12.5.11 -- Huatabampo

Hey,

Pics first--we had a family home evening Monday night with one of the families here. Awesome. Although the Grandma likes acting like she´s mean. But she´s nice, as long as you really know her. And the roof in our house is really low at points. We also found a few kids one day playing baseball in a dirt field. An appointment had just fallen through, along with our backup plan, so we went, played 30 minutes (I had two runs), and invited them all to mutual. Awesome. And . . . I enjoyed the Christmas devotional in English, alone in my little room with the satelite receiver.

There was also a little typewriter sitting in that room. I wanted to take it, but I didn´t want to take it all the way back to our house from the chapel in my lap on my bike.

And by the way, E. Cruz got transferred. He went to Caborca, and E. Gonzalez arrived in his place. He´s from Puebla, and I´m his second companion in the field. I´ll send pictures next time.

A few things . . . Pte. is thinking about making another zone out of all the little villages in the southern part of the mission (Huatabampo, Etchojoa, Villa Juarez, Bacobampo). Who knows what´s going to happen.

We started having mutual here again. We (the missionaries) run almost everything, and I feel like I´m prematurely turning into a Young Men´s President with all the youth here. Unfortunately, I´m still horrible at soccer and everybody destroys me. Even the little kids. It´s funny, really.

We were in Gospel Principles class, and it was E. Cruz´s turn to teach. But about 20 minutes into the class, he looked at me and I could easily read his expression--he had no material left. That was interesting, teaching 20 more minutes with zero preperation. But it was cool. One of things I´ve learned in the mission is how to keep on talking about the same thing for a long time, using different scriptures, different interpretations, and a lot of unecessary words to say the same thing but still teach. Although I can switch back to the other method of teaching pretty quick too (teaching things quickly and directly). That´s cool.

I´m still learning a ton, and that´s what I´m liking a lot about being in a branch. We do more here, even if at times it´s a little intimdating. But it´s all good.

I don´t have as much material this week because I didn´t have space in my planner to write down the notes of all the things that I was going to write. But it´s all good. Adios

Elder Humbert

11.28.11 -- Huatabampo

Hey,

This sign is a lie. "Mexicans also live the passion of American football." Na. Just fútbol.

Also, E. Cruz looks weird when he paints. It was worth the hour of service in mission clothes to take that picture. Bahaha

A few things. We worked our butts off in the week again, but we didn´t see very many results. That was kind of annoying, but we were blown away in Sacrament Meeting. A ton of people came, twice as much as the other times. I t´s awesome to see recent converts and less actives come, and realize that they were actually missing something. It´s what I´ve learned to recognize in the mission. The Spirit is so easily felt in the homes of people that do what they´re supposed to, and it´s obviously absent in the other homes that aren´t so . . . I don´t know what the word is. I love that I´ve learned to do that. It´s cool, to say the least.

Also, the other family we found in Navojoa a few months ago were baptized. I felt like crying again. But I didn´t. But I really, really wanted to. I love my converts.

A funny experience with a drunk--we got onto a bus to go to a little town on the outskirts of Huatabampo. A drunk guy saw us and called out, "Hermanos!" He then asked me some question about the last thing that Christ did in the Bible when he . . . I don´t remember. I didn´t understand him too much because of his drunk accent, but I responded that I didn´t remember. He then got up and sat next to me the whole 20 minute bus ride, and began to tell me all the things that he´s learned from the Bible that I don´t know. I just took out a Word of Wisdom pamphlet and a pocket Book of Mormon. I handed him the pamphlet, read the BoM, and didn´t say a single word the entire time he talked. When he got off the bus, everyone looked over at me (something like 25 people). "You have a ton of patience," they told me. I just laughed. That was weird. But I felt sorry for the guy.

Adios

Elder Humbert

11.21.11 -- Huatabampo

Bleh,

Just a quick look of one of the tiny towns on the outskirts of Huatabampo that we visit.

For Andre--thank you very, very much for the email and you were right about the laughing my butt off. Gah. And don´t worry about rambling. I love to hear from home no matter how strange it is. I miss you man. Unfortunately, my response will be a bit slow in arriving. And did Shaun get his letter as well? Also, my comp says that yes, you do look Mexican. And I say hi to everyone else from home, and JD, thanks for reading my blog.

And another thing--Grandma reminded me that it was Thanksgiving. So here´s my list, a part of all the things. ALL of my family (every single person, especially the nephews and nieces), the true gospel that has the entire truth, the Book of Mormon, an awesome family again, for being able to speak English, for shoes, for feet that don´t blister too easily, for friends, for BYU, for my leaders, for shirts that don´t turn yellow in the sun (Stafford is a really good brand), for air conditioning, for Preach My Gospel, for the ability to speak Spanish, for Mexican food, for American food (but not for American food in Mexico), for a lot of things. For prayer, for General Conference talks, for patriarchal blessings, for personal progression, for personal revelation (I taught about that in district meeting this week), for my converts, for my chance to be a missionary, to finally have electricity and hot water in our house, for metal pens that can be used to knock doors, for post-its, for books, for a ton of things.

A ton of things. But unfortunately, all I´ll be able to do to celebrate is probably eat a few turkey hot dogs (just to say I ate turkey, even though I really don´t like hot dogs) and reread Pres. Monson´s talk of "The Divine Gift of Gratitude." I love General Conference Ensigns.

I will enjoy attending the Spanish Branch at home. It´ll be interesting seeing the difference between Sonoran and American Spanish.

And the best spanish hymn is "Te hallaré mi querido amigo." Look it up.

