Monday, December 6, 2010

Elder Humphreys ramblings at 100 days...

Ugh. I don´t know how to start a letter...

Welcome to this weeks version of Elder Humphreys ramblings (40 minutes)...

It was a pretty good week. It was challenging, not going to lie. Threesomes are harder than you´d think. It´d be chill except for the fact that its harder to motivate your companions and work hard when you´re outnumbered. But oh well.

Monday it was just me and Elder Lee. Elder Sorensen went off on a division with some of his buddies. That was kinda wierd. We didn´t go play soccer with the zone either cuz elder Lee was still feeling a little sick. Oh well. I´m sure I´ll get to play some time or another. So we took it easy which was chill. Went to the restaurant we usually eat at mondays (the vienessa) and got the Canadian sandwich again. lol. We also checked out an authentic Paraguayan T-shirt place. It had guarani on it and everything. But when we took Elder Sorensen there later he said they were all painfully rude. haha. Oops. Also, that night we got abducted by a member from another area in the mission. He told us that he wanted us to come to his wedding at the chaple on friday to meet all his work buddies. More on that later I guess.

Tuesday Elder Sorensen came back. We went out together and Elder Lee went out with a member for part of the day. We checked out a part of the area I´ve never been to. Kinda fun. It was downtown and even more rich. It was cool.

Wednesday we wasted a lot of time. It was depressing. Like I said, its hard to convince two people to work when you´re outnumbered. But we got some cool pictures and saw some soccer stadiums I wanted to see. It was cool. They´ve been having their championships and though I haven´t followed it close I think one of the teams in this area one. So I´m a fan of them, and I can brag because I picked the winning team. lol. We talked to Marcelo about his baptism. Apparently the main reason he wanted to get baptized was to get a Godfather.... so we taught him why baptism is important. We also tried to set it up so that Daniel could baptize him (they live like right accross from each other), but his mom didn´t want him to do it. Its wierd. People think missionaries and bishops and stuff are like extra powerful and don´t really seem to believe that people can change. So yah. She thought Daniel and his family weren´t good enough or something. So Elder Lee´s going to baptize him instead. Elder Lee felt bad cuz he thought I should do it, but I told him not to worry about it. There will be lots of baptisms in my future. Went and had nachos at Hna Kimbals house. She´s a missionary helper (probably 70ish), and temple worker. I´m super spoiled here. I´m ruined for my next area. Got my fancy scripture cases. They turned out way good. I took pictures but I forgot my cord, so I´ll show you guys next week. Oh, I also tried jumping on the stage but forgot I was wearing dress shoes and caught my toes on the edge. Ground my shins on the edge of the stage. They´re still swollen a bit and bruised. haha.

Thursday was my 100th day on the mission! I feel so old and experienced. haha. Only 630 days left from that point. haha. Not that it matters, its just fun to have numbers that feel like I´m accomplished or something. Oh yah. This was also the hottest day I´ve ever lived. Both Elder Lee and Sorensen said it was in their top 10 hottest days on the mission. It was ridiculous. You just are sweating all day. Constantly whiping off your face. Your clothes are totally soaked. It was disgusting. haha. We also travelled through a graveyard that day. Apparently rich people in this country build little house things and bury all their relatives in it above ground. Wierd.

Had our poorest lunch visit Friday. Apparently that will be my best lunch in basically any area I could go to. I´m in trouble. We had watched the Restoration movie with Marcelo on Thursday and when Elder Sorensen talked to him about it he told him that he didn´t know why but he said the whole time it just made him want to cry. In a good way. Super cool. We went to the wedding. They are both members but while they wait for their temple divorce to go through they got civily married. So we greeted all their co-workers and such, gave them Family Proclimation handouts and showed them around the temple. It was a great way to meet the church. So good on the Garcia family. The wedding was like a regular old non-temple wedding though... seemed kinda like a big show for nothing to me. lol. And it was wierd too because it was kinda like an awkward dance situation again (brought me back to highschool), where you were supposed to meet people and introduce the church but you just felt awkward walking over and talking to random girls you don´t know and stuff. hahaha. We met a guy there that spoke English tho - and its funny. Elder Lee kinda has a accent that I don´t notice until he talks to people that don´t speak English super well. Anyways, those people always like to talk to me because they say I speak very clear and am easy to undersand. Take that all you people that tell me I mumble! haha

Went for our last lunch at the Zafras. Sad but fun. They took a picture of me too so you might see me on Facebook. You´ll have to check. Met a dog like Toby as well on Saturday. He was fun to play with cuz he was actually clean. Had a cool experience too where we needed to find one new investigator to meet our goals and so after praying and working hard we found one last person on our last contact of the night. Sick.

Sunday. Daniel still goes to church. Awesome. Marcelo and Osmar both came too. Bore my testimony and it went well. Went to the Garcias for a dinner visit (this is the only area where you´ll find that), and they are super cool. Gave us our first opportunity for service this week comming up, and talked about just random stuff. They´re funny cuz they know some English, but they learned a lot of it just from movies and stuff. So he´s always saying words like ¨sucks¨ ¨stupid¨and ¨shut up¨, not meaning to be rude, but sounding like a real jerk. haha. Oh, and wierd story... while we were there their daughter was acting kinda wierd. First she was just nice. But next thing you know she was getting all wierd and like tickling me, climbing on my chair and trying to give me hugs. I kept looking to my comps for help but they weren´t doing anything. Ahh! Awkward!! haha.

She was 4...... hahaha. No worries.

Oh. Also we saw this funny movie while waiting for lunch. Its called ¨The Errand of Angels¨. It was about sister missionaries in Europe. It was terribly made but its fine for missionaries. It was funny cuz some stuff was super real like missionaries, and some stuff was so opposite of here. I don´t reccomend it.

Today we get one of my last good meals. Going to another mall to print some pictures. Just keeping it real. Get to talk to our rich investigator too. Should be fun.

This week... should know wednesday where I´m going. Meet my new comp Thursday. It´ll be sad to go, but yah. I´m sure the next place will be great too.

Mom. Glad your doing well. If you were an investigator I´d be ticked you´ve missed so much church... but I guess this is a legit excuse. lol. Most people here drink the water straight, but I try and keep it to a minimum. But its innevitable that you drink it now and again. Grocery stores aren´t AS nice as at home, but they´re pretty normal. When we go on divisions we have to travel with our comp. Its lame if you´re the one who has to travel all over for nothing. Sometimes its hard to see how people live, but at the same time they´re comfy and used to it, so its not as bad as it could be. We´ll see how my next area is. Daniel is the man. Marcelo is getting baptized tomorrow :)  I personally find understanding people easier than speaking. But thats cuz I spend a lot more time with my ears open than my mouth. But I´m getting to the point where I can speak more so thats cool. Most people speak Spanish. Its more of a fad here in the city. We use certain words like whats up, rich, chill, bye, and such in guarani but its mostly Spanish. Elder Sorensen is almost fluent in Guarani though (not many people are), so thats cool. Its stupid hot, but its okay when you sleep cuz we have fans and AC. No rats either.

Can´t believe the flames stink. Hopefully better when I get back. Too bad bout the stamps. Oh well. SICK that the girls made the teams tho. Thats super cool. Keep readin those Harry Potters. Thats cool. I have the Extraordinary missionary thing on my computer if you want to look. In music form. We do changes every 6 weeks, but the president says he doesnt want to change people for about 6 months at a time. But its a wierd situation right now. My christmas package might be late, but I haven´t heard of them not comming so I wouldn´t worry. Didn´t get to see the christmas devotional unfortunately

Anyways. Times up. Have a good week! Hope all is well. Wish me luck on the upcoming week!

Later!

Elder Humphreys

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