Alrighty! Another stressful 30 minutes of awesome. lol.
K. So I'm defs in the choir. We have a practice every single day for an hour. We'll be singing in Priesthood session, so sorry to all you women types that really wanted to see me sing, but you might have to wait to see it online or something. haha. We're soundin pretty legit right now, its just getting everything memorized and getting it all to be smooth and excellent sounding. In other news this week (sorry, this was probably the most un-eventful week yet), the gym is open. Its really nice. We haven't gone in during our gym time, but the field is almost barren now and so it makes playing soccer way more fun. I should be pro in no time. lol. Speaking of gym tho, I caught a ball in the jaw the other day (it was kicked from about a foot away and so I didn't have a chance to dodge it), and it kinda messed up my mouth. Couldn't close it all the way for a couple of days. That was fun. It fixed my overbite but with the whole short teeth in the back thing it was kinda lame. I'm all good now tho. lol
This week we started teaching in Spanish, which is really good. It can be really stressful and the lessons aren't nearly as smooth anymore, but it makes me use my spanish which is exactly what i need. I was assesed at the beggining of the week by my teacher and we decided that I needed to practice more, so this is good for me. lol My spanish skills are already 10 times better than last week, and is coming along quite nicely.
Big news: I finished the Old Testament the other day, and have thus finished the Standard Works. That was quite the accomplishment since I've been working on it for quite a while now. Felt great to have done something like that, and I think its really helped me with my understanding of the gospel. It was great, but I'll admit its not for everyone... finishing the Old Testament was killer. hahaha.
Oh, and I guess I should let you all know that I've kinda got this addiction since I've been here. Its nothing to be proud of, but I just can't seem to break the habit.... right now I'm averaging about 10 glasses a day of "Orange Guava Passionfruit" juice. Its that good. hahaha. I'm thinking somebody should send me the nutritional info for it so I can see what kinda calories I'm puttin on because of it. lol. But seriously, someone should. Minute Maid. Good stuff. Its got my recommendation for sure. Fortunately I think I'm averaging only about a pound a week that I've put on, and so no worries there. lol
This saturday I passed the 1 month mark. Kinda crasy to think about... My missions already 1/24th over. It kinda made us all a little antsy to get going and start helpin real people, but the least it did was make us so we don't feel like MTC n00bs anymore. haha
Thats about it as far as the week went. People feel this great need to bring up Canada at any possible moment (which I'm fine with), so I do have a few requests tho... If possible, Ketchup chips have been sought after by people in my district. They loved the fuzzy peaches. Also, if you're shippin stuff in, we always love Easy-cheese. haha. Apparently everyone here calls it Cheese Whiz tho, so a small jar of real deal cheeze whiz would be nice to show them all how it really is, and maybe even share the beauty of the cheeze-whiz and jam sandwich (no one thinks it sounds good, but I got people willing to give it a try). Anyways, these are in no way demands, but if you were thinking of how much you wanted to send me something, but didn't know what to send, these are defs on the list.....lol
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!! Hope its swell. Oh, and have fun in Europe for me. I had no idea you guys were going. Sounds sweet.
(oh, and just so you all know, I'll try to remember birthdays, but thats not really the kinda thing that really sticks in my memory, so forgive me if I forget you....)
Clarification on last weeks letter. When I said that we were discussing how much repenting we're doing as missionaries, it kinda goes back to that idea of how repentance is changing from being the person you were, to be something better. In that regard, us missionaries are doing TONNES of repenting as we change from being the sorry selfs we used to be (i'm saying that as a general kinda idea...lol), and becoming better. For example, we now get up early/go to bed early, we study hard every day, try to be more disciplined selfs, we plan our lives ahead of time, we try to avoid using slang and other slacker language, we clean our rooms, write in our journals etc. etc. It was just a cool idea to think about. How we're making a lot of change ourselves, and how the gospel and the atonement are there to guide us and help us on our way.
I sent a small envelope of photo's a couple days before last weeks email. Apparently mail travels slow (or i really didn't know what i was doing. lol), and so hopefully they show up. You'll have to let me know. Speaking of mail, I appologize for just sending these emails so far. At first it was just cuz I was busy, but now I just don't know if people actually care that I send them letters back or if you'd appreciate presonalized ones. Cuz if they'd be appreciated, by all means just let me know, cuz I'm happy to do it. I just don't want to be one of those people that sends out 15 letters a week and yet still no one cares. haha
Thanks for the heads up. I'll remember to walk around on the flight, and now i remember how to collect call so thats perfect. Hope bro. Stonehockers doing better.
Thanks for the mail. We went and picked it up a little early today and so I got all the letters I usually get after i send this so that was nice. Thanks for the picture Emma! Maybe I'll draw something and send it back ;). But I'm out of time so I'll probably reply later. Maybe send a couple hand ones. Mom, go ahead and sign me up for that thing if you think its a good idea. It'll probably just mean mail till I die but if it helps then its worth it i guess.
AH! Speaking of Canada, could you do me a big favour? Send me a list of everything good about canada, inventions people etc. I need some firepower. The more the better. anyways, basically out of time.
The Church is True, love you all. Keep it real, and I love your mail, so keep in touch! lol
Elder Humphreys
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
THE CLASSIC MTC MAP PHOTO
Photo courtesy of Elder Theo Gibb's Mission blog. Elder Gibb is now serving in the Colorado Springs, Colorado mission.
LIFE AT THE CCM (MTC)
Hola! Another good week here at the CCM (MTC). Its startin to feel like we've been here forever, but I'm not sick of it yet which is good. Thanks for all the mail I got this week. Sounds like you guys all sent them on the weekend tho cuz I had a nice stack when I got to class on monday night. lol.
This week we lost a good chunk of our district. Elder's Hale, Porter, Afatasi and Theil left us to finish the next 6 weeks of their time at the the MTC in the Dominican Republic where they will also serve the rest of their missions. That left 8 of us in the district. There's a much different atmosphere now that they're gone, but its good. We get distracted more easily cuz they were some of the most diligent people we had, but since they also had 3 of the best spanish speakers in the class, its allowed for us to slow down a bit and have lessons taught at a level closer to what we all need.
The language is commin better. This week we're starting to teach lessons in Spanish which is kinda ridiculous (I'm still a long ways from being ready for that), but I'm getting to the point that I can understand almost all of the stuff that I hear as long as its comming from another missionary and not from a teacher. lol.
This week was mostly uneventfull.... probably the most exciting thing would be that one day when we all hit the showers, Elder Sears (the last man in the room) decided to lock us all out. Fortunately I still had sweaty gym clothes to get back into, but Elder's Tenney and Bennion were standing around in their towels for a while while we waited for someone to save us. lol. Like I said, things aren't really all too exciting, so that was kinda a highlight. Otherwise mostly all we do is class and study. Good, but not really exciting stuff for emails...
We did talk about a couple interesting things this week tho. For instance, my teacher ranted for a bit one day about how this IS real life and that when we get back and people say "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be normal again in a couple of weeks" that they are SO wrong. He had some merit for sure and I liked how we need to remember that being a missionary isn't something that we only do for 2 years and then give up on. But it was also kinda funny cuz thats a) a long way away, and b) this guy keeps "key indicators" still, but is setting goals on things like how many dates he's going to go on this week. lol. We laughed with him for a while on that one. We also talked about the stability of the church and how there are so many church farms, so much tithing money and so much structure that even when/if the countries of the world fall, we'll still be there, strong as ever, and nobody will even realize how it happened. Kinda cool. Last thing that kinda stuck out to me was how repentance is changing for the better, and how they say that missionaries are using the atonement more than most of their investigators. I didn't get it at first, but there's such a drastic change in how we live our lives that we're doing a LOT of repenting. Its no wonder everones so irritable these days. lol
Thats all the exciting stuff. Now I'll probably just answer questions. Oh, but question: did you get the pics I sent? I don't want to ruin a suprise, but I'm kinda interested if I'm with it enough to get a letter out on my own. lol
Oh, and lastly, we got a new Branch Pres which is kinda exciting (one of 32 at the MTC), and we'll be getting a new district leader next week. Scary stuff. haha
Anyways. Haha I think Howard sounds like the bomb. I love ridiculous people. The gym is closed for reno's and it was supposed to be done like on the 1st of September. Everyone's gettin really antsy about it opening, but they keep pushing back the date we'll get to use it. Funny that they paddle people in high school... looks like its gone to the dogs since its lacked my positive influence of the day. And have fun in choir. Maybe it'll benefit you in unseen ways someday.
Speaking of which.... I made the choir! Nbd. haha. We got a thing in the mail today saying that I should be singing in General Conference! That is if I don't miss any practices and everything goes according to plan. Pretty exciting regardless. All but 2 people in my district will be there too. It should be fun. I'll have to get back to you on what session, but I'm assuming it'll be priesthood....
As for packages, the things that come to mind have been the hershey chocolates, the sweedish berry/lint roller box, the fuzzy peaches/kinder suprise box (which everyone loved btw), and the cookies from the Mysyks. I think thats it, but I might be forgetting one maybe..? I dunno. I think they're all getting here. Much appreciated tho! Its been good to have snacks before bed cuz dinner's at 4:30 and you get pretty hungry. Almost out of everything tho. Elder Tenney thinks its ridiculous how much candy I've eaten. lol
I looked at the scrip for my plaque again. Its still a fav of mine so i'd say just go with it. Unless its too long and then I'll get back to you.
Corn bust sounded like a blast. Wish I coulda been there, but glad you all had fun. Good to hear you did the food drive without me too. That was always one of my faves.
Greeters that pick people up are just people who have been here a while. I'll probs get to start doing it soon enough.
K, runnin short on time so we're double timin it.
Yeah, it looks like the flight plan will be rough. But it turns out he had a flight from Argentina to Paraguay. We thought for a while he'd have to bus or something. lol.
Speaking Spanish all the time is rough. When we try to do just spanish we don't end up saying much, but we're trying to incorporate it into our day. Wish us luck. We'll try to keep practicing without turning into silent munk types. haha.
Weighed myself yesterday. Still in the 130s so no matter what I do, whether it be eat too much or get daily excercise it looks like i'm holdin steady. lol
I think Erica's right. I would appreciate the howling moon backround if you wouldn't mind. And 21 pushups a minute!?! That crasy! I don't think I could do that many in a day! haha.
Elder Vance's food sounded super cool. We're all hopin it'll be that fun in Paraguay.
Isolation was like vacation! I miss it every day at about 6:20 am. hahaha
The teeth sound like they were a blast :/ Hope it all turned out well. Cool that you got the fake ones tho. I'm excited for those. And good you till have a job!! How you going to afford an infinity if you don't got a job? lol.
And special thanks to my non direct family for the mail (aka Carmen and Sarah). Good to hear what the friends are up to.
