I don't think I'm homesick one bit...

 

Birthday cake from one of their ward families

  Hi mom. I didn't get transferred. Elder Dean and I are going to stay here another transfer. I'm happy about that.  I am still at 54 office Dr and will be at least until April 6th.
     As far as the scripture memorization goes its hard to do it because it really takes up a lot of time during personal study which is the time that i get to study the scriptures and other church materials. I know were supposed to be memorizing them in the off time in the car but in that time were talking about who we are going to see and what not and we don't even have a car for half the week. So i am not doing very well on the memorizing part but I am writing the scriptures down and I want to at least be fond with the scriptures that are listed. I will enjoy the happy thoughts haha. :) Now that I think about it, I don't think i am homesick one bit. I am loving my time on my mission and its precious time. It goes by pretty quick and next things next I'm on the plane coming home and i have to actually start 'real life'. Being on a mission gets to extend my time away from the world and all that entails. Although I do miss the family a little bit here and there but i don't let that affect me because I know i will have eternity to be with you after my mission.
     Some things I did this week was help a Colombian lady named Janet set up for a huge dinner party she was hosting. She is fundraising for her trip to Nicaragua because she goes down there and helps out the little villages and such with sanitation and just overall living. She brings clothes, water filters, tooth brushes and all that kind of stuff for them so that they can have better living conditions. But this dinner costed $50 a seat and it was very fancy. She cooked a 7 course meal and used her Fine China for the plates. I learned dinner etiquette and i now know that real crystal makes awesome sounds when you clink it and bring it past your ear. All we did for Janet was set the tables up and set the table and decorations and than help serve/prepare the food for the meal. We did not attend the dinner because it would have been past our bed time. We cut enough tomatoes and red peppers to last a life time.
     Also this week we helped the Jones family clean out the inside of their house because they are moving. We cleaned so much that my fingers permanently smell like Windex but hey it was all for a good cause so I'm not throwing a fit. :) Also this week Sis. Borges finally had her baby. IDK if I told you she was pregnant but she was. haha So her name is Irelynn and from what Sis Borges told me she was ready to come out. haha
     This Sunday our ride bailed on us and it was 15 minutes until church started and we were frantically calling around for people to bring us and than finally bro hubbard answered and came and got us. We missed Sacrament but we heard a talk where the speaker talked about nutrition and said "Jesus fed the 5000 with fish and bread, not cookies and soda." I thought that was pretty funny.
     This week has been very good weather and I couldn't have asked for a nicer day the past couple of days. I saw the temp get up to 55 and i actually felt a sun ray on my skin and almost fainted. It felt amazing to see the sun and feel it. Hopefully there aren't any snow storms coming because I'm ready for spring. :)  Last Monday on my birthday after emails we rushed home and than we got in normal people clothes and went on a small hike on a place called Thornhead preserve. The hike wasn't what you think of one as. I know your imagining a hike with dirt and shrubby bushes, like iron mountain. This hike was in 1+ feet of snow and we were trudging through tall pines that were all  really close together. Almost no elevation change haha none.... Pretty pathetic in terms of that. But it was really cool getting to the end.

Thornhead Preserve

     I went on an exchange to Yarmouth and we did service at a food pantry and when we were finished the owner went into the freezer and grabbed this huge 72oz whoopie pie and told us to take it and enjoy it. So we took it and ate some of it that night. I barely even ate 5 oz because of how rich it was but it was huge! We didn't get a whole lot of lessons in this week because of the spontaneousness of things. Like going on last minute exchanges, people calling us to have us over for dinner, and none of our potential investigators were home :/

Huge Whoopie Pie!

Snow covered Elder nametag

Happy Birthday Elder Dahlberg (from February 17th)

Dear Friends and Family,
Sorry, I got busy again and didn't get this out on time.  I hope you enjoy it still!

     Hello Everybody! First off i would like to thank everyone for their birthday wishes! I tried to get back to as many of you as possible but if i didn't than you didn't deserve it..... Just kidding :)
     I have been having a great Birthday so far too. I had peanut butter with bananas for breakfast and than subway for lunch and a member of our ward is taking us to 5 guys for dinner and than at 7:30 we are going to the Derrs for FHE and she said she is making me a cake :). Thank you for the presents! i opened them this morning.

Happy 19th Birthday Elder Dahlberg!

     We just moved into our very nice apartment that i am proud to say i picked out all by myself (with a little help from my last companion). It is a 3 floor duplex with 2 bedrooms a bath and a full size kitchen. On Valentines day we got all settled in the new apartment. There is no mold on the walls, there is a fan in the bathroom so it doesn't smell like  #2 all the time, the carpet is clean and doesn't smell like stinky feet, we can control our heat and it is perfect 68 degrees at all times, the kitchen is big enough so elder dean and i are touching butts when cooking food, we have our own washer and dryer and now i was able to wash all my sheets and bedding which feels great!, there is an extra room that we do workouts in in the mornings and that really helps jump start our day. A cool thing about our new apartment is that in 1969 a member of our ward used to live at that address. that goes to show what a small city (i think its a town) Bath is.
   

