Week #87 - A humbling week with a little old lady and a homeless man.

Mom and Dad,

NO I DIDNT TRANSFER!!!:):) Niether did Elder DaBell, so I will be his last companion and send him home in 5 weeks.

Sounds like summer is in full swing there haha. I am soooooooo excited for cold weather again, I feel like I lose 5 pounds a day just because I sweat so much, it takes a toll on my shirts too haha, but dont send me more, I will survive.

Okay thats what we will do first- shopping list, and school stuff

>>>Things needed for last package
-socks
-a really pretty necktie
-cheez-its
-pop tarts
-letters from my family
-deodorant (old spice but not the dry anti-perspiration stuff)
-go out and find the most hard-core face wash that man has ever made
-ziploc bags (typhoon season is nigh).

>>>Questions about school and other stuff
1). Does the Chilicothe provide or give some kind of student discount on recording equipment (other than the classroom gear that I know they have).

2). What is the pay and hour scheduling like for a Paramedic EMT?

3). Ask John if Batteries Plus is hiring.

4). This is a question that is going to make you laugh so hard, but I am obliged to ask due to counsel received by a mission leader. I want a seperate answer for both of you so Ill just make it two questions.

Dad, what was it about Mom that made you decide to marry her?

Mom, what was it about Dad that made you decide to marry him?

Okay now on to my real letter haha:)

This week was really humbling. We are teaching this old lady named Virgie. She really wants to be baptized and she says that "she feels something special and different when we teach her" But her children dont support her. In fact they dont seem to care about her at all. They all live in her house with their spouses and children (multi-generational houses are really typical here) and they sleep in the nice rooms with and all that. But she sleeps on a wooden board on the floor on the bottom floor. The compassion and sympathy I have for her is unlike any I have ever felt before, but it feels almost like we can do nothing. Hopefully her family gets their crap together soon.

I also taught a homeless man under a bridge. Needless to say that was humbling. But he is a sweet guy who has made some bad choices and is just now making his way back to earth. He came to church on Sunday and cried during the lesson about Christ's Atonement.

Lester couldnt make it to church, but it was because of a family problem so we will keep his baptismal date where it is. Edgar made it and he finished Alma and is now half-way through Helaman:) He is SO ready!

Anyway, in other news, my first kid Elder Baldove is a DL now and he is having so much success in his area (which is actually the area right next to Sta. Maria). I think they baptized every week last transfer. Elder Cañete is doing really really well and he has grown a lot, we are very close friends and the gap that we had before is gone:)

Anyway I love you all so much:) Kaya ninyo iyan!!!

Elder Dahle

Week #86 - The week of the Trunky Letter!

Mom and Dad,

Well, I still dont know if I am transferring and the suspense is absolutely killing me. I am honestly going to be really upset if I do get transferred. But of course it is not up to me. We will know by next P-Day and I will let you know.

In other news.....

I GOT MY TRUNKY LETTER!

Not sure if you know what that means, but it is basically a fill in the blank form about all my travel information haha. NO, I am not trunky; just a little excited haha:)

Elder Tanner and I are the only Americans left in our batch, so its just going to be the two of us on the plane. There is also a chance that he and I could be companions if I transfer. I would be really okay with that cuz we would just finish off the mission together haha, and also because he is a ZL in Mangaldan right now, so I would get to go back there :)

Anyway, this week was soooooo exhausting! Ha we just went crazy trying to cram as many teaching appointments into our schedule. However we also had a lot of ZL responsibilities to take care of, so that ate up a lot of our time. On thursday, we helped the Dagupan 5 sisters move apartments. The office elders couldnt help so we just hired the biggest jeepney we could find and stuffed it full. We still had to take about 5 trips, but it was fun riding on the back like the jeep conductors do. Its actually so funny the way their job works. They stand on the back of the jeep and yell the destination of the jeep as loud and as fast as possible, so it is often hardly recognizable. For example when the jeep is going to Dagupan they just scream " DOOPAN DOOPAN DOOPAN!!" haha

Anyway, Lester came again!! And he is going to be baptized with our other investigator Edgar on July 9. Edgar was a former investigator who got dropped by previous missionaries because he was special case and wasnt ready yet. But now he has read from the introduction page of the Book of Mormon till Alma 57!!!!

Anyway, I am just loving missionary work right now and I am having so much fun. It is NEVER easy, but when we rely on the Lord he makes our sacrifice enough. I have recently been studying the Atonement in more depth and really was taught by the spirit while doing so. I wish I could spend another hour here just telling you about all that I learned, but I will just have to save it:) I love you all so very much:)

Elder Dahle

Week #85 - Short but Sweet!

Hello Mom,

Well this week was just wonderful!

Yes! I got out to work everyday this week:) and we worked our tails off. One of the things we really focused on was inviting investigators to attend church this Sunday, and the Lord blessed us with success in that endeavor.

8 INVESTIGATORS CAME TO CHURCH!!!!

Even Lester came!!! Which was a huge surprise. After the service he text and said that he wanted me to baptize him on the 9th of July and he was ready to do all he needed to become ready for that. The other investigators that came were really excited and had a really good experience at church:) looks like many of them are really serious about baptism.

I am just praying that the Lord will let me stay here! Transfer week starts next monday, so I guess we will see. I just really want to stay somewhere longer than 2 transfers ha, however seeing that I only have 3 transfers after this week; I am running out of time for that to happen. Regardless I am ready to submit my will to His.

Anyway, I have a bad headache right now and this screen isnt making it much better so I am going to go take some ibuprofen too and take a 30 minute P-Day nap haha. I love you!!!

Elder Dahle

Week #84 - Trapped watching a companion with Chicken Pox and Planning for the future!

Mom and Dad,

That is so exciting about Ethan!!! He is going to have to much fun and learn so much on the mission, I know I have :). I totally miss picking strawberries and helping at the festival:( sounds like its keeping you plenty busy haha.

I honestly have soooooo little to tell you this week :(

Because I spent the WHOLE week trapped in the apartment; Elder Cañete has chicken pox (or as Filipinos say in their accent "Chicken Fox"; kills me everytime). And because I am the only one in the apartment who has had it before, I have to stay home with him.

SOOOO heres what I did get to do.

I presented the new Relentless thingy at MLC, President really liked it so they are going to print it off and add it to our Mission Vision of Excellence cards:)

But other than that I didnt leave the apartment.

Lester didnt come to church, so we are just going to drop him. It seems to me like he is just playing games and it is darn frustrating.

We did have two new investigators come to church and we have a scheduled to teach them this week so i am way excited about that, Elder DaBell tells me that they are way elect:)

So basically I just stayed at home all week and studied, cleaned, slept, thought myself into oblivion, and thats about it haha. Sorry there isnt much else for me to say.

But because I did have plenty of time to think, I have some questions to ask haha.

1) when does the Recording Workshop School in Chillicothe begin and how much does it cost.

2) How long would it take me at sinclair to get a certificate to be an EMT? and how much does that cost and also is the pay of that job even worth it? Can I get a lot of hours working there?

3) Is there institute available where we live?

4) Does BYU Idaho still not offer any Music Production classes or anything like that?

5) When can I take the ACT review class and the Test.

Ha okay thanks. I am getting closer to answering those question you sent for application at BYU:)

I love you so much! Have a good week!

Elder Dahle

Mission Leadership Council

The Urdaneta mission leadership council gathered together to discuss on how to be more "Relentless Every Day". Since January 2016 till now the Urdaneta mission leadership council are gathered every month to counsel each other on how can the mission be strengthened. This time we reviewed all the initiatives and ideas that we came up with from the past MLC's and ways we can improve it.