March 31,2010

Hola familia!
This past week has been a week of changes and adjustments. It's interesting being in downtown. I went from an area that was all neighborhood houses and fairly calm to downtown. A lot of the area is apartment buildings and there's always people everywhere to talk to. It's been hard leaving the old area because it's really all I've known on the mission, but I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be. We were transferred on Wednesday and the ward had been planning another big talent night. We got permission to attend and invited some of our investigators from down here. It was fun and I was excited because 12 investigators from my old area showed up. It was good to see them there. Elder Galloway and I had worked hard inviting them and reminding them and it felt good to see them amongst ward members even though I won't be working with them anymore.
I love my new companion and new area. It's been a challenge because there's not too much going on in the area, but we've been blessed with several miracles. The first lesson that we taught together, we were able to set 2 baptisimal dates for April 25th. They are two middle aged men that had been recieving the missionaries for a while now named Francisco and Enrique. We were super excited because they came to church for the first time this past Sunday as well. I really don't feel like it was anything that we did. The spirit just touched them and their hearts and they accepted an invitation to begin preparing.
We also recieved a call a couple nights ago from a lady named Yovana that told us that she wanted to start meeting with us and she wanted to start coming to church with us. We stopped by the next day and visited a little with her at the door. She's a single lady so we had to set up a return appointment for tomorrow. She has two young kids and really just wants to come closer to God. Her neighbor is an English speaking member and has shared a little about the Gospel with her and gave her our number. She seemed very excited and we felt a great humble spirit as we were talking with her.
We're working hard and trusting that the Lord will provide us and the members with opportunities to share the Gospel with their friends and find some more people to begin working with.
The Branch is definetely different. There was 107 people at church on Sunday, but it's a bit smaller than the ward. There's a lot of new faces, but I'm excited to get to know them.
I was also able to attend a baptism here in the branch on Sunday of a lady named Fanny that I taught for about 3 transfers in my past area. Elder Galloway and I were able to help her get married and then she moved to the branch. After a couple more weeks, the elders were able to help her along to baptism. It really was a great blessing.
We're driving a new car too. It's a cool little Pontiac Vibe.
Our stake center is the 17th avenue chapel. It's a 2 story stake center that I remember hearing deda and grandma talk about. Our branch also meets in a chapel on Heritage Drive which I think is the building that Deda and Grandma served in. I met some people from an English ward this past Sunday that said Deda and Grandma attended their FHE group every week. They said that they miss them and think about them often and were interested to know how they were doing. One of them was named Grant Pilling.
I'm glad to hear from many of you! Thank you for the support, love, and sacrifice.
Con Amor,
Elder Dunlap