The "L" on My Forehead in NOT for Loser!

Anyway, to start with my happy thoughts, I will start with Friday. We were just walking and this lady got off the bus who knew my companion. Turns out she is from England and is about the sweetest old lady I have ever met. She said when she was 20 she came for vacations and when she got here, she thought Spain was the greatest place ever so she stayed. Didn't even go back from vacations. Then she got married to the first Spaniard who asked and now she teaches English as a volunteer. She has a vocabulary in English that is even bigger than Leah's. My companion asked me what she was saying and I said I have no idea. Ha ha. She then told me that after 45 years of marriage she and her husband can't stand each other so they alternate schedules of when they are home so they don't have to see each other. The way she told the story and with her accent and vocabulary was just hilarious.

Saturday we taught this guy that has been taught by missionaries for like 6 months. He always comes to church and is reading the Book of Mormon so we can't really drop him but the problem is... apparently after every couple lessons he says "Yeah, I am going to finish the Book of Mormon, get baptized, then move back to Ecuador and start up my own church." I don't really know him, only taught him once, but he is quite special. He says after he finishes the Book of Mormon he is definitely going to be baptized in our church. But then he wants to start his own. Yup. Love the mission!

Then on Sunday, when we were walking home at night, we saw 3 members come out of a chino, a little store that sells like candy drinks and chips. They were pretty embarrassed that they had been caught. It was pretty hilarious cause they felt bad but then we ate some of their chips so I guess we all just sinned or something. Church in Spain might be a little less true ha, ha.

Monday I taught a super Evangelical Nigerian. In his prayers, he starts yelling and cursing those who do evil. Then when I prayed, he said amen and hallelujah throughout the prayer. I taught him in English, and it was pretty hard. I, like Elder Jolley, can no longer say thine, thy, thou, thinest, thoust, or whatever other stupid words we have. I hope I don't have to pray in public when I get home because I honestly will sound like a 6 year old.

Today we went to a little pueblo and were walking down a long street in the shade when I turned the corner where it was really bright. I was thinking, "Wow, it's really bright and I can't really see." During this thought process I walked into a sign. And I mean WALKED into a sign. So I am rocking a pretty sweet cut on my forehead in the shape of an "L" with a giant bruise. Our group laughed for about 10 minutes after that. And 2 people saw it. Pretty rich, especially because we have interviews and general conference this weekend. We also put 6 Elders in a 4 man elevator this morning and when it reached the bottom it went about a foot farther than it should have. At first we were stuck for about 5 minutes, but then we figured out how to open it. Ha! Really missions are a lot of fun. Anyway, stay pretty.

A New City at Last!

Actually I feel terrible. I had 4 pictures I planned to send you, but I forgot to bring my camera.

I ended my area with a baptism. Walter went under, then came back out, it was pretty legit. He asked me to baptize him, so I also got wet. It's pretty fabulous actually, because the water in the baptismal font, also known as the blue whale, it super warm. Like a nice little bath. I took a picture of the baptismal font because you really just have to see it to believe it. So that was Sunday.

Saturday we played soccer in a little pueblo again with a bunch of less actives and some non-members. A group of about 7 kids between 6-12 were also there. They live in the pueblo and they demanded to play. Spaniards don't have the rep of being pushed around, even if they are only 9, but they really demanded it. So their team came on and it's way funny, because they all just rampantly yell the F word every time something goes slightly wrong. Some of the other things they also say are just so ugly. Gotta love Spaniards! Ha. Anyway, one of their players ended up getting hurt, so I decided to Sub on their team and played goalie for them. We won which was pretty hilarious. Little piece of humble pie. Friday we pretty much cleaned all day because it was Father's Day. Did you know? We didn't either till we went to the bus station and found out that the buses weren't going because it was a holiday. Ha, ha. They celebrate Father's Day the day of the birthday of the Cardinal here. Little different.

I don't have my planner from last week because it's a different transfer and now I am in Romania. No, not really, but might as well be. It's a little place, sort of in the city but not, that is half Romanians and Bulgarians and the other half a mixture of everything. So I am now learning Romanian and Bulgarian a little. The recent convert here was Bulgarian and he speaks ok Spanish. What we have to do is bring fliers and Books of Mormon in their language and then we just do a lot of reading I guess. The recent convert has a son who hasn't learned any Spanish yet but is reading the BoM in Bulgarian and wants to be baptized. So the father translates into Bulgarian. Quite the situation.

The biggest difference from Toledo to Arganda del Rey, where I am now, definitely has to be the regresos. A regreso is when we get the information of a contact so we can go by another day. Well, in Toledo, an amazing week was 10. Well the record, we have in two days, is 16 here. Pretty legit. So my companion, who I got to know too well, is now my Zone Leader. Ha, ha. And we are in the same district. So yesterday in district meeting, we ended up laughing like 5 times from inside jokes and nobody knew why. It was hilarious. My district leader is like my 2nd best friend in the mission, so really I am loving it here.

