My New Area in... Written 8/11/2014

D.C.! Inside the Beltway, In the City, My area includes the Monuments, Zoo, White House, etc.

Mom, I haven't really been on Facebook that much so I haven't really had time to post anything. We did have transfers on Wednesday, the transition was smooth. I'm still on bike and the Zone Leaders brought me to my new apartment. I actually am already friends with my new companions. Yes, you read that right, companions. I'm in a trio now and we actually all know each other from when we were all in the same district 3 transfers ago.

I can forward you the Excellence Newsletter but there aren't really opportunities at a zone meeting before my birthday. However, I am now in the zone where the Secretary of the Mission Presidency, Brother A, watches over the missionaries and fairly regularly goes to the mission office to bring things down to the missionaries here in this zone. Please don't worry about it if it comes late to me. There is no rush or pressure and I can get it the following week at Zone Training.

On Tuesday we had our last district meeting and we all took a photo together. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and had lunch. For most of the day Elder G was with us because his companion was called to be an Assistant to the President and had to leave a day early from his area. Tuesday was an awesome day for us. We found 3 new investigators, had a member present lesson. Taught a less-active member, and had 4 other lessons. It was a great last day in the area of Montgomery Village South. Tuesday night I finished packing up and was ready for the transfer meeting next morning.

Elder Dahl's new apartment building in Mount Pleasant West area

Wednesday was transfers and unlike before we didn't find out who our new companions were or where our new areas were until during the transfer meeting. This was the older way of doing apparently that some of the older missionaries remember doing. So I had no idea where I was going or who my new companion would be when I arrived at the Visitors' Center on Wednesday morning. They announced the companionships and areas by zones. 15 new missionaries came out but none were Spanish missionaries so they actually ended up closing the Germantown area. I am now serving in the Mount Pleasant West area with my two companions. After the meeting I arrived in my new area and I unpacked a little (one of my companions stayed at the Visitors' Center for the departing lunch for a little bit and my other companion went on exchanges to an appointment with one of our roommates. I stayed with the other roommate for a bit and helped him in his area). We then had a quick lunch and headed out to an appointment. After the appointment we went down to Columbia Heights and General Questioned (GQ'd) people there for a while and found a few potential investigators.

You might be wondering where exactly Mount Pleasant is and what area I am exactly covering. I am no longer in Maryland and I don't cover anything in Maryland. I am in DC and cover everything south of Quincy St. and west of Georgia Ave. to Florida Ave. to North Capital St. in DC. My area includes the Monuments, Zoo, White House, etc. However, almost all of the work is in the vicinity of Quincy and Georgia.

Anyways, Thursday we had our weekly planning session and it mostly consisted of getting to know the area, members, and investigators. It also was my companion's birthday and we had a little hang out dinner up on our apartment's rooftop terrace with some pizza, lemonade and cake with an investigator and some of the missionaries in our district. After dinner we went out again and went to try and find some of the less-active members in the branch.

On Saturday we General Questioned (GQ'd) some more at Columbia Heights and found a few more potential investigators. We also visited a couple members and less-actives from the ward. We went down 16th street to visit some people and GQ and we passed by scores of churches. Including a former LDS church building built in the '30s. It is really tall and the exterior is made entirely of Utah quarried stone.

    

The building also used to have an Angel Moroni atop the steeple. It was a cool thing to see. We also passed by several Embassies and Consulates. While we were down there we GQ'd at one of the parks and met an awesome guy from Ecuador.

Mount Pleasant Branch Building

Mount Pleasant Branch Building

Sunday one of my roommates and I went to the Branch Council meeting and attended it before church. President and Sister Cooke spoke during Sacrament Meeting in the Mount Pleasant Branch. We had a good but very lively Gospel Principles class and then our District Leader and I taught the Young Men's class.

We also went to the Visitors' Center and brought a family in the branch with us to the Night of Music and Inspiration event. It was a really good event and fun to be there.

