The Desire to Believe

We had zone conference this week. The second one of the transfer in order to get them back on schedule. It was really fun to see everyone and learn from President and Sister Richardson. They are awesome and help me become better. I'm so grateful for their long suffering. Being a mission president is probably the hardest calling in the Church. We learned a lot about how discipleship is changing us to fit God's kingdom and not changing the Church to fit us. That takes a lot of humility and self-awareness. I've been trying to make sure my teaching is structured in that same way-- that I'm giving people the tools they need to become enlarged and not trying to lower the requirements that God has for them. I've been pretty reflective lately. I have a bunch of flashbacks to moments on my mission and they feel like they happened forever ago. 

I've been studying the destination recently. What will the next life be like? What are we aiming to become in that life and in this? Beginning with the end in mind and all that. I've gained so much appreciation for those people that are striving-- that get up again and again even when they have every reason not to. I want to be more like that. I think heaven will be everything we hope for and a lot more. The scriptures say that those who inhabit heaven are those who "shall overcome all things." Interesting future tense-- not those who have overcome all things in mortality but those who, when their capacity is enlarged, will. It seems to me that all that you need to overcome something is the desire to do so and time and resources. As we extend into eternity, presumably our time and resources will be infinite. So all we personally need is the desire. Alma illustrates this:

But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

It seems that a desire to believe ultimately manifests in belief. What a gift then that God has given us the desire to grow and improve. All we have to do is not quench it. We have to desire to be perfect even as He is. To live as he lives and do as He does. Hence why we are told we will be judged by the desires of our hearts. My favorite scripture reads:

I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

You're going to get what you want! Just make sure you know what you should want. ;)

Love you guys! 

The Quickened Spirit

The holidays are so much fun, it's nice to be able to celebrate a little bit. We bought a bunch of appetizers for new years so we've been eating pretty unhealthy into the new year. It's pretty surreal to think that my mission is ending. Transfers feel short and time goes by so fast. I've been trying to map out what more I want to accomplish before I go home. I've had such wonderful experiences here, and I'm so grateful that I chose to serve a mission. 

I'm excited to study the New Testament this year!

"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (John 6:53.)

This is just one example of how bold and radical Christ's teachings were. In the sermon on the mount, Christ mostly teaches a satisfying return to the purpose of the law, a massively popular shift from pharasaical interpretations. Then as his audience grows, he introduces teachings that led his disciples to say, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" 

He tells the people that have long held the belief that they are chosen and held in favor by the one true God that no one is saved but through him. This is earthshaking! These teachings became so hard that from "that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66.)

This phenomena is not isolated-- Joseph Smith mirrors this same pattern, as well as president Nelson today. We all can accept truths as divine as long as they resonate with what we already think, but followers of Christ are made in the act of accepting what is sometimes hard to swallow. Anyways, follow the prophet, even when it's hard. He has the words of eternal life for our day. Love you guys! 

Live!

Sorry for the lack of emails, the holidays are so busy! And with the winter, the night comes earlier and earlier so I get pretty tired by the time 9oclock hits. I'm doing well, trying to increase my understanding of and capacity to feel joy. Our friends are doing well, continuing to learn and repent, it's amazing to watch their growth!  We had a wonderful Christmas zone conference. We worshiped, shared, and served together. President talked about how obeying when you can't see the end from the beginning is integral to living a consecrated life. We had a wonderful nativity and lots of remembering the Savior. I felt pretty overcome with a rush of gratitude for my mission leaders. Unlike me, they weren't expecting to serve a mission two years ago. They were called to leave their nets in a much more dramatic way, and they have been so inspiring to me. I listened to this talk by Elder Gay:

I will never forget the time my wife and I were interviewed by a senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles about my willingness to serve as a mission president. My wife and I had many things going on in our lives. At the time of our interview we were involved in some very challenging family dynamics, we were engaged in large humanitarian efforts across the world that required a lot of our attention and resources, and I was a senior managing partner of a global investment business, not to mention all the Church callings we were working on. I thought we were already doing as much as we could possibly do. As we sat there that day with this beloved Apostle and reflected on all that we had going on, we both politely said that this was probably not the best time for us to serve a mission. Without hesitation, this member of the Twelve turned to my wife and said, “Lynette, you are going to make a great missionary and companion to your husband.” He then turned to me and said, “You know, you really don’t get it. The Lord is calling you to save your life. You are either going to live your life by covenant or by convenience. There is never a convenient time to serve. This is a matter of faith. You either believe the Lord will bless your life with the blessings you need as you do His priorities or you don’t.”

