Signs of Spring...4/14/2014

Mom,

I hope you enjoyed your crazy busy and hectic week. Hopefully things will calm down a bit during spring break. I still recognize everyone in the photos you sent. Lucy looks a lot different but everyone else looks relatively the same. The little boys have a lot longer hair and they look a little bit older now but not by too much.

This week has been busy. My companion and I went to the Visitors' Center 4 times this last week for song practice, 2 for my companion's song, 1 for the choral number we were in, and 1 performance for "Night of Music and Inspiration". It was a good performance and I was glad to see and perform in another "Night of Music and Inspiration." I feel so blessed to have a mission with a temple in its boundaries and on top of that having a Visitors' Center as well for people to come and see. My companion has an interview on Wednesday, so we will both be at the Visitors' Center again this week.

My companion and I were also we able to meet with a lot of our less-active members this week. Most of whom we rarely see, and some of them I had yet to meet since arriving in this area. It was nice being able to visit with them and share a message with them. Our investigator with a baptismal date was in California this week and he should be back today, so we are excited to meet with him again.

I did get your Facebook message and I do hope to receive your package before Easter. It really depends on if the Zone Leaders need to go down to the Mission Office this week or the Assistants come up to a district meeting. If not, I'll get it a little late at Zone Conference. Don't stress out about it, I'll get it and I'm sure it will be great.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Dad,

I hope that you have a great week that's not too stressful. I also hope that you are still doing well. 

I'm still taking lots of pictures here. My companion and I are planning on going to see the Cherry Blossoms today and hopefully I'll be able to take some more good pictures. The Cherry Blossoms hit peak bloom on Thursday so we're hoping that they still are in great condition today.  I've taken 840 pictures as of yesterday. Hopefully Mom isn't having too much photo envy.  I'm trying to appease you guys with a couple photos on p-day or on my temple album on Facebook.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Braden's Companion

Braden's Companion with Sister Eyring and Sister Black



Tradition is that each departing missionary prefers at their final "Night of Inspiration" a song of their choice. Braden's companion is accompanied on violin by the Temple President's wife, Sister Eyring. (Her husband is Elder Henry B. Eyring's brother.) Braden has nothing but great things to say about his amazingly talented companion who also trained him the first 12 weeks in Washington D.C. Wishing this young man all our best--The Dahl Family

Mom,

I hope you enjoyed your crazy busy and hectic week. Hopefully things will calm down a bit during spring break. I still recognize everyone in the photos you sent. Lucy looks a lot different but everyone else looks relatively the same. The little boys have a lot longer hair and they look a little bit older now but not by too much.

This week has been busy. My companion and I went to the Visitors' Center 4 times this last week for song practice, 2 for my companion's song, 1 for the choral number we were in, and 1 performance for "Night of Music and Inspiration". It was a good performance and I was glad to see and perform in another "Night of Music and Inspiration." I feel so blessed to have a mission with a temple in its boundaries and on top of that having a Visitors' Center as well for people to come and see. My companion has an interview on Wednesday, so we will both be at the Visitors' Center again this week.

My companion and I were also we able to meet with a lot of our less-active members this week. Most of whom we rarely see, and some of them I had yet to meet since arriving in this area. It was nice being able to visit with them and share a message with them. Our investigator with a baptismal date was in California this week and he should be back today, so we are excited to meet with him again.

I did get your Facebook message and I do hope to receive your package before Easter. It really depends on if the Zone Leaders need to go down to the Mission Office this week or the Assistants come up to a district meeting. If not, I'll get it a little late at Zone Conference. Don't stress out about it, I'll get it and I'm sure it will be great.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Dad,

I hope that you have a great week that's not too stressful. I also hope that you are still doing well. 

I'm still taking lots of pictures here. My companion and I are planning on going to see the Cherry Blossoms today and hopefully I'll be able to take some more good pictures. The Cherry Blossoms hit peak bloom on Thursday so we're hoping that they still are in great condition today.  I've taken 840 pictures as of yesterday. Hopefully Mom isn't having too much photo envy.  I'm trying to appease you guys with a couple photos on p-day or on my temple album on Facebook.

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl

No longer a Trainee 4-7-2014

Dad,

It's nice to no longer be a trainee but now I am trying to lose my greenie title (at the end of 6 months). The extra hour is relieving since it's less desk-sitting time. Now that I'm out here for my third transfer I can drive. It's nice being able to drive again, but Maryland drivers drive very differently than California drivers. I've become more accustomed to it from my previous two transfers, but it still is hard driving in it. The I-270 and the I-495 are awful. The speed limit is 55mph and I was going 80mph and was getting passed by every car on the road, I'm not joking either. Basically you just go full throttle on those freeways unless there is traffic. I can't even tell you how many times I was passed. I guess since it's the only road in Maryland without a "photo-cop" everyone just feels the need to speed.

Last Monday after I emailed you, my companion and I went out to the Potomac River in our area at White's Ferry. It was very pretty scenery and fun to take pictures all around. 

The Connecticut and Ohio Historic Canal is also right next to it there and we took some pictures by that as well. It isn't very much a canal anymore but you can see a little water flowing and the old banks of the canal. 

It was fun and we hung out there for a little while. It was nice and relaxing and just fun to see all the beauty over there. If you got out there with a camera, I'm not so sure how long it would take me to convince you to leave.

General Conference was great. I loved the sessions and the conference just seemed to fly by. I loved all the talks and each message was wonderful and very insightful. I can't pin down a favorite session or a favorite speaker because there were so many great talks in each session. I hope everyone follows President Monson's challenge to continue to study the conference talks this April General Conference and find and receive more inspiration and guidance. It was Elder Ballard's talk you were talking about with studying Preach My Gospel (PMG). I did really enjoy his talk and how he used some of his skills he learned on his mission helping him throughout his life.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Mom,

This week has been very busy but very good. Elder Alca finished his mission last Wednesday so there were a few goodbye parties that we went to at member's homes on Monday and Tuesday. They were all fun and Elder Alca really appreciated all that the members were doing for him.

Tuesday's call-outs happened and we found out that we were getting 2 fresh out of the MTC missionaries in our district and who our new zone leader would be. They are all nice people but my companion and I haven't had very much time to visit or see them because of the busy-ness of this week.

Wednesday was the Transfer Meeting and it was a nice to hear all the testimonies of the departing missionaries. Afterwards, my companion and I stayed for a choir practice for a musical number for this month's "Night of Music and Inspiration." We will be singing, "Christ The Lord is Risen Today." For lunch, my companion and I went to the nearby mall, the Westfield Wheaton Mall. It is gigantic; it has a Costco in it along with a few other grocery stores and the normal mall stores. Although I was only in the food court it looked strikingly familiar. It's nice to know there's a Westfield mall out here too.

My companion and I finally were able to visit with one of the less-active families in the ward and we had a nice conversation with them and invited them to watch General Conference. We also started teaching one of the children of a recent convert to prepare him for baptism at the request of the Bishop. It is fun teaching little kids. We are currently teaching two kids who are children of record in preparation for baptism. They are really fun to be with and they always keep the conversation lively. Our investigator with the baptismal date is still doing well and he is still very excited to be baptized. It has been harder to keep in contact with him this week because of our busy schedule but we have stopped by a few times this week just to check up on him.

I am excited to keep working and I am loving this mission, the members and the people (aka future members). Tell Nathaniel to keep up the picture taking; he'll need the skill in the future.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

P.S. Don't worry about my picture taking, I'm up to 775 pictures on my camera.

Mom,

At the transfers meeting the mission office announced that they will no longer be forwarding mail to our addresses. This means if I get mail sent to the mission office I will get it when they distribute it out on days they bring the mail to our zone/area. They gave us two options for mail; wait for the days they give out mail or give the apartment address we have.

The more definite dates for this transfer to receive mail would be Zone Training on 4/9, Zone Conference 4/30, Departing Temple Trip 5/7, and Transfers 5/14. But there could technically be others; it's just less likely. For example the zone leaders went to the mission office on Thursday and I got a letter from the cousins in Roseville that day.

[Note: Stacie (Mom) has his apartment address if anyone wants it.]

Just remember this address might only last until May 14th. Though probably it will last 6 weeks after that because my companion is leaving after this transfer, but it's not a 100% fact. Also, if the mail arrives after that date of the transfer and I leave, it is extremely unlikely that I will ever see it (some missionaries aren't very good at forwarding or returning to sender). Of the two letters I have received, one of them took 8 days before it arrived in the mission office (not counting any of the 'Mission Office to me' time), the other took 6 days to get to the mission office. Just remember it can take longer than that, for example Grandma's most recent letter (from CA) took 7 days to travel from the North Potomac Post office to my apartment. Grandma sent her letter out on the 19th of March (I can see the postal stamp/marking with the date). The Mission Office sent it out to me on the 25th (or at least the post office processed it on that day, I can see their postal stamp/marking as well) and I got it on the 1st of April. Normally, I've heard it takes about a day or two from the mission office to the missionary's apartments. In this case it took 7 days, not 1-2 days.

I would recommend that if you were to send anything directly to my apartment to not send anything to the apartment address two weeks before transfers (for this transfer that date would be 4/29). And if you want to send anything after that date, send it to the normal Mission Office address. If it arrives later at the mission office I can always get it later. Plus the temple trip is just over a week from that day so it would arrive just on time for the temple trip and if it didn't make it in time it's only a few more days until the transfer meeting. For most people my address can stay the mission office one, 11700 Falls Rd. because it is less confusing than trying to remember a new address every six weeks and there are several times each transfer mail and packages are distributed (the dates I wrote earlier). Just use your discretion on who else gets my apartment address.

Packages should also go to the mission office because I'm not at the apartment very often or for very long. No one would be there to get the package if one were to come.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

3/31/2014 Letter

Mom,

This week was good but everyone was a little anxious to hear about transfers. We were able to visit with a lot of less-active members this week, which helped a lot. We also had two lessons with our investigator who has a baptismal date. My companion and I are still excited for him and can't wait to meet with him this week.

Yesterday, we went to Hermana O's for one of the many coming Elder Al.. parting dinners (He is finishing his mission on Wednesday). I had chicken tacos, pork tacos, and nopales tacos (cactus tacos); they were super good and we had a great night. Afterwards, Hermano D asked if I ever had real agua de jamaica (jamaica the flower not the country pronounced huh-mike-a). I had never had real jamaica to drink, only the artificial flavoring of it. He got out some dried jamaica and boiled it in water and made the drink. It is a super delicious drink and apparently really healthy for you. As always, the real stuff was much better than the flavoring of it.

The temple was a great day, there aren't tulips all over the place quite yet because of all this wintery weather over here, but I've heard they are coming out of the ground now. Spring hasn't hit us yet in Maryland. What everyone is waiting on is the cherry blossoms. In DC the cherry blossoms are a huge hit at the National Mall and apparently absolutely gorgeous. People crowd DC to see them. The trees were a gift to the USA in its early years from Japan. The trees are very old which is really rare for the east coast because trees aren't as old-aged over here. Anyways, the Festival of the Cherry Blossom has already started but it goes from March through May, and they're still waiting for some consistent warm weather for the trees to even bud. 

Transfers are on Wednesday and everyone’s getting excited to see where they're going. Tuesday night the Zone Leaders do a "call-out" where they will announce who the new companionships are and where the people who are leaving their area are going. This past Saturday the Zone leaders did their call-out and announced for each area, in the zone, who would be leaving or staying (both can stay or leave as well). My companion has been here for 5 transfers (5@ six-week periods) and he was convinced he was leaving for his last transfer. We got the call and his prediction came to be incorrect. Instead, I will be going to stay in Germantown with him. So I get to be with my companion for another six weeks (no extreme circumstances permitting). 

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Dad,

I'm glad to hear your still staying busy. Hopefully everything will not be too stressful this coming week. I hope Sunday was alright and you had a great Sacrament Meeting. I know that you’ll enjoy General Conference this coming Saturday and Sunday. It's weird when they announce conference at 2pm and 4pm instead of 11am and 1pm. I think this is the first actual time zone difference that I've really noticed here.

The Temple trip on Wednesday was really great. My companion and I got there early with our roommates so we had the opportunity to wait and just ponder in the Temple for a little while. The session was really wonderful. Afterwards, we returned to our really busy schedule. We quickly went to the store for our roommates, dropped them off at the apartment, picked up a lunch from a member, and went immediately to District Meeting. (All in under an hour, the temple is at least a 30-minute drive). Needless to say, we didn't eat lunch until after 4pm. It felt like I was back at work again with our late lunches. We just ate enough to sustain us because we had a large dinner appointment at 6pm. It was a great day but a little packed.

Yesterday had some interesting weather, it was raining (continuation of the rain we had on Saturday) and during church it started to hail a little. Then it started to sleet. There was a nice layer of sleet all over the ground and roads. It was not hard to drive in if you went slow and were careful, but my companion and I saw 2 cars that were crashed off the side of the road (no one hurt just lost control) from when we left and were driving to Hermana O's (3.6 miles). Then it rained through the night and cleared up almost all of the sleet. Today it's a little cold but sunny. Every time we have one day kind of spring-ish, we get a week of winter.

Next transfer I am officially no longer a trainee. I will be done with the 12-week program and will only have one hour of companionship study instead of 2 hours.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Brother #2,

I know that you don't like writing but that doesn't stop me from writing you. I hope that everything is going well. I hope you are enjoying school. Your choir pictures from your performances look great. I'm sure you're still keeping up the awesome work you are doing in your classes.

How's Teachers' Quorum going? I hope that church is fun and that you are learning more and more about the gospel.

I hope you have a good week and have some great warm weather. 

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

Brother #3,

I hope that everything is going well with you. How has school been? How is scouts? I heard you guys can get a little crazy. I hope that you have been having lots of fun lately.

How is your obsession with chicken? Where I'm at is basically chicken-topia. You would love all the chicken here. That is the most common food that I eat. But like you've seen in my old emails I eat some other things too. A few days ago was the first time that I had salmon. It was shredded up and tasted really good and it didn't taste very fishy.

Anyways, I hope that you are doing well and having a great time. Enjoy being a zurdo (you're the only one in the house that is one now).

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

P.S I'm a zurdo. [Mom’s Note: Can you figure out what ‘zurdo’ means using the context clues?  It’s Spanish for being ‘left-handed.’]

Brother #4,

I hope that you're doing well. Hopefully, you’re not having as many nosebleeds now. Anyways, how is school doing? How's scouts? How is church going?

Yesterday, my companion and I were in Primary the whole time. We went to one class and acted out the story of Esau and Jacob. I was Jacob and my companion was Esau. We did the part where Esau sells his birthright for some food. The teacher gave us lentils beforehand and I gave them to my companion and he ate them.

Then, we went to another class and talked a little about baptism and showed the kids how they are going to be baptized. Then we went into Sharing Time and helped press play on the piano (it has recordings of all the Primary songs and hymns). Then my companion was asked to bear his testimony about missionary work.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl