5/26/2010

Hola familia!

I'm glad to hear again that all seems to be going well with the babies.

I forgot to tell you last week about the temple ground breaking. It was two Saturdays ago. The temple is going to be built in the northwest part of calgary on a hill that overlooks the city. The groundbreaking had been delayed a little bit because of some resistance from the surrounding community, but they have worked everything out. Elder Hallstrom from the presidency of the 7 came and presided. We weren't able to attend the ceremony, but we were able to watch it from a live stream at the stake center. It was interesting to hear the history of the church here in calgary adn see the excitement of all the members. There were several representatives from the community in attendance and Elder Hallstrom's message was basically the Plan of Salvation. It was very simple, but is why we build and construct temples in the world.

I also have found out recently that we live about three houses down from the main Hell's Angels hangout in the city. They're fairly quiet apart from the occasional motorcycles that ride past our house. Our neighbor said that in the summer there's sometimes 20-30 bikes parked out in the street. A very large man with tattoos sometimes walks some pit bulls in the neighborhood. I haven't decided if this is a good or bad thing. I assume it'll probably keep us pretty safe.

We've been excited for the baptism of at least Enrique this Sunday. We planned the baptismal program and hope and pray that everything goes smoothly for Sunday. Francisco has been out of town for 2 weeks working and hopefully he has been able to quit smoking. We are going to meet with him tonight and find out. I think the fact that Enrique is firm in his date it'll give Francisco the extra push that he needs as well to take the step. We visit them everynight just trying to keep the spirit in their lives and focused towards the steps they're making.

I think I told you last week but we've also started teaching an English class twice a week now. The same students are coming back every class and we've had between 8-12 students every class. We really think that this will soon lead to some very good opportunities to teach them. We're at least developing some good trust and friendships that will help when they begin listening about the gospel.

The winter just can't seem to go away. It is supposed to snow this Friday again.

This weekend is stake conference but it'll be a regional broadcast from Vancouver by President Uchtdorf. We're excited for what he has to say about the area. The Vancouver temple was just dedicated a couple weeks ago and with the groundbreaking here I assume it'll be missionary work/temple related.

There's 2 spanish elders leaving in two weeks or so and then a couple more over the next coulpe transfers after that. We're anticipating some changes coming up. We know that President is going to be forming an all Spanish zone. Currently, we are in English zones. I think it'll really help with having training in Spanish and working with the unique challenges in the program.

I hope all is well! Love and miss you!

Con amor,

Elder Dunlap