Week 104

Hey Family,

     Well its been another great week. The end is getting closer. Only 2 more weeks...pretty crazy. The weeks feel like days. first things first, I got the $100 from elder hamilton, (2000 lempiras), I also have the card in my possession now. I though the letter from Brooke from US bank was pretty funny. Hand written, "hi tyler, i hope youre enjoying your time in honduras..." good customer service haha.

    Also i have no problem speaking in the 2 sacrament meetings on the 4th when i get home, im glad they both want me to speak.

    On tuesday i was pretty sure that america one the soccer game, because nobody said anything to me about it, so that was kind of a relief that we one to not have to listen to people talk about it for the next few weeks haha.

    Things are going really well with Allan and Angel and Cristian. We brought them to mutual with us so they could have a little more help making friends. They are making models of temples for a multistake youth activity that theyll have soon. At first they were kind of just sitting in the corner, but later on they were right there helping everyone cut and glue and laughing a lot with the youth in the ward. Its awesome seeing your fruits remain. 

    On thursday we had the soccer tournament, we took our investigators and recent converts and they had a lot of fun. It ended when somebody kicked the ball over the fence and went down a really steep and long hill...they looked but couldnt find it.

    On friday the zone got invited to the birthday dinner of one of my old investigators in Lempira. They have a really nice home. She studied in the states and her husband was a less active return missionary. Anyways, we ate a roasted pig leg which was delicious and met a bunch of her friends. She said that she wants to get baptized on the 6th before i go home. Ill have to see if i can go to the baptism.

   Theres a family here in the ward, familia flores, They have been investigating the church for the last 5 years now and go almost every single sunday. They havent gotten baptized because they were both married previously but hadnt been divorced. They have about 20 years of living together, the wife, leslie, got divorced from her first marriage a few years ago, but the husband has had more legal problems with his divorce because his legal wife wants a piece of land that he owns and he hasnt wanted to give it up. But lately we have been talking a lot with him about sacrifice and the blessings he is missing...he decided that he will give away the land so that his legal wife will sign the divorce papers. Its amazing to see his sacrifice to obey the commandments. The papers and divorce should be done next week. Then they will get married and baptized very soon after. I doubt ill still be here for the baptism, but im glad that they will be able to finally get baptized. There son who got baptized a few years ago will be leaving on his mission this december.

   The missionary broadcast was amazing. I loved it. I felt like a lot of it couldnt really apply exactly to the work here in honduras, because we are a few generations behind in the church. But its good to have a vision of how its should be and help the members get to that point. But more than anything it made me excited to get back home and to be a good member. 

   How is everyone else doing? thank you so much for all your prayers and support. only a few letters left. Im sad to be leaving Honduras and ending my time as a missionary, but it makes it easier knowing that i have a great family to come home to.

con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 102

Hey family,

    Things are great here in Tiloarque, Comayagûela. In week 9 of the training progress...its kinda cool to be able to review all these things to polish up before i finish. I really love the ward here, making some good friends and people are really excited to help us out. Ive never seen a ward get so excited about missionary work. Next week we have a stake activity in the chapel of the temple. We are inviting all investigators, recent converts, and less actives. President Fortuna will be giving a message and then we will be able to walk around the temple gardens with our investigators. We have a few families that we are teaching, and i think that would really help them a lot. There is a family that is really great that we are teaching...they are our neighbors. The son is 20 years old and got baptized a few months ago...the bad thing is they kept it a secret from the dad. The dad, Rafa, wasnt to keen on the idea of his son getting baptized into the mormon church, but he has chilled out a lot and really likes when we visit him. He said he couldnt connect to the sister missionaries that were visiting him before. But the mom and son are still trying to figure out how to tell the dad...pretty uncomfortable. im afraid that if he decides he wants to get baptized with the family and he finds out that his son already got baptized then he might get mad and upset with the church or i dont know what else could happen. The mom, Jenny, Comes to church with her son every sunday almost and is really positive. Right now we are just working on getting the dad to church. He opened up a lot to me when i asked him about his work and talked a little bit about soccer. I think that in a few weeks we`ll be able to get him to church...especially because they only live like 50 yards away from the church.

    Alan and cristian are getting baptized this saturday. Yesterday, Alan didnt go to church, we went to his house with his friends that go to church and went to wake him up in his bed haha but he didnt want to wake up. So that was pretty frustrating because the day before he had really really really committed to going. But he can still get baptized, so we are gonna be visiting them every day this week. its pretty frustrating/funny because they cant have us in their house at night from 7 to 9 because they watch a telenovela (soap opera) and i guess its getting reeeeally good haha because almost nobody wants to open their doors during that time on the days that its on. Same thing when Honduras is playing soccer haha. Tomorrow jamaica comes to honduras to play...so we are gonna have to find something to do. The city literally shuts down. They close schools and work to watch the game.

   Thanks dad for figuring that out with my card, ill be waiting for the card in the mail, and ill be taking money out with elder hamilton soon. Hes a really good guy. we have a family reunion in august? where? let me know what my topic is for my talk on the 14th so i can prepare a good one ;) haha. heathers basement looks like its coming alot great.

 

   I love you guys, thanks for EVERYTHING. trying to finish strong these last 4 weeks.

 

con MUCHO amor y cariño,

 

Elde Archibald

Week 101

Hey family!

    Well another pretty normal week. Changes meeting was last wednesday, we didnt go because we dont have changes. So its official, im ending in Tiloarque. Im on my last change now and have about 5 weeks left...pretty crazy. they just sent me my flight plans. its getting a little more real now. im actually going home. Im really happy about how im ending.

   Its been raining a lot all week, on thursday night we were leaving our apartment and walking down the stairs in the dark and i fell down the stairs. it wasnt too far, but i still scraped my elbow and twisted my ankle pretty bad...i heard a pop, but i dont think it was anything bad. It got pretty swollen. now the swelling has gone down and its just purple. but it doesnt hurt that much and i can still walk fine.

   On friday we went to teach Alan and Cristian. Alan hid from us, but his family let us in and we found him haha. he was eating and didnt want us to interupt his meal. We talked a little bit more with him and he says that he wants to get baptized on the 15th. There are lots of his friends there that are neighbors that want to go to church and even get baptized, but their parents dont allow them to go. So we are using that to find some more families and clear up some misconceptions. 

   There was a baptism on Saturday of an investigator of the sisters. It was a really great service with lots of help from the members. a drunk less active guy that i talk to sometimes in the street showed up randomly to the baptism and was a little drunk and he sat next to me so i got the job of trying to keep him under control...its the worst when drunk people want to whisper to you, horrible breath. 

   Thats awesome that you saw the brother and sister Ray at janet´s funeral. Send me pics of heathers house! i want to see how its coming along.

    alright, thank you for the pictures and the updates. im glad everyone is doing well. youre all in my prayers. 

les amo mucho,

Elder Archibald