Season 3 Episode 17: Miracles pretty much everywhere

Contrary to popular belief, isolation life isnt all that bad. Granted it's only week 2 or so. Plus we have a fb live with our mission leadership every night (which in itself it super great because there is a live chat and in that way we can communicate as missionaries and share inside jokes that makes the day so much fun. 

Plus because of all the people we've been in contact with we've developed super great relationships. Plus have been able to teach a little more! 

But here is the absolute highlight. 

Currently we are in a trio with Elder Barret who was serving in Truro. His companion Elder Lauder was sent home for health reasons and so we are somewhat balancing his area and ours, like many of the other trio companionships (there are a lot haha) that being said, it's kinda crazy that close to 50% of our entire mission has been reassigned or sent home and then another 25% over the course of these next 2 transfers. Fortunately we are also expecting a flux of missionaries coming in for their reassignments so that will be super crazy. 

Anyways back to the miracle, there is a guy named James that randomly called us on Wednesday (I think) and asked about the sin against the holy ghost because he thought he committed it, so we talked a bit and asked if we could have another discussion later that evening and he agreed and we proceeded to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ! Then over the course of the  next few days, we delivered a book of mormon, and found out that he moved away from Truro. Which was a bummer to hear at first, but then we asked where he moved to and he said Fall River, in our area! Just the perfectness of his call, Elder Barret join us in sackville, and everything is a testimony that God is at the head of this. 

Plus general conference is this week so how much better can it get? 

Pretty much a little more I bet. Mostly for the reason that we are aloud to call family twice. a week and I've taken advantage of the second call on sundays to join my amazingly spirited Dahl family branch sacrament services. 

Actually one thing that is a little good and a little bad is that I turn 20 in a couple days. So it's like woohoo and also half way to 40. Yikes. Haha na so many fun things it will be definitely weird to not be a teen... physically. 

I gotta say though, isolation life has got its perks because of extra study. Especially at this time before conference. And dont worry we haven't been sleeping through it all even though it would be nice. Frankly there's to much to do and there's many things that we haven't even started yet that may not even get done haha. 

Things are good. Kinda spooky seeing half empty transfer boards, and I'm still not 100% sure if my mission has been cut to 21 months. Either way God's got a plan (though if that is the case, the sooner I can sink my teeth into a hugos deli Hawaiian sandwich, and catch up on my shows) haha. 

Hope reading this gave you more hope and joy! It's hard for some people to find that nowadays and we have that ability to share it, and what better way then telling our friends to tune into general conference? So I invite you to do just that. God will help you invite. 

Love you all and hope you enjoy your isolated state! The work of God doesn't stop. And especially read your scriptures and pray. There's revelation that God wants to give to you during conference. 

Elder Dahl 2.0
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Canada

Season 3 Episode 16: no unhollowed hand

This week was been pretty darn awesome. The peak of which happened today while reading some of the posts from one of my good friends Elder Trey Hallenberger. That man has some of the greatest faith I've ever seen. So take some time right now and look him up on Facebook and see the miracles hes gone through. It's so incredible to be able to have read the things I did and feel the spirit in what he had to say. I love and miss him so much.

But moving to the other events that happened this last week, the province of Nova Scotia declared a state if emergency so that was kinda fun (in short you'll be ticketed if you gather in groups larger then 5, you can't go to any parks and only a handful of people are aloud to go shopping at a time) so needless to say we haven't been doing a lot of outdoorsmen stuff which is a huge bummer. But nonetheless we have been pretty busy!

We've been able to have a handful of video and call lessons with members and friends we are teaching including an awesome lesson with Betty finally! She was well enough to ask a couple question and we invited her again to read the book of Mormon and she was very excited to accept it! We also had one other success while calling formers with a lady named katie so we shared a little message with her from 2 nephi 2 and she like that and accepted the invitation for us to call again!

Then monday/yesterday we dropped elder Louder at the airport, he was one of many who were sent home because of health reasons. So currently we are in a trio with myself, elder Rougeau and elder Barret who was serving in truro! So you betcha we talked about the awesome members there. So many. Such a good time. So yeah! We will be in a trio until transfers the week after general conference and we shall see what happens with those haha.

It's awesome how obvious the lords hand is in this work at this time. And I've thought about this for quite a bit, and sure it's a little sad seeing and hearing of missionaries getting sent home or reassigned, but you have to know that God knew that was going to happen. I recently read elder bernard's called to the work talk in 2017 I think. And you are called to work or to serve. To help spread the gospel. You're not called to the place. Your called to the work. If you dont believe me read literally any mission call ever. And yeah getting reassigned is sad, but that just means that God had planned for you to serve in a different place anyway. God doesnt make mistakes, God is a planner, and is also a Gardener.

One of the greatest things that happened this week was being able to attend my familys "Dahl Branch sacrament meeting" which was as spiritual as it was funny. I absolutely loved hearing from my younger sister Elsie and my younger brother Jack both testify of God love. And me being away for so long and unable to see this growth, I naturally started balling. Its was awesome. But during this call I was able to also tune into there study of Jacob 5 and I think that this absolutely apply so what has been happening with missionaries. One of the things that was shared was the process of pruning and digging. Pruning being a somewhat brutal process of chopping off the limbs of a tree and planning them elsewhere (or getting rid of them) and putting a different limb in its place. Connection to a person being chopped away from ones mission and Gid putting in a new mission for the health of the tree/person/missionary. Then the process of digging about a tree, is one, softens the dirt (because over time it gets hard) and in connection to a individual, soften their heart, but also the chance of the shovel severing the roots of the tree, stimulating the tree to grow its roots deeper to get more moisture. Connection to an individual or missionary, your cut off from one or many of your sources of moisture, but that's because God wants you to grow. And to find new ways or discover ways for you to hear him more.

And after thinking for a little longer, I've come down to one thing that would make a reassignment super hard. And that would be having a new mission president. I honestly love president low and if I were to get reassigned that would be the hardest part. But everything else I think wouldn't be to bad. Regardless of what area I've been in, I've meet people that I have absolutely loved. and helped many in many unique situations. And that happens everywhere you go as a missionary. Reassignments are basically a more spread out transfer.

I guess what this was all leading up to was that I'm not worried one bit. Its gotten to the point that whenever someone says that we are anxious or scared, I'm like no, what are you talking about?? you are not me. I am honestly so hopeful. There's nothing that can change my mind about it. And here's some of the thoughts behind it.

1) prophet said that this would happen (not necessarily directly but it's not to often that revelation from prophets comes complete directly)
2) the lord is at the head of this. He knew this would happen and prepared those who would listen sufficiently
3) the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is Gods church on the earth. And being a missionary to such a church comes with quite a few perks
4) I have a testimony of the love God and his Son Jesus Christ has for everyone on earth. And as the scripture goes, perfect love casteth out all fear.

I love being a missionary. Sure it's a little tougher being in our apartment night and day, but the work goes on and a message needs to be shared. I encourage you all to join the prophets invitation to share how you #hearhim blessings will come.

Lastly I read this is Elder Bryce Broadheads weekly and absolutely love it and thought I'd add it to mine as well.

It's about the apollo 13 thing.
"When the Apollo 13 oxygen tank failed and the lunar module was in danger of not returning to earth, Gene Kranz, the lead flight director overheard people saying that this could be the worst disaster NASA had ever experienced—to which he is rumored to have responded, “With all due respect, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”

Imagine if we could make our response to this crisis our finest hour. Imagine if a year or two from now we looked back on this and told the stories of how we came together as a team in our community, in our state, in our nation and across the world. Your contribution to the finest hour may seem small, invisible, inconsequential—but every small act of ‘not doing’ what you were going to do, and ‘doing’ an act of kindness or support will add up exponentially. These acts can and will save lives. The Apollo 13 crew made it their finest hour by letting go of the word “I” and embracing the word “we.” And that’s the task required of us. It can only be our finest hour if we work together. You are all on the team. And we need all of you to shine in whatever way you can."

This can be our finest hour. Finest week or month even.

Anyways hope these words inspired you or gave you a little more hope. Love you all and hope you all have a wonderful day.

P.s. read your scriptures and pray ;)

Elder Dahl 2.0
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Canada

Season 3 Episode 15: well that escalated quickly.

Greetings from your favorite canadian serving missionary! This week has had quite a bit of hype. And depending, could be quite a kicker, yet the work continues and we will actually stay pretty busy. There's a handful of people we can call and have lessons with as well as a couple projects we can start up. So we'll be good, just a little bored perhaps.

But yeah, as far as this week, it was all normal till Thursday afternoon came along. And that's when the church closed meetings worldwide, and from that point, day by day, we got more direction and more direction and more, until ultimately we are in a 2 week self isolation. It was kinda fun getting the information as we got it because it was first safety precautions when greeting people and washing your hands, then it was get 2 weeks worth of food, just in case, then it was church closing, then no door knocking/street contacting (that was a fun one because president Low specified that this temporary stop) and then an isolation schedule guideline. So we shall see how this week goes! 

We did have another lesson with Svilen, (and at the time invited him to church and he would have gone rip) and it was great! Bulgarian football

playing in the background (I think it was the world cup or some similar tournament) and we talked for quite a while!  And hes such a fun guy. He talks pretty freely about the various religions hes been in so we got to hear some pretty interesting stuff.

John is doing ok, hes gotten himself into a saddened mood, and we think he went up to his cabin so we may not see or be able to contact him for a while haha

Johnathan is also doing great, super excited that school is canceled so hes being a champ.

On Thursday as well as learning of the news, we also helped install some plumbing for Bruce and Saundra's home so that was fun! And we got to talk for a while about the church and religion in general so hes coming along quite nicely. 

But yeah! Thank you so much for your prayers we are going to need them these next few weeks haha. Hope y'all enjoy your isolation as much as we are haha.  But yeah we are doing great. And we will keep being great because no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. 

Love you all! Be safe, wash your hands, pray, read your scriptures, and enjoy home centered church!!

Elder Dahl 2.0
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Canada

https://youtu.be/-7uEKOb8mys Ice skating
https://youtu.be/UB6p56cL264 Deer

Season 3 Episode 14: Zone conference and a good and a bad.

This week was one of great learning, enlightenment, happiness and sadness. so we'll get the sad out of the way first!

Dee unfortunately is taking a break for the foreseeable future. she unfortunately trusted the internet more than actual people. Am I a little salty? sure, but that's the savor of agency. can make food just right, or completely inedible. the work continues regardless if one person isn't interested anymore. 

so to counter that, we had a fun miracle that happened right after zone conference! if you remember, we met a master sculptor from Bulgaria a few weeks ago and we got talking about the Book of Mormon, and we asked if he'd like one in his own language, and he responded "I doubt you have one in my language" to which we said, "try us" shortly after we ordered one from the mission office and we got it at zone conference! and swung by his home, he answered the door, and told us he could meet right then, I whipped out the Bulgarian book of Mormon. and he stared at it for a couple seconds and then said, can you come back tomorrow at 1?

so that was way fun! the next day we gave it to him and talked briefly about it, but then he had to get going again. but we are welcome anytime now! he's pretty fun and his english is sometimes difficult to understand haha.

Then zone conference was the other big part and we had teachings on diligence, normal and natural contacting/teaching styles, a new initiative with a member leadership chat (which will kinda be tricky for the beginning part but it will get worked out. our Elders Quorum pres. is recovering and is missing a couple councilors due to the original one moving haha) but I absolutely loved all of zone conference. the teachings done by president and sister low are just so wonderfully done and spirit directed. the motivation to follow what they say is just astonishing its awesome. The priesthood keys of missionary work are no doubt held by President and Sister Low. The revelation they receive is absolutely divine. Their guidance is another testimony to me that God lives and loves us and he is aware of the needs of each and every one of us missionary or person. Gospel is true y'all.

love you all hope you have an awesome rest of your week! remember to read and pray and to prepare yourself for general conference. it's going to be legit.

Elder Dahl 2.0
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Canada

Season 3 Episode 13: More English connect and transfer week!

Yeah so this week was a little shorter due to last week being on Wednesday, but it was all super fun!

Thursday was transfer day and we had the kentville elders, barkdoll and Johnston stay with us so they could make it to the airport in the morning.  The first trip was at 5:30 and he got oh his way, then in between we helped with operation sandwiches, then we went back to the airport to pick up elder Johnston's new companion! As for the rest of the district, the 2 trainees (sisters goodliffe and murray are both leading out their areas in cole harbor and Dartmouth and sister Goodliffe is training! So that will add quite a but of pep and zing to district councils. 

We also taught John that night and switched things around on him and gave him a preach my gospel to read instead of the triple combination! So we are excited to see what he gets out of it!

Then friday we did a little bit of research and in short are going to start up a family history group at the local library! So that will be super fun to get started. 

Saturday was great we had a zone leadership call where we got the focus points for this transfer which are increasing personal conversion and working with ward/branch leadership. The latter probably being the most needed in our area Haha (not that it's bad, but we are still waiting for more councilors to he called so there can be a missionary work rep. And not just bro Murphy haha). we also got to teach Bruce and Saundra again and they are fun. each time we go over, they show us the new renovations they did on their house and talk a little about worldly things, but then have a solid discussion. they are awesome.

Sunday was great. The testimonies were great. kinda wish there were fewer stories, but what can you do haha.
Monday was great! we had one of the most fun lessons with jonathan (he's the young kiddo) and we talked about Jesus the whole time and was able to share exactly who he is and the circumstances of He and John the baptist's birth with the new testament stories book! we also had a mission wide leadership call and that was the most neat experience. all the leaders in the whole canada montreal mission got together and discussed humility, logistics, and duties especially for the district leaders. and ive got to step up my game haha.in short, the way ive been conducting council hasn't been bad, but I definitely need to loosen up and I need to be doing more of the teaching. (previously I had other missionaries prepare teaching moments which isn't bad, but the focus has shifted and im excited). 

I wrote a lot down from that meeting and i dont have my notes from it with me at the moment, but he shared something in 3 nephi 11 that I had never even considered and it had to do with listening to Heavenly Father's voice and there were 3 things we had to do to get there and i cant remember what all of them where but one, was to open our ears to be humble to hear, to change our position and i can't remember the last haha. 

Anyways, love you all and hope reading this helped you feel the spirit! if not, you can always read the scriptures and pray and feel the spirit that way!

Elder Dahl 2.0
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Canada