I think too often I have decided to live the gospel out of convenience. I love the phrase, "the Lord is calling you to save your life!" I know that as we draw near to God, we live, and the nearer we get the more abundantly we live. I'm so grateful for my family and my parents and my Savior! 

Love, 

Elder Dahl

Supposing They Know of Themselves

This week was pretty slow, no car has been pretty rough. We've been braving the cold weather more and more just to get out of the apartment. Lots of time to study which is wonderful. I wonder how Jesus spent his youth. Evidently he had great knowledge of the scriptures, presumably from an additive diligent study at some point. I've kind of been struggling recently with really finding things that blow my mind. At the beginning of my mission, I just remember having so many spiritual experiences and impressions during personal study. I really felt like I was acquiring spiritual knowledge, but now it seems less frequent. I wonder about those that study the scriptures their entire lives, how they keep learning things that excite them. President Richardson studies the Greek and Hebrew so maybe that's how he keeps it fresh. I'm so grateful for my mission president-- he knows so much! I can't imagine having the depth of knowledge he has. I've been thinking a lot about this scripture: 

O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.

It mentions three of the faults of our mortal state. First our vanity, our pride and ego. Our desire to be right and to be great and to have dominion. Our arrogance. Then our frailties, our weaknesses and afflictions, our finite capacities. Finally our foolishness, our tendency to just do things we know are wrong or incongruent with our goals and desires. Our inconsistencies and ignorance. 

The scripture then tells us that when we learn something, we think we are wise. That the acquisition of knowledge has a very dangerous side effect, that it often leads us to distrust others' commentary on that subject. In this information age, I've seen this mostly in the subscribe culture. I have had a question prompted by an experience or idea, and I have faith that receiving more knowledge will be worth the effort and positively impact my life. So I seek, out of the best books I can find, or highest ranked Google searches, or most-viewed YouTube videos. And then as I consume content, eventually one of these people gives me what I'm seeking, causes a paradigm shift and really tangibly impacts my life. That moment is massive. All of a sudden, I align my way of thinking with this external authority, because he or she has demonstrated immense value to me. So I stop seeking, stop listening to anyone who contradicts my chosen source. My subscriptions may expand, but only by those I become exposed to by my initial source. Those who follow similar trains of thought. Then, whenever I hear someone talking about the subject, I discover if they also subscribe to my same school of thought. If not, then they must still be ignorant and have settled for a lesser source. Luckily, in my wisdom, I can educate them. I can help them see the light and give them the brilliant epiphany that I and my experts experienced.

This process is too common. Because it creeps into our spiritual lives far too often. We no longer seek to know a God as He is, but we mold Him into a God we would like him to be-- often a cosmic vending machine or an all loving bystander who makes no demands. It's funny how knowing these tendencies doesn't make these problems go away. 

Try to learn, but don't become too wise!!

I love you guys!

-Elder Dahl

What is Truth?

This week was fun, Thanksgiving made it fast. This transfer is flying by. We're not teaching a ton, but there are a few people willing to meet with us. We're gearing up for Christmas. We have a new message we're sharing with members that focuses on how to participate both in lighting the world and in our mission program called star of the north. Unfortunately, since the last elders to serve here hit a deer, we finally had to turn in our car to get it fixed. It sounds like we will be out of a car for a couple weeks, which is really tough. We have a large area, and even if we want to stay local, it's getting really cold which makes walking difficult. I'm hoping for a ram in the thicket. I had exchanges with Elder Kralick, which was wonderful. We were apparently at BYU at the same time but never knew each other. It's always fun to meet new missionaries. The holidays are a pretty fun time. It's interesting to be in Wisconsin and Minnesota and see people get excited for Christmas and be happier and more outgoing while simultaneously, the arctic chill settles in. I guess it's not that big a deal for them, but I definitely find myself wondering how people can want to do anything outside when it's so cold.

I've been studying the concept of truth this week. Does objective truth exist? Outside of our perceptions? Can we ever really know truth? How do we come to know what we know? Lots of questions for sure. Elder Uchtdorf says, 

Now, never in the history of the world have we had easier access to more information—some of it true, some of it false, and much of it partially true.

Consequently, never in the history of the world has it been more important to learn how to correctly discern between truth and error.

Part of our problem in the quest for truth is that human wisdom has disappointed us so often. We have so many examples of things that mankind once “knew” were true but have since been proven false.

For example, in spite of one-time over­whelming consensus, the earth isn’t flat. The stars don’t revolve around the earth. Eating a tomato will not cause instant death. And, of course, man actually can fly—even break the sound barrier. . . .

Part of the reason for poor judgment comes from the tendency of mankind to blur the line between belief and truth. We too often confuse belief with truth, thinking that because something makes sense or is convenient, it must be true. Conversely, we sometimes don’t believe truth or reject it—because it would require us to change or admit that we were wrong. Often, truth is rejected because it doesn’t appear to be consistent with previous experiences.

When the opinions or “truths” of others contradict our own, instead of considering the possibility that there could be information that might be helpful and augment or complement what we know, we often jump to conclusions or make assumptions that the other person is misinformed, mentally challenged, or even intentionally trying to deceive.

Unfortunately, this tendency can spread to all areas of our lives—from sports to family relationships and from religion to politics.

Profound stuff. Let me know how you come to know truth! I love you guys! 

-Elder Dahl

He First Loved Us

This week I attended the temple. I was pretty humbled by just how unique an experience it is to worship God in his house. To really be removed from the things of this world and seek for a better. I really tried to focus on how I felt. Not what I was experiencing externally but really seeking to know what the Lord would have me do. There was a mirror with a smudge on it and as I looked at this mirror, I found that as soon as I saw the tiny smudge, I was unable to see anything else. No longer was my reflection visible. I think I've often had a quite myopic view of my life, that the smudges mar the rest of my mortal painting. And they do-- my weaknesses and defects are definitely prevalent, yet I'm beginning to understand that in eternity nothing will be left unchanged. That the person I am now or the person I'll be in fifty years will just be iterations along a path of eternal shaping. I believe that. I think one of the most amazing things about mankind is that they seem to resist the entropy of the universe. It seems that human beings have the potential to become better people over the course of their lives. To be more organized, more disciplined, more intelligent. We learn from failure on an individual scale at least. I think the single greatest evidence of the creator is that life somehow is manifest in the mortal plane from nothing. One second there were no living things and then there were. And with all of our discoveries, we still have yet to replicate that. We can preserve life, cultivate it, and multiply it. But we cannot take things that are dead and make them live. That is God's business and requires His power. Keep your covenants, seek truth and recognize that you are a child of God! I love you guys! 

Tender Mercy

Transfers brought me to Menomonie in Wisconsin. To quote a Facebook comment, "Menomonie Wisconsin?😲😲😲😲😲They really put you in the “Belly of the Beast.” The only possible worse place would be either Green Bay or Madison. It’s a hard drinking town. It’s good you have a “alligator hide." You’re going to need it! Good luck"

I love it here though, haha. Elder Rasmussen and I have one of the nicest apartments in the mission, except for the fact that we have no gym or garage parking. I'm driving this transfer and the snow is already coming down. Lots of learning for me. University of Wisconsin-Stout is about a 2 minute drive from where we live, so we have so many opportunities to street contact there. It's been incredible. We cover a branch that's been pretty rough in the past. President wants us to heal member relationships and get results. I'm not sure why he thinks I'm the one for the job; I'm pretty polarizing out here, but I'm giving it my best effort. We're going to the temple tomorrow for zone conference, so I'm super excited for that. I got to speak yesterday in our branch, I spoke about how I came to find faith in Jesus Christ. It went well-- it was pretty great to bear my testimony to all the members on my first Sunday. Elder Rasmussen and I have been having a blast-- it's so much fun to be with a companion who's similar to me. It's been a tender mercy. I don't have a ton of time, but I love you guys!