Attention all of Elder Drew Dahlberg's friends and family!!

Hello, this is Mom Dahlberg letting you know what the basic timeline is for his coming home...

He will be dismissed from the Manchester New Hampshire Mission home on Wed, Oct. 7, 2015 at around 9 am.   Most of his fellow missionaries will be boarding airplanes to fly home, but I am going out to New Hampshire to pick him up!  At this point, he will still be considered a missionary (until he arrives home and is officially released by our Stake President, here in Penasquitos...)  I will be his official "companion" and must keep him with me at all times.  We will get into my rental car and drive up to Vermont to see the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial in Sharon, VT, then to some of his families from Ascutney, VT.  We will end that Wednesday at the home of the lady he went to visit on his very first day of his time in Maine,  Sister Mary Youland.  After getting some sleep and waking up to do our "daily exercise", we will drive up to the other areas in Maine where he worked and visit some of his other favorite families.  His trainer, Elder Taylor Lund, (who has been home from his mission for a few months now...) is going to fly out to Maine as well so that Drew will actually get to spend his first and last days of his mission with his trainer and the Youland family.  They are all family now...  It is very exciting to get to meet some of the people who were so wonderful to Drew throughout his mission.

On Friday, Oct. 9th, late afternoon, we will board a plane in Boston (Alaska Airlines flight 769) for a nonstop flight to San Diego, arriving at approx. 9:45 - 10:00 PM (That's at night folks, when it's dark outside, just to  make sure!)  Alaska Airlines flies into Terminal 1, so there is a large group preparing to meet him (us) at the area where the passengers come through from the gates (or closer to baggage claim to be slightly less obnoxious... your choice...) around 10:00 PM.  This is your opportunity to be really crazy with signs or fun lei's or whatever kind of fun thing you might like to bring...  He is STILL a  missionary, so he shouldn't be hugging girls yet... but Mom ladies are OK!

As early Saturday morning, Oct. 10th as we can make the appt, Elder Drew  Dahlberg will be released by President Ellsworth so he can go back to being "just plain Drew".  I'm sure he's hoping to catch some waves at that point, but I could be wrong...(not likely)

ANYWAY,  for your further information, Drew will be giving his "Homecoming" talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, Oct. 18th at 9:00 am (That's the morning, when it's light out!  haha)  We  haven't yet decided if we are going to have any kind of open house type thing yet, so we'll let you know if we do...

We would love to have anyone interested come to either of these events.  Elder Dahlberg has been working very hard during his two years and will be really happy to see his friends again!

Please call me, (Laurel) on my cell phone if you have any questions about when events might be.  858 945-4099

Thanks!

Making plans for after his mission...

Hello Everyone!!!

So this week was really interesting because on Wednesday i had a sit down interview with President Stoker about my plans for when i get home! It was a really fun interview that lasted over an hour! We talked about my goals and plans for after the mission and college and dating and girls and surfing and jobs and what i should expect for when i get home. I really enjoyed the interview. I would change one thing though, I wish i had this interview next week because now that i know all that i need to do after my mission i have had a harder time staying focused on the mission and all that i need to do. But overall i am staying really focused and im pumped for the remainder of my mission. (2 weeks)

On exchange with Elder Millett in Sanford, ME

This week i was able to go on an exchange up to Sanford Maine. That place isnt one i want to live in for the rest of my life because it has nothing to offer me, but it is a nice little town. While there we had alot of appointments cancel on us, so we spent a good amount of the day walking around handing out pictures of Jesus to people haha. Some people called us Jesus Freaks but thats okay.

He had banana bread for breakfast... his favorite!

A nice sunset in Sanford, ME

I found 2 really really good quotes this week that i want to share with you.

"Use what talents you possess. the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." -Henry Van Dyke

"Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and God gives abundantly to industry. So plow deep while the sluggards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and to keep" -Benjamin Franklin

Those are some great words of wisdom to me since im in my last legs as a missionary. I hope to push hard and plow deep as Benjamin told me to do. I know that working hard has blessed my life so far so why should i stop when it gets closer to the end?

This week wasnt successful in terms of finding anyone new to teach but we did put forth efforts. We street contacted, tried to hold a church tour, Tracted, visited members to seek for neighbors to visit or help, served at a food pantry and asked people if they want to learn more about our Beliefs in Jesus. So if i were to rate ourselves. i would be proud to say we are trying hard.

This week we hope to find at least 1 new person to teach! WERE TRYING!!!!!

This is a meal made with Quinoa pasta, looks healthy!

His failed attempt at cinnamon rolls...! Bummer!

A list of all of his areas & companions, plus the elders he's gone on exchanges with...  Wow!  Lots of people!

OK, that's it for this week!

All smiles,

Elder Dahlberg

New England's biggest Beach Party (from Sept 14)

Here are some pictures of their apartment.  They have a ping pong table taking up most of the kitchen!  Plus, look at those beds all squeezed into that room!!

Well Guys... I only have 3 more letters after this one.

This week it really started to hit me that i will be going home after this transfer. The common thing for most missionaries to feel is that on their last transfer they just feel like its going to be another transfer to another area, to a new companion and they keep doing the normal missionary life. I had that feeling for a while until this week when people kept asking me how long i have been out on my mission and i tell them 23 months. They immediatly go "oh wow! YOu are so ready to go home!" So that didnt help. haha

But besides my trunkyness when people ask me about how excited i am to go back home to California. This week in our missionary work we were able to volunteer at New Englands biggest Beach Party. It was a seafood festival in Hampton beach where a ton of people come from all over to get the "best" fried seafood in the east coast. As volunteers we got to help with the traffic control and make sure people didnt get hit by cars. I really enjoyed that job because we were up close and personal with people and TONS of people asked about our missionary tags and what we represent. I alone talked with over 150 people that day. It was a great missionary opportunity.


This week after all of our efforts we werent able to teach that much, which was tough but its okay. We have alot ahead of us.

This week on Wednesday i will be having my missionary departure interview. I hear its all about marriage.... But we will see haha. I will let you know what its about.

I know i didnt write alot this week, but i promise to let you know how that interview goes next week!


Last week their entire district went to visit a lighthouse in Maine...

District picture near the lighthouse.

Craig tells stories about a little boy called "Fast Eddie" so this diner brought back memories...

On exchange with Elder Manning who celebrated his one year mark at this Sushi Bar.

All Smiles, 

Elder Dahlberg

Last Holiday in the Mission! (from Sept 7)

This is his original group of missionaries from the MTC in 2013

 As you may know i only have 4 more Preparation days left. So that means i need to make every last email count right? I remember i would tell you about the 3 things i wish i knew before my mission that i shared at the big leadership training. Here they are.
1.) How true my patriarchal blessing is. (this is a website that tells you what one of those is. https://www.lds.org/topics/patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng)
-In my patriarchal blessing it tells me about how important keeping a record of my mission is, I can confidently say i did not miss writing in my journal a single day of my mission. I am 690 days strong and will continue to be strong until i finish my mission. I know that in those journals are stories that i can tell my kids and that my kids kids can look at them and laugh at how silly i can be as well as how much i learned over my mission.
2.) A mission is not only the best 2 years of your life, its the best 2 years for your life.
-I didnt know that a mission was going to change me. I thought i would go on a mission and than come home and continue to be the same person with the same view/perspective on life. That is so false. I have changed during my mission. I know what it feels like to have dwarfed goals and low expectations. I want to be successful in life and my mission has taught me how i can do that. I know what steps i need to take to remain faithful to God and my promises with him, as well as to remain successful and productive in this earthly life.
3.) I would love these people
-I remember getting my mission call to be in the New Hampshire Manchester Mission and i was a little disappointed that i wouldnt be doing anything wildly crazy and foreign and i wouldnt be in a different country. But i have found that the place doesnt matter because as a missionary im here for the people. I love the New England People as well as any other kind of people on this earth. I mean come on, if we are all children of God why not love every person? In the end they are your brother or sister. I have charity for people and i couldnt not have gained that had i not served a mission here for 2 years.


