General Conference...More Sightseeing in D.C.-Written 10-6-2014

 Written 10/6/2014

Well I must say I was thoroughly surprised when JS said he had a small package for me. It was super nice to receive that package from you with all the Spanish hymns on it. I've already listened to it several times now. Thank you very much for the pleasant surprise.

This was another good week that I had here. My companion and I were trying to visit everyone in our area and invite them to view General Conference. It was tough at the beginning of the week to find anyone but toward the end of the week we were able to visit a ton of the people in our area and invite them to come and listen to General Conference.

On Tuesday we received a couple referrals from the mission office and we went over to try and contact them, unfortunately they weren't home but we then called them in the evening and set up appointments to visit with them this coming week.

Wednesday was our Zone Conference which was really good. We had a lot of great worships on how to better ourselves and how to improve our teaching skills. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun there. After the meeting we went over and taught one of our investigators some of the commandments. He is still doing really well and has a very solid grip on gospel principles.

Friday my companion and I stayed super busy with a lot of appointments, contacting, plus a couple meetings. It was a really good day where we were able to have a lot of success in our area and work hard and fast.

Saturday, of course, was General Conference. My companion and I viewed all three sessions that day in Spanish. I was able to get most of the things said in conference, some analogies like Henry VIII were a little hard to understand or Elder Jörg Klebingat speaking so fast the translator couldn't keep up. Overall it was really enjoyable and one of the fastest sessions of General Conference I've ever listened to. I think the messages were wonderful and very inspired for us. Oh, and don't worry I was able to make out where Elder Jones was in the Missionary Choir. In regards to Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong's talk I really enjoyed it again, I actually heard a longer version of the talk out here in English when he came out with Elder M. Russell Ballard to the mission. So I guess D.C. is just being hipster hearing the talk before it was cool.

Sunday was another wonderful day with the two sessions of General Conference. My companion and I were again able to see both sessions in Spanish. So we ended up seeing all of General Conference in Spanish and nothing in English (except the music). We had two of our investigators come out and each watch one session of conference. We also had lessons with both of them on Sunday. To me, Elder Hugo E. Martinez didn't seem to speak very fast. He was one of the slowest voices during conference. Most likely due to the translators trying to keep up with the other speakers. Elder Richard G. Scott prerecorded his talk in Spanish so I heard him speak in Spanish during his talk. (Also, fyi Jesucristo is one word in Spanish.)

Today (Monday), we went downtown with the North Elders to the White House Visitors' Center. Not a whole lot there, but now we know if we want tickets to the White House we need to contact our senators or representative, put in some info, mention religious group, and probably wait 30 days.

Anyways, we then went to the WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial.

We then went to Ford's Theater and saw where Lincoln was shot, the gun that shot him, and the outside of the house where he died. We then went to the National Building Museum which is cool to see once inside but don't take the tour unless you're really interested because it can get a little boring for some.

I still speak a great deal of English (I am in the US) and there are mostly English missionaries and meetings. I do speak a lot of Spanish too though.

We only see the 11-year-old investigator twice a week, on Wednesday's and at church, sometimes at a branch futbol [soccer] activity too. His mom lets him come to church with his grandma and sister who are members. He is involved in the ward but I'm 99% sure they don't have a scouting program here.

Although we do end up playing soccer just about once a week. I've only been to the field by our apartment 4 times. And we didn't play soccer one of those times. I usually play defense and I don't know what foot I'm dominant on, probably right.

We will not be seeing Meet the Mormons in theaters and the closest theater playing it here is in Virginia. However, there is a slight chance they may play it at the Visitors' Center after it comes out on DVD.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl