last email

So this week was pretty awesome. I have been going through fazes of sadness and excitement. The best description is probably bitter sweet. I have been able to influence those that I knew I was here for and I know I will continue to influence them. I know that my mission has been the greatest decision ive ever made and I am thankful I have been diligent to it and made the effort to talk to my Heavenly Father and internalize what I teach. I am excited to go back and apply it in the real world. Ive learned my strengths and weaknesses and know I am not perfect but I am wanting to be the best person I can be. A few families here have really helped me see the importance of the gospel and how happy they are makes me want to be like them. Exciting to be a missionary and have the spirit so close to me. I love you all and am thankful for all the support and prayers you have given me since ive been here and through all the craziness in Liberia. I love this work and I love the Lord. Its fun to have learned how to be a Latter Day Saint. I wont skype but ill call you Christmas morning. Merry Christmas!

See you soon.

Love,
Elder Elias Dahlin

Hey Mom!

I am perfectly fine with not getting presents on Christmas day. Sophia might need surgery?? Thats crazy. I hope you liked the Christmas card... Good stuff.

This week was awesome! First, last pday we went on a hike on the appalachian trail to the falls. That was a hard hike and it showed that I am still out of shape. 

The next day we had our half mission conference. Elder Renlund of the Seventy came and taught us. I probably wont forget but I got to have a personal interview with him and there were a few things he wanted me to tell you. SO dont let me forget! President Griffin is always a great speaker and is always caring in how he acts towards us. Wednesday I stayed in Johnson City with Elder Beard who is from California. It was a good exchange and I saw a few people that had not been seen for a while. Thursday we sung at the VA and then did service for Alan. We also  put up lights for Alan and that was crazy. Probably a 35 foot tree and we were wearing dress clothes! Right after on Saturday we went to Jennie Windhams wedding reception. Way to make me think about marriage! 

Yesterday we had Zone conference. President and the Assistants gave us instruction and then we had lunch, Skits, Dodge ball, and we watched the movie frozen!! Our district did a skit called "Finding Elder Dahlin" Based off of finding Nemo. I was a missionaries straight from the MTC and I got distracted and lost my trainer. It was fun and ironic that im going home soon and I pretended to be new :)

 Pretty much every day has been busy for us. Im realizing for real that I am going home soon. Last night we had an awesome lesson with Sister Anderson. This is a family I love a lot and It was such a powerful lesson that helped her answer some of her doubts. She committed to baptism! So awesome. Its all going really well.

Well I hope seminary is going well for you!
I love you and will see you soon!

Love,

Elder Dahlin

Happy Thanksgiving

This week was really busy and full of teaching. We invited 3 people to baptism and they all committed for a date so we are pretty excited about that. I went on an exchange in bristol Virginia this week with Elder Hoyt. He is being trained so it was a lot of fun to train for a day and to work hard. We ended up teaching 6 lessons and forgot to eat dinner but it was awesome. It reminded me how I need to work hard every minute to teach those that are in need!

This coming week we have Mission Council and are going to have Thanksgiving with Beverly who is a recent convert. Saturday we will be having another Thanksgiving at the Velas. We like to eat..

We will try to take pictures this week and send some to you!

I love you.

Love,
Elder Dahlin

3 am call from Liberia!

EMMENTT TARPEH CALLED!!! That is an amazing thing.. Did Emmentt say he was baptized?? Him and Teta, his wife, mean a lot to me since they were my first family I taught and got to know. Before I left the area he gave me an African Shirt. Didnt get baptized but I know one day he will be baptized.

Its the 5th sunday of this month that I will be giving my presentation and I could really use your help since my camera got stolen 8 months into my mission. The pictures I sent you could really help. Would you be able to send a good amount of those to me so I could use them?? It should be on my email but I dont have the time to look through them all.

Yeah I got all the classes I wanted to and its not a bad schedule. I am good at budgeting my time now so ive got this! 

No baptisms yet but thats ok. We have a few trying to line up for December. 

I got the packages from grandma and I emailed about both of them! They are awesome thank you! We are enjoying the hot chocolate and M&Ms. Also I got the package of cookies from Andrea!! Thank you so much! They are too delicious... which is good and bad since I cant stop eating them! haha

I promise the package you sent to Liberia was not wasted. Everything that we did for the past 5 months lead up to our evacuation so I know even your package helped. The two men we loved and worked with had the jobs at risk since we left so they appreciated it im sure. 

This week was a good week just plugging away at the work. Unfortunately Elder Byron got Strep throat so we had to stay in for two days. And to add on top of that on Friday I signed up for classes! So it was pretty hard to not let my mind wander... haha

This week will be very busy with catching up with our investigators and members. It would be nice to teleport so we dont have to waste time driving but thats ok. We will try to work effectively so we can see everyone!

I love you and hope you have a great week! Dont worry too much about your talk. Just let it be centered on you being a mother.

Love,

Elder Elias Dahlin

Eli's Life

Hey Mom!

Life is good in Johnson City! This week was also great since we were able to just be out and about. We had out Zone Training Meeting and it went really well. There was a section at the end where we were told to ask the question "What do you want to know?" about missionary work and it was really great. We stood up there and answered a lot of good questions and of course a lot of prayer went into that meeting since we had to teach and come up with the answers on the spot!

We went to Brother Velas twice this week and I threw up twice... Its a special feeling haha It was a lot of fun and for some odd reason we had tons and tons of service that we did too!! Lots of days coming home just beat from all the exercise. Then again what are we meant to do in a world that relies on receiving blessings from others. We are just the instruments used to share them and to use ourselves for good. Sunday was awesome since so many people signed up to team up with us and make our days full of teaching. I love it when a member comes with us because they help us teach and find those that are ready. 

I have been asked to give the 3rd hour lesson on the 5th Sunday about my experiences in Liberia. I am excited to do that and especially orient it towards the things I learned from going to a different part of the world. I will be making a slide show and also a power point presentation on it so that will be a fun project.

It sounds like you are staying busy with everything at home. I would like to know what day i should be driving back up to school so I can know my time frame at home. What is it that you want me to get done around the house? I think ill need to go shopping.... haha Good stuff. Ill let you know how signing up for classes goes.

I love you!

love,
Elder Dahlin

Midnight call from a fellow looking for Eli!

Hey Mom!

Well im not sure if I know a Moses Pierce but im excited that you got to hear a Liberian speak on the phone! I hope his letter gets to me in time. 

For us in Tennessee it rained on the first of November which was awesome! We spent part of that day helping the sisters get their car out of a field they had slid into so that was fun and cold. We had Mission Council and Halloween this week. Halloween we had to stay in and just hangout at the church so that was different. No dressing up... haha We are still doing crossfit and today was my first day throwing up! I finally joined the club.

Youre not bad parents for only emailing. Email is just fine. It is a lot of fun getting letters though and I got bombarded with them this week! Tell Andrea and Michael thank you! Also tell Hannah thank you!! I enjoyed them a lot.

A pretty busy week so we enjoyed the work. We will be more busy this week with Zone Meeting and a big list of members the Elders Quorum president gave us to go look for.

My second semester at BYUI I learned how to work a lathe so I should know how to use it and sharpen the tools!

Have a great week!

Love,
Eli

Hi

This week was a lot of fun especially with my new companion. Elder Byron, like Elder Russo, was a "visa waiter" and is now assigned here so he will serve his full time in Tennessee! Did I tell you that the mission covers more than Tennessee already? Every Friday we travel to Bristol Virginia for a district meeting haha. So we have kept ourselves busy just working hard. We had 3 investigators come to church and that was the first time since ive been here! We are expecting miracles and we have seen them in our work. Many testimonies in Priesthood about how great it is to go out with the missionaries. Yay for us! Its just like a fresh start and we both are very similar and have the same goals which makes everything easier.

So just trying to make a difference here and set higher standards for everyone. Love the work. Love you guys and even though youre counting down the days im not getting TRUNKY!! haha :)

Love,
Elder Elias Dahlin