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