Elder Drew Dahlberg Missionary Blog: 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!