Week 5 from The Colony, TX


I am so sad this transfer is almost over! It's been such an incredible experience. It has literally flown by. I went to the zoo with some members for P-day today so unfortunately I don't have much time left to email. I will try to cover the highlights. 

I have the best companion in the world! She is so strong and such a hard worker. We found out she had a kidney stone on Thursday. We had to go to the emergency room and she was basically out til Sunday morning when it finally passed. It was such a blessing it happened so fast though! The doctors said it could have taken a whole week, but she received a Priesthood blessing and it all worked out. I felt completely awful because there was nothing I could do to help her! While she was in the ER, I went Visiting Teaching with a member in our ward. The family we taught really opened my eyes to true suffering. That family has been through so much! The dad died suddenly from cancer the day after the mom had her 8th child. She raised them all while being a teacher and running a tutoring service. She never remarried because he was the love of her life. She is now 76 and the doctors say she has literally worked herself to death. Her family must have very bad luck in health because most of them are handicapped in some way. There was such an amazing spirit about them though. With kidney stones and seeing people who can hardly function on their own, my appreciation for The Atonement grew even more. I can not imagine what Christ went through just so he could simply succor His people and save them from their own nature. The pain is too much to grasp. It brings me to tears to think about everyone's individual pains multiplied together to amount to what Christ went through. I am so thankful to be able to give people the chance to have all that lifted and know that there is someone who understands every pain, sickness, and sorrow. 

On a much happier note, we were able to go to the Sikh temple yesterday! It was such a cool experience! It was literally like stepping into India. I love being able to experience all of these different cultures. We were able to go with our Sikh friends. We had to cover our heads with scarves and were able to see how they worship. They all eat together twice! It was absolutely delicious and unlike anything I've ever tasted. It was very different sitting on the floor for most everything. They also had live Indian music which was my favorite part. 

My favorite lesson this week was with Alan. He is the one who called us after 10 years of inactivity. Two lessons ago he told us he decided not to get the tattoo he was SET on getting. The last lesson he told us he didn't drink his usual coffee that day. He is sure to tell us not to get too excited, but at the same time we can see a complete change! He knows what is best for him, he has a testimony of Christ and knows that we wouldn't be given commandments unless it will better our lives, he just forgot for a while. He came to church Sunday and is just progressing so much. I'm not sure if I shared this but he brought his girlfriend to the 4th of July breakfast and after she told him if he was planning on going back to the church, she wasn't going to remain with him. So he broke up with her! What an amazing example of someone who recognizes how truly important this gospel is. 

We also went running with Jared- the part member who's wife is from Russia. He has two adorable toddler twins and he is the poster guy for Iron Man. But really. If you look up "Hotter than He**ck"- its a triathalon- he really is the poster guy. We went running Tuesday morning at 6am with a group of people training. It was intense, but such a good bonding time with him! He will come back to church in no time and his wife will soon realize the gospel is true! 

Wish I had more time, but that's it for now! Next week I'll have to send more pictures because we had some incredible experiences at the Sikh temple and the zoo. Every day I'm so thankful to be serving the Lord on my mission. I can't express my gratitude that my Grandpa is back home from the hospital. I love my family so much. I know God is in control, I just have to remind myself to trust Him each day. 


Also I was soo happy to see the Smith family a few days ago!! I love the wonderful, small world we live in. She was my YW leader in NC so many years ago ;)

Just in case y'all happen to send a letter around transfer time which is next Tuesday here is my mission address so that it doesn't get lost in the mail: 
Sister Kristina Dalling
Texas Dallas Mission Office
13747 Montfort Dr. Suit 120
Dallas, TX 75240




Week 4 from The Colony, TX


Looked too much like Oregon.. I had to take a picture! 

We get to live with two adorable dogs <3 Bonnie and Klyde


the crazy ridiculous rainstorm 

this house was literally right beside a trailer park.. in the middle of no where. We tried to contact the owner but of course it was gated :p

This newborn puppy peed on me.. yeah. good thing I love dogs

WEEK 4
Hey y'all! This week I don't have as much to say unfortunately. It's been kind of a rough one, but nonetheless a great one!

