KIDNEY STONES

Hahaha. Hope I didn´t scare you tooooo much with the subject heading there. More on that later. But don´t worry. I´m perfectly healthy. :)

Glad you all had a fantastic week.... even though the TV had to be such a bummer. LAME! Thats one of the benifits of having given it basically up. I sure as heck miss it, but its never a hassel at least. lol. Except this computer that I´m on is really slow, and its taking a lot longer to write then it should. But you know... You got a good year and a couple months to get it all fixed up and ready for my big homecoming right? haha.

Anyways, gotta be quick. Lots to say. Monday was fantastically traquilo. Finaly got my hair cut, didn´t have to travel. etc.

I did forget to mention last week though. We had this wierd phenomenon come through where summer hits a second time. Last week I was back, just sweatin a ful. Not fun at all. Blah. But then within like one or two days, winter finally hit here. Last night walking to the house it said it was 4 degrees in the streets. Not really THAT bad, but if you aren´t moving around and you don´t have a good place to warm up it can get to you. The Paraguayans are of course just dieing because they´re so used to the heat, but I really enjoyed it for the most part. Except for church where i sat by the door and the wind was just blowing in. Not that fun. My face and lips where all blue after. haha. But we´re keeping warm, and doing good. I actually really like it. I just put on a sweater and I´m good to go. Everybody just tells me I got Canadian blood. haha

We got a call asking about how much room we have in our house... sounds like we might be getting stuck in another trio this change. Ugh. Oh well. You do what you gotta do. There are TONNES of new missionaries showing up in the next few changes here, so within just a litle bit we´re going to see LOTS of changes. I´m excited. Should be really good. I´ll probably get to/have to (not sure what the right way to say that is) go up to senior comp which is alright with me, but I´m just praying that I won´t have to train a newbie or anything crasy like that. LOTs of responsability!

Kinda was a little sick this week. But just a cough and whatnot. And I got it BEFORE the cold, so don´t worry about that. I managed to pass it on to my comp and a couple others before it got stopped, but its luckily going okay.

Had a couple cool lessons this week. Got to share about the Book of Mormon with a guy that was pretty sceptical. He´s talked with a lot of people before and just doesn´t know what to believe. But we shared with him the books promise, and I think he´s really going to read and pray with some real intent, so that would be cool.

Had a sad experience where one of our faithful members started drinking again. Its been really hard on his family, and it was really sad to see. But we´re going to see what we can do. Its really wierd because we´re kinda like missionaries, branch presidents, and home teachers here, and so when people have a problem, we´re the first people they go to. Not that thats bad, but theres a lot of responsiblity.

Ran out of money again this week. But I just got more so we´re good. I´m learning to budget and its great!

Anyways, somehow I´m already totally out of time. I´m happy the b-day went so fantastic. My favorite thing was the old spice present... and the car. haha. Glad everyones loving it. Cool to hear that AMbers getting married. I´d say go for the golf. Me and Elder Chatelain have been talking about it and I want to go golfing again sometime soon. HAPPY CANADA DAY! ´We´re going to try and do something fun.

Anyways, just to finish, I guess I should explain. This morning Elder Chatelain woke up in a lot of pain. So we got dressed quick and we headed over to the hospital. They took some tests, I had to run around and buy all these meds for him and whatnot, make a bunch of phone calls to our doctors and the like. Anyways, looks like he´s got kidney stones. Crasy! I´m making it a habit today to drink more water. But yeah. He´s good now cuz he´s on pain killers, but we get to go in to Asuncion tomorrow to get some ultrasounds. But yeah. I´m trying to take care of him. Its quite the adventure.

Anyways, I´d love to say more, but my computer is in demand. Hopefully more news next week. Love you lots, glad all is well. Have a fantastic week!

Love

Elder Humphreys

Always pack extra socks

 Little puppies

 Elder Humphreys milks a cow. Fails.

 Scarecrow thing

 Motocross race

We got a little bit lost...

Howdy folks! Hope things are just swell back at home and you´re all getting pumped for a great summer! How exciting.

