I love y'all Week 38 from Sachse, Texas

Hello friends and family!!!

First of all:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER SARA! I love you from the depths of my heart! Your letters mean so much to me, you have no idea. I can't believe how old you are getting, holy moly! It seems like it was just yesterday you were in diapers, sitting on my head, and pulling on my hair. You are growing up to be such an amazing young woman! So beautiful inside and out! I think about you all the time. I hope you have an incredible birthday and know I'll be there in spirit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER JACOB! Oh Gub. You are the only boy who has had my heart since the day you were born! I can not believe you are turning 13. You're a teenager. OH my gosh. I love you so much! Your letters mean the world to me. Thank you for everything you do. You are so sweet, kind and talented.

Expect a package very soon!

And Happy St,Patrick's Day! We are ending our preparation day early this week because we want to work super hard, so sorry I don't have much time!

This past week has been a great one. Always filled with miracles! God is a God of miracles, that's for sure.

We went to the temple Wednesday which is always an amazing experience. I feel like my time to go to the temple always comes at the exact moment I need it most. I love it so much! I feel so close to my Heavenly Father in the temple. I absolutely love all other faiths, any kind of faith is beautiful to me. But temples is what sets this faith apart, I feel. And the beauty that the temple brings into my faith is unmatched.

We had a lesson with Richard.. kind of a sad one. We found out about the missing plane and a senior in highschool 15 minutes from where we live was murdered. So the world is crazy. 

Shelly and her baptism are still looking really promising!

Speaking of baptisms, Jeremy was baptized Saturday in The Colony! Love the Davis'!

I sang the song "I Will" (Hilary Weeks) at Stake Conference. Elder Jones, of the first quorum of the Seventy came and spoke. It was a great conference. The Spirit was very strong, so many inspired speakers. Joakim and Felipe went skiing in Colorado for the weekend because of spring break, so they weren't able to go. But Laszlo, who also lives in Joakim's house, came! He's from Hungary and he is awesome! His family is still in Hungary and are apparently meeting with sister missionaries there as well! He is such an incredible person.

Well, my 9 month mark came and went. Hard to believe! We also had a zone meeting this morning and we all bore our testimonies, it was amazing. This week we have Specialized Training and lots of fun things coming up! Be prepared to hear about many miracles next week!

I have the best family in the world. I don't know what I'd do without them. Or my mission! I'm so grateful that my family is going to be together forever.

Love,

Sister Kristina Dalling

Write me!

6360 Murphy Rd.
#123
Sachse, TX 75048

Lyrics to I Will:

I made my choice 
You can mark this day 
The day I pledge 
To take His name 

I will be strong 
I will be brave 
Standing for Him 
As I take my place 

I have felt the spirit burn truth in my heart 
It's in my heart 
I will stand 
I will not fall 
In a world that's weak 
I will be strong 

I'll be true 
I will choose His way 
Yeah, I know what's right 
And I will not change 
In a world where so many will not 
I will 

I may be one 
But one becomes two 
When you stand with me 
And I stand with you 
As we unite 
Our cause is great 
We're not just the candle 
We are the flame 

I will take the light He gives me 
And I'll hold it up high 
I'll hold it up high 

And I will stand 
I will not fall 
In a world that's weak 
I will be strong 

I'll be true 
I will choose his way 
Yeah, I know what's right 
And I will not change 

In a world where so many will not 
I will 

I will stand 
I will not fall 
In a world that's weak 
I will be strong 
I'll be true 
I will choose His way 
Yeah, I know what's right 
And I will not change 

In a world where so many will not... 
I will 

HALFway done?!?!? Week 37 from Sachse, Texas

1. This is when we went to Top Golf. It was so much fun! I really hope I can find a Top Golf again someday. I miss those missionaries! 

2.Sister Erickson and I in a gated community we just happened to slip into! Luckily the security person was helping someone with a problem, so he just let us on through. 

3.The temple with my favorite district! Sister Stephenson and I are hopefully going to the temple this week! I LOVE THE TEMPLE. 

Pei and her family! Oh my goodness I miss them! This is the Chinese family I was able to teach for a while. Loved their food!

The only bright side to transfers is being able to see old mission friends. Elder Walters- awesome friend! 

HALFway done?!?!?

