Week 63

Hey family,

   Well its been a really fast week this week. We had a lot going on so the time flew by. This Tuesday we had a multi zone conference here in Talanga with 3 other zones. Elder Duncan from the first quorum of the 70 came to visit us. It was a really awesome opportunity to get to talk to him and learn from him…he really knows his stuff haha. He basically just taught us a lot about how we can be more efficient missionaries. We learned a lot about how to reactive and baptize at the same time. He suggested that we mark where all the less active members live on a map of the area and work in areas and get to know them by knocking on their doors and just sharing a spiritual thought with them and then working with the references they have of their neighbors…it’s a pretty simple but has really worked for elder quiñonez and I these last couple days. This family that we just reactivated has been coming to church consistently and their daughters want to get baptized and now we are teaching their friends who live next door.

    On Friday we had our zone conference to talk more about what we learned with Elder Duncan and we talked a lot about creating a vision for our area and zone. In our area we are working towards splitting the branch into 2 branches. And that is also helping us work towards the vision of the zone which is to become a stake rather than just a district. After the zone meeting we started exchanges. I went back to Guaimaca with Elder Mejía who just finished his first change in the mission and my companion stayed in Talanga with his trainer Elder Robledo. It was a good opportunity to remember what it was like to be a new missionary, im really glad that im not in that position anymore haha.

    On Sunday we had the district conference with all the branches so we traveled back to Talanga for the 3^rd time. We had 3 buses to take all the members from Guaimaca. It was a really good turn out, 3 of our investigators came and quite a few less actives. President and sister Fortuna were there and gave really good talks and Elder Martino from the 70 spoke as well. He talked about putting gods will above our own will. It was a talk that the members here were really able to take to heart and learn from. After the conference we were in the parking lot and I went to say hi to president and Sister fortuna and after I shook their hands their oldest son, Ricardo (he´s 11), came up and jumped on me and gave me a big hug and yelled “Archibald!!” haha he was really excited to see me and said he missed me going over to his house. Haha that made me feel pretty good.

   And those are the highlights of my week. I hope everybody is doing well!! I love you all. The church is true. Read the book of mormon. Obey the commandments.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 62

Hey everybody,

    Well another fast week here in Guaimaca. This transfer is over this week, we have changes meeting this wednesday...we still dont know who is leaving or staying. We are hoping theyll let us know tonight, if not it will be tuesday morning. Im hoping that Elder Quiñonez doesnt get transfered, but its pretty likely that he´ll be leaving. Either way it´ll be good.

   This week was pretty busy for us. We had to travel a lot to different areas in the zone to do interviews and bring baptismal clothing and a bunch of random things like that...it can be pretty frustrating not being able to work in my own area sometimes, but we just have to manage our time well. We have a few families that are progressing but still have a long way to go.

   Last Tuesday I went to this area called campamento for our district meeting. Its in the state called Olancho...its a really really pretty area. It was cool to go there and get to know it a little better. When we got back from the district meeting the branch president had invited us over for lunch...But i kind of wish he hadnt haha. His wife made us Mondongo, which is cow stomach soup. Ive eaten it a lot before and its not all that bad because the cut up the stomach pretty small and it has a good flavor. But this time the mondongo had huge pieces and you cant really cut it apart so you have to put it all in your mouth and chew it forEVER. The worst part was that the branch presidents wife was watching me the entire time...just staring at me haa. But i managed to eat it with a smile on my face!

    We´ve been teaching one of our neighbors lately, its an elderly couple that lives with their daughter and grandaughter. They are very humble people and have been going through a lot of difficulties. The grandma has diabetes but she doesnt take very good care of herself and now she has an infection in both her kidneys and is in a lot of pain. She cant walk and isnt supposed to eat but she eats fried chicken anyways and that just gives her more pain...its really a sad thing to see. Anyways they are really positive, but havent been able to come to church for that reason. We gave her a blessing and we hope that she can get better, we will see how she is doing today.

   Well thats about it for this week. Thanks for everything! oh i got the dearelders that mom sent. Congrats to Alex and Tyler that just got home. its crazy how fast time goes by. Alright well until next week..love you guys!

 

Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 61

Hey family,

Another goood week out here in Guaimaca. Its been really really hot lately and pretty miserable to be walking around out in the street. Lots of sweat. It hasnt been raining too much this week which is a nice break from all the mud. But i guess the huricane and storm season is in October so there will be a lot more to come. Things have been going pretty well in the zone too. We have been traveling a lot to different areas in the zone to work with the missionaries there and help a companionship out with a few problems. But it gets pretty expensive traveling and we dont get reembursed for travel so weve been eating a little less ha. 

This week was pretty hard with finding people in their homes because everyone was at the stupid fair haha. and a lot more drunk people in the street that like to bug us so thats been pretty annoying as well, but hasnt been too bad. On friday we did some service for one of our investigators. We went to his house to dig a big hole for a latrine in his back yard. It was pretty hard work out in the hot sun but it went by pretty quick...while i was digging with a pickaxe i was standing on the wood covering of the old latrine, which was just covered with some old wood planks, then all of a sudden where my right foot was placed collapsed and i fell on my butt and my leg into the latrine...LUCKILY I didnt get dirty at all, if i would have fell just a couple more inches it could have been a lot worse. It scared me to death. The only injury i walked away with that day was a really really bad sunburn. I would like to send you some photos of everything but my SD card has a virus...i hate these computers here. I cant open my files with this virus and it always puts a bunch of innapropriatley titled folders and files on the memory. Im not sure what i can do to fix that.

There was another baptism this last weekend as well of a family here. It went really well and it was a cool baptismal service to be apart of....luckily the lights didnt got out this time. But on our walk home we were walking on the side of the road and we heard a horse coming up behind us (which is normal) they usually just pass us but luckily my companion pulled me out of the way just in time before the horse wouldve trampled me. The guy riding the horse was going way too fast and los control...probably because he was drinking a bottle of liqour while riding the horse and was really drunk. But everything is fine so no need to worry.

Well that is about it for this week. How is everyone doing back home? thats awesome about bretts new job! what will he be doing for adobe? that will be fun to have everyone close by in provo. How did matt and alis trip go in germany??

alright well i gott run! 

Con mucho mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 60

Hey there family!
   well i dont have a whole lot of time to write...but it was a pretty normal week here in Guaimaca. This week has been pretty tough as far as the work goes because the yearly fair is going on and hardly anybody is home and there are a lot of drunks in the streets...it will be over next week though so thats good haha. It has been some reallly intense weather here too. It is blazing hot and sunny during the day and then at night some huge storms roll in and it rains so hard... Which means lots and lots of MUD. and our roof has about 10 leaks so its hard keeping dry. Also ive been sick the last couple days, I think i ate some food that wasnt very clean. Im hoping its not a parasyte.
   On tuesday President fortuna and the assistents came to visit us and worked with us that night. It was a good oportunity to split up and get more done. President has a big focus on working with members and references so we have been doing that a lot lately. That night the assistents stayed in our place and we got up on wednesday to go to Talanga for our Zone Conference. Elder Quiñonez and I had an hour to teach chapter 13 from preach my gospel and i went really well, president said he was really happy with how he went. We invited some members to come to the meeting and help us with our practices.
   Other cool story, so we are teaching this lady whos mom got married to a member in the states about a year ago and she got baptized around the same time. Anyways, her mom got here a couple days ago to visit and came to church on sunday with us and we have some plans to go visit her daughter and hopefully we will be able to help her progress. The mom was really happy from what she has heard from her daughter about us and so she brought 2 ties with her from the states to give to us. It was really nice of here to do that.

Anyways, everything else is going pretty well here. Thank you for everything!
con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 59: Second week in Guaimaca

Hey fam!
     Well it has been a really great week out here in Guaimaca. its so different from all of my other areas. Oh and i forgot to tell you about my companion last week.. His name Elder Quiñonez and he is from Guatemala City. He has 20 months on the mission and has been a Zone Leader for the Last 3. He is a really chill guy and is a lot of fun. Im really looking forward to this change with him. We get along really well. He was in the office as a secretary for awhile too, actually he was actually in the office when i arrived here in Honduras.
    Anyways, We had a good pday last week, we just went shopping and then kicked a soccer ball around for awhile. There isnt a whole lot to do here in the zone so im gonna have to get creative to find something to do that is more fun than just playing soccer every week. On tuesday we had our first Zone meeting of this change and it went really well. Its kind of hard for our zone to get together though because everone is pretty far apart. Thats the problem with the zones outside of the City. Anyways we just talked about how to make real goals and commiting to them.
    On Thursday we had a branch activity. We watched a short video and gave a spiritual thought and then we played some games. Elder Quiñonez and i were in charge of the game that we would play so we went to the store close by and bought a bunch of eggs and waterballoons. We did an egg toss with the eggs and then when we ran out of those we used water balloons...and that turned into a water balloon fight (not a good call on our part). And of course everyone thinks its HILARIOUS to throw water balloons at the missionaries. so we got soaked. good news is that it was a pretty big success, about half the branch showed up and a lot of nonmembers as well.
    Friday we had another activity in the branch. The branch presidency made a dinner for all the couples in the branch and they spoke about marriage. it was a pretty good success too, about 30 people showed up and we got a free dinner so we cant complain. Also kind of randomly one of the missionaries that served here about 9 months ago came back to visit with his dad. His names Elder Kimball from CA....That got me thinking about after my mission, i really would like to return and visit my old areas afterwards.
    Saturday the other companionship here in Guaimaca had a 2 baptisms but they kind of dropped the ball and didnt realize that they didnt have baptismal clothing and didnt let us know til that morning. So my companion and I had to take a bus to Talanga which is about 45 minutes away to pick up the clothes. While we were there we visited the missionaries in our zone that are there and studied with them for a little while. Then we got back on the bus and went back to Guaimaca. When we got there I did the baptismal interview with the investigators...it was the first interview ive given, but it went really really well. After that we continued with the baptismal service...a lot of people showed up so that was nice. Then right as the first person was about to step into the water...THE POWER WENT OUT. perfect timing haha. And when the power goes out here its usually for a couple hours at a time and it was pitch black because it was dark outside as well. Instead of canceling the baptism my companion and i ran to this store that luckily was open, and bought some candels. We brought them back and lit a bunch so we could see and then we continued with the baptisms and everything turned out well....looking back at it im not sure if thats okay to do with the candles...but the good thing is that 2 people got baptized. Afterwards they gave their testimonies about how satan is always trying to put obstacles in our way but we have to carry on and obey the commandments...even when the lights go out.
    Well thats about it for this week! thank you so much for your letters and your prayers. I got all the pictures that Ali sent me. Rosie is so big! Luella too! its crazy how much theyve grown up in just 14 months. Well thats it for me. until next week...


Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 58: Guaimaca

Hey everybody!
    Well im writing you from Guaimaca now....pretty far away from Tegucigalpa. The last couple days in the office were pretty hectic; just was trying to make sure that i could help Elder Livingston figure everything out before i left. Its really tough starting as a new secretary so i wanted to help him out as much as i could in that short amount of time. On Wednesday some church employees came in to perform the audit. It took forever and was really boring, theres no way i could do that as my job haha. Everything went well though, the didnt find any embezaling or anything bad like that haha. A few hours after that i drove myself out to my new area with the assistants. It was the wierdest feeling going out there haha. i felt like i was going camping or something. When we got there i got my stuff out of the truck and the elder who was there went back to the office. The area is super pretty though. Lots and lots of green and mountains. Theres not too much out here, theres one small store to buy groceries at but thats about it and the majority of the streets are just dirt...which means lots and lots of mud. It has been raining so hard out here the last week so my clothes got dirty pretty quick. And its back to cold water and bucket showers again haha. Luckily it wasnt too rude of a wakening. Im getting used to it again. The area is huge because its an entire city, we share it with another companionship here. The other elders in the district are about an hour bus ride away and the rest of the zone is about an hour busride to the other direction. 
   On friday we went back to the office for a Zone Leader Council with president...so it really did feel like i took a camping trip and just came back to the office haha. It was nice being in the office without being a secretary. Anyways, Hermana Fortuna made us a really good lunch after the meeting and then we took the busride back to Gauimaca...but there werent any seats on the bus so we had to stand the whole way...my legs hurt so bad by the time we got there haha.
     On Saturday we had a baptism of this girl named Angelica. She has been living with a member family here ever since her dad died about a month ago. She really loves the church and wanted to get baptized really soon. The baptismal service was kind of dramatic because she didnt like the baptismal clothing so she locked herself in the bathroom and cried until her aunt brought her a white dress haha...it was pretty wierd. Everything went well on Sunday too with her confirmation. Gauimaca is a pretty big branch of about 100 members that attend regularly. The Branch president is a really awesome guy, really excited about mission work. Im excited to get to know the rest of the members and the area.

Well thats about it for this week. Thanks for the emails, ill print them out and read them after i get off.

Con mucho amor,
Elder Archibald

Week 57: Me voy!

Hey everybody,

     First things first, there were some pretty interesting changes in the mission this last week...Ill be leaving the office this wednesday! nuts, right? I only have one week to train my replacement financial secretary, poor guy haha. Its tough learning how to do the job and it takes awhile to get into the swing of things. The new finance guy is Elder Livingston from Newport Beach, CA. He´s a cool guy and its been a blast being able to be with him this last week. Its funny because i recieved him here in the office when he first got to Honduras 5 months ago and now he´s taking my place. We both were studying at BYU before the mish and are going into finance. It feels really reallly wierd knowing that i will be leaving the office...I´ve got all my stuff all over the house from the last 7 months so íts been pretty hard to pack haha. I´m going to this Area called Guaymaca, the zone is called Talanga. From what i´ve been told its a smaller city (pueblo) with not much there. Its pretty far out from Tegucigalpa...maybe an hour and a half. almost in the department(state) called Olancho. They dont have ATMs but they jsut got a grocery store...so its going to be a big change from being here in the office haha. Im really looking forward to it though. Its going to be a really good being able to be in the field all the time...ill be "roughing it" again haha. I was pretty sad to say goodbye to the ward though, it has been my favorite proselyting area so far in the mission. The members are amazing here and treat the missionaries really well. I bore my testimony yesterday in church to say goodbye and it was actually pretty hard for me.

    There are two investigators that we have that are doing really well, Joseph and Kevin. They both are 20 years old and are studying in the university here. Anyways, a couple days ago we were teaching joseph and he except a baptismal date for the 11th and the next day we were teaching kevin and he excepted a baptismal date as well for the 11th. Im really excited for them, bummer that im not going to be around for it but its all good. Im really happy because it will get the ward excited too...in the last 9 months there has only been 1 convert baptism.

   Well short letter for this week, im sure i will have a lot more to write next week. I love you all! thank you for your love, support, and prayers.

 

con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald