Oct. 25,2010

hello family!
like always, things continue to go very well. we were able to go to a baptism last night of a lady named ana lopez that got baptized in the north ward. she recently arrived here- about a month and a half ago from mexico and is working for a coffee and donut place called tim horton's. they sign working contracts with people from mexico to coem and work here for 2 years. the neat thing about her story is that she works with a recent convert that was baptized in march. one of their first days at work together, she was askign him about his religion and told him that was wanted to recieve the lessons with the missionaries. she accepted a baptism date in the first lesson and was very prepared. it was a very spiritual baptism and she invited 4 of her non-member friends from work that came. i love the bishop in the north, bishop ochoa. during his welcome to the ward comments, he talked mostly directly to her freinds about what they'd seen and felt and taught them some of the plan of salvation. he invited them to investigate the church and act on what they had felt. it was pretty neat. i was able to do her baptismal interview on saturday night which is always a neat experience to hear them directly share what they've felt and talk about the whole teaching and changing process.
saturday night, we also had a branch activity called La vina del mar. it's a music festival from chile. the gym was packed full and it went very, very well. there were tons of non-members and we're excited for many of the people that we were able to meet. the acts were mostly representations of famous latin singers and groups which really didn't mean much to us, but it was pretty funny to see and to watch.
we also have good news that our zone had the cleanest cars last transfer, so we won the car trophy and our reward is a pizza party tommorow after our district meetings. unfortunately, we're still driving a pontiac vibe though. it should come in handy with the winter coming though because it's all wheel drive.
the work with the investigators continues to go very well. we feel like we're pretty close to haveing a couple of baptisms. liliana's husband is a member adn she's been coming to church for 3 months or so straight now. she's very involved with the ward and has now told us that she knows the book of mormon is true and that joseph smith was a prophet. there's still a doubt there though that's holding her back that we're trying to overcome. preach my gospel says that sometimes people are like icebergs. 3/4ths of them are under the water and we only see the tip outside of the water sticking out. we're praying and trying to uncover what she's still worried about.
we're also workign with another part member couple. the husband has a date rigth now for the 15th of december and we're strugglign to get them both to come to church. we really feel strongly though that it's actually her that is holding them back adn we have plans to try and help them overcoem that as well. she hasn't been to church in several years and we feel like she's just a little embarassed to come back after all that has happened with her.
other than that, not much is new. the weather is officially cold, there's again a little bit of snwo this morning.
i'm glad to hear that all is well at home!
con amor,
Elder dunlap