"Only 1 out of 10... came to church"

Dear Readers,
Here's the latest from Elder Dahlberg!

First some comments on my email asking about the package and telling him that Tori decided not to play water polo.  She wants to learn to play volleyball better.

     I loved the comic you put in there. It went straight into my journal haha. But yeah i really enjoyed the trailmix and the reunion with my pillow. This is off topic but i dont think ill be sending the jacket back home. There is a missionary here who will need it and i might give it to him if thats okay. There isnt a really big need for it at home. The only missionaries in our ward is us and the sisters. their names are sister tait and sister hoffman. I dont have a picture with them cause we dont really see them all to often. The weather today is the best its been all my mission. it is like 60 degrees and sunny. The best day ever!! haha not really but its still very nice outside. It did rain last night though. About tori! Dangit. i just mailed a letter today to tori talking about water polo. that little punk.... :/

     Okay so this week has been a pretty lame/non eventful week. This past sunday only 1 of the 10 people we committed to go to church actually came and the 1 was the investigator we have named Alex. he is a big black guy with a cane and he is really funny and cool. But no one else came and that was a bummer to see. But on the bright side I got 2 packages this week! its like Christmas in November!! I got them on Wednesday and Thursday. I got them in the evening but i waiting until daily planning was over so i could fully enjoy the packages. Thanks for all the contents inside of them MOM!! I loved every little thing, including all those envelopes my goodness that was a lot. Its funny because when i opened the package i saw all the envelopes and i just immediatly put them all aside and i just thought they were normal envelopes until yesterday. I looked at the envelopes and i saw that one of them had something inside of it and it was pictures!!!! That seriously made my day getting to see those. Good thing i saw them. 

     This past week we have been trying to go down the ward list and find people that dont want to be found :) An experience we had while doing it was we were walking and we found the house and we knocked on the door. I noticed there was no peep  hole in the door and i was like hmm i wonder how this guy can see who is at the door so i am just looking around and i see a high tech camera moving to look directly at me and the lense inside started to focus on me and i was like what the heck and i got a little anxous and scared ! Im in the boonies of Bath and this guy has some crazy high tech stuff to look who is outside his door. After we knocked a second time a very angry/annoyed/ornary voice yelled "BYEEE!!" and elder lund and I looked at each other like "RUN!!!" and we left real quick. I think i may have peed a little bit but im not 100% sure about that. 

     Here in Maine, people make their own bread. HOMEMADE BREAD is the best thing ever. I always loved when you made homemade biscuits and stuff so that is probably why i love it so much here. Sometimes at member meals all i eat is the homemade bread because its just so good. Its completely different than store bought bread. 

     This past Wednesday i hosted an exchange in Bath with a zone leader named Elder B****. He drives exactly like DEVIN!! I didnt get a picture with him because he just isnt that type of person to pose with me for a selfie haha. He was a get down to business kind of guy. Do things by the book. Letter of the Law, not spirit of the law. Not alot happend this past week that i can talk about but the thing that comes to mind the most is something that happened Saturday. 

that is the model of the ship Virginia.
that is the first ship ever built by the city of bath

     Saturday morning elder lund and i finish studies and head down to the docks to meet a guy named Jay who is working on a boat. We met him while serving food out at the local Baptist church. He is an older man with a beard. (Youll see him in the picture) While he was showing us the boat that was being built he randomly stopped and just told us something that he rarely shares with anyone. He told us that every morning he wakes up and thanks God for keeping him poor and humble and then he reads out of the bible. He than shared his beliefs with us about how he believes that God created the Heavans and the Earth. and how when he looks out along the water he knows that God created that. He said he doesnt believe in there only being one church and only one way to heaven. We then told him that everyone is going to heaven and he just shrugged it off. Im still trying to get a hang of this whole missionary life by relating everything to the Gospel haha. Its hard to bring it up because once you do people either shrug it off or just completlely turn around and walk away right in front of your face.  

     Well thats all i could muster for this letter. to answer your questions mom elder neilson talked alot about companionship unity and surprisingly about marriage. and how the mission is preparing you for the REST of your life. I do not need boots. I purchased boots at a local shop called Reny's. Nothing about Facebook or anything of that manner. When i get more info about that sort of stuff, trust me ill be sure to let you know. 

Elder Lund and I were walking along High Street. (look it up on google) and we got to the end and saw a huge gravestone. look at the size of that thing. I just had to get a picture with it because i just had to haha.

( Mom) Glad you found the pictures!!  Well, I guess your hour is probably almost up.  I love hanging out on the computers miles away from each other.  Shortens the distance a little bit...

Have a great week!

