones to France to make them walk...) BUT there is a positive! Today we get alllll bundled up and go outside and it is about 60 degrees!! No joke! I have a feeling we are going to sweat today! haha anyways it's weird... (p.s. when I email, my mind is going 1 million miles an hour. I can't wait till Christmas when I can just talk to you cause I will be able to tell you sooo much more!)
Okay now to my week!

Tuesday: We had district meeting in the morning then we all went to Wendy's for Lunch! It was great, I treated myself to an ultimate grilled chicken without the bun! Haven't had that in a while! :) Then we were off to work! We decided that we wanted to stop by this former investigator. We have tried before and he wasn't home but we go there today and he answered the door! :) Coolest guy I have ever met! He talks about as much as me... which you know is a lot... and he is soo funny! Somewhere in our crazy conversation he said that he watched BYU TV all the time, he has watched conference and he has a BOM by his night stand and he reads it sometimes!!! :) He also said this.... "If we had prophets in the olden days, why couldn't a guy like Joseph Smith be a Prophet now????" hahah uhhh HELLO! He is soo right! :) We ended the conversation with him going to follow up this coming week because he was going hunting this weekend... I told him to shoot me a 6 point!! :) Ha he said deal! So we will hopefully meet back up with this guy this week! Pray for that!
Then we were able to meet with our investigator! We had a great lesson with her and she decided that she wants to be baptized on Jan 12. She set the date so we willl shoot for that! :) She is soo cool and really prepared! Then we had a meeting with a recent convert and he is super funny... ha but it was good. We met with his mom too, who is another inv and we shared a little scripture with her because she was sick... :/ But that was our Tuesday! :)

Wednesday! It was a pretty busy day! :) I love those times! We started off the day picking up a member to go out with us for the day! She is awesome! She is the one that teaches me French! Anyways, our first appointment was with the miracle guy! We called him the other day and he said he wasn't feeling very well sooo we asked if there was anything we could do and he said.. HEAL ME!! haha sooooooo we offered him a priesthood blessing from the Elders and so we did that on Wednesday! They came with us and gave the blessing and the Spirit was soo strong! It was incredible! I know he felt it and it was a special experience! After that, we talked with him about the Spirit and how to recognize it. After that we had a meeting with our older investigator, and that went well... He seems to be understanding more and more! Slow process! But good! Then our other appts canceled so we dropped off the sister member then we went to a Less Active home and we had a great lesson about improving our prayers. I love when I learn more than the person I am teaching! :) Then the rest of the night was slow but spent trying to find new inv! :)

Thursday: Weekly Planning all day and we had our apartment check! The Kays do that and they said our apt was SPOTLESS! :) (another shocker right? I am clean too! Sometimes... haha) Then we spent the night with the Ward Clerk updating the ward list! That’s one thing that I never realized missionaries have such a huge part in cleaning up people that have moved, or address changes and such! So this ward was SUPER behind on it so we have spent a lot of time doing that so it was nice to get the efforts recorded! :)

Friday: Was another good day! We had a meeting with our 13 year old investigator and that was good! Then we had a meeting with a less Active. She is really progressing! She comes to church all the time and she just needs a lot of learning! :) So that has been good! Then we had a lunch apt with a member! Who is Spanish! So that was an interesting lunch... haha we only talked a little bit! :) But oh well! Then the rest of our apt cancelled on us so we spent the night again, looking for new investigators! :)

Saturday: We were first able to see one of our investigators! He really opened up to us about his past this day! It was cool! He had some past alcohol problems, lost everything, his family, his house, food! Everything! But he cleaned himself up and hasn't drank in 27 years! It was really amazing to see that side of him! Then we spent the day going to formers! We found one New Investigator! He was an old Head Quarter Referral and when we knocked on his door, he let us right in! He has lots of questions about the bible and how there are contradictions! So we will see how open he is to the truth! :)

Sunday: Great day at church, like always! :) One of our investigators came and that was really great! :) But it was soo great to be able to partake of the sacrament! Then we didn't have any plans that night, so we were once again out finding people!  :) It was so foggy last night! Driving was scary! haha I have never seen it quite like that! But it was still a good night! :)
But that was pretty much our week :) Last week of the transfer will be this week! Crazy how fast time flies! :) p.s. I have been out for 7 months already! Can you believe it? Well all is well... I know that this work that I am doing is the best work that I will ever do! It truly is amazing how it is the most rewarding work I have ever done... even when we have days where it seems like nothing good happened... at the end of the day I know that I am still happy because I was able to represent my Lord and Savior!

Well have an awesome week! I love you all! :) p.s. don't forget to read your scriptures! :)
Sister Dahl!

