2/9/2010

Hola!
We just got transfer emails and I'm staying in the same area with Elder Galloway. I'm super excited though. Two more Elders that I came out with are going to be serving in our District together as well. Elder Chunn and Elder Harker were companions at the MTC and are going to be serving together. This transfer has really flown by. It's already 6 months that I have been in Calgary and this area.
We had some great experiences this week. We had commited to extend baptismal invitations in every lesson and the first one we extended was accepted. We have a baptismal date scheduled for February 28th with a man that recently got here from Mexico named Daniel. We just took the step of faith in the President's program and he accepted. We read from 3 Nefi 11 about the coming of the Savior and then recognized the Spirit and he accepted a date. He really knew nothing about baptism at all, but he knew what he was feeling.
We also had a family home evening last night with a member family in our ward at the church. We taught the first lesson with different pictures in different rooms at the church. We ended in the chapel with the restuaration and had planned on commiting them to find someone for us to teach in a week when the spirit was strong at the end. Before we had the chance, the father stopped us and said that he wanted to commit to us that he would have someone prepared for us before the following Monday. It was a great experience because we were then able to tell him that the inspiration he had just recieved was from the Spirit because it was exactly the commitment that we had intended to leave with the family.
Both of these experiences have again strengthened my testimony of the role of the Holy Ghost in the work. Both of these programs have been instituted by our mission president and it also strengthens my testimony that he is an inspired man of God.
Sunday was Gustavo Martinez's baptism. Everything went great. All 12 spanish missionaries in the city came as well as two senior couples that work in the office. We also had the support of President and Sister Archibald there. We usually have the baptisms in the releif society room at the stake center, but we had to move it to the chapel. The chapel was pretty much full of members. It seemed like a normal Sunday sacrament meeting. I was pretty nervous to give a talk, but it ended up going well. I had been praying hard and my nerves pretty much went away once I started. Gustavo bore a testimony after his baptism that really touched the members as well. It was great to see the joy that he truly experienced at his baptism. He told everyone tha it was the best day of his life. He's already wanting to go out with us to appointments everyday as much as he can. I'm sure that he'll be a great support.
The picture is all of us before the baptism. Gustavo is in the middle back between elder Galloway and I.
All is still going great and I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well at home too! I love and miss you all!

Con amor,
Elder Dunlap