I'm doing great biking around and the heat hasn't been bad, or I'm used to it now. I don't have any complaints. I hope you do well this week with the crazy schedule and the transition back to school.

Dad, I'm glad that you're feeling better and I hope that things at work can go smoothly with the temporary change.

Last week was Transfers and I am now serving in the Mount Pleasant West area. That means I am serving in The District of Columbia now! It's quite the adrenaline rush riding around in the city on bike dodging cars, people, opening car doors, buses, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Though sometimes it feels like we just spend forever locking or unlocking our bikes; It's really fun to be serving here and there are a lot of good people here. It's fun being in a branch now and I'll get to know the people a lot quicker.

We have a really nice apartment here (one of the most expensive in the mission) right above a metro station on Quincy St. and Georgia Ave. There is a nice lobby, rooftop terrace, and gym here. Tell Mom that there are no bed bugs here.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

The Bed Bug...Written 8/4/2014

Mom, How to make a missionary mom get completely freaked out in just two words. Bed Bug. Elder G found a (singular) bed bug in the apartment. We had apartment checks on Tuesday and they said nuke the place by Friday and that they'd call an exterminator to come out and check the place. I forgot to tell you but we were supposed to move out of our apartment Friday because it's is time for a new apartment according to the mission office. Anyways, the exterminator did his preliminary check on Wednesday and found no bed bugs just a few bed bug droppings. So we probably found the bed bug of the apartment. However, we aren't allowed to move out of the apartment until next Friday after the exterminator comes this Wednesday to spray the place down. Most of this last Thursday was spent packing up the apartment into boxes and bags until we got a visit from one of the senior missionaries at 5pm telling us the exterminator and apartment news. So our apartment is mostly packed up and will remain so for a week. The mission office wants to be sure that the bed bugs are completely taken care of before the move. That way we don't have to repeat the process of possible bed bugs in a new apartment. Everything is fine and there have been no bites here. They just want to make sure that there isn't one or two bed bugs hanging around.

Last week on Monday we went to do service at a place called A Wider Circle. It is an organization that is trying to end poverty. It completely supplies impoverished people with anything they want: clothing, furniture, toys, beds, supplies, etc. Most of the mission went to the service project. I helped out at first at the kids corner where there were children's toys and other items. We organized the entire section and made it look more like a showroom. (The place wants it to appear like a showroom so he people don't feel less than anyone else.) When that was done I went downstairs in the warehouse organizing and sorting their donations. It was a fun time and I enjoyed being there.

I'm glad Cousin Camp was a hit and it certainly sounds like you had boatloads of fun and had quite the busy week. My week stayed busy as well but it was filled with tons of fun too.

Monday night we visited with one of our less-active members and invited her to come to church. On Tuesday my companion and I taught a new investigator and set up a return appointment with her this week. Her husband is also friends with us so we are hoping that he can become a new investigator as well. We also taught another of our investigators and helped her with her English in the evening.

Wednesday was our temple trip (same as yours for the Cousin Camp). I brought a name and completed his initiatory and endowment. It was a great time at the temple. There is something even more wonderful about bringing a name to the temple. We saw the newest of the three new temple videos which I really enjoyed. It's amazing what you can learn from each visit from the temple. Thank you so much for getting so many of my names done at the temple. You and any of the family are welcome to take any names I find for any temple trip, Cousin Camp, or just because.

We also dropped off a table and chairs along with some other supplies at the mission office that we got donated from members. The mission has to furnish 5 new senior couple apartments and they're busy collecting all that they can. They've finally gotten enough supplies for the new apartments. On Friday, my companion and I taught our progressing investigator the law of tithing and also fasting. She accepted it and is really making some great progress. We also were able to teach one of the families in the ward that night and had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon. In the late evening we did some quick service for one of her sisters in the ward.

