Happy Valentines Day Everyone

Hope valentines days going well. Its pretty tranquilo here. Nothing too crazy going on as far as that goes. If it weren´t for a few extra cute couples having romantic dinners at McDonalds today, I probably would have totally forgot. haha

Anyways, along with that, we all know what Valentines means. Grandpa´s b-day tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope its swell. And yes, I did get your letter. Thanks a tonne. Its deffinately been one of my most favorite and helpful ones that I´ve gotten since this rush of letters I´ve been getting. Sorry to not have sent anything back yet, but I´m working on it. Sooooo many people to write and thank.

On that note, heres a list of people that I´ve gotten stuff from. I´m sure I´ll forget somebody, but this is what I could whip together. If any of them ask, you can give them a big thanks for me. I´m going to try and write a bunch of them back but its going to take some time. Anyways, here they are: Babe and Judy, The Blomfields, The Vances and Mysyks (tonnes from them. Super thanks there), Sister Sunada, Grandma and Grandpa, Barb, Jaclyn, Shiela and the Fam, The Blaxalls, the Pattersons, Sister Pratt, The Courts, Marriane Davidson, The Bishop, and maybe one or two others.  So super thanks for that. They are much appreciated.

On that note as well - Got two more packages this week! AWESOME. Got one from Grandma and Grandpa. Loved it. Reading the books, the pictures super cool, Elder Call is jealous of the pin etc. Also got one from Carmen. Super cool. The sign things were a little wrinkled and I think they got wet on the way or something, but it doesn´t matter to me. I´m hanging them on the wall this afternoon. Also, the t-shirt is great. I´ve worn it every day this week. Also, they say that theres one more package in the office for me, but I haven´t gotten it yet because they forgot it in the car or something. But this Friday it´ll be here. I´m stoked. So I think that´ll be that.
 
Anyways, as for this week. It was a little different. We did a LOT of walking. People were being kinda lame and so we didn´t have a very usual week, and did a lot of contacting and walking. But oh well. The weather was divine. I´ve never seen so many clouds since I´ve been here. And next week is looking up, so its all good.  We also had our quarterly zone conference this week, so that was fun. We got to go into the office, see lots of our misisonary and MTC buddies we don´t see all that often, and then learn lots of stuff. Its great, because you leave all pumped on being a missionary, full of new ideas. The coolest part for me though, was probably just the fact that although it was basically 100% in Spanish, there were a lot of times were I was able to just sit and listen and still understand everything. Often it takes a lot of thinking and brain power to keep up, but not this time. Hopefully its a good sign that I´m improving. I also have been having a lot more ease speaking with people too. So although I still got lots of room to improve, I´m getting a lot more comfortable with everything.

As for stories of the week, there weren´t many. Nothing too crasy. But I thought of lots of interesting things about Paraguay to talk about. Somehow I´m short on time again though, so I´ll keep them short. Thing number one is the fruit. Theres fruit everywhere. Since I´ve been here we´ve gone through mango season, and there were PILEs of rotting mangos everywhere. Its done wonders for the fly populations. Speaking of bugs, theres a buttload of mosquitos right now. We´re doing our best to wear repelant and stuff, cuz apparently Dengue is going around. I think Elder Call had it last week. Who knows.

I finished Jesus the Christ this week. Super good book. Really long, but worth the read. I´ll probably read it again before the end of my misison, but I´m glad I was able to read it all already.

We bought sombreros last week. Sombrero just means hat in spanish, but I still think they look pretty goofy. I only wear mine when the sun is unbearable, but it helps. Its a nice, handmade straw thing. I´ll send a pic of me in it or something. The heats doing good tho. Cooling down at night. I´ve even gotten to use my blanket to sleep lately. Awesome.

Theres a new kid in Church from Nevada. On an exchange or something. Doesn´t know a word of Spanish. He made me feel smart. lol

Last thing before I go. For service this week, we get to split wood for this old lady that lives near our house. Wish me luck. I´ll probably chop my foot off or something. Elder Call went out of his way to tell the lady that I´m from Canada and have split a lot of wood in my time tho. Like we´re a bunch of lumberjacks or something. haha. Oh well. Hopefully she forgets in her old age and doesn´t expect me to do all the splitting. lol

Anyways, thats it. I´m out. Sorry for the lame letter. Things are doing spectacular. I´m excited for this next week. Shouldn´t be as much walking. Love you all lots, and am praying for you daily. Keep it real!

Love,

Elder Humphreys