Week #71 - Be of Good Cheer, no one is permanently assigned in Dagupan 6!

One of our investigators owns a bangka boat and let us take it to one of our appointments rather than take the long way by land haha:) They were amazed that I knew how to row the boat. (good thing I took some merit badge or something for that). 

This is me getting thronged by a billion Ilokano kids in my area. I did some magic tricks and they all lost their marbles!

These two girls are children of the Nanay that feeds us all the time:) I shared my twix candy with them and I was able to capture a good moment of laughable chocolate-face happiness haha

This little boy got in huge trouble with his dad because while his dad was sleeping he took his boat all the way down the river. We heard his dad yelling for him to come home so we walked along the river bank and talked him into going home. It was so funny the way he humbly admitted the only way a 7 year old can "yeah I should probably go home and say sorry to my dad". When he got back I got a good picture of him docking the boat.

This is called Tahong Adobo. It is basically oyster meat, cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, salt, sliced chili peppers, (sometimes pineapple and brown sugar). It is really really really tasty:)

Hey Family,

Well the coffee drinking 9 year old is making good progress haha. He has had some headaches but overall he is doing really good and staying strong.

Dont get me started about parenting here, I will just have to tell you when I get home.

We had ALL of our IBD's come to church. And FINALLY for the first time in my mission I will experience weekly baptisms starting march 12!!!! haha I am sooo excited to see these people go the distance and then even further:)

This week I received news that my 1st baptism Albert is preparing to go to the temple!!!!! And I also got permission from president Deyro to attend his endowment session and sealing to his wife in Manila! I cant even imagine how special that is going to be!!

The details are not quite set but I am anxiously awaiting that day:)

This week was Relentless Week again:) and it was full of miracles. We fasted for the Lord to pour his spirit out on our area and he did. We found 23 new investigators and extended 15 baptismal dates, and ALL accepted. Despite the difficulty of this area, the Lord is providing. We have a new island called Lomboy that is part of our area now. It is pretty far away, and we have to take a boat but the people their are so receptive! We met hundreds of people this week and taught at least half of them.


Last week I expressed some of my frustration to President Deryo about our struggles in this area. And his response was so cool and comforting. This is what he said:

"Elder Dahle,
Lest you forget, you are the Father of Relentless week.
So everything that happens to others is counted as your success.!!
Be of Good Cheer, no one is permanently assigned in Dagupan 6!"


Thats quite the relief that I wont be in this area forever.


Anyway, as for the acne (totally random topic), sister Deyro gave me something that seems to be working, but go ahead and send the pro active just in case:) Because the customs fees on the last package were about 5000 Pesos, and it all got subtracted from my support, I will have to withdraw about that much of personal so I can have money this week. I will probably do that right now when I am done emailing:)

Anyway. I have to go!!! I love you so much!! :)



Elder Dahle

Week #70 ~ Happy but Stressed!!! Hurdles to overcome!

Hey Mom,

Man 70 weeks. Ha I have to really work hard to not get trunky, because I am not that far away anymore.

I will be honest, I miss home sooooo bad. I miss American food and clean streets and cement buildings. I miss Autumn when it isnt a bajillion degrees.

Anyway, enough of that haha.

Things are going good here. To answer your question, my companion is still really new, only about 6 months. Even though we are kind of a power companionship, we are facing some serious disappointments. Our investigators are just dropping like flies because of persecution:(. It is discouraging at times, but we are not going to let our efforts weaken or lower our expectations.

I am incredibly stressed out right now about this area. I feel a huge weight on my shoulders to fix this area. My body is not reacting well to the stress. I am not really sleeping that well. My acne came back and got really bad. I am going to talk to sister Deyro about it and get her input. Its honestly really frustrating and only adds to the stress.

We are not going to have a baptism after all this week because our 9 year old investigators is flipping addicted to coffee. GAAHHHH.

We will be working with him this week to help him overcome it. Its especially frustrating because his mom is a member and she just stands by. Honestly there is some serious 3rd world parenting in this country. They just let their kids do whatever they want.

Anyway I dont want to go on a rant about that right now.

Overall even though I am really stressed, I am happy doing the Lords work. I know with his help it will all turn out okay.

I love you all so much:) Keep holding family prayer

Elder Dahle

Week #69 - A New Companion!!!

Mom and Dad,

First things first. The Camera came and it is SO NICE!! And so did the package with the star wars PJ's and food and other stuff:) the other package is not yet here, hopefully they didnt just toss it overboard.

Well... Elder Cañete got emergency transferred. He just refused to speak to me. The ZL's told me to call president about it. President is a little fed up and if Elder Cañete doesnt shape up he may get shipped out (I pray that that doesnt happen). He is now in the ZL's house. And I have a new companion named Elder Eter! haha I flippin love this companion. Maybe its the fact that his name is only 1 letter shy of being a book of Mormon prophet, or that the pronunciation of his name is identical to a Pangasinan word that means "to give". He is new in the mission but he is a sweet charitable person who works hard and is literally always smiling. We are going to do some serious work in this area haha.

By the way, he is my 10th companion haha

Anyway yes they are feeding us! All sea foods! I have eaten nothing but fish and clam muscles and crab for 6 weeks! There is one recent convert family that feed us all the time and they are so much fun. There are 10 of them that live in this small little bamboo house that hangs over the water, held up by 10 bamboo pillars. Their home could not be larger than the shed of our home on Willow Glen.

I will send some pictures:)

Anyway, I love you so much and I am doing great right now. As much as I love Elder Cañete and he is my son; it is a relief that he is now out of my stewardship. I did however learn valuable lessons in our companionship. I learned that I need to learn how to be more patient (which is a christ-like attribute that we as humans frankly cant really get enough of). I will continue to work on that, as I am absolutely certain it will help me in the future of my mission and after my mission life. I love you so much!!!

Elder Dahle

Week #68 - Feeling Loved!

Mom, and Dad,

This week has been crazy. Wildest birthday of my life haha suprise after suprise.

Monday was a blast eating pizza and bowling with the AP's and office staff that I got so close with last transfer. Its so cool to see that bond exist well after the transfer.

Then on Tuesday I assumed it was all over, and that that was the end of my birthday celebrations haha. We went to district meeting and had a normal district meeting like any other Tuesday. But then after the meeting a bunch of missionaries from the other district burst in the room with a cake and pop singing happy birthday!!! They all signed and wrote little notes on a card for me that had pictures of us together haha. Then later that night we had exchanges and went to a dinner appointment in Dag 3's area (with Elder Sta. Maria again XD) and one of the nanays in their area baked me another cake!! haha. I really felt the love this birthday..

And YES the package arrived. I have already devoured one of the mac and cheese boxes and half of the candy haha. Thank you for all the funny cards and the socks and neck tie. You have no idea how much all that means to me.

Elder Cañete is healthy now but is still having a tough time wanting to be a missionary. In fact things have gotten much worse. To be honest I am not sure how much longer he will last. Please pray for him to find motivation.

Anyway things are getting better and better here in the ward and we have investigators close to baptism in the next few weeks:)

I love you so much and I am forever grateful for the things you taught me through out my youth. I am sorry for how stubborn I must have been at times. I currently can feel how frustrating that must have been. I wont forget to start the record of my ministry like nephi's saying "having been born of goodly parents" :)

Love Elder Dahle

Week #67 - Serving with my heart, might, mind, and strength and it feels amazing!!!

Hello Mom,

Haha I CAN NOT BELIEVE I am flippin 20 years old. That sounds far too mature and far too... grown up. Maybe I havent quite sunk in to that frame yet. I will with time.

Well things with Elder Cañete are slowly improving.... President got way bold with him on the phone the other day. I wont repeat exactly what President told him, but lets just say that my companion woke up a bit.

HOWEVER. He is sick as a dog right now. His fever fluctuates from 101 to 103.8 every few hours. Please pray for him to feel better so we can get back out to work. I am down right sick of just sitting here in the apartment. I want to get out and work so bad. I guess I just have to be patient.

I am learning to love him. I found the best way to win his heart was to ask him to teach me their native language Warey-Warey. The Lord has blessed me with the gift of tongues for much more than just communicating with investigators. I am learning it about 5 times faster than I learned Tagalog.

The Ward is doing pretty good. Finally got some other people to accept callings so then the responsibility is a little more spread out. I am absoluteness ecstatic about the new ward mission leader. With his help we are going to change this place.

Anyway, thank you for the update on packages. I havent gotten it yet but it is probably in the mission home. I may get it in a few hours because the office Elders are driving up to Dagupan to eat pizza and go bowling with me to celebrate my birthday:).

I am happy. It feels so great to be able to say that. I am just happy. I am serving with my heart, might, mind, and strength and it feels amazing. Please keep on being happy too. I will see you before you know it:)

Elder Dahle