"We just about looked at each other and screamed like little girls because we were so excited"

Dear Friends and Family,
We had a WONDERFUL Skype chat with Elder Dahlberg for an hour on Christmas.  Some ward members were gracious to donate the use of their computer so that both Elders could talk to their families.  We took a family picture in between stories and a few tears...  (Who, me?  cry???  He started it...)

Merry Merry Christmas from Bath, Maine to San Diego, California!!

We had a good email chat back and forth today, so I'll try to piece it all together to make this blog entry.  He sent lots of fun pictures as well.

Best Christmas Ever.. And its strange to say it but i think its true. I got the best Christmas present anyone could ever have which was family and love. I got both of them when i got to skype home on Christmas. That was the best Christmas Present i could have been given. But thank you to everyone who sent me Christmas Cards, especially (Sister Collins! The Bowers Family! The Oldners! Aunt Lynn! Grandma Petersen! The Noltes!!!) (The Noltes win coolest Christmas card of the year.) Thank you for the Kringles too mom. (For those non-scandinavians... Craig's mom makes us a sweet bread like treat for Christmas morning called Kringles. They rarely actually last until Christmas morning...)  I ate those so fast the bag didn't even get unzipped... (True Story) This Christmas was great! I got to have Brunch over at my Ward Mission Leaders house. The Jones family. They are really awesome and possibly the best ward mission leader and meal coordinator in the entire mission.  And than after Brunch i went to the Derrs for Christmas dinner that was very well put together and tasted great! Than i skyped my family from there and i haven't been so excited/anxious/nervous in forever until then. (I cant talk today..) So some things that have been happening in my world as a missionary other than Christmas was that Alex has now gotten a new phone and we will be meeting with him this week sometime. 

The Jones family  Ward Mission Leader

This is the Jones family. No doubt about it they are the best in the mission. I seriously don't think anyone can be better than they are.

On Saturday we were walking to a families home to give them Tupperware back and we turned down a street and a man who was getting stuff out of his car stopped us and told us that he was Mormon and that he hadn't been to church in over 20 years. and that he would like to start going back. Elder Lund and I just about looked at each other and screamed like little girls because we were so excited. We gave him our phone number and we got his and we will also be meeting with him this week. His name is Pete B**** He has an upcoming heart surgery and has a broken finger from what i saw. He is around 50 years old and has a dog that can supposedly shake with all 4 paws. Thats what he told us and we will put that to the test next time we see him and his dog. 

Sunday, we finally had a full 3 hour day of church. its been 2 full weeks without all of church due to crazy bad weather. But after church we went to a Less-Active ladies house named Janet T*****. she is Colombian and she had her 20 year old niece, Brigitte there who is from Colombia and is here for a month to learn English. Elder Lund and i knew this and we came prepared with a list of questions to ask her to get her more familiar with the English language. We talked with her for about an hour and i could see improvement with every question that i asked. I learned from that experience that you cant learn anything without trying it. Just like how Brigitte needed to learn English so she needed to constantly be speaking it. 

The weather here has been different from what im used to. Sunday night it was a snow/sleet/rain storm and there was all types of stuff falling from the sky. The snowflakes were as big as quarters and they would fall much slower than the rain, which was also falling while the snow was. 

Icy branches

Snow looks so pretty, but...

you have to shovel it!

Or just be silly!

Christmas gifts from friends and family

Huge boots at LL Bean store

These are all my Christmas Presents! THANK YOU FOR EVERY LITTLE THING!!! i felt so overwhelmed when i opened it all. I was like wow. they really care about me.

The Derr family is really into Lego's.  Here are some pictures of their collection, and then a picture of their gift to Elder Dahlberg..

Wow!  That's some serious Lego building!  Very cool!

'sup dude?  

Maybe in a couple of years...

Thanks for the constant love and letters. I really appreciate it. 

(From 12/23 email) Countdown to Skype time...

