The Office - episode 3

The Office Crew



HOWDY.

Hows everybody? Hope you're all ready for start of boring-er letters, because it starts today. lol. I'm trying to think of exciting things to tell you, but yeah... we'll see how it goes.
But all in all, it was a good week for me. Glad to hear that all is going well back home. How's Edmonton going? Say Hi to everyone for me. Good stuff. Happy birthday's btw - Happy Birthday Grandma! Cache! and Jeffrey! Hope they go fantastically! Love ya all! Anyways, thanks for the updates. Hows driving out to Okotoks? Legit? Glad to hear that you could make something out of (almost)nothing for my church report. haha. Its just funny to me, because it feels like there would be so much less to say about me now than there was before, but I guess just with some change that makes things exciting. How are all of the other guys doing btw? You mentioned that sister Hofmeister gave her little thing - Jordan will be getting home pretty soon wont he? And the rest of them?? I keep meaning to try and get in touch with everybody, but yeah..... easier said than done. Maybe if I get bored of sitting around in the office, I'll be able to do something about that. As for the Luxuries... I'm just living them up. Your right though. I gotta be careful not to get tooo used to them. In... I dunno... 7 months Ill be out and about again. Crasy! lol. That feels like a long ways away... haha. I enjoyed the chicken pie story. Oops. haha. As for more short letters during the week - no problems with that. Doesn't really make too big of  a difference to me, so whatever floats your boats.
As for us.... As an office as a whole, the biggest news would be changes this week. Its going to be CRASY! And a little sad - I'm going to be losing a lot of friends this change. Elder Call and Elder Villalon (2 of my old comps), one of my favorite zone leaders of all time from my last zone, and my "grandpa" of the office (the financiero before the one that I'm replacing) will all be gone in less than a week. But oh well. Thats how it goes. And when you work in the office, you end up getting to know everyone pretty quick and so I should be able to make new friends fast. lol. Changes will be a little weird too because personally, I have zero fear of getting changed. And there is no way that I'll be getting a new companion either. So that makes it good and tranquilo. But then theres the office part. I had to pull out a bunch of extra money so that I can reimburse everybody that comes in so that they can pay for the taxis and whatnot. This that and the other. There will be 100s of people in the office, and I'll obviously be taking on other types of jobs too just to make sure that things go smoothly. Should be fun.
Besides that..... what else. Sunday was kinda crasy. Our top investigator came to church. Thats a big deal for this ward. Both sets of elders had a total of 3 investigators in church, and although normally thats not too crasy, here in our area, thats almost unheard of. So that was really good. Shes a pretty shy person, but we worked really hard to make sure that people sat with her and were friendly to her and whatnot, and in the end I think she really liked it. Actually, I know for a fact that she did. So that was really cool. Things almost went bad right of the bat though. The stake patriarch was asked to speak. He's a really smart guy and everything, and on a personal level I'd love talking to him. But with our investigators in mind, it didn't go so well. He just got up and talked really loud (almost shouting) and whatnot, and talked for a good 30 minutes on things that were over the heads of everybody. He basically talked all about the temple, giving WAY too many details, and just confusing everybody. After church, there were a lot of people with a LOT of questions. But fortunately the classes went well and the people felt the spirit and all of them want to come back next week. Even better than that was our visit with our investigator during the week. Her name is Gabriela. Shes 14, but she's smart enough to be 20. We visited her with a member this week. Our first visit with her, she was really depressed looking, didn't talk much, and did;t appear to have much self confidence. Well in this one week shes change a LOT. She was cheerful, happy and told us about how much the things that we've shared with her have already started to help her. Her mom told us that she really saw a difference too. She isn't as crabby, nicer to her siblings, working harder in school etc. And they knew that it was all based on her desires to follow Christ and do whats right. She's already almost finished 1st and 2nd Nephi, which is SUPER legit because Paraguayans typically aren't that into reading. We asked her if she like to read and she told us that really, she doesn't. But something about the book of mormon made her want to read and she wasn't able to put it down. By the 3rd visit, she already has a strong testimony of the book, of Joseph Smith, and says that the baptismal date that we put with her is something very important in her life right now. Legitness like that. So thats pretty cool. We've been calling her everyday without fail just to make sure that nothing happens. Should come to church tomorrow. And I think she'll be bringing her mom too, so that'll be good. Don't forget to pray for us/her!
Just got my haircut like 2 seconds ago.... gotta look good for all the newbies when they show up. Of course, in typical 5 dollar haircut fashion, it looks... questionable. lol. But we'll make it work.
What else. We went on a division the other day. That was alright. Its awkward being in a group of 3 though. Less than a week....lol
As for the office half of my job. Definitely getting easier. There are still times when I have to go running to Elder Cerpa to save me from my own naivety, but we're getting there. Weird to think that I'll be on my own really shortly here. Wow. That just hit me. lol. But I think I'll be alright. The majority of the things aren't all that hard. I'll survive.
Today we got to go visit a whole part of Paraguay that I didn't know until now. A town called San Lorenzo. Its sad to think about, but as missionaries, we have half of the country in our mission, but in the end, you only have about 5 areas and so you only usually get to see a very small part of it. Once again, joys of the office. Got to go see an area where Elder Patterson used to work, and even just out of coincidence, talked to a member that knows him.  Speaking of which, Elder Patterson also stopped into the office the other day which was nice cuz we got to chat for a bit. I feel kinda bad because the problem is that I get to talk to everybody, but there is never lots of time to talk lots. So thats kinda lame, but what can you do....
President and his wife had their aniversary this week too. That was fun. We got to eat cake, and the lunch was extra good. We talked to them about how they met, and when they got married and stuff like that. haha. It was fun. They are really great and cool people. They say hi by the way.
Anyways, not sure what else to say. That was the week. Lots of office work. Some fun mini-roadtrips. Some descent work in the area. Should continue to be like this for the next couple of months. I'll do what I can to keep it interesting though. But yeah. I guess I'll be going. Hope you all have a great week. Do whats right, and love your neighbor! lol. Love ya, miss ya. The mission's great. Talk to ya next week!
Elder Humphreys