Anyways, I'm outa time. Love you all! Keep being awesome. I miss you all, but am having a great time here. Can't wait to hit the field and do some REAL work. lol
Love ya,
ELDER HUMPHREYS
editorial note: no photos have arrived... and apparently we need to send healthier snacks, haha
This week we lost a good chunk of our district. Elder's Hale, Porter, Afatasi and Theil left us to finish the next 6 weeks of their time at the the MTC in the Dominican Republic where they will also serve the rest of their missions. That left 8 of us in the district. There's a much different atmosphere now that they're gone, but its good. We get distracted more easily cuz they were some of the most diligent people we had, but since they also had 3 of the best spanish speakers in the class, its allowed for us to slow down a bit and have lessons taught at a level closer to what we all need.
The language is commin better. This week we're starting to teach lessons in Spanish which is kinda ridiculous (I'm still a long ways from being ready for that), but I'm getting to the point that I can understand almost all of the stuff that I hear as long as its comming from another missionary and not from a teacher. lol.
This week was mostly uneventfull.... probably the most exciting thing would be that one day when we all hit the showers, Elder Sears (the last man in the room) decided to lock us all out. Fortunately I still had sweaty gym clothes to get back into, but Elder's Tenney and Bennion were standing around in their towels for a while while we waited for someone to save us. lol. Like I said, things aren't really all too exciting, so that was kinda a highlight. Otherwise mostly all we do is class and study. Good, but not really exciting stuff for emails...
We did talk about a couple interesting things this week tho. For instance, my teacher ranted for a bit one day about how this IS real life and that when we get back and people say "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be normal again in a couple of weeks" that they are SO wrong. He had some merit for sure and I liked how we need to remember that being a missionary isn't something that we only do for 2 years and then give up on. But it was also kinda funny cuz thats a) a long way away, and b) this guy keeps "key indicators" still, but is setting goals on things like how many dates he's going to go on this week. lol. We laughed with him for a while on that one. We also talked about the stability of the church and how there are so many church farms, so much tithing money and so much structure that even when/if the countries of the world fall, we'll still be there, strong as ever, and nobody will even realize how it happened. Kinda cool. Last thing that kinda stuck out to me was how repentance is changing for the better, and how they say that missionaries are using the atonement more than most of their investigators. I didn't get it at first, but there's such a drastic change in how we live our lives that we're doing a LOT of repenting. Its no wonder everones so irritable these days. lol
Thats all the exciting stuff. Now I'll probably just answer questions. Oh, but question: did you get the pics I sent? I don't want to ruin a suprise, but I'm kinda interested if I'm with it enough to get a letter out on my own. lol
Oh, and lastly, we got a new Branch Pres which is kinda exciting (one of 32 at the MTC), and we'll be getting a new district leader next week. Scary stuff. haha
Anyways. Haha I think Howard sounds like the bomb. I love ridiculous people. The gym is closed for reno's and it was supposed to be done like on the 1st of September. Everyone's gettin really antsy about it opening, but they keep pushing back the date we'll get to use it. Funny that they paddle people in high school... looks like its gone to the dogs since its lacked my positive influence of the day. And have fun in choir. Maybe it'll benefit you in unseen ways someday.
Speaking of which.... I made the choir! Nbd. haha. We got a thing in the mail today saying that I should be singing in General Conference! That is if I don't miss any practices and everything goes according to plan. Pretty exciting regardless. All but 2 people in my district will be there too. It should be fun. I'll have to get back to you on what session, but I'm assuming it'll be priesthood....
As for packages, the things that come to mind have been the hershey chocolates, the sweedish berry/lint roller box, the fuzzy peaches/kinder suprise box (which everyone loved btw), and the cookies from the Mysyks. I think thats it, but I might be forgetting one maybe..? I dunno. I think they're all getting here. Much appreciated tho! Its been good to have snacks before bed cuz dinner's at 4:30 and you get pretty hungry. Almost out of everything tho. Elder Tenney thinks its ridiculous how much candy I've eaten. lol
I looked at the scrip for my plaque again. Its still a fav of mine so i'd say just go with it. Unless its too long and then I'll get back to you.
Corn bust sounded like a blast. Wish I coulda been there, but glad you all had fun. Good to hear you did the food drive without me too. That was always one of my faves.
Greeters that pick people up are just people who have been here a while. I'll probs get to start doing it soon enough.
K, runnin short on time so we're double timin it.
Yeah, it looks like the flight plan will be rough. But it turns out he had a flight from Argentina to Paraguay. We thought for a while he'd have to bus or something. lol.
Speaking Spanish all the time is rough. When we try to do just spanish we don't end up saying much, but we're trying to incorporate it into our day. Wish us luck. We'll try to keep practicing without turning into silent munk types. haha.
Weighed myself yesterday. Still in the 130s so no matter what I do, whether it be eat too much or get daily excercise it looks like i'm holdin steady. lol
I think Erica's right. I would appreciate the howling moon backround if you wouldn't mind. And 21 pushups a minute!?! That crasy! I don't think I could do that many in a day! haha.
Elder Vance's food sounded super cool. We're all hopin it'll be that fun in Paraguay.
Isolation was like vacation! I miss it every day at about 6:20 am. hahaha
The teeth sound like they were a blast :/ Hope it all turned out well. Cool that you got the fake ones tho. I'm excited for those. And good you till have a job!! How you going to afford an infinity if you don't got a job? lol.
And special thanks to my non direct family for the mail (aka Carmen and Sarah). Good to hear what the friends are up to.
Anyways, I'm outa time. Love you all! Keep being awesome. I miss you all, but am having a great time here. Can't wait to hit the field and do some REAL work. lol
Love ya,
ELDER HUMPHREYS
editorial note: no photos have arrived... and apparently we need to send healthier snacks, haha
Monday, September 13, 2010
ISOLATION
K, so apparently Elder Gibb went and left on me. You said last week that he'd be leaving and I was pretty sure that you meant this monday he would leave. But then when I didn't see him all week I realized that probably wasn't the case. So I didn't give him a proper goodbye... some friend eh? lol. Elder Patterson left this morning tho at the lovely hour of 4 in the morning if I'm not mistaken. Fortunately I ran into him last night and got the proper goodbye in for that one. Plus, I'll see him in 6 weeks anyways so no big deal right? haha. I think I've seen everyone I know here now. Ran into Elders White and Dyer this week (edmonton friends) as well as both of the Elder Payne's. I haven't got pictures with them all yet, but I got some pictures being printed right now so I'll try and mail them over asap.
The week was swell. We're starting to use time more efficiently and get deeper into our studies. We went to choir on tuesday even tho I was super sick and managed to fill out the forms so that we can sing in general conference. Wish me luck! There were like a billion elders there, and the sign up form was all about musical experience so we'll see how generous they're feeling when they read mine... hopefully lots of stake choirs, quartets and singing in church is what they like. Its a long shot, but couldn't risk not signing up. I'm pretty sure they'll just read it and think I'm one of those people that goes to American Idol cuz everyone has always told them they can really sing even tho their terrible. But meh. lol
I'll just talk about the quick things here before I get to the exciting part of my week... went for a haircut today. The lady asked how I liked it, but I don't know how closely she followed my model for her... she didn't even ask me what I thought when it was done. I probably look like an idiot (i haven't really looked to close at it yet...), but whatever. Thats what you gotta expect when you go for the MTC trim. lol. We also got to go to the temple today. It was really nice. We did a session and then did a little initiatory afterwards. It was cool especially cuz I haven't gone back to do initiatory before.
Oh ya. As for what ya'll sent this week - sorry. Still haven't seen kevins thing. Dad, I liked all of your root analogies. I thought about them quite a bit. Thanks for forwarding the letters. They were nice when i was locked up (forshadowing??). The packages were great! Thank you kindly. They're keeping us nice and full even when we have dinner at 4:30 and nothing to eat again till 7 the next morning. And sorry if you sent something since Friday, and I didnt respond to it. The way mail works around here, if you didn't send it before friday, we dont get it till after dinner today (unless its snail mail in which case we get it this morning), which kinda throws a twist on having mail convos. Oh, and tell Cache and Cheyenne thanks for the letters! I'll try and send them something back later, but I just got those this morning. They were very nice.
Anyways. Time for the exciting part. So I think I mentioned last week that I was feelin pretty sick... well I didn't really get better like I was hoping. Monday was still pretty rough, and Tuesday wasn't much better. I was stayin mostly with it through the help of the Tylenol Colds, but they just weren't doin the trick. Anyways, Tuesday night they said that you should make sure you go to the doctor immediately if you feel sick. I was reluctant because everytime you go to the doc they just tell you theres nothin they can do blah blah, rest it off etc. Elder Tenney kept tellin me to go but I just brushed him off. lol. Anyways, Wednesday I was feelin alright I guess, but that night I slept terrible. Coughin and stuffy and breathin with my mouth open dryin out my lips etc. etc. So Thursday we decided to go to the doc. The first lady said I didn't have a fever, but when I came back to see a real doctor and I hadn't taken my Tylenol Cold (in hopes that he'd see how sick I really was and hook me up with some GOOD medicine), he decided I had what looked like the flu. Apparently they take the flu pretty seriously here. lol. He had me tested (the jam this really long stick up your nose and tickle your brain - I highly recommend it. haha), and even tho I came out negative on the flu, he gave me the "looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, its probably a duck" speech. Thats were it got good. They called security - The BYU-POLICE of all things - and from the clinic thing, while wearing one of those stupid masks that made me look like I had some terrible disease or something, they took me to my class, took me to my room to get some clothes and toilettries and then took me to Isolation. It was ridiculous. I guess they've started to quarentine the elders with the flu so it doesn't spread. They locked me in a hallway with a bunch of other sickies, and stuck me in a room by myself. Not alowed to leave or have visitors. Dinner brought to you 3 times a day (cold mind you), and the doc comes once a day to see how you're doing. Basically its prison, without the 30 min to walk out in the yard with the rest of the captives. haha. It sounds terrible but I actually didn't mind it. Slept in till 9:30 ever day (doesn't sound like much, but thats 3 hours more than usual, putting the total up to 11 hours of sleep), study what you want, nap when you need and lounge in your P-day clothes all day. It was nice. Anyways, I'd love to tell you more, but I'm almost out of time. They put my whole district on TAMIFLU (a whopping 100 bucks a person), and let me out after 2 full days of captivity. It was quite the experience. It kinda boosted my popularity cuz everyone wants to know how it went. I just brag about how chill it was and they eventually sucumb to asking me to cough on them or something. hahaha. Anyways, it was cool too cuz my district was really nice about it, prayed for me etc. And it wasn't as bad as it was cracked up to be.
Anyways, that was my week. Hope everything went well for all you's out there. Things are great here. Missions are a blast, and I'm excited to share the gospel. The church is true, love you lots and keep those Dear Elder's coming! haha. Write ya'll again in a week!!
