Rocktober!

Ok, so as almost every week of my mission, this one has been equally up to par with all of them ''amazing'' after general conference I look over a lot of my notes that I wrote down, things that I felt prompted to write down, and a lot of them I forgot what they were just a few days after general conference, and this Sunday my bishop in one of my wards stood up at the start of fast and testimony meeting, and talked a lot about how so often we forget the moments that mean so much to us at the moment, but we lose sight of them throughout the trials of life. 

So while listening to him speak, it brought back so many memories that I forgot, and at the end of the day, I was laying in bed, trying to fall asleep and my mind is always running 1000 miles per hour, so I was laying there just pondering about the things that happened that day.  I remembered a trek experience I had, at the start of trek bishop lee gave every family in our party a bucket of rocks, and said that they were our trials and our sins in this life. We had to carry these around everywhere we went, so we pulled our handcarts all day, and got to our campground and set everything up, and the next morning we went on trekking again, still with the rocks in our handcarts. Almost towards the end of the day, when we were coming towards the end of our pulling and pushing of the handcart for that day, we stopped at a small river that ran across the valley, I was asked to grab a hand full of rocks. Doing so I walked over to bishop Lee who was standing at the edge of this small stream, he talked to me about the love that our savior has for us, that how much burden I was carrying and how I didn’t have to, he then took the rocks from my hand and tossed them into the water before me. It was a wonderful experience where I felt the spirit, it made me want to be better cause I felt an instant lift off my shoulders, just knowing that Christ paid for those little rocks that eventually becomes a big burden.

And so while I was lying there thinking about this experience, I thought of how easy it is to have these huge spiritual moments, and our testimony is so strong at that time, we feel like nothing could prove us otherwise, but what about when we are weak? When we don’t have those moments to push us forward, helping us, it’s really difficult. So while lying there I guess it made me feel like even though, I’ve had wonderful experiences, I need to stay focused and prepare myself for when the weak times come, cause it’s easy to forget those huge moments when we are weak.

 Something that I’m going to do, and I would encourage anyone else to do it also, is keep a small note pad with you, and  write down just a brief explanation of when you feel the spirit reveal something unto you! And when you look back on your notes it will surprise you.

I wish I had more time, but I am still in Wichita, been here for 6 months, transfers are on the 27th, so if you’re going to send a letter or anything be sure to do it pretty soon so that I don’t leave before it gets here! Love ya family you are the shiz! Thanks so much for all the awesome pictures you send! They are so great! Oh and for all who don’t know, Conor Andrus got his mission call!!!! He is going to serve in the Scotland/Ireland mission!!! So be sure to give him a congrats when you can! Have an awesome week!!! Elder Spencer Dahl

General Conference Missionary Style:

So First of all, I must say that this general conference was so amazing. I’m not sure if it was because I paid more attention, or if because I am a missionary and I just was able to understand more, but the best thing ever was that I was able to listen to the servants of our father in heaven. I wrote down a few questions during this general conference that I needed help for the answers, and everyone was answered, almost perfectly to what I needed. Not only that, but in past general conferences I’ve heard speakers talk about how they wish that we would be able to hear their message, but have the spirit tell us something that is completely different then what they are talking. Before Saturday night, never have I ever seen that come true. There were times when I was trying to keep up with the things coming into my mind, and I know that there was things that I missed, many things happened this week on a spiritual standpoint for me. I feel that my testimony has grown so much over the past 5 or 6 days that I can hardly imagine what I was doing without realizing it. I guess God just has a way of giving us what we need to get by, not everything that we want right now. I know that if we continually search for the answers to our questions, we grow, more important things come into view only when we are ready to handle them I think, that has been my case at least.

In regards to the missionary work out here in Kansas, I’ve been blessed, immensely, God has been preparing the people in the world, and I have been able to see the fruits of his work here in Wichita. Although people will reject the promptings of the spirit from time to time, I know that God still loves all of his children. I am brought back to a former member of the church that my previous companion and I went and saw. There has only been 2 times on my mission where I have felt the spirit strong enough for me to actually cry, this one was during this appointment, although the outcome of the appointment didn’t end how I wished it would, and thinking that it was a complete failure, we got in the car and drove home in complete silence. I have thought about that moment a few times sense, and yet I still don’t think I truly understand the reasoning behind it. I was able to feel of that spirit to confirm, my testimony that He is watching over us, that He cares about all of his children.

Looking over the notes that I took during general conference I can’t help but think, that God wants us to know to be as his son was. A lot of the talks were about humility, being virtuous, serving others, and more then all being an example. I remember someone told me once, to look at those who have been that example, benefit my life off of what I see them do, and so even now, I’m realizing that a lot of my life I have been blind you could say, not noticing the subtle examples I’ve had in my life, but I can thank all of you! For allowing me the opportunity to learn, although there is a lot I still have to say I think this will wrap up my email for this week, but for anyone who missed watching general conference, at any point, I think you should watch it, cause I’ve seen changes in my life in the past 48 hours, cause I know that God is real, that He loves all of us, that’s why He gives us these wonderful chances to hear His words during general conference!

Love you all so so much! Thank you for the support you show me, and the willing sacrifices you each go through promise you that your efforts don’t go unrewarded, I love to hear from all of you, it brightens my day, so be sure to send an occasional letter or email! Even if I don’t respond they uplift me! So thank you! Have an awesome week my family! You guys areBOMB.COM! Been awhile sense I said that!

Love ya!

 Spencer.

Our Elders Birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Today Elder Dahl is 21!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey guys! How has everyone’s week been? Hopefully amazing! This week has been golden, on Saturday one of our investigators Nathan was baptized! It was a great experience; his father (Yanko who is a recent convert for about a month and a half) baptized him.

Also this week I was able to attend my 2nd zone conference, there was a lot of talks given, and a lot of powerful messages, I think the one that stood out to me the most was President Keyes talk, he talked about how we are all sons and daughters of our heavenly father, and what it really means to be part of that amazing family, this week how ever has been hard it seems like Satan has tried every possible way to pull me down, as he does with all of us, and sometimes we fall into his trap, even if it’s something very minor, it is a step into his direction, and looking back to my life at least, the times that I struggled the most or the times I had the problems (big or small) in my life was the times that I forgot.

Learning about all of the former prophets has brought a happiness to me that cannot really be described, while during his talk he mentioned about the prophet Moses, and the experiences he went through, and he shared a few verses in the book of Moses, that really hit hard to me, cause sometimes we forget, even as a missionary, although I am trying, I am not perfect in anyway, I have short comings, but the lord spoke to Moses,  ''behold, I am the lord god almighty and endless is my name..... and behold, thou art my son.... and I have a work for thee, Moses, my son; and thou art in the similitude of mine only begotten, and mine only begotten is and shall be the savior....and it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said; who art thou? For behold, I am a son of god, in the similitude of his only begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?''

That’s what sometimes we forget, that we actually are sons and daughters of god, so while I heard these, a lot of things came to my mind that I wrote down, things that I don’t have time for at this moment, but I have felt the love that god showed me for not just asking to know, but searching for myself to know, I only have a few minutes, and I know this is like the shortest email ever, but I am so blessed to have a wonderful family such as all of you, for the wonderful emails you have sent me and packages and letters, they really uplift me more then you can even realize! today I turned 21, and never did I think that I would be 21, it’s a weird feeling, but all in all, I’m learning more about my life, and I’m still a baby Dahl! I’ve enjoyed every moment of my mission and already would give anything to stay out here longer, time flies when you’re having fun I guess! Love you all so much! Again sorry for the short email! Your son and brother!

 Elder Spencer Dahl! Love you!

Month of September:

So before I talk about what happened this week I want to talk about what is going to happen this coming up week, so tomorrow we have zone conference again, and I am so excited, I’ve learned to absolutely love hearing talks and learning, it’s kind of weird to think about, cause I was never that way before, but also this weekend on the 24th, (also Mary's birthday) one of our investigators (Nathan) is getting baptized! we went over the baptismal questions with him last time we were at his house, and he understood all of them, so it was a good experience, usually people get confused with the word of wisdom thinking it’s a think about learning, not gods law of heath for us, but he understood it and remembered it, so I’m excited, just a bit of background, Nathan is really young, he is 9 years old, both of his parents were baptized into different wards, his mom (Erika) was baptized into my ward right before I got here, and his dad (Yanko) was baptized into the Spanish branch about a month ago, and so we have been working with Nathan preparing him for baptism.

On more of another note, just so you understand, I have gained so much weight since I've been out! Between biking and the food that our members feed us, I've been for lack of a better word, growing! I’m about 165. And still rising! But I think ill peak here in a little bit, there’s only so much for the weight to go right?

Most of this week has been finding, we have tracted quite a few times, talked to quite a few people, it’s been a good experience I thought I would of absolutely hated tracting, but it’s not as bad as its talked up to be, I think a lot of it is just my attitude, knocking on a door expecting to share a message with them or their family, usually leads to success, but we will see where it takes us!

One experience I had, I was with another missionary at the time, (I go on a lot of missionary exchanges) but we were going to see a lady named Lakeatha, and when we got there no one was home, so obviously we were there for some other reason, we didn’t know what, so we decided to tract around her house, about the 3rd or 4th house we knocked at this African American guy opened the door (Rodger) and we just talked with him for a moment about the restoration, he said he didn’t have time to meet with us, he just took his insulin** and needed to eat some food, so we asked if we could come back in 20 minutes, he said sure, and so we continued on tracting, we found 2 other people who we are meeting with on Tuesday while we were waiting for Rodger, we went back to his house and him and his cousin Ron were there, they came out on the porch and started talking to us, it turns out they are both from St. Louis, and wanted a better life style so they came out here to Wichita, to live with their families, they both grew up in a catholic church but neither of them really got into it, as most youngsters.. but we started talking about the priesthood throughout the ages being brought back to the earth and taken away, and when we got to talking about Joseph Smith, the spirit was defiantly present, since I’ve been on my mission iv picked up a few I guess you could call gifts... I’m learning how to read peoples body's you could say, but right when we started talking about the first vision, the spirit touched Rodger, his face, his arms everything was leaning towards comforting, it was way cool cause it was such a great experience, we also are meeting with him on Tuesday after zone conference, it’s just such a blessing to see gods hand in the work that I get to be part of, after all before my mission it wasn’t everyday that I got to feel the spirit strongly how I have been, it’s been a great chance that I’ve been given!  I don’t have a whole lot to say except that I love it out here; it’s been a huge spiritual uplift ever since I’ve gotten out here.

Yesterday, during priesthood meeting we talked about the spirit world, and I thought I knew so much about the spirit world I've taught it quite a few times but before the lesson started I wanted to learn something that I didn’t know before, and it was like an explosion of knowledge! So many things started making sense about the spirit world that I never even realized before, mostly about when Christ went to visit the spirit world during the 3 days after his crucifixion, I just love the gospel it seriously answers any of the questions we have or might have, well at least the ones that matter... but I hope you guys have had a wonderful week! I know that god loves all of us! He is proving himself time and time again, we just need to look! Let me know if anything fun happens! And Mary has a wonderful birthday!

 Love you guys! 

Spencer!

[p.s]-sorry if the pictures look really big when you open them, but if you move them onto your camera sd card or something they print off perfectly, just a heads up!

 Love ya!

 (We now know why he is growing so much!!!!!!! Pounding it down!!! Love our lil bro!)

Hey Everyone!

So Transfers came.... and guess what, I’m staying! I guess the lord has something for me to do here yet again, but I will not complain cause I love it here in Wichita, the heat is finally going down, this summer here there was 53 days where the temperature was in triple digits, there for making it the hottest year ever! Even hotter than the dust bowl in 1932? My facts might be off on that one, but it’s crazy! I am also still with elder Decker, I don’t have any crazy stories for you this week but I still feel like this week was so amazing! this week, in my district we got 2 new missionaries, Elder Bertoch and Elder Boyer, I’m going on exchanges with elder Boyer tonight and we are going to see Dan Barton and Danny Regan, and a few other potentials in the area, but it’s going to be a good night, although last night I found out elder Boyer lost his voice yesterday, so just a minor hold back, iv only met him once so it’s hard to say, but he seems like a really nice kid, the other new missionary (elder Bertoch) is in the area just north of mine, and we also share a car with him and his companion, so we see them more often than the other missionaries, they had a baptism on Saturday so we picked them up and took them to the church, elder Decker and I usually attend the baptism's cause we usually have to be there for the interview, but it’s all good and fun.

Elder Bertoch is a way solid missionary, out here in this mission there is a rule, that you can’t drive or be called to leadership until you pass off your lessons, and Elder Bertoch is blowing through these lessons like there nothing, it took me a good couple weeks to get through them, and he has passed of 3 of the 5 in the past 4 days... but it’s all about the dedication you put into it I guess, for me I just got caught up in all the things I was learning that I didn’t give my lessons the attention they needed I guess but I’m glad we have the opportunities to study in the morning!

as far as the work goes, elder Decker and I have been putting a lot of time in getting the members involved with missionary work, and it’s been taking off, as iv said in the past about elder Decker and I handing out the missionary weapons training kit,

ok side note "so elder Decker and I are sitting here at the library writing to our families and one of the members of our wards (the Robertson’s) just came into the library, and there little daughter who is like 4 years old has the biggest crush on elder Decker, and her mom brought her up to elder Decker and I to say hi, and she went off about how she got a new tooth brush from the dentist today! It was way cute! She also told elder Decker and she was his girlfriend and that he had to tell his family about her! It was golden! I love our wards! Being here for just under 5 months and being here for another transfer I've grown to really love the members and people here!

