October 26, 2014

So there is this saying here in the Philippines that they love and I love it too! 

"kapag gusto marami paraan. kapag Ayaw marami dahilan." (i hope I got that right I never really know, I just say what ever I hear) So translated to english, this means. If you want it there is a way, if you don't want it then there are excuses. So I really miss being competitive and even though salvation and exaltation is not a competition, I think Heavenly Father has given us competition to help us grow and push our selves. This week me and Sister Mencias wanted to achieve a goal of 50 new investigators. We told Heavenly Father our plan and then we went out and worked. And when we got home yesterday we were both so exhausted and laying on the ground, but guess what we achieved it!!I know that when we make a plan and if it is good and are willing to put in the effort heavenly father will help us accomplish that goal. 

So yesterday we ran into this women named Juliet, she was just leaving her house to to go the hospital where her son is that has an infection. She is going through a really hard time in her life and we asked her if we could teach her she invited us in and we started teaching her. Sometimes its hard for me when people start spilling out all of their life problems to us because I can't really understand all that they are saying yet because of the language. But it I can always feel the spirit and am able to feel how they feel. I may not be able to give any words of advice to them right now, but I can cry with them as my companion gives them help. 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to be in the Philippines serving a mission. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon not a day goes by that I don't recieve a answer for my life or the life of our investigators from The Book of Mormon. I know that Christ lives and that his Church is living and growing. I feel so blessed to have this testimony of our Saviors Gospel. 

Mahal na mahal ko kayo! 

Sister Dahl

Zacks baptism

my feet, Im so proud hahaha 

exchages with sis Pilkington. love her shes the best!

October 19, 2014

So pretty much I found one of my best friends here in the Philippines....Sister Mencias! Someone once told me a quote that the people who are your companions are your companions for a reason because you once used to be best friend in heaven. I have no doubt that me and Sister Mencias where best friends in heaven. Me and her just click and we love, love, love working together. Before our training President Dahle made it very clear that we should love everyone and the person we should love the most is our companion. I love her so much! I can't tell you how many times throughout the day we crack up laughing for no reason. 

I look up to so many people here in the Philippines everyone's story is so unique and inspiring. Here is a little about he 3 sisters that I live with right now. 

Sister Mencias (my companion): Sister Mencias father is not a member and she is one of the only members in her family. She has only gotten one letter from her family while she has been on her mission. I admire her for so many qualites, but most of all for her happy personality. She will always be one of my best friends. 

Sister Panal: Sister Panal has been with me the whole time since I have been here in the Philippines. She is 3'7" but that has never stopped her once. I got to go on exchanges with her this week and I loved every second, because she works and works and works like there is no tomorrow. I have never met a more perfect individual. I may not ever be literally looking up to Sister Panal but I am always looking up to her. When little children or people point fingers at her for being different her response is this is the body god wanted to give me, so I love it! Sister Panal also found out after being on her mission for 4 months that her dad passed away. I asked her how she handled that and she said, "I know I have to stay here because that is what God needs me to do" I could go one about this beautiful person for days. There will never be another Sister Panal in my life. 

Sister Diosan: Sister Diosan was baptized about 3 years ago and was a devoted catholic before the missionaries taught her and she was baptized. Her parents kicked her out of the house when she was baptized and she had to fend for herself. When I ask her why she is such a passionate missionary her response is "I have to learn all that I can here so that I can teach it to my family when I get back, I want my family to be baptized" 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to be here on a mission with so many inspirational people. I look up to everyone because everyone in one way or another has gone through something hard, because that is what we signed up for when we came to earth. I love getting to teach the gospel in such simple truths. I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn the beauriful language of tagalog, learning a language has taught me things I would never be able to learn otherwise. Our Heavenly Father knows us perfectly. I know that Christ lives. There are so many times on the mission that I am tired and exhausted, but we just have to keep going. If Christ decided on his mission to give up because he was tired, then the plan would not have worked and we would all be lost. But because he loves us he did it, he overcame EVERYTHING. I know this gospel and church is true 

Sister Dahl

Our last time with the Ducut Family before Ronald goes to work on the cruse ship for 6 months. I love this family!

My dearest sister panel!