Oh my goodness, it hasn't even hit me. I have no concept of time whatsoever since my mission. The past nine months seem to have went by like a blink of an eye, but yet it also feels as if my life didn't even exist before my mission. Weirdest feeling ever! But I'm lovin' it!

By the way, I love my family! Congratulations Katie for your performance in Guys & Dolls. I'm so sad I couldn't be there to see it, but I'm sure it was incredible. Annnnnd it's almost my Jacob and Sara's birthday! Wow, I have a great family.  

This past week was a little slower because of the ice day. By the way today is bright and shiny again.. Texas is crazy! Jeremy is getting baptized this week and I am SO happy. I'm so sad I won't be able to go.. It is far away and the timing doesn't work out with Stake Conference. I'll make sure to get pictures of it though from Sister Erickson! The Davis family makes me so happy! Jeremy sent me a note this past week, telling me about the news and that he's sad I won't be able to go but knows I'll be there in spirit. I definitely will be! And hopefully I'll be at their temple sealing in a year.

We had a huge miracle this past week! A member in Wylie 2 ward asked a friend at the gym the 'willing and brief' invitation. At first she politely declined, but then a couple of weeks later she told this member to give us her contact info and that she'd love to meet! Apparently she hasn't been able to find a church that fits her family. Her husband isn't really interested yet, but she has 2 boys, ages 3 and 5. She hasn't been real active in a church since childhood, but she's felt the impression that she needs to make God more a part of her life. She's been attending a Baptist church, and had a really spiritual experience as the pastor was talking about the Creation and God's plan for us. Because of that experience she wanted to meet with us! She is awesome! Sister Barch, the member, came with us to the first lesson. The lesson went incredibly! She was really curious and trying to understand. She seems to love the idea of the Restored Gospel on the Earth. When we invited her to be baptized, she said, "Of course!". So Sachse might have it's first baptism very soon! She most definitely has high potential. Too often, when we find people like this, Satan gets in there right quick and ruins everything, so we are going to be praying hard the whole way.

Also we had another animal companion! Sunday night was absolutely freezing cold. It was raining, we didn't have umbrellas at the time, we were tracting, and life just honestly seemed temporarily miserable.. So I said a prayer. There's a super great Mormon message titled 'Hope you know we had  a hard time'. So that was my inspiration for that prayer. I told God 'hope you know I'm having a rough night, please help me out'. Then he sent us a cat! Almost immediately, in fact, the sweetest cat came up to us and wouldn't leave our side the rest of the night. She was the cutest thing, entertaining us by constantly trying to trip us. And just like the dog, people are a lot more receptive with an animal. God knows me pretty well, and it's so comforting that He cares about the smallest things in my life, too.

I'm loving my mission! Even the cold, rainy parts! Even the 'stuck inside all day because of the ice' parts! It's the best. God's hand is in my life every single moment, and I couldn't be happier. I'm so looking forward to the next 9 months. It's just me, The Lord, and Texas, and it couldn't be any better.

I love y'all!

Sister Kristina Dalling

"It takes everyone to git her done."

The Work

Write me!

6360 Murphy Rd.
#123
Sachse, TX 75048

Week 36 from Sachse, Texas: "Transfer 7!!!"

Our district- Elder Campbell, Elder Taylor, us, and Sisters Otto and Nance

Joakim and Felipe! We are all basically best friends. 

Love them!

Felipe is the best member missionary ever!

Gina was in our ward but just moved to NC :( she was so awesome though! I love her! 

Hello everyone!! 

So quick update on why I'm emailing Wednesday.. The weather is insane in Texas. Insane. Saturday was the most beautiful day in the 70's, felt like spring. And then Sunday dropped 50 degrees and iced and snowed again. I was driving 15 mph on the way home from church it was so bad. One miracle from that storm though! It's kind of scary, don't freak out because we are fine! As we were driving home, we came to an intersection and the light turned yellow, so of course I stopped, but our brakes kept skidding because of the ice and we were not stopping. But somehow we stopped at exactly the right spot so that we wouldn't get hit either from the front or the back. It was pretty scary though. I hate ice! So then Monday, the whole mission was ordered to stay indoors. Texas is crazy.

