November 10, 2009

Hey, We are emailing today because tomorrow is rememberance day in canada and the library will be closed. I assume that it's like veterans day in the US. People here have been wearing red flowers no their shirts for a couple weeks now and I was told that it's for rememberance day. We don't really get to experience the canadian culture too much because all of our dinners adn the people we work with are solely from South american countries. I'm sure that I'll pick up some things though. My companion says Eh a lot. Before the mission, I joked about speaking spanish and saying Eh, but some of the members that have been in canada for a long time actually do that. I think that it's pretty funny. Next tuesday morning, I'll find out about transfers. The whole spanish program will most likely be switched around because we've all been with trainers for 3 months now. I really hope that I stay where I'm at, or at least in the ward that I'm in. I'll get an email on Tuesday morning telling me where I'm going. I think that we're moving aroudn the boundaries in the ward a little bit again, so I really have no clue what will happen. This week, we're preparing for the baptism of the family of 3 from mexico that we're having on sunday. The ward is preparing for the cultural day this saturday. I think as for the US, we've decided to make sloppy joes. It'll be us 12 spanish missionaries and we're trying to talk president and his wife into coming and doing a song or dance with us. There's been somewhat of a fun rivalry in the ward recently as each country prepares their food and dances for the activity. It kind of seems that Mexicans are discriminated a little in south america as well as north america. We had an investigator come to church for the first time on Sunday. A funny but somewhat inappropriate story is that . There is a new elders quorum presidency, and so at the beginning of priesthood, they asked everyone to stand up and introduce themselves and say something about them that no one else knows. Our investigator was the first to raise his hand and go. He told everyone his name and that he's had a vasectomy. After church, the mexicans had a meeting to discuss what everyone would bring for the cultural night. He had just heard the word of wisdom a couple days before and rose his hand and said he could bring the beer. I don't think some people appreciated his humor, but it was pretty funny. Everything really is going well. I've been blessed with how well the spanish seems to be progessing. I still have a ton to learn, but am getting more and more confident. I've read the BOM out loud for 30 mins a day since a couple weeks into my mission. I think there's power in the book not only for our lives, but learning a language. The investigators that truly grow and progress and accept the message are those that embrace the BOM. There truly is power in the words and guidance and protection for our lives. I just foudn out we're eating homemade sushi with a Guatemalan family tonight. I'm pretty scared for what we might eat. I assume we'll have to dip it in salsa or something. Love youElder Dunlap