On Monday, we had dinner with our Chinese investigator and her family. They speak very little english so we had a lady (Sis Wood) who served a mission in Hong Kong come with us. The dinner was INCREDIBLE. Sis Wood took a pic of it so I'll have to ask her to email it to me. It was authentic, homemade chinese food. The only downside to this wonderful dinner was that in their culture you are expected to eat everything they give you, which wouldn't have been a problem except they kept piling our plates with more food. I have never eaten that much in my entire life. It was literally five plates filled to the brim that we were expected to eat.. it was painful. And after that we had fruit for dessert! It was honestly a miracle I could do it. Believe me, I was praying the whole time. So I guess Sister Wood said their conversion is possible, it will just be a very long term process. They are the sweetest family and we are so willing to put in the effort! 

On Tuesday, we had a training meeting so I was able to see my district people from the MTC. I love them! Our training was great. I love President Durrant. He cares so much about us missionaries. Also that night we were out knocking doors and we ran into an amazing girl named Mayra. We basically taught her the first lesson on her porch. We had the craziest thunderstorm on Tuesday. We were coming out of WalMart (sorry Downey's;) and it was sprinkling then all of a sudden it was pouring down sheets of rain, but it was warm so it was basically a shower. We ran to our car in less than a minute and we were completely drenched to the bone! I loved it. I never thought I'd say I miss the rain, but I do! Last week was such good weather. We've had a very lucky summer. 

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty uneventful. We did lots of planning. We've been trying to create a system so that members are doing most of the finding and we can do all the teaching. We have been spending so much time trying to find people and they don't have the proper support system in the church, so we end up dropping a lot unfortunately. So until we get this system into place, numbers will probably be pretty low. That's okay though! I don't really like numbers anyway, I just like working and seeing what happens because of that work! 

On Friday we did a lot of service for Andy. Ever since his wife died, his house has been falling apart, so we did a lot of cleaning. It's so incredible being able to do little things for people that mean so much to them. Two hours of cleaning is such a small part that we can do, but for Andy it means so much more. It reminded me of my mission scripture Alma 37:6 By small things, great things come to pass. We taught Mayra The Restoration in greater detail and it went amazingly. She is so close to the spirit and wants to get closer to God. Unfortunately her mom is a very very strong Catholic and wouldn't allow her to come to church on Sunday. Mayra said she'd even want to get baptized on Aug 24, but since she is 17 she would have to have her mom's permission. So I have high hopes that someday Mayra will join. She's absolutely adorable. I really hope her mom softens her heart. Also parking lot contacting is pretty much my favorite thing to do. We meet the coolest people, and get to talk to about 40 every time we go. It's like instant gratification. 

Saturday was a really fun day. We watched The Work of Salvation again at a members house. She is from Italy and is the loudest, funniest, and one of the most beautiful people you will ever meet. Love her! Her daughter who helps us a ton is going to Brazil on her mission. That night we went and helped at our bishops house for his son's wedding reception. They were such a cute couple, but it reminded me of how grateful I am not to have to worry about any of that for 18 months. 

I can't believe I've been on my mission over a month now! Seventeen more to go, and it's already going by way too fast. This week all of my dreams were about missionary work, so my heart's in the right place. It's such a good feeling knowing I am where God wants me to be. There have been times in my life when I felt good about where I was at, but nothing compares to the assurance that I was meant to be a missionary. This work is so important. I love sharing the gospel with people, I wish I did it more when I was home. It's so inspiring to see lives change from the precious message I get to share. I love my companion and I'm so sad this transfer is almost over! 

Here are some quotes I find inspiring for this week:
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be." -Abraham Maslow

"When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph." -Perre Corneille

"Be still, and know that I am God" D&C 101:16


Someone in Texas loves you!!! 