Okay so a sister in The Colony actually went home early, so Sister Walton replaced her for the rest of that week. She got really homesick. :( So Sister Stephenson and I finished the transfer off on our own. It was a very good transfer! And we are staying together for at least another 6 weeks, so I'm very grateful for that. We are both staying in Sachse! And it's my 7th Transfer!! That means I only have 6 left.. I hit my halfway mark next week.. insane. 

We had a really awesome miracle! So we were tracting a street and one man answered and politely declined and didn't take a card even, the rest of the street didn't seem to be receptive either, but then I noticed a dog. This dog was just roaming around and so we called him over. He was super nice and wouldn't leave our side after that. We knocked on a few doors to see if anyone knew who's dog it was because it appeared to be a stray, and nobody knew. But tracting with the dog was super effective. People actually talked to us for a few minutes longer than how long it takes to shut the door! We even got a pretty great potential investigator from it. He told us he knows he needs to make religion more a part of his life, so he wants us to come back! After tracting a few more houses with our new companion, we decided to call the animal shelter to come pick up the dog. As we were waiting, the man who refused even a card earlier came out with his dog to check the mail. Our dogs wanted to meet and we explained the situation. He thought it was the most amazing thing that we cared enough about that poor dog to have called the animal shelter. He kept saying how impressed he was, after we got to know him and his dog a little better, he opened up about religion. he didn't like how all the Christian faiths are kind of against each other, we explained we don't like it either. And we are very aware of it, too, since 90% of Texas is Christian and only a very small percentage are particularly welcoming. We explained our purpose and what we do. He thought it was great and wants us to come back! So basically, I love dogs. so much. I miss my Prince back at home! Can't wait to see my dog again. They really are a man's best friend. 

So remember Robert and Judy? Judy has Lou Gherig's disease.. and the bishop, mission president, and ward mission leader are determined to find a way to get her baptized! Her lessons are amazing and the spirit is always so strong, but we can't tell how attentive she is or how much she understands. We explained to her that mostly we are going to focus on the change of heart and her desires and devotion to Christ since she can't really break any commandments. We focused on what true repentance means, and it's all helping Robert too! Even though Judy can't move, talk, or do anything really to communicate, it honestly feels like our souls are communicating. It is truly beautiful. Sometimes during lessons, she can't help when she falls asleep, so we even thought of things Robert can do with her when he knows she's attentive enough to understand, like Mormon messages, ensign talks, and scriptures. They are awesome! 

Church was great! It's weird because most of our investigators are going to the ysa ward.. Joakim and Todd came. Todd is new! So he's awesome. He's 19 and just a great person. We knocked on his door and he agreed to meet with us again! So we taught him the first lesson and when I invited him to be baptized, I almost couldn't even finish asking, he said "are you done asking the question? Yes!" It was very exciting. He even pretty much scheduled it in. He said he'd do anything to find out if this is all true. So we are very excited about him. He's an MMA fighter and works a ton, but he's determined to make time for this. Unfortunately we'll probably have to hand him off the ysa elders. The only reason we haven't handed off Joakim is because we are teaching the family sporadically as well. But church was awesome! For now, it's very fun going to the ysa ward. 6 hours of church, but it's all good! I've been getting a lot out of the meetings recently, because I've been taking notes in every meeting! It helps me pay attention and feel the Spirit. Joakim and Felipe bore their testimonies, and it was one of the best moments. Joakim told us he wants to be baptized when he finishes The Book of Mormon hopefully and he wants Felipe to be the one to baptize him. He stayed up to 3am reading and is already done with all of 1Nephi! Ysa wards are so awesome, they have so much success because people this age are so receptive! I love it! 

Sadly one of our investigators isn't really making any progress, pray for him! We don't want to have to drop him, but we might have to. And please also keep the Riegals in your prayers. They were the family I taught in The Colony, Alex got baptized. Apparently the dad won't let his family go to church because Sunday morning is the only time he has off of work. So they have to choose between family and church.. It's really sad. They haven't been in a while.. But I heard every one else is doing great, including John!  And JEREMY IS GETTING BAPTIZED MARCH 15 :) I'm so excited! Finally! And they will be sealed next year in the temple as a family. Best news ever! 

Well I love you all! So much! I love my mission! It's crazy how fast it's going. 

Love,

Sister Kristina Dalling

Write me!

6360 Murphy Rd.
#123
Sachse, TX 75048

Week 35 from Sachse, Texas: "Declutter Day!"

Declutter Day!

Family and Friends,

We had an insane week!! I don't even know where to begin.

The beginning of the week was really slow because Sister Stephenson and I were both sick.. It must have been a stomach bug. At our lesson with Joakim later in the week I threw up and almost fainted when we were leaving.. BUT luckily we brought a member from the YSA ward who is now Joakim's good friend, Felipe, and he gave me a blessing and I'm all good now! Felipe is from Brazil but he actually served in this same mission, Spanish speaking a couple years ago! Small world. But I'm feeling fine now!!

Wednesday was the craziest day. We got a call from the assistants and found out we were getting another sister added to our companionship that night because a sister's area had to close suddenly. That's all the information we were given. We didn't know who, when, or why. So Sister Walton has joined us here in Sachse! It was all very last minute but we are adaptable. We don't know how long this will last, but most likely until transfers next week. It's very different being in a trio. It definitely comes with its challenges.  Living with one person who has differences is one thing, but throw in another, it's a whole other story. Pray for us this week! It definitely has it's advantages too, but trios are hard stuff. Nevertheless we are seeing miracles every day! Sister Walton is an INCREDIBLE missionary. I know there's a reason she's here, and I have most definitely learned a lot from her. She goes home next transfer and she was Sister Training Leader for months.

Joakim is doing awesome, reading the Book of Mormon, coming to church.  Felipe is awesome for him. On Sunday, it was the funniest thing. We had the most international bench in the church. We had Felipe from Brazil, Joakim from Norway, us, Ally and her sister from Asia, and a friend we brought for them. I love it! We are having way more luck with the YSA ward which is sad because that's not even our ward! But of course it's all for the Lord.

We found some pretty awesome investigators this week! My testimony of tracting and asking everyone for referrals has strengthened so much! We knocked on a house and a high schooler opened the door. His family wasn't really interested but he told us to stop by a few of his friends on that street when we asked who else did he know who would be interested. His friend Jessie is awesome. We taught her the first lesson and she is just so great. She and her family have a very strong Christian faith. She's reading the Bible in 90 days (13 chapters a day) and working on a devotional. She's a freshman in high school. Yeah. She seemed really sincere and genuine. She just said she might not have much time to read The Book of Mormon because of her intense Bible study and homework. That's pretty understandable though. Luckily she only has like a month left. She was definitely inspiring.

We also met a girl named Hope who was just walking her dog. She really touched my heart! We saw her once and told her a little about our faith, but she continued on. We saw her a little later and she came up to us and asked us a few questions about what sets us apart from other Christians. We told her, and she bore her testimony in telling us how she wanted us to really look into it and pray about it. Sadly she thought we were mislead but she was very young, and said she was nervous about 'witnessing' to us because she had never done it before but that we were so nice she wanted us to have the full truth. I loved her courage and conviction, it was very inspiring.

Elder Ellis' visit was so wonderful! It was a lot about enjoying your mission, but doing your very best at the same time. He added even more to my faith, love, obedience saying. He said Faith is the power, Obedience is the price, Love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, Christ is the reason, and Joy is the reward. His wife said "Sacrifice isn't loss- it's merely preparation for something better". I really needed to hear that. They also talked about different levels of faith and how important and powerful faith can be.

Just yesterday we had a huge miracle. We found a family of 5 through tracting that we are now teaching! The son knows the bishops sons who are returned missionaries, and has looked into the church before. So now we are teaching the family! They are awesome. Super strong faith though and LOTs of questions, so we are definitely having to research and study a lot. I'll have to tell you more about them next week. I can't tell you how much I've learned from all the people I've met on my mission. I love it!

So transfer calls are this week.. I know I'm staying though because President Durrant told my Stake President to ask me to sing at Stake Conference, and he did so I at least have another transfer here! Who know who will be my companion though?? Crazy. Transfer 7 here we come... my halfway point! Ah.

So today was declutter day for the mission. Our apartment has had missionaries for 10 years... Everyone and their mom left stuff everywhere so this is a picture of all the stuff we threw out today! Thanks a lot RM's!;) At least it feels a lot cleaner now.

