1.23.12 -- Huatabampo

Hey,

The weather here is awesome as well. It´s like California in October. And I´m cold at times. How weird. I am going to die when I go back to Provo. I´m not exaggerating. I´m pretty sure that I will.

Elder Roedel, I loved your email. I can already see that you´ve been changed by the mission. And that a US mission is much different than a Mexican one. Love ya, man. Good luck with your investigators.

Speaking of investigators, I accidentally wrote "investigadores" in my journal one night. I´m thinking in Spanish now. It´s funky.

This is the little kid I met in Navojoa--he´s a little older. He can finally pronounce the word "misioneros," which he tells to every other elder, but I´m still "el bato." "Bato," roughly translated, means dude. Or something like that.

We found a broken window filled in with tape. We have fun with the dumbest things.

. . . . I like missionary stories. Speaking of which, I found out on transfer day that a few of my converts in Hermosillo have callings now. Gah, that feels so good. So flippin´good.

I got to go out to Villa Juarez (1.5 hours from Huatabampo) this week to interview one of E. Cheron´s investigators. I love interviews so much. I don´t think the Spirit is felt as strongly in any other mission related activity.

Speaking of which, we had a zone meeting in Etchojoa this week, and E. Olguin taught a bit about inviting investigators to baptism. We did a few practice invitations, and one was especially good. He told E. Treviño (the investigator) to not say anything until the Spirit told him to. E. Cheron, the play missionary, extended the invitation and we all watched. No one said anything for about a minute. Complete silence. After a few moments, I felt a familiar Spirit enter the room. I felt like no one was breathing. E. Treviño looked at E. Cheron, and quietly said, almost whispering, "Sí."

The eternal investigator (I don´t like writing names on the Internet) loves us, if nothing else. He´s a very good man.

Elder Humbert

1.16.11 -- Huatabampo

Boo,

Well, beginning with the pictures. Our electricity once again went out, but this time it was because the circuit breakers broke. Check out my desk by candlelight. Try to notice the duality (I haven´t used that word for so long--literary reference) of Brock Samson vs. the praying hands. But we have electricity now, though. But the fridge died again. Throwing out a kilo and a half of beans and chorizo (Mexican sausage) and hand made flour tortillas hurts. Along with the milk. And veggies.

Here´s the son of one of the members of the branch. It was his birthday, and he really liked our bikes. By the way, he´s sitting behind one bike and holding onto the handlebars of another. The thing you can´t tell about the picture is that he was making a ton of motorcycle noises.

A part of our district, of all the missionaries of Huatabampo. E. González, E. Mooney, E. Tovar, and I. Read below for more details.

But anyway, the week. We have an "eternal investigator," one of the coolest people I´ve ever taught. Well, one of the nicest, anyway. He reads absolutely EVERYTHING (he read 100 sections of D&C in two weeks), but needs to feel the Spirit through his heart, and not his head. I remember feeling the same exact way before the thing that gave me my true testimony. It´s been a pleasure teaching him, but I told him straight out this week, "You need to know less and feel more." He just laughed and said, "I know, I know." We´re working hard with him and . . . well, let´s see what happens.

For some reason, when we have mutual, all of the youth want me to play soccer, but I can´t understand why. When I play, it´s like when I play basketball--everyone alse comes out bruised and I come out feeling like I confused the sport with football. But yeah, the youth want me to play, while the other missionaries hate being kicked in the shins by me. I would feel worse if they didn´t almost force me to play.

We taught a less active family this week about how to scold children when they misbehave from D&C121:41-45. I thought it was kind of strange that I was teaching a grandma and two mothers while I´m a 20 year old kid that only has experience "scolding" investigators that haven´t read the Book of Mormon, or prayed, or disagreeable companions. It´s weird how the mission teaches you. Oh, and they went to church this week. That felt good.

I got a letter from my 15 year old convert from Hermosillo last week. He´s doing great, and wants to be 18 already to go on his mission. That felt really good to hear from him.

As for other news . . . well, we had transfers this week. I was kind of surprised when E. Jarman called me in the morning to tell me the news, but E. González is going to Aeropuerto B, to help out the same ward I was in when I was in Navojoa. He´s going to LOVE it, and E. Jarman and E. Spencer (the zone leaders) are great people to share an area with. Unfortunately, I won´t get to speak with them very much anymore, because something else happened.

The Navojoa Zone has split in two, with Zones Navojoa (the city of Navojoa), and Huatabampo (which will consist of all the southern Sonoran villages--Huatabampo, Etchojoa, Villa Juarez, and Bacobampo). E. Olguin is coming out here with me to open up the new zone. It´s going to be interesting, although I still don´t understand why Pte. chooses me to do these things. We´ve got two branch presidents and three brand new missionaries out of the 10 that are here. The good news is that I´ll be going to Hermosillo every month again. So I´ll get my package directly.

I complete one year in Mexico on Wednesday. Crazy. Especially since E. Cancino, my trainer, goes home today. I´ll miss him. Good guy.

Adios.

Elder Humbert

1.9.12 -- Huatabampo

A message for the BYU guys--I would respond to them, but it´s against mission rules. But they do keep me laughing and happy.

4 pairs of holes.

This is Hna. Peña. She´s a nice old woman who had 20 kids. An RM from a few years ago wrote me last week, asking about her and her kids. Ian, she still remembers you, and her kids. I haven´t heard anything about your converts though.

She also bore her testimony last week--it was amazing. Her great grandson rolled her to the front and everything went quiet. She began to speak. No one said a word. She testified of Christ, of the Book of Mormon, of the family, of the Restoration, and of Joseph Smith. The Spirit came and was felt. It was awesome.

We were teaching an old man this week when he suddenly pulled of his sock and showed us his painted toenails. That was funky.

I was speaking with a few other missionaries on the phone this week when the guy on the other end of the line said the Spanish equivalent of, "I love you, man." I responded likewise. I then told him, "I never said anything like that to hardlyanyone before the mission." He laughed, and said, "Yeah, I believe you. But you´ve changed a lot." We had arrived together to the mission.

That was cool. Unfortunately, I have no more time. I´m sorry. For the lack of content and for the lack of organization.

Elder Humbert

1.2.12 -- Huatabampo

Hey,

I forgot last week, but please thank Bishop Weight and Andre for sending me emails last week. Andre, you guys look great. Good work

We served this week. For the first time in Mexico, I got to use a machete. Awesome.

As for spiritual experiences, I remember a story from E. Bednar. He said that as he travels the world on Church business, he always asks converts about what they remember from the lessons that the missionaries taught them. He said of all the answers, the most common is, "I remember absolutely nothing about what they taught. But I remember that I felt the Spirit, even if I didn´t know what that was at the time."

This week, we went with the large familythat we´re currently teaching. We asked them why they liked our visits so much. "We wait for you two every week! With all of the other people that have come, well, we listen to them, but we don´t feel anything like we do like when we´re with you two."

I want to write more. But I have to go now. Adios--and Feliz Año.

Elder Humbert