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
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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
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
Monday, July 13, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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
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
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