     Well Missionary life is very productive and exciting if you ask me. I am starting to get a hang of this life and I'm enjoying it. We received word that iPads will come in the year 2014 so that is something to look forward too. But i personally think if they give us iPads there will be a LOT more restrictions and even more rules, which if that's the case i wouldn't mind not having iPads.  
     But this week has been an interesting one. We only had Church for 1 hour because of the Ice storm. So we had sacrament meeting and than it was the Christmas program. But a cool part was that Sister youland came to church aaaaannnndd she brought her husband Tony! Elder Lund told me that he never thought in a million years that Tony would come to church. But hey. he came even when he felt sick and crappy! He came because he promised Sis. Youland and she was very happy that he came. I have never seen her so happy at church. She sat next to Tony and held his hand the whole hour and i could tell it meant alot to her to have Tony there. I'm glad Tony came, he enjoyed looking at the primary sing. those kids kept making faces and some of them couldn't carry a tune to save their lives but hey, who needs a good singing voice when your 'cute as a button'. This week we also were elves at the youlands and we wrapped presents for them and we got to do a cool new snow/winter activity. Its called snow shoveling!  We used a long tool that scraped the snow of of their roof and we also shoved parts of their house. Speaking of Shoveling. This week Elder Swalberg was on an exchange with me here in bath. We had some time to kill until we got picked up for district meeting so we grabbed our snow shovels and headed out of the house. We were blindly walking down streets looking for someone to help shovel. And than out of nowhere a car comes and rolls down their window and the person tells us to walk to the Derrs house and shovel their driveway because George didn't get the chance to do it. So we did. After that we started heading back to home and we see a guy we had previously offered to help shovel and he was still going at it. I yelled "The offer still stands" and he laughs and gave in and let us help him. He is a construction worker who moved here with his wife who happens to be from Encinitas. The wife owns a cafe in downtown bath and they told us we could stop by and get a free coffee. (we will stop by for free Hot Chocolate :) After shoveling him we were headed home and stopped at the local New Jerusalem church. We saw an old pastor who was really old. He had to be in his 80's and he was the only one shoveling this long walkway that would have taken him all day except for our help. We offered to help him and he gladly accepted by barely muttering out the words "yes of course". But we shoveled the walkway and than their entire church with him and he told us how awesome we are and that our church is the BEST at doing service and just being friendly. Than he told us something i will never forget. He told us, while handing us a pamphlet to his church. "You haven't gained a convert, but you gained a friend." How awesome is that guy! I mean seriously! 

     Some updates.... Alex our Investigator has dropped off the radar :/ his phone went out of service and he changed apartments and we cant find him. So no updates on him other than he is not reachable as of this moment..... 

     On friday we volunteered at the local Food Pantry and put some cans in boxes for the needy people in bath. So after that we walked to the Borges family with a huge pecan pie we had been given from the food pantry. we gave the pie to them and they were all happy about it. than after them we walked to the local members house nearby to just stop by (the alexanders). Its an older woman and her nonmember husband who is the nicest person i have ever met. they invited us in and of course offered us food, and being an 18 year old boy i will never turn down food especially when its roast beef and mashed potatoes. haha  after that we sat and talked about the Bible and about where the world is turning with this whole 'Gay rights' ordeal. We than had to leave and after closing prayer, Sis Hersum (A lady whose husband had passed away about a month ago, i attended his funeral) She asked us to sing Put your Shoulder to the Wheel. So, Elder Lund and I nervously accepted and started singing it occapella. We sang so good. My voice didn't crack once. and We harmonized and everything. I have never sang so good in my entire life. I don't think that song was meant for us, it was meant to help her. I honestly belief that the Spirit sang that song and we were just the mouthpieces for it. It was really amazing.

My schedule for Christmas eve is wake up and than go to the Johnstons for breakfast (an australian family!) and than go with them to an old folks home and sing carols for them. then after that we will make M&M cookies at the apartment to give to families in the ward and then go to a members home for dinner where we will be part of their Christmas eve tradition. (They always have the missionaries over for Christmas Eve) than after that we will go with the youlands to freeport where we will go and tour the Christmas lights at the Original LL bean factory. That will finish the night. Then Christmas I will wake up open presents or whatever haha than go to the Jones (our ward mission leader who is awesome and i haven't talked about them alot but i should) for brunch and than travel to the derrs for dinner/ Christmas tradition and then stay there for skyping. and that will finish Christmas. Sounds awesome huh?! really busy and it should be alot of fun. I am so Excited to talk to you guys on Christmas. I hope you have Questions ready because i want to make the most of this 1 hour. And i ask that while were skyping you screen shot my face so that in the future i can look back and see myself. Merry Christmas to all those in the Ward that love and Support. me Especially the Oldners. :) Thanks for all the love and support and i look forward to hearing from you!  