One of my converts bore her testimony in Navojoa this last week in Sacrament meeting. The other elders there called to tell me. Awesome feeling.

Something cool this week--we all talked in Sacrament Meeting, every elder. I had prepared a talk, but every other missionary talked about weak things becoming strong. We hadn´t organized a theme or anything, but they all talked about that. I listened, said a little prayer, and then felt like I needed to leave my notebook in my seat. I got up, and like Nephi, went to speak, "not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." I don´t remember if that´s the way it´s said in English or not. I also spoke of weak things becoming strong, and it was so strange and cool to feel the words coming without thinking.

Good week. Enjoy Thanksgiving for me. And the football. Ah, football.

Adios,

Elder Humbert

11.14.11 -- Huatabampo

Hey,

Yeah, Thanksgiving. Eat pumpkin apple pie for me. "Día de Acción de Gracias" doesn´t exist here. But really, enjoy it. I don´t say that bitterly. At least I´ll eat better this Thanksgiving than my last one. Although Elder Holland in the MTC on Thanksgiving Day is pretty hard to beat.

Oh, the pictures. We ate 2 kilos of tortillas one morning as breakfast, and got creative by the end. But that was too much. We were in the chapel planning a family home evening. Also, E. Murphy (he´s in Navojoa) is from Oregon. I wanted the jacket, but he wasn´t going to part from it.

And another thing--we were studying in the chapel because we don´t have electricity right now. For some reason I forgot to say that last week. We haven´t had electricity for 2 weeks. It´s not very fun showering with cold water, or preparing district meetings and planning to the light of a tiny LED flashlight that E. Cruz has, but hey, another weird story that makes the mission interesting.

As for a spiritual experience, we reactivated an older man a few weeks ago. We got to his house (he lives in a tiny neighborhood about 15 minutes away from the main city), and wow, he was happy. We arrived and it was like a light turned on in his eyes. "No one has visited me for almost a year," he said. He immediately began to talk, and wouldn´t stop becuase he was so happy. But we calmed him down with a hymn and shared a message. When we went to district conference, one of the speakers asked all of us to think of the thing that made us the happiest. He was sitting next to me. He leaned over a little bit and whispered, "When missionaries come to visit me, and other people." He is one good person. But he lacks home teachers.

Do your home teaching. You have no idea how important it is.

Well, most people do, but that was directed at those people who don´t.

Do you remember about my story of the first person I baptized? The little girl, the daughter of the primary president of our ward in Hermosillo? (for some reason she wanted a missionary to baptize her) The water was freezing as well. She was shaking because of the cold. But when she came out of the water, it was as if the entire font had warmed up. I was no longer cold. I don´t know if any of the kids that got baptized felt that, but that was one of coolest experiences I´ve had. Among the many.

It´s very different here, like I said. But we´re working, and the results won´t come too fast. More patience in the process.

One more thing. We´re teaching a MASSIVE family right now. Every time we go, a new son, daughter, or grandkid shows up. The matriarch always tells all the kids to, "Come here! Listen to them! They speak nice!" It´s cool, teaching a family. It´s very different. And it´s so cool when I´m in situations that I can see will obviously help me as a father. Being a missionary is like being forcefully taught how to be a better teacher, father, spouse, whatever in the short time of 2 years. But you all already knew that.

Adios

Elder Humbert

11.7.11 -- Huatabampo

Rough English translation:

It is not possible that the problems of the world will be solved by skeptics or pessimists, whose horizons are limited by obvious realities. We need men that can dream of things that never have been done and ask the question, why not?

Hey,

Nope, I don´t get the ward newsletter.

E. Mooney is crazy. Someone translate this quote, it´s awesome. And my shoes after one year.

Sonora is the only state in Mexico that doesn´t have daylight savings time.

Oh. Yeah. I´ve been out for a year. Weird.

E. Cruz says hi as well. Although it´s said a little differently in Spanish (él manda saludos, or literally, he sends greetings).

The town is about the size of . . . I don´t know. Probably a little bigger than our ward boundaries. It´s not that big. But we know why we´re here. We´re going to make this branch into a ward. But we have to work our butts off to do it. The number of people of coming is about the size of Tempo Park´s Relief Society. Although more than 3/4 of the branch here is Relief Society. What we have to do is relax on the focus on investigators and also strengthen the members. We have so much power here in Huatabampo, and the members depend on us. We have to change that, so that when the hard working missionaries go, the branch stays strong. I´m tired of seeing lists and lists of less actives that were baptized and then forgotten.

We also had District Conference this week. Huatabampo, Etchojoa, Villa Juarez, and Bacobampo. The attendance was a little less than half of the normal Tempo Park sacrament meeting.

Your view on the church changes when you´re no longer in a stable ward. And there´s a lot more work. We have so much to do. The missionaries´ responsablities are so different here, compared to the US. It´s harder, but we learn so much more.

Other things--I ate the fattiest tacos I´ve ever had in my life this week. I had to perform minor surgery on my toe with a pair of toenail clippers and hydrogen peroxide (it´s healing nicely). We have bikes now--no gears, really heavy, but they´re nice. One of my best friends in the mission (a member from Aeropuerto in Navojoa) baptized one of my old investigators and one of his friends this week. He got sealed to his wife in the temple the day before, a little more than a year after his own baptism. I am so happy for them. I miss Taylor, Asher, Luke, Zoey, and Gwendolyn, even if I haven´t met her.

Also, Andre, everyone here loves your Nike bag.

That´s it.

Elder Humbert