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