Aug. 30,2010

Hola!

I'm glad to hear that the vacation went well. We had another great week. Last night, we had a combined missionary fireside with the ward in the north. President and sister archibald spoke and several recent converts also shared their conversion stories and testimonies. A good group of members came out and a couple non members and overall it was a good success. In true spanish form, we started about 20 minutes late because a family couple that was speaking arrived late and then we ended about 40 minutes over. I'm pretty sure that president expects it by now though. One couple shared their experience of how they lived in Mexico and weren't close to God at all. They were goign through some difficulties and the wife resorted to praying for help. She said that three times she felt the prompting to move to Canada and so she woke her husband up and they sold all they had and bought tickets within 2 weeks. They arrived to canada without any money at all and not knowing what to do. As they were walking through the airport in canada, a man came up to them and offered them a ride to a nearby town and work that began the next day. Shortly after that, they met the missionaries and after some struggles were baptized. Several other converts have similar stories that show the Lord's hand in their arrival and life here. It was neat to see many of the members go up and hug adn thank the archibalds after the fireside as well. The spanish people have such lovign and expressive personalities.

While returning home one night this past week, we were waiting to cross the road and saw a dad and son a ways off in their front yard. We felt like we should go talk to them and as we approached them, we realized that they spoke Spanish. We were able to share different aspects of the gospel with them and bare our testimonies. They didn't accept an invitation to learn more, but I know that they were placed in our path. I know we were at least able to plant a seed and it really lightened our spirits at the end of a hard day. It's such a blessing to have this calling and the opportunity to share our testimonies with anyone we meet.

This week is the last week of the transfer. We'll find out next Tuesday about transfers, but I'm pretty positive that I'l be staying in the area with elder Galloway. We'll be getting two new elders. One is from Utah and the other is from California. It seems to be a trend in this mission and especially in the spanish program. Preparation day next week will be on tuesday because of transfers.

I've already had to start using a light coat in the evenings and mornings. By the end of september, we'll probably be into the winter again. The summer overall has been fairly mild.

Recently, a lot of my studies have been centered aroudn recognizing and responding to the spirit, as relating to my lfie and also the role that it plays in the lives of members and investigators. Something that I've recognized recently in my life and that sister archibald shared in a conference recently is that: if it's something that's hard, or something that we don't want to do- it's probably from the spirit.

Thank you for all you do!

Con amor,

Elder Dunlap