Office - week 2

Hey everybody. Hows the week been? Super weird that I have P-days on Saturdays now eh? If its easier, you can just write me on Sundays still if you want.... or if you got time, this afternoon cuz we'll probably still be in the office or whatever and I'll have time to check again. But only if you want of course. haha. But no worries. Elder Cerpa didn't get a letter from his family for a couple of weeks in a row, so I shouldn't complain. haha. But yeah. I guess this letter will give the update of week 2 in the office. Or I guess, the first full week working here. It went well enough.
Last Saturday was super swell. We ate the BEST burger that I've had in a long time at TGIFridays. Its weird to be eating classy again. I'm loving the food situation. We get food made for us here at the office every day (at a price of course), and then we get to pick up good stuff whenever we'd like. Its AWESOME. haha. Im going to get fat. Good thing we do our exercises. But yeah. P-days here are kinda different to say the least. After lunch there wasn't much to do, so we sat in the office and watched Mormon.org and lds.org vids. We'll probably do something similar today. lol. Lame. But we also have the van, so we also have the opportunity to have a little fun. I think they went to the zoo the week before I came. Today is all nasty and rainy though, so probably we'll wait till next week before we try having a BBQ or something like that. The fun things of the office.
Sunday was really different. I was warned that the church in this area wasn't as strong as you would imagine that it would be. But it kinda blew my mind to see 70 people in church, someone that knew how to play the piano, and the church run without the missionaries help again. Cool beans. Having to sit through 3 whole hours again though was kinda rough. haha. After the first hour and a half or so I was getting all anxious to go. lol. But there are a lot of good solid members in the ward. We're trying to work a lot more with them, and I think there is a lot more potential here than everyone gives it credit for.  While I'm on the topic, I don't actually mind the area all that much. Sure, there are a lot of rich, non-humble people that make working and contacting not that fun, but at the same time, its kinda nice to talk with well educated people that really know Spanish, and really understand things when you explain things to them. People that actually like and are willing to read when you leave things with them. People that will actually accept a baptismal invitation because they understand that we aren't obligating them to do anything, but that it only makes sense that when they come to know of the truth of what we share that they follow the example of Jesus Christ and get baptized. Cool stuff like that. Not that I didn't like things in my old areas, but there are just a lot of things that are different here, and a lot of them are a nice change.
But yeah. Working in the street is obviously only half of my full time job now. As for the office... its going not too bad. lol. I'm getting the hang of things a lot better lately. Still a little timid to make big decisions on my own, but Elder Cerpa's teaching me good. Hopefully I'll be all ready to go in the week and a half that we got together. I don't really have much of a choice. lol. Basically my job consists of giving people money when they have something to be reimbursed, filling forms on the computer about all the receipts and paperwork, and printing out checks either for people that we are buying stuff from, or checks so we can get money out of the bank to give out as needed. Really exciting stuff. lol. We'll see how it continues to go. As of right now, its not too boring just yet because its still all kinda new for me. But I can see it getting a little repetitive in the future. But, you never know.... Maybe it'll just give me the inspiration and experience that I need to find out that my ideal future is in finances and accounting...... but I doubt it. haha. I also get/have to sign my name about 100 times a day. Its too bad that I still got the ugliest signature in the world. Something to work on.
Now this is the hard part. To think of exciting things to tell you about the week....... lol. There are a couple things I guess, but nothing that should really get you all excited about. Such as, I got to go to the hospital. AGAIN. Man, I hate that place. Sooooooo boring. And, believe it or not, it was for my comp. Again. haha. I've been SUPER lucky with good health. He just had some little problem with his foot, so no big deal. But yeah. Thats lame story number 1.
Got a package this week. LEGIT! Thanks sister Mysyk! All of the other guys in the office were super jealous of the T. lol. So thats fun. Along with that, I also realized how cool the Ensign is. I saw the Ensign, and put it to the side because I had already read the Liahonna from the same month. And then I realized that they weren't exactly the same. The Ensigns got so many more cool articles. Not sure why. But all I can say is that you North American people should feel yourselves lucky to have the Ensign. Good stuff.
Also, the best thing in the office - the AC. Oh, Im loving it. haha. I've gone from being the sweatiest guy in Paraguay to the coolest and driest. Feels fantastic. hahaha  Also cool - DearElders come super fast. I got one the was sent only 4 days earlier. How cool is that. And, just so yall remember, only the emails have a special day to be sent on. The others can be sent any old day of the week. But only if you feel like it. Not that I need any more mail. Just if you really love me. hahah. It'll still take like a month in the mail and however long it takes me to write to get them back though.
Met a lot of crasy ladies this week. I don't know why, but there are a ridiculous number of crasy people that are in love with missionaries here. But thankfully everyone here are good missionaries and we avoid them. Makes for some funny stories though.
Just got back from lunch. Fantastic. Super non-Chinese chinese food. Yum.
Happy Birthday to Diana btw. Sorry I missed it. Weird that everyone is getting so old. Is the wedding still going down? When will that be? Or did it already happen?
What else. Well, before, there were the 4 office elders AND the assistants working in the same area. But the ward boundries are pretty big. Anyways, for one reason or another, the assistants went off to work in Moroni, my first area. So thats kinda cool. They give me updates every week on the people that I used to know. That also means that the limits of our area changed. So we got a bunch of new area added on to ours. Thats really good because we went from having very few active members in our area, to having a descent amount. This week while we were getting to know our new area, we found a really cool person that we're teaching now. Shes only 14 but she was really interested and smart. When we came back the second time, we asked her if she read. We were expecting her to give us the usual "yeah, but only a bit" and not remembering anything about what she read. Well we were wrong. She told us all about the purpose of the book, the whole history of the book of mormon (with details about the people involved and everything), about Joseph Smith, and about Nephi's family and everything. It was crasy. So thats exciting. Found another guy this week too thats really cool. We'll see how he's doing tonight. We're definately seeing blessings even though we're in a hard area, and only are really able to give about half of our attention to the actual area. The hardest thing is for the people to give up the traditions that they've had for so long. They tell us about how they only really believe in things because they grew up with it, and agree with us when we talk about how those traditions are just traditions and that the gospel is more important. But then in the end, its still really hard for them to go away from their background and leave the ways of their families behind. But, we do what we can. Hopefully we can help the people to see how much more important these things will be for them, because its very easy to see (at least for me), how much better the lives are of the people that have the gospel in their lives, than those that don't. Everybody passes through similar problems, but the ones with the gospel pass them so much easier than those that don't have a solid foundation to fall back on.
But yeah. Not sure what else to say. Having a good time. The guys here are really good, and its fun being in the middle of everything. We basically get to know about everything that goes down in the mission and we know about all the new news before anybody else does. haha. Fun stuff like that. Besides that, not much more to tell you about. Maybe I'll try and send some photos. But, hope you're all doing well. Love you lots. Loving the misison. The church is true. Read your scrips! (lol)
Love ya!
Elder Humphreys
PS - Does the Song "Love comes First" from EFY 2011 sound like Taylor Swift to anyone else, or is that just because we haven't heard a real TSwift song in a long time? hahaha. We listen to that song ALL the time. Love it! lol