Those are the 3 things i shared in the big meeting and i wasnt nervous to stand in front of others because i knew that what i had to share was important and if i were to be nervous it would affect how i delivered my message. So i just chose not to be nervous or scared. I chose confidence instead 😁.

Elder Penverne at the Food Pantry

This week we also were able to do some community service in a food pantry as well as some yardwork and dejunkifying for a member of our ward. Doing the dejunking, we were helping a lady whose husband is not a member of the church. We got talking with the lady and she told us that she always fights with her husband and it hasnt been to great lately. We found out the next day that the husband was THRILLED at all the work we did for FREE and they did not fight one bit, instead he had a change of heart towards us and wants us to come help him with some more work if we can. WE AGREED!

This week we spent a good amount of time street contacting in Hampton sorta near the beach. we found alot of people would talk to us but the hard part was, getting them to care about God. Most if not all of them wouldnt even listen to us even if we were missionaries for whatever faith they were a part of. It was quite sad actually. We were able to hand out 7 book of mormons to people in 3 days. That is pretty good, but what i really hope for is that those people just become aware of their lifes and try to make things right between them and their Maker (GOD). Thats been a real struggle in this area.

We do have 2 investigators that we have been teaching for a while. their names are Eric and Vinny.
Eric is the boyfriend of a member of the church and he is willing to meet with us and is sorta curious about God and what the purpose of life is.
Vinny is an excommunicated member of the church just trying to overcome his word of wisdom problems and get a stronger relationship with God again.

P-day near the beach

Elder Gassman with a crab

This is the Atlantic Ocean!

Those are the big highlights from the week. Some of the leaves in the trees are starting to change and its starting to get a little more brisk in the evenings and mornings. So that means summer is coming to a close and fall is starting up. I am SO GLAD i wont be here for the winter. I REALLY REALLY didnt like the cold temperatures. It was really tough for me to endure these super long winters.

Thanks for any emails i get during the week. I can look at them. Feel Free to send me apicture of a highlight from this awesome Labor day. This is my LAST HOLIDAY of my mission!! CRAZY!!!!!!

Enjoy my pictures

All Smiles,

Elder Dahlberg

News from Exeter, New Hampshire (August 31)

Well i am transferred to Exeter New hampshire. It is right next to Hampton Beach which is about 10 minutes away. So i am serving my last 6 weeks in an area where every morning there is a sea breeze and i can smell the ocean and the saltiness of it, as well as every 10th car there is a surfboard strapped to the top of it. President Stoker really wanted to test me by sending me here.

(He is in a trio this time.  His two companions are Elder Penverne from Orleans, France and Elder Gassman from Utah.)

There are 2 kids in our ward that are 12 years old and they like to surf and it was so awesome sitting in church and i saw those 2 sitting next to each other and they were talking about the waves they experienced this past week. I thought it was so cool to see some younger kids that liked to surf even though they are up here in new england.

The Exeter Area doesnt have alot of teaching going on and its been really rough trying to find someone new to teach and we havent found anyone yet, but we will.

Something we are focusing on this week is going out and serving other through service, like wood stacking or painting, or yardwork. We have a couple of appointments set up to help people so i can let you know next week how that went.

This upcoming week we have another big Meeting called MLC, Mission Leadership Council and during it i was asked to share 3 things that i wish i knew before my mission. I havent thought of them yet but i promise i will write you next monday as to what i shared.

We took some pictures in a graveyard because there was a full moon and we had too!!!!

So this is a picture of train tracks. It was taken from the side of our apartment. this is a transit train and goes at all times of the day and night. When we sleep at night we hear this train go by and it honks its horn and its SUPER LOUD! It shakes the building were in. Last night alone it came by 3 times once at 12, another at 2 and another at like 5:30. 

So that will be how i sleep for the next 5 weeks. LUCKY MEE!!!!

Until next week!

Elder Dahlberg

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...