Elder "Carrier-of-the-so-named-MOOSE-FLU" Humphreys
The week was swell. We're starting to use time more efficiently and get deeper into our studies. We went to choir on tuesday even tho I was super sick and managed to fill out the forms so that we can sing in general conference. Wish me luck! There were like a billion elders there, and the sign up form was all about musical experience so we'll see how generous they're feeling when they read mine... hopefully lots of stake choirs, quartets and singing in church is what they like. Its a long shot, but couldn't risk not signing up. I'm pretty sure they'll just read it and think I'm one of those people that goes to American Idol cuz everyone has always told them they can really sing even tho their terrible. But meh. lol
I'll just talk about the quick things here before I get to the exciting part of my week... went for a haircut today. The lady asked how I liked it, but I don't know how closely she followed my model for her... she didn't even ask me what I thought when it was done. I probably look like an idiot (i haven't really looked to close at it yet...), but whatever. Thats what you gotta expect when you go for the MTC trim. lol. We also got to go to the temple today. It was really nice. We did a session and then did a little initiatory afterwards. It was cool especially cuz I haven't gone back to do initiatory before.
Oh ya. As for what ya'll sent this week - sorry. Still haven't seen kevins thing. Dad, I liked all of your root analogies. I thought about them quite a bit. Thanks for forwarding the letters. They were nice when i was locked up (forshadowing??). The packages were great! Thank you kindly. They're keeping us nice and full even when we have dinner at 4:30 and nothing to eat again till 7 the next morning. And sorry if you sent something since Friday, and I didnt respond to it. The way mail works around here, if you didn't send it before friday, we dont get it till after dinner today (unless its snail mail in which case we get it this morning), which kinda throws a twist on having mail convos. Oh, and tell Cache and Cheyenne thanks for the letters! I'll try and send them something back later, but I just got those this morning. They were very nice.
Anyways. Time for the exciting part. So I think I mentioned last week that I was feelin pretty sick... well I didn't really get better like I was hoping. Monday was still pretty rough, and Tuesday wasn't much better. I was stayin mostly with it through the help of the Tylenol Colds, but they just weren't doin the trick. Anyways, Tuesday night they said that you should make sure you go to the doctor immediately if you feel sick. I was reluctant because everytime you go to the doc they just tell you theres nothin they can do blah blah, rest it off etc. Elder Tenney kept tellin me to go but I just brushed him off. lol. Anyways, Wednesday I was feelin alright I guess, but that night I slept terrible. Coughin and stuffy and breathin with my mouth open dryin out my lips etc. etc. So Thursday we decided to go to the doc. The first lady said I didn't have a fever, but when I came back to see a real doctor and I hadn't taken my Tylenol Cold (in hopes that he'd see how sick I really was and hook me up with some GOOD medicine), he decided I had what looked like the flu. Apparently they take the flu pretty seriously here. lol. He had me tested (the jam this really long stick up your nose and tickle your brain - I highly recommend it. haha), and even tho I came out negative on the flu, he gave me the "looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, its probably a duck" speech. Thats were it got good. They called security - The BYU-POLICE of all things - and from the clinic thing, while wearing one of those stupid masks that made me look like I had some terrible disease or something, they took me to my class, took me to my room to get some clothes and toilettries and then took me to Isolation. It was ridiculous. I guess they've started to quarentine the elders with the flu so it doesn't spread. They locked me in a hallway with a bunch of other sickies, and stuck me in a room by myself. Not alowed to leave or have visitors. Dinner brought to you 3 times a day (cold mind you), and the doc comes once a day to see how you're doing. Basically its prison, without the 30 min to walk out in the yard with the rest of the captives. haha. It sounds terrible but I actually didn't mind it. Slept in till 9:30 ever day (doesn't sound like much, but thats 3 hours more than usual, putting the total up to 11 hours of sleep), study what you want, nap when you need and lounge in your P-day clothes all day. It was nice. Anyways, I'd love to tell you more, but I'm almost out of time. They put my whole district on TAMIFLU (a whopping 100 bucks a person), and let me out after 2 full days of captivity. It was quite the experience. It kinda boosted my popularity cuz everyone wants to know how it went. I just brag about how chill it was and they eventually sucumb to asking me to cough on them or something. hahaha. Anyways, it was cool too cuz my district was really nice about it, prayed for me etc. And it wasn't as bad as it was cracked up to be.
Anyways, that was my week. Hope everything went well for all you's out there. Things are great here. Missions are a blast, and I'm excited to share the gospel. The church is true, love you lots and keep those Dear Elder's coming! haha. Write ya'll again in a week!!
Elder "Carrier-of-the-so-named-MOOSE-FLU" Humphreys
Monday, September 6, 2010
WEEK 2
Alrighty. Lets see what we can get done. Ive written it all out, so its just about transposing my notes into a descent email...
K. To start, sorry for now handwritten letters to anyone yet. Theres really limited time here and theres really not much to say. But I'll make sure I send some stuff out in a week or two. Also, sorry if there's stuff in here that I already talked about in last weeks email... it feels like forever ago that i wrote that one and so I can't remember what I wrote at all...
Dear elder letters are working faboulously. Keep it up! Thanks to everyone thats sent me stuff. Its the perfect way for us to get letters at least when we're at the MTC and it really makes you happy when you get mail. It comes almost the day that you send it, so its perfect. I've started highlighting everyones questions and so lots of my emails will just be kinda responding to those since the weeks are all pretty similar here. Sorry I can't email yall personally, but don't take it as me being unappreciative!
Alright. So we'll start the answereing.
I have a couple of classes every day. They vary in length and time, but I usually have some time scheduled with each of my two teachers. The new teachers that I got this week are Hno. Coles and Hno. Cooper. They are like complete opposites. Hno. Cooper is kinda shy and timid, but he's really smart and is really good at listening to the spirit and then acting on it. Great guy. Hno. Coles on the other hand is similar to Willy Wonka. lol. He's super energetic and crasy. His teaching style is very bold and he has no problem walking into an open house, or telling someone he's never met that God wants them to be baptized. I don't know if any of us will ever get that bold, but its really great to see that we don't have to be super timid or afraid to offend someone by asking them to be baptized. He's suuuuuper well versed in scripture too. My district thinks he'll be a general authority in no time. haha. I think he's a great teacher.
We exercise every day EXCEPT p-day and sunday. We usually play soccer for about 30-40 minutes. Its really fun. The gym is closed so we dont get to play basketball, and we dont really like volleyball so much, so its soccer every day. lol
Elder Tenney (my companion) is from Snowflake Arizona. He has a different personality then i'm used to and sometimes we dont see things the same way, but as in every good companionship, we work on seeing things similarly.
Thanks Grandpa for the good email! I really liked the part about after your first dinner. haha
Dad - thanks for the hard drive. Go ahead and back everyone up. I can just erase when I get back. Also, I weighed myself yesterday... only put on a couple pounds. I'm eating lots more than before, but I also get more expersize. Thank goodness. haha
Grandma - Thanks for the attempt at spanish. It came covered in question marks tho so I couldn't read it. lol. I can't really speak Spanish yet, but its coming. I can bear my testimony, say prayers and conjugate a couple verbs. But I'm sure I'll get it soon. Sorry bout your leg. Sounds rough. The food is descent. Its still cafeteria food, but its managable. Reminds me of Chuck'O'Rama. haha. I've seen mostly everyone I know here (Adam, Theo, Mike Nilsson). Still lookin out for Nathan White tho.
Missionaries like to hear about anything and everything. Like I said, mail just makes us happy. Sounds like a sweet locker set up. Thats where I used to have my locker in grade 10 and maybe even 11 I think.
Nice work with the roots! haha. Shoulda had me around. I know that the number one rule is never use a chain to pull stuff. Thats about all I know, but I guess its important. lol. Thanks goodness no one was hurt.
4 people from my district are of to the Dominican republic this week i think. The remaining 8 of us are off to Paraguay at the same time. SUre, send the good stuff of my friends letters who are gone. that'd be great.
We get big name visitors only on Tuesday nights. This week was Elder Richard (?) Hinkley. He was really awesome.
Funny that word got out about stabbin theo's comp. Apparently I didnt look for pins that morning. haha
Just finished laundry. Its free, you just pay for the soap. Its just like a giant laundromat kinda set up. Its terrible. lol. Haven't played any piano, but we're going to try and go to choir this tuesday.
I'll try to send some pics this week. Not sure how, but i think it'll work snail mail just fine. Sorry, but I only got a couple so far.
P-days I do things like write letters, clean my room, wear regular clothes etc.
AH! NO time!!!
Question for dad: My comp says if you drink the max amount of pepto for like a couple weeks you'll be parasite free for your whole mish. I said I'd have to check with the pharmasist to see if thats safe. lol
Say thanks to the mysyks! The cookies were great. Shared them with my district - they all loved me. haha
Anyways, nothin much to share about this week. Got all sick with a sore throat, then fever and headaches and now just a sore throat and really plugged ears and stuff. Its lame but I think I'll live. Thank goodness for Tylenol Cold. Scored a goal in soccer last tuesday. It was a big deal. lol. Elder sears destroyed his face on a race back from gym as he tried to jump over a rope, tripped, and skidded across the pavement. Fortunately the nurse put like 15 bandaids on his face and now he's good as new. The other elders like to call him Scarface, Two-Face, Crash and Burn etc. etc. lol.
Sundays are the best. You read scrips, chill and study. A fabulous time. Probably better than P-day.
Anyways, really out of time. Sorry I didn't share as much as I planned. Maybe I'll send a hand written one next week. Hope I answered all your questions. Keep 'em coming.
The church is true. Read your scrips. Do whats right.
Yours Truly,
Elder Humphreys
K. To start, sorry for now handwritten letters to anyone yet. Theres really limited time here and theres really not much to say. But I'll make sure I send some stuff out in a week or two. Also, sorry if there's stuff in here that I already talked about in last weeks email... it feels like forever ago that i wrote that one and so I can't remember what I wrote at all...
Dear elder letters are working faboulously. Keep it up! Thanks to everyone thats sent me stuff. Its the perfect way for us to get letters at least when we're at the MTC and it really makes you happy when you get mail. It comes almost the day that you send it, so its perfect. I've started highlighting everyones questions and so lots of my emails will just be kinda responding to those since the weeks are all pretty similar here. Sorry I can't email yall personally, but don't take it as me being unappreciative!
Alright. So we'll start the answereing.
I have a couple of classes every day. They vary in length and time, but I usually have some time scheduled with each of my two teachers. The new teachers that I got this week are Hno. Coles and Hno. Cooper. They are like complete opposites. Hno. Cooper is kinda shy and timid, but he's really smart and is really good at listening to the spirit and then acting on it. Great guy. Hno. Coles on the other hand is similar to Willy Wonka. lol. He's super energetic and crasy. His teaching style is very bold and he has no problem walking into an open house, or telling someone he's never met that God wants them to be baptized. I don't know if any of us will ever get that bold, but its really great to see that we don't have to be super timid or afraid to offend someone by asking them to be baptized. He's suuuuuper well versed in scripture too. My district thinks he'll be a general authority in no time. haha. I think he's a great teacher.
We exercise every day EXCEPT p-day and sunday. We usually play soccer for about 30-40 minutes. Its really fun. The gym is closed so we dont get to play basketball, and we dont really like volleyball so much, so its soccer every day. lol
Elder Tenney (my companion) is from Snowflake Arizona. He has a different personality then i'm used to and sometimes we dont see things the same way, but as in every good companionship, we work on seeing things similarly.
Thanks Grandpa for the good email! I really liked the part about after your first dinner. haha
Dad - thanks for the hard drive. Go ahead and back everyone up. I can just erase when I get back. Also, I weighed myself yesterday... only put on a couple pounds. I'm eating lots more than before, but I also get more expersize. Thank goodness. haha
Grandma - Thanks for the attempt at spanish. It came covered in question marks tho so I couldn't read it. lol. I can't really speak Spanish yet, but its coming. I can bear my testimony, say prayers and conjugate a couple verbs. But I'm sure I'll get it soon. Sorry bout your leg. Sounds rough. The food is descent. Its still cafeteria food, but its managable. Reminds me of Chuck'O'Rama. haha. I've seen mostly everyone I know here (Adam, Theo, Mike Nilsson). Still lookin out for Nathan White tho.
Missionaries like to hear about anything and everything. Like I said, mail just makes us happy. Sounds like a sweet locker set up. Thats where I used to have my locker in grade 10 and maybe even 11 I think.
Nice work with the roots! haha. Shoulda had me around. I know that the number one rule is never use a chain to pull stuff. Thats about all I know, but I guess its important. lol. Thanks goodness no one was hurt.
4 people from my district are of to the Dominican republic this week i think. The remaining 8 of us are off to Paraguay at the same time. SUre, send the good stuff of my friends letters who are gone. that'd be great.
We get big name visitors only on Tuesday nights. This week was Elder Richard (?) Hinkley. He was really awesome.
Funny that word got out about stabbin theo's comp. Apparently I didnt look for pins that morning. haha
Just finished laundry. Its free, you just pay for the soap. Its just like a giant laundromat kinda set up. Its terrible. lol. Haven't played any piano, but we're going to try and go to choir this tuesday.
I'll try to send some pics this week. Not sure how, but i think it'll work snail mail just fine. Sorry, but I only got a couple so far.
P-days I do things like write letters, clean my room, wear regular clothes etc.
AH! NO time!!!
Question for dad: My comp says if you drink the max amount of pepto for like a couple weeks you'll be parasite free for your whole mish. I said I'd have to check with the pharmasist to see if thats safe. lol
Say thanks to the mysyks! The cookies were great. Shared them with my district - they all loved me. haha
Anyways, nothin much to share about this week. Got all sick with a sore throat, then fever and headaches and now just a sore throat and really plugged ears and stuff. Its lame but I think I'll live. Thank goodness for Tylenol Cold. Scored a goal in soccer last tuesday. It was a big deal. lol. Elder sears destroyed his face on a race back from gym as he tried to jump over a rope, tripped, and skidded across the pavement. Fortunately the nurse put like 15 bandaids on his face and now he's good as new. The other elders like to call him Scarface, Two-Face, Crash and Burn etc. etc. lol.
Sundays are the best. You read scrips, chill and study. A fabulous time. Probably better than P-day.
Anyways, really out of time. Sorry I didn't share as much as I planned. Maybe I'll send a hand written one next week. Hope I answered all your questions. Keep 'em coming.
The church is true. Read your scrips. Do whats right.
Yours Truly,
Elder Humphreys
Monday, August 30, 2010
FIRST LETTER!
Hola! So todays p-day and i finally got the computer to let me on and write, so here goes the best letter I can muster up in the 21 minutes and 26 seconds I have remaining. Just for future reference in case I run out of time to finish this letter and forget to mention it, probably the best way to get me letters from now on would be to use "Dear Elder". I'm not entirely sure how it works and so I don't know if you know how to do that or anything, but it lets me get a hard copy of the email in the mail during the week instead of having to use up valuable writing time here in the computer lab reading them. No worries about this week tho - thanks for the letters! Also, thanks so much for the packages. Before I got here I didnt really think getting mail would be too big of a deal, but its actually really fun to get stuff. So ya. Just send them that way if you can figure it all out. Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, can you throw a thanks out to the Blomfields and the Mysyks for me - I don't really know the best way to respond to mail just yet, but they sent me letters which was really nice. And thanks for the candy! Me and my roomies were very happy to see it. lol
Anyways, I'll just try and tell you a little of what life is like here... I live with my companion Elder Tenney 24/7. Fortunately he's a great guy and we get along pretty well. I realized the other day that he kinda reminds me of Dan Hall a bit in the way he talks and stuff, but fortunately just the parts of Dan I like and not the Dan that I got into a couple of scraps with. haha. I also have an Elder Bennion and an Elder Sears living in the same room as me. They're great guys. We spend most of the day as a foursome. Our district is also great. Right now its got 12 guys in it, all of which are really cool. All of us are going to Paraguay except for 4 of them which are headed to the Dominican Republic and will be leaving in about 3 more weeks for the MTC there.
Our highlight of the day is going to gym time. We go out into the field and play a little soccer for about half an hour. Its a blast. We're all terrible but we're trying to get good at soccer before we look toooo stupid in Paraguay. The other good thing is that its helping us keep off the fat. lol. We haven't found a scale yet, but we're probably all going to get chubby while wer're here. I'm glad you all went to chuck and seem to have had a descent time. Don't even worry about the fact that I missed out tho - thats basically life here every day. I try and make sure that I eat a salad or something healthy, but theres just so much food all the time... I think we're all going to be suprised next time we hit the scales. haha.
Today we went to the temple. It was great. It was cool to see what a different temple is like and just experience that kinda thing. Elder Gibb also told me that being an international Elder that I'll get to go to the Salt Lake temple before we leave too. Thats pretty exciting. Speaking of which, I have run into Elders Gibb, Patterson, and Nilsson all at various times since I've been here which is great. We mostly just see each other at meals and stuff like that, but I'm going to try and remember to get a picture with them all before they head out. Its fun to see some familiar faces. Also ran into the Stonehockers as you apparently know. I had just gotten out of the showers one day after gym when I got called on the intercom to come down to the front desk. I was kinda scared that I was in trouble or something even tho i was pretty sure I had done nothing wrong, but fortunately it was just them saying hi.
The spanish is coming really slow unfortunately... not so much my fault tho I wouldn't say, as we just haven't been taught all that much. The first few days are basically the same for all Elders and so all we've learned so far is to pray, bear our testimonys and ask really simple questions. But I think this week we'll get into the meat of it. We're in the middle of a teacher switch so we'll see how the new teachers handle things.
Ah! Running out of time. To answer your question, Sundays are great. The meetings are all spaced out and the rest of the time is mostly just individual study time which I really like. We also get to walk up to the temple grounds to take pics, naps or just study. Its good. They also make everyone write talks for sacrament no matter what, so we made some really bad ones in the morning using example phrases in our books.
Sorry dad I didn't get to send you your own message. Not enough time. Sweet about the car - its funny tho cuz i have the exact same issues when i ride things like that. I like low revs. Wish I could have come to the caves, but gld your all having fun. As far as I know we'll have the same comp the whole time. Thankfully I'm not too homesick (sorry), but I'm having a great time. Trying hard, and the spirit is really strong. Thanks for the messages. Say hi to everyone for me. As I said, Dear Elder is the way to go and I love getting letters. Thanks for everything. LOVE YOU LOTS!!
Elder Humphreys
PS I'm sorry, i ran out of time. Hopefully it all makes sense... lol
Anyways, I'll just try and tell you a little of what life is like here... I live with my companion Elder Tenney 24/7. Fortunately he's a great guy and we get along pretty well. I realized the other day that he kinda reminds me of Dan Hall a bit in the way he talks and stuff, but fortunately just the parts of Dan I like and not the Dan that I got into a couple of scraps with. haha. I also have an Elder Bennion and an Elder Sears living in the same room as me. They're great guys. We spend most of the day as a foursome. Our district is also great. Right now its got 12 guys in it, all of which are really cool. All of us are going to Paraguay except for 4 of them which are headed to the Dominican Republic and will be leaving in about 3 more weeks for the MTC there.
Our highlight of the day is going to gym time. We go out into the field and play a little soccer for about half an hour. Its a blast. We're all terrible but we're trying to get good at soccer before we look toooo stupid in Paraguay. The other good thing is that its helping us keep off the fat. lol. We haven't found a scale yet, but we're probably all going to get chubby while wer're here. I'm glad you all went to chuck and seem to have had a descent time. Don't even worry about the fact that I missed out tho - thats basically life here every day. I try and make sure that I eat a salad or something healthy, but theres just so much food all the time... I think we're all going to be suprised next time we hit the scales. haha.
Today we went to the temple. It was great. It was cool to see what a different temple is like and just experience that kinda thing. Elder Gibb also told me that being an international Elder that I'll get to go to the Salt Lake temple before we leave too. Thats pretty exciting. Speaking of which, I have run into Elders Gibb, Patterson, and Nilsson all at various times since I've been here which is great. We mostly just see each other at meals and stuff like that, but I'm going to try and remember to get a picture with them all before they head out. Its fun to see some familiar faces. Also ran into the Stonehockers as you apparently know. I had just gotten out of the showers one day after gym when I got called on the intercom to come down to the front desk. I was kinda scared that I was in trouble or something even tho i was pretty sure I had done nothing wrong, but fortunately it was just them saying hi.
The spanish is coming really slow unfortunately... not so much my fault tho I wouldn't say, as we just haven't been taught all that much. The first few days are basically the same for all Elders and so all we've learned so far is to pray, bear our testimonys and ask really simple questions. But I think this week we'll get into the meat of it. We're in the middle of a teacher switch so we'll see how the new teachers handle things.
Ah! Running out of time. To answer your question, Sundays are great. The meetings are all spaced out and the rest of the time is mostly just individual study time which I really like. We also get to walk up to the temple grounds to take pics, naps or just study. Its good. They also make everyone write talks for sacrament no matter what, so we made some really bad ones in the morning using example phrases in our books.
Sorry dad I didn't get to send you your own message. Not enough time. Sweet about the car - its funny tho cuz i have the exact same issues when i ride things like that. I like low revs. Wish I could have come to the caves, but gld your all having fun. As far as I know we'll have the same comp the whole time. Thankfully I'm not too homesick (sorry), but I'm having a great time. Trying hard, and the spirit is really strong. Thanks for the messages. Say hi to everyone for me. As I said, Dear Elder is the way to go and I love getting letters. Thanks for everything. LOVE YOU LOTS!!
Elder Humphreys
PS I'm sorry, i ran out of time. Hopefully it all makes sense... lol
Sunday, August 29, 2010
PHOTOS FROM THE MTC
Elder Humphreys with Ellis and Glenda Stonehocker
Elder Humphreys with his MTC companion Elder Tenney
Elder Humphreys and Elder Tenney
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