Pday #1 in the Office

Howdy there everybody. Here goes official letter #1 from the office. We'll see how it goes.....

Glad to hear that the fam reunion-ness went well. Crasy to think that youre all back into "real"-life again. Getting back into the school and work and whatnot. Sad to hear that some of "my" clubs broke, but yeah. Not like I really used them all that much anyways. haha. The corn bust... wow. I miss corn. haha. Mat and Ben? Who are they? Our neighbors I'm assuming? lol. Its funny to think that I don't really know the names of any of our neighbors. Once again, thanks for the package. I've been enjoying the stuff a lot. The skipping rope is holding up decently, and so thats been good. Not feeling so fat anymore. Not that thats going to last very long though, with all this awesome office food that I've been eating lately. But more on that in a bit. As for your questions on the facts dad - I'll have to do some investigating on that for ya. But what I do know is that the average missionary here (if there aren't special area circumstances), gets an alotment of 800,000 guarani. I can't remember how that translates over to dollars ** (embarassing, since that is now my job after all), but yeah. The prices are all different for things and whatnot, so its hard to translate over. But yeah. Así es. There are ABOUT 200 missionaries, but like I said, well get better stats in a second.
** ($200.00 ish cdn)

But yeah. I guess I'll just get ya'll caught up on life here. Monday was kinda weird. I knew that the special changes were coming up, and I knew that there was a good chance that something might happen to me. But I didn't actually get to know anything about them until Tuesday. So monday was super tranquilo. Didnt buy much stuff, because I wasnt' sure if I'd be there to enjoy it. Just kept it real. Organized my desk kind of needlessly. lol. Kinda waited all night long just for the phonecall that never came.


So that left Tuesday open for adventure. Around 6:45 we got a phonecall. From President. That kinda changed the days plans. lol. He mentioned the changes and said that they were in need of a new Secretario Financiero, and that after praying and meditating, that he had come to the conclusion that I was the man for the job. Kinda cool. He told me later that in the first interview that he had with me, that he was already thinking that one day in the future, that I'd probably be the financiero. Hopefully it was something about what I said or something he felt, and not just because I looked good and geeky or something. haha. And also, my comp (the one that's training me to do my job), said that he made a list of people that he thought would make good potential future financieros, and I happened to be on the top of his list. I guess thats what you get for trying to be helpful during your week in the office with a sick companion. haha. But for real, it was just kindof cool to hear that it was an inspired decision to have me here. Thats kindof how I felt too when I got the call. It didn't really freak me out as much as it should have, because although it meant a lot of change and responsibility, it felt like it was right, and was what the Lord wanted. And obviously the Lord is going to be here to help me out if he inspired his servant to call me here for the job.