We had a pretty unusual week here too. I started out the week in a different area called Curuguaty. Kinda a different place than I´ve gotten used to. Going to the city always makes me freak out a little bit because I´m starting to get used to little town life. So many stores, people, traffic. It´ll be a shock to come home one day. lol

Curuguaty is a pretty cool little place though. I had fun. Elder Chatelain and Elder Sorensen were just having so much fun in my area that I had to/got to stay in Curuguaty for an extra day. Thankfully me and Elder Thomas got along just smashingly. He´s a good kid. Comes from Las Vegas. Tries really hard to be the best missionary he can, and it was cool to see how even though we aren´t all perfect missionaries that have the best language or teaching skills, that really the majority of what counts is your desires, how hard you´re willing to try, and really just relying on the spirit. Good stuff. As always, I learned a lot on the division and improved a lot personally too. The only thing that stinks about the divisions is that you miss your area, and are worried for your investigators, and you kinda want your own bed and some clean clothes and whatnot (i wasn´t planning on being there so long, and so I only brought one shirt - BAD idea. 4 days later it was pretty dirty. Extra socks would have been nice too. lol). And you get to know all these cool new people, and then you have to leave and you won´t ever see them again. Bummer, but I guess we´ll get to say hi again in the next life.

Elder Thomas is also working on learning guarani. I´ve had a really hard time getting started on learning myself, but now that I speak descent spanish, the time has come to start. He helped me out and even though I´m still a LONG ways away from being able to speak, at least Im getting going here.

Apparently I missed a lunar eclipse when I was out. I was kinda bummed about that. But I did see a super legit shooting star when I was talking with a member in the streets. Super cool. I don´t know why I´m mentioning this, but you know. I´ve never really seen one before, and this one was HUGE. Once in a lifetime experience?

Finished reading the book of Mormon this week. That always makes you feel good. Learned TONNES this time through. Goes to show how much more you absorb reading at a desk in the morning compared to reading in bed at 2 in the morning. I still think my favorite scripture is the one that I asked to be put on my plaque thing (did that ever turn out?). Helaman 5:12. I thought it applied back in the day, but I think I can see it applying even more now. There are trials that will come upon us, whether we be members, investigators, kids or adults. And those trials have the ability to crush us and bring us down if we aren´t prepared and we have a shaky foundation. But if we are built on the rock of Christ, nothing can stop us. Thats really what I´ve seen and felt in my life for sure, and the lives of every member and investigator who comes across trials. Christ will help us even when things are rough, and we are beat upon with all manner of trials and afflictions.

Saturday was pretty exciting. Had all sorts of picture worthy experiences, so thank goodness that Elder Chatelain always has his camera with him. Thus I´ve sent a bunch this week. Unfortunately he´s more concerned about getting pictures with him in them, and less about me, but he usually snaps one or two just to make me happy :). If you haven´t yet noticed, yes, I really do need a haircut. But I´m getting that done today. We´ve been out of town the last two P-days. Disaster. This week we´re cracking down, cleaning the house, and getting all this dumb hair off my head so I can look more like a missionary and less like a hipie. Fortunately I´ve been able to hide it not toooo bad and nobody here seems to have noticed. But yeah. The lost picture is from a while ago. Its still in my area, but we got a little far out. Those puppies are brand new and really cute. But I think the whole litter has died now because the mother dog has something wrong with her. Pretty sad, but its like living on a farm here. The owners are less attached to the dog than I´ve become while visiting it for like 3 minutes. lol. The other day Elder Chatelain told a member that the last time he cried was at the end of ¨Marley and Me¨, and she honestly laughed for 20 minutes that anyone would cry about a dead dog. Dogs just don´t get the same respect here. Thankfully she laughed before I mentioned that the last movie that may or may not have got me teary-eyed was with Sam in ¨I am Legend¨. haha. I tried milking a cow this week. It took me like 10 tries. Its harder than it looks. I finally got a couple drops or two, but then I got kicked out because the lady was worried that the cow was going to kick me for doing it so bad. haha. The next time I´m going to be pro. Its kinda gross, and I don´t think I like milk nearly as much any more, but it was a neat experience. The scarecrow. Yeah. The members don´t have cameras so they wanted a photo shoot with their new creation. And there was a huge motocross thing in town. Pretty crasy. We stopped in for just a couple of seconds. Kinda crasy because I don´t think they´d ever let you get that close back home. lol.

Oh. Big, not confused news this time. I REALLY DID EAT HORSE. It was in paste form spreaded on some bread. Tasted like meat paste with a lot of spices put in it. But I´m sure I´m not confused this time, so I´m pretty happy. And sad, becuase some horse died for that paste. But once again, once in a lifetime kinda thing. I keep thinking of how much fun it´ll be to feed Dad all these things when he gets here. Hopefully you got a strong stomache and don´t get sick in the short space of one week. haha. The hoof from last week was cow I think. Maybe I can get the members to make us that one day... not sure if I want it though.

Saw some members from my first area (Moroni) this weekend. They were out visiting for fathers day. It made me happy because somebody actually remembered the quiet kid that was only there for 6 weeks.

Glad to hear everything is swell at home. That grandma, grandma, and grandpa all enjoyed their trips. Came home safe. Liked the new car. I liked the quote that you sent on preaching and sharing the gospel always, and only sometimes using words. I think they used that in conference this time around too if I´m not mistaken.... sounds familiar. But yeah. Just emphasizes the importance of always being an example of the believers in everything we do. I also read a talk in the ensign from YW conf (yeah, i read ALL the talks. lol) where it talks about that too. You never know what kind of an influence you´ll make for people. But I´m glad to hear you´re all working on actively sharing it too. Keep up the good work!

Whats this on a mail strike? We don´t get news when you´re out so far.... If its true that mails not moving though, I guess I´m happy. Explains why I haven´t got many cards lately...lol. And you can all know that even though you haven´t got letters from me, they´re coming. Don´t worry. lol. As for our money.... I don´t really know how much we get a week. We get one lump at the beginning of the month. Then we have to pay for all sorts of monthly things. Then we travel, wait for money to come back to us. We mix our personal money into the mission money while we wait for the money to come back. Its all really messy. But I´m learning how to budget better. I could take out more personal stuff, but I´m trying not to unless its an emergancy so that I don´t spend more than I need to. Its good. We have enough to live no problem. Its more just that sometimes we want all the tasty stuff. Its good to live off of water, bread and simple stuff for a while....

But yeah. That was kinda my week. Really short. Oh. Me and Elder Chatelain did a musical number in church this Sunday. Lets just say that we didn´t get a single compliment after church.... we´ll see if we ever try that again. haha. Chruch was a little empty because people travel for fathers day and whatnot, but we should have more to come.

But whoah. Almost forgot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! And Michael and Tara too! (if you guys read my letters). HOPE THEY ARE JUST FANTASTIC! I have presents (for dad... sorry Michael and Tara). I´ll try and send them next week. Fun stuff. Hope Fathers day was a blast and that the B-Days even better! Maybe we´ll eat a cake for you or something....

Anyways, gotta run. Love you lots. Thanks for the letters advice and support. Tell me if there is anything that I should put in my letters that I forget. Our investigators are doing well, but moving slowly. We´re practicing patience. Prayers are always much appreciated. But we´re doing what we can. Its great to serve a mission! Hope you all have a great week! Love you all tonnes!!

Elder Humphreys

Live from Curuguaty

Hey everybody! Sorry to write so late. I'm on a division in this town called Curuguaty. Kinda far from my regular house. Elder Chatelain and Elder Sorenson (my old comp for two weeks and now district leader) wanted to get together and talk about how excited they are to go home and go golfing together and stuff. haha. Really we're supposed to just do divisions every once and a while, so here I am. The towns a little bit bigger than what I'm used to though, and so I'm kinda freaking out. Its got like, lots of cars, and traffic, and stores and stuff. lol. Apparently I'm getting used to small town life. Its wierd. So I'm here with Elder Thomas. We came together from the MTC, so we're about at the same experience level and whatnot, but I didn't really know him back then so its kinda fun like that.

