FINAL TRANSFER!!

I am getting transferred after 6 months in Bedford, New Hampshire. I will be serving as a Zone Leader and Follow Up trainer. So i don't really know where im going but wherever i go for my last 6 weeks as a missionary here in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission i will work hard and do my best!!!   {Day after transfers... I now know that he went to Exeter, NH, which is not only not far from the mission home, but only 11 miles from the "beach" he mentioned in earlier emails...  Since it is so close to the mission home, I suggest you just send any actual letters to the mission home address, and you might get through faster with his email address...}  

This week in the mission i spent some time in the boonies of New Hampshire. In a small town called Barnstead. I was there on exchange and we were tracting houses and had no success. This day was the low light of my week. Sadly no one was interested and it seemed like no matter how much faith we had, every door would prove otherwise. It reminded me of a scripture in D&C 29:39 "And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet. "
So i was getting used to the bitter. And i totally know the sweet now.

Some sweet things this week were, We had 4 investigators come to church. Lisa and her 19 year old son Jonathan, Tyler D****, and Joan B****. They are all great people and i can see that they are making progress in their personal relationships with God. I do like that part of my job. Being a helper for others. I don't have to worry about myself, I can focus on their needs and what i can do in my life to help them. It helps me understand the principles of Diligence and Sacrifice and Patience. I cant forget patience.

I will miss this area, and all the wonderful people that i met here. I was thinking about this exact thing last night. I will miss New England and the people here. I remember in the beginning of my mission i was the opposite. I couldn't wait to leave and go back home to California. (Although i still hate the winters here haha) I have met so many friends and people that i want to remember and want to continue to keep in contact after my mission. I am making so many memories out here that i know i will remember for the rest of my life.

I will attach pictures of people i came close too while being here. (these pictures are only about half of the people i came to really appreciate)

Sister Meader

Br. Whitney

Chase Hughes

Jason Stockwell (from Ascutney)

Tyler D.

The McGurn Family

The Spencer family

This is a wood stove. EVERY HOUSE in New England has one of these to keep it warm during the freezing winters.

  

 Still clowning around...

We went mini golfing and i wore a clown nose the whole time. :)

why not right?

All smiles!

Elder Dahlberg

Went to the Boston Temple... and.... the Wasp Story...

Side note:  Last week they had the opportunity to go to the Boston Temple, which switched around their P-day.  He only time for a quick email to say hi...

This week went by really really fast for me, Since i last emailed on Wednesday i feel like the week flew by super fast.

Well i was able to go to the Boston Temple this past week and that was a great experience for me. Its the first time that i have been to the temple and when we finished and left i actually wished i could go back.

After we went to the Temple we made a side trip along the coast of New Hampshire. (Yes there is a small coastline of New Hampshire.) WHO KNEW THAT!!! I sure didn't before my mission. But we stopped at a beach town called Hampton beach. That place was so crowded! I was amazed at how many people were there. I wasn't expecting much with this beach but it surprised me with how similar it was to California Beaches.

Except for the fact that everyone around was either very pale white or bright red from sun burns, and that the waves there were no bigger than one foot.







But i was able to have a New England Lobster roll with hand squeezed lemonade on the beach which not very many people can say they have had that kind of luxury.

On July 30th a Thursday is when i was able to help save someones life. This is the Wasp Story.

We were helping a man named Brian Hughes out in his yard by moving granite gravel to the surroundings of his house. He had a rake and was raking the leaves out of the way. While he was doing so he hit a hornets nest and was actually stung about 7 times in his legs. He then told us he was slightly allergic to them and went inside to find some medicine to combat the poison. We were getting thirsty so we went inside too. We found him gripping the table very tightly trying his best to keep himself up and stable. He told us he wasn't feeling great and asked us to go look for some other kind of medicine. Than he fell to the floor really quickly. (This man is about 6'4 about 250lbs) His son was in the room and we told him to call 911 and he did and a first responder came within the next 5 minutes. Until he came i was assessing the situation and i didnt really know how to help. He had a pulse, he wasnt choking, he was just very dizzy and was still able to talk but very slurred. As everyone stood there helplessly looking at him i moved to the back side of the room and just said a quick prayer telling God that i dont like not being able to help in this situation and that if there was a way i could make a difference that he would tell me right then and there. I felt i should do what i know how to do which is give a priesthood blessing. By this time there were 5 paramedics around brother hughes trying to keep him stable and giving him medicine. So as he was on the stretcher being pulled out of the house we gave him a blessing. I like James 5: 14-15 which states.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

After Bro Hughes left in the ambulance, we later found out that his pulse stopped and that his heart was having trouble pumping blood out to the rest of his body. He told us that for a split second he was technically dead, and he told us that if we hadnt been there to give him the blessing that he doesnt think he would be in the great condition that he is now in. He didnt say i raised him from the dead or anything but that blessing was able to give him that uplift that he needed to make it through his physical pain.

That was a pretty crazy part of the week. That is my biggest highlight from the week and i can say that im grateful to be a helping hand to others. It feels good to make people smile and let them know that i care.

Thanks for the mail and emails everyone! Please keep it up since i have 2 months left and i need all the support i can get!!!

All Smiles,

Elder Dahlberg

This is an earlier picture of them visiting the Hughes family...

(July 27) Still clownin' around...

This past week went very fast for me. Every day flew by and i would acclaim that to being very very busy. Almost every single week in this area of Bedford, we teach at least 20 lessons. We teach a lot of lessons during the week and those are only the sit down ones where we say a prayer and stay a while. We talk to people on the street all the time and we teach every time we talk to someone. We also listen to what they have to share as well. Because a huge part of teaching is also listening.