But yeah. So that meant that Tuesday was kinda crasy. I spent all morning packing all of my stuff. Turns out that I got a LOT of junk. Somehow I found room for it all. Then after that, it left me the afternoon and evening to run a ful and try and say goodbye to everyone. Fortunately I got lucky and was able to visit almost everyone. Also luckily Elder McCain was good and helpful and was willing to run around with me. Even when he got all bummed out because the people said that they were sad that I was leaving, and one of the reasons being that my accent was easier to understand then the american accents. That made me a little happy because I've always wondered how my accent is. I don't think its the best,  but apparently its not tooooo bad. That made Elder McCain all grumpy though. Anyways, had some last second goodbyes, and then we took the 10:30 bus at night. Got in at around 4 oclock. Slept at the assistants house. Wednesday, started work as a full time office Elder. As always, sad to say goodbye. But so much more tranquilo knowing that I'll be able to go back in a year with pops. And with all this office experience, I'll now know the big secrets of living in Paraguay, and it'll be even easier for us to get around and have a fun holiday at the end.


Being an office Elder has got a lot of ups and downs. I've been trying to spend the most time possible thinking about the good things. My favorites being: I won't die this summer because I'll have AC (YES!!), as soon as my licence comes in, I'll be able to drive the "Randog"(a 15 passenger Toyota van that we use). Also, I'll have my own phone and computer. My comp will be somebody good and hardworking (he's the Presidents secretary), and there is a LOT of good food perks here (one thing I really missed about the city). Also, our house is good and nice, somebody cleans it for us a couple times a week, and we have our own washer and dryer (getting people to wash your clothes is SOOOO overrated). And we get to listen to EFY music almost ALL day. haha. (2011 is great BTW.) Obviously there are the down sides too, but Im trying not to focus on that kind of stuff. Some of those include: I will probably be here a good 7 or so months. I hear it gets kinda old. I thought I was getting fat before - now it'll no longer be a funny joke, as the majority of my time will be sitting at a desk, driving, or eating delicious food, and more of a reality. And also, I had thought that my first area was supposedly the hardest in the mission, but I now work in one thats even harder. Ugh. haha. But thats alright. We're going to work hard and have success. When President Arnold was here, he told the assistants to tell me that "office elders baptize", and I'm taking that to heart. Not letting the super prideful rich people get to me. lol. Hopefully we'll be able to work really hard and find some success.


But yeah. As an office Elder, we work from 10-4:30 in the office. The morning is studies like regular. After work, we head out into our area to work and do visits. The area is SUPER rich and "chuchi". The majority of the houses in the area is bigger than ours or Grandma and Grandpas houses. And although ours are kinda normal back there, here, thats BIG. There are a lot that are just giant castles that take up whole blocks. And so the people aren't typically very open, welcoming or humble. But like I said, that won't hold us back. Just have to work harder.


Not sure what I'm going to write about in the future weeks. There won't be tonnes to say I don't think. This week I got lots, but not really details about the days, more just about general stuff. We'll see how it goes.


There are 4 of us that work here in the office (right now 5 cuz I'm getting trained). Also, President and the Hna. work here a lot in the office too, as well as 2 assistants. My trainers name is Elder Cerpa (from Chile. Good guy. Speaks super good English). We also got Elder Thornton, Elder Pearson, and Elder Gustafson (who is our comp right now and will be my only comp when Elder Cerpa leaves). Elder Christen and Elder Cerda as assistants. Great group. I think I'll enjoy their company.


Anyways, I still don't know all my job yet. But generally I work with money all day long. I have a HUGE safe in the office and a buttload of money to deal with. Thankfully its not too big of a temptation for me, because there is a lot of room if you were corrupt and wanted to mess with the Lords money. I think I'd rather not be cast into outer darkness. It does mean that there is a lot of responsibility to not mess up. But everything gets double checked by pres and such and so hopefully things will be alright with that. lol. Its fun. I like it. Learning a lot every day. Anyways, we gotta go eat Elder Thornton and Elder Christens B-day lunch at TGIFridays. Gotta run. Love you lots. See ya bye. Have a good week!!!!