I was reading a article in the February 2011 ensign, and it’s called rescuing lost lambs, if you have the time I would read it, cause its way powerful and it’s also from my mission president from when he was an area 70, but I really like what he says about the song "have I done any good" so read it if you have the opportunity!

also another great moment that happened yesterday, the primary president of one of our wards gave us a call on Saturday night, and asked elder Decker and I if we would like to come into primary and give a short 2-3 minute talk each about how missionary work blesses lives, and it was way cool we came in the far back door, and one little girl turned around cause she heard the door open, and she was like "the missionaries!" and all the kids turned around! it reminds me when I was a little kid and I saw the missionaries it was the coolest thing ever, it’s so surreal to think that I’m actually a missionary, the thing that my whole life I was basically working towards, and it was an awesome experience to share experiences that I’ve had on my mission to help influence these awesome kids and their love for the gospel, I feel in some way proud to be a missionary, cause there is one family in particular, (the colt family) and they have 3 sons, who adore the missionaries, I remember last time I was at their house, the boys asked so many questions about missionary life! It was sweet to answer the questions that they had for us, and I’ve learned a secret to missionary work, if you get the kids involved in missionary work they kind of pester their parents, I know it’s probably not the best way but the members are excited about the work now in this area! I only have a few moments left and I still need to send an email to president! But I love you all! hope everything is going well in your lives, and always be searching for the promptings of the spirit to guide you where you need to be, god will put you in the place where you can help someone’s life, to help them gain a testimony of Christ and of our father, and I promise you that you don’t need to be a full time missionary to make an impact. Love you all, have a good week!

Love

Elder Spencer Dahl

Sept. 6th Email:

From the sounds of things everything is going well back at home! Sense yesterday all the libraries where closed cause of Labor Day, I’m at the library today (Tuesday) and transfer calls are tonight! I’m excited but not at the same time, cause I love this area, and I want to stay here there is a good chance that I could be leaving, which would not be bad either cause I want to have the experience of serving in other areas.

But I need to tell you about this wonderful story that happened to elder Decker and me the other day!

So on Saturday! We were biking and all of our appointments were falling through, and it felt like nothing was getting done, it was terrible, and we stopped on the side of the road, and I was like elder Decker, what do we need to do? And he was like (I have no idea) and I said well lets go find a miracle! So with this new attitude we started biking and honestly not 10 seconds later a car pulled in front of us and yelling! ‘‘Are you guys Mormons??!!'' we said yes and he asked if we had something that he could read! we gave him a restoration pamphlet and got his info, he said he didn’t have time to meet with us right then but that we could stop by in a few days, we have plans to go stop by there today.

 But elder Decker and I, although that was a miracle it wasn’t the one we were looking for, so we continued on our quest! and we biked down a few streets that we have only been a few times, and we got pretty far down, and we decided on going to see a potential that we talked to the other day, and there is a freeway called US-54 and other a few of the main big roads cross it, and we were on a small road, so I told elder Decker in order for us to get across the freeway, we would have to go back to the main road we were on, and cross so that we could get over the freeway, and he said no I think we should go this way, and I fought it, I said it would be so much faster to go this other way, and again he said no lets go this way, and yet again I said that doesn’t make sense, and then he said "there is someone on this street that we need to talk to" and so finally I got over my pride and we started biking down the street.

 the first person we saw on the street was this African American lady sitting in her front yard, having a yard sale, we stopped and started talking to her, it started to rain, so we asked if we could help her move all of her things into her house so that it didn’t get all wet, she graciously agreed, we moved everything in her front yard into her house as fast as possible, when we got it all done, I noticed 2 tablets, which were the 10 commandments and the Lord’s prayer, she asked me if I wanted them, I asked her how much? (sense I only had the 2 dollar bill that mom gave me I was hoping not very much money) and she said for free, I then said to her, that if she was willing to give me this for free, could I give her something, she agreed, we got out one of the copies of the book of Mormon that we had, and handed it to her, and talked about the prophet Joseph Smith and the book of Mormon, it was so amazing cause while we were talking to her we asked her if she was a member of any church, she said she grew up in one, but as she became older she realized that there are so many churches that agree on the bible but teach totally different doctrine, so the Joseph Smith story hit her hard.

Elder Decker and I bore testimony, and asked her if we could come back, she said she would love for us to! It was a wonderful, experience, and it was the miracle we were looking for.

on Sunday (which was fast Sunday) I wanted to bear my testimony but there was a long line of people, and we were already over time, so I decided not to, but I still had that prompting, so after sacrament, there is 2 classes that are held, the gospel doctrine class, and the gospel essentials class, we attend the gospel essentials, cause that’s where our investigators go, but I felt like I still needed to bear my testimony, so elder Decker and I went into the gospel doctrine class, where most of the adults go to class, and we bore testimony about the love that god has for all of his children!

and who knows how our testimonies affected the people, but sometimes we ignore the promptings of the spirit, and we have been helping our ward be ready for the promptings when they come, as I have told you in past emails that we have been giving out these missionary weapons training kits ( they are zip lock bags with pamphlets, 2 copies of the BoM and some pass along cards) but we have been giving these to the members to put in their cars, so that when they receive the prompting to give someone something that they will have the materials that will best help the person that needs it, and I know that this is a scary thing but I’ve seen the success from it, so family, will you put 1 or 2 copies of the book of Mormon in your trunk or in your car or something, cause really we never know when we will be put in a situation where we could really help someone else, and not have the thing that will change their life right there on the spot, but I know you will be given opportunities by doing so! And I have faith that you guys will be awesome missionaries! (after all you guys helped me get where I am today, and I’m not saying I’m an awesome missionary but I’ve learned how to help others by being helped from you!)

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you! Keep me posted on things going on in your life, cause I pray for you all every night! And I want to know where I can help!

Stay sweet my awesome family! yall are the best!

From your Friend, Lil Bro, and Son! Elder Spencer Dahl

Aug. 28th email:

So my letter will be a little interesting this week, on the way to the library where we email, a few other elders and myself decided to record our voices, and send it to all of our families so I hope you enjoy the brief chance you will get to hear our voices again!

But as of this week, it has been a very joyful week! I always enjoy the weeks that I get to ride a bike! as weird as that sounds, it’s a great experience, iv been talking with everyone that I see, (getting rejected quite often) but none the less helping others come unto Christ, just an example of what happened this week, elder Decker and I were riding down the street and probably 200 yards in front of us, these 2 guys stopped dead in their tracks and one pointed at us, and so it was a little scary, but we continued onward, when we got a little closer the guy who pointed at us and yelled, are yall Mormons!? we stopped and told him that we were missionaries for the church, and he told us how he was a member but didn’t know where the church building was and he wanted to start coming back to church, the guy he was with is a non-member, we talked to them for a short moment, and right there on the spot shared a brief message about the plan of salvation, and this guy seemed so interested, he didn’t have a phone, so we left him with our number and we pray that he will call us.

This weekend was also really special for me, I got to attend stake conference, and it seems that this one hit me harder than any has in my life, I’m not sure if its cause I needed it or cause I’m more sensitive to the spirit so I got more out of it, but I just like to think that it was both, but the messages that were shared were so powerful, there was a lot of things that were shared, on the Saturday night session, our mission president was there, he bore a very powerful testimony, about three things, one of them was about our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson, and he shared a story of when we was asked to attend a gathering of religious groups, he sat down where he was designated to sit, and with his wife talked with people and greeted others, then they sat down and president Keyes noticed the name tag of the plate next to his, it was President Monson, soon after President Monson came in and sat down next to president keyes and President Monson, leaned over to his wife, and asked what they were having for dinner that night, and she said, salmon and steak, and He said: ahh, I love salmon and steak.

so the night continued on and eventually the servers came out with the food, and they placed this wonderful meal in front of everyone, and right when President Monson was about to take a bite, someone from across the room came over and said (President! I thought that was you, I just wanted to come over and say hi), president Monson stood up and pushed in his chair and greeted this person like it was his best friend, shared a short conversation with the person for 2-3 minutes, and said bye and sat down and right when he was about to take a bite the same thing happened, President Monson stood up as before and greeted this person again just like it was his best friend, shared a short conversation and sat down, the entire night this happened, by the time president Monson sat down, the servers and already taken the food back into the kitchen, President Keyes, then stated to us, how impressed he was with President Monson, the love that he had for all these individuals, and even though he was very hungry, after a long day, he still had a smile on his face.

I’ve been able to learn so much out here on my mission, I feel that mainly the love that I have for Jesus, and the our heavenly father, and all of his children, people are able to feel the love that we have for them, a lot of this week iv realized it’s hard for people to feel the spirit, or even listen to our message if they don’t trust us, iv been continually trying to increase the love I have for the savior, and also for all of our brothers and sisters here.

I apologize for not sharing too much about my missionary experiences but, this has been on my mind the last few days, from the sounds of things, everything is going well at home! Keep me posted on events and other such things! I love you all so much and look forward from hearing from all of you!

Elder Spencer A. Dahl