(Elder Dahlberg) I totally agree with you mom. this is really cool that we can do this. I just imagine back in the pioneers days when those missionaries went out they had NO communication with families and they were often on their missions for longer than 2 years. so what i am experienceing is nothing compared to them. I think "OH NO i can only email my parents once a week! How sad"
They think "OH NO i cant even talk or see my family for 5 years? Hmm not bad" 

Haha i hope my humor makes you chuckle cause it makes me chuckle and since im at a public library the people next to me probably think im demented or crazy or something haha. Love you mom! talk to you next week. 

This is random but in the blog this week can you say that it takes 4 days for a written letter to get to my home address of 962 middle street and it takes about 8 days to get to me if you send it to the mission home address. That would be wicked if you could do that for me. thanks mom.  I love you. Bye

Zone Conference and Lobster Feast!

 Sister Youland sent us some more pictures of the Elders making doughnuts at her house.  They were experimenting using sugar in half of the batch, and Splenda in the other half.

"Everday starts with a work out at 6:30-7 and then we shower and eat then start personal study at 8. I love personal study, but since this past week has been crazy i have only been able to pick up the Book of Mormon only 3 times out of the week. I am in alma 8 and I hope to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of this transfer which is Dec 1. I am so into the stories in the Book of Mormon, especially of Abinidai and his sacrifice for God. He stood for what he believed in and still got burned. Whenever i get "burned" here in Maine i just think of him and how he dedicated his entire LIFE! Not just 2 years but his LIFE to God. That story supports me and whenever im going through a rough time i just think of that.

This past week i went on my first Exchange with a man named Elder D*******. He is officially the strangest person i have ever met. I had to spend 24 hours with him and i dont want to be mean so i just will skip that day. Then the next day (Thursday) we headed to Manchester NH for the new missionary meeting where i got to see elder Jensen, Chilton, and Widerburg. It was so awesome to talk to them and just share our mission experiences. I also met elder Jensens companion whose name is Elder Dean. Mom i remember you telling me something about him but i wasnt exactly sure, but i took a picture with him and ill attach it. Elder Jensen is serving in Dairy, (Derry) New Hampshire. The meeting itself was great and i dont remember alot about what happened because this weekend has been so crazy. (Elder Dean has a blog as well that I happened to find.  I told Drew it would be funny if he  got assigned to him, Elders Dean and Dahlberg!!) haha

Elder Dahlberg and Elder Dean

Elders Dahlberg, Jensen and Dean

Random Tangent: Every night before we do our daily planning we write down what the HOL was for the day. (Hand of the Lord). By doing that we get to recount on the day and see if we had any blessing that we either saw or didnt see during the day. I record each days HOL at the top of my journal and its cool to look back and see all the past HOL's from weeks ago. I got a cool saying out of the New missionary meeting and it says "The mission is the greatest return of any investment over a 2 years time" I felt that applied directly to me because i have a desire to invest my money in something when im older. And at this moment i am doing the BEST investment of any kind and its a good feeling to know that there is nothing better that i could be doing at this time. even though its hard and i get "burned" alot! I still find its worth it in the end.

This Sunday was a great day. I had 5 meetings but it was still one heck of a day. Elder Lund and I taught sharing time for the primary and our lesson was on how they can prepare to be a missionary right now. Our object lesson was ties and on the back of the tie was a subject in which if they practiced, it would help them for a mission. Kids are a joy to teach because they admire you and it takes any and or all the nerves away because they dont notice your faults, they just look at the positives. I loved the power also. haha i said who wants to pick the first tie? who ever raises their hand the highest gets to pick first. The entire room erupted and kids were jumping all over the place and standing on chairs and one kid was even trying to get on the teachers shoulders. It was awesome to see that.

Then after church we were at the apartment and it was study time. We were trying to study but we just couldnt focus. I was nodding off and i didnt even comprehend what i was reading and elder lund was doing the same. so we decided to go visit a less active family. Before we left the apartment i felt we should say a prayer asking for guidance to their house. we did it and we started on our way. We came to a road where we had a choice of either going right or straight and we both felt to go right. We thought nothing of it and continued walking. We then came to a teenager who was raking leaves and we asked if we could help him out. He said sure and asked what church we are from. We said were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He said oh... those Christians. Then we went on to tell him how we are here to do service and to help him with leaves and if he wanted to he could come to church with us the next sunday. He was very impressed with us and how we were very nice to him. He told us he had a bad experience with past christian churches and how the people at the church never "turned the other cheek" like they so profess. Elder Lund and i just looked at each other and we were like OH MAN! This kid will love our church because our church is all about that and we actually care about others in our church. So he endend up giving us his name and his number and we are planning on picking him up for church this Sunday. His name is I****, he is 19 and was born in SLC, but moved to Maine early on in his life.

