Week 3 - Beef it's what's for dinner

Hola Familia,
This was a pretty eventful week. I'll start off with this story... so on Saturday I had beef stroganoff for dinner and it was some pretty average MTC cafeteria food. It tasted alright and I didnt think anything of it. then things got exciting. At around 3:30a.m. I started feelin' a little queezy and wasnt feeling very good, then at around 4:00a.m. I felt some saliva building up and knew that some trouble was brewing in my stomach. I got out of bed and stumbled my way through the dark into the bathroom where I then continued to throw up the beef stroganoff. it sucked. then after awhile of vomiting, I brushed my teeth and went back to bed. Then I felt some trouble brewing once again at 5:00a.m. and ran to the bathroom where I threw up again. After some more of that, I brushed my teeth again and went back to sleep. Then 6:30 came around and I got up to get ready for the day, I asked elder Daniels to give me a blessing so he did and I started to feel better. Our district took pictures at 7 at the map so I wanted to be there for it, then we went to breakfast. I didnt have much of an appetite so I just sat there and tried not to think about food haha. then after that I decided it would be good to just go back to the residence and go back to sleep. Then about 8:30 I woke up and threw up again, mostly this weird yellow color that I have no idea where it came from, maybe bile? (sorry for the details) but after that I went back to sleep, woke up a couple hours later and felt much better. I felt good enough to go on a temple walk with the rest of my district. It took a few days for me to get my full appetite back, I'm still not 100% but i've just been eating a lot of salads and fruits.
On a lighter note, last friday my district challenged the advanced district to a volleyball game. it was a ton of fun...and we won haha. so we have bragging right for the next week or so. Its kind of a bummer cuz a bunch of my friends that I've made here left the MTC this week either to go to the mission field or the Guatemala MTC.  Elder Daniels and Hermana Duncan from my district left to that MTC on Tuesday. I'm pretty jealous of them, I wish I got to go to Guatemala! haha.
Handwritten letters are awesome, second best are dearelders to get because its cool to get notes or letters from people just so I can get mail daily haha. Hand written letters are my favorite to get but they take awhile to get to me. Emails are awesome to get too, the only thing thats kind of a bummer is we only get 30 minutes on email, and when your time runs out you cant get back on.  it sounds like you have had quite the traveling week! Archibalds heading all over the world. I'm glad mom got grandpa all squared away and that dad was able to make it to Florida fast too. impressive!
and I'm sure mom and dad have been so busy with their mountainous to-do list! you guys can do it, its just pretty stressful. thats so cool that you are going to be teaching investigators too!!! what else have you learned about the mission? i want to hear everything. and mom, maybe you'll be able to learn spanish on yours and dad's next mission :) spanish is the best ;)
So here's a list of random things since i dont really have time to write a lot more
-if you could send a couple more wallet sized family pics that would be awesome
-my district goes to the temple on sundays at around 12:45 and Thursdays and 10:30 if anyone wanted to leave me boxes of goodies around to find haha
-If anyone see's cool ties around while out and about shopping...it would be a great gift :) i love my skinny ones a lot
-i'm also running low on athletic socks...i didnt realize we would have gym everyday haha
-and a new Hermana got Emergency transfered into our district a few days ago because i guess she got in a big fight with the elders in her old district...so we'll see what happens
Matt and ali- I loved the letters. i'm so jealous of the concert! you'll have to tell me all about! i love that mackenzie has good taste in music...i'm so proud :).
brett and ashely- thank you so much for the letter and pictures! those are the best to get!! i loved ashley's spanish and Luella's drawing haha.

well i have a 2 minutes left. "brothers and sisters, welcome to the work of angels. Welcome to the divine companionship, in this, the greatest hour of your life" - elder Holland

ps. dad, the couple missionaries get front row center for all the devotionals and firesides. youre going to love it!!

