March 17, 2011

Hola familia!

We have had a great week this past week. We're going to be having a baptism this coming Sunday the 20th! I don't remember if I told you, but a member in our branch was challenged by the missionaries to find someone to teach and the member found a lady from colombia the next day as they were both waiting in line to get their tires changed. The lady and her daughter came to church last sunday and loved it and we began teaching them on wednesday. It was a great appointment and they accepted a date to be baptized in the first lesson after a little bit of coaxing from the spirit. The daughter is 15 and named Michell and really is the one that has been pushing her mom. She told us that from the first sunday she didn't have doubts and because of how she felt, she knew it was all true. We taught the mom on Saturday again as the daughter was in a young women's activity and as she prayed at the end of the lesson, the spirit strongly testified to her of the truth of the message. There have been so many other miracles as well that have happened with them as they sincerely have desired to fin

d the truth. We were also able to attend a baptism for a child that turned 8 from the branch yesterday and they loved it. It will probably be a pretty busy week as we try to keep them on track and get in all of the rest of the teaching before Sunday. Here's a picture from yesterday after church. THey're the second and third from the left. Please keep them in your prayers during this week. Theeir names are Beatriz and Michell.

Everything else continues to go very well. We were also able to have a meeting with elder christofferson on saturday morning. It was a neat experience to be in the presence of an apostle. I'm always surprised with the gentleness and kindness that seems to radiate from the general authorities. He talked to us about preaching repentance and how we do that in these days as missionaries. We all left spiritually edified and I'm sure that it'll be a great boost to the mission in the coming weeks.

Thansk for your prayers and support!

Con amor,

Elder Dunlap

March 7

ola familia!

Everything here continues to go very well. It's supposed to warm up during this week considerably which will be nice. It's been a pretty cold winter recently. I've been wearing two pairs of long johns underneath my suit pants. But when we do get in a door, it makes things a little hot. I think I'll probably them that i'll fly into greensboro and it should be sometime the 30th of june i assume. The new elders usually come in on the 29th and then there is an outgoing missionary fireside that night and the elders leave early the next morning.

We decided this past week to really have a good fast and to specifically pray and fast for the guidance to acheive our baptismal goal during this month. The Spanish Central extended a seven day challenge to a member family during this past week and the member called them the next day. She had found someone from Colombia while shopping at Canadian Tire that wanted to meet with the missionaries. They taught the lady and her daughter who is about 14 during the week and the two came to church on Sunday. We found out that they live in our area and were able to set up an appointment for this Wednesday. While talking at church, they seem to really be searching for the truth and are excited to keep learning. My testimony has increased of the power of an appropriate and consecrated fast and that our sincere prayers are answered. We also had the opportunity to get out of the city and visit a lady in a small town named High River. She was very schooled in the scriptures and other religions and she had even studied theology for 4 years in cuba. up until now in her life, she finds the baha'i faith as what brings her closest to god. they have some interesting beliefs but we really felt the spirit guide us to answer her doubts and really bring everything back to whether the book of mormon is true or not. she offered a heartfelt prayer at the end askng God to let her know if she should be baptized. we're going to go visit her every thursday and so hopefully she'll keep progressing.

all else is great. we're excited for the visit on saturday from elder christoffereson and elder real of the seventy. they're here to reorganize a stake in medicine hat, but are taking some time out to talk to us.

thanks for all u do and your support!

con amor,

elder dunlap

February 28,2011

Hola familia!

All here continues to go well. We woke up this morning to more snow and cold weather. The wind chill today is -33. The good thing is that the really cold weather is hopefully about gone, well probably another month. It's definitely been a colder winter than last year. Last year seemed to have more chinooks that came and melted some of the snow.

I was able to do a baptismal interview for a young man that's 26 named jesus fuentes that got baptized in our branch yesterday. He accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson and has been very prepared. It is always neat to have the opportunity to be in a one on one setting basically hearing the testimony of those that are getting baptized. There was a great turnout at the baptism, probably in part because they brought left over food from a branch party the night before for the refreshments. There was also a family of 3 that was baptized in the north spanish ward yesterday at the same time. So, the zone overall seems to be doing very well.

We just recieved an email that we are going to have a meeting on saturday march 12th at 8:00 with elder christofferson of the twelve apostles. i'm super excited. the time that we had last march with elder bednar is an experience that i'll never forget and we're excited to have the opportunity again. last march, elder bednars visit seemed to fuel the mission as a whole and it'll hopefully do the same again for us. the meeting is going to be here in calgary, but all of the missionaries outside of the city will be bused into calgary.

elder solis and i are excited becasue we got a reference for a colombian lady that lives outside of the city in a small town called high river. it's about 60 kilometers drive from calgary and we'll probably start going there once a week to teach her. we'll get to see a little bit of the country side on the way, even though there's really not much other than fields to look at.

we've had trouble scheduling appointments over the week with many of our investigators. part of the problem that we run into is to live in calgary and not be able to speak english, most of the people we work with have to work in low paying jobs for many hours to get by. with their busy schedules, it often makes scheduling appointments hard. we have high hopes for the family of 5 though that we began teaching last week. they seem very interested and seeking for the truth.

thanks for everything you do!

con amor,

elder dunlap