Later that sunday we had a special meeting for a member of the 70 and his name was Elder Neilson. He is a very tall man who is not your average speaker. He made his talk like a discussion and walked around the Chapel asking memers of the congregation questions and such. It was really good.

Yesterday was zone conference and Elder Neilson was there from the time it started to the time it ended. It was the BEST church meeting i had ever attended. I learned so much and i cant believe how much i grew in my knowledge of the Gospel in one day. I was honored to say the closing prayer for the meeting. I walked up to the podium completely calm and i just let the Spirit speak through me for the prayer. After i delivered it Elder Neilson imediatley came to me and told me it was a "Beautiful Prayer to end a beautiful day." So cool. Another cool part of the meeting was that i started to make friends with missionaries who have been out for a while. I no longer feel like a newbie missionary and i am starting to get a hang of the whole missionary life.

I got so lucky to get a picture with Elder Neilson. He only took like 5 pictures before he had to go. I snuck right in there!

After the meeting we had dinner at a members house and he was a lobster fisherman and we had a lobster feast. I took alot of pictures and i love Lobster now haha. So yummy and delicous. I wrote in my journal that i "Grabbed that red crustation and ripped its claw off and ate its yummy white flesh." A little graphic but hey, im a 18 year old boy. Cut me some slack.

 The Merriman family. The man to my side is a lobster fisherman and we ate fresh lobster that was caught that day. actually 3 hours before we ate em. Cant get any more fresh than that

she gave me a lobster tie!!! how sweet of her.

You can say things are looking up because i am no longer looking at the picture we took at Benihana's everyday after i write in my journal. I am starting to feel confident and feel proud to be a missionary. I love this work and it is loving me back. i had a great week this week and i am so excited for all the experiences to come.

Love you Mom, Dad, Timmy, Tori, Devin.

Oh and mom thank sister wininger for the beanie and scarf. THEY HELP SO MUCH!! ITS FREEZING HERE!

I have to go mom. Love you. Ill try and get some cool picture this week . Bye bye.
Remember to keep the blog updated!!  #familyscanbeforever

Classic home in Maine

A home right on the edge of the ocean

Another home in Maine

Random info here and there...

Hello readers,
Got lots of info and lots of pictures, so have fun!  (minimum editing this week...)

(First are some comments on what to put into a package we are sending...)
"The trail mix is awesome haha the perfect food for me. dont send the orange journal yet. i wont need that for a while. I dont need the packet of paper either haha. I realized that here in bath the dollar store is very close and if i just have money in my personal debit card  i can get alot of the stuff i need by myself. I do not know the balance of my personal debit card so if you could get that to me ASAP that would be sweet. dont send the laundry stuff either. we have a member of our ward do our laundry. :) #spoiled.

Their apartment building

haha, funny sign!!

We live in the building without the columns. we live in the building to the side of the one with columns. we live on the bottom floor just inside the door. so we are at level 1 in the apartment. We are on a car share and when we need to get to the church and we dont have a car, we have loyal members here that will drive us. the members here are really outgoing and will do anything for us. Its really awesome to be honest. they will feed us every night and drive us anwhere we need.

Elder Lund is 19 from Layton Utah. He has been out for 10 months and he has trained a total of 3 missionaries, including me. We get along very well. I definantly could have had a worse companion, i got lucky we talk alot and get along very well. the goal of 6 baptisms a year is for the entire zone haha. people here do NOT want to listen to us missionaries. good quote.  (I sent him a quote from Hermana Palu's letter about not worrying about baptisms...)  pretty awesome about helping less actives to the temple. Id say that is harder than getting a baptism IMO. We are trying to get sister Youland to the temple. its a work in progress haha. Im going to be writing my huge email now so here it comes haha. Love ya mommy

Okay so heres the big kahuna. It will be all over the place again. (Just get used to random info here and there) For halloween our ward didnt do anything... We as missionaries had to do deep clean halloween where we went inside and had to clean the apartment from 5Pm -9pm. elder lund and i cleaned for about 1-2 hours then started messing around and eating junk and cooking. I tried to make peanut butter blossoms, ill send a picture of them. they didnt turn out well because i didnt cook the peanut butter cookie long enough and they were doughy and i couldnt recook them because i had already put the hershey kisses in them.. :/

They look pretty good to me! 

i ate a full little ceasars pizza before he even ate half. I think im a beast

The watch that i bought is a life saver. i love wearing this watch now because it helps me keep track of the time and the date and all that good stuff. Daylight savings hapend this sunday and now it gets dark at 4:30.. pretty strange to be honest, we still have to stay outside till 9 also.. but hey it gives us time to get to know our companions really well.

I thought he said it was dark!!  That's not soo bad!

