June 22,
2015
To the people I absolutely love,
As I sit here, a new area and a new companion, I
would be lying to you if I said that my heart didn't hurt. My heart hurts for
Webster Groves. Six weeks was just too short. If I got a nickel for every time I thought
about Lulu this week, I would probably be a BILLIONAIRE.
When we got close to Danville on transfer day,
after a long drive, President Morgan called us after he interviewed Lulu. He called me to tell me thank you for
teaching her so well. He thanked me for
everything and told me how well her interview went. He said, “Sister Dahlberg, she made me promise
that I would let her see you again before you go home.” PRESIDENT MORGAN SAID HE PROMISED HER… AND
PRESIDENT DOESN'T BREAK HIS PROMISES! I
think President Morgan knows I am still heartbroken. I will see him tomorrow at Zone Conference.
Sister Morgan sent me a picture from the baptism! I WISH YOU ALL COULD
UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I LOVE LULU. Oh I
wish I could have been there.
When I had to say good bye to LuLu, you can
believe I cried. Oh, I cried. She cried.
Oh, she cried. It was one of the hardest goodbyes. I was just numb. It was
amazing to sit and listen to her tell me of all the blessings she has noticed
since she decided to follow our master, lord and Savior. SHE IS MY
HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was an emotional week with so many changes. When I got on the computer and saw this
email…oh how I burst into tears. This is
the email sent from my hero, Lulu, my friend that changed my life forever.
"Hello beautiful, I forgot to send this
last night so I'm rewriting it. I carried the bag you gave me yesterday so I
could have a part of you there. I hope you are enjoying yourself and making new
friends (they better be nice). The baptism was as an amazing experience for me
and I could feel you in spirit, can you believe it? We are sisters for life
now!!!!! To be honest I've been wanting to blow your email every day since you
left. The new girl is nice and sweet but
she's not you... Nobody can take your spot, I promise, BFFs for life… no matter
what! We are praying for you babe, and
can't wait to see what you bloom into. I can't stop writing now but I suppose I
should go ahead and send this in hopes that you get it today. LOVE YOU
BEAUTIFUL! YOU CAN DO IT!
If only you could imagine the tears flowing down
my face right now.
Here is where TRUST COMES in, but that doesn't
mean it isn't hard. I was struggling and I was thinking…when the spirit told me
very strongly that I am here for my companion, Sister Law. I am here to make
her smile, to brighten her mission experience, to help her, to make her
laugh. And with that being said, I know
there are so many things I will learn from her, she amazes me everyday. She is
partially blind and at night she is blind. Oh my goodness, does she give me
strength. God loves her, and oh how I can feel that so strongly. Lets talk about a warrior, Sister Law is the
definition of that!
I also received this email from
Daniel (the son and mom that was baptized last Sunday)
"Sister Dahlberg, I
just wanted to let you know I used your last name as my publishing co. Dahlberg
Publishing. I used it because it is a very original name. It won't be long until our
name goes worldwide. We may become
famous in the next couple days.” LOL
OH, I MISS WEBSTER.
GUESS WHOM I SAW AT
TRANSFER MEETING??????????????????????
Story: I was talking to a
sister that served in Marceline after me and she told me that Taylor was at
transfer meeting and for some reason it didn't register in my brain who Taylor
was. Then we kept talking and once she her
name again, I STARTED SCREAMING. I RAN TO TAYLOR and just gave her the biggest
hug ever. Okay so she was the oldest White daughter that was baptized after I
left. She was away at college, but would
sometimes listen to the lessons, sweetest girl. WELL GUESS WHAT I FOUND OUT.
1. SHE IS PREPARING TO
SERVE A MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE SHE REALLLLLLLYYY WANTS TO GO.
2. The WHITES ARE GOING TO
BE SEALED IN ST. LOUIS TEMPLE SO THAT I CAN GO IN MARCH…POSSIBLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(rumor has it) (:
best new
ever???????????????????/ I have been thinking about them a lot. a lot! THEY
CHANGED ME FOREVER AND CONTINUE TO DO SO!!!!!!!!!!! I gave her something to
give to little Noah, a watch, because he always loved mine. I just couldn't
stop telling Taylor how much her and her family changed my life forever. WOW, I
am giddy just talking about that amazing family.
This area, well…the
missionaries made it seem like it is everyone’s favorite area. (Elder Erickson,
one of the APS was so stoked that I was coming here. He gave me a list of people to meet.) But as far as I can see, there is a lot of
work to be done here. The area isn't what it used to be. We are trying to find
and visit a lot of the less actives, and finding is going to be interesting
here. BUT THIS IS WHERE THE LORD NEEDS ME AND I NEED TO BE HAPPY ABOUT
IT. I am going to learn to love it here and President is confident I
will just love it...
