August 17, 2009

Hola!
One more week left! We went to the temple this morning for the last time as a district. It was a graet experience. Our two teachers came and went through the session with us and we were able to meet my teacher's wife. 6 of us leave for Calgary on Monday morning at 6 am. The flight leaves Salt Lake at 10or 1015ish and lands in Calgary around 1230. There are 20 of us going as a group. So I assume that there are 14 english speaking elders that will be going with us. There may be 2 or 4 mandarin speaking elders because the mission has some mandarin speaking elders assigned. I believe that we will be staying in the mission home on Monday night and then Tuesday is the preparation day for the mission. I'll probably meet my trainer on Tuesday and head off to where I am assigned. I've been praying for him for a couple weeks, so he better be good. This week we pretty much have the same schedule, we will have to say goodbyes this weekend to our teachers and then we get to see the temple dedication on sunday as a final treat. I am really going to miss my teachers and the elders going to baltimore. We've became really close as we've grown and progressed together. Not too much exciting has happened this week. We've been teaching a lot in spanish. I feel like I've kind of hit a plateua with the language rigth now. I'm getting comfortable with teaching and have to make a conscious effort to try and implement new words and phrases. We spent some time with our new branch president yesterday. He has changed some things and has different focuses as the old branch president, but I know that he was assigned in this branch. The new branch president and his wife seem like grandparents, the old branch president and his wife seemed like parents. They're both great, but just have different focuses on how they feel missionaries should be prepared during their time here. Mom- if you can please print out those emails I forwarded to you. They are letters from my old branch president that I would like for you to put in my book that you said you are keeping. He is a graet man and I really appreciated the opportunity to learn and grow from him. I also recieved the photo card in the mail a couple of days ago, so thank you.Our devotional last tuesday was by Elder Snow, he's in the second quorum of the 70 and was just assigned to the missionary department. He talked about commitment. He gave six statements that we need to accept and implement to be good missionaries. I don't remember what they are rigth now, but they were very good adn I took good notes. I've already filled up my journal and have bought two more with the 6.00 they give us a week. I forgot to say that President Clegg is in the mission presidency here and he served as the president of the dominican republic MTC for 3 years, so nathan may have had him and his wife for the 6 weeks he was there.I'm trying to stay focused over the last week. We've set some goals to keep us busy and try not to think about canada too much. Everyone is excited to eat real food at the airport. I'm just excited to be able to cook my own food and decide what I'm going to eat for at least 2 meals a day. Memaw- if you think that you can get my jackets and sweaters to Calgary before Monday, you can mail them to the mission office so that they're there when I arrive. The address is Elder CLifton Seth DunlapCanada Calgary Mission7044 Farrell Rd SECalgary Alberta T2H 0T2 the phone number is 1 403 252 1141 If it can't arrive in time, I should be able to send my address next Tuesday of my apartment. An elder said his mom mailed a small box and said it cost 30 dollars, so hopefully it won't cost too much. I love everyone and miss you! I'll send pictures soon after i get to Canada. Love you and miss you Elder DUnlap