If Kacey reads, Elder Karren is now my district leader, and yes he knows you Kacey. Ha. But yeah, also we have hermanas now, which is weird. Anyway... the new news, native companion! He lived in the Canaries before coming on the mission, but grew up in Argentina. So I might end up speaking a little like those Argentines. He always wants to talk and is just this big happy Argentine. He is pretty great. So yeah, I am definitely going to up the Spanish during the next little while. Also I am the Senior Companion, not as bad (as much responsibility) as Richard, but still, I am too young! Anyway, I think you have enough information and I am hungry. Wait... more information, we have bikes. It is the only area in the mission with bikes. I will have to take a picture of the ridiculous outfit we have to wear to bike. Ha. Oh man...the mission! Stay pretty.

E Dunn

Photo Op.

Alright, well we can now add pictures. I will only send one today so that you can all appreciate it a lot. (This were Scott's baptisms that happened on his birthday. He thought it was the best gift.)

So to start with the happy thoughts, when we were in Madrid, my companion was almost pick-pocketed. I turned around just in time to see the guy pull his hands out of his backpack. We we on a down escalator and the guy was behind him. It was pretty exciting. My companion only had a triple, a bible, and his camera in his backpack. I thought it would have been funny if he would have just had scriptures. Then we could have said, "No, you don't have to steal, in fact we would like to come by and give you one of these, and maybe some other things too." But luckily the guy didn't have time to grab the camera. Quite exciting. The night before zone conference we were staying with other Elders in Madrid and 4 guys in a room late at night always equals trouble. We stayed up till 3 talking and then got up at 6:45 to go to zone conference. It actually wasn't that hard to stay awake for the 7 hour conference, but the temple trip after hurt a little bit. Ha, ha.

On Thursday, we were in a little town and the two appointments we had fell through. We had 3 hours till the bus came so we went to the super market and saw really cheap energy drinks and decided to each buy 2. We then had a chugging contest and I "pwned" him. It was way funny though.

Friday, we started cleaning our piso, and we started with the shower. We decided to start with the drain since it was hardly draining and yeah, it was pretty disgusting. But now our shower is super clean! Saturday was good, I learned how to do a Rubix Cube. And now, the student is faster than then teacher! Ha, ha.

Walter, the guy who is going to be baptized this Sunday, was like super awesome. People from Peru are just way humble. He loves learning about commandments. It's good, just weird. Sunday we went to some members house to eat with them and hang out. In this town there are about 10 South Americans, and the rest are true Spaniards. Needless to say, when we tried to contact, we got nothing more than door slams and no even bothers. Pretty legit missionary work. On Monday, I was walking down the stairs of our piso, there are members that live right below us and we are way good friends, so I jumped down the last stair and yelled "RAWR" kind of as a joke. Anyway, it wasn't one of the members, but a 10 year old kid who takes piano lessons. I was like, "Oh, you aren't Josue. Huh? I thought you were Josue." I tried to make it not awkward but nonetheless, that kid will always think we are freaks. So yeah, the work continues!

But yeah, baptism this Sunday. Then on Monday we go to Madrid to be transferred! Pretty legit. I about laughed my head off when I heard Richard is branch president and district leader. Great thing about the number of missionaries going down here is that our mission in general is a lot older so president wants to give all the leadership positions to old missionaries. Silly Resistencia missionaries. Anyway, going to go do the whole Toledo Tourist walk and take a bunch of pictures. Love the new camera, and the glasses. Thanks mom. Stay pretty.

E Dunn

It's Legit???

Helloooooo,

Well I am glad to hear "my" bathroom is almost finished! (We are remodeling our master bathroom.) Well, not really, but I am glad that you like it. I will receive my package tomorrow before zone conference so I will be able to actually see the speaker this time. I am pretty stoked. Thanks for that.

News from Toledo... we are still closing the 22nd. The 21st we are baptizing the most humble man I have ever met. His name is Walter, and he is from Peru. He is so legit. And it only took two and a half months of teaching him. Maybe eventually I will have one of those miracle stories like in south America where they find someone, teach them, and 3 weeks later they are baptized. He had the hardest time quitting work Sundays because he has to support his family in Peru, but with tithing, he was like, yeah, I read about it in the bible and I want to pay it. We thought he was going to have the hardest time with it so my companion and I both spent about 2 hours studying up on it. But he accepted it without problems.

Other than that today was spent playing soccer and eating Peruvian food. So spicy but soooo good. I also learned that natives all play soccer way too well. There is no hope for me.