Pray for me to not drive over the bridge again

Well, I have told of some pretty funny/embarrassing/crazy things I have done on my mission so far but I think this week I topped them all..... haha! But over all it was a really great... fun week! :) Love when missionary work is work and fun at the same time... it's good to have a balance! :)

Monday: Well after emails, I think we just went to do some laundry and then we had family home evening that night! So that was great! :)

Tuesday! Okay! Now here is the adventure... So we woke up and we had Zone meeting and they decided to do it in West New York, NJ... (which is really far away from us…) sooo this place in Jersey boarders the Hudson river and on the other side of the river you can see the city! Soooo here I am driving down the freeway and all of the sudden... I missed the turn to go to where we needed to go... (this is what happens when your comp is from a different country and you have noooo help guiding yourself around these crazy roads!!!! ahh!!) Wellll next thing we know we are pulling up to a toll both... ah! So we ask the guy where we were and he is like you are going on the George Washington Bridge!!! So we were like ohhh no! Can we turn around?? And he said nope! So he made us pay $13 and here we are driving across the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge to New York City. Now let me just mention... THIS IS OUT OF OUR MISSION! We were literally driving into the CITY!!! AHH! I was just a little scared cause I thought we were going to get in major trouble! So then we get across the bridge and miss like 9 turns to try to turn around and get back... so we end up going to Fort Lee... haha Then that turned us around and we drove back as fast as we could and we got to Zone Meeting on time! :) But needless to say... I was a little scared! But afterwards, Sister Gaihe and I were like... man! Why didn't we take a picture?!? hahah but it was still an adventure I won't forget and hopefully won't have happen again! :) However, after that, Zone meeting was great, then I was able to go on exchange with Sister Varble! She lives literally 1 min away from Kristi... I don't know how we never met before! But she is awesome! We worked up in New City and we saw an investigator we have had for a while that really wants to learn but she works on Sundays... :/ Well we had a really powerful lesson with her and we got to ask her to pray about the Book of Mormon with us right there and she did and when she was done she said... "I feel like my heart was just opening up!!" It was amazing! The Lord has truly blessed us and it is so great to be able to see people receive the same witness that you do! :) But Sister Varble and I had a great night talking till... late... :) ha! It was fun!

Wednesday: So we woke up really early cause Sister Varble remembered that her and her comp had to be in Morristown at 10:00 in the morning so we had to hurry and exchange back and that was great haha but Sister Gaihe and I had a great day full of lessons! We were able to teach another investigator and we committed her to a baptismal date of Nov 24th! She is praying about it right now, but she would totally be ready by then! :) Then we met with the miracle man, and we had a great lesson with him and we committed him to pray so we will follow up with that this week! And our elderly investigator is doing great! We just have to teach him over and over again! Then we got two new investigators that night! Two young girls that are just awesome! They have been coming to church so hopefully something comes out of this! :)

Thursday: We did weekly planning then we had our apt not show up so then we just went to young women’s that night! :) We had some new people there so that was fun! :)

Friday: We had a great day planned... but nothing really went the way we wanted it.. man :/ haha but that's okay! :) We were able to teach two less actives that really just need someone to be bold with them and we were! :) We also were able to do service with an investigator’s grandma… this lady has a million Halloween decorations and she needed help putting them away so we helped her with that! :) That was fun! :) But that is really all the excitement we had Friday.

Saturday: We were able to wake up and have interviews with President! This man is incredible! Have I ever told you that he is a Patriarch? Yes! Only Patriarch that has ever been a mission president! That may give you some idea of how spiritual this man is! I am in the same room with him and the spirit is just so strong it brings me to tears every time! I love him and Sister Jeppson so much! But after that we were able to have lunch, we went and bought Sushi! :) Sister Gaihe and I needed a treat! (please pray for her family from the Philippines...) We were able to have a great day! We saw our elderly investigator again! We taught him the restoration and asked him to teach it back to us and he did! Really well! :) So we know he is understanding a little better! :) Then we met with our recently baptized convert!!! Her record number came in so there is a ward temple trip this week and she can go!! And we can go with her if she gets a family name! So that's what we are working on now! Oh I hope we can go! :) Then we went to a member’s house for dinner and they said... eh... we are too lazy to cook! So they took us to Outback Steak House! :) Lucky huh? Of course I had a little stake and a sweet potato! Man it was great! :) Then we were able to see a lady that is in the hospital and we brought her cookies so that was nice! :) But that was our Saturday!

Sunday: Crazy day at church! But there was a missionary who came home and so he gave his talk then after we had a huge Linger Longer for him... (I have never done so many linger longers in my life since I have been on my mission.. they have them all the time over here) but after that we were able to go home and do some studies then our appt wasn't there that night so it was kind of a slow night! But all is well! :)

Then today we had a zone activity so that was really fun! :) But that is our week! I love doing this work! It is incredible! I am so happy to be a part of it! I know that the gospel works! I have seen it in people’s life and in my own! I know that by living the Gospel, we will truly get back to our Father in Heaven! I Love you all and hope you have a great week! :) Pray for me to not drive over the bridge again… and if I do.. I will at least take pictures while I am!! haha! Love you! :) 

Sister Dahl!

(Click on photos to enlarge)

 

I know that the Lord is preparing people...for us to see!

Good Afternooooooon! :) How is everyone? I am doing great minus the fact that when we went outside at 10:00AM today it was 37 degrees! INSANE! You look outside and it looks so nice and sunny.. FALSE ALARM! It's cold!!! :/ but all is well! The leaves are so pretty here I feel like I am looking at a picture every day! It's really cool! But other than that, we had a pretty good week!! Pretty calm… but we survived Halloween.

Monday: Well after P-day, we were able to have Family Home Even at the church again, then after that we decided to go to a Less Actives house who hasn't been answering our calls... So we just dropped by and she was sort of sick... but her Boyfriend was there and he made us sit down and they just started to pull stuff out of the fridge and making us eat! haha It was insane, steak, chicken, potato salad, fruit, veggies!! SOO MUCH FOOD! haha it was great! We decided we will be stopping by more often now ;) not to mention they sent all that food home with us! SCORE! Oh yeah, our LA is doing great! :) haha

Tuesday: It was kind of a slow day, we had district meeting in the morning then we were able to go see a Less Active! She has actually been coming to church a lot lately! So it was great to meet with her! Then we were able to go to dinner at a members and she fed me gluten free cheese rolls... man they were good! :) But we didn't do really anything else... we saw lots of people and got appts with them but no other lessons!

Wednesday: We did our studies, then we were able to see an investigator... We had a good lesson with him! We told him about recognizing the Spirit and how he can get an answer to know if the Book of Mormon is true, sooo he said that he would pray that night to know... so he called us later and he said that he said his prayers and a "warm feeling" came over him!!!! He said he knew that was the Spirit telling him that it is true! It was amazing! :) He is learning... just slow... so it will take some time with him but he will come around! :) We also saw another Less Active! She is doing great! She reminds me soo much of Grandma and Grandpa Stark! She said she puts out a bowl of candy out for her husband... then she has to hide the good stuff in the other room! :) hahah I just had to laugh at that one! :) After that, and I don't really know why... Since it was the day before Halloween, we had to be inside at 6:00. President didn't want us out on the streets, so we went home! Well... President said we could do whatever we wanted as long as we were inside and we didn't tell him... haha sooooo we went to the Kay’s apartment, which is right by ours! We were going to eat and play games! Well guess what game they pulled out... FIVE CROWNS!!! :) I was so happy! So we spent the night playing that! :) It was fun! Then we were back in our apt on time and went to bed! :)

Thursday: Was it really Halloween? Didn't even feel like it... but we didn't do much that day either... we had our weekly planning which took a while then we had to be in by 6:00 again... then we ran over to the Kay’s and did the same thing as the night before! :) It was great! :) We had fun! It must be pretty scary outside around here for us to have to be inside two nights in a row... that’s all I can think of... but all is well! I am still here! :)

Friday: This was a great day!!!!!!! :) We were back at work (don't worry... we do work I promise!) We were able to first see this guy who we met a couple weeks ago. He was a former investigator and had been dropped a couple times. But we went to just see if we could give it a try... So he agreed and we made an appt! We met him and asked him some questions! He is the nicest guy and he said some cool stuff! He had to retire from his job because of some health issues... and he was having a really hard time... he kept asking God for help and he wasn't getting anything... (or so he thought) but what kept happening is the missionaries kept knocking on his door and he was getting so annoyed! Well one day he was thinking and it finally clicked with him that maybe that was who God was sending into his life!!! So he let them in... and loved hearing what they were saying... welll things with his health got really bad and he kinda lost touch with the missionaries and that is where we came in! He told us that he let us in because he always wanted to know what is the true church. He has always been looking and just can't seem to find it... soooo we told him if he will listen to us he will find out! :) It was so spiritual! This guy is incredible and soo prepared! There were lots of other little things that led him to this as well... We were really excited and have another appt with him this week! :) We also met with a recent convert and our other investigator! She is doing great! :) She fixed us dinner that night... she is soo sweet! :) She always has lots of questions and she is really smart! :) but that was our great day :)

Saturday: We were able to have a ward cleaning the church day so we did that in the morning! Then we were able to go and serve a member’s husband (who is jewish) and help with his yard work! I blew leaves all day! hahah but then we had an appt with our first investigator! We taught him more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! That was great! :) Then we had an Herbal Life Shake... AGAIN! (ahh!) then we went to see the girl who was baptized last week! :) We had a great lesson with her and we challenged her to bare her testimony! She is still doing great! :)

Sunday: I love Sunday’s soo much! :) We were able to go to church and our new member was able to receive the Holy Ghost! That was an amazing thing for her! :) She did bare her testimony after... she was super nervous but she did great :) Her mom and two sisters and her friend actually came to church too! They seemed to really like it! :) Keep your fingers crossed for them! :) or actually... just pray! After church we were able to have dinner with a member and they are always so fun! :) There are a couple members here that I just love to death! :)

But that was our great week! :) I just love being a missionary! I know that the Lord is preparing people all the time for us to see! I know that the Spirit guides us to find those people! It's the most amazing experience I have ever seen! I love my Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ more than anything! I am so grateful to be serving them!! I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! p.s. stay warm! Heard it's snowing... ahh!

Love ya!