Feb. 3, 2010

Hola Familia!The time continues to fly by. I realized this morning that there's only another week left in this transfer already. I'll be writing next week on Tuesday because transfers will be on Wednesday morning. I'm really hoping that I stay in this area. I know that it's been 6 months here, but I'm enjoying serving with Elder Galloway and love the area. I'm a little worried that I'm going to go to Lethbridge in the south.
Over this transfer, we've been trying more than anything to really help the members feel the spirit when we're with them in their homes. I think it's really starting to pay off. We were able to find 6 new investigators this past week that all seem very interested and excited. A former ward mission leader in the ward from years ago felt inspired to take us to visit a family that he had taught with the missionaries several years ago. The had experienced some recent health difficulties and wasn't home at the time, but we were able to meet and teach a lady from Chile named Rosa and another man from Peru named Warren. The both were very receptive and had past contact with the church through friends or family.
We also recieved a call on Sunday morning from a member who had met a man from Brazil at the gym and he was bringing him to church with him. The man is named Ulysses and he loved church and said he is goign to come every Sunday.
Gustavo continues to progress well. He works with another one of our investigators who told us that he brings his Book of Mormon to work every day and reads it during his free time. Gustavo has set a goal to finish the Book of Mormon before his baptism on Sunday. He has asked me to talk on the Holy Ghost and we really should have a big turn out at the baptism. The members really have embraced adn freindshipped him.
We have a meeting every monday as a zone and the zone leaders had a special program planned for this past monday. They had us fast on sunday and really tried to create an environment where we could feel the spirit strongly. President has set a goal for 100 baptisms in the mission for the month of march. He said that it's never been accomplished in the north east region but feels that obedience will be the key. We're all being recommited to be 100 percent obedient. The spiritual meeting really inspired the elders in our zone to step up. This is a huge step up from the amount of baptisms the mission usually has per month. I think we have averaged around 20 per month for the whole mission since I got here. He has some specific things that we're implimenting as well. We have all commited to extend a baptisimal date in every lesson that we teach to an investigator. We are to recognize the spirit in the lesson when we feel it and help the investigator recognize it as well and extend them an invitation to be baptized. It's going to be a big stretch for us as far as being bold, but the spirit was strong in our meetings and Elder Galloway and I know it's what we need to do.
I've realized more than anything this week the role that the spirit plays in motivating, teaching, and communicating to the heart to inspire the people we teach. We've seen the benefits with the members inspiring them to do member missionary work. We've also seen the effects in our zone this week as well. Missionaries that may have struggled to be dedicated before really have seemed to have a change of heart and the desire to be more commited as the whole mission tries to get on the same page with obedience and unity. President is really stressing the need for obedience and faith over the next two months to accomplish this goal. We're really excited about the changes taking place.
Canada has been excited about the Olympics. I'll try to send home some canadian quarters. They have olympic pictures on the back right now and are pretty cool. There's a view of downtown from our chapel and about a week or two ago we saw a huge flame on top of one of the skyscrapers in downtown. We thought the building was on fire but someone said that the olympic torch was here for a couple days in Calgary. Other than that, I really don't know much about the Olympics. All of the stores have cool Olympic clothing that's been pretty neat. I've thought about buying some by figured it would probably be on sale after the Olympics are over.
I don't know if I told you, but Elder Galloway and I are back in the Chevy Colorado truck. We had the cleanest car in our zone at interviews.
This week, just pray for our new investigators, that everything goes well with the baptism on Sunday, and that the investigators will feel the Spirit in their lives helping them change!
Thanks for the Love, letters, and support
Con amor,
Elder Dunlap