Church was cancelled-It's -14°! ...Written 2-16-2015

I'm glad that you've had such a fun time lately. It sounds like it was a great time having some of the family over (minus the sickness). I hope you all get to feeling better soon and have a speedy recovery.

In regards to breathing fire we all took turns. It was a lot of fun and it cool to say you've breathed fire at least once, right? Don't worry nothing has been set on fire and we haven't done it again since then. Right now he only fire we have is candles, a stovetop, and matches.

It has been rather chilly here. We had a couple days of grace but on Valentine's Day in the evening it snowed about an inch with 45mph gusts of wind so we had to go in an hour early for the night. On Sunday we had a wind chill of -14° and high winds. All church meetings were cancelled including Sacrament Meeting for Mount Pleasant. We were told to say inside all day because of the frigid cold and high winds 40mph (60mph gusts). It was a bad day but I think the reason we stayed in was because its one of our first real days of winter (this winter has been super mild so far). We are supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow this evening and another inch on Tuesday. We'll see if it happens but it sounds like winter has finally arrived. So far we've missed all of the east coast snowmageddon but will see what February favors.

Since we were in all day Sunday I decided to finally catch up on my letter writing to everyone that has written me. I was way behind but I finally have them all written and sent out. I remember writing at least 12 letters but it may have been a couple more than that. I've nearly depleted my stamp supply but it was nice to catch up on that. Time just keeps flying by out here.

This week has been very nice though. We've hung out and visited with a less-active member a lot this week and are becoming good friends now. We've also visited with a lot of members that we haven't seen for a while. It was nice being able to visit with them again and share a message of Jesus Christ.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

Here are pictures of Elder Dahl on Saturday night (Valentine's Day)...

Notice the snow blowing in from the side...

"He says, "I've been doing fine so far in the winter. I'm been keeping warm and haven't felt bitter cold or anything. It's been a super mild winter but this week's supposed to a little harsher but I'm sure I'll be fine. I'm glad to hear everything is going well."   

The tongue is a fire...Written 2-9-2015

This week has been really nice. My companion and I have been busy visiting a lot of people this week. Tuesday we were able to meet with a less-active member we have yet to see since we've been here. We also met with an awesome investigator in the afternoon and had some members there. 

Saturday we went as a branch and watched Meet the Mormons in Spanish. We had a less-active, recent convert, and an investigator attend. It was awesome! Sunday we also had two investigators come to church and two less-active members attend church. Sunday was also Night of Music and Inspiration and I sang a duet there. We also had a less-active member, a recent convert, and an investigator attend that evening!

So this last week I thought how can I take a picture that represents what you remember about me. 

(First and foremost we didn't use alcohol to do this and I won't tell my brothers how to do this.) James 3:6 says "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." Often our words can be harsh towards others especially the people we are close to. We need to be careful. Often times we also get fire spit at us but we need to be careful how we respond as well. We can either add fuel and increase the flame between us or we can cool it down by responding in a dignified manner. The cha peter continues and says "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." James 3:13. We control our words and conversations and when can either breathe out fire or calm the storm of words. 

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

Written 2/2/2015

So I've been reading in the gospels of Mark and Luke this week. I'm enjoying the gospels and the insights they are giving. Some particular passages that I have enjoyed are Mark 9:23-24. When all things are possible through our actions of faith, we need the Lord's help to increase our faith from our person unbeliefs. I also enjoyed Mark 11:25-26. There are a lot of people that trespass or bother us but we need to develop that pure Christlike love toward others and forgive them. It is definitely something that takes time and practice but is definitely possible.

This week we found two new investigators this week who seem pretty good. One is a referral we received from the English Elders. She is an lady from El Salvador but has lived here most of her life. She has member friends and is really interested in learning more. We also found a sister of one of our investigators from Honduras. She is nice and wants to learn more about the church and what we believe.

Our investigators are doing well. Many are progressing now and we are trying to help them continue to progress to baptism. Several of our investigators are reading the Book of Mormon daily and asking questions about what they read. Several are also coming to church now. This Sunday we also got a less-active member and a less-active/recent convert to come to church for the first time in a while.

Well I haven't really been thinking about college at all, but yes I did plan to go to college the following semester I guess that would be spring 2016. Thanks for working on some college stuff for me. I'm sure everything will work out great.

We got into the cathedral for free actually, one of the elders in our apartment had a connection to get us in discounted but when we got there they said just go on in because there wasn't anyone really there. Plus we got a free tour by the guy. I have been to the portrait gallery some weeks ago. I've seen most of the galleries in there. It's actually two museums combined as the portrait gallery and American Art gallery. It's a cool place but there are some sections you should definitely avoid in the gallery but it is cool place to go.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl