To Lisp Or Not To Lisp...that is the question!

Well family,

It's been awhile. How are you? And yeah, Craig told me a little bit about what he gave you. It sounds pretty awesome. Now whenever I get around to sending you my pictures you can see them all! Hey, I was thinking that I could just send you a CD with all the pictures on it. Then I can keep my memory card here. And also, what were your thoughts about a new camera? Should I buy a new one or should I wait for your approval?
But your Christmas sounds fun. Did Craig have a good time with his girlfriend's parents? And wow, you fixed dinner for branch members. What dedication! How many came? And what did you fix? It's funny because all the American boys here talk about cinnamon rolls and Spaniards just cannot comprehend the deliciousness which is a cinnamon roll. It's really too bad.

You are the Relief Society pianist? Ha. Well I laughed. Looks like you are going to grow quite a bit in your calling. I have had to play the piano before. And by playing the piano I mean playing the melody notes of a song because that's about the extent of what I refer to as skills.

And as for transfers, I am staying in Toledo. A missionary the group ahead of me that has 2 more transfers than me is still in his first area. So I may be serving in the Toledo Spain Mission for the first year or so of my mission. But it's okay because the Holidays here are way sick. Christmas wasn't ever celebrated here until recently and most Spaniards don't really celebrate it. Instead on the 6th of January they have Kings' day - like the wise men who brought gifts. So that is when the majority of gifts are given. Quite a bit different. And then on New Year's Eve they eat 12 grapes, one every second, starting at midnight. The Gomez family, the members below us, told us that the missionaries always go down at midnight to eat grapes with them. So in order to not disobey we are going to go to bed at 11 then wake up really early at 11:50. Ha. Obeying the letter of the law is way more fun than the spirit of it.

As for my lisp, I love it and I will not be getting rid of it. Really, it sounds better and it's not even that bad. I don't think someone who doesn't speak Spanish could even tell that someone from Spain has one. But tambien, keep in mind that in some parts of Spain the lisp is with every /s/ sound. Here it's just with z, ci, and ce. So it could be worse. Other fun things that are happening in Spain...we went out on the main plaza here and sang carols for 30 minutes on Christmas Day... in the rain. I don't know if anyone could hear us because it was raining so hard. Also, I tried escalator contacting. Where, on an escalator, I start talking to someone coming down as soon as they can hear me. Then when we pass I try and hand them something. If not I kind of toss it. It's was pretty awesome - ha, ha. I kind of gave myself a new level of boldness. I figure, hey, we already look as weird as possible, can't speak, and are only here for a limited amount of time, why not?

One more thing - our roof leaks. Now I feel a little more like a missionary. We currently have a bucket to catch falling drops of rain in our piso. Ha,ha. Our landlord, the members, are going to remodel our piso soon, but for now I like having these kinds of experiences. Oh, and mom, remember that one time you cut your finger really bad after you used the brand new knife because it was really sharp? I give testimony that new knives are sharp and should be handled with care. And as we strive to handle sharp knives carefully we will have more saftey. If not, you type your letters home with 9 fingers because one of them hurts. Ha,ha. Good!

Stay pretty,
Elder Dunn

Still not an early riser!

Madrid Time

Okay Mom,

It's been awhile but really???? Have you already totally forgotten me? First of all, if I physically could, I am not sure if I would get up at 6:00 a.m. to talk. Second of all, my companion would never get up at 6:00 a.m. Third, I would be the least fun person to talk to at 6 in the morning, and 4th, that is borderline disobedience. So, I have no idea when you are going to call, but it will have to be when you guys wake up. Here is our schedule... 7-11 exercise and study, 11-2:30, weekly planning session in piso. Then 2:30 - 4:30, medio dia. The rest of the day is proselyting or talking to family time. But if you want to call earlier, we can push other stuff back later. I definitely will not be answering a call at 6 a.m. my time. So, I look forward to the Christmas surprise of when you call me. And FYI, 20 people have told me speaker phone is a bad idea, it is better just to talk one at a time, so probably count on that.

Residency appointments are where we go to be legal here. If you miss them, you pretty much get kicked out of the country. It's great for contacting though because everyone there is South American. It's a dream come true. Okay, other than that, my companion and I sang a duet for the ward activity in front of like 50 people. If you know my voice you know that it took quite a bit of courage for that to happen. It was pretty sick though. Now I tell those investigators, if I can sing out loud, you can pray out loud. Then, to follow up that performance, the mission had a talent show where I sang my version of Be a Missionary (Be a man from Mulan). The talent show was pretty hilarious and pretty apostate. I wonder now if the President has regrets about doing it. Ha, ha!

I attended a temple session in Spanish, no biggie, aced it. We spent like 2 hours on the metro this morning though because one train died one stop away from our switch. So we took the longest route ever to get around it, then we had to wait 30minutes in another train while something got fixed. We definitely love the metro. Alright, well missions are fun. Talk to you soon! Stay pretty

Elder Dunn

Hey,
First of all our number is __________. I think the country code is 0034. But you will have to check it out. I think the best way to call is just with a calling card. I don't know what your plans are but you need to tell me by next Wednesday. My companion is going between 7-8:30 depending. So at 8:30 is my time or before works for me. I think there is an 8 hour time difference so let me know what works best for you. 6-7 or 8:30-9:30 works best for me but I can be flexible. Also, I have 8 minutes so be ready!

Ok, well last week was a little slow. We had residency appointments and we didn't teach a whole lot but we contacted a bunch, in the cold. But, it's okay because some members gave me some gloves which I lacked. And that's the missionary portion of this letter.

The 2nd week I was in Toledo two American students came up and asked us for help getting to their house in the worst American Spanish accents imaginable. We said yes we could help and then asked if they wanted us to speak Spanish or English. We helped them find their house because we had a map and then we explained who we were. They had never seen Mormon missionaries before. About 2 months later we saw them again and said hi and chatted. Then on Saturday I saw one of them again as we were waiting for the bus. I was talking to this sweet family from Peru so I just did the head nod thing at her. Well, she approached us and I was mid sentence talking to this Peruvian lady and the girl decided to hug me. Ha! I looked at my companion and he was trying not to laugh. So I gave her like a little pat on the back and yeah... That was probably the weirdest experience as a missionary so far. It was pretty funny though because my heart kept pounding for like 10 minutes. And then I realized why missionaries are so awkward when they get home. Ha, ha! But yeah, we ended up not getting that Peruvian lady's number because of it and it was just a way weird experience. But yeah... so I got hugged. Good story huh?

Alright, well I am out of time so I will tell you that it snowed here Saturday for 5 hours and it stuck for the day and it is still on some roofs. It reminded me of Utah a bit. This is suppose to be the worst winter in some number of years here in Toledo so I am excited.

Alright stay pretty town!

Elder Dunn

Comida Rapida - Fast Food - Wahoo!

Alright,
Business items first. First of all, we don't call you. Sorry... but you get to call us. It's easier that way because you can just buy a calling card and stuff. Pretty much the rules are we have to call on the 25th, we have to be inside the piso, and not too long. I was thinking I could just send you a tape of my voice in place of calling.... then I could proselyte more on Christmas. How does that sound to you? Actually that is the only business item.

This last week was great. Like 6 people promised Saturday night to come to the capilla assuring us they didn't need us to stop by their piso in the morning or call them or anything. We definitely didn't have anyone. But, at least one texted us saying he had to work. Then I texted back. Did I tell you we have texting now? Pretty awesome. I am staying in practice so don't worry yourselves. We taught a Columbian the word of wisdom and it went horribly. In case you don't know, Columbians love coffee. The next day we tried again with this old Cuban guy who is way awesome and he bore his testimony and just rocked it. So yeah, he is converted pretty much.

Other than that, I got sick Saturday night, stayed in Sunday and Monday morning, then ate Burger King Monday night. We had to go to Madrid for a residency appointment and had some time to kill there. Oh, and I get to be a legal citizen on the 18! Sweet. And that day will be the Taco Bell day. Comida rapida! Woot!!!

But yeah, the working is progressing. I think your mission in SLC is more dangerous than our mission here. The scariest thing I have had happen to me was 6 drunk Romanians who were broke and drunk making jokes about how all Americans have money. We thought they were going to rob us. Then they didn't. Actually they are way nice people, but it was kind of frightening for a second. Anyway, I am going to write dad now rocking vosotros. You all ready? Estais listos? Ha. Alright great. Stay pretty Murray.
Elder Dunn

Hello All,

A lot more of the same from Spain. Baptizing, ward activities, and references are kind of getting old. NO, I am kidding. I would kill for any of those three things!

Thanksgiving was pretty sweet. We had a pretty awesome weekly planning session then made salchy papas and some sort of stir fry thing. Salchy papas are hot dogs and french fries cooked in oil and put in a bowl or plate with ketchup and mayo over them. That's it. It's pretty fatty and delicious. The stir fry was pretty tasty. Seasonings make anything good. Last we ate some delicious store bought ice cream. When we finally got to proselyting, we got "fallared" for 2 lessons. (fallared is the Spanish/English word for they weren't home) We did teach a really awesome follow the prophet lesson with cups and a pyramid shape. All was well until Godzilla, aka 1 year old boy, decided to take out one of the cups which represented an apostle and the pyramid crumbled down. It was a good demonstration of why there are always twelve apostles. Then he decided to fall on the cups and crush them. So not sure exactly what that is a good representation of. Haha.

Alright, so my funny quote of the week. We were contacting one night and it was pretty cold. This couple was in a hurry but I decided to try anyway. I started and they said we are in a hurry. I said, we just want one second of your time so they stopped and then absolutely nothing came to my mind, no words no anything. After about 3 seconds of silence I just said, "Well, how are you?" With quite a bit of enthusiasm. They laughed at me and walked away. Ha! Then I laughed at myself and my companion couldn't stop laughing at me. It was pretty funny.

Yesterday we had exchanges again, and I stayed in my area with a missionary with 2 weeks in the field. It was pretty awesome. We missed our bus back to Toledo from district meeting by 2 minutes so we waited. Then when the next bus came 30minutes later my companion realized he was out of money because it was the end of the month. All I had was a 50. Bus drivers don't accept 50s. So we missed that bus too. Then we walked for 10 minutes to find somewhere that sold bread and gave a 50 euro for .53 cent bread. Haha - Pretty awesome day. We taught 2 really good lessons though and made this shrimp stir fry thing that was really tasty. So all in all it was a good day.

That is way cool what you are doing with your branch back there in SLC with Thanksgiving. Members in Utah and members in Spain are are quite a bit different. OH man - definitely miss the church functions of Utah a little bit.

AND - wahoo BYU! It seems as though both teams haven't done very well this year, right? Dad kind of fell off the wagon keeping me updated. I did receive the Murray Boys newsletter. It is way fun to read about what is happening everywhere. I am excited for the Christmas packages. We aren't going to receive mail until the 22nd so it won't be a temptation to open them early. No worries.

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
I am teaching English classes and I need some good ideas for activities or games to make them a bit more fun. Have suggestions? Are you familiar with the deep Spanish jota?
Que pase un buen día. Hasta luego. Stay pretty.

Hello from Toledo

Hey!

Well Happy Thanksgiving. I will be holding a special weekly planning session in honor of Thanksgiving. It's not really special but we will be having a weekly planning session. In case you don't know what this is, we sit down for 3 hours and plan out our entire week. It's pretty awesome and not boring at all. (heh, heh)

Your Branch dinner sounds like it was fun. Was the guy who talked forever from Bolivia? We have one Bolivian investigator who loves talking too. He says "How pretty" about every 10 words too. It's quite entertaining. I am just happy that I can understand him now so I don't mind that he mostly talks. There are a lot of Spaniards that love to talk too. Maybe it's just a Spanish speaking thing. And also, I have this theory... when I was bored with friends we would like put in a movie or go get food or something. All youth do here is sit and talk and talk and talk. They are never doing anything. So, I think they just become accustomed at a young age to talk a lot. But who knows.

Anyway, so Toledo is awesome. Ha! I am pretty sure having had the car was both a curse and a blessing. With the car we taught a lot more and were able to teach some people that now we can't. But the members accustomed themselves to always having us come over whenever they could and not having to do anything. We asked 2 people if they could drive us to another pueblo 10 minutes away after a lesson with them and they said they didn't really have time. I guess cutting the lesson 10 minutes shorter wasn't really an idea of theirs but yup. I think eventually they will want to help out though. The investigators here are awesome. We are finding and teaching a lot of new people. And we have like 5 people that are spiritually ready and want to be baptized but can't because they either aren't married or can't come to church or something. And all the ones that can get baptized don't really want to. It's kind of a battle but it makes the mission fun.

My new companion is awesome. We are like best friends and teach really well together. So don't worry yourselves about that. Also mom you inspired me to start reading Preach my Gospel in Spanish. Actually, I understand almost everything now. I also started Our Legacy, in Spanish, and I can get about 50% of it. It's helping me with my grammar and all so good stuff. I definitely think my English is worse now than before. Wahoo missions!

I have to be going but hey, I want to read the talk you gave in your Spanish branch if that's fine. Maybe I will use it next month for mine! Ha,ha. I told you that we talk every 3rd Sunday in this ward. Yup. And I am definitely opening my package as soon as it gets here. Although we are going to buy a Christmas tree today. Maybe I will wait on like half of it. But sweet, thanks for the update on life and if you have time you should re-read my other email. You didn't answer like any of my questions. Stay Pretty.

Elder Dunn

Super Stomachs

Dear All,

The missionary parents dinner sounds like a lot of fun. I really like to hear the news. Are you guys ever going to have the missionary dinner at your home?

And wow, mom, you can read Preach My Gospel in Spanish? I am jealous. I can follow it along mostly but the grammar kills me. I have to reread the sentence before to remember what the direct object is or something. It's coming though. Really, the key to learning is speaking and asking others to correct you. I started that in lessons and with my new companion and I like it a lot. I am glad you speak better than dad. He needs to be humbled a little. (joke)

Okay, about my new companion. He is great, we get along well. I am really grateful to be able to area train. It is forcing me to speak more because I know the members and investigators an I love it. I also get to change some of the things that I didn't like with my other companion. Nothing big but a few things. To go back, we had a lesson last Friday with members and what happened before that appointment well............ we had eaten a giant meal with other members and our stomachs were making really crazy sounds. Well the guy was like 70 so he couldn't really hear, but Elder Jacobs and I both had our stomachs growl at the same time. We looked at each other and started laughing. For the next 5 minutes, we were like little girls. We were giggling and trying to hold it in but we couldn't. We felt so bad because we were laughing so hard and he had no idea. It turned out okay, and I learned how to make myself stop laughing. Next, missionaries are blessed with super stomachs. I don't know if you knew this but for year we have an extra one. Sunday, we ate with members at 3. Another full meal at 4:30, and then at 6 a little snack. Finally at 7:30 more members gave us another full meal and about half way through I was about to throw up so I had to say something. It's just way funny how members an even some investigators just keep giving us food. Sometimes I don't like it but I am grateful for their love for us.

We started English classes and they are going pretty well. But mom, I was wondering if you had any suggestions as a teacher. Really, I need some good activities or something. Really, we need some good ones that are fun.

I won't have to withdraw money for a long time now. I should hopefully be good. I may decide to buy a suit in January. In January everything goes on sale and a full suit, shirt and two pants costs $100. So I will probably have to load up. Hey, I need socks... bad. There are no Walmarts here and socks are expensive. Can you hook me up? If not, I will keep looking.
And actually I don't think I need glasses. If not being able to drive will keep me out of a position of leadership that would be awesome. (joke) But no, really, I need you to send me that prescription. And like I said, everything goes on sale in January, so I will probably be able to buy cheap glasses then.

Love to you all, stay pretty,
Elder Dunn

Accents Will Abound

Wow, everyone in the ward is just going to have the most ridiculous accents after their Spanish speaking missions. Those Argentines will be especially silly. I figured out what is going on with Europe exactly. Throughout Europe, there is a 75% reduction in the number of missionaries. And in Madrid we have a 50% cut. There are three reasons that I have been told. One, it's a slower area compared to the other Spain missions. Two, they need members to step up their efforts so it's kind of like a little motivation for them. And third, kind of, is the financial crisis. But yeah, lots more missionaries are going to South America now.

And yeah, definitely lost my glasses. I will just be blind my mission, no worries. As long as I don't ever have to drive, I should be OK.

To start off, I have to tell you about our awesome week. Our baptismal date, Daiana, had her date for the 15th. Her interview was yesterday, Tuesday. After our lesson last Monday, the 2nd, we weren't able to get in contact with her. To explain I have to go back about 3 weeks. Her husband is a less active member. One day he came to church with his wife, Daiana, and we set an appointment. She liked church, liked our message, he started getting active, it was going well. Then one day for work I guess, he had to go to Cuba out of the blue. So, we just started bringing a member with us to all the lessons, since a man has to be present in lessons. She was progressing well and was fine. Then her husband arrived home the 3rd, and that was the last day we had contact with her. Well, Monday night she finally answered her phone and said she needed time. We don't know if it was because of the interview, the husband, or what, but now she won't really talk to us. So... alright, GO missions!

We do have like 8 people that want to be baptized BUT aren't married or can't come to church. Alright Spain! But things are going good so I really can't complain. I am sure Daiana will be baptized soon.

Since we have a car we tried to visit all the members who don't live near buses. One of them is this old man who lives alone and never married. We think he was pretty lonely. We ended up visiting him twice a week and getting to know him pretty well. Since my companion was going, he gave him these really nice books of Don Quixote, which are famous over here. Maybe dad knows of him. And yeah, then I guess he wanted to give me something too so he gave me a really nice watch. Members here are just great. It was really hard accepting it because we don't know if he is struggling with money or not. But yeah, it was pretty neat.

Unfortunately I lose the car in 5 days. I am going to have to learn the bus system now...

Either my companion or I have been sick since Friday so this week has just been kind of rough. We had zone conference last Thursday and that was good. To review, the elders before us had a baptism like 1 week before we came. The member, named Ana, told us she wanted nothing to do with the church. So, once again we have no idea what happened. We saw her the day before zone conference and she just did not want to talk to us at all. So at zone conference, we asked the Elder who baptized her if he knew anything. He said no. The humor of this story is in what my companion said next. He asked, "Have you talked to Ana lately? We saw her yesterday and she does not look good, spiritually." I turned to my companion and told him he has been out waaaaaaay too long if he is making comments like that. I actually have a quote book of funny things that Elder Jacobs has said. It's pretty funny. Anyway, I am excited for transfers!
Stay pretty.

Elder Dunn

Force Fed Missionaries?!?

We went to the mission home today and it took 3 hours to get there because we didn't take the car. I am trying to type this as fast as possible to tell you as much as possible. About the car - there is one extra car in the mission so it usually rotates pueblos. But we have it because my companion is an ex-assistant and has his driver's license here. There aren't very many who have one. My companion leaves Nov 17. two weeks menos a day.
The whole missionary son dinner thing you go to sounds cool. Do you each have like ten minutes to talk about your son or is it more just like everyone goes and just talks to different people? The Rubens are the people who were at Lake Powell with us through that storm. You should ask them to see the pictures. They are pretty awesome.
I heard they found the vaccine for swine flu. But nope, we don't get it. And really missionaries have the worst health ever. Most missionaries get sick every 3 weeks. I usually have a sore throat once a week, a headache twice a week, and sore muscles once every 2 weeks. You learn to push through it though.
AND we are fed till we throw up. REALLY! Members don't get it that we only want to eat a little bit of food. I have now thrown up twice after members have fed us. They keep giving you food till it's gone. So if you ever feed missionaries don't force food at them. Give them some to take home if you don't want to have leftovers.
My address is something like Calle Pascuales in Toledo, Spain. I don't have the exact address but can give it to you later so you can find it on Google Earth. It's between a giant library and a giant cathedral if you can see that on Google maps.
I am losing weight. 45 minutes of running every morning! Wahoo! But it was way funny when I broke the chair. And actually I don't know the rule on uploading pictures, I just know we couldn't in the CCM. Maybe it is different out in the field. I will find out.
Missionaries talk in church every 3rd Sunday. It's great because I only have to talk for 5 minutes. It's not bad. And the meetings are awesome. An Argentine teaches priesthood and I can barely understand his accent, so mostly I just kind of space off or read scriptures. Also, there are only ever like 5 people there at the start of the meeting. Everyone comes late. I will have to write more next week. Time FLIES on preparation days. Update me on mission calls. I heard Caleb, Andrew and Ben have theirs? Maybe? Love you. Stay pretty.

A Day in the Life

Hello,

Yup, I did the impossible. I found a source of Mountain Dew. It's found in a store kind of like Walmart here, but more expensive. I was pretty happy. BUT, I am out of money this month so it will have to wait till next month.

Ok, so to answer your questions. Transfers are every 6 weeks. The old president liked to transfer more frequently. The new one likes to let people chill in one area for awhile. So in all likely hood I will be in Toledo for 6 or more months. But I love it here. It's kind of the coveted area, ha ha. But, after we lose our car in 3 weeks, I have no idea how this area is going to teach more than like 10 lessons. Half of our investigators don't live where a bus goes, and most of the people can only do appointments at night. So if we have to take a bus to their pueblo, and the final bus back to Toledo leaves at about 6:45 we are out of luck. So I think we are going to be spending a lot of time contacting in Toledo. But I am excited because our mission president is really trying to push creative finding ideas and I have a bunch. However, I really would love to hear suggestions. So, dígame if you have any.
The weather is really warm right now. We are back in tacky short sleeves for a bit. But it's suppose to get cold real soon. I think I am going to buy my winter stuff in 3 weeks when we go to Madrid so I will let you know to check my balance after that. We do email in a public library without problems. Our shower situation is a bit funny right now. Normally, we have our own shower, but our hot water broke like 7 weeks ago and is in the repair process. So right now we use a hot water heater thing that gives us each about 3-4 minutes of hot water. I will have to send you guys a picture of my shower. When I stand in it I can maybe extend my elbows out like 3 inches. It's pretty awesome.
Yesterday we had exchanges and I slept in a piso with 6 missionaries living in it. It's huge. Their kitchen is as big as our kitchen, bathroom, and study room put together. But ours is old so it's better. Ha!
So day to day life? Wake up at 6:30 and run for 45 minutes, stretch for a little, then eat breakfast and all that. Then we have personal study for an hour, companion study for an hour, and language study for 30 minutes. Language study kind of turns into a do chore and eat a snack time though. Oh, funny story. And yes, it is a fat joke. I broke a chair sitting on it. Ha ha. It was really old and falling apart. I leaned back on it a little and it just snapped. Needless to say the rest of that companionship study was spent laughing and me doing sit ups. Ha ha. So now I sit on a metal stool because I don't want to break another old wooden chair. Then we proselyte till 10, then plan and go to bed at 11. Yeah for awesome routines.
So one last funny thought. We were driving and my companion randomly said what if it like rained chocolate? You could just lick stuff and get chocolate. People would be licking each other. That could get out of hand fast. Ha ha. Stay pretty .

Elder Dunn

P.S. from Scott's mom - Some wonderful person left a darling Christmas stocking, for Scott, on our front porch awhile ago. I have no idea who did and I would love to thank you. I will be filling it and sending it to him next month. He has already started his list!

A Good Hair Day

Hello from Spain,
Last night, it rained pretty good. It was pretty awesome. Cold, but awesome. I think it gets colder here sooner than in Utah. Every morning during studies, I am wrapped up in a blanket. However, we also don't have heat. So maybe that is it. But there have been some cold mornings.
I am glad you received the Hanson's email and picture. The funny thing about that is only on Thursday do I do my hair like that. Well not even every Thursday, but last Thursday I did. We have our weekly planning session every Thursday and last week we had some extra time so I spent a fair amount of time making my hair ridiculous. It helps repel Spanish women. But yeah, things are a little better now with the companionship and the language. I actually I spoke Spanish while it was a rule, the mission president said that new missionaries don't have to speak all day, they just have to make goals with their companions on when to speak and always try and get better. So...that made it a little better. But I have to tell you, at first it was terrible. I actually started feeling more confident with time. So now my companion and I only speak Spanish during proselyting hours but try to speak it more all the time. So it's better. And also he is gradually becoming more normal. He now asks me question of how things were when I left, so we actually talk now! It's great.

I read Richard's letter and he said how his mission has 900 baptisms and a goal of 1100 or so. Yup, we have like 150 this year and a goal of 250. Ha, ha. Go Spain! And Elder Jon Clark won't even tell me how many baptisms he has. I am guessing quite a few.

Anyway, cool things that happened. We were knocking a street, and we had absolutely no luck. We had 3 kids following us mocking us the whole time, some guy used some expression that only is used for dogs and half the people were convinced we were Jehovah's Witness missionaries. Almost everyone hates Jehovah's Witnesses here - not sure exactly why yet. Our appointment was at 6 with some members and their less active son. At about 5:58 we had one more house on the street to contact. We debated just going or not and I am like, "Let's just finish the street." So we did and some Spaniard woman answered the door. She told us she wanted nothing to do with us either. BUT, we explained that we weren't Jehovah's Witnesses and then she listened to us. We kind of half taught her the restoration through the door but she was pretty good. Anyway, going to teach her Saturday. May not sound that big but first, a SPANIARD agreed to let us in. That does not happen very often. Next, a Spaniard WOMAN agreed to let us in. That happens even less. And it was the last house on the street. So it was cool. Important lesson learned from it.

Qué mas? Oh, and as for the money, I pulled out 100 euros for my emergency fund, but I am going to have to buy a jacket, scarf, and gloves here soon. I am just waiting to see what the mission home has first. Also, I think I am going to get my eyes checked here then have you send me contacts or something. They are getting worse. Also, don't worry. I started writing my Christmas list 3 weeks ago. I have no idea if that is normal or not, but yeah. And no, we aren't aloud to upload pictures. So when my camera gets a little more full I will make a CD of all my pictures and send that home. Right now I only have about 80 pictures.
Anyway - going to play some ping pong with some natives. Love you all. Stay Pretty

Elder Dunn

99 things left to do before I die

Hola Everyone,
Interesting week this week. First of all, time is the weirdest thing. Every day seems to drag on, then every Wednesday I think back about the week and it seemed to fly by. Luckily, I write down the important things I need to share with you. And by important I, of course, mean not important at all whatsoever but I have to share with you because you will appreciate it.

Last Saturday we had a BBQ with a Cuban couple. Cooked the food, ate the food, talked, fun times. They have a 2 year old daughter and a 2 month old son. We began teaching a lesson and in the opening prayer the son starts crying. (Usually something noisy happens during both prayers of every lesson, weird no?) Anyway, I guess he cries when he is hungry because the mom just starting breast feeding him right there 3 feet from us. So yes, I have now taught the Restoration while someone is breastfeeding. Don't worry, I checked it off of my list of 100 things to do before I die. I was worried about that specific goal and the difficulty of accomplishing it but alas, all is well. Anyway, great family. She is going to be baptized soon, he is a member, it's great.

Next item of business. There is something they didn't tell me in my call letter. It is that Madrid Spain isn't just a normal mission. It is the Super Mission. If I had known this I may have requested a change of calls. New rules as of last week. These rules are written, set rules, like set in stone. 1. We are no longer allowed to speak English. I am sure mom that you are thinking great! He will learn so much faster. However, this is false. I already had a goal of only speaking Spanish during proselyting hours, so I think I was learning at an OK speed. But now I am not allowed to speak English at all. And for someone who can only speak about the gospel, it's not a lot of fun. So pretty much, when the other elders are talking about stuff, I can understand what they are talking about but I can't participate in the conversation very well. So yeah, I don't talk now. Which actually just adds to stress. 2. No caffeine. At first appearance this is good. I agree as well. HOWEVER, what they don't tell you is that you can only drink whatever for 2 hours during the hottest part of the day, and then you only get on average 7 hours of sleep a night, you get headaches quite often. Yup, it's interesting.

So this week has been pretty stressful and sore. Oh, also I have had like 4 ingrown toenails the past two weeks. Walking all day in church shoes hurts. And... I think I now know what the hardest part of your mission is --- Companions. I just don't think I can live with one person for extended periods of time. I don't know how you married people do it. Lately my companion has been really passive aggressive. The way I deal with it is doing things passively back. My new favorite is to walk behind him at all times. I always walk the same speed as him but just a little bit behind. Sometimes he will slow down so I can catch up but I just slow down too. It's great. It helps me get through a day of silence.

I got to play ping pong and volleyball this last week. It was way fun. We played ping pong with future investigators and volleyball with a less active family and all their extended family. They are from Ecuador and there were like 20 of them. Their volleyball is a little different than ours, but I like it more. I am learning how to deal with whatever comes my way. Also I am actually writing in my journal now because I can write in English. So yeah, missionary work is great.

Mom, the comic you sent is great. You should post that on my blog, because my friends will appreciate it as well. Plus, I always pointed out ¨bingo arms¨ to my friends. Anyway, that is life. I am very excited to see the new look to the house. I still think you should move all my stuff into the downstairs rooms. Anyway, stay pretty.

Elder Dunn

p.s. from the mom...I saw this comic in Sunday's paper and it is a running joke Scott and I have. I tried to post it but it won't work. Sorry you can't get the chuckle about "Bingo Arms."

Agency in Action

Oh man, I fiddled around getting pictures on my camera for too long. I am so, so sorry but this is going to have to be incredibly short. That's OK not much happened with conference this last week. In summary, cheap Chinese food in a country where there isn't much of a health code means 2 days of staying in and using the toilet every 30 minutes.

Conference as a missionary is way sick. I will expand more about conference next Sunday, because I still have to review my notes a bit. OK, funny story. Sunday night I called in our numbers and I was depressed. We went from 2 weeks of 20 lessons to a week to 8 lessons. But my companion, Mr. Unbreakable Spirit said, its OK we have a good day tomorrow. And we had 5 set appointments. But Monday came around, 2 weren't there and 2 canceled on us. So we taught one lesson. I was like awesome week, huh Elder? He said, it's OK, we have a good day tomorrow. So Tuesday comes around with 5 lessons set as well. Guess how many we taught? Yeah, one. Great huh? But at this point I am laughing and saying "Wahoo, tracting is way better than teaching!" But, my companion is still Mr. Positive. Anyway, today we had 2 set lessons after preparation day, and about 30 minutes ago one called to cancel. I laughed for 5 minutes and now my companion is down. I said, "Elder, its OK because tomorrow morning we have our weekly planning session and no lessons set in the afternoon, so we can't even have more disappointment." So really, I am just learning of the humor of missionary work. It's great. I really do just love it. Agency in action! Wahoo! OK, yup, love you all. Stay extra pretty.

Elder Dunn

September 30th

Hello,

Thanks for keeping me up to date with the other missionaries. It's nice to be able to read about other missionaries lives. Also, I can now cook some mean chicken. With a few tips from other missionaries, and your spices, I am a pro. Olive oil seems to help too. I think when I am married, in 10 years, I will just cook. I like being able to cook whatever sounds good to me at the time. I just need to learn quicker meals. And yes, fastest three months of my life. The MTC seems to have been so long ago now. The field seems way slower than the MTC. Just because some days drag on, and others you don't want to end. But I am glad you don't miss me too much. Or at all Haha. All mission presidents say stop worrying about your family and your girlfriends. Your family is just fine without you, I promise. And your girlfriend is probably on a date with another guy not thinking about you, so stop thinking about her. Haha, probably the most true statement I have ever heard.

But yeah, I am way jealous of the amount of baptisms in your branch. Toledo has been a slow area for teaching and for baptisms because the majority, like 90% of the members, don't live in Toledo. They all live in pueblos about 20-90 minutes away from Toledo. So teaching is hard, having members present at lessons is hard, and finding people is hard. We are mostly to find people in Toledo so we actually have members here, and right now we have around 7ish investigators from Toledo. One is a Muslim guy who is way cool. We gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to church 2 Wednesdays ago and last Sunday he came to church and said he read the Book of Mormon twice and knows it is true. But I think he also thinks the Qur'an is true. So we have some work but we can't teach him till he comes to church 2 more times. Silly rules.

So, this week was kind of a spiritual week. We had a couple of lessons where we were either going to convert investigators or lose them. So we tried really hard to just let the spirit teach. And those lessons were amazing. One guy said he wants to get baptized, he just isn't ready yet, and his wife, who never wanted to listen to missionaries before us, is thinking about baptism as well. They are so good because they said they have seen a lot of people fall away after their baptisms so they want to make sure that if they do get baptized it is what they really want. So, WHEN we baptize them they will be good members. They have 2 kids too, so they are a great family. This week I have learned a lot about having the spirit teach in lessons and doing all I can to invite it. It's cool too because some experiences I have had yet haven't remembered them until the moment I start telling them. So, it's good.

Anyway, there is the spiritual side. On the language side, I am rocking it! No, not at all, but some of the members and investigators tell me that they have seen a lot of progress in me. And I have started to notice it too. I can talk with decent speed, and I am able to understand people a little better now. I sometimes do phone calls in the car now, and those are always fun. But I am able to communicate now. It's great. I started a goal last Thursday to only speak Spanish during proselyting hours and it is helping me. It builds my vocabulary, give me practice with more verb tenses, and forces me to think of different ways of saying things. I am excited to be able to come home and talk to you guys in Spanish. I think I will only talk to you in Spanish actually since you seemed to only want to talk to me in Spanish after I got my call. Anyway, I have to go. Have a great week. Stay pretty.

Elder Dunn

Language is Improving

I fixed most of the words missing a T,Y, or P while I ate breakfast and before cutting and pasting it into this blog. "The Mom"
P.S. The reason I sent Scott so many pictures or our dogs is because the only current pictures I have of anyone is a picture they let me take with the dogs.


Hello Everyone,

Ok, so I got the package and it was great. Also, the T Y and P keys on this keyboard work terribly. So if some are missing, I am sorry but I don't have the patience to spell check. But yeah, I am going to play ping pong today with my paddles and the seasonings were amazing and candy is always good. And thanks for the pictures, now I can actually introduce my family. But did you send enough of the dogs? Geez. And isn't the Lang's cabin awesome? I have showered in 4 of the showers there, I think that is all of them, but maybe not. But now you can picture how we use to set up 3 X- boxes and play Halo at a scout camp. Haha. And mom, I should definitely get the room downstairs. I don't have that much stuff to move... But I am excited to see what you guys do with the house.

So this week was good. We taught 20 lessons, which I guess is amazing. My comp never told me because he wanted me to think it was nothing, but we got a call from our president saying good work. So that was neat.

Spanish is coming along. I now understand almost everything at district meetings. And I am getting better with members. Also, I am learning Arabic. We taught some Muslim guy about the Book of Mormon, and he taught us the alphabet and the numbers in Arabic. We can't teach him anymore though until he comes to church at least 3 times and gets interviewed by the president. Some rules about teaching Muslims.

Last week we ate at a Chinese buffet. I tried everything. Squid, oysters, all sorts of raw fish. It was all amazing. And I only had a numb mouth for like an hour. So no worries. Other than that, the Vuelta de España came through Toledo, so we got to watch that during our mediodia. I was also offered beer several times and cigarettes. It was pretty great. We watched it with this group of bikers that knew a lot about the race but were also drunk. We got like 10 contacts out of the ordeal. It was really funny. Well stay pretty everyone.

Elder Dunn

Short and Sweet

Hey,
Thanks for sending my package. I am looking forward to getting it. Ok, I only have like 15 minutes today because I have such a great sister who writes me great emails. They say on your mission you grow closer to your family. I never got how, but today was kind of a moment of realization. So yeah, thanks for the great letters.
As for the work, it's coming great. Last week we had a baptism in the ward, an 8 year old. I won´t count it as a baptism yet but it was still a great experience. I had the opportunity to conduct the baptism. No biggie, I just rocked it. It was a good experience and my language is definitely coming. I can talk pretty decently, I just cannot understand some people. I swear they are not speaking any language, let alone Spanish. I think it's because everyone smokes.
Zone conference was great. Elder Teixeira, or something pronouced Teshera, spoke to us. He is from the Seventy. I talked to his wife after for about 20 minutes. She was way funny plus how often does the opportunity to talk to a general authority´s wife happen? It was cool.
Yesterday was my first exchange. It went really well. We had 7 good solid new contacts and we taught 5 lesson in 4 and a half hours. Then back in my area the work went well too. And I learned a bunch from the district leader, who was my companion. So it was really neat. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates, and soon we will have 5. So far missionary work hasn't been too hard. (Haha) Missionary work is mostly about your attitude I have decided. So yeah, it's good here. Loving it.

Elder Dunn

The Best Week

This week has been the best week of the mission so far. The first week we were here was rough, we didn't know many people and a lot of our appointments fell through and I don´t speak Spanish! So yeah, a little rough. Since Sunday we have taught about 8 lessons and none of our appointments have fallen through. It is amazing! We are currently teaching a new family, married parents with a kid and they have a member of their extended family who is a member. They are way nice and very religious so we are hoping for the best. We are teaching them again tonight and I am so excited. But mostly we have been teaching less actives and getting to know all the members. We drove 45 minutes on Monday to have family night with the bishop and these 2 less active families. It went well. The food was good and one of the families said they would come to church this week. I don´t know how much truth is in that but we will keep on praying. We also are teaching this less active who really doesn't believe in God anymore so it´s like teaching a totally new investigator. He speaks English ok so it's nice when I am sharing personal experiences to be able to say a word in English and not have to worry about all of the vocab. Helps me focus more on the message of my story and not just the words I am trying to say. But it was really good. He is definitely softening up. Our goal is the next Ward Mission Leader. So we will see how it goes. But the rest of the week is packed with solid appointments and a special zone conference and stuff so I am excited.
The language is getting a little better. We have talked to a couple people who speak very clear and slow, and I can pretty much understand everything they say. Sometimes I won´t know some words, but I still get the idea. Our bishop is a native Spaniard and speaks very quickly with a think Spanish accent. I don't know if I will be able to understand him when I leave this area. Yesterday for district meeting I was in charge of district snack. I wanted to make no-bakes because they are delicious. Well we didn't have oats, peanut butter, or vanilla so we used Nutella (a type of chocolate or something) and golden grams. They turned out really good. I was surprised. The cooking is getting better too. I love just frying chicken or some sort of meat and throwing some seasonings on it and mixing it with pasta and cheese. It is always delicious. We still going running almost every day, and today we are going to attempt a 6k run during the afternoon. So, it should be good....... If I live.
OH, and during interviews yesterday with President Watkins, he showed us the church news where President Monson is in the Catholic church. He said we should do the same, and go be friends with the Catholic leaders. So we are also going to try and talk to them and ask them if they have service opportunities and ask to take a tour of their churches. It is way cool, I am super excited about it. There are like 3 churches in Toledo, so should be fun. But yeah, I never know what to say in these letters. So, stay pretty family and friends.

Elder Dunn

Finally in the Field!

Hello,
So the field is a lot crazier than the MTC. AND a lot more scheduled, which is weird cause it was pretty structured in the MTC. I don't know if I will ever learn to like planning out every minute of the day. It's killing me. Hopefully I do eventually. My companion said he is going to plan out his whole day when he gets home as well. I will definitely not be using a planner post mission. Anyway... So Spain is tough. It is really hard to actually teach a native Spaniard. Mostly we teach immigrants from other countries. But I think it's better because their accents are a little bit easier to understand. Oh, and let me tell you about my situation. I have absolutely no idea what is going on half the time. I just spend the time figuring out when to laugh, when to act surprised, and when to just smile. Then when I need to say the brief part of the lesson that I say, my companion looks at me. That is our sign to go. It's kind of a joke but people speak so fast. Plus I only know how to talk about the gospel. I am not able to just talk to someone past one or two lines of just a normal conversation. It's good though because I am learning a lot of patience, which is something I lack.
But yeah mom, Spanish names are funny. I swear we are teaching like 3 different people named Antonio or Carlos. But it is easier to remember names that way. How long are you two on your mission? I hope I am able to go to your ward when I get back sometime. Anyway, so my companion entered the MTC at 225. He is now at 180. So, there is hope for me! And I have already tightened a belt loop since being out in the field. We walk a lot, and the city we are in is very hilly. So, we get a lot of exercise. We also go running in the morning, so by the end of the day, my legs are pretty much dead. As soon as my head hits the bed, I am out. But it's good, because my mattress is way lumpy so if I actually had to be comfortable to be able to fall asleep, I would never sleep. But really, we only eat two meals a day here. Cereal in the morning, then whatever we make during mediodia. When we get home for the night, I never like eating right before we go to bed, so usually we just drink a lot of water and eat two meals a day. Oh, and I drink 5 liters of water a day, and only have to go to the bathroom like 3 times a day. So, you can imagine how much I sweat here. Mom, I don´t know how you served a mission in Paraguay and are able to complain so much about it being hot in your air conditioned house. I am getting use to just sweating all the time. I barely notice it at all anymore.
This week for service we are painting part of the piso we live in. Oh yeah, I should tell you about my area. We are in Toledo, which use to be the capital of Spain. It's like a giant castle thing with a moat. It's way pretty. The first part of the town was built in the third century. The piso we live in was built in the 14th century, like 100 years before Columbus was even born. So, it's pretty awesome. The missionaries before us left it really messy though. So we have had to spend some time getting it cleaned up. It's pretty nice though. Anyway, we are going shopping. Tenga una buena semana!

Elder Dunn

Aug 27th

(To those who follow this blog I am slow to post this latest news from Scott but I am a teacher and school just started so I have been working really long hours. He chastises me in the note though so I guess posting it will be my punishment. I write at least every Sunday so he really did get a letter. Kris)

Mom, you are pretty terrible at writing me back by P day, even though you had 3 days to do it. Good news is that I am leaving tomorrow. The missionaries that left on Tuesday said everyone talks about my trainer as though he is the world's best missionary. So I am really excited to meet him. Unfortunately, 5 days of laying in bed not doing much has made me forget Spanish. So I am busy trying to remember everything I forgot. If you can write me back by 9 am, that would be cool. (I did write again as soon as I received this note.)

Elder Dunn

Surprise!

So guess what? I get to have a really unique experience. I am being transferred missions. It´s only for a little while, but still, it doesn't happen to everyone.

I have been reassigned to quarantine until my flu goes away. Sweet huh? Yeah, so all the Elders here leave tomorrow and the two that come here on Wednesday are from France. So, along with my quarantine, I won't be able talk to anyone! I have had a fever since Saturday morning, and the medic lady said that it shouldn't last longer than a week. So personally, I am hoping to leave Thursday, but if not, oh well.

The bad part is I miss orientation with the Elders I know, and I miss a P-day. And there really isn't a good part. I don't know why but I have never thought about being sick as a missionary before. But now that I am sick, I realize how horrible it is. You would have to cancel teaching appointments, you aren't able to tract, your companion would be super bored. So I guess I am grateful to get this out of the way before I get into the field.

But yeah, nothing has really happened since last Thursday. So this one will be short. I have no idea when I will be able to write again. Oh but hey, did I tell you that a kid received a package that cost $50 to send here? It was all just candy and food. So yeah, when am I going to get one of those?

Elder Dunn

This is his mom writing. At least his illness has not affected his appetite!

Almost Time to Hit the Field!

Dear Family and Friends
This week has been really good for my studies but nothing very eventful. Last week at the park we didn't get any references or have any really good experiences. But my companion and I tried to be more bold and talk to everyone, even those who initially waved us off. One guy we started walking up to waved us off. We saw that he had a Prado Pamphlet near him so we just started talking to him about that. After awhile, he brought up religious topics. He asked, "So what do you even believe in?" I just was like wow, why do you wave us off when you know nothing about us or how much we want to help you! But we talked to him for like 25 minutes, and I think he started becoming more open to the idea of a God. He is atheist so we only talked about God and praying but it was really good. I have been trying to ask better questions when teaching so I was able to ask a couple of good ones that really made him stop and think. I felt really good about it. We would have made a reference but he lived in like Toledo or something and said he would be traveling for awhile. Oh, and more good news, on Saturday we got another new missionary whose passport came late, so now I am in a twosome again, which is great.
My companion and I teach really well together. We taught the President on Tuesday, and we were able to really use the Book of Mormon effectively and ask great questions. For his advice, he asked, "So what else could you have done?" My companion and I didn't know what else we could have done so we didn't say anything. He said, "Maybe ask the investigator if you could fast for him, or give him a blessing, or just do something bold!" I figured since he didn't tell us anything about the basic teaching skills we did pretty well teaching.
After this my companion and I made a goal to use the Book of Mormon more effectively. We took 2 small copies of a Book of Mormon and went through with our Big Book of Mormon and just highlighted key words that will help us apply the book to investigators. Now we are in the process of making an alphabetical index of the key words and writing it in the front of the Book of Mormon. I am not going to lie to you all, it is pretty much the best missionary tool I have. It's pretty sick.
I am also halfway through Jesus the Christ and I love it. It's great because it helps me with my English vocabulary and teaches me more about Christ. Speaking of language, you know how in Spanish, poder is to be able to? But in English, we just use the word, can. Example, You can dance. Puede bailar. So now in English, I find myself saying you are able to in place of can. It actually sounds more proper though, so I am ok with it.
Anyway, love it here, but ready to be out in the field on Tuesday. Crazy yeah? You are telling me. I thought I was learning Spanish, then they introduced present and past subjunctive. What a stupid principle! Who does that? So yeah, back to being frustrated with the language because pretty much you have to conjugate verbs different now even though they mean the same thing. Really, English verbs are like cake. I walk, you walk, we walk, they walk, he walks, almost all the same conjugation except with the he she form. But still, way easier. Oh and my P-day in Madrid is Wednesday. I get there Tuesday, have meetings and junk till like 7, then proselyte till 10 or 10 30 then have p-day. Gotta love summer schedule in Madrid. During the summer they arise at 7 30 and go to bed at 11 30. Then usually it´s 11-7. Anyway, have a good one.

Elder Dunn

A Great Week

How goes it back in M-Town?

This week was really good. Learned lots. I will start with Saturday night. Usually we just practice teaching other missionaries with a given scenario, but apparently there was an EFY group here and our teacher knew the leader so we were able to teach a youth group. We taught Eduardo, a 15 year old. They were suppose to be investigators, so we started teaching him as an investigator. It wasn't really going anywhere because he didn't really know what to do and we couldn't understand him too well. So I followed a prompting and asked if I could share a scripture that has helped me in my life a lot. He said of course so I shared it and things calmed down and the spirit came and it turned into a really good lesson. He asked what scripture it was and said he really liked hearing it. I was like "cool, glad I listened to that prompting."

On another note, my district got to sing a special musical number in sacrament. My district has no musical talent whatsoever so it was way funny. I think I told you about how we sing every week on the temple plaza too. Anyway, the district that does the musical number in sacrament is invited to sing outside as well, but since we were horrible, we were just going to sing the first verse then everyone else was going to hop in. My district started laughing because two of them were a note ahead of the rest of us, anyway, I sang a duet with another Elder, for the first verse of I Know that My Redeemer Lives, in front of about 30 people because only 2 of us were able to keep it together. So yeah, it was pretty sweet. Oh, and there is a temple missionary here who also plays the organ for us when we are outside. She is from Kearns and taught Spanish there for like 30 years. In short, she reminds me of you, mom. She served her mission in Peru and talks a lot like you. But she lives like on 5600 south in Kearns. Weird. Another missionary couple is from Cottonwood Heights and he used to be principle at Brighton 3 years ago.

Ok, so next neat experience was teaching President Hill a lesson. In Provo, I had never been within 100 feet of the President of the MTC, but here I talk to him like 10 times a day and he is a spiritual giant. He has been mission president 3 times and has the coolest stories. He has like 50 stories where he meets someone, gives them a really sincere compliment, and says three weeks later they were baptized. So it's kind of the joke of the MTC now that whenever someone gives a compliment, we all say, "And 3 weeks later they were baptized." Anyway, we asked to teach him and when we got in there the spirit was just amazing. We wanted to focus on listening to our investigator, asking effective questions, and using the Book of Mormon better. So we did, and it was amazing. We didn't even teach any of the principles of the first lesson besides we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and he gave us a book to help us. We didn't even talk about Joseph Smith. After the lesson, he said that we did it exactly right. He said we taught him as a person, and not a lesson, asked great questions, and got him to think about how he needed this book. So I was really grateful for that experience and for what it taught me. I have been taught by some missionaries here that definitely just teach lessons and not people. And that isn't what I want to be. Elder Holland spoke to us in Provo and said to ask ourselves after every lesson, was the Holy Ghost the Sr. comp, Jr. comp, or not there at all. And I have learned as of recently what a huge difference it is when the Spirit can be the Sr. comp. Anyway, life is good. Like 11 days left? Yeah, I wish I knew how to speak Spanish... Anyway, love you all.

Elder Dunn

Real Good, Real Fast, Real Real

Dear People,
I will start off with last Saturday in the Park. We actually were quite successful. We placed three Libros de Mormon and actually had someone fill out a referral card. Everyone but one person we talked with allowed us to talk to them about religion and stuff. It was pretty sweet. I don´t know what people are talking about that Spain is hard. It's only hard because I know zero slang and when investigators only speak in slang, I get lost real quick.

I have a companion from Las Vegas, and he says real before every adjective. I guess it's a Vegas accent, but it's pretty catchy. "You do that real good, or real quick, or real slow." Sunday was great, pretty much everyone bears a one to two minute testimony here. And we sing every Sunday on the temple grounds for a half hour, then after mingle with people. I was talking with some of the sisters serving in Madrid and they have had like 7 baptisms in a year or something. Most missionaries have at least 5. So I am real excited to get out there. I will make sure to send you all a picture of my first one. Expect it within a month of me getting out.

The older kids left the MTC on Tuesday. I woke up at 5 am to take one of their comfy mattresses. There are only 4 in the whole MTC and they are quite coveted, so I was pretty happy I got one. But it was kind of crazy because I leave in 2 and a half weeks!

Time flies here in Spain. Today for lunch I bought an ice cold Mountain Dew at McDonald´s. So you all can be assured that I am living quite well. (Ha,ha)

On a spiritual note, our teaching has improved a lot. They challenged us to shut up and listen to the spirit, even if takes a minute of silence. Well, it really does work. We are getting a lot better at teaching with the spirit and when you have the spirit with you and you share a personal experience, it really touches people. Also we watched the Joseph Smith movie on Sunday, and pretty much everyone cried. Watching that movie in a room with missionaries is way crazy. You learn a lot more from it and really have a greater appreciation for what a great guy Joseph Smith really was. It is impossible to teach this gospel without a testimony of Joseph Smith and I am very grateful for my testimony of him.

Anyway, love you all. Stay beautiful.

Elder Dunn

Where does the time go?

Hey how's it going?
Wow time here goes fast. It is already P-day again. I am fairly confident that I am going to leave the CCM in another 3 and a half weeks wondering where the time went and why I still do not know how to say anything in Spanish. But I am fairly sure that I might learn it in the field.

Last week at the park was quite an experience. We each got partnered with one of the Elders that has been here longer than us but that doesn't mean they speak any better. I knew more Spanish than my companion and that worried me a lot because I have a hard time understanding what natives are saying. I understood about 30-40% then just went by the Spirit and it worked out. I think Elder Sproul sent a picture of me and my companion talking to one guy. We talked to him for about 45minutes. Unfortunately, he wouldn't let us go and he didn't really listen to us for the first 30minutes. Then we finally got through to him and left him a pass-along card. If you could have talked to this guy, you would have known that just leaving that card was a TON of work. After, we were feeling kind of burnt out from listening very intently and trying to talk whenever he allowed us and we were just walking around not really planning on talking to anyone else. Then some guy kind of walked by us and looked at our nametags and asked who were we. We told him we were missionaries from the church and here sharing our message with Spain and blah blah. He was all like, oh, I don't really like my current church, can I have some of your reading material and can you teach me? I was like, OK, really? Totally caught me off guard but yeah, bore testimony to him and left him with a pamphlet and some other information and we got a reference card from him. That lifted up my spirits quite a bit. However, this is the last week with the older district here, so after this Saturday I am pretty much going to be with people at my same level of Spanish. I am going to try and get better at listening this next week. I can teach the first and second lesson all in Spanish and only miss a few conjugations here and there. So I feel comfortable reading writing and speaking, just not listening.
Anyway, finished the New Testament as well this week. That was pretty awesome, there are some crazy scriptures in that book. You can tell there is a lot of truth taken from it. Anyway, my companions are awesome. They are as sarcastic as me, and even more so sometimes. So after a long day of studying, it's really nice to just be able to talk with them and joke and relax. We have a good time here in Spain. One is from Kaysville and the other Las Vegas and the Kaysville companion and I know some of the same kids. It's crazy how little the world is. So I just got back from Sol a little bit ago. I bought 5 ties for 19 euros. Yeah they are way cheap and way sick too. Supposedly there is a store where ties are only 2 euros. So next week we might try and hit that store up. Plus we get paid next Wednesday, so I will have more money again.
Ok, one last funny story. My Kaysville companion liked this girl, and she broke up with her old boyfriend when he left on his mission. That was three weeks before he left on his. So for 3 weeks they got really close but nothing ever happened. Like 2 weeks into the MTC, he got a letter from her telling him that she wanted to marry him and is going to wait for him. She also proceeded to name all 7 of their future children and where they are going to live and go on their honeymoon and stuff. Isn't that funny? Yeah, just wait. So after he left, she got another boyfriend, so she wrote this letter while she had a boyfriend who she is currently kissing apparently because in the letter it said something like, whenever I kiss him I always pretend it is you! Yeah... I make fun of him constantly and tell him one day she is going to tell him it is a big joke. It hasn't happened yet, but I still think the whole situation is just pathetic. Anyway, love you all.

Elder Dunn

Reality Check

Family and Friends,
I just got out of the temple and the session was in English, but all the workers pretty much spoke Spanish, so trying to communicate through the veil was quite the experience. But it was kind of cool. I had a dream last night, and I was talking in Spanish in it. Nobody else was, but I was. So that was kind of neat. I remember thinking in Provo that I would never be ready to teach a lesson in Spanish before the 9 weeks were up. Well, that thought was confirmed when the first real day here we taught the first lesson in Spanish! It was pretty crazy. But a week later, I am able to teach the first lesson mostly all in Spanish. It is way awesome. I wish my district in Provo was being pushed like I am here. Being here definitely is better than Provo. So, funny thing. In Provo, we have a task every week to help us teach better and talk in Spanish more and what not. So week 2 in Provo the simulation was we were in a park making contacts. All of us spoke about the same amount of Spanish so it was really easy to feel good about the task. Last Saturday we actually went to a park and contacted people. I learned from that experience that I don´t know a single word of Spanish. The first person we tried to talk to was an atheist and eventually his phone rang and he walked away, then we had a couple wave offs and the notorious finger wave. But we talked to one couple from Peru and they just asked us how our church was different from the Catholic church. We talked about a prophet and stuff. The wife seemed sort of interested but the husband didn't. Another couple we talked to we actually left a pamphlet with them. So we felt good about that. Then we sang like 6 or 7 hymns in the park and left. It was neat, but I felt pretty dumb since I understood 5% or less of what was said. I just testified and asked their names all day. The day still left me discouraged. However, the director over all the MTCs visited us Sunday-Thursday(today) and talked to us on Sunday. It really helped because I learned that I didn't need to know Spanish to feel the spirit, and this mission isn't about learning Spanish but about helping people feel the spirit so it can teach them. He is a really good speaker. Brother Allen was his name. That is about my week. Right now I am on a high note and we are going to Sol, which is downtown. Going to try and see the Royal Palace and a couple other monuments today and get a lot of pictures. I am pretty stoked.
And wow, Leah I am so sorry about your flight plans. I think I had it bad. Thanks for putting that in perspective for me. At least you can watch movies on the plane though. Hopefully you sit next to an attractive native! Anyone write me and keep me updated.

Elder Dunn

P.S. From the mom - All of Scott's mailing addresses are posted on day 1 of this blog. His e-mail is scottydunn@myldsmail.net

Arrival in Spain!

Scott was able to call me from the airport on Tuesday. We had a great conversation. He said he has loved the MTC where the spirit is so strong. He is still very much Scott with his sense of humor well intact. I think you will see some of that in his first e-mail from Spain.

Hey everyone,

I am now in Spain. I went to bed at 11 on the 12th, got up at 4 on the 13th, and it´s now the 15th of July at 4:30 and I am still running on five hours of sleep. We don´t get to go to bed till 7 tonight so we are all dead. They have us stand up in class when we start getting tired. It´s pretty funny.

Madrid is awesome. They have ping pong tables just in local parks. I am so excited to play. The MTC is great here, the showers are bigger, bathrooms cleaner, rooms bigger, better and more comfy, but the building is a lot smaller. In the MTC there are 27 total missionaries. And 2 of them leave this week.

Ok, so my plane ride to Atlanta was delayed for 3 and a half hours. But they gave us a meal voucher and we got free Californian Pizza, which was quite tasty. Then I sat by the window, so I got to see all of the USA. It´s pretty boring, and weird. It looks like a messed up puzzle with a bunch of perfectly round circles throughout it. Oh, in SLC we met the guy who is the coach of the Highland Rugby Team, the team they made that movie Forever Strong about. He talked to us for about 30minutes. He is a really cool guy. We also handed out a passalong card and committed someone to read from the Book of Mormon. Then we flew to Atlanta, and we met some lady in the airport. She was a professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut and she talked to us for almost 45minutes and gave us her business card to email her. She is really interested in the church on a factual basis, but she was the nicest little old lady ever. The plane ride to Madrid was long. 8 hours, plus the 4 hours from SLC to Atlanta. 12 hours on a plane. Killer. But the airline food was pretty good, and one of the flight stewards was really cool. He was cracking jokes the whole time and he hooked us up with drinks whenever we wanted them. Good news is, I got to listen to music. It was quite divine. On the way to Madrid we sat by this girl from Madrid who went to Idaho as a foriegn exchange student. She helped us with our Spanish and filling out the paperwork that we needed. And I am confident she is attractive to non-missionaries. She is also commited to read the Book of Mormon.

So two things about Madrid, everyone smokes and it´s weird to see things not have graffiti on them. It is seriously everywhere. My teacher here is a native and speaks 90% Spanish too us. I actually understand most of it when she slows down, but I think it is going to really help me. My new companion went to East High, so we are pretty familiar with each other. He was on the tennis team, so we are wondering if we ever played each other. New preparation day is Thursday, so I will email you next Thursday. Write me or email me!

Love,
Elder Dunn

Elder Ronald Scott Dunn
Centro de Capacitación Misional
c/ del Temple, 2, 4 planta
28030 Madrid
España

Oops I forgot one thing...

Scott's email for those who want to write is ...scottydunn@myldsmail.net

Leaving for Spain tomorrow!

Scott called last week to give me his flight plans and tell me he would be calling tomorrow. He only got to talk for five minutes so we didn't say much. Here is the letter received today.

Family and Friends!

Tomorrow I leave for Spain. I'm pretty excited. I talked to a teacher who served in Spain, and he gave me a few pointers and cleared up a few myths. I only have to use the awesome lisp on words with ci, ce, and z. So I don't think it will even be bad. I actually kind of like how it sounds. It also helps spelling supposedly, because in Spanish the s, c, and z all made the same sound. But with my super awesome lisp, I can more easily recognize how to spell words! He said he baptized 20-something people, and his brother who also served there baptized 18 people. So I am keeping my hopes high that I can work hard and baptize. He also said the food there is really good, kind of weird, but overall really good. So I am kind of nervous about putting on an additional 15 pounds. On a positive note, I have started stretching every night. For those of you who ever saw me try and touch my toes, you know how not flexible I am. But now, I can touch my toes! It's pretty awesome.

Our zone, along with a few others, has the privilege of testing the new chat feature of mormon.org. In the past, the church has spent a lot of money advertising on TV, and pass-along cards, and whatnot. But apparently they are going to shift their focus to advertising their website. So on mormon.org, there is a link to chat to a representative right now! And when someone clicks that, it comes to our computers and we get to talk to them. Occasionally we get a 14 year old looking for a laugh, but I have had several great experiences. One guy was a member of the military and said he times in his life where he felt alone, forgotten, and couldn't get certain images out of his head. I got to talk to him about prayer and the Atonement and I sent him a free Book or Mormon. He was really receptive and it was great. Having people come to you is much easier than going out and looking for people. I also got to send old ladies in the south bibles. They love calling in for a free bible. But they are way nice, and they also accept having the missionaries bring the bible and having them share a brief spiritual thought with them, It's great. Another guy I spent like 20 minutes talking to about whether we should worship on Saturday or Sunday. I had no idea there was so much debate in the world about which day is the real Sabbath, but after 20 minutes I just told him to pray and ask about it and told him about prayer. Ha, ha. It was kind of frustrating and pointless but still an experience. On Saturday, we have this event called the TRC/Game day. It's where we have a task in Spanish, like getting to know someone, or helping them move in, only talking in Spanish, and then we teach them a lesson. Every week it's something new, but the people are member volunteers who are really good at being investigators. My companion and I had a unique experience though, because when we were teaching about the Book of Mormon, we shared Ether 12:27 about weak things becoming strong, and she broke down and really opened up to us as a real person. We then shared how the Book of Mormon had helped us in our lives. She had been having a problem recently and said we shared exactly the scripture and stories that she needed to hear. It was pretty awesome because that usually doesn't happen.

Anyway, good week last week. I have no idea when I will be emailing next week, but wish me luck in Spain! Love you all.

Elder Dunn

July 7, 2009

Here is Scott's latest email. He is asking that you write to him through dearelder.com so that he can read your letter before his computer time starts. I only think that will work through this Friday though as he leaves on Tuesday for Spain.

Dear family and friends,
So I am pretty much adjusted. Believe it or not, I can fall asleep by 10 45 every night if I want. I never thought I would see the day! We plan our day in 15minute intervals and it is actually really nice. I stay nice and busy. So I finished the book of Mormon yesterday. Twelve days and 531 pages later, I feel great. You learn a lot by reading it quickly and when teaching I can pretty much turn to any story by memory depending on the question of the investigator. It is really nice. Besides that, I am really working on learning how to just talk to people in Spanish and how to make my prayers more meaningful. I still don't understand everything I say in my prayers since I have only memorized phrases.
My district is awesome. Everyone gets along and we all have a role we play. I couldn't have asked for a better district. I don't really want to leave next week, but I am. 5 AM on Tuesday morning, so if you don't get your letter in the mail to me by Friday, send it to my Spain address.
I got to walk with Richard to the temple on Sunday. It was really nice to be able to talk to someone from home for a bit. He told me his first companion went home as well. But it just made me realize how lucky we are to be here and how hard this really is. It really is humbling to be here. I thought I knew how to teach, but everyone teaching appointment I learn so much. And learning a new language in 9 weeks is another challenge by itself. But It's fun. I love it here.
We got to watch the fireworks on the 4th at the Stadium of Fire. That was nice because we also got to stay out till like 11! Quite the little party we had. But it also made me miss my friends and being home a lot because sitting in class for 12 hours on a national holiday is not good. Well write me! Love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Dunn

We have received our first e-mail from Scott at the MTC. Here it is. Thank you to all the friends who have written to him. He is very social and I know he appreciates it. He sounds happy and busy. His e-mail address is scottydunn@myldsmail.net
I think that will stay the same all mission but I am not sure.

Scott's letter:

Dear family and friends,
How goes it? Thanks to those who sent me packages and letters. I was grateful for the love, and the sugary goodness. Well missions are hard. Whoever said otherwise has no idea what they were talking about.
So Elder Case was my first companion, and he was a really cool guy. I got along with him amazingly and we taught really well together. Unfortunately, he went home Saturday after dinner. He told me he needed to clear up some stuff before he could really serve the Lord. That was pretty tough to go through. I really liked that Elder and I know he will make a great missionary in a few months. My current companion is a great guy too, but we have nothing in common other than we both love the gospel. He is from a farming town in Missouri and went to BYU Idaho and has never done anything stupid or rebellious in his life. So, mostly we stay with the district because conversation does not come easy between us. We are getting better though, this is only the 2nd day of being companions.
There were originally 12 in our district, one didn't show up, and then Elder Case went home. So now we are down to 10, and I leave in 2 weeks.
I eat every four hours, which means I also use the bathroom every 4 hours. If someone can research what this food is made of and send that information to me, I would be extremely grateful. It tastes ok but wow do you need to use the washroom. We have a kid from Canada in our district, and he calls it a washroom because having it be called a bathroom makes no sense. You only bathe like a fifth of the time you are in there but you usually wash something everytime you are there. I think it makes sense, so washroom it is.
Elder Holland spoke to us on Friday night. Because the future mission presidents were having their seminar here at the same time we were here, we got to have an apostle talk to us at the fireside. He was pretty much amazing. He told us we were angels to the people we will teach, and I thought that was pretty powerful. It was the first time I actually felt the spirit here. I also had Elder Holland and Elder Perry walk 5 feet in front of me, and I said hi. Couldn't shake their hands because of swine flu, but it was still need. On Sunday morning, all of the First Presidency was here and 11/12 were here. We didn't get much interaction with them but it's still neat to have them here.
The language is coming. I can now do a door approach and have a 3 minute conversation with someone. I can also pray and bear a simple testimony. Working on verbs in my personal study a lot though.
Sundays are really amazing here. We had an awesome fireside that gave me the encouragement I needed. An elder told a story of how his girlfriend, who was waiting for him, Dear Johned him 5 weeks into the MTC in the form of a wedding annoucement. Oh that was hilarious.
Reading the scriptures quickly is really powerful as well. I have been able to read like 10 chapters a day and actually read them during the day, when I'm not dead tired. So I learn more, and retain more, and love it. My teachers are really cool too. They are brother and sister, and they both served in Argentina, but different missions. I have seen all my high school friends that are here and my college friends. And I met like 5 Elders who went to Utah State and lived right by me but I did not know them. It's crazy the connections Mormon people have.
P day is Tuesday, except I leave 2 weeks from today. So I don't know if I will be able to write. So write me letters while you can! Then I will update you my address when I get to Spain. Great! Love you guys.

Sincerely,
Elder Scott Dunn

Departure Day & Addresses

After a very late night, attending the new the new Transformer movie with friends, Scott had to get up at 7:15 to be ready at 8:00 a.m. to be set apart. President Jeff Degan set him apart with a beautiful blessing. We then had his waffles with strawberries breakfast. After he crashed on the sofa for a short 20 minute nap. We loaded up and left about 10:30. We did the "drive by drop off" and it went smoothly. They have many missionaries curbside to handle luggage and I even had a minute to give him one last hug.
Scott wanted me to post his MTC address for the next three weeks.

Ronald Scott Dunn
MTC Mailbox # 294-0714
Spain Madrid Mission
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

After 3 weeks he will be in the MTC in Spain for six weeks.

Elder Ronald Scott Dunn
Spain MTC
4a. Planta
Calle del Templo #2
Madrid
28030 Alicante
Spain

Then he has two different addresses, one for letters and one for packages.

LETTERS

Elder Ronald Scott Dunn
Spain Madrid Mission
Avenida de España 17, Local 01-1
Alcobendas (Madrid)
28100
Spain


PACKAGES (for the entire mission time are sent to)

Elder Ronald Scott Dunn
Spain Madrid Mission
Avenida de España 17, Local 01-1
Alcobendas
28100 Madrid
Spain

And so it begins...

Scott Leaves on June 24

Scott asked me, the mom, to start a blog in order to post his mission updates for friends. I will do my best to stay up to date for those who follow. We do the "drive-by drop-off" Wednesday morning at 11:30. He will be set apart as a missionary at 8:00 a.m. that morning. He has requested waffles and strawberries for his last breakfast. More to come...