Everyone here says I look
like the Fultons, a family in the ward. BROTHER FULTON IS THE COOLEST. He is
so missionary minded, he invited us to his company’s picnic. He and his wife are just so awesome. Everyone
thinks his wife and I look like twins. Anyway, he is the previous bishop. We will
have dinner with their family and the elders tomorrow.
We are really trying to
find SOLID people to teach, to build up this area, to see its full potential,
like it used to be.
I keep reminding myself,
one day at a time sister Dahlberg, one day at a time.
Also, lets talk for a
minute........ HOW IN THE WORLD DID IT GET TO HALFWAY??????? 9
months, is that even real?
I am still waiting to receive
baptism pictures from Lulu's special day. I will send them your way when Sister
Edgel sends them to me.
I am studying the BOM again
and the New Testament for the first time, holy cowwwwwww, I can't believe all
that I am learning. Sometimes I don't even understand how it is possible and
then I am reminded how perfect our Heavenly Father is and how much he helps his
missionaries.
I LEARNED A LOT AT CHURCH
YESTERDAY. Heavenly Father is aware of us all.
love you all.
Sister Dahlberg
p.s. I AM GOING TO BE A
GOOD SPORT ABOUT THIS WHOLE CHANGE!
Oh yeah, we went to the famous
St. Louis arch and after we wrote our emails, we got soaked. Why does it rain
so much here?
June 29th,
2015
HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII there,
I would just like to start off by saying, Hunter
I received your wedding announcement…. Oh my goodness........ #dreamcouple
I MADE IT 9 MONTH PEOPLE!!! I can't believe it,
can you? MOM I DIED LAUGHING OPENING YOUR HALF WAY PACKAGE….LIKE DIED LAUGHING.
Why are you so clever? I have told pretty much all of Danville about it.
I love the Polaroid camera, thank you so much. Well, Sister Montgomery called
on my half way day to SING TO ME HAPPY HALF WAY, so that was a happy day after
a longggggggggggggg day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention
that she is serving in the same zone as me? #presidentmorganisgood #godisgood
At Zone Conference, President Morgan told me
about Lulu's baptism. He said after she was baptized, she just sat in the water
and cried, happy tears. Oh, how President Morgan explained it, my heart!!
Sister Morgan said, "It was like no other baptism I have been to, when Lulu
got in the water it sparkled. Oh we missed you being there, sister Dahlberg.”
This week Sister Edgel sent me pictures of the baptism and cut and glued me
into the pictures. My heart. SO SWEET OF HER. I was there in spirit that is for
sure.
We are working so hard, we are going through the
17 pages of members and trying to determine who is LA, and A. We are trying to
get more people out to church, there is a ton of less active work to do here.
We are trying to share the gospel and talk to everyone we can. This area will
grow, I just know it. We have a lot of good potential appointments this
week. Last night we went to visit, an
investigator and her neighbor was planting, so I asked if we could help. I explained that I was a pro because I used
to plant flowers with my mom, and secretly I missed it. We got talking to
her and she said that she had a friend that was a Mormon. We set a time to come back and teach
her.
I met Chiquita, an
investigator that the sisters found last night, and they are the coolest. Their
entire family dances. There is a 10 year old named JOJO who is the sweetest
girl ever. I told Chiquita, after I bore testimony to her, that this gospel
blesses families. I know it. I have seen it. I invited her to let Jojo and
possibly her husband join in on the lesson next time. She is going out of town
this week, but we have 2 times to see her the week after that. Jojo and I had a blast talking about dancing,
she showed me her dance pictures and her scrapbook. WE ARE ALREADY BEST
FRIENDS. I felt that I needed to be here in Danville for them. It is amazing
how the spirit works.
We visited a less active, and he told us if we
called him, he would come to church. So we called him to be his alarm on Sunday
morning and he didn't show up. Our investigator Janata, said she would bring
her family to church. We called her to
wake her up and we went and knocked on her door before church. They didn't wake up in time. Then we met Janata's neighbor, Asia, and she
said she would come to church, but wasn't able to make it. We went and knocked
on her door too before our meeting at church on Sunday.
Something I was reminded this week: It is not
about numbers, and that God loves me just as he loves all of you. Simple, but
so so so so so true.
When I got called to Danville, everyone was so
excited I was going there. My old Zone leader (that is now home) served here in
Danville and one of the APS I served around in the city, Elder Erickson
(FUNNIEST ELDER EVER) was trained here, and everyone was so happy I was coming
here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh p.s remember my adorable MTC companion, sister
Petrie, she was trained here.
We met a former investigator that Elder Jones
and Elder Erickson met while serving here together, and she is like famous to
every missionary that serves here. She knows the church is true, but because of
marriage issues she goes to her husbands church, the one that he has grown up
in. But he went out of town, and she came to church!!!!! She hasn't been to the
Mormon church in a year. We met with her
and the elders, we ate ice cream and she shared her story with us. Her husband knows that is where she wants to
be, but she respects him as the leader of the household. OH my goodness, SHE IS
THE BUBBLIEST THING. SHE IS SO FUNNY AND CRAZY! She told us not to try and
baptize her because missionaries have for years. She wants to save her marriage,
but wowwwwwwwwww am I reminded again and again that THIS CHURCH IS TRUE AND
THAT THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD LEADS IT. I feel it everyday, I know it. OH I KNOW
IT!
I love my mission, and to be quite honest my
brain can't fathom that my mission is half way over. I feel like just
yesterday, I walked into the MTC and they asked me who my favorite BOM hero
was, and in a sweat and panic, I had no idea what to say. Now I love and
cherish the BOM, I love and cherish this time I have to serve. I love my mission. I HAVE CHANGED SO MUCH. Never will I be the
same, never ever. I love my Savior. I love you all. Have a happy week and good
4th of JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!
XO
SISTER DAHLBERG!
July 6th, 2015
Hello,
I can't quit wrap my head around the fact that
Katelyn and Katelynn are on their last transfer.....sadee, aynsley, and shayla
go home so soon too. In like 4 months.......................and then I will be
rolling around the corner shortly
after................................................."SHE WILL BE COMING
AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES..............................)
So listen, I am sitting here and I have been literally
EATEN ALIVE BY MOSQUITOS, BITES EVERYWHERE. IT IS A JOKE. ALL THE RAIN HERE has
made the mosquitos go cray cray!
Everyone keeps telling me how fast the time is
going to go and I am just holding on for dear life. I can't believe that I am
more than half way done with my mission now. Wasn't I just packing my bags FULL
for the MTC? (fun story: A girl that was in my zone in the MTC........ (well I
was leaving and she was coming in) is now companions with sister Ovard in
CANADA! small world, yes indeed.
Monday after emailing, Brother Fulton told the
elders, sister Law, and I about a story of a boy and starfish. It was a "parable" of what we are
doing here on our missions, here in Danville. When he was sharing the story, my
heart just knew that God was aware of me and that he had been listening to my
prayers. The story meant everything to me. I will have to share it sometime with you
all. Then he gave us each a starfish pin
to have as a reminder of what we are doing and the difference we can make.
That night we went to visit a LA, in the elders
area, and she came to the door and was so excited that there were sister
missionaries. She has been LA for a long time.
Her mom passed away two years ago, and was too sick to be baptized. Her
husband is a non-member, and she was just so happy to see us. You don't hear
this everyday-She said, "I have gotten ready to come to church a few
times, but I am just too scared." I testified of the Savior’s love, about
baptisms for the dead, and how much the gospel of Jesus Christ means to
me. I shared the story that Brother
Fulton had just told us a few hours earlier. SHE IS OUR STARFISH!!!!!!!!!! She
wants to come back to church but is nervous.
I told her we would wait for her in the parking lot and walk in and sit
with her. I asked her if we could come
and see her every Monday evening to try and help bring her and her 15 year old
sister back, and she agreed. We are
going to start that up next week.
BROTHER GUERRERO FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH
YESTERDAY!!! After he has been saying for 2 weeks that he would come, he came.
Yes people, he came. That was a miracle.
My planner fell apart this week and if you have
been on a mission before, you know what a traumatic thing that is. HAHA but I am here to tell about it, so all
is well.
We have really been trying to focus on the
unknown members because there are so many less actives here, so we have been
going to visiting them. We pulled up to this trailer park and we followed my
GPS and it stopped us. We parked the car
and we said hello to this man. I asked
if he was Brother Tyrl and he said no, but Tyrl is inside. He went inside to get him and the guy wasn't
too happy to see us. I think we woke him
up or something. Anyway, he was looking at us like, what in the world are you
doing here? I started to say hi and the other man told us he can't hear very
well. I STARTED SIGNING TO HIM!!! And a big
SMILE came on his face, even though my sign was a little rough, we had a lovely
conversation. We were both giggling,
what a funny man he was. I asked if we could come back often and have spiritual
lessons with him, and he said he would think about it. He told me that he hasn't gone to church
because he can't understand anything that is going on. The other deaf people that
lived nearby moved a long time ago. So yesterday we talked with the ward
mission leader to see what we can do. Tyrl is on the elder’s side of the area,
but we are going to work with him because I am the only one that knows a tiny
bit about sign language (sister Drake you would be so proud of me!!!) That is a miracle! It made my whole day.