54 Office Drive, Bath ME  04530

The downstairs entry room

Their kitchen... huge improvement!

The back porch... looks slippery!

Upstairs bedroom

Study Corner!!

     So this past week has been pretty crazy due to moving apartments and the big winter storm that just hit. This storm let off a good 8 inches of snow and than it rained right after. Being from San Diego when it was raining i was like Yes! its going to melt the snow and it wont be there anymore... WRONG! What the rain does is it freezes the light fluffy snow into solid blocks of ice and than it freezes onto every surface. Door knobs, the welcome mats outside, the roads, sidewalks, trees, bushes, handrails, cars, and even my face. After the rain stops everything has a centimeter layer of ice on it and it looks pretty awesome. but its slippery. If you are ever wondering what I'm doing while its snowing, i am outside bundled up with lots of layers out shoveling people out. With this recent storm Elder dean and I headed out with shovels and shoveled peoples driveways and helped people who got stuck out of the main roads. The people who get stuck are always the people who don't have 4 wheel drive. Usually older women, usually driving a Prius. I hope that narrowed down who needs help out on the roads!

     On Wednesday after our District meeting we went to a Hibachi grill for district lunch and it was really good. Elder jensen our district leader told the waitress that my birthday was coming up so they came our and sang happy birthday for me and let me hit a big chinese gong.

Whipped cream and chocolate swirl on a plate??

Part of the district at restaurant

     I had a week full of shoveling snow and service for others.  Oh and Alex (our only investigator) is moving out of our area to lewiston. So we will miss him... We have to give him up to the elders in that area.
     We have transfers coming up this next week so this may be my last week in the Bath area. I find out on Saturday. So wish me luck!

Sister Youland made him this tote bag.  (She used to work for LL Bean!)

This is our district p day last Monday. We went bowling and i got 3 strikes in a row at the end. It was great to play a sport haha.

that is a CARDINAL~!!!!!!!!

Thanks again for all the love that was sent my way. 

Switching Apartments on Feb. 14th or 15th depending on snow..

Dear Family and Friends,
Yay!  I'm on time this week.  I'll try to piece together all the little emails I got today with answers to various questions...  Enjoy!

   Yes we got snow last night only an inch though so not that bad. On Wednesday we got like 6 or 7 inches which was pretty cool. I like the snow. Most people here absolutely hate it though, its kind of funny to talk to the New Englanders and how much they hate winter..

Here's what 6 or 7 inches of snow looks like on cars...

The areas in my district.
Yarmouth Elders (Elder Jensen+Elder Hansen)
Yarmouth Sisters (Sister Davis+Sister Escobar)
Topsham Sisters (Sister Hoffman+Sister Shipley)


There are 10 zones in the mission. 2 zones per stake. There are only 2 stakes in Maine and i am in the Augusta Stake. But part of the Augusta South Zone. There are no other newer missionaries in this whole zone. Last transfer only 3 elders came out so not a whole lot right now. We expect the big boom of elders to come once summer hits.

      Don't worry about the laundromat. We don't have to go there anymore because by next p day we will have the new apartment and it has its own washer and dryer! Which is awesome. So don't worry about the laundry anymore its all over with and done. never going to have to go back to that over-priced place ever again haha.   

     SO this week i am a bit short on time because i didn't start typing this big letter till later but this week i want to cover some stuff that happened and what i do. It will be a bit sparattic (I had to leave that one un-spellchecked cuz it was so funny!)so here i go. This week i got to go to a zone conference. (A big fireside like meeting where all the missionaries in Maine come to) We got to learn about what our mission president wants us to focus on and we learned about how the mission is just 2 years but it will effect the way you live the rest of your life. So our president told us not to be focused on going home, but to be focused on the day at hand because if you spend all your time thinking about the day you will go home, your just going to lose the time you have right now. And the time you have right now is what makes the going home part so good. So work for right now and worry about home later. I totally agree with what he said.

Pres. & Sister Stoker at Zone Conference

District Leader Elder Jensen

   




     I also found out that one of our Less-actives named Pete Buxton died from a stroke. He was the one with the dog and we just happened to catch him at the right time while he was outside his house. Elder Lund and I found him and put him on the Ward List so he could become part of the ward and now this past Sunday we had to take him off the Ward List because he is no longer a member of the ward... So that was a different kind of experience. That's the 3rd person that i have met that has died... I wont be able to attend Pete's funeral because it will be held during the spring in some other town outside of our area(r).

     Things i typically eat that i can control are Almonds, yogurt and granola, oatmeal,  apples, tuna, chicken, peas, peanut butter and jelly, canned fruits and rice. At member meals we get a wide variety of things from tuna sandwiches to attempts at mexican food. Surprisingly not a lot of fish or lobster.... That's a bummer because i love that stuff, well lobster haha.