I love y'all soooo much!! Thank you for all the letters and emails. 

Love,

Sister Kristina Dalling
6360 Murphy Rd.
#123
Sachse, TX 75048

Week 34 from Sachse, Texas!

Sleepover!

Valentine's Day -- Love these girls!

More Valentine's Day pics!

Well this was quite an experience. We wanted to go to lunch as a district, but two of our companionships don't have cars, we're the only ones who do. Soooo the elders got in the trunk..shhh.. :) #ThisIsn'tSaratovApproach

Snow Day!

my 8 month celebration :) Bahama Bucks has the best shaved ice

Dear Family and Friends,

It was a beautiful and lovely week! Valentine's Day weekend was the best. I hope it was the same for y'all too.

I have some good stories this week!

One story I completely forgot to tell, but it is pretty funny. So it was very cold outside, snowing in fact. So Sister Stephenson and I had the brilliant idea that we should build a fire in our fireplace. We had a few twigs and logs. We got a pretty good fire started but we didn't understand why it kept dying, especially when we put the log on. We kept trying for quite some time, but then the smoke alarm went off, so we opened all of our doors to get the smoke out and then our apartment ended up colder than when we began. Later on we found out you have to open something in the fireplace to let smoke out and oxygen in- no one told us! Growing up can be fun sometimes.

Best fire ever :)

A member in our ward did my hair this week! I'm so grateful for members who love missionaries! It's a little darker than I usually go, but it'll fade! We also had a sleepover with Sister Nance and Sister Otto before a meeting the next day because they are on bikes. That was a ton of fun too, but I think we were all too tired the next day because of it.

Wednesday we found a new investigator. Loves cars, super Texan. Lives more country and is married. We taught him the Restoration and he loved it! He's always believed in Christ but was never really religious. When we taught him about the  great apostasy, he said how it all made sense now and no one had explained it to him yet. We are teaching him again this week, so cross your fingers!

This week we spent quite some time with Joakim! He's awesome! We have a ton of fun learning from each other. They had a huge group of Unitarian missionaries we got to meet and get to know a little. They were all very nice. Then we watched the long version of the Joseph Smith movie. I always love watching that movie. So in Norway, they don't really celebrate Valentine's Day so of course we had to show him how great it is! We gave him his first Valentine he's ever received! We also visited a Buddhist temple, which was a neat experience. Next stop- the Dallas Temple! 

Joakim, me and Sis Stephenson :) 

Richard took us out to Outback Steakhouse, and it was crazy busy! It was so good though. They gave us milkshakes in the most adorable containers and we asked if we could take a container home and they made and exception for us!! It was great.

Only 1 investigator came to church this Sunday, so that was kind of disappointing. Nevertheless it was a good day. We had an awesome lesson with three less active sisters who are all ysa age. They are so awesome! Ally and her two sisters I can't remember their names right now! We've taught Ally a few times, but her sisters joined for the first time today. It went so well. We talked about The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong, especially as we talked about repentance. Afterward they promised to come to church next week and said our lessons are always exactly what Ally needs. Then we had kind of a sad lesson with one investigator. He hasn't kept any commitments, including reading, so we had to say he needs to start reading for us to meet as often as we do. For now, we will just be seeing him on Sundays. He was okay with it and understands he can't make much progress til he does that. That's always a hard lesson to have! But his desire is there, so it'll be fine.

This week we are having Elder Ellis of the Seventy come! So that's exciting. It's hard to believe this transfer is over half over!

I have the best family ever! I loved my Valentine package, flowers, and mail. I love and pray for y'all!

Have to go bowling and lazer tagging with some awesome missionaries :)

after I send some pictures!

Love,
Sister Kristina Dalling
6360 Murphy Rd.
#123
Sachse, TX 75048

Happy Valentine's Day!!! (week 33 from Sachse, Texas)

Happy Valentine's Day!!! What a great holiday! God has definitely shown His love for me this week.

In church yesterday, someone shared what their mission president always told them and I absolutely LOVED it. 

Love is the motive.

Faith is the power.

Obedience is the price.

So true! I absolutely love my God! No matter how hard missions can get, serving God in this way is the greatest way I can honor Him. I reached this epiphany while reading President Monson's talk titled "The Lord Needs Missionaries". 

