The Office - Week 10

Howdy everybody.
Sorry to write a little bit later today. We decided to make our P-day fun today and so we shook it up a little bit. After doing our studies today, we ran on over to the church. We brought a bunch of materials and started cooking a ful. We made some super good scrambled eggs, hash browns, waffles, real orange juice and even managed to find a place in town were we could get some maple syrup (something that most people miss a lot. Hard to find in this country. Thankfully we have the van and a lot of places that import. And its not even that expensive. So thats pretty cool. Well be eating goooood.). So that was fun. We also managed to find a new soccer ball so that we could play. It was a little expensive, but its actually made for playing on the concrete ¨fields¨ that almost all of the churches have. So that was good. Theyre less bouncy so we didnt end up losing this one on the roof like they did with the last one. Played that for a couple hours. Almost overheated but managed to have a great time regardless. And then I NEED to get a haircut today, so Ill try and see if I can get it all done in time. Still have to buy our food too....
Thanks for all of the fun letters this week. I enjoyed the pictures too. I think everything turned out looking just great. Glad you´re having fun in Edmonton too. Having fun on my train. Sitting on one of my favourite couches. Glad you were able to enjoy the 11 moment as well. I stopped all work in the office for a moment and we just tried to grasp the moment for a second. haha. There was a guy in my office there to pick up money from me.... I think he probably thought I was kinda weird, but he had fun with it too. lol. Say happy B-day to Uncle Boyd for me if you end up going to see him. Not sure I remember who he is, but its obviously the thought that counts right? lol. Sounds like you all had a fun time off of school and work, taking it easy... being sick. Good times. The dentist sounds super fun... lol. Most people don´t go to the dentist here because you have to pay for it yourself. And I don´t really know how much you want to trust it. Not really sure which is worse. But I´m definitely excited for the next good teeth cleaning. I´m sure the dentist is going to hate me. haha. If you ever get to know a real Paraguayan though, you´d come to find that dental hygiene isn't really on the top of the important things to do list.... Weird to think that there are actually still people that taught me in Junior High that work there. I wonder if they actually remember me or if they are just faking it....lol. Congrats on the awards and all of the well done presentations. Fun to know that you get time for family scrips and that you're all working hard and enjoying life.
This week was pretty good for me. Worked hard. Had some fun. Had some successful moments, lame moments and interesting ones. All in all a good experience. The biggest "highlight" of the week (if you can really call it that), was part 2 of changes. They were a little weird this time because President was away on a conference. So that meant that all of the newbies came early last week before he left on the conference. But the oldies couldn't just go and leave early. So that was put off until this week. As always, that meant for some extra excitement, work and pains in the butt. lol.  Without President in the office, I was short on cash again because I couldn't go to the bank without his signature. But I somehow managed to survive without too much problems.
Working in our area was a little bit slower this week. Ended up doing a lot of contacting houses, without finding all that much success. But, we continue doing what we can. haha - random thought, but I was just trying to think of what to write, and realized that I was having a really hard time thinking of how to say something because the way you say it in Spanish doesn't really translate over directly. Just kinda weird to notice how deeply the way to say things is getting ingrained in our heads in Spanish, and how we're losing our English. It'll be interesting for the first week or two when I can't speak in plain English. Funny stuff.
Had some typical random lessons this week. There was one that looked promising when we walked in because she showed us a pamphlet that she got about the family from another church. It seemed like a perfect teaching opportunity. Until we realized that no matter how hard we tried to get a word in, she was just going to keep on talking and talking. And talking. We had to fight super hard just to get enough words in to tell her we were leaving. Thankfully we did, or we could have been there forever. We also talked to her next door neighbor, who also seemed cool... until she told us that she would NOT ask heavenly father which church was true, because she thought that that would be like tempting God after she already knows that the Catholic church is true... even though she's never really asked in a prayer what is the truth. So that was kind of strange. People don't usually refuse to pray like that.
But we did manage to find somebody interesting. She told us about how her mother had recently died, and how she never married or had children. We were able to testify about the plan of salvation and how there is more than just this life. That through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can overcome any problem that we come across in this life. We weren't able to sit down with her and share much because it was late, but hopefully tonight or later in the week....
Had to make a couple trips to the airport this week. Send all of the oldies home. It was a big disaster for a couple reasons. Basically, it was Elder Thomsons first time. Its hard the first time because you aren't really prepared for everything that is going to happen. You don't really know everything that you need to do to prepare. So there was a couple moments of panic. They almost didn't make there flights. Hectic. Fortunately it all went well in the end though. One thing that I thought was funny is that people usually ask me if going to the airport makes me "trunky". I realized this time that it really does the opposite. Driving there, realizing that the lives of (almost)everyone in the van will soon be home, and that they will never get to be in the same situation again, makes me kinda sad for them. They are obviously excited to get home to see their families or whatever, but at the same time, I always just realize how once in a lifetime all of it is. I really start to realize how much I've come to love this country in all of its many differences. How although going home is great, I'm not really ready for that moment. And then it just makes me appreciate every moment a little bit more. So thats kinda nice. Fortunately they all made their flights though, because otherwise they would have been TICKED and I didn't really want them sleeping over at my house just talking for hours about home and the future. lol.
So this coming week will just be a little bit of recovery from the end of changes. Shouldn't be too crasy. I'm glad for Elder Thomson that its over - it looked like the stress was starting to get to him. lol. That is something about the office though. Its doing a good job of teaching us stress management. Sometimes when people are just being annoying and uncooperative, its hard to be patient with them or not to snap at them. But you come to learn that when you snap, it doesn't really make you feel any better, and it doesn't fix anything. So, we work hard at being patient, but at the same time firm and direct. If not, people just walk all over you, nothing gets done, and then people are ticked. So that's something great that we've all been learning step by step. Good lessons for life.
Oh, and we got AC in our house this week. Thats SUPER legit. One in our room, and one in the other guys room. We had to waste a whole morning just sitting in the house for the guy to instal it, but it was worth it. The best part was that I didn't even have to ask for it. The Hermana just offered it after she realized that there are often 4 or 5 of us that have to sleep in the same room (around change time) and that fans just don't cut it in the summer. So we've been living goood sleeping non-sweaty. Super nice. I'm just not excited to see the electric bill this month....haha. Being the money guy has made me even more money spending conscious. Hopefully it doesn't go up too much. lol.
Anyways. I think I got to go and get my hair cut. Glad to hear that you all had a great week. Have fun with the holidays and whatnot. Things are doing great here. Just trying to get the most out of every moment of it. Time flies WAY to fast. Oh well. Thanks for all of the love and support. The church is true, and this is his work! Gotta love it!
Love ya!
Elder Humphreys