Saturday was the Nationals Baseball game. When you said I keep having too much fun this was not the week to disprove that. It was the Washington Nationals versus the Philadelphia Phillies. The Nationals crushed the Phillies 11-0. We all arrived in our districts and made our way into the stadium. It was a really fun game to watch and hang out with  hundreds of missionaries and members. It brought back a lot of memories of going and seeing the Angels play in Anaheim or the Padres down in San Diego. At the end of the game one of the Elders found a little store in the Park that was having a sale on some of the official Nats Hats for $10, I picked up two hats that were normally $40. It was a sweet deal first because they were selling them that cheap in the Park and second because the street vendors outside were selling the knockoff hats for more (~$15) that didn't look nearly as nice. Stores here that sell Nats Hats run from about $25-$60 depending on the hat. When the game ended, President Cooke had us leave by districts with the district with the Zone Leaders leaving last after all of the districts in their zone had gotten on the metro.

Sunday, one of the investigators I started teaching in Germantown, got baptized. He is the Dad of the 8-year old that we taught and was baptized. It was great to see him be baptized and see that decision he made actually happen. I'm glad that I was able to go to the service and see him there and watch one of the investigators I taught be baptized.

This coming Wednesday is Transfers (not that I need to tell you). We didn't receive the normal call-out from the Zone Leaders on Saturday night due to the Nationals' Game. Sunday Morning we received a call out from the Assistants for the entire mission on who was leaving or staying in the area. In my current district, over half of us are leaving our areas; Only Elder A, Elder G, and a Sister Missionary will be staying in their areas. My time on the mission will continue in another area as I will be leaving Montgomery Village South. I took a few pictures already with some of the ward members and an investigator. So now you'll have some proof I do some work out here and don't just party all the time.

 

Dad, I hope you are enjoying having everyone back home now and that you're enjoying yourself. It certainly sounds like you got a lot done at the house while they were away. Work sounds like it is about the same as when I left.

Everyone in the ward has been telling me I'm losing a lot of weight. My grey suit looks like it eats me and I'm probably going to find a tailor to get it more manageable. I'm down a few pounds (Mom's note: more than 5). I still have a lot to go and I'm hoping to continue to lower my weight. I'm not starving or anything but being on bike gives me a lot of cardio workouts.

Transfers are this Wednesday and I will be leaving Montgomery Village South. I don't know where yet but we will find out probably on Tuesday night.
Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

Cousin Camp Report - Written by Stacie Dahl (to Braden) on 8/3/2014

Hi Braden,
So I can't believe that you have been out 8 months already! And that you are having a birthday soon! I believe you got the call on wether you are being transferred or not on Sunday. My guess is that you are staying with your same companion in your same place.

It sounds like you guys are having many opportunities to teach which is great! It sounds like you are also taking the opportunity (frequently) to be led and guided by the Spirit. What great opportunities to have miracles in finding and helping the people that at the moment need your assistance!

Cousin Camp was super great and everyone wants to do it again next year. It really did give the kids a chance to improve their friendships. It was fun to see your 15-year old brother pal-around with The 14 & 15 year old boy cousins. Your 16-year old brother took charge for many games and the skits. Some of the fun included skits which were performed for Family Home Evening, team building games at Huntington Beach Central Park-capture the flag, ring toss using a hula hoop, soak the sponge to fill your bucket to the line and a crazy one where you designate one person per team to put on a shower cap, the Aunts put shaving cream on the shower cap and then the kids threw cereal to see who could stick the most. There was a learning curve that if you lean forward to catch more cereal, the shaving cream melts off. Then I drove your brothers and your Aunt out to Riverside to see some of the cousins on my side (Mom's). We visited at the house for a while, then went to a cool park and ate pizza. It was fun to see her and all the kids. Wednesday we got up and out of the house by 8:30am to take the YM/YW cousins to do baptisms. So we did 32 names that you researched, I brought 31 Winkler baptisms, plus Grandpa Dahl brought some Dahl names. Grandpa Dahl was the baptizer. Grandma Dahl leaned over to me and said, 'you know, you never know if this is the last time that he'll be able to do this.' which was quite a sobering thought. But how awesome is it that your 71-year-old grandfather baptizes you in the temple?!?

I went to the Visitors' Center and the Sister Missionaries greeted me. I asked if there was a group with a lot of kids and they said, 'oh! the ones here for Cousin Camp?' They had set them up with a movie and were 'watching' our group. We watched a nice video and then they took us in the room that is set up like Jerusalem and we watched another short video. Then they asked if there was something that we wanted to do and I suggested the pull the book of Mormon out thing. So they let all the cousins pick out one to see where they would go on their future mission. The cousins had fun with it. Then we waited a while and finally the teen cousins and adults came back. I declared a selfie photo contest where those with a phone/camera teamed up with someone who didn't and they took pics around the temple grounds. As we walked it felt nearly 100 degrees…super hot. We found a shady spot and took a picture with all the cousins in it. Then we walked to the front and took some right in front of the reflecting pond. It was melting, sun in the eyes and then we bolted for some shade and relief from some air-conditioned cars. Then we wanted to go to this cool ice cream sandwich place called Diddy Riese that is right by UCLA in Westwood. We all managed to find a lunch place and then a few of us stood in the 20-minute line and bought for our own families. It was like $1.50 and you pick the cookies (can be 2 different kinds) and your ice cream. It was fun and yummy. By then it was 2:30pm and we headed back home to get out of the heat. It was just melting everywhere. So I had someone to check the weather on my phone…79 degrees in Santa Monica…I didn't check the humidity. It was just plain hot! That night we met up with my sister and saw a movie. Some saw Transformers (3?) and I took a younger bunch to How to Train Your Dragon 2. We had fun.

Thursday we had a "Chopped" food competition. We'd never seen the show but you get like 4 ingredients (and there's always a zinger) and have to make an appetizer and compete among 4 teams, then one gets eliminated and they make the main dish and then another gets eliminated and the last 2 compete for dessert. We did it a bit different. We divided the kids by age/ability and they could make what they want but it was strongly suggested. The 7-11 year olds did the appetizer…several fruits, a couple veggies, cheese squares and dips. A couple boys did a tossed fruit salad, we did a bowl of watermelon and then we did kabobs. The kids started calling them kabobbles and we did like 50 or 60 of them. Then they mixed up the dip packets. Then when time was up everyone came to Grandma's house for our lunch appetizers. Then we went next door for the main course which was mini bagel pizzas. That was the 12-16 year olds. Some made 4-meat with mini pepperoni, sausage, ham and bacon--yum! Others made an "Aisan-inspired Cuisine" that had some kind of soy sauce mix for the sauce and like grated carrot and chicken and I don't know what else. Then there was also cheese, pepperoni, BBQ chicken and they made like 90 mini pizzas. the BBQ sauce was kind of spicy plus whoever put the sauce on those put a lot of sauce so my eyes were watering by the time I was half way through my mini bagel. It was good but spicy!

Then we decided we were too full to have dessert before our next activity. We went to Get Air which is the same concept as Sky Zone. All the cousins went and had fun as they jumped for an hour. After an hour of sweating it out, we went back the 3rd house where we had dessert--chocolate pudding dirt (oreo) cups made by the 3-6 year olds (plus couple tweens were the 'minion' helpers) (The 3-6 year olds skit they decided to call themselves the minion group.) Then we had the water war out on the greenbelt. Water war ... needed referees but they had fun getting wet. We decided they needed to stay wet and get active so we took them all to Greenbrook pool until 8pm.

Friday we had the morning free. A few people went to see Guardians of the Galaxy. Myself and two of your brothers went to lunch at Souplantation with my sister near her work. Then she gave us a tour of the warehouse and the chip lines. It was weird how so many people were the same since I worked there 15 years ago. It was fun and educational! Then we headed down to South Orange County for our Pool Party and movie bash to end Cousin Camp. They have a nice community pool and we ate hot dogs there. My sister joined us after work. The kids swam for like 3 hours and then we went back to their house and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 with a projector and screen in the backyard. They had popcorn and snacks and everyone stayed in their seat in the dark.

Whew! So now you know all about cousin camp! It was exhausting to the Moms but totally worth how much the kids all enjoyed it! Then I drove home on Saturday…with no other driver! I fell asleep about 30 minutes after we got home!

Sorry I wrote so much but I don't know what days to leave out. Hope you have a fabulous week and know I love you and pray for you!
Love Always and Forever! Mom

Teaching...Written 7/28/2014

Mom, This week has been quite a busy one for me. It was exciting to see all the work that was able to get done this last week and the success that my companion and I were able to have. My companion and I taught a lot of lessons this week and we were blessed to have 5 new investigators in our area.

On Monday we had a great lesson with our progressing investigator with a baptismal date. She was really touched by the holy spirit and said she wanted to start coming to church. Tuesday was mostly taken up by the interviews that we had with President Cooke. However we did have a dinner with a member family and a great lesson afterwards. Also we taught 2 new investigators and got a return appointment with them.

Wednesday we had a super brief lesson with one of our less-active members but the Holy Spirit was there and it was a very good learning opportunity for both of us. We also stopped by our investigating family. They didn't come to church last Sunday so they couldn't meet the requirements of going to church 3 Sundays before being baptized. We taught them the plan of salvation but the father wasn't there so when we tried to extend a new baptismal date, they were pretty apprehensive and declined (for now). We are hoping we can have another lesson with them soon with the father and extend a baptismal date again that they will be more willing to accept. 

This past Thursday my companion and I were looking for some of our potential investigators and we decided to knock one extra door where we found another new investigator. We were able to teach her briefly and she told us she had been praying to find some truth and lint in her life. It was a great miracle to witness. We have a return appointment this coming week. On Friday we tried to visit just about everyone but it seemed no one was ever home. However we did have some little miracles. We went to a less active member's home and they weren't there. I felt instead of following our normal plan to go to this other home, we should check and see if one of our referrals we had that lives close by was home. We biked over there and there was a woman walking down the street. My companion stopped in front of her and asked if she happened to be the person we were looking for. She in fact, was the person we were looking for and she is interested in hearing more. She told us that she gets her new work schedule this Monday (today) and that we can call her tonight to set up an appointment. Also, we decided later in the afternoon to completely change our schedule and go over to the most eastern part of our area on a road we don't normally take. We were biking by when one of the recent converts in the area drove by and flagged us down. He said he was moving from the room he was renting and he had some things he needed help moving and how he had been thinking the entire ride how on earth he could do it alone. It was a great miracle showing how Heavenly Father cares for each of his children even in little circumstances.

Saturday we met a man by his home who has a lot of problems in his life. We had a lesson with him right there in front of his apartment complex and he was really moved by the Holy Spirit and even accepted a baptismal date. He will have a lot of work to do but through Christ all things are possible. This last Sunday. Our progressing investigator came to church with her less-active husband. The ward was great in welcoming them. Our investigator said she loved church and wants to come again this coming week. We also went to Stake Coordination meeting since the stake invited all the missionaries to come instead of normally just one companionship. It was a great meeting and it showed me where we  were succeeding and where and what we need to improve on. In the evening my companion and I had a lesson with an investigator but they cancelled so we met with one of the members in our ward. 

Today we went to a service project with the mission.

We don't have as many meals with members in this area Compared to Germantown but we still have a couple meals every week. I'm getting pretty used to whatever is fed to me. Things don't seem as strange anymore and I'm getting used to the traditional plates of some of the countries people are from. Still not a fan of soups but I'll eat them when I have to. 

Sorry about the photos. I promise I do work a lot but cameras are discouraged during proselyting hours (90% of the time) and you are forbidden to have them in your pocket during proselyting hours. If appropriate you are allowed to take it from your backpack when appropriate but it's really hard on bike using a camera. I usually have my camera out on P-Day and P-Day we usually do something fun or interesting. 

Dad, I hope you had a nice week and that this next week will be fun too. I know you're up I'm Roseville while Mom and the boys are down south for the cousin camp. Hopefully you enjoy a little peace and quiet.

While I was writing it hit me that this Transfer is almost over. I think that nothing can go possible faster that a mission. This coming Wednesday is the Temple Trip and on Saturday we will find out if we are staying or leaving our areas. This Saturday the mission is also going to its yearly Nationals baseball game.

I hope you have a great week and that work isn't too stressful. I love you lots.
Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

Lots to teach! Written 7/21/2014

Mom, Happy Belated Birthday! I'm sorry about all the dental work but I hope you still had a great day.

On Tuesday my companion and I put another of our investigators on 'Baptismal Date!' At the time that meant we had 4 investigators with a baptismal date. It was super awesome and she is really excited to be baptized but just has a couple things she needs to take care of. The family that wants to get baptized is progressing and doing well but they are a little worried about going to church. This week we picked up two new investigators and 4 more potential investigators.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference. We had a lot of workshops and trainings. I learned a lot from it. It was a good day and and enjoyable Zone Conference. That evening all the Elders in our district had a dinner and Family Home Evening at a members home outside of my area. The family had several non-members there that we were able to teach. My companion and I now have a new investigator from Brazil that speaks Portuguese and some broken Spanish.

On Friday we picked up a new investigator in our area through Facebook. We met her in person before but we had a hard time contacting her. I found her on Facebook and began teaching her through Facebook. We also met with our family with a baptismal date and gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed them to come to church this Sunday. Saturday Elder Andrade and I also picked up two new investigators around a apartment complex where we were able to briefly teach the message of the Restoration and schedule a return appointment.

On Sunday I went with Elder G (one of my roommates) to a baptism in Silver Spring because his companion and he had some investigators at church and his companion wanted to stay with them. It was a nice baptism and then we met up shortly after church and went back to our normal companionships. 

My companion and I went to the Visitors' Center with a member to a great "Why I Believe" fireside.  It featured Brother & Sister Jonas. Brother [Chris] Jonas is on the physician team for the White House but didn't really talk about that. Rather he talked about his conversion and testimony. It was a very powerful and spiritual night.

Dad, Wednesday I met this great lady from Africa at a Family Home Evening at a member's home. She speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and 7 African Dialects. She is super nice and interested in the gospel, she lives in Potomac but we saw her again at a lunch at the same family's home on Saturday. She gave me a CD that has mostly Portuguese songs and a few in English because she heard you lived in Brazil. It was super nice of her, she said it had no bad things on it but the CD has romantic overtones so I can't listen to it. Remind me to send it home to you. You might enjoy it. We also have an new investigator now from southern Brazil. She is in the Sister's area next to us but we received special permission because of my companion's limited knowledge of Portuguese and the Sister's crazy Visitors' Center schedule where they can't spend much time in their area.

My companion's bike has been working well now. I had a little front derailer problem but it is resolved enough. Hopefully no problems will appear. Today my companion and I went down to Silver Spring to have a nerf war with a lot of the missionaries at the church building. It was super fun and nice to hang out.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

P.S. I've been trying to think what I want for my birthday since you wrote me last week and I can't really think of anything spectacular. I'm not picky and whatever I receive is greatly appreciated. Some ideas I fumbled through are ties, music (CDs work best) Spanish, English, classical, hymns, choral, Disney, soundtrack, anything-mission permitting; or letters.

Thunderstorms Written 7/14/2014

4th of July Group of Washington D.C. North Missionaries!!