Here's is my address--please write me! I love letters:
Sister Kristina Dalling
c/o Stuart and Cindy Alleman
2812 Treasure Cove
The Colony, TX  75056

WE GOT A CAR!!! Letter from Sister Alleman (host family for Sister Dalling & Sister Hansen)


Hi,

I wanted to send all of you this picture of your beautiful missionary daughters standing in front of their car!  It was quite a celebration around here when they found out that they would be getting a car!  It just seems like many prayers have been answered.  It has been getting very hot and yet, your dedicated daughters would still ride their bikes out in the oppressive heat.   Now they have a car to get them around, as well as members of the Ward who are still willing to give them rides if needed.  The members in our Ward have fallen in love with your daughters, they are both amazing missionaries!  We feel so blessed to have them with us. 

They both have beautiful voices and we often get to hear them singing hymns together which is wonderful.  And Bro. and Sis. Dalling, we have given your daughter hugs and she truly does have a beautiful smile and has brought such a sweet spirit in our home.   And Sis. Hansen has developed such a “missionary heart” and shares the Gospel with everyone she meets.  We are so impressed with how hard they both work—they are up each morning very early and work all day long.   

We appreciate your sacrifice and the support you give your missionary daughters and hope that you are enjoying many blessings from their Service.  Thank you for raising such great missionaries who radiate the Spirit and who are doing such a great work here in The Colony. 

Love,

Sis. Alleman

Week 3 from The Colony, TX (with Pictures)!

1: my district from the MTC I miss them!! 

2: my beautiful companion and I 

                                                                      3: my wonderful bike

4:4th of July :D a recent convert Sis Carmikle on the left and Anna on the right is so willing to help all the time

5: I love her

                                                        6: the beautiful man-made lake ;) 


I've been on my mission over a month now! I can't believe how precious time is out here. This week had a lot of ups and downs, but the ups were INCREDIBLE. 

Monday- The heat exhaustion really got to me. When it's over 100, high humidity, riding bikes all day my body gets really mad at me apparently. But that night we had the cutest family home evening with a less active family. They have four daughters who were similar ages to my siblings so it was a lot of fun spending time with them. We did an object lesson that involved jelly beans that the kids liked a lot. One of the little girls nicknames all the missionaries and so my nickname is Jelly Bean!

Tuesday- We had our District Meeting on Tuesday. We feel every time we have meetings with other missionaries because our numbers are so good comparatively.. Those poor elders work so hard too, they just have a really rough area. We visited the Singh family! I don't remember if I've talked about them, but basically he's this cute old Indian man who came up to us while walking his dog and told us all of his info and that he couldn't come to church this week but would come the next week- all without us saying a word. In fact we weren't even dressed as missionaries- we were out exercising. So we went to his house and got to know him and his wife. They are Sikh which is a religion primarily found in India. Research it because it is such a beautiful religion! There was a slight language barrier, but they are the nicest people I've ever met. She kept bringing us food and we interrupted their dinner but they left it and talked to us for almost two hours about their story. Sikhs are so peaceful! They won't even kill a bug because it is a creation from God. Their God isn't our God in the sense that they  are not Christian, but they do believe He is everyone's God and we are all brothers and sister. The men wear a turban and don't cut their hair. They have a lot of the same morals we do including no alcohol, tobacco, tithing, and more. It's also really sad because the Sikh people provide 80% of India's army and they are only 2% of India's population. They believe in fighting for freedoms and their families and country so strongly. So this coming week we are going to go to their Sikh temple in Dallas in exchange that they'll come to church with us! 

Wednesday- We prayed about where we needed to go tracting and I felt inspired to go to a street on  the other side of our area. It was like a half hour bike ride just to get there and it was already night time, but we followed the Spirit. We met a man named Randy in the first house we knocked on. His wife has major heart complications and was supposed to have died last Christmas. Her condition hasn't gotten better, but she's had longer than expected. We shared with him The Plan of Salvation and how God really does have a plan for us so that we can live with our families forever. My experiences on my mission make me appreciate my life so much more. I've never faced anything that hard, nor do I ever want to. But my favorite part of being a missionary is sharing that peace and comfort God's plan can offer to everyone who will accept it. We also taught a boy named Bruno that day about The Restoration. I just thought this was a funny experience and my companion said in all of her 10 months this has never happened. We asked him to say the closing prayer, we explained how to do it and he said he would. While we were all kneeling, he began to pray..but in his head.. so we were all sitting there with our eyes closed just waiting- it was the most awkward thing ever haha. 

Thursday- It was 7/11 day! So of course we went and got a free slurpee;) I know my mom would be so proud of me for carrying on that tradition. We also got a CAR!!! That morning the mission office called and said they had a car for us so we drove down and picked it up! It's a chevy malibu. God must have felt sorry for me. I honestly have no idea how the mission knew we needed one. Neither one of us complained about our bikes, and there are other areas that need a car much worse than we did. I never even prayed about it, because I figured if God is asking me to ride a bike, He will make it okay. Thankfully God knows me perfectly. My dad just so happened to have sent me 8 cd's on that exact day as well so we had music for the car! I love how the Lord provides for His servants. 

Friday- This was such an up/down day. We decided to go plan and have lunch at Chik-fil-a and it turned out to be the one day out of the year when if you dress up like a cow, you get free stuff. So everyone who walked in was in an absurd cow outfit- it was hilarious! And very distracting.. There was also a magician and a balloon man so it turned out to be a bad place for planning;) We are also working with a Chinese woman. She is so sweet. There is a language barrier but today we are bringing a sister in the stake who served her mission in Hong Kong. In their culture, the first lesson is all about 'getting to know you' so we shared pictures of our family and it was so great. By the way, I need pictures of Oregon if anyone wants to send them! She also feeds us a ton. How come the american culture can't be as sweet as all these others? Anyways, it turns out having a car allows more time for disappointment, so it felt like we should have gotten a lot done but no one was receptive the rest of the day. It was really hard. On one of the cds my dad sent me there was a bunch of pioneer songs. They made everything better. I couldn't get through the song Come, Come Ye Saints without crying.. They provide such a profound example of courage and faith. I found this quote from President Monson in the Ensign I really liked: "The passage of time dims our memories and diminishes our appreciation for those who walked the path of pain leaving behind a tear-marked trail of nameless graves. But what of today's challenges? Are there no rocky roads to travel, no rugged mountains to climb, no chasms to cross, no trails to blaze, no rivers to ford? Or is there a very present need for that pioneer spirit to guide us away from the dangers that threaten to engulf us and lead us to a Zion of safety?" 

Sunday- We got our investigator Andy to come to church! We showed up at his house 2 hours before church started and told him to start getting ready because we had a ride for him coming. We've been teaching him for two months and he's been too scared to come to church. But that extra effort got him to come! We showed up and he looked so good in his Sunday best! He's an old man who's wife died last year so we are planning on baptizing him very soon- even though he hasn't realized it for himself yet! Every time we teach him, I can feel his wife helping us and encouraging him. Later we had a really sad lesson. Bruno, the boy we taught earlier that week came to dinner for a lesson. We didn't realize it until that night that he read some horrible things online throughout his life and because of that he has some very anti-Christ views. He believes in God, just not Christ. It's the saddest thing. He refuses to pray about Christ and can't progress if he doesn't. I had never met anyone who had anything bad to say about Jesus Christ up until that point. That was the first time my soul felt that much pain. My Spirit felt so offended. It makes me so angry that Satan has been able to get people to think bad things about Christ. Especially because Christ suffered for everyone even if they won't accept Him. I can't imagine how hard it is for Christ to see this happen. All we can do is pray for those people. Bruno is so much more alone that he needs to be. 
On a much happier note, we talked to a less active family for a long time! The dad is super into triathlons and gave us a bunch of biking tips. Tomorrow we are waking up at 6 to go to a running clinic with him.. the things we do for the people we are teaching.. ;) 

I love my mission! Even though it's hard, it is so worth it. I say that all the time, but it gets me through a lot. I'm so thankful for all the prayers. I feel them all the time. This quote from Elder Gibbons in the Ensign really spoke to me "When the night is darak and the clouds thick, we have an opportunity to put our hand in the Lord's hand and rely on Him to help us through." I know that is true. I could not have gotten through several moments in my life if it weren't for Christ. 

Also I can't emphasize enough how important member missionary work is! This promise from Elder Anderson was said at the last general conference "I promise you, as you pray to know with whom to speak, names and faces will come into your mind. Words to speak will be given in the very moment you need them. Opportunities will open to you. Faith will overcome doubt, and the Lord will bless you with your very own miracles." I know that is true! The church is true so what do we have to lose? Nothing. I love you all so much, especially my family. I miss you like crazy, but I would rather be no where but here serving The Lord and the wonderful people in Texas. Thank you for all your support! Let me know if there's anything I can do to bless your life! 


Sister Kristina Dalling
c/o Stuart and Cindy Alleman
2812 Treasure Cove
The Colony, TX  75056

Happy 4th of July from The Colony, Texas!

Week 2 I made it!  It really has gone by super fast. I've been loving every minute of it. So many miracles I can't wait to tell! 

Monday- This guy named TJ called us. He said he recently moved into the area and has been inactive for 10 years and feels like it's time to come back so HE asked us if we could come over haha so of course we squeezed him into our schedule! He is super great and we love him.

Tuesday- My mom looked up my address on google earth and thinks I'm in a nice area..but technically that is Lewisville and not really my area. I live with the Stake President's family which is super nice. My area is The Colony and it has some nice parts but mostly it's really sad. Way too many people are barely making it and so often there houses are very humble when we are invited in. I love the people though. Most of them rely so heavily on God, they are so prepared for our message. We contacted a referral named Amy. Her dad died recently so her aunt and uncle asked us to teach her the Plan of Salvation or what happens when we die. It was an incredible lesson. She was telling us about her life and it was absolutely horrifying some of the things she's been through. I feel so so blessed. It's incredible how much peace the gospel can give you if you just accept it. We hope to be working with her a lot- she seemed really receptive. On a happier note we got to serve a lady in our ward today really good friend is living with her and might be interested in the gospel. I love service by the way, it makes the mission so great. I just had to share the funniest sight I've ever seen. Just imagine they have like 6 dogs. Everyone in Texas has dogs- I  love it! So 2 of the dogs are collies and they have been trained to run on the treadmill! But one of them likes to go backwards and make herself run into the wall haha she does it over and over it is the funniest thing.

Wednesday- This was definitely a harder day.. Our bikes kept falling over because we had too much stuff in our baskets. My basket broke, all my things fell out... but luckily a member happened to be driving by just as it happened and took our things back to our house. It just seemed like everything was going wrong that day though. Thank God for hard days because they make you appreciate the good ones SO much more.

Thursday- Happy 4th of July!!! Pretty much my favorite holiday! I was so sad I couldn't spend it with my family and friends, but I had such a good 4th. We had a huge ward pancake breakfast..at 7am.. but lots of our investigators and less actives came so it was tons of fun. Later we went to the festival at the lake. Texas goes big for the 4th! I mean huge- it was incredible. Of course just because it was a holiday doesn't mean it was a break. We got so much done! We passed out around 300 pass along cards! We also had people come up to us and ask more about it. We were able to meet some really amazing people. I'm only writing this because it was actually really funny and everyone told me it would happen.. This group of guys in their low 20's came up and got cards from us. One of them had THE biggest crush on me. His name's John and he did everything he possibly could to find out my first name and get to know me, but I kept bringing it right back to God haha. I made him read the introduction to the Book of Mormon or he had to go away. He was pretty funny. I told him he could learn from elders somewhere haha so eventually he left. This other lady we were definitely meant to meet just melts my heart. She talked to us about how she loves her Catholic church, but she had a baby out of wedlock and the Father there wouldn't let her baby be baptized. She felt like God was punishing her baby for her mistakes, and she didn't understand. She could not stop crying so we scheduled a time to meet with her this week and explain how much God loves children and that her baby is perfect and she can be cleansed from all that guilt and sorrow. I feel so lucky to carry this message. The rest of our fourth was pretty uneventful. We had curfew at 9:30 so no fireworks, but we got so much done.

Friday- My favorite miracle of the week :) The Relief Society president always gives us a lengthy list of less actives no one knows about so if we have time usually we go visit one of the names. We went to visit a girl named Maria. She wasn't home but her younger sister and father asked us to come in anyway. The dad doesn't speak any english so it was kind of awkward but we decided to get to know Maria's younger sister (17) Cinthia. I asked her how she knew God was real. She teared up and said she knew because He changed her dad's life. We weren't sure what that meant but we continued the lesson anyway. She would get very emotional every time we told her how much God loved her. I felt an overwhelming love for her from God. When we shared with her Joseph Smith's vision she said she knew it was true. We asked her if she'd be baptized and she said yes through many tears. August 24!  We are so excited although she might have to be transferred to the Spanish elders because of her dad. We called the Spanish elders and they said her dad had been baptized

Saturday- This was a really hard day. We had to drop one of our investigators because of an incident involving alcohol I won't go into. I had a really really hard time doing this. But the insight I found in Preach My Gospel on this subject gave me so much comfort. I can't think of it as dropping them, but rather preparing them even further. Often times people need several interactions with the church before they are ready. We did our very best and that is all God asks of us. 

Sunday- Sundays are crazy busy actually. It was fast sunday and testimony meeting was great. A boy leaving on his mission this week was in Serena's BYU ward and told me about her mission call after sacrament meeting!!! Mexico! So proud of that girl. It's difficult being a missionary at church because literally every member wants to talk to us, but we have investigators who come every week who need our full attention. Sunday dinner after fasting is always a struggle haha. I stuffed myself to the max and completely regretted it. I love Sunday though. 

I've had about six mosquito bites and another bite that is so swollen and in pain I'm going to have to get it checked I think haha. West Nile is real here... The weather is super hot, but I actually really like riding bikes believe it or not it keeps me energized. All day every day :) I miss everyone so much! I pray for y'all and think about you often. I know this church is true and God is helping me every step of this journey. Oh just a side note that's not too important..;) MY COMPANION AND I BROKE THE RECORD FOR MOST LESSONS TAUGHT IN A WEEK IN OUR ENTIRE MISSION EVER :D 52 aw yeahhh. 

Here are a TON of pictures unfortunately I can only send a few at a time.

Love,
Sis Dalling


Send me a letter!
Sister Kristina Dalling
c/o Stuart and Cindy Alleman
2812 Treasure Cove
The Colony, TX  75056

or Email: (however, letters are best!)
Kristina Dalling <kristina.dalling@myldsmail.net>

Kristina's 1st letter from The Colony, Texas!

