Hello. Sorry to write a little later today. We spent the morning playing soccer in the sun. haha. It was a disaster. The soccer was super fun, but the sun and humidity was out of control. Had a blast though. That´s one of the fun things about office life. There are always 4-6 of us up for a fun activity. And then afterwards, we obviously had to go and get some eats (Chinese. Again), and then watched a video about that ¨Reflections of Christ¨ photo shoot thing that those guys did. The ones that came around and had it all set up at the stake centers a couple months before I left. Good stuff. Just a random thought to go along with that. I can get basic church pictures here at the distribution center, but to get things small or anything creative like this guys photos is really hard to do. Anyways, my office is kinda plain, and even though there isn´t tons of space for more stuff or pictures, it´d be cool if you could just throw in a couple random pictures you like and send them to me, and I´ll decorate my office with them. If its not a hassle. The fun homemade ones I hang at the house, and the pretty church ones I try and put in my office. But anyways, now there is time to do whats most important - the weekly update. This week was actually really good. It felt like it went by twice as fast as last week, and so that was kinda nice, since the reason it went faster was just based on how tranquilo it was. Nothing tooooo crasy went down in the office, though we did have a fair share of memorable experiences good for sharing.
I think that one of the reasons that the week went so well was based on how well it started. Sunday we showed up and there were already more people than usual at the church. We ended up having the highest attendance since I´ve been here. Why? Because it was Primary Presentation week. Sick. I didn´t think that I´d ever be seeing one of those here in Paraguay. Usually things are too disorganized, and there aren´t enough kids or leaders or whatever. But this was different. It was almost EXACTLY how I remember it at home. It just gave me one big smile for the majority of sacrament meeting. Which was nice. Last week, after having to deal with some rowdy kids while we were trying to teach a lesson got me remembering how thankful I was to be able to work with adults all day, and not having to deal with kids. lol. Terrible of me, I know. Anyways, the presentation reminded me about how great kids really are, and how humble and innocent they can really be. My comp had to remind me that kids are typically like their parents, and so I shouldn´t have to worry too much about not liking my own kids one day when I´m a father. hahaha. Kids are great. So that made my day Sunday, and set a good stage for the rest of the week.
Monday was funny. We had to take an Elder home. He was going home early. Honorably. So that he could get married. haha. It was wierd. Apparently they were already planning on it before they both went on missions, and now they just wanted to hurry it up and get it done before the next semester of school started or something. I was kinda skeptical, but it turns out that he´s a pretty cool and down to earth kid. Hopefully it all works out for him. It was kinda weird being around somebody that close to getting married though. As missionaries, you usually are all separated from all that kinda crasy stuff going down until after you get home. haha. Hopefully he made it home okay though, because there is apparently new flying rules about going through Brazil, and if the nice lady at the airport hadn´t gotten it all fixed, his bags never would have made it home. Now... hopefully they will. haha. Maybe if you´re ever working on planning flights here or back, if possible, it might be easier to just take the route through Buenas Aires as opposed to Sao Paulo. But whatever works best. Everybody wants to see Brazil. lol.
Tuesday was a little crasy, but manageable. I had to do a bunch of work ahead of time because I was supposed to miss a day of work in the office to go on a division. And there were TONS of reimbursements to do. But, miraculously I got them all done without too much hassle. While out working I tried to take my comp to visit a member that I hadn´t been to since one of my first weeks here. We got lost. How embarrassing. lol. But it was cool anyways, because we were able to meet some new people that we would have never come in contact with if we had just been rushing to a house that we actually knew where it was. Thats always nice. Even when your plans fall through, there are always people to meet, and people who have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. We did get to visit one person that was really interesting though. We´ve talked to her before, but she hasn´t been able to talk with us lately because shes been really busy working, and taking care of her mother who is soon to pass away. She´s really stressed out, and though she would love to hear more and keep learning, there just doesnt seem to be the time. Anyways, we talked a lot about trials, and were able to help her to see how the Book of Mormon can really help us with our everyday trials. Even though it couldn´t specifically say ¨The Lord is going to help you carry the burden of taking care of your sick mother and keeping up at work¨, it could teach her about how people in past times have overcome trials, and how we can get the help of the Lord in our trials, by turning to him. Its always great to be able to see the scriptures really come to life for people that at first just see them as a big boring history book, and not something that really applies to them in their present lives.
Wednesday. The biggest thing that I remember was the Hermanas announcement about a little get together that we´d be doing the next day due to it being American Thanksgiving day. I at first just brushed it off and told her I was sorry, that I would be on a division, and that the other Elder would have to enjoy it in my place. But something that I´ve learned here in the office - when the Hermana tells you to do something, you do it. No questions. You will lose the argument. haha. So, under her ¨demand¨, we postponed it for the next week. Wow. Im sure glad that I did.
Thursday. One of the crasiest days of my mission. It was. Legit. (for lack of a better word). Fantastic maybe would fit it better. There was very little office work that actually done. Most of the day went to either getting ready for our Thanksgiving lunch, enjoying it, or recovering from it. It was ridiculously awesome, and a lot bigger of a deal than I thought it would be. A lot of people that help us out and work with and around us were all invited. The guy that takes care of the greenery, the cooks, the cleaners. Some other guy... lol. And we had a FEAST. There was more food there than I´ve seen in a long time. And not just regular food. There was TURKEY. And stuffing. Mashed potatoes. Gravy. Beets. Homemade buns. It was unreal. Ranch dressing even! Wow. All of the things I didnt think that I´d be seeing for a long time. I´d say that the crasiest part of it for me was that first bite of Turkey, gravy and potatoes at the same time. Wow. It tasted like home. haha. Things that I used to take for granted. We honestly ate until we couldn´t eat anymore. There was also a huge array of deserts. The crasiest being the pumpkin pie. I almost died. We ate until it was hard to walk, I thought I might blow chunks at any second, and my shirt was actually tight across my stomach. It was ridiculous. I don´t think I´ve ever eaten that much, nor will I ever do it again. We were in heaven, even though I almost exploded. I imagine that it´ll be messy when I get home again. I´ll be the biggest pig of the family get togethers. haha. The other crasy thing being that this is all just in preparation for Christmas. Man, will that be a sight. Anyways, I shouldn´t just ramble about the food. It was actually really nice to just take some time, enjoy our time with one another and remember all of the things we´re thankful for. Good stuff. Obviously it wasn´t like really Canadian Thanksgiving or anything, but it was pretty out of this world.
Funny story. The van window got smashed by some robbers. Not that funny I guess, but more how it went down was kinda funny. They broke into the car. The door was unlocked, but they went through the passengers window. Now we need a new one. They also must have had to stop the robbery early, because all they took was everybodies books. Thankfully I was all safe at home with my books. But everybody else lost theirs. Weird thing being that they left the cell phones and the iPod sitting on the dash. And, this wasn´t in some random back alley, but in front of Presidents house while the other guys stopped in for less than 20 minutes to drop something off. Weird. I still like to think of this being a pretty safe place. Just with some people that don´t think everything out all the way. lol
There is this annoying dog that always barks at us. I took a foot swing at it this week. Unfortunately I missed, but out of nowhere a random dog got mad about it and tried to bite Elder Thomson for no good reason. It didn´t really make any sense, but it did make for a pretty intense showdown. Fortunately we got away unhurt, or else I would have felt more bad for provoking the other dog. It made the members that saw the whole thing laugh though, so that was good... I guess. haha.
Yesterday we got to do service. That never happens. So that was fun. Cut down trees with machetes and saws. Good stuff. Also got some good prickling by the cactus that was there. Never really have had that happen before, so that was exciting. Turns out that you shouldn´t touch a cactus. It doesn´t make your hand feel very good.
Anyways, that was kinda my week. I gotta be running so we can go buy some food. But happy birthday to Cheyanne. Thanks to Chloe for the package! I got it the other day. I haven´t oppened it because I assumed its for Christmas, but if not, just let me know and I´ll be happy to open it right away. lol. I´m glad that you got my package. I thought it would take a lot longer to get there. Save it for Christmas! haha. Best of wishes to the Courts. Hope they´re feeling better. Good luck with the braces. Still not sure if I´m man enough to want to worry about that when I get home.... lol. Anyways. Gotta run. The church is true. Thanks for all of the letters! Love ya lots and talk to ya next week!! Chau.
Elder Humphreys
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