Written 7/14/2014

Mom, This week has been a really good one. We were able to meet with our investigators that have a baptismal date a couple of times this week. They are doing well and now are having more desire to learn more and want us to come over more often. They still have a lot to learn and they have lots of questions but they are continuing to progress in the gospel. We also have a new investigator this week. She was a former investigator from a little while back that we saw on the street one day. She invited us to come back again and visit with her. We decided to go over this week and we had an awesome lesson with her.

Now if you believe that my companion had enough bike mishaps last week, think again. This week he broke off 2 of his rear gears with destroyed the entire cassette of gears on his back tire. The gears all moved side to side so his chain would always fall off into a "hole" in between the gears. We took it to a bike shop to get it repaired but they were ball-parking a minimum of $70. We had Elder G in our apartment that ended up helping him for a good two and a half hours putting together an old 5-gear rim from the apartment onto his 8-gear bike. After many ball bearings, a couple of axels, and probably a tube of grease, the bike finally was working properly again. It is nice now that my companion has a bike again and everything is working smoothly. So far my companion’s bike has been working smoothly now and there seems to be no problems. Both of our bikes work pretty well now. My bike is working fine the only think I could even think of that isn't 100% smooth is the breaks squeak and squeal in the rain when I use them but that really isn't any problem and it could just be I'm still wearing in the bike. My gears don't shift as wonderfully as I'd like but they shift pretty smoothly, it just takes a couple pedals for it to decide to switch over. It's not a problem and the nearest bike shop is in Germantown and it would cost at least $20 to have them fix it. Since it is still the best shifting bike I own, I'm ok for now.

Last Wednesday was Zone Training. It was a good meeting and it helped remind me of how to be a more effective missionary. We had a fun role-play where we couldn't talk about the gospel at all even if someone brought it up of had questions. On Sunday my companion and I performed our songs for "Noche de Musica e Inspiración" and they went really well. It was a fun night and some of the members in our area were able to attend. A lot of people ended up going to the event and it was a great spiritual experience. Yes they recorded it plus I'll get a CD in a few weeks of it. They'll probably post it on the FB page or YouTube I'm the next few days.

I knew that room changes were inevitable, honestly, I was shocked it lasted this long. [Mom's Note: I wrote Braden and said, "So it may come as a shock but Dad & I have decided to rearrange the bedroom assignments. Brother #1 gets your room. Brother #2 is staying in his orange room. Brother #4 is staying in his room and Brother #3 is moving into Brother #1's room.] Don't worry about sending me an SD card ASAP, I still have 2 here a 4GB and a 32GB. I knew you would ask what I wanted for my birthday this week...I'm not sure yet. I have a pair of shorts, 4th of July was a bit cooler and I wanted to avoid sunburn legs. I'll get back to you on what I want soon.

Golfing-last zone activity, a couple weeks before transfers.

Of course Braden would be the one to keep score!

Dad, I hope you are doing well and having a good time. Mom was telling me about the things everyone has been doing all week and about the house changes. No surprise and I'm glad the room is getting put to good use.

If I had a dollar for every thunderstorm here I'd be quite happy with the pocket change I'd be making. Thunderstorms seem to be about an every other day occurrence here. Normally they happen in the evening and some make it into the early morning. When they first started occurring this summer it was "wow, cool, a thunderstorm". Now it's more like it's getting kind of late "cue clouds, cue wind, drizzle, lightning, downpour." Let's just say there is a reason no one in Maryland has a sprinkler system (really, people have no idea what that is here). Even in July there is no dry season.

As you may know I've started to read the Quad* again. Recently I've been reading in 2nd Samuel and I have been really liking the early King David. He always stays positive in his situation and tries to follow the lord's way. Despite all that happens to him he puts his trust in The Lord and keeps enduring his trials.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

*Mom’s Note: What is ‘the Quad?’ The quad includes four standard works of scripture for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes to referred to as the "Mormon Church." These are: the Holy Bible (King James Version of the Old Testament & the New Testament), The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price.

How many flat tires in 24 hours?...Written 7/7/2014

Now you might be asking yourself, "Elder Dahl do you have a story about your companion or yourself having a broken down bike?" or perhaps, "Elder Dahl did you ever get caught in a rainstorm?" Luckily I have a story that will cover both topics for you. Tuesday night on he way back to the apartment my companion got a flat tire so we walked a short distance back home and it was already late enough to stay home. The next morning my companion fixed his tube with a patch and we headed out. On the way to the library his patch failed and his front tire went flat again. We used the library for a bit and then we walked back to the apartment. It was a really hot day but we finally made it back to the apartment. My companion's hole was more of a slash and he luckily had an extra tube that he put on his front tire. We then went on with our day and we were going to the homes of the new move-in members that we were informed about by the bishop in our area. We were going to one house in the most eastward part of our area when my companion got a flat tire on his rear tire. We did some more walking (or me just riding slowly and in circles around him). That member wasn't home but it was close enough to another member that we went over and asked if they had a pump. They had a little pump but it wasn't that effective so we decided to head out. It got suddenly cloudy, which was nice because that day was one of the hottest days we've had here. As we were heading back a man offered us a ride to a gas station to go use an air pump to fill up my companion's tire. (My companion was convinced he didn't have a hole in his rear tire and it just leaked out somehow). He borrowed 50¢ from me and pumped up his tire. It then started to lightly sprinkle and we decided to head back to the apartment to fix up his tire properly. His tire lasted a little bit but was definitely leaking. About 25% of the way home his tire went flat again. We happened to be in an area with no real close members and it began to rain harder. We biked as fast as we could downhill to the apartment but we were pretty soaked by the time we got back home.

So on the 4th of July, my companion and I went down to the Spanish Mount Pleasant apartment in D.C. and we had a barbecue. That apartment building is one of the nicest and most expensive apartments in the mission. We went to their rooftop where the have some lawn, picnicking areas, tables, and grills. We hung out with around 30-40 other missionaries for a while.

Can you find Braden? What a view...even without the fireworks!

At around 4:30pm we all went over to the National Mall. The whole mall is absolutely packed on the 4th. We walked through the Smithsonian Cultural Festival highlighting Kenya and China this year. We saw some cool exhibits they had around. We then hung out for a bit on the lawn and then went to Union Station for dinner. We went back to the mall for the fireworks. The people there probably doubled from beforehand. We were across from the American History Museum on the lawn watching them go off at the Washington Monument. The fireworks were really amazing and it was cool to see them go off.

Don't worry I took plenty of pictures and I am in some of them. After the fireworks everybody was running to the Metro. We got on after about a half an hour of waiting and then my companion and I stayed at the Mount Pleasant Elder's apartment for the night. The next morning we woke up and headed down to the Metro and rode back to our area where our roommates picked us up. I was pretty tired but I'm recovering.

On Saturday we went to one of our investigator's homes looking to see if he was there. He wasn't there but some other people were there. A lot of people live at this apartment and it wasn't too surprising to us. They let us in and we began talking to the three people there. It was a family; a father, mother, and daughter. We had actually seen the mother and daughter before but they hadn't listened to us before this point. We ended up teaching all of the the Restoration of the Gospel and we committed all of them to be baptized. They all agreed after some reassurance. It is super exciting to have these people interested in the Gospel and how they have already made the commitment to be baptized during our first visit. I am excited to see their progression.

The 1st and 2nd verses for tenor part worked in your emails but the others did not. The attachments on Facebook are working.
Love,
Elder Braden Dahl
P.S. I sent a package home today. I have a note in there explaining everything but for the most part is is some of the stuff I've collected on my missions (letters, books, clothing, etc) that I wantto keep but don't want to carry around with me for the next 17 months.

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