Well peeps,
It is me, Sister Dahlberg. I am in Missouri
and I am alive...barely. Kidding, I have made it a week in the mission
field!!!! There is a lot to tell you, so bare with me. I wish you all knew how
much I miss you!! I am just waiting to wake up from a dream. I really am here,
IN THE MISSION FIELD. It has been a crazy week.
Let me catch you up.
All 16 of us arrived at the airport on
Tuesday. President Morgan, Sister Morgan, the Ap's, and the office Elder's were
there to greet us. President and his wife were exactly how I thought they were
going to be! EXACTLY! Oh man, I adore them! We went to the temple in St. Louis
and took pictures and we went to the mission office. Soon after that, we went
to the mission home and oh boy, it is PRETTY. There we ate dinner and talked,
received instructions, had a little testimony meeting and were interviewed.
President likes to tease me, so I went first. I love President and Sister
Morgan so much. At the airport I had to explain to him why I didn't call him
back and he just laughed. He is so awesome. We all stayed at the mission home
that night and woke up, knowing a big day was ahead of us. NEW COMPANION.
TRAINER. NEW AREA. THE REAL DEAL. Half of the missionaries in the mission were
there to meet for transfers. You stand up in front of everyone and the AP
points to two things. Who your companion is and where you will be serving. Then you say it out loud and then everyone
gets really excited. I said mine and of course... I said my area wrong and all
the missionaries giggled. Sister Dahlberg coming in with a bang...
Oh boy, was I scared. I read that my trainer
would be Sister Montgomery and I would be serving in Marceline. I was so in
shock, I just sat down and everyone kind of did that... laugh... you know like
oh boy...hang in there laugh.................
I sat down and asked where that was. Sister
Montgomery told me it was about 3 hours away and that we would be white washing
the area. My trainer if from Mesa AZ, she is 24.
FUNNY THING- President came up to me after and
told me there was something I must know before I left to my new area. He said
your church is in a........................................................
TRAILER............................. (I finally understood why all the
missionaries gave me that laugh when I read Marceline)
No. He had to of been kidding, I was sure of
it. I laughed and he just looked at me like, "YOU CAN DO IT." I was
dying. He proceeded to tell me that he was putting me there because the area
was struggling, the members were losing hope in the missionaries, and this
little town needed HELP. LOTS OF HELP. He told me that he was sending me there
to gain back the trust of the members and to brighten the place up. He said,
" I trust you."
We started driving out of St. Louis and I died
more and more. The further out we got, the more I started to worry.
We arrived in Marceline and to be quite
honest, there is nothing here. Lots of churches from all kind of faiths, a
Sonic, and a bunch of old stores.
We met with the branch president at the church
and PRESIDENT MORGAN WAS NOT KIDDING, WE PULLED UP TO A TRAILER.........
He asked us to speak on Sunday. We talked
about the work and told him we were READY TO WORK. We talked about less actives
and he gave us a lot of referrals. He had tears in his eyes and he said,
"we have all been praying for the two of you to come for a long time
now."
We left, ready to WORK and help this little
town!!!!!!!!!!!
First day tracting was on Wednesday.....................
oh man. HOW DO PEOPLE NOT KNOW ABOUT THE CHURCH???????????????????
Our apartment.............. I feel like I am
in downtown Ogden........... We may or may not of called the cops last night,
but don't worry mom, The Lord is indeed protecting us. That is a funny story I
will have to write you about.....
The people.
OH THE PEOPLE.
To sum it up.
We are teaching a family, The White's. They
are wonderful. I think the daughters will enter the waters of baptism soon. The
dad isn't very receptive, the mom is the less active, but starting to get
active again and some of the girls come to church!
We go and read the BOM with a less active lady
that is dying because of drugs, we read to her because she isn't able to and she
just sits and rocks back and forth listening and nodding her head with tears in
her eyes. Her husband is a nonmember and
wants nothing to do with the church, but he listens to us. I testified to him
that God doesn't give us trials we can't handle and he looked up at me and said,
“You know what, you are right." I testified to him that God loves his
children and that through hard times we can come closer to The Savior. We asked
if we could come back and teach him the lessons and HE AGREED. THAT IS BIG YOU GUYS.
We are teaching on old man named Bob. He is a
little stubborn, but we love him.
Our teaching pool consists of about 7 right
now, when the district leaders called and asked for our numbers, we told them,
and they about died....... that is so much more than they expected.
Another thing. This is the very first time
sisters have been in Marceline, so to the members (approximately 40) we are famous.
A family stopped as we were unloading our groceries and they were so excited to
see us. “SISTERS ARE FINALLY IN THIS LITTLE TOWN!”
Our talks went well and the members are
excited to have us here. I spoke for 30 minutes..... I spilled my sacrament cup
full of water all over me right before I spoke, so the whole branch giggled and
an old man laughed so hard and he kept winking at me. I got up and said. "If
I look new, you are VERRRYYYYYY correct." EVERYONE LAUGHED. Once again
Sister Dahlberg coming in with a bang...............
The people in this town.......... well 99
percent of our lessons are taught in trailers in trailer parks. People don't
have a lot and they make do with what they have, which isn't a lot. The members
are very humble and loving.
We don't have a meal calendar, but we did eat
with the 1st counselor in the branch Sunday night, he is a dentist
and he has 5 little girls under the age of 7. It was so fun to be in a home and
to play with the little ones. I had them sing with me, "I am a child of
God." I was so happy. It was the cutest thing.
P DAY USUALLY is on MONDAY, but yesterday
we had mission conference in St. Louis!!!!! All the missionaries came together
and we listened to President and Sister Morgan speak and a general authority
was there! He is from Africa, an area 70. IT WAS EVERYTHING I NEEDED.
Before mission conference, President came up
to me and asked me how I was doing. I started laughing and I said,
"President if I knew which way Utah was, I would start walking RIGHT NOW,
but I can't seem to find which direction it is. You live in Utah, so I was
thinking we could all walk together and find our way out. You, Sister Morgan,
and I. What do you say?"
I have never seen a man laugh SO HARD. The
problem was I was 100 percent serious. His response. "Yes we could, but we
aren't going to."
Oh man you guys. This is the hardest thing I
have ever done and am overwhelmed knowing that this is my life for the next 18
months, but I am just trying to take it one day at a time. I am having faith
that I can do anything with The Lord on my side. I have a message of eternal
life to bring to his children!!! There is a lot that needs to be done here in
little Marceline.
I miss you all. I miss you ALL SO MUCH.
Homesickness is real. For real. WRITE ME.
WRITE ME! WRITE ME!!!!
Missouri St. Louis Mission
1850 Craigshire Road Suite 205
St. Louis, MO 63146
This is a special time to be a part of The
Lord's work I just keep telling myself that I CAN DO HARD THINGS. Thank you for
all the emails. I don't have much time, but I will try my best to reply today!
Give UTAH a big kiss for me and EVERYONE TAKE
CARE! READ AND PRAY ALWAYS.
WE CAN ALL DO HARD THINGS TOGETHER.
xo
Love,
Sister Dahlberg
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