Quite the Week

Our ride.






 Concepcion Trip Gang




The Temple

 

 Noisy and crowded bus ride to temple

Hola! Hows everybody doing? Glad to hear that the trip is going fantastically, and that youre all safe and having a great time. Not going to lie, I´m a little jealous because it sounds super legit. But thankfully we had a great week here, and so I don´t feel too bad. Thanks for all the cool updates. Now I´ll have a good idea of what there is fun to do there for when I get back. lol. I´d respond to all the things, but there´s so much to talk about that I think I´ll just say that it all sounds super cool. Hopefully things keep going great and you can finish off the trip strong.

As for me.... The biggest highlight of the week for sure is that we FINALLY completed our goal of getting people to see the temple. The preperations sure came with a lot of opposition, but in the end, it all turned out fantastically, and I´m proud to say that I think that the ward is going to be a LOT stronger and unified after such a trip.

But yeah. As for last weeks letter being all rushed. Sorry about that. Hopefully that doesn´t happen again. Things I forgot to say; Happy Birtdhay Blake! Sorry its a little late. Also, I think I may have forgotten to wish Whitney and Steven happy birthdays (?). Sorry. I didn´t forget about you all.... its just coming a little late.... lol. Found out that there was an article in the Liahona September 1993 that talks about Paraguay. Not sure if we have one of those sitting in the grandparents basement or anything. The coolest part is just the fact that I actually know a couple of the people in it. Legit. Also, I forgot to mention that Grandpa filled me in on how Tanis and the family are doing, and just wanted to say that I´m really glad that they´re all doing well, and that everything turned out well with that. Crasy.

Tuesday was really kinda rough. Things werent going well in regards to our plans on the temple trip. The people who promised us money for the bus weren´t pulling through on us. Some of the people weren´t as ready as we were hoping they would be. This that and the other. We almost cancelled. But after a companionship prayer for a little guidance, and bunch of thinking, a couple phone calls for advice, and some patience, we got our heads all wrapped around it again, and we decided to go all in and just do it. Im happy to say that in the end, I´m almost positive that we made the right choice, and that the spirit was really helping us out.  Once we made it official, we put 110% into getting that done. We had to teach temple prep to one of the members every day of the week, but I´m glad to say that by the end the two that went through were very much ready and had an excellent time, and understanding of what they were doing /did. Also, Tuesday morning was all stressfull because we did a survey by the church about how well we do things. It definately pointed out room for improvement. lol. But its nice too, because I think this week I applied what I learned well and I´m working even better now.

Had brocoli for the first time in about a year. Definately took it for granted back at home. Good stuff. Also learned that not only do I speak English with a Canadian accent, but that Canadianness is going over into my Spanish too. Something to work on. lol

Wednesday was kinda cool. I read in my studies in the Liahona about how some people think that no man can see god. I thought that that was wierd because I´ve never heard that before. Well that very afternoon some guy asked me that. Crasy. Fortunately I knew that that was just a mistranslation of the bible, and that moses, isaiah etc. had all seen god, and could set the guy staight. Kinda interesting. Did some service too.... Except there weren´t enough machete´s so I basically just got to watch. lol. But I took advantage of it and got to talk to a non member so that was good. The coolest part though was on the way home we heard some people following us. Well thats not usually very cool, so we walked faster. And then they walked faster. Well, in the end it just got awkward, so I had to turn around and see what was up. lol. Turned out it was a lady about 25 years old from France who realized we were foreigners and just wanted to talk. She was here with the UN and we had a cool conversation. She was really interested in what we were all about and so we taught her a quick lesson in the street. She was really into it, and all anti catholic. lol. Disapointing because she left town like the next day, but I told her that she should talk to the misionaries again some time. Hopefully planted a seed or something. And then right after that some other guy called us over and said that he heard us talking and wanted to hear our message too. So that was  afun way to end the night.

Friday was a disaster. We spent the whole day on the phone. Looking for membership records, lineing up rides, and making sure everything was good with the temple and the distribution center etc. Madness.

But it all became worth it for Saturday. We met up at the church at 3:30. I sent a picture of our ¨bus¨. It was kinda crappy, but fortunately it made the trip all right. Had a mess where a bunch of people last minutely dropped out on us, but fortunately in the end we filled exactly every seat in the bus (and a couple extras). Not too many, not too few. We had a total of 14 go. 2 nonmembers. 2 people went to do the endowments. That was super cool, because I thought last change that I was out, but instead, I got to see all the people I taught about the temple actually make it there. On the way, we had to stop in Santani so the people could get interviews, and then had to have the ones with the mission presidency when we got to Asuncion. Thankfully everyone passed. Got to Asuncion around 12ish. Then we went all out shopping and bought a ton of stuff at the distribution centre. I had to buy a lot of ¨gifts¨for people, but fortunately I came prepared and still have a bunch of money for the month. Oh, I forgot. On the way there.... the driver, may or may not have paid off  a cop or two.... lol. I didn´t realize till it was too late. Its crasy how natural it was though. Sad to see thats how things go. Anyways, we were able to get everything done and into the temple on time. It was a TINY bit rushed for the two that did the endowments to get into the session on time, but they didn´t mind too much. I got to be the ¨acompañante¨ for Joel (Caballero), and Victorina (Franco), went with one of the temple workers. They are the first two people here in San Pedro to do their endowments, so that was really cool to know that the two of us Elders were able to help history go down here lejos. lol. Everybody LOVED the temple. Even those that werent ready to go inside. Every one was just glowing. And since, they´ve all told us about how much better they feel, just happier, lighter and more peaceful. Hopefully they can all go back soon. We made it home alive. I basically had to go the whole way home on the floor, but it didn´t really matter to me. I was just so happy that everything worked out so well. I could deffinately see how the Lord answered our prayers and fasting and that he had his hand in the whole trip.

Anyways, I´m WAY out of time, but I just really wanted to let you all know how it went. Church was kindof a disaster because it was A)cold and B) we didnt get home till late and everybody slept right through church. haha. But oh well. Next week will go fantastically. Glad to hear that things are good with you. I´m doing fantastically. 1 week and a day from now we have a meeting with President Arnold of the 70. Its going to be crasy. I´m excited for another good week. Its nice and cold and so for once I haven´t been sweating again. Excited to hear how your trip finishes off. Thanks for the letters and pictures. I loved them. Love you lots, choose the right and remember that Heavenly Father really answers our prayers!

Love,

Elder Humphreys