In review, this week we helped serve a couple of members in the ward by helping with wood. We are doing wood in the summer so that we can help keep them warm and prepare them for winter. (That is how brutal the winters are) I was able to push over a dead 30ft tree all by myself and i picked it up and wedged it in between other trees and snapped it in half and than i repeated that until i got the tree into manageable pieces that i could stack in the wood pile. I felt like a true new englander when i could "fall" a tree and break it into the sized pieces that i wanted. We also helped another member split and stack six and a half cords of wood. That is alot of wood my friends... I was so tired after that.

If we were a wood cutting company i would have made about 600$ doing the work i did for all that wood. But i am a missionary and served this family instead of making money :) It feels better to do it out of the heart rather than
out of the pocket.

For ipads, we were supposed to get PHASE 2 which is where we do daily planning and keep informational records on them this past week, but it got changed to the end of this week so by the next time i email we should be on that second phase of ipads.

This week we got fed very very well by the members in our ward, and by other kind people who wanted to share food with us. I am officially ready to be done with Hamburgers and Hot Dogs. I think i had a hamburger everyday this past week. Im ready to have a salad. That will be nice to have.

We got to go over to Eric W***** house again (the athiest buddhist). He taught us what to do and how to meditate. We did a short 20 minute session of just meditation where you relax your mind and live in the "present moment" just focusing on the rising and falling of your breathe. After doing that for 20 minutes i was reminded of how difficult it is to keep your mind calm and focused for 20 minutes. My mind kept wandering and thinking of other things, but to be successfull in meditation you need to focus on the present moment and nothing else. We talked to Eric about the book of mormon as well and he accepted a copy and will read from it. We also invited him to come to church and he came! he attended the first hour and sat next to a couple of friends that he knows. The friend he knows the best was the organist, sister berg.

Funny Story of the week!!!
Elder Bundy and I got a referal (someone who may potentially be interested in the gospel of jesus Christ) and so we looked at the information of it. the name was Shiva Reisland. and they lived at a certain address. So we walked over to the address and knocked on the door and a man in his 20's answered the door and he looked like he was really engaged in a video game and we interupted him. He quickly said, can i help you?? We asked if a shiva reisland lives here. He get a really puzzled look on his face and turns around then turns back and says, "you came here to see my cat?" We then got a puzzled look and told him where we got our information and then decided that a cat wouldn't understand the message that we were out to share so we asked him if he would like to learn. he was all set but still was frazzled that 2 guys showed up to his door in white shirts and ties and ask to see his cat hahahahahaha.

Thats all i have for this week!

All Smiles,

Elder Dahlberg

This is them with the lady and her son that they met last week to teach.

(July 20) More Miracles!

Hello Elder Bundy!

So in my life as a missionary, this week i gained a new companion. I am currently the zone leader and i now have a normal Junior Companion named Elder Bundy. He is from Phoenix Arizona and just hit his 6 month mark. He is a snowboarder and he likes to joke around and have fun. So we get along great! This week we were really focusing on being exactly obedient and diligent in our plans and goals. We were able to hand out 5 book of mormons to people who honestly will read them. We found 3 new investigators and they are solid ones too. This week we also taught the stop smoking program to a lady in our church, Sister C*******. Her husband died last month and she is working on getting her life back in order. she is doing great so far and from what we know she is smoke free for 3 full days.

A huge miracle happened this week which resulted in 2 of our new people to teach.

After a member meal with the Mederis Family (member in our church) , we said a closing prayer. During the prayer i felt prompted to tell the Mederis family about how God answered my prayers whenever i would ask him to place someone in my path. So i told them how God always puts people that i can share the gospel with when ever i pray for that exact thing. You will never guess what happened next....

As we were walking back to our car from their home, there was a couple standing right beside our car and one of them told us that we were dressed real nice and that started our conversation. We talked for 10 minutes and we set a return appointment for the upcoming sunday to do dinner and a lesson with her and her 19 year old Son Jonathon. This Lady, Lisa P***** is not a member of our church and she invited us over for a dinner! NO ONE DOES THAT! Anyways, Sunday came around and we went to the dinner and she made a wonderful home-cooked meal and than told us that she is still searching for purpose in life ever since she had a near death experience. she attends the Manchester Christian Church every week but she still feels like she wants to know her Personal purpose in this life. We taught her about the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and she committed to reading and praying about the book of mormon to know if what we told her is true. Jonathon also agreed to finding out and is willing to put forth the effort to find out.

This week we also did service for a man who is practicing Bhuddist but doesnt believe in all of its teachings. He is a believer of Jesus's teachings but doesnt believe that He rose from the dead because there is no proof that he did such a thing. But we got to talk to this man about human personality traits and characteristics that make us the way we are. Even though this man is not a true believer of Jesus, he still emulates Jesus and His teachings better than i do at times! He is awesome!


We have been getting fed VERY WELL this past week. We have been very blessed to have dinner at someones house every night this past week and every night this upcoming week as well.
This week on Wednesday, our mission will be getting the second phase of our ipads which is planning on them and updating our area books on them.

I am so happy to be on my mission right now. Every night i lay in my bed, grateful for every hard moment ive had and every bit of frustration that ive had, because it has opened my eyes to my potential as a human being and as a child of God.

That's all for now folks. (Read that in the daffy duck voice)

All Smiles,

Elder Dahlberg

Cole Nimmo



This is a young man from our ward here who is going to Mozambique, Africa this Wednesday, July 22!