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."