Stockings from Sister Youland

Pretty scene of snow

Not so pretty scene of snow pile in the parking lot

The Blind leading the Blind

We read on the internet that Bath had 12.25" of snow, so of course, we asked if this was true...

 I am on right now mom and I am actually pretty warm. It did blizzard this weekend and we got around 13 inches of snow. It is funny to say this but its warmer when it snows. Because lately its been in the 10 degrees and when it snows its around 20-30 degrees. So yeah it feels much better when snow is outside and falling. The sun is out today and its a beautiful day. I have loads of emails to respond and read and I have a busy day ahead of me. at 2 im going to bowl with sis youland and than shop than go to a big lobster feast at the merrimans house again and than have an exchange. For the next  2 days Elder Swalberg will be my companion. We will be in Bath.

 I should have taken better pictures. Sorry mom. haha I was enjoying the snow too much.






This has been a crazy adventurous week. I went to Augusta on Monday and had a temporary exchange while my companion elder lund was at a training meeting down in NH. I was in a trio with 2 brand spankin new missionaries so it was 3 new missionaries walking the streets of Augusta. haha elder lund called it the "Blind leading the Blind" I got to see the Capitol building which was really cool and big. Biggest building ive seen on my mission.

3 blind mice??

ON friday we had zone interviews with President Stoker. I was really nervous at first to go into a 1 on 1 interview with our mission president but the second i sat down for the interview all the nerves went away and i just felt comfortable to be myself. We had a great interview and one thing he told me is that "You WILL be a great leader in this mission!" I wasnt all that shocked when he told me that to be honest haha but i know its big shoes to fill and when the time comes, I'll fill them shoes right up.

This friday was also our ward Christmas party. All for the past 2 weeks our focus was to get people to that party. we handed out fliers. walked miles to follow up and even called them to remind them. but we invited about 10-15 nonmember/ less active families and only 1 showed up. It was a bummer but we looked at the bright side and were thankful for that one family that showed up.

Here is a funny/sad story. At the end of the ward party we started cleaning up and picking up chairs and putting away food and stuff and than a lady named Sister M**** shows up with her Egg custard pie and her pineapple-coconut ice cream all ready for the party. (She lives about an hour away in a town called Harpswell) She comes to us and goes... "What happened.. did the party cancel?" we say "uhh sister M****... the party is over" she than tells us that she doesn't understand what is going on and that the party should still be happening. The conversation ended when she handed us the pie and walked over to the sister missionaries and started asking where the party was going. Haha idk whats up with her but she is definitely an odd one.

This past weekend we had a big blizzard/storm that gave us 13 inches of snow over night. Church ended up being canceled and as missionaries we had 3 extra hours of doing something. We chose to go outside and shovel the snow and then go to the Derr's home to help them out with whatever they need. The Derrs are a part member family and we teach their husband George Derr AKA Duck Dynasty. We are reading the Book of Mormon with them and we are in 3 nephi 13. Some interesting things about this family is that they both served in the army, they don't have a tv, microwave, or anything electronically fancy. They are the family with their son named Hank where we sometimes have nerf wars. We helped them set up their Christmas tree and when i send you the picture look for the Lobster ornament. I put it up and its a silverish lobster.

Hank by Christmas tree

I guess we know why they call him "Duck Dynasty"

On wednesday we had a lesson with our baptismal date alex powwell. We watched Joseph Smith prophet of the Restoration with him and he REALLY enjoyed it and got an even stronger testimony of Joseph Smith and his role in the coming forth of the church. I enjoy teaching people about the church. When people actually want to hear what we have to share, the lessons go by much better and i really feel the spirit when we teach about the truthfulness of the gospel.