This past fast sunday, elder lund and i have fasted for a full 24 hours to gain a new investigator. (Yes, i actually fasted the full 24 hours, it wasnt as bad as i thought it was going to be.) Well we did that fast and when we walked into sacrament meeting to get ready for chruch, we saw an older black man who isnt normally at church. elder lund recognized him as Alex, an old former investigator who had been dropped because he moved out of the area. turns out he is now moved back into the area and is ready to get back on track in the church. He is so awesome and it was such a blessing to see results out of our fast so quick.

next monday i will not be on to email because it is something called zone conference and a member of the 70 will be there. but our p day will be on tuesday the 12th and we will be emailing at like 10:30am our time so be ready. next week on tuesday is when i will be emailing. roughly 7:30AM your time.

Elder lund and i have an awesome week coming up. On wednesday i will leave on my first exchange to a place called Damerscotta with a guy named Elder D****. He is from Texas and is a bit of an odd ball so we will see how that works out haha. Then on thursday i will be on the exchange till 5pm then come back to Bath then get ready to depart for new missionary meeting which is all the way back to Manchester New hampshire... its a long drive. Comparable to driving to LA from SD... Pretty long. The new missionary meeting is on friday and then i will be coming back that night. then saturday we are doing a service/ pancake breakfast at the church. then sunday we will be having ward council stuff and sundays are usually good anyways, regardless of what happens. then monday we will have zone conference in Augusta where we will be meeting one on one with the mission president and stuff like that. pretty awesome week coming up.

Believe it or not Saturdays are the worst days for elder lund and i. because we have a car share where we only get the car on monday nights to thursday nights. which means we dont have the car saturday... we walk all over the place and no one is usually home because they are out doing stuff. So this past saturday it was rough because we had walked all over town and we decided to just walk to the local retirement home and meet with a member. his name is brother Hames. He is in his 80's and he is on his last leg. we walked into the home and saw him in the tv room looking the opposite way of the tv. we came up to him and we saw his eyes werent even open. we called him and asked how he was doing. No response. We touched him and asked how he was doin. no response. he was just sitting there with not enough strength to talk, no strength no see, and barely even enough strength to think for that matter. we stayed there for over an hour trying to get something out of him. He replied once when we asked "hows it going" he muttered "Its not." that was so sad to see him in that situation. I dont even know the man and i felt sorry for him and it really put my life into focus, that my life isnt bad at all. i have 2 legs where i can walk around and do whatever i wanted. i have 2 eyes to look around a see all of the beautiful earth. i have 2 ears to hear what people say and to listen to the sounds nature makes. Brother Hanes is on his last month. I hated seeing him in that condition where he couldnt even lift his eyelids...

On thursdays and fridays elder lund and i meet with a recent convert named June Wing. She has Huntingtons disease along with numerous other diseases and she is also on her last leg of life. She has a heart of gold and an awesome personality. She has my sense of humor. I guess you could call it a potty mouth, but hey she makes me laugh. She constantly shakes randomly and its sad to see her struggle with her newly aquired shake. Her shaking is her whole body, so her knees randomly bounce while her head my bob 5 times in a row. What is cool is how she keeps a positive look on life despite her situation. Ill show you a picture of her and her husband Bill, who only has one leg..(they do our laundry)

The Wings

We also visit with a part member family whose names are the Derrs. Sister derr and her husband George derr, and then their son Hank. George is not a member but he comes to church whenever he doesnt have work on sunday. We go over to their house about twice a week to read scriptures and george really enjoys it. I hope he realizes what kind of life he can have by living it through the Gospel. It would help him lose his addiction to smoking and drinking coffee. I have pictures of me in chainmail at their house. ill send that also. So thats all i could fit into this email.

 

and random shot near random cemetary. oh and there are alot of random cemetaries.... we walked through it and looked for the earliest date. earliest we saw was 1761

that is a picture from Harpswell. we were really close to the coast of maine. in the picture you can see the atlantic ocean off in the distance. It was so awesome. 

Whew!! What a random ride!!  Until next week...

Bonus Post! Bald Eagle's Nest

        Sasanoa River,  Woolwich, Maine

I received a fun email from the sister who gave the Elders the warm jackets.  Here is what she sent:


"I am Sister Mary Youland. I hope you enjoyed the pictures of your son. They have been working with me building a terrace (which I have named "Elder Terrace" because of their help). The pictures of the bay are to not only show the beautiful fall colors but to show the pole with the bald eagle nest. It doesn't show up too clearly but to the left of your son's face is a pole on the island where two bald eagles reside. There have been many generations from that nest and it is a remarkable sight to watch them teach their young how to fly. It has been my pleasure to have these young gentlemen in our home. You should be proud parents."

See the little sign?  Elder Terrace!

Elders Lund & Dahlberg on "Elder Terrace"

The pole with the Bald Eagle's Nest

Lots better than the drug area!!