Elder Humphreys

Secretario Financiero

Howdy. Im guessing you probably werent expecting another email so soon eh? Well. As I mentioned in my last email, this week there were a lot of special changes.... and... somehow I fooled people into thinking I was a good person or something and.... Im now an oficial office Elder. Fancy that eh? lol. So yeah. President just told me to write you a quick note to let you know that now I{ll be having my P-days on Saturdays, and so if you want to write me, Friday night will work a lot better than Sunday nights now. Hope thats not a problem. lol. Anyways, Ill let you in on more of the details on Saturday. But I just thought I{d let ya all know. Ive been assigned to work as the Financiero, or the guy that works with all the churches money. Kinda exciting and only a little bit stressfull. Thankfully my new comp/old financiero is legit, and Ill be all ready to work on my own in about 3 weeks here. Should be good. Anyways, gotta run. Hope the week is going great. Ill write you all again on Saturday. Love ya!
Elder Humphreys
Secretario Financiero
Mision Paraguay Asuncion Norte

crocodile empanadas

Howdy! Another week come and gone. How time flies. Kinda wierd because for some reason this week I have TONNES of time to write. Not sure how. lol. We´ll see if I can think of anything interesting to tell you all about....

Just to fill you in on how things are right now. I just had a close run in with death - We had to take a two hour bus ride to another town. And then we turned around and came back about a half hour later. There aren´t any ATM´s in this town (LAME), and the bank where we normally take out our money told us they wont do that anymore. So we just had to spend all morning traveling to get our cash to pay the rent. But tranquilo. You gotta do what you gotta do. The fun part was that I didn´t drink enough water yesterday, and so on the way out I bought 2 litres of water for the ride. Bad idea. The first leg was fine, but on the way home all that water started getting to me. For a whole hour on the way home I was having some serious bladder pain and doing everything possible not to wet my pants. haha. It wasn´t fun. Fortunately I made it home alive and dry. And I can honestly say that right now I feel like a million bucks. lol.

But thats not really important. Just what was on my mind. Glad that you guys are having a blast and keeping the traditions alive. The temple obviously being the highlight, but also keeping the golf and skeet shooting going, even though your star player is taking a break for the year. Who won the golf now that I wasn´t there to take the prize like I usual do? lol. I´ll probably even be back for next years tourny. How wierd is that? Random notes, but since when is there a big screen at the ranch? Chuchi. Glad to hear that the dogs are getting along, and that Toby is still top dog. haha. School... what fun. Wierd to think that I´ll have to worry about school again in the future. Yay for reading the Ensign. Its probably my favorite thing to read right now. I´ve honestly read every one since the August that I got to the MTC cover to cover. Good stuff. As for Grandma and Grandpa letters. Not sure what to say. Basically, I have quite the time doing all my emails in under an hour. Just because I don´t know how to write a short letter, and the like. But on a day like today when none of my sisters wrote, and I don´t have any pictures to send I do have a little extra time. So I dunno. I do get the letters. I´m just SUPER bad at remembering to make mention of them or write back. I don´t think that any DearElders have ever not got to me. Its mostly my fault.  Not to make excuses, but I think I get more mail than everyone in the whole zone put together. I got the best family and friends! All the other Elders get needlessly jealous some times, but don´t let that stop the letters from coming. lol. I just have to make it a higher priority to get back to everybody. Im sure I look super ungreatful. Sorry. I´ll have to write to some realitives and leave writing back all of the chicas until later. haha But yeah. Thats how it goes. Maybe I´ll just have to start sending more short letters, and less gigantic ones. lol.

But. As for the week. Probably highlight: Guess who ate Crocodile??? Yeah. How legit is that. It basically just tasted like chicken, like everybody told me it would. Came in empanada form (not sure how to translate that.... think... pizza pop, but full of meat and a little egg and onions instead of sauce and cheese. lol) We eat empanadas basically every day, but thats the first time for the crocodile for me. But that wasnt really the highlight I guess. Just something really fun.

Question: Is there a good way to fix scripture bindings? My triple in English and in Spanish are both almost all falling out of their bindings. I think the humidity or something must destroy the glue or something because I´ve been treating them good, but they´re falling apart. If not, hopefully when I get home I can find somebody to fix them for me.