Week 3

Hey everyone!
    So i got my package a couple days ago, it was awesome! the mp3 player is awesome, so are the speakers. thanks for the sewing kit too, i was walking by some orange constructing fencing and one of my buttons got caught on it and ripped off :( i was mad haha.  The MTC is still great. I love my district. Elder Daniels is leaving to the Guatemala MTC in 5 days...i'm pretty jealous haha. There is a sister from my district thats going to the Guat MTC too, Hermana Duncan. SHe's going to Comayaguela as well.

The last week has been great, been working really hard on the language...i've come a pretty far way since i first got here but it is still frustrating because i just want to be fluent already. Elder Snow and i have been workin on lesson plans and are able to teach the first lesson fairly well in spanish.  i've been working on memorizing scriptures in spanish like D&C 4 and Joseph Smith's first Vision...i have a hard enough time memorizing scriptures in english, its really tough in spanish. But my teachers Hermano Wheeler and Hermana Pete are great and are HUGE helps with working on the language. They are pretty tough, but its really good for us. We are only allowed to speak 50 words of English a day max (excluding P-days, Gym time, and 1 meal). So i've been speaking lots and lots of spanish...sometimes its hard for me to stay under only 50 words, but its super good for me.

So the last couple days the gym has been close, usually i would go and play basketball, but now we all go out to the field and play soccer or volleyball. i play soccer basically every day. I play with the District of native speakers in my zone all the time...i'm trying to get them to accept me as one of their own :) haha. Its hilarious, everytime i walk by their classroom they yell out "ARCHIIIIIII!!!!!!"....they say that i'm their favorite white person at the MTC haha. I make them talk in spanish to me so i can practice more, but they speak so fast and mumble a ton so its hard to understand. I'm becoming really good friends with an Elder Chavez in that district, he's from Chico California and has been a convert for about a year. he's going to Chile. He's an awesome guy...suuuuper funny.

So what else is going on out there is the world? sports? news? haha just curious since i havent heard anything about the outside world in a few weeks. How are things going with David and Whit and them finding renters/buyers for the house? how are they liking florida? what about the boys? How are the rest of my niece's and nephews doing? does Aiden miss me? haha. Hows mackenzie?

it would be nice to have everyone's addresses. maybe some friends too if you could post something on my facebook telling people to message their addresses, then you could send them to me. like i wanted Ivie's, isaac's, Jeannie's, Shelby's and whoever else. also, if you could send me another package with some more pictures in it that would be awesome (Mackenzie, Those one's heather had on her iPad of Luella in the dress, and jonas in his superdude outfit, and any other ones. I LOVE MY PICTURES I HAVE)

i love getting the dearelder's and real letters too, they definitely make my day :)

i wrote mom and dad some letters and sent them yesterday so let me know if they get 'em


well, my times up!
love you all!

-Elder Archibald

ps. i'm still trying to figure out how to send pictures home, i think i'll mail home a CD that i can make at a kiosk here. we can't attach pictures here.

Week 2

Hola Familia!

Another great past few days at the MTC. I love it. The 4th of July was really awesome; There was a fireside that President Brown and branch president, President Studdard spoke. President Studdard served as an advisor to a bunch of different presidents and was only a few steps away from the president of the united states in the white house on a regular basis. They both spoke about how America was prepared to bring about the restoration and how the founding father's were truly inspired by god. After that then there was a musical number with a bunch of bagpipers and as they were playing a lot of the foreign missionaries walked in carrying their countries' flags. It was a really cool thing to see how the work is reaching every corner of the earth and how missionaries are coming out of every country almost. After that we went outside to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks, it was so sick.
And this last sunday was my first time going to a sacrament meeting with only spanish speaking. My branch/ zone has a lot of native speakers, its awesome to be able to listen to them, and even cooler when i'm understanding what they are saying. But every sunday each missionary is supposed to have a talk prepared because the branch president doesnt announce who is speaking until after church starts...and the talk has to be in spanish haha. I really hope that i dont get picked this week...i still have a lot of work to do on my spanish before i could give a talk. After church there was the monthly MTC sunday devotional. Elder Oaks' Daughter was the speaker. She's an incredible violinist, (studied at Julliard and played in the National Symphonic Orchestra, and has had a really successful solo career...playing at President Hinckley and Monson's birthdays). so she spoke about how she got to where she was through all her hard work, and she played some songs for us too. IT WAS AMAZING. then her  husband spoke in the middle of the thing too, he was funny, "he said, i feel like the halftime show at an NBA basketball game"...and i was thinking, how intimidating would it be to be the son-in-law of an apostle...Matt has it easy being the son-in-law of a bishop haha.
Anyways, Today is my first full P-day. So i get to write letters every thursday, and yes i get your dearelder letters on the same day as you send them...they are awesome to get. i love getting mail :) RJ wrote me a funny letter too that was fun to read, i'm writing him back today. I can't wait for the package either..still havent gotten it yet though.
I love that Aiden is going through a little pirate phase haha, thats very funny.