     We found out that in our entire mission we get about 2-3 baptisms a week. Which is pretty low, But all in all, baptisms are just a statistic, I'm not out here to baptize all of new england. I'm out here to change peoples lives for the better. I'm out here to bring people to understand what Jesus Christ means to not only me but to them. I'm out here to tell them the answers to those deep questions like
-Where did i come from?
-Why am i here?
-Where am i going?
I love hearing those questions come out of someones mouth because i KNOW i have the most correct answer that anyone can possibly give. Its all about the Plan of Salvation. I am always just wanting to teach people but they never want to listen. Its quite frustrating and it gets me down a lot, but i just remember why I'm out here and i remember all those who are supporting me and that lifts me up and all is well. I just need to keep taking life one step at a time.
     On Friday we are moving into our new apartment and i am excited for that because i picked out this apartment hoping it was within our price range and it was and everything worked out and now we are moving in. We will be packing for the move Friday morning and moving all Friday. So that should be fun. WE will have to do a huge deep clean of our current apartment because it needs it.... badly.... A cool little fact. In new england at church when it is time to sing the 3rd hymn everyone stands up to stretch and wake up. Every Sunday when its the 3rd hymn of sacrament meeting we stand and sing it. That's all i could manage sorry mom. G2g. LOVE YOU!!!!


     Hopefully you can compile the info into a better letter. I didn't have a lot of time because i was writing other people. Sorry about that mom. I love you and i know you know that but i want to tell you anyways just because. We found a cannon on a hill and we took some quick pictures. :) don't worry only the whole city of Bath saw us doing that!

Other interesting houses:

This house is part castle!

Wow!  That's yellow!!

At the Youland's river deck:

I think that water is called Hanson Bay on the Kennebec River

Ice chunks on the river's edge

I survived a Blizzard... Dairy Queen blizzard that is...!!

     So this week has been pretty interesting. It actually has been a nice week weather wise. We have had temperatures about 30 for the past couple days and i kid you not it feels great. this past week i survived a blizzard though.. Well that's what the locals call it. Dairy Queen just re opened this past Saturday and the Youlands took us to lunch there. I got a blizzard snickers edition. I thought of you mom when i got it.

     Anyways this past week we didn't have a lot of members meals which means we needed to cook our own meals. I am beginning to learn how to cook on the stove. I can do rice perfectly and cook chicken all the way through and i can prepare salads and do spices and do mashed potatoes also. I am just beginning on my food adventures also haha. I had a homemade ginger cake that i bought at the local farmers market and it was really good. It was like a cupcake but made up of ginger and spices and junk. yum. Than on Thursday i woke up from a good night sleep with the stomach flu. That flu is going around to everyone here in Maine and its not pretty. All Thursday i was immobilized and lets just say that the toilet became my best friend. Anyways...  this past week i got to go on an exchange with our district leader Elder Jensen. The story about him is that he started his mission here in Bath and he got transferred after 6 months of being here just down to Yarmouth which is still in the district. So now that he is district leader he is making the exchanges so that he has the chance to come back to his past area of Bath and see all the people he taught. We had a blast on that exchange. He is such a great guy and we stayed up later than we should because we just couldn't stop talking.

District Leader Elder Jensen

Drew's got the flu... boo hoo hoo!

     As of right now we don't know anything new on P**** B****.  And Alex is still dropped off the radar. So pretty much we don't have an investigator to work with. Its frustrating but we are keeping our heads held high. On Sundays, usually we walk around the streets of Bath and talk to people. No one likes to stop and just talk. But one guy  did. His name is J*** Mac G****. He is an odd one. We were just walking and this guy comes out of his house and stops in his tracks and just stares at us and i say hey. he says hey. I say whats up? And he said I'm spring cleaning. and we were like its the middle of winter, why are you doing that. He said because the groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter. And i just like rolled my eyes and elder dean asked him if we could help. We never ended up helping but he talked to us and how we should go out in the world and go on adventures because you don't want to be stuck in a rinky dink town called Bath and be stuck there. haha He then said we should do all that before 'the shovel starts to tap us in the face with dirt'. (he meant getting buried) He then talked about his 2 favorite greek Gods. Flabicus and Patheticus. haha this guy was hilarious. We then asked if we could come by again sometime and he said sure. So we will see how that works out but man he is funny.

     We have stopped giving our laundry to the Wings because we are relieving them of that burden but this morning we walked our laundry to the only laundromat close to us and it costed 12 dollars to wash and dry our clothes. Is it me or is that just ridiculous. That is a lot of money and that didn't include the detergent we used. I thought that was a little high. This upcoming week we have zone conference on Thursday and i will be going on another exchange with elder Jensen on Wednesday. So that will be fun. On Wednesday we will be in Yarmouth.

     We officially have the apartment of 54 office drive. We will be moving in on February 14, Valentines day. So that means that no one should send me mail to the 962 Middle Street address anymore. 
Send it to the mission office.
That's all i got for now y'all.
   

 Here are a couple of interesting houses he sent pictures of...

A HUGE Pink house

      

A funny multi-colored house