Feb. 14 2011

Hola familia!

Everything here is great. Before i forget to tell you, next week will be transfers and so I'll be email on tuesday next week. I think that i'll probably be staying in this area one more transfer with elder solis, but we'll see what happens.

the weather has stayed fairly warm which has been nice. we've been getting out and walking some and talking to the people on the streets. the warm weather is pretty contagious and a lot of people seem to get out and around when the weather warms up a bit.

The area continues to grow. Elder Solis is doing an excellent job of extending seven day challenges and it's led to some great success that we hope to see soon. I at first was apprehensive from the rigidity of the invitation for the seven day challenge thinking that it might offend people, but have since repented and realized that it's led to some great success. Our seven day challenges have been more of expectations and less of invitations and it's been great.

Elder Solis is great. We're working on recieving and responding to personal revelation. I can tell that recieving personal direction and revelation and really just decicion making in general has been a little lacking in his life. The mission is a great opportunity to put that into practice. He continues to be an excellent example of dedication and probably has the purest heart of any missionary I've met.

One day this past week, we showed up for a dinner with some members and the father of the family had not yet arrived from work. He was supposed to arrive soon, and initially sat back in the car to wait, but then decided to knock on some doors in the complex that they live at. Our first impression was to go to a certain row of condos and after 3 doors, we found a colombian family that let us in for a moment to talk to them at the door. We taught some principles of the restoration and were able to leave them with pamplets and a Book of Mormon. They didn't accept a set return appointment, but said we could pass by next time we were close by. It was a neat experience for us both to feel guided by the spirit and an instrument in the work. We also are excited because one of the english speakers that we found last week for the english elders has accepted a baptismal date already and seems very prepared for the gospel.

thanks for everything and all you do!

con amor,

elder dunlap

Feb. 7, 2011

Hola familia!

We woke up this morning to more snow. There was probably around 5 inches. The weather here really is kind of crazy. During the middle of the week, the temperature got just about freezing and sunny and so everything turned into slush and then froze again. We tried walking some on Saturday which was pretty impossible because all othe the snow that was sitting aroudn had started to melt and ran out of the front yards onto the sidewalks and fronze as ice. It's still snowing and aroudn -20 celcius. The truck makes it pretty easy for us to get around, but we have zone conference tommorow and if we didn't win the cleanliness competition, we'll probably end up with something else to drive.

The area is great. We've pretty much narrowed all of our former investigators and potential investigators from our area book to about 7 that are interested and have accepted visits. We're just trying to stay in contact and get in the doors with them to help them feel the spirit. Because we've pretty much went through the area book, we've been doing more personal contacting but have been trying to make it a revelatory experience and have seen some great success. We also have a solid first lesson finally scheduled for this Thursday that has been delayed the last two weeks with a member family and their friend that is interested in learning about the church.

We have tried to set specific goals over the last couple of weeks regarding personal contacting efforts. As we've prayerfully sought the guidance of the spirit, and then went out and completed our plans, we've been blessed with some great success. On Saturday morning, we knocked on the door of a young 25 year old that was very open to learning. We initially started talking a little about the restoration, but the thought came to mention how the restoration helps give us answers to questions about why we're here on earth and what happens after this life. He immediately seemed to change and said that he had been having those questions recently in his life. He eagerly set up an appointment for this week. He was surprisingly from Chile, but has been in Canada pretty much since birth and speaks perfect english, so he'll be taught by the yougn single adult missionaries. As we left the doorstep, we felt the spirit confirm that we were in the right place and had been instruments in the hands of the Lord. Moments like that bring the pure joy and happiness that are felt during the mission.

The mission overall is doing great. The overall success and miracles continues to increase and baptisms as well. The theme for our zone conference tomorrow is how the atonement changes our bahavior and nature. We've been studying it during the past week to be prepared and hope to have a great experience.

I hope all is well at home!

Con amor,

Elder Dunlap