They have all of these little colored chicks everywhere here, I love them almost as much as all the children

October 12, 2014

Yay today is the 13th!!!! :) always a good day on the 13th! Once again I feel like my heart is going to burst with happiness! If someone would have given me a taste of this happiness I am feeling right now i would have been on a mission the second they made the age change! 

One of the talks in conference talked about being off by a few degrees. I realized that if I had not made the decision to come on a mission then I would have been off by just a few degrees in my life and would be headed down a road that was not in line with the blessings in my patriarchal blessing. I feel so blessed to be a missionary and to have this opportunity to grow and learn. I am also so grateful for this gospel. What I blessing it is to have a living prophet today who will not and can not lead us astray! I love president Thomas S. Monson, his councilors and the apostles. What a blessing it truly is to have a Prophet. When we teach we always say "because got loves us and he has given us a prophet to lead and guide us and teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ" Prophets are gift from our Heavenly Father! 

Ahh I love this gospel so much! And feel so blessed to have knowledge of this gospel. So after conference we went out and worked, many people weren't around because there is a fiesta happening here in Orani right now so they are all there. I was asking myself "why are so many people uninterested to hear our message when it is so happy" right at that moment the cutest old man 77 years old named Chris waved us down and said "hey come here, i want to hear your message. I am about to die soon and I want to know what I need to do before I meet God". :) :) :) :) I couldn't stop smiling!!!!!!!!!! he was so cute! "I told him we have the perfect message for him because it is Gods message! I can't wait to teach that man! 

Lastly one of my favorite quotes from conference was by Dallin H. Oaks "kindness is power!" What a true statement! I love love love this work and everyday I tell Heavenly Father how thankful I am to be here in the Philippines with so many of his beautiful children! 

I know that Christ lives and what sweet comfort that is!

mahal mahal ko kayo

Sister Dahl

October 5, 2014

I am so happy I feel like my heart might burst! This week has been so great because RONALD DUCUT was baptized!!!!!! YAY YAY YAY! Everyone always says that there is someone waiting for just you that only you will be able to help convert. I know Ronald is that person! From the moment that I met Ronald we became friends instantly probably because he loved speaking English so I could actually have a real conversation with him. I know without a doubt that Ronald is going to be a future leader in the church here and I can't wait to go through the temple with him and his wife and children in a year from now! Nothing makes me more happy then seeing a Ronald his wife Eliza and Zack sit next to each other on the couch and talk about how they have family prayer every night! Eliza is a member and has been so patient for so long as Ronald has been meeting with missionaries for 5 years! I could go on forever about his family I love them so much! And am so happy for their future! 

So this week I had a really cool experience reading in Jacob 5! The allegory of the olive tree! SOOOOO AMAZING!!!! I feel in love with this chapter! So I remember when I was about 17 years old and was sitting on the beach in st. agustin florida for a volleyball tournament reading this chapter and kind of thinking it was interesting. I felt the spirit as I read but didn't really understand it fully. As I read this the other day the spirit testified to me how true this allegory is. Everyone go and read and study this chapter! This chapter is 77 verses long and is all about the scattering and gathering of Isreal! The very last sentence of this chapter says "And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire" I thought wow that's a little harsh, but as I read this line the spirit shot through my whole body mind and heart and testified to me that these words are TRUE!!!! I know through the Holy Ghost that Christ lives and he will come again and I know that the time is right now, the season is now!  Christ is coming! This knowledge burns so true inside of me! As a missionary and Covenant people our job is to declare to the world and prepare the world of his coming. I look forward to the day of his coming with so much excitement.But I also know that Satan also has this knowledge and he will do everything in his power to keep us from not being prepared.

I love the Book of Mormon! I know it is the word of god and those words on the pages will stand as a whiteness against or for us at the judgement bar of God. I absolutely love the great plan of our Heavenly Father, it is truly a magnificent plan for us to become like him. I love the temple and know that the temple is the house of the lord and I know that there are people who have been taught the gospel in the spirit world who are waiting for us and their families to go to the temple to do their work. The Plan of God is so great! And lastly I know that Christ lives and he is CENTRAL to our Heavenly Fathers plan, it is ONLY through and by Christ that we can return and become like him. And I look forward to the day of his Coming, because I know that he will come again in all his Glory! 

I love this work!

Sister Dahl

yummy pork 

yummy chicken feet

September 28, 2014

Wow another week and a new companion!!!! Sister Mencias!! I absolutely love Sister Mencias she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met! So usually training lasts for 12 weeks...well this last Tuesday we had transfers and they transferred my trainer and now I got Sister Mencias. Sister Mencias just finished her training and we were in the same zone before so we already knew each other. It was really funny because at the last zone conference I looked at her and thought to myself she is so beautiful and sweet, I hope that I get to be her companion sometime...well Heavenly Father is really listening! This last week has been very challenging because I have had to lead our area and I can hardly speak tagolog!! ahhhh I just continue to tell myself if the Lord trusts me and knows I can do it then I can do it! I know that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of his children and each are special to him and that is all the knowledge that I really need. It is so amazing to see how much we grow when we are pushed and stretched! This work is definitely work! there is no other word for missionary work than work! I told myself that when I am sitting on my plane looking over the Philippines as I fly out I want to know that I did EVERTHING I could here for the Lord. And then go home and sleep for 2 days straight hahaha

Something that is so unique to the mission is Hellos and goodbyes or sa Tagalog kamusta and kita kitz! I have never realized how much I had goodbyes. But every time I say goodbye to my companions i can't help but think about our sweet Heavenly Father who was willing to say goodbye to each of his children for a time so we could have and opportunity to become like him. Ahh Im crying writing this. I want so badly to bring his children back to him. I love this gospel and I love these people and I love my Saviour Jesus Christ!  My testimony is so simple, but I know with all my heart and mind it is true! This Church is true and like Lehi say's "delicious" 

Mahahl kita

Sister Dahl

Sister Villevilles and I! I love this sweet sister 

My favorite flavor of ice cream these days, cheese and corn hahahaha weird I know but so masarap!!! 

Sister Mencias Yay I love her

I love these beautiful dark people! I feel so so so white all the time. Its so funny because in the stores in america we have all this tanning lotion and stuff and here they have all these products that claim to make you whiter haha. Sister Mencias says that she hates taking pictures with me because she looks so dark haha. I say I look so white haha so funny!

September 21, 2014

kamusta lahat mga tao!!!!

I love this work! I love this gospel! I love the Book of Mormon! I love Christ! And i love food! haha as always! 

All right so this week has been a lot of ups and downs...we had an appointment with one of my favorite investigators(who i just know will be leader for the church here) so we had planned to talk to him about the Book of Mormon because he just hasn't been reading it...grrr. as always when we got to his house we start talking and went into the lesson with out praying first. That meeting was probably one of the worst lessons in history of missionaries hahaha my companion ran out of the house in tears and i had to go running out chancing after her. It was just bad. prayer is the only way to start a lesson. we learned that the hard way. I love prayer! everytime i feel discouraged or down or am frustrated i can pray to my heavenly father and feel the wait lifted off of me and can feel his peace! 2 nephi 32:8-9 PRAY! its so simple, but that is the thing that Satan doesn't want us to do because when we pray we are turning to GOD. Okay and so the lesson was horrible, but that's okay because we learned a valuable lesson! We returned the next day with a memeber present and had such an amazing lesson. MEMBERS ARE WERE ITS AT, they are so much help! He committed to reading a chapter a day!!!!!!!! I know he is going to fall in love with that book, because anyone who thoughfully and prayerfuly reads the Book of Mormon will! The Book of Mormon is TRUE and the tool to gather isreal! this week we had some other missionaries of another church knock on our door and we talked for them for a little bit. it really got me thinking about how important the Book of Mormon is in this missionary work. I could go on for days about how amazing Heavenly Father and Christ are and their plan for us. It is such a brilliant plan. 

mahal kita

Read the Book of Mormon you will fall in love with it. It is gold!

Sister Dahl

My friends at Alikabok

September 14

Wow! I feel like I have to go a million miles and hour when I get on the computer! Yay for Leticia getting called to my same mission! What are the odds!I will pray for the chance to train you!!! :) My girl Hannah getting her mission call the philly! yay!! The Lord is truly hasting his work and gathering Israel! Everyday I think to myself, there is nothing else greater then a mission! I hope this is what heaven is like, except for minus all the sweating and mosquito bites and cow poop that I step in, and animals chasing me. haha jk but not jk. Everyone should serve a mission and PREPARE to serve a mission. The lord needs GREAT MISSIONARIES to prepare the way for the Savior to come again! yay I can't wait for that day! :) 

Okay so this week we had a zone conference that Elder and Sister Bowen spoke at (area presidency)! SO AMAZING!!! He talked about flees and how the only way they move is to jump and if you put them in a container they will jump out. If you put a lid over it they will jump just under the lid but they will keep jumping. Then when you take off the lid they wont jump out, they will keep jumping to were the lid used to be. He likend that to not setting imaginary limits for ourselves. THERE ARE NO LIMITS FOR WHAT WE CAN DO! We also talked about Roger Banaster, the man that broke the record for the mile. No one said he could do it, but he did and after he did, many followed!!! We can REALLY do whatever we set our mind heart and soul to. 

I love this work!!!!!! I love Christ and his Gospel! And I love this opportunity to be on earth to learn and grow and become like our Savior. The plan of God is Great!

mahal kita

Sister Dahl

Sister Pilkington (dad her dad served with you)food food food yum yum yum 

September 7, 2014

My heart is so full!!!!! I love this place!! I know the lord knows me perfectly because he sent me here!!! I never knew that I would be able to have this much joy and happiness! 

This week has been hard like always but so amazing! There are so many times when I mess up and think of myself, like "why do i have to learn a language it would be so much easier if I could have a easy conversation with people" I think about myself and I become so sad. Then I am reminded of whose name i am wearing and I am representing. Christ. He never thought about himself and what he was going throw. Of course we aren't perfect and we will think about ourselves at times. If there is one valuable lesson that I have learned this week it is turning ourselves out and thinking of others needs first we will always be happier. Contention is not of the spirit. And that includes contention within ourselves. So earlier this week we were getting a ride from someone and my companion was like ITL him. I was to busy thinking about myself and missed out on that opportunity and the rest of the day I lost the spirit. When we don't respond to the spirit we will lose it. 

Fasting is so powerful. Before the mission I hated fasting. But now I want to fast. There is so much power through fasting. The lord works through faith and fasting is faith. One of my favorite investigators Ronald Ducot. Wasn't at sacrament meeting on Sunday and I was so sad because I was specifically fasting for him, and while taking the sacrament I was praying so so so hard that he would show up, just as I lifted my head in walks Ronald with a white shirt and tie on!!!! :) :) :) I was so happy!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day!!!!!!!!

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true I know it with all my heart! I love this work! 

mahal kita

Sister Dahl

Our little family at mt summit! 

We love eggs eggs eggs :)

baby baby baby kitten so cute ahhhh. dogs cats are everywhere here. Hate dogs 

August 31 2014

The Mission is amazing!!!! I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to serve a mission! I looooooooove the Philippines!!!!! It is such an amazing place! I never imagined I would have this much joy! It hasn't been easy, I am learning so much about myself, about others, and about Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and his gospel. My heart is so full! This week I have learned to importance of listening. I am not very good at speaking, and never have been but I have learned that that isn't whats important. Through listening I can communicate more then actually speaking. 

The people here are amazing! I want to cry as I write about them. Seeing all that they sacrifice to be members and to keep the gospel strong here is amazing. They will walk miles to get to church because they know how important it is. They are so inspiring! Thanks for all the prayers and emails. I love you all! This gospel is amazing!!!! Christ is everything, literally! I am so thankful for him, and I know that he lives! Before my mission I would say in my testimony, "I know that Christ lived and he was an example..." It never felt right, because it wasn't right. He didn't just live, He still lives and has a body and spirit! I am so grateful for this knowledge. And want to be like him.

Mahal kita!

Sister Dahl

The Malakas family

 First time doing my laundry and it was a blast! Sister Panal is a pro and helped me

THE FOOD!!!!!!!!!! I can't talking about the food, I could go on for days.We have an investigator who is a chef, he is one of my favorites! 