Monday night we went to Santani to stay the night for the big conference Tuesday. We got lucky because we didn´t have to sleep in the chapel like all the other missionaries, and instead we stayed at the district leaders house. That was legit. But it did cause us to get close to breaking the only rule that I was POSITIVE that I would never have to worry about. haha. It says ¨Sleep in the same room as your comp, but not in the same bed¨. Duh. Thanks rule book. Well... there weren´t enough matresses and so we kinda had a slumber party. haha. 3 guys on 2 matresses. And neither of them were my comp, so no worries. lol. But yeah. It meant that we were able to get a good night sleep and be ready for the conference. It was fun too because the conference was a sort of ¨family reunion¨for us. 4 of us guys from the same district were all there and so it was nice to chat with them again.

Tuesday was the conference. We were scared to death of what would happen, because the last time Elder Arnold came, he had basically everyone in tears. haha. But it wasn´t like that at all. It was super good. It was done in a very loving matter, and you could really see that he is a man called of god to help us. We recieved lots of good instruction and I think it´ll really help us as a mission. Its been going good so far applying everything that we learned. For example, without question, we kneel to pray with the people in every lesson. Something that we were told would be good to do, but now we do it always. And its been cool to see what a difference it makes. Even when it means that you´re kneeling in the mud in somebodies front yard. Stuff like that. It´ll be great to see the difference all the changes make.

We also got given personal DVD players. Every companionship has one now for watching missionary teaching vids that should help us to do our comp studies better. Wé´ll see how that goes. Apparently it comes straight from Salt Lake. So far we don´t have the vids so we haven´t tried it yet, but we´ll see. I can see a lot of goofs watching vids in their spare time...

Also, I got my Packages!! Yay! THANKS! I loved all the stuff. I´ve been skipping for 20 minutes every morning, and then putting back on all the calories again by eating about a pound of candy a day. Good stuff. The package came in pretty descent shape. Kinda squished, and had been opened in customs, but I don´t think anything was missing. Some of the candy got a little melted, but the only thing that was really all that negatively affected was the jolley ranchers. Those are a little sticky, but still delish. The funniest part was the other package I got. From my ¨secret lover¨. Haha. It said it was from DearElder, and had the name of Emily Mickle on it. Who the heck is Emily Mickle??? I was super puzzled. We emptied the box looking for letters. Everyone was questioning me. I didn´t have a clue. I was planning on sending this stranger a note to say thanks and find out why she loved me enough to send me a box of candy.... then my comp did some investigating and found the name hidden under the top lable. From my NOT so secret lover. But somebody who clearly cares about me. hahahaha. THANKS aunt Barb/family for the candy, and also for the mystery!!!! hahaha. I enjoyed it, though Im kinda disapointed to not have a secret lover. Also, I thought it was ironic as I was looking at my teeth the other day, thinking about how it will be another long year without a dentist apointment, and then realized that it was my hygenist who sent me all the candy that´s rotting my teeth. haha. But its worth it. THANKS!!

Wow. I have more time, and then I just write more about little things. Then I have no time again.... lol

We had a couple close encounters with the Rat this week. We made the owner of the house fix the hole in the roof. But somehow he got in again. He doesn´t bother me all that much cuz he sticks to the kitchen, but Elder McCain woke me up a couple times in the middle of the night because he needed to use the bathroom, and needed my help to scare away the mouse. Thankfully Im a good, patient, loving, (humble), comp. haha.

But really. Besides all the goofy stuff, the week was really good. Taught a lot of great lessons. Had a lot of successful days. Kneeled, and felt the spirit in basically ever lesson. Taught a bunch with a kid in the ward about mission and mariage. He´s 20. I think I helped him to see and start thinking about serving, and also why he wants to get married and why it would be worth it. He told me he wanted to be single for his whole life, cuz he didnt want a wife to nag him for the rest of his life. haha. So I set him straight. HAven´t talked to him since, but we´ll see what he thinks about the mission..

Anyways, sorry for just a goofy letter. PRobably too long to be good. Happy birthday aunt natalie. Have a good one. A bunch of new guys are coming in 3 weeks, so there are going to be some MAD special changes. WE´ll see if I get changed this week or not. Have a great week. Love you lots!!!

Elder Humphreys