7/27/2010

Hola familia!

We really had a great week this past week. We were able to set two baptismal dates for August 14th. One is a girl from colombia that we've been working with for a while named natalia. It's been hard to get in contact with her over the past couple weeks, but she seems ready to be baptized. The other is a 20 year old frmo Mexico. He's a friend of a member adn we were able to begin teaching him this past week. He accepted a date in the first lesson for the 14th as well. He too seems ready.

I just got news though that I'm getting tranfered. I'm sad to leave the area and a lot of the people that we've been working with. My companion, Elder Chunn will be training one of the new elders in our area. Elder Rudd will be training the other in the ward in the north of the city. They're both excited to train and will be great for the new elders. It's going to be different having new elders in the mission. Several of the older elders will be leaving in the next week as well.

I'm getting transfered to cover the south stake, or the southeast corner of the city. Elder Galloway is going to be my companion again. I couldn't be happier! I loved serving with him and am really looking forward to it again. They created a new all-spanish zone for us with two districts. Elder Galloway and I are going to be the zone leaders. I'm sure that there's going to be soem new challenges and responsibilibities for us.

I'm glad to hear that all is going well with the babies. I can't believe that life continues to go on without me at home. The weather here continues to be great. THere's been a decent amount of rain recently, but I think that's probably common here in Calgary. I miss and love you all! Next week I'll have more details about the new area and things. It is a holiday here on Monday, and so we will be emailing on tuesday next week.

Com mucho amor,

Elder Dunlap

7/21/2010

Hola!

We had another great week this past week. Time continues to fly by.

Yesterday was the baptism of Alicia, a girl who is 22 and from Spain. She has two young kids that are still in Spain, but she came to canada on a 6 month visa to learn english. It's interesting how the Lord works. She came with her younger sister and her sister's boyfriend. They had all recieved permission and worked out plans to go to England to learn English, but for some reason were reassigned to calgary at the last minute. I guess that the governement there has connections with certain cities or countries, i'm not sure how it works. but, she was assigned to calgary. she met a member that was a recent convert over the internet somehow before she came. he started bringing her to our english classes and she began listening to the missionaries. her husband in spain is an atheist and she had developed throughout her life similar views. i was able to perform the baptismal interview and it was a wonderful experience. president archibald conducted part of the interview and i learned a lot from the way he answered some of her questions. i had the opportunity to translate between the two of them. the elders have done an excellent job preparing her and helping her along. it was great to be able to hear her testimony of each question and the different commandments. her family in spain was totally against her decision and her sister here as well. but, she knew what she had felt and that it was true. she asked me to confirm her and that was a spiritual experience as well.

we also received a call from an investigator that we haven't taught for about 5 weeks. we've stayed in contact with her fellowshippers and they've been helping her along although scheduling differences and some things that happened in the single adult ward that she was attending have kept us from having an appointment. we talked to her a couple days ago and she told us that she's been reading the book of mormon recently and has decided that she is going to get baptized. most likely before the end of the month. we have an appointment with her tomorrow and hope to work out all the details.

we also challenged a member to invite one of their freinds to learn about the gospel in 7 days. the member said that they have a friend that is a young mexican that told the member that he'd like to be baptized. the member said that he told him he has to learn a little bit first.

we've been excited about all of the new things that seem to be coming together and the blessings that we're receiving. it seems that things seem to always come together at the end of transfers. we have transfers next week, so preparation day will be on tuesday next week. the elders are all excited because this thursday is when we find out who will be training the 2 new elders that are coming from the mtc. i'm hoping to stay in this area at least one more transfer. we'll see what happens though. we've heard rumors that there's going to be some changes with several of the older elders going home from the spanish.

this past week, i also learned how to put down new sod. a member asked us to help him and through the service, we were able to meet two new spanish people. they're both younger guys that work for the member. they live in other areas of the city, but we were able to find two new references. i've been pretty sore ever since. we had to carry A LOT of dirt and grass to the back of the house where we were putting it down. it was a lot of fun though. most service opportunities here are usually helping people move.

i'm glad to hear that everything with the babies continues to go well. i love and miss you all.

con amor,

elder dunlap

July 12th

Hola familia!

Everything here continues to go well. We have spent a lot of the past week walking but it's been fun to get out and be amongst the people. It definitely makes me have a little more of a missionary spirit to feel like I'm suffering a little bit. I realized how spoiled we are being able to drive the rest of the year. With the stampede, everyone in towns seems to have transformed to cowboys. Everyone has on cowboy hats, flannel, and jeans. We've tried to avoid the stampede area near downtown but there has definitely been more people out in the streets.

We're excited because there's a baptism planned for this Saturday in our branch. It's a girl from Spain that a member brought to the English Classes that we had started. It'll be my first baptismal interview so it should be a neat experience. Hopefully, alot of the other students in the class will come to the baptism and feel the spirit.

We have been teaching a part member couple. The wife is a member adn the husbadn is Harry Krishner- or something like that. It's a unique religion is based on vegetarianism and reincarnation and some other things. We decided to visit a yougn single adult member that speaks spanish this week and through talking to him, he told us that his dad had converted from the same religion and it was the same situation- his mom was a member. It was a neat miracle to be able to find that out and we plan on bringing the couple to the appointment this week. I really hope that it'll help him get over soem of the doubts he has. I've learned to appreciate more during the mission to keep a broader perspective. Little daily miracles like this are what brings the ultimate success in the long run. Sometimes, it is frustrating to look back at a day and only have one lesson or not really see too much success. But looking back over weeks and months, and seeing the changes in the people we work with and how we've personally grown, success can be seen. We've helped to bring people unto Christ and have grown through our trials.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I love and miss you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Dunlap

July 5th

Hola familia!
This past week went by quickly. It seemed like I just wrote. We were busy this past week contacting and beginning to teach some of the new references that we had recieved at the end of last week. We've really been blessed with new people from several different places.

This past thursday was canada day. With the nice weather, there were a lot of people out on the streets. We went downtown for an appointment and it looked like there was a celbration downtown. The city is getting ready for the stampede. I assume that it starts this week, or at least within the next couple of days. Almost every community center or church in the city has a free stampede breakfast. I guess it's a tradition that has developed. I'm not quite sure though what our rules are about attending them. We may be eating a gourmet breakfast every morning for the next week and a half. This month, we also can only drive 3/4 of our kilometer alotment, so I'm expecting to encounter some pretty interesting conversations downtown. I've heard that there is a lot of alcohol that is consumed during the stampede.

The Latinos have been very interested in the World Cup. I think it's the topic of conversation at almost every house we visit. There is definitely a strong sense of national pride amongst the different countries that are here in Calgary.

The weather continues to be excellent. I just wish that it would stay like this all year round.

Everything else is going great here. I miss you all, but am enjoying more and more the mission as I become more comfortable with stretching myself.

Con Amor,

Elder Dunlap