August 17 2014

Kamusta Everyone!!!!!

I made it to the Philippines!!!! HOLY MOLY I can't believe this is real life!!!!! We got to the Philippines on 2 fridays ago and stayed at the Philippines MTC for 5 days while they got our visa all worked out. So we got more MTC...yay...not. haha. The the next day they had us go out proselyting in manila. WOW!!!! that was shoking. I was extremely amazed at the culture and the way they live. My companion was the funniest craziest little Filipino Sister Sia. Then on the 13th they bused us to our missions, we went to the mission home and met the President and wife President Dahle and Sister Dahle. LOVE LOVE LOVE them they are amazing! They assigned us our trainers. I got sister Villaviles. She is the tinniest little Filipino. haha she called me fat. haha. I love her! She is such a hard worker and so cute and nice and loving. We went straight to work once we got to the apartment. As the next couple of days settled in and I realized this is real life and my life for the next 17 months I was kind of shocked. The way of life here is so so so different, but really the same. The Filipinos are amazing people and as I am learning to love the food (I ate this week pig skin fried and a delicious pork in blood) (mmm masurap!!), the culture, the heat (its always hot!!!!!) and most importantly the culture, everything is getting easier. Kamusta 

I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to serve a mission. My heart is so full. I know that this gospel is true, and I know that the professes in the scriptures are being fulfilled and will be fulfilled. I know that god loves all of his children. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. He loves me enough to bless me with opportunities to learn a language so that I can learn more of him and learn to trust him (the language is definitely one of the hardest adjustments). I know Christ lives. I know that he is with me always and will never leave me alone, because that is his mission, to succor his people.

Mahal Kita!

Sister Dahl

The sky is so beautiful here. The Salonga family we ran to their house during the storm the lightning is crazy here!! and it was a brown out during the storm so we read from the book of mormon around a little candle. 

 

August 2, 2014

Well well well! We got our travel plans and we leave this Thursday morning! The MTC is amazing, but I can't wait to go to the jungle of the Philippines with all the spiders and no toilet paper! haha but really I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure I only know like 10 words in tagalog but I think I will survive!  This week our teachers have been telling us tons of stories and showing us tons of pictures, it gets me so excited! Yesterday we had in field orientation which was a nice change in the schedule!

I love my companion, she is seriously such an amazing person. Everyone always says get used to being with someone 24/7 because it is an adjustment, the littlest dumbest things will start to bother you. Thankfully that has never happened with us...hahaha joke! But we are so open with each other and talk about everything so its the best. She has this habit of always saying "ready" "ready" "ready" except for in tagalog its "handa" "handa" "handa" sometimes I will count how many times she says it throughout the day, the numbers are pretty high. I don't think it had anything to do with me being slow...haha joke. Sometimes I would even purposely go slow just to make her wait hahaha. I finally got the courage to tell her how much it bothers that she says "handa" all the time even though she is never ready herself, and she was like "I really say it that much"? We laughed and made fun of each other and now it is our favorite joke! Anyways! Sister Hamblin is seriously the best it is going to be so hard saying goodbye to here on thursday because we aren't on the same flight. Goodbyes are hard, but because of the gospel goodbyes never have to be goodbyes, its always see you later!

So everyday is so much work and so exhausting, the thing that gets me through everything are my personal study time, prayer, and my companion. Getting to talk to Heavenly Father through the prayer and listening to him through the scriptures is such a blessing. It is so comforting to know that I always have someone to turn to and that is my Heavenly Father. 

This week me and Sister Hamblin were feeling kind of stressed with the language and feeling pressure to be perfect at the language and perfect missionaries. We took a break from everything and took a walk (around the mtc campus) and talked about how we were feeling, how we can better balance our day (balance is huge), and then our strengths and focusing on our strengths and what we do know rather then what we don't know. We came to the conclusion that if we are always focusing on what we aren't then we wont be able to be what we are! Then we started talking about Christ and how through him we don't have to be everything, we just have to try and trust in him. When me and Sister Hamblin were talking I couldn't help but imagine myself talking to Christ instead of Sister Hamblin. Heavenly Father has given us people to help us and be there for us like Christ would.We need to talk to them, listen to them, share our fears and concerns with them. Christ works through each of us like my bishop said, "we are all Christs hands"! One of my favorite teachers sister mcClatchy told us one time that representative translated in tagolog literally means body. As missionaries we are the body of Christ. 

