November 12th Email

Dear Dad,

So this week was a roller coaster to say the least. We had 7 appointments cancel this week and 4 people dropped us. We had a lot of finding time and it caused me to realize that my speaking skills are not where they need to be. I am understanding so much more but it's not enough, I can't share the gospel unless I can communicate to the what the gospel is. It was super tough. But the weekend was great.

Elder Paul V. Johnson of the 70 was here. He presided over our stake conference and I learned so much from him. We had a baptism Sunday, Agnes Teng. She is awesome. Her desire to be better and her faith are incredible. Then yesterday, we had a mission conference. I learned so much on how I can be a better servant of the Lord and what I need to do to hasten this work. We had a transfer call. Sister Ding (the taller one) is being transferred to Richmond and Sister Lin and I will stay here in Burnaby. I did not see this coming. The thought of me being a senior companion is absolutely terrifying. I fear that next transfer Sister Lin will leave too and I'll be left to tell the new sister about the ward and the people.

I received a letter from Kaylie Sanchez yesterday and she is doing so well! Her testimony is so strong and she is sharing it with everyone. She has so much faith.

This transfer is going to push me and make me a better person and missionary, and I thank God for allowing me to have this opportunity to grow. He knows me and He knew that I needed a push, I needed to run a little faster and get a little further out of my comfort zone. "There's no growing in a comfort zone and there's no comfort in a growing zone" I read President Monson's talk this morning from General Conference. It brought so much comfort (and tears). With Christ, I can do this. He will heal my aching heart. He would never give me more than I could handle, even though I can't see that now. We can do anything with Christ.

This morning after companion study, I went in the bathroom and got on me knees. I plead with the Lord, in a verbal prayer to help me. I am feeling His love more and more and I am learning to rely on Him. I am learning to trust in the calling He has given me. I ask you and mom to continue to pray for me, I really need it right now. I don't know when it's going to get better but I have faith that it will. I know that as I endure my trials patiently, I will be so much stronger. I will be able to relate to more people and I will become more of the person God wants me to be. I'm going to be quite the catch after these 18 motnhs ;)

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the mission like you had asked. So we don't eat with members, we aren't allowed to unless they have an investigator friend, less active, or it's a part member family. From 5-7pm is consecrated finding time. We aren't allowed to have any other planned activities at that time, except lessons, but we need to be tracting or street contacting. This is a finding mission! Then 7-9pm is supposed to be consecrated member time. Since we aren't allowed to eat with members, we visit them at this time. For our ward it's a little tricky because the Chinese wards have no boundaries. It's people from all over the lower mainland, so it's tough to find members to attend lessons and visit them unless we plan well. It's better now that we have a car but it's tough. Our ward is struggling a bit. There are the few super active members, but they aren't super fired up about missionary work. Stake conference was all about the ward and missionaries becoming one and I hope that they get more excited. I am working on getting to know the members better. I am pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone and talk to people (weird, huh?). I usually can't shut up, but in Chinese I am the quietest one in the room, I'm working on it.

Tell Mom I love all her notes and cards, they help more than she knows. I got the package and I loved it all! My comps were excited too. Tell Kaylie I loved her letter and sorry that I didn't get it until now!

I am glad my cats are doing well. I miss seeing that red and blue run across that green! Keep me updated on their coming weeks. I can't believe Shane comes home in 2 months. Crazy. He's a crazy kid. I can't wait to see little Lucy grow up, make sure she knows who Aunty Em is haha How's Abi?

Well I love you. Thank you for the emails and the prayers. I will be okay. I am just becoming more of who God wants and needs. I hope you have a good week and tell Raini happy birthday for me (it's on thursday). I can't believe she leaves next week! She'll do great.

Keep me in your prayers, you are definitely in mine.

Love, Sister Emily Dahl