Elder Braden Dahl: News the from Dahl Apartment in DC...Written 2-23-2015

Winter has finally arrived here in DC. We've hit record lows for the weeks and we've had 3 snow days (well 2 and a half). It's cool going out in super cold weather and watching the snow fall but not always the most entertaining thing being inside all day. Saturday it snowed a lot here and then freeze rained in the evening. The Zone leaders and 3 other elders were at our apartment to meet up and go to a temple recommend interview when the storm hit so we had a fun time hanging out together. Three of the Elders ended up staying the night because the amount of snow we had. They cancelled Sacrament Meeting again this week again. It feels super weird not going to church let alone 2 weeks in a row, one more week and all the missionaries here become less-active members. I don't know about thicker skin [from living in a cold area] but I've been keeping warm and haven't been getting cold so far. I'm definitely more used to the cold temperatures now and layering always helps.

It has been a really awesome week despite the wintery weather. My companion and I were able to visit with several investigators and less-active members. One of our progressing investigators accepted a Baptismal Date. He is the caretaker of a less-active member we recently reactivated. He sparked some interest in the church and has been listening in and participating in lessons with us. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. We have begun teaching him and preparing him for his coming baptism. He is very open about hearing and accepting the gospel. We also were able to visit several other less-active members and a couple of investigators. It's a little hard to stay in communication with all of them due to the weather but my companion and I have been managing.

I'm glad you're finding a lot more in our Family History lines. I've been working a bit on some cousin lines and reserving a ton of names for the temple. Our temple trip is his week and it's always great to do the work there. Also the mission is planning another temple trip where we can do 5 vicarious baptisms for our family files names. It's always great to do family history and further the work of the lord.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

P.S.-The worldwide rollout of the new iPad program is rolling out next week. We'll be getting new iPads that are much more restricted sometime soon (1-3 weeks). We won't be on Facebook for a few months and they'll be some coming changes. We're having a huge meeting tomorrow with 2 General Authorities about it tomorrow but from what we know now I'll probably have to purchase the iPad, no FB for a while, a lot of training, and the U.S. is now all getting iPads.

Today was a fun P-Day today. We went with the Zone Leaders and the Mission Office Elders to Point Lookout in Maryland. It's the southernmost point in our mission. It was fun going out and seeing the Chesapeake Bay and they had a small lighthouse there (which was closed). It was a long drive but a lot of fun to visit but definitely chilly today. We took some photos and enjoyed it a lot. Plus I passed through California and Hollywood today, two of the cities in Maryland you have to pass through.

Today's Adventure-Point Lookout near St. Mary's River State Park & the city of Lexington Park, MD. Point Lookout is at the bottom of the mission. Technically it is the Atlantic Ocean (in the form of the Chesapeake Bay) and where the Potomac River hits the Chesapeake. There was ice in the water and plenty of snow around.