Hey y'all! It's so hard to figure out timing for these letters. I wish I had time to write everyone individually, but as I've learned time is very precious. You would not believe the week I've had! It's been incredibly hard but at the same time so amazing. My companion is Sister Hansen. She's the BEST. She's been out 10 months now and in this area (The Colony) for 3 months. I was so nervous about having a hard companion, but I couldn't have asked for better. We work together perfectly. So our zone has been the lowest baptizing zone in the mission, but I'm determined to change that! It's a super hard first area, but The Lord knows I can handle it. I'm still waiting for Him to convince me that I can handle a bike mission..in the 100's..in a skirt.. in high humidity..I have never felt sun like this. I drink like six water bottles every day. I also already have the worst tan lines! It's incredibly difficult work, especially when lots of  people aren't home during the day. I'm guessing we bike around 6 miles throughout the day- that might even be low. But somehow we make it through the day. There have been times when it seems like everything is going wrong, but we just laugh about it. Laughing is like manna for the soul haha it keeps us sane. Although it's hard there have been moments every day that makes it all worth it. 
Our investigators are sooo amazing. It's incredible how much I love them after just meeting them. Aimee and Jeremy are probably my personal favorites. Jeremy is getting baptized August 10th with his daughter Daisy! We are so happy for them. Aimee was baptized at 8, but when inactive her teen years and went down the wrong path. She and Jeremy recently decided they wanted to raise Daisy in a good church and Aimee remembered how great our church was so she went on mormon.org and found us! We started out working with just Aimee and Daisy- the dad wasn't interested at all during the first lesson, but eventually he started joining every lesson! Now he's getting baptized and says he believes it's all true. They are such a beautiful, strong family. Aimee is a cancer survivor and her trials in life make mine look like a piece of cake. Jeremy has recently been her anchor thanks to his new faith. It's so incredible seeing the blessings of the gospel change a family firsthand. I love them. 
This other girl we are working with is 18 and her name's Cindy.. She's had I think 2 lessons in the past, but with our last lesson we retaught The Restoration. She's been coming to church for a long time with her aunt, but has never felt ready to be baptized so we invited her to read The Book of Mormon and pray about it and she'd get an answer. Yesterday at church I asked how it went and she said she got an answer! - funny how that works ;) 
Also there have just been times when we felt like we needed to be somewhere or stay on a certain street and we end up teaching The Restoration to a person who happens to come right to us! So we have a lot of potential investigators. On Saturday, it's usually really hard finding people I guess because everyone is on the lake or a waterpark. It's way too hot to simply be at the normal park and nobody stays home. So we were having no luck. We prayed and I kept having the thought to go to a parking lot, but I thought that was silly it was too hot nobody would want to talk in the parking lot. However I eventually told my companion and she said Walmart would make the most sense. We split up and I had the feeling to go up to a lady sitting in her car. Long story short she is super prepared! She's moving into our area Aug 15 and said we could come teach her. We talked forever getting to know eachother and she's had lots of mormon friends so she knows a lot already. Her names Vanessa and her husband is Patrick so hopefully that leads to something! 
The hardest thing I've had to do this week, physically at least, was a service for a lady in our ward. She's freshly divorced and her ex was pretty awful and we ended up shoveling a huge pile of dirt(clay) into a wheelbarrow and dumping in a field. It took us about an hour and a half in 102 degree weather. I have never worked so hard in my life, but it was so worth it. It was a surprise and it meant the world to her! 
The people here in Texas are so great. Most of them have such a great faith and love for God. Everyone wants to do Bible study and talk about religion, but sometimes that makes it hard for them to accept our message.  There are also some people with very strange ideas out there.  One lady said she believed in mermaids and one other investigator said he believed in vampires.  So with mermaids and vampires I just couldn't keep it together. I was literally biting my tongue and praying not to judge the entire time.One last normal/crazy story. We had to drop a potential investigator:( It was sad but we couldn't help but find the humor in what he said. He said he honestly didn't want to join or anything, he just wanted to see my companion because she looks like Lindsay Lohan haha. 
Dallas is great. 
Church was awesome. The members are amazing. We are fed every single night! I live with the Stake President so it's a super nice home. Give people that address because the mission home mail only gets to us like once a month for zone conferences. I love you all. The letter I sent is a bit outdated so when I reply to letters it will be a lot better. Fill me in on your life! I love you all so much, but I love being a missionary. I LOVE it. I'm so thankful for this opportunity to serve God 24/7. It's exhausting, but so worth it. I'm serving with everything I have. Be strong at home and know I think of y'all every chance I can.

Best address to mail me at while I am in this area: (otherwise it take a month for letters to arrive from the mission home address)
Sister Kristina Dalling
c/o Stuart and Cindy Alleman
2812 Treasure Cove
The Colony, TX  75056

Email: (however, letters are best!)
Kristina Dalling <kristina.dalling@myldsmail.net>