Monday went well. We kinda missed our bus home though... lol. That was embarrassing. But fortunately there was a later one so it just meant that we got home a tad later than we planned. I missed wishing Elder Patterson a happy birthday via email, so I was kinda ticked about that, but it caused me to work up the guts to ask for permission to call out of zone to talk to him. So it all worked out well. Didn't get to talk to him on his birthday because I couldn't get a hold of his number, and then he didn't answer once I finally got it, but two days later we got to talk. That was nice. Its always great to talk to an old friend. And it just made me feel good cuz I actually did an act of good friendship to somebody for once. lol.

Got offered to eat hoof this week. I woulda done it but it was kinda just sitting on the table (no plate) and i dunno.... looked like he had already eaten all of the meat off of it. But I think it turns out you mostly just are eating the cartilage from between the joints. But I'm not really sure. Some other day. Speaking of bad food, Elder Chatelain ate a bug this week. It was fun to see him take some initiative and actually eat something gross without me for once. haha. Turned out there were bugs in the noodles he was cooking that he thought was just seasoning or something at first. Kinda gross.

Sorry if some of this doesn't make sense by the way. I have a pretty nasty headache after riding the bus out here. The soccer madness didn't help much either. That makes two weeks in a row now where I've almost killed my self running around chasing down soccer balls after district meeting. But its been worth it.

I accidentally told Elder Chatelain that I had a movie on Youtube and he helped the members look it up against my discretion. They liked my beard and stuff, but I don't think they really grasped the joke behind a mamma mia remake. Funny stuff.

It makes me happy to hear you're all just sharing the gospel and being super missionaries back at home. Thats legit. I was reading the ensign on the bus the other day, and it was really good, but I felt kinda bad for not being a better missionary back in the day. Glad to see you're living it all up. Keep up the good work! Speaking of the ensign, I re-read Elder Uchtdorfs talk in the Priesthood session, and I liked it WAY better in English. haha. Its hard to get the feeling in Spanish, even if you understand it. Made me want to magnify my calling even better.

Taught the lesson AND talked in church this sunday. We have to be better at asking people to talk. I translated some of a talk about having Christ-centered families from conference. Its lame cuz there's so much good stuff that I want to share with everybody but we still haven't been able to get it in Spanish yet and so I just have it in English. Lame.

Had a cool experience today. We were on the way to the bus and some guy stopped us. Apparently he's a student and he wanted to do a little interview with us. So we got to explain our purpose and beliefs for him. Hopefully it'll make it into the final project and we can help a lot more people understand us better. Cool stuff.

Speaking of which too, Elder Call called me while we were on the bus. He said to say Hi to my family btw. Elder Calls the man. One of my favorite people that I've come in contact with while on the mission. He just called to see how things are going. Told me too that he had talked with some people from my last area. Fun to see that they're still progressing and whatnot. Also great to see how certain seeds that we were able to plant have started to blossom. Like there was a family we spent a fair bit of time with and weren't really progressing for various reasons, but have now gone to church like 5 times and are planning on getting married and baptized. Awesome to know that we didn't "waste any time on them", and that not giving up paid off.

Anyways, gotta roll and take some headache medicine! lol. And go to some FHE with some family I've never met. Should be great. Glad to hear you're all doing well. Thanks for being so awesome. Keep up the good work! Crasy to hear that school's almost over. Thats madness. It feels like just yesterday that that happened last time. Madness. Love you lots, and have a great week!

Elder Humphreys

PS - I know its like a week away, but HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! Couldn't decide if I should be a week early or a day late. Oh well. LAme that we can't phone or anything. Hope its a blast! Thanks Dad for being so good, strong, and such a good influence! Sorry I can't be there, but I know you understand. Hope everyone gives you a extra big hug on my behalf. Love ya! Chou!

Spent our last couple of dimes

Good week! Glad to hear that all is going well. Havin fun. Working hard. Doin nice little dances. Going to the Temple. Legit. Thats where its at!

We had a pretty good week. Nothing TOOOO out of the ordinary. Spent our last couple of dimes on Monday. Thankfully the money arrived like it was supposed to on Tuesday and we didn´t have to starve to death or anything. Had a nice little Noche de Hogar monday night. Taught about how although not keeping the commandments makes it look like you have more freedoms, in the end you find that Satans got you in his grasps, and you´re left with bad health, nobody trusts you, you have a mess for a family. Stuff like that. But when we follow Gods comandments, we are restricted a little bit in the things that we can do, but in the end we find that we have what we need, we have blessings, friends, health, security, a great family, eternal life. Stuff like that. I think they liked it. Adrian (the last kid we baptized) told us that one day he wants to be a missionary too. Pretty cool stuff. ´He´s only 11 right now, but they got great hearts and I think they can do it with a little help.

We didn´t get to go to district meeting on Tuesday because its so far away and uses a lot of time. So basically we´ve been in San Pedro for 3 weeks without leaving or seeing another missionary. Pretty crasy. We´re doing good, but its nice to get out, get all pumped to be good missionaries. Suff like that. Instead we visited a less active member that lives WAY out of town. They haven´t been too church cuz they live too far away and they don´t have  a way to get in to town. So we took a bus out. The dad almost got baptized before, but they were waiting for papers to get married and then moved too far away. But they say their papers have come and that they now are going to move back into town. So thats super cool. They didn´t move this week like they planned, but hopefully it goes well. Blessings. It only took us like an hour or so to walk back, so I hope they move soon. lol.

Wednesday we finally got all our money out, so that ment bill paying. You feel really rich when the month starts, but after you pay rent for the house, church, and then the electricity and water from both of those that you didn´t pay earlier because you didn´t have money... you realize you dont actually have that much at all. But I think we´ll do better this month. I hope.

One of our investigators invited us in when we passed by. He was super drunk. It was fun. He kept spitting everywhere. Tried to feed us uncooked sausage and make us show him our families on facebook. Fortunately we got out without any problem. Next time we´ll try and visit him earlier in the day.

Taught piano again this week. Its harder than it looks! The language doesn´t help either, and they don´t have any way to practice during the week. But we´re trying.

Accomplished lots in my studies this week. Finished Preach My Gospel and True to the Faith! Yeah. Good stuff. So now I´ve basically finished the whole missionary library. Its been great. Now I´m going to really focus on the scriptures, and now that I´ve gotten my new Liahonna, the conference talks again. Ya.

Found a couple really cool investigators this week. Ones a single mom with great member support. The other is a family that have 3 kids, one whos old enough to get baptized. They didn´t come to church this week (I think its because it was cold - the reports said it would be only 8 degrees or so, and so most people didn´t even bother to wake up in the morning.. even the members), but I think they should start progressing this week. Pretty cool.

Cleaned the church this week. Its filthy. The dust collects in there and its not nice. Can´t wait till we have a real chapel. None of the members bothered to come and help so me and Elder Chatelain did it. But we got most of the cobwebs out of the sacrament room, so I´m pretty happy.

Sunday went normally. But we got to take a suprise 4 hour trip to visit the nearest set of missionaries, so today I´m writing from a city called Santani. Good stuff. Its been fun. Played some soccer, got the letters and Liahonas I´ve been waiting for (Grandpa - I got your letter no. 4. Thanks!), and its been good. Heading back tonight. Had to sleep last night without a pillow though. I´m telling you right now that pillows are suprisingly UNDER-rated. You sleep a lot better with a good one. Oh well.

But yeah. Good stuff. That was the week. Out of time. Glad you´re all well. Stay safe and don´t do anything too crasy! Remember that the church is true, do your best, share the gospel! Love you lots, Be good people. Ya.

Love ya!

Elder Humphreys

PS - Did I really see bro Mclain and Matthew in the Liahona? If I did, thats legit that I spotted them. If not... Tranquilo.