We picked up 2 new investigators this week,
Maggie a former, and Jose a potential, a boy who wants to know truth. We had a
lesson with him at Wendy’s hamburgers.
The deal for the July 4th holiday was for the
missionaries to do missionary work until 5 and then we had to park our cars and
then we could be with members. We went
to a parade in a tiny town called Rossville with our ward mission leader, his
wife, and son. We thought it would be a
good street contacting opportunity. Then
we had lunch with them outside, and it was just happy. They told us stories and
oh we laughed.
We did some missionary work in Rossville and we
met a lady who was OLD and she let us in and she told us she knew the BOM was
true. We were so excited! She is
adorable and she loves to talk. We
barely could get a word in. Then she started telling us she speaks in tongues
and that she sings with Jesus often.
Sister Law and I were at a loss for words. Afterwards, we were walking
to the car and sweet Sister Law said, 'WELP I AM LOST FOR WORDS." I was
dying laughing. Secretly, Sister Law, is the funniest human. This morning
during studies she was reading in an accent and she just loves it and I just
love who she is. I truly have come to just adore that sweetheart. SHE IS JUST
SO SWEEEEEEEEEEEET. I LITERALLY LOVE HER.
The bishop and his family came and picked us
up. We were told not to wear our regular
missionary clothes to the Fultons. We
were walking out to the car in jeans and we felt like… this is so
weird............................ Every year the Fultons have a big party on
July 4th. Their house...........................................amazing. They
live in Indiana and he was the previous bishop! COOLEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD. Anyway, we had so much fun! We had a barbecue
and played kickball. I totally took one
for the team and slid into a base and got a little scrapped up. I think everyone was super surprised. It was hilarious. Sister Neil, the funniest
lady ever, broke a nail trying to catch a ball.
I promise, it could have been on “Funniest Home Videos, if I could have
recorded it. I was on Brother and Sister Fulton’s team and a bunch of other
people from the ward. We won. Sister Law was the best cheerleader ever!!!!
Afterwards, we played basketball in a game of P. I.G. I would just like to say that I beat the
elders and Brother Fulton in P.I.G. I think Heavenly Father is blessing me with
athletic ability here.................... HAHAHAHAHA
The Fultons had lots and lots and lots of
fireworks and it was just a happy day.
We were allowed to stay out until 10:30.
We got back to the apartment and Sister Law was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a fun
day and I felt like I was home…just for a minute. It was a good break to know that we missionaries
really are just like everyone else. We
are just trying to do the Lord’s work. I
sure do love the Fultons and the Tillmans.
They have truly been a great comfort for me here, after my last transfer.
We saw a man yesterday while we were trying to
visit potentials and he said, ............ “I want a Mormon bible, do you got
one?" When Sister Law gets frightened, she moves her walking cane, and she
was moving her walking cane. We set up
a time to meet with him to teach him this week.
But we are having members and the elders come with us just to be EXTRA
SAFE. We share our ward with elders and
they are super protective. I feel like
they are my older brothers, always watching out for us.
Seriously...... even though the work seems to be
different here than in my previous areas I have served, I know that God needs
me here. I am learning and I am starting to see my testimony grow even
stronger. AT CHURCH YESTERDAY WE HAD SUCH A POWERFUL LESSON ON THE SACRAMENT.
WOW.
I love Sister Law she is just adorable. I always
tell her how much I am going to miss her and she always says, “ No way, I am
going to miss you more.” She told me that she wants to stay here with me for
another transfer. But don't worry we still have 3 weeks together for sure. OH
HOW I WISH ALL OF YOU COULD MEET HER!
I love you all!!! OH, AND GUESS WHAT? I AM
SERVING WITH SISTER MONTGOMERY TOMORROW IN
SPRINGFIELD.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I might cry I am so excited. She just has
this transfer and one more left and then she is home, crazy. WE BOTH ARE SO
EXCITED, WE DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO.
I love you all so much. I love this work. I love
the person that I am learning to become. I am so happy I chose to serve. I am so happy that I chose to actually come
here to this mission. My life never will
be the same. I know I always say that, but it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO true. I am not
the same person that walked out my front doors 9 months ago. I am changed and I
know I will continue to learn and grow. AS I TRY TO SAVE HEAVENLY FATHER’S
CHILDREN, HE ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO SAVE SISTER DAHLBERG.
Oh how I am going to miss President Packer.
I love you all.
SISTER DAHLBERG
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