On Thursday we visited with a less active member named janet t****. she is a colombian woman who was baptized back in colombia and had only been to church one time. which was the same day she got baptized. the missionaries who baptized her didnt even teach her anything about the church but they did set a good example for her by living their lives serving others. Janet loves serving others and she hosts dinners at her house for the less fortunate people of bath. She is so nice and we had dinner at her house that night. she made us tacos with spanish rice and homemade salsa. She also had a friend from colombia who is in the US to learn english. She is 20 years old and will be here till the 25 of jan. My 3 years of spanish that i took back in high school came into play and we started to teach her english. it was pretty fun. We then invited her to come to church on Sunday and she said sure. but church didnt happen so we had to call her and cancel...

Overall this was a good week. I had a good attitude and life is starting to get better and better. I am enjoying my time out here on the mission and I am so glad I decided to go on one. I learn everyday and I'm becoming a better and better person everyday. I am still Drew but I am enjoying being Elder Dahlberg. Thanks for all the support and I really am thankful to everyone who supports me on my mission.

Snow Boots

 Okay mom i have a couple of things to say. For christmas i am going to be calling you from facetime or skype. not sure which one. but it will be for sure after 2pm your time. so it will be later in the day. I am sending a Christmas package out today and i want you to open it while we skype. and I want to say i love you guys and i love all the support im getting. Its seriously over whelming. I am so popular haha thanks mom.

We decorated this tree.  Pretty good, huh?

Funerals are free advertising????

Merry Christmas from Bath, Maine

Hi mom so here's the big ol letter.  This past week Elder Lund and I attended a funeral for a man who neither of us had met. It was held in a funeral home where it was open casket and now i can say i see dead people..... Eeek i will never ever be an embalmer because I couldn't look at the dead man any longer than a blink of an eye. But the funeral was very well put together. After the funeral we went to a luncheon celebrating his life. While there we stood at the opening of the building and greeted everyone as they came in. We advertised ourselves and a couple of people were interested as to why we were missionaries.  We told them and it didn't lead anywhere but hey, free advertising.  At the luncheon I ate my first lobster roll. THOSE THINGS ARE AMAZING!  no wonder they are like $10 a piece!  I only had one but oh man i wanted to have 10!

A pretty church in Bath, ME

Christmas tree in Bath, ME

This past Friday night Elder Lund and I attended a Pentecostal service........ Here's the story on how we got there. Elder Lund and I were walking through the local library park and i stopped to take a picture of this huge church that i want to show you. The church looks like a temple. Its pretty. We then got stopped by some random hobo dude who asked us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses and we said no were missionaries for the Mormon church. He then gets super uninterested and ends the conversation and walks away with his head down as if we had a poisonous disease or something. So on our way home we walked by this First Apostolic Church where the door was open and this guy asked us if we were coming in. Being the curious person I am I said Whats going on in there?  He said our church service. I then said to Elder Lund lets go in there! he hesitated a little bit but the curiosity got the  best of us. We went in and found out what them Pentecostals are all about. They were Singing and yelling and clapping and jumping and prancing and frolicking all around to the music. Then when it was time for prayer after 30 mins of singing and clapping everyone put their hands in the air and started muttering "praise Jesus" along with a bunch of other weird sounding words. I was like what is going on. I can only describe what they were saying by relating it to when someone gargles water. It was so strange. I had no idea what was happening and Elder Lund and I just looked at each other and tried not to laugh. The sermon was yelled into the microphone and the pastor was spitting while speaking. The sermon was pretty doctrinally correct  but it was just the way they delivered it that was so wrong. You aren't supposed to talk of Jesus Christ by yelling his name out loud and telling everyone to praise him now!  anyways haha. those were some funny moments.