Mahal Kita! 

Sister Dahl

Next week this time ill be in the islands! wooooohoooooo!!!!!! 

This baby looks like Nichole when she was a baby hahaha so cute!!! Im in love

July 26, 2014

So this week has been so busy and crazy! Are branch is getting bigger and bigger so it is great! Wednesday specifically was so so busy. we had to host and teach and then help welcome and show around the new sisters. Yay! we have new sisters!! Oh and my companion had an audition for a musical number at the devotional. She made it, so that was really exciting! The highlight of the day was when we were teaching Lalanie, because she committed to baptism!! The gift of tongues was there during that lesson because words were just flowing in my mind that I thought I didn't remember! it was great! We got out flight plans on friday! I can't believe my time here in the MTC is coming to an end! 

This week we did a lot of studying about faith. Faith is power. Faith leads to action. When we let faith lead us to action Heavenly Father will bless us. The biggest thing I am learning while here is how to let the spirit guide me and how to act on those inspirations. If I am not willing to apply principle like faith and listening to the spirit, then how do I expect the people I will teach to do the same. I have to always be the first investigator. 

I am so thankful for my savior Jesus Christ and I know that he lives, He is always there to comfort and help us, always. No matter how little or small our problems may seem, he cares. Hope all is going well. 

Mahal kita

Sister Dahl

July 19 2014

Wow Wow Wow! This place is unreal! Well actually it is very real, but so amazing! So I want to talk about 3 experiences that I had this week. 

So first off on my district is amazing! I love them so much. We have decided that on every sunday we are going to do priesthood blessings. This was one of the most powerful experiences that I have had with the priesthood. The spirit was so strong in that classroom as these young men, who are barley out of highschool and most of them havent even given blessings gave the most beautiful blessings. There was no denying that these Elders spoke through the power of the Holy Ghost and were speaking for our Heavenly Father. They used words and phrases that I am sure they have never heard themselves speak, it was so amazing!  As they put there hands on my head, I could feel the power of God and his love for me so strongly. It was such a powerful testiment of priesthood power and that the priesthood really is Gods power. 

Second on wednesday our district got to have the privilage of hosting the incoming missionaries. That was also such a great experience. Saying goodbye to family was alot harder then I thought it was going to be and gettting to be there witnessing that special moment for those new missionaries was so great. Mostly because they really dont know what they are getting themselves into, I know I didn't. The MTC is so special. As I would stand there and greet their family and watch there mothers cry as they had to let go of their sons and daughters I couldnt help but think about our Heavenly Father and how hard that was for him to say goodby to all of his children. Luckily we will return to our families after the mission, but our Heavenly Father doesnt really have that confort and assurance. I can't wait to help bring Heavenly Fathers children back to him. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of his beloved children and wants to be with them again. 

Third, probably one of my favorite experiences this week. So Sister McClatchy our teacher was givning us a lesson in class. She had Elder Garate play the role of the investigator and we all took turns teaching him according to his needs for two min. One of his needs was that he didnt know if God excisted because his wife had died recently. When one person was done the next person would start off were they left off. It was really awesome, then we ended with Sister McClatchy. She asked him if he would pray and he accepted. Elder Garate was like "right now" and sister Mc being her sweet self was like "yes please." Elder Garate (Javenboy that was his name. yeah we are super mature) begane to pray. He said "Diyos" almost like he was askind if he was there. He immidiatly began to cry. And the spirit filled the room. We were all crying. I didnt even know what the rest of the prayer was like. It was like God was answering back to him and telling him that he was there and he was listening. It was such a spiritual experience. It just made me think about how if God will answer a fake investigators prayer then what is it going to feel like when we are with the people in the philipines who really dont know if God is there. 

I just love this Gospel of Jesus Christ so much. Christ is everthing. Through christ we can do anything! I know that to be so true. 

Mahal kita

Sister Dahl