I reach my 8 month mark on Wednesday! Can't believe it!! 

So my week was pretty good. Mondays we play basketball with our Zone and it is so much fun! That unathletic Sister Dalling you used to know is dwindling! I've gotten so much better at volleyball and basketball- you wouldn't believe. I even made 3 shots and that was playing against elders too! Granted, they might've gone a little easier on the sisters, it was still an accomplishment. That's what I get for having a NBA player for a mission president! 

We visited Richard's car shop this week. That was really cool! His mechanics showed us different cars and what was under the car as well as under the hood. This week I was truly convinced I was sent here to learn  from others more than they are to learn from me. It's been like that with Richard and all of the other appointments we had. I am just so fascinated at everyone's' life and experiences- they're all so different. Every experience shapes who we are even if we don't realize. 

We met with a new family- the Sanchezs'. They are so awesome! They have a great faith and family. They are a joy to teach and to be around. Sister Sanchez is full Navajo Indian, her grandma still lives on a reservation. She has some crazy stories about traditions and pow-wows. Brother Sanchez is a professional hunter. He travels the world, hunting animals and shooting footage of it. His videos are under Blind Goat media- look em up on youtube!! There's a super cute  one about his daughter coming on a trip with him. Their house is so cool. On the outside, it's just a small, normal house, but the inside looks like a cabin in the woods. They have animal heads everywhere and all the walls are covered in wood too, it's very rustic! They have a family ranch with horses down the road that we are going to start serving at! Bring on the horse poop! 

So it has been so cold!  We even had snow and freezing rain! I can't wait til I don't have to wear dresses in this kind of weather, builds character though! 

Even though Richard didn't come to church this week (he was sick), we had 2 investigators at church! That was a HUGE miracle. Huge. John came, and he's a friend of a youth in our ward who we are going to start teaching. Also we took Joakim to the YSA ward! It was so fun going to that ward. We are going to share him with those elders, too. His lessons are the most interesting experiences! He is quite a character! 

Anyways, hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's filled with lots of love. Know that I LOVE YOU! 

Love,

Sister Kristina Dalling

6360 Murphy Rd.

#123

Sachse, TX 75048

Happy Superbowl Week!! (Week 32) from Sachse, TX

So this week was a state holiday for most- the Super Bowl! Everything is definitely bigger in Texas. In honor of the Super Bowl, I reread "Hastening the Lord's Game Plan"  by Elder Gifford Nielson (former NFL Quarterback) . Super good talk. I invite y'all to read it or watch it on youtube.  BYU football coach, Lavell Edwards, said to QB Nielson something along the lines of 'I didn't care what play you made, as long as it got a touchdown'. Similarly, the Lord doesn't care how we do missionary work as members, just that we do it. So Elder Nielson gave some simple suggestions for the Lord's Game Plan.

1.Specifically pray to bring someone closer to the Savior and the gospel each day

2.Pray for the missionaries serving in your area and their investigators by name each day- "Until you know a person's name and face the Lord cannot help you know his/her heart."-Elder Nelson

3.Invite a friend to an activity in or out of your home.

As missionaries, we get a lot of praise from members and other fellow Christians all around who are amazed at our devotion. But. I most admire members who juggle real life with missionary work! It's so amazing and they are truly following the Lord's admonition to follow Him and be fishers of men.

I also read the same talk about Grace as a previous week and this quote  really helped me out.

"The task ahead of you is never greater than the power behind you." So true! The Lord has promised that He will be with me throughout my mission. I should be absolutely fearless.

It was an interesting week for sure! I've met the most interesting people. Missions are the best!

We had two baptismal dates but sadly they are moving to Garland, just outside our area, so we are passing them on to Elder Rowland! But we received a referral from Mormon.org that seems pretty promising. Stay tuned!

The weirdest experiences come from tracting. Basically, in a super rich neighborhood, a lady felt sorry for us and gave me some extra stockings! Yep. No complaints. Then that same day we met a guy who had a parrot. He and his wife happened to be the aunt and uncle of someone who was baptized in Carrolton. They gave us a parrot feather after talking for an hour and we are invited back!

It was a good week, absolutely freezing but great! Love y'all!

Sister Kristina Dalling

6360 Murphy Rd.

#123

Sachse, TX 75048