This week Elder Lund and I had a Christmas Lesson of Luke 2 with our investigator Alex. After the whole lesson we set a baptismal date with him which is HUGE! So hopefully he pulls through. His date is FEB 2. He is a big black guy from Louisiana and he used to be a bouncer at a bar. SO YEAH he is a big guy. He has a hurt foot right now but its healing somewhat... He is not stable. He has no job and no family. He is living by the grit of his teeth. He moves from motel to motel and he eats at homeless peoples eateries. He gets unemployment and gets it on a debit card but this past week his friend wanted to borrow it to get some soda and it turns out the friend used all $350 on it and gave it back..... Alex just got screwed over so he isn't to happy about that. But even through all that he told us he wants to "STEND ON MAH WERD!" and be baptized.  this Sunday there was a youth baptism and he came with us to attend. We had asked him if he had ever attended a baptismal service before and he told us that he had attended one before and now this one and then he is going to attend the next one which will be his. haha he told us that he is the next baptism. pretty cool.

Here are some fun little facts. A lot of people here HATE Obama.  If you even speak of him people start to fake gag. Extreme huh? so our apartment is 1 of 9 apartments.  The one that we live in is last in line for hot water so when we are taking our showers and someone flushes their toilet or turns on any sort of water we get a blast of freezing cold water and its pretty interesting and always keeps you on your toes while your taking a shower.

I stubbed my toe running up stairs at a members house. I was running because the members son was chasing me with a Nerf gun which was loaded with a bullet that had a tack sticking out of it. SO i ran as fast i could and stubbed my toe pretty hard.  i have been icing it and its getting smaller but its still huge. Sister Youland gave us Earmuffs that wrap around the back of your head. I am losing my speedo tan but i am embracing my inner whiteness!!

My week this week is very interesting. Tonight i am going to Augusta to be in a trio of 2 other brand new missionaries. The reason that is happening is because Elder Lund needs to go to Manchester for a leadership training and I am just getting put wherever the closest open spot is. SO its Augusta. I will be there till Tuesday night. After that on Friday we have zone interviews where we get to meet with our zone leaders and with president Stoker. Then Friday night is our ward Christmas party and I hope all the people we invited go to it. WE INVITED SO MANY PEOPLE ITS RIDICULOUS!!! I hope they come. And i think i am going on an exchange this week but im not sure. Thats my week! haha

Elders Lund & Dahlberg with Sister Youland on the bridge by her house

I am enjoying my mission and today is my 2 month mark! 2 months down. 22 more to go haha.

We had a great Thanksgiving!

Hi. To answer your questions. Elder Lund did not get transfered and we will be together for another transfer. This next transfer lasts until Jan 12. So i may be leaving after that but who knows. Until then i will still be in the same ward and same apartment. We will most likely be facetiming from our ward mission leaders home but we arent exactly sure that will happen at his house. We will have much more updated info next week so dont worry i will keep you updated on that. Some things that i want would just be a reliable/ weather proof GPS. they dont supply them here and people in New england live so far away from each other. So its very important to have one of those. Thank goodness elder lund has one so i dont need one but if elder lund gets transfered on Jan 12 i will need a gps to get around. I dont want a super expensive top of the line one. I just want one that is reliable/durable because of the weather here.

The weather here is pretty gross if you ask me. It randomly rains and then it gets freezing cold and then its sunny but still cold and then it snows a little. then all the water on the ground freezes and its slippery and icy everywhere. haha thats new england for you. Cold and slippery. I havent fallen on my toosh yet so thats good. (knock on wood).
Other Christmas items could be, electric razer, a small lego set, a CD called the Work, send me another one of the orange journals that we bought, a picture of you at Marine Street ;) some  cool ties, thats all that i can think of right now haha. I dont really want material things, to be honest. I just want to have a good Christmas season so if you have any ideas that will boost my experience, by all means go for it :) I only need 1 bag of trail mix. so send just 1.  Okay now for the real letter

Last tuesday i was on an exchange will elder swalberg. We taught 3 lessons and they were all to investigators. All of them turned out great. We taught a family that was wondering how they can raise their kids in a high moral valued society. We talked to them about family traditions and i told them about our tradition one year where we went to tijuana and gave food to the needy. They really loved that and it turns out they came to church this past sunday. That was all in Dameriscotta. On our exchange elder swalberg and i made bannana bread and called it "baking with the bergs."  Ill attach a picture. Haha pretty awesome. Elder Swalberg is a great missionary. (He is waiting for his Visa to go to Brazil)

Can you believe it?  Elders Dahlberg and Swalberg!

Baking time with the 'bergs!

In Bath, my area. WE have NO new investigators and 0 progressing investigators. WE are trying SO hard to share the gospel with people but they just dont want it. There are people that are struggling to keep their families together and they still shun us off. What they dont realize is that this gospel can help them. this gospe can help anybody through anything, because its centered on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He atoned for our sins and he knows every feeling, sorrow,  or pain that we go through and he can help us through that trial. We as missionaries try to tell people that but they dont want to listen.

On Thanksgiving Elder lund and i went to the ward turkey bowl. we were not aloud to play in it but we went to be cheer leaders. We had pom poms and we cheered our little hearts out. Being in Maine, the kids arent too athletic because the weather outside sucks almost all the time so they are good at playing instruments. The old guys whooped the young mens butts like crazy. it was so hard for me to just stand on the side line and watch my fellow young men just get slaughtered by the older guys haha.

Rah! Rah! Zis Boom Bah!  Goooooo team!

After that we went to the youlands for lunch and then dessert. She atteempted the Key lime pie but she used sugar free pudding and it jus didnt turn out right. It tasted similar but it didnt have the creamy texture to it and there were chunks.Still tasted good and i ate the whole thing, but not like how Grandma Dahlberg makes it. haha i sound funny saying that.

Pretty funny hats!  Yummy looking Turkey!

After the youlands we went to the Mullin Jr's home in Phippsburg. Its on the coast of maine and we were in a beautiful house on the waterfront. I have pictures. We ate lots of yummy food and it was just great.

Drew said that guy in the back was "chugging grease"???

Beautiful scenery from Phippsburg

Not alot more happened this week other than another guy in our ward died so i will be going to his funeral on wednesday.

Yesterday we had the chance to stop by a part member families home to read scriptures and after we did that their son Hank challenged us to a nerf gun war. So being the cool missionary i am, i accepted. We had a blast shooting each other up and we really made a impact on Hank, both physically and spiritually. haha

So i remember  you telling me to accomplish 2 goals.
1.) get 2 new investigators
2.) Finish BOM within the transfer.

I did the second one! Today i finished the book of mormon for the first time cover to cover. It was so great to read all of the writings and the history of the ancient people of the americas. There were so many wars and trials, but it all depended on where the people had their foundation. If they had it in Jesus Christ they always came out happy and things worked out. But if they had their foundation in something else they always seemed to hate and be mad about everything. They would be mad and then steal or kill or adultdery someone. (Adultery someone?  haha)

Anyways thats all i have for now. Im sorry your Thanksgiving didnt turn out all that great but if it makes you happy, i had an awesome thanksgiving and it was a really uplifing experience for me. I wasn't miserable or anything. I love you Mom and I know you know that. I just like telling you. :)  (That's OK, I like hearing it!)

Elder Dahlberg's District  Bath ME  Nov. 2013

Bowling activity

Oh and mom the music that we as missionaries can listen to has to be from LDS artists. so both the CDs i mentioned, (Lead thou me on, and The work) are by LDS artists. So as far as i know they are alldwed to be listened to because we listen to them. I just need my own copy for when elder Lund leaves. Tell dad that I had a great Thanksgiving and that i think about him alot and that I want to thank him for being such a great example for me. (This is so spur of the moment because i see families all the time where the Dad punishes his children and is a terrible dad) So thanks for being such a great dad. I am very very very lucky to have one like you! I just took this selfie. SO here you go. I got to go now. I love you all and i am doing good. I pray for you guys everynight.

Whaaaa!  I miss my boy!!!

I see snow!! Delayed post from Nov 25 2013

Sorry I missed last week.  I was in Arizona helping my mother recover from leg surgery, then it was Thanksgiving, etc.  Here's the news and pictures from last week!