Alright well, i gotta go eat some lunch.

LOVE YOU GUYS!

-Elder Archibald


Ps.  my favorite meal at the MTC is friday dinner which is papa John's pizza

PPS. i'm tryin to figure out how to send you guys pictures.

First Letter from Elder Archibald - Week 1

Hola Familia!

 

     The MTC is great. The first few days are super hectic and busy but each days gets better as I'm getting into a flow. I love it here. It's so cool to be around a bunch of other people with a common purpose and goal. Right when I got dropped off it was go go go and haven't really stopped since. After we said by, my escort elder took me to get my name badge and all the other materials I needed (Spanish scriptures, vocab books, grammer books, etc...). Then after that, all the missionaries that reported that day went to a fireside where the MTC mission president spoke to us. President Brown is an amazing man, he has such enthusiasm for the work. Following that meeting we went to our classrooms where we met our district and companions.

      My comp is Elder Jonathan Erastus Snow, From Des Moines Iowa.  He is a really really nice person and has a great testimony. My District is awesome, there are some really cool guys and 4 sisters. Most are going to Chile, there's another sister going to Comayaguela along with me and Elder Snow. and there is a sister going to New York New York South, she's from Brazil. The other companionship i share a room with is Elder Crist and Elder Daniels. Elder Daniels is so rad; we're getting along really well. My Zone also seems to have a lot of cool Elders, i havent been able to talk with many of them but from my convos so far i really like them. There is one district in my zone that is just native speakers, there's one elder from Honduras! I sit next to them as much as i can during meals so i can practice my spanish more. They are great about helping me out. They leave in 3 weeks to there missions.

      Speaking of Spanish, I'm beginning to remember a lot of stuff from Junior year and its cool to be able to start speaking a lot more spanish. It is pretty frustrating though because there are a lot of easy vocab words that i should remember from my spanish classes but it was so long ago that its a little tough...But I understand a lot more than i thought i would when my teachers are speaking in spanish. My Teachers here are Hermano Wheeler who served in Argentina and Hermana Pete...she got married a month ago, her maiden name is Ampuño. She's from Ecuador and served her mission in Long Beach, CA. Both teachers are amazing! I've learned so much from them and i know i'm going to learn so much more! Its only been a few days and i can't believe how much i'm learning, i will be able to learn a lot more over the next 9 weeks.

     I've also seen a TON of familiar faces around, i occasionally it With Elder Barlow (the one who i was talking to on facebook before i got here) and his companion who are both going to Comayaguela. They are really cool guys, i dont get to see them much because they are in a different Zone, but it will be cool to be with them in the mission field. I also ran into Blake Dye, Tyler Hinton, Marcus Hadfield, and Sean De Visser. it was good to see them. they are doing great. And just lots of random familiar faces all around from school and everywhere else.

    

 

well i need to get back to studying! adios.

Love,

Elder Archibald


ps. tell my friends to drop me a note or something, i want their addresses!