6th Man

Howdy there everybody! Hope you all had a fantastic week. Sounds like summer is in full swing. Fun stuff!

But don't you all worry too much. I've been having quite the vacation myself. I think this has probably been one of the most unusual weeks of my mission. To explain quickly, Elder Chatelain hasn't fully recovered just yet. So I sent my letter last week from Santani, and since then I've only slept like... 1 night in my own bed, and right now, I'm writing my letter from the office of the mission in Asuncion.  We've been chilling basically all week in the office. Elder Chatelain has been ordered to rest, but we've been doing all we can to help out in the office. I feel like I've almost been adopted into the office family... but not entirely. haha. I've given myself the official office title of "6th Man", because like in basketball, I kinda get to be the first substitute in any situation. haha. I think we'll be heading back home shortly, but until then... we're still just rockin it in the office. As we speak I'm typing on the office computer, so forgive me if any of this doesn't make sense - tonnes of people are here for p-day and I'm having a hard time concentrating. lol

But anyways. For a quick run down of the week. We spent all morning in the hospital as they pumped drugs into Elder Chatelain and tried to keep him alive.... Not that he was really going to die, but he was in a lot of pain. They ran some tests and told him to just drink water and take pain killers. But we don't really trust the medical system here entirely, so we headed in to Asuncion the next day. I was really happy that I wasn't the one sick... the hospitals are pretty sketchy here. For the most part they know whats up, but they just don't have the same kind of sanitary cleanliness here. But besides that. He survived. The only other cool things of the day were that it got SUPER cold that night before and we were even able to find a little bit of frost on the top of the trees in the morning. How legit is that! I'm loving the cold weather, but its throwing me off thinking about you guys running around and golfing and stuff, because its hard to imagine it warm there. lol. We also played football - I convinced them to use the Canadian sized football even which was cool - and I had a blast. I'm saying that we should start up one of those American Thanksgiving football traditions when I get home or something, because I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Sure felt it the next day though. haha

But yeah. Tuesday we took the bus into town. Got there and spent the rest of the day waiting on the ultrasound person and for results and whatnot. Finally got to our home for the week in the night, and started day 1 of Burger King dinners. We ate out a lot this week. Not going to lie. Its hard to eat good here in the big town.... lol.

Oh. Fun news from the office though. Newbies are coming in. And we're getting another Canadian! Yay! A Kurt Bennett from Cardston I think. Pretty cool. Don't think that I know him from before or anything, but right now I think theres just me and elder Patterson and one other guy, so it'll be good to have another Canadian in the country.

The doctors told Elder Chatelain had to rest for the next couple of days. So that meant that we spent a lot of time in the office. Bugging the office Elders. I did what I could to help. That meant that we ran a lot of errands so that only one office Elder had to leave his duties, and so that was fun. They took us to all sorts of fun places. The store, their houses, the bank. Wherever. But that also meant that we got to see the fun places, like the restaurant owned by some Texan guy. I got a legit Brisket sandwich at the TEXAS BBQ. Fantastic. All in all I've blown a lot of money this week. Because, you gotta eat right? lol. I think we're going to be really short on money at the end of the month again. But more on that later.

Spent some late nights at the office too. Had to babysit the guy that puts in all of the baptisimal records. Watched ALL of the movies in the office. I now know all about the Doctrine and Covenants movies, saw all the goodbye missionary movies, and now know all about the rules for driving and such. Funny movie. Ridiculous though. Not going to lie, I kinda started going crasy. Sitting around is overrated. I missed walking around and staying active.

The next day was about the same. I ate at burger king 3 times in as many days. I miss Paraguayan food now. And I'm fat.

All in all, kind of a sad waste of time. But I think we've helped a little and did what we could to make things easier here. I took a bunch of photos on Google Earth so that everyone will now have maps of their areas. Thats kinda cool.

Canada day went fantastically. Wished everyone a Happy Canada day. Some accepted it, some hated on it. Oh well. By the way, happy 4th of July. Along with that, a big shout out to GRANDMA HUMPHREYS and CHLOE as well. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Love you lots and hope they pass fantastically!!! The other cool part of Canada day was that I was able to talk to Elder Patterson as he called to wish me a happy day. Sounds like he's doing well. Always great to talk.

But yeah. We realized that without being in San Pedro, there wouldn't be any church. And that can't happen. We always promise people that there will ALWAYS be church, and so we had to keep our promise. Elder Chatelain had to do more tests, so I borrowed an extra guy in the office - Elder Sean Lane from California - and we went back to San Pedro for one day. It was quite the road trip. Traveled in 6 hours. Worked Saturday to tell everyone that we didn't forget about them and tell them that church still was going to happen. Then we had church. Made a visit or two, and turned around and went home. Fun stuff. LOTS of time on the bus. It was my first Sunday leading church on my own. Fun stuff. Kinda went a little rough, but hopefully it'll get better in the coming weeks. And our bus broke down on the way home. It took 11 hours to get to Asuncion. We left at 4 in the afternoon and showed up at 3 in the morning. Not fun.

But yeah. Hopefully Elder Chatelain and me will be able to go back tomorrow. That is as long as there aren't changes because otherwise we might have to stay even longer. Messy stuff. Its been just a whirlwind of adventure. Quite the week. Don't think it'll happen again in the future.

But yeah. Out of time. Sorry that there wasn't anything inspirational or all that cool. It was a really weird week. I can't wait to get back out there. Not going to lie. But at least I'm great friends with the office Elders now so I can call on them anytime I want a favor :) haha.

But yeah. Gotta run. But thanks for your letters. Great stuff. Congratulations to Emma! Nice work. Congratulations to everyone else for doing well in school. Now enjoy that time off! I liked all the funny gossip lady stories. Fun stuff with the ranch (love that place...miss it), and golf. Another tradition I'm excited to have again back when I get home. I can't believe they aren't having the Stampede breakfast. That was my fav. Oh well.

But don't you worry. Yah, I miss those little things. But I'm having a blast. Things are doing really well. Da gusto to be a missionary! I just can't wait to get back to work. Glad you're all doing well. Hope you have another fantastic week. I'm so happy to hear you're all well. Love you tonnes and I'll write you again next week!

Love,

Elder Humphreys