Okay so heres some new info i got, this Christmas i will be able to skype for 1 hour!!! Really awesome. President stoker told us that on wednesday and i just couldnt wait to tell you that. So in that hour you can get the big presents and things of that manner all ready and prepared for me to watch haha.

(Random things) Out here in Maine, the members love to serve dessert after dinner. the MOST popular item is called a Whoopie Pie. it is like a giant oreo cakester. Looks like an oreo but doesnt taste like one. Its pretty much two pieces of chocolate cake with frosting in between them to make it look like a sandwich.

When Elder Lund and I walk around at night, the streets smell like wood burning. It smells like it did during the October fires a couple years back. It smells SO GOOD to me and it just reminds me of camping and putting things into the firepit.

This thursday the ward is holding a turkey bowl but we are not aloud to play in it.. :( Such a bummer, but we are going as support because there will be some Less-Actives there and i think an investigator. This past sunday none of our investigators showed up... Alex didnt show. Ian didnt show. The G*** family didnt show.. (If you dont know about the g**** family ill talk about them in a little bit.)

As if you didnt know, winter is coming here in maine and elder lund and I live in a very old apartment with radiators that only work some of the times. So we have found that candles work great in warming up the apartment so we go to dollar tree and buy candles and light them so we can keep ourselves warm. We also are not in control of when the radiators turn on and turn off which kind of sucks too.

Elder Lund trying to keep warm.

This week i saw my first snowflake fall from the sky. Elder Lund  and i were at the youlands home doing service by picking weeds and cutting vines from inside a well. It was cold outside so we decided to go inside and have some hot chocolate while our fingers defrosted (well actually my fingers were defrosting while everyone elses were perfectly fine.) As sister youland was talking i was starting out the window and my journal entry will finish this sentence. "I was staring out the window and all of a sudden this white cottonball thing flutters down out of the sky and I was like what the heck was that?! Sure enough it was SNOW! at 1:55 PM on November 19th I saw my first snowflake." haha pretty epic huh? WAIT it gets better! This past friday we were walking to the Local baptist soup kitchen to serve people food and it started to officially snow. It was so awesome to walk while snow just fell around you. It was not a hard snow and there was no wind blowing so the snowflakes just gracely fell and when they touched you they instantly melted. It was a really neat experience. the best way i can describe it to someone who hasnt seen it snow, it reminds me of when a campfire is all extinguished and its just red embers. Than you blow really hard at it and all the ashes fly everywhere and that is what snow looks like when it snows.

Message in the snow... HI MOM

On Wednesday we found out that Brother Haines died. (The old feller who we visited in the retirement home). We attended his Funeral service on Saturday and there were only maybe 30 people who showed up.. really sad. Only 1 of his family members came and the rest didnt come just because the service was held at the mormon church building. The rest of his family is all baptist and they apparently hate the mormon church and dont want anything to do with it. Pretty sad that the family didnt even want to attend their own brothers funeral. THAT WILL NEVER BE THE CASE FOR OUR FAMILY! We, the Dahlbergs are one heck of a family and will never let anything like that get between us.

So now about the G*** family. This family is comprised of a mom and a dad and a daughter the age of 19. The mom and the dad are both bus drivers and both work at the local YMCA gym. they spoil their 19 year old daughter and they are very nice and welcoming people. This family is investigating the church and has been for about a year now. they have received all the lessons already and they even had a baptismal date set once but it fell through. So elder Lund and I visit them about once a week and this week we purchased a frame from the local dollar tree and put The Family Proclamation in it and we gave it to them as a gift. they really really liked it especially the wife. She and her husband said they want to join the church sometime but now doenst work.. They said probably when their daughter moves out. Which isnt going to happen anytime soon... Booooo!

Yesterday we were given a 2 foot Christmas tree and we set it up in our apartment and its a very nice edition. I like it but its just a little early for Christmas to me. I feel like the Christmas season should start December 1st. But whatever. haha other than all that everything is okay. the letters are dying down to one a week, which is a bummer but i know that everyone loves me even when i dont get letters.

Somebody gave us a Christmas Tree!

Lunch made by Elder Dahlberg "Lots of carb, I know, Mom".

"

"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