Pants, a Snake, Zone Conference, & More Food

Hello everyone!

How's school going? Life? What's new? What did you do this summer? What are you doing this week? What's your favorite color? Your favorite healthy, cheap, fast recipe? How do you keep yourself from eating too much? What was the name of your childhood pet? What do you believe in? What's your middle name?

The answers to these and many more unasked questions can be found in... the emails you send me! (Plz! I love love love hearing from anybody... I miss you!) -> oliver.dahl@myldsmail.net 


It's been a slower going week, but still really good! I feel like there is less to report on this week, but don't worry - you will still get all the highlights. :)

I've been wanting a pair of navy dress pants since before I left on my mission. On our last p day we went shopping and store after store didn't have any for less than like $60... kinda out of my missionary budget. Well, the last store we go into, I find the last pair in my size... marked down to $15. So yay! The Lord cares about the little things when they matter to us. :)


RELEVANT SCRIPTURE OF THE EMAIL: 
"And after that they did separate themselves one from another, taking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on. And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith." ------ Alma 31: 37-38


Had my first official zone conference since the last one was President Hanson introducing himself and so on. It was really really good. I learned a lot, felt motivated, felt the spirit, and got excited about changes coming to the mission. Apparently church headquarters in Salt Lake has mysterious plans in store for our mission that have to do with online interactions... so it'll be cool to see how the Lord helps us use this new tool to further the work! Plus, it sounds like I will be training next transfer already... 

While we were tracting in a typical nice Collierville neighborhood, I saw a snake against someone's sidewalk. We followed it through their yard for a while before knocking on their door. They told us they weren't interested too fast for us to warn them about the snake in their yard. Oh well - their loss.

As we walked up to a dinner appointment with a member, we noticed something weird in a cage in their yard. They had caught a raccoon hahaha

It rained like CRAZY on Thursday, it was so cool. I was glad we had a car. We watched it come down hard for a while and then drove to the church, where Elder Henderson and I played piano while we waited out the storm. Call us wimps, but not much happens efficiently in the rain. And I'm going to be playing in sacrament meeting next month!

Our golden investigator, Caroline, has been attending the young single adult ward, and her parents have become a little hesitant about the speed at which she has been progressing. There was some debate this week about having the sister missionaries over the YSA ward take over in teaching her, but that just didn't sit right. Thankfully, we were able to come to the decision to just have the sister missionaries help teach every other lesson. I felt like that was a spiritually guided decision that let us keep our golden investigator, will lead to a definite baptism, and will be the best for Caroline! It was awesome hearing Caroline say how determined she is to be baptized. She is so amazing, and her faith and testimony grow so much between every visit.

While we were in another town about 40 minutes away from Collierville, we went to contact someone who had ordered a Bible and Book of Mormon from lds.org. We knocked on the door, someone answered and said she wasn't home. We decided to just leave the books with the guy who answered the door so that he could give them to this person. I didn't feel good about it, cause it wouldn't let us set a return appointment, or even teach her anything about the Book of Mormon. Thankfully, just then, she pulled into the driveway as we were ready to leave. We were able to personally give her the books, meet her, tell her about the restoration, share our testimonies, and set up a return appointment. Yay! Our 100 mile day hadn't been wasted after all! Cool little miracle for the week!

This week I feel like I've reached a good amount of confidence in missionary work. I feel good about my current abilities to knock doors, plan a day, talk to people, and so on. But I know I have a looooong way to go in improving my abilities to do all those things. Which, instead of being discouraging, is really encouraging. Cause I know I can only get better from here. And while 2 years still feels like a long time, it's a great laboratory type opportunity where I can learn and grow and improve so much! 

Thank you for your prayers, love, example, emails, and willingness to read all of this! Love you all!!
Elder Dahl

oliver.dahl@myldsmail.net

866 Schilling Rd. Apt. #103
Collierville, TN




And now... the food section of the email! For those of you who are extra bored and/or hungry.


Tried Popeyes for the first time. It wasn't too disappointing, but just as expensive as the real good stuff at Gus's Fried Chicken across town. 4/10

I drew a really good picture of a pizza slice... On an etch-a-sketch. I impressed myself. (Ok this isn't really food but kinda, right? I wasn't sure where else to fit this, but it did have to be mentioned) 5/10, it was only a picture, but it was on an Etch-a-sketch

Burnt a pesto pizza I made. Just the crust though, everything else was fine. 6/10

The awesome Venezuelan family who just moved from Idaho had us over again and we had Sopa Crusado - a super yummy savory soup w chicken, ham, pumpkin, lime, and corn. Plus more arapas. 12/10

On Saturday, we drove out to a distant small town in the boonies, ans my hankering for Mexican food got the best of me. We found a pretty good spot. We ate there for lunch and were so stuffed the rest of the day. 7.5/10 Then the Gaars took us out to Chili's. And got the volcano dessert cakes. I was REKT til Sunday afternoon. 

Went over to two members Sunday dinners. Enough said. 20/10 (get it, 2 meals?) 

My metabolism has been doing an incredible job, and I applaud it and also apologize to all that I have put it through this week. I tried the jeans I brought out with me on my mission and they still fit around the waist fine. But they are WAY more skinny than they were when I came out. Like... idk if I can get away with wearing pants that skinny. All the fat must be going to my legs? (I would say it's all gained muscle from walking but... let's be real, here.)