District Leader

Dallin got called to be a District Leader this week. He also got a new companion but only for a few days and also had an emergency transfer. Needless to say, his week was busy and he said he sacrificed some of his time today to allow other missionaries to email home. The new companion he received was deaf so Dallin learned a little sign language. Their lessons they gave consisted of English, Spanish and sign language. The companion got sent home due to health reasons. Dallin was sad to see him go but was grateful for the time he had with him. Elder Catalan (his previous companion) is his companion once again and Dallin is pretty excited!

                           Elder Hazelgren & Elder Titensor 



Feeling Better

Dallin is thankfully feeling better. He has bronchitis and says he's doing ok, he can just feel it in his chest when he's walking. He also has a throat infection but feels good.
He planned a service project for his zone. They plan to paint a school and chop down some trees.
This week on Wednesday, they are having transfers and Dallin was informed that he'll be getting a new companion. We'll have to find out next week if he's being transferred or just getting a new companion.
They have a new investigator named Luis who has read the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church!

                                The District

Hospital Day

Dallin has been in the hospital today due to a bad lung infection :( He went to the doctors because he's been sick for about a month now and he was taken to the hospital for the infection in his lungs and throat. Most likely this illness is due to the volcano dust that has been in the air. He said no need to "freak out", he'll be ok. He does have to go to the hospital each day this week to get checked out. We're hoping he feels better soon!
His ward he's been serving in got a new Bishop which he said is a good thing. He felt like the previous Bishop was someone who didn't value hard work. He's hoping this new Bishop will help them get more baptisms.

Election Time

This week was much better! We know Elder Hazelgren is going to have ups and downs on his mission but it's always nice to hear when things have turned around for the better and he says it was a good week.
The election for a new president in El Salvador happened this last week. Apparently it's a time when the people can get out of hand and be wreck-less and riots begin. The missionaries were told to be in early that night to avoid the chaos. In years past, people have died, so it's scary.
Brother Kevin Duncan of the Seventy spoke to them and Dallin said he is very inspiring. Dallin is lucky to be able to hear from prophets of God and those who work closely with them.
There was a baptism of Paola. She has a large family and Dallin said he and his companion have baptismal dates for the rest of her family but they haven't been coming to church. Dallin said hopefully with Paola's baptism, it will inspire her family to live the same way.
Several new investigators are on the horizon with baptismal dates already set!
Some pictures...yay!!

                          ^^Paolo was baptized in December, Dallin just sent another pic of them

                            ^^this pic is from Christmas time, he was stuffed after his 3 meals!

Elder Cook

This week was a hard one for Elder Hazelgren. Several of their top investigators told them they can't listen to them anymore or don't want to.
Despite that tough news, they were able to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook! Dallin was 10 feet away from him and said he helped boost the morale of the missionaries. It was so amazing for Dallin to be so close to him and hear his testimony of the gospel. The thing that stuck out the most to him was this "I know the Savior's voice." How amazing! Pretty powerful. Dallin said he prayed the night before that he'd be able to look into Elder Cook's eyes and then the next day he walked right past him! He was excited about that.
Also, they were going to visit a volcano today so hopefully we have pictures next week!! *fingers crossed*

Mission President's Interview

This week the missionaries had interviews with the Mission President. Dallin was asked what he needed help with and he told his Mission President he needed help with contacting people in the streets. His companions had never really taught him how to do it and he wanted to be better at it. Dallin said they usually have about 15 contacts and week and apparently that was not good enough for his President. He was told they need to have at least 140 each week! Dallin said he just began contacting everyone he could and was able to reach his goal of 140. They were able to find lots of new investigators that way so we'll have to see how everything works out.
He also had some things said to him by non-members that were derogatory and just testified of the truthfulness of the gospel and the Book of Mormon.
Dallin challenged us to read several scriptures including Mosiah 9:17-18 and Mosiah 7:33. Both are great and talk about finding strength in the Lord.

Great week

Dallin had a great week! Poor guy is sick again. He said a lot of people are sick right now from the volcano dust in the air.
Dallin is still glad that he is with Elder Catalan, he really enjoys him. (No transfers this week) His companion told Dallin he has blisters on his feet from all the fast walking they do (thanks to Dallin!) but he never complains. They got new zone leaders and a new district leader. Their zone was the most successful again. He said out of the last 4 months, they've had the most successful zone for 3 out of the 4!
Elder Catalan and Elder Hazelgren were able to meet new investigators (hopefully!). These two guys were trying to put a fence up and Elders C and H were able to help them and then taught them about the gospel afterwards.
There were some humbling moments this week such as meeting a young girl who is 17 who has cancer. They were able to give her a blessing. They also met a man who has over 10 bullet holes in his body! Dallin said he may be a tough investigator.