Happy thoughts for this week... Friday we spent 6 hours walking, in the rain, contacting - that was a pretty legit missionary day. Thursday, we found out this super inactive woman with 4 kids has cancer, so we gave her a sick blessing. She has her operation this Friday so we are praying for the best. Saturday, I hung out with the most sarcastic Chilean ever. I think he is my new best friend. Made me feel like I was with my friends ha,ha. Also learned that Chileans talk faster than any other country but a lot clearer than some. (Dad, you didn't have it that hard.) Sunday, we had 6 investigators in the capilla. They would all start coming as we started leaving. Actually, I learned a valuable lesson. We have really stressed coming to the capilla with investigators lately, and really... it works. They come, and then they like it, so they want to learn more. Better way to use our resources. Last night after quite a long discussion with the husband of the woman who was baptized, we figured out his doubt. He also said one day he will be baptized, just not now. He also doesn't believe in one church, just in Jesus. However, he thinks we teach the best about Jesus or something like that.

So the President of the area of Europe will be here tomorrow. I am pretty excited. We should learn a little more about some of the changes that are going to pass. We are really getting the best deal in our mission. Losing some of the harder areas, then gaining some way legit ones.

Speaking of the word legit, is there any new slang out that I should be aware of? I never realized how much I use slang until I try to talk to native Spanish speakers in easy English so they can practice. I spend more time explaining slang than talking. Ha. Anyway, I should know more about this mission next Wednesday. And next P day we are going to do the whole Toledo Tourist thing and just take like 100 photos. Should be sweet. Well, that is my life. IF you have any questions, don't doubt in asking.

Stay pretty,

E. Dunn

Well alright,

So something we do as missionaries in this mission is Happy Thoughts. Every night we write in our planners a happy thought. I was rereading some of my old ones and then realized these are great and should just include them in my emails. So on Saturday, we were getting shut down hardcore. Someone said, "Don't even bother." Then next couple said the Spanish equivalent of "You wish." Then someone just gave us the Spanish finger of now. The finger you only give to dogs and little children in the states but here it is used to signify no. Yeah, after that it took about ten minutes to get up courage again ha, ha. Sunday we had 4 plans fall through. So we walked, and walked, and walked, like pioneer children. Didn't sing though. So from 4:30 till 9:30 we were walking and just contacting. Then asking each other hypothetical questions such as "Would you rather be able to teleport, but only once every 10 minutes or go invisible. We both decided going invisible is way too creepy a super power so teleportation is far superior. Ha! Love Toledo!

Monday one of our favorite investigators, more or less, who doesn't believe in any church or book really, except love your neighbor, told us we should give a Book of Mormon to two of his friends. Then we went on to talk about it for 15 minutes and we just listened. Ha, ha. It's funny cause he says, "Do you realize?" about every 30 seconds without fail. Tuesday, I spent 3 and a half hours on the bus. Four different trips. I try and read while on the bus but I always get car sick. I heard a bunch of American Music, so I can't really complain.

On the spiritual side, this one investigator is here while is family is still in Peru. He has to support himself and his family. Anyway, he didn't want to give up working on Sundays because he needs the money, but after about 2 of the most powerful lessons I've had, we finally realized he needs to. It's great because he works about 60 hours Monday to Saturday, but couldn't give up the 4 hours on Sunday. I am really excited to tell him that God asks a 10% of our increase, a fast offering every month, his children to go on missions which costs a fair bunch, and that if he is called, he also has to serve a mission and pay for it himself.

Oh, that reminds me of one of my new favorite contacting methods. Passing out Word of Wisdom pamphlets to people that are smoking. Ha. It always gives me a kick and really can change lives.

Anyway, other than that, thanks for the package. I will receive it this Tuesday. The area president will be at our zone conference so I am pretty excited for that.

Stay pretty M town.

(This next is what Scott sent to his dad.)

Yo,

So two requests. 1) That you send me a bracket when March madness comes around, and if you can find a way to send the Jazz schedule, that would be superb.

And yeah, we usually have between 30 minutes and an hour to study Spanish. But since we take the bus a lot, we have a little more time. Really irregular verbs are hard to say, but sometimes are difficult to spell.

Do you guys read the Book of Mormon in Spanish? They use vosotros and subjunctive a ton. It is pretty helpful being here in Spain. And I was thinking you should start saving now so that you can come here anyway. Spain is pretty awesome and you guys need to come before you get any older. It's funny because the north mission is getting sucked into the mission of Barcelona and ours. We get a lot of new areas. But the southern part of this mission, including Toledo, is going to the southern mission. So really, I could be transferred into a whole different mission, or go to area originally not in my mission, or just stay the rest of the mission in Madrid. I will be interested to see where I end up.

And another request, hook me up with some Chilean Dichos. I want to use them with a member who served there. Thanks!