Week 82

Hey family,

    Well we just got back from a good Pday adventure and so that is why im writing you so late. Ill send pictures next week. Things are going really well here in Piedras Bonitas Comayagua. We are getting prepared for the trip to the temple open house. I am SO excited for this haha. You have no idea. I have been waiting for this since almost a year and a half ago and FINALLY the temple will be ready to bless the lives of all the people in Honduras I just hope they will be ready for the temple. They have been running a lot of coverage on it on the news and they have commercials playing every hour on a lot of channels here. 

   Great news, Johnson Rivera got baptized and his parents were there to see it, and they all came to church the next day. They know that the church is true and i have seen huge changes in them in such a short amount of time. Now they just need to get married. Also the Girlfriend of a return missionary here in the ward got baptized. Her name is stephany, she has been taught by a TON of missionaries...but non of them asked her if she wanted to get baptized. So we asked her the first time we met with her and she said yes, and that she wanted to do it that weekend. We are still working with a few other families and seeing lots of progress. I would have no problem ending my mission here. I hope i do actually.

   We have been working on getting on the military base still to teach some investigators haha. Seems like they dont want the mormons around there, but the new commander over the whole base is a member, and will be attending our branch so that should be a big help. 

   keep me updated on everything thats going on back home. i dont have much time to write. Love you guys!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 81

  

 Hey family,

    Another great week here in Comayagua. Things are really coming along well with the investigators. The Hyde family is ready, the dad Luther`s grandpa was from england so thats why they have that name haha. Anyways the hardest part is that he travels a lot for his work to the north coast but we  think he will be able to get baptized this month. Familia Rivera are doing great...we`re talking about marriage with them. The husband wants to get married but the mom is scared because she thinks that if they get married theyll just get divorced or split up...even though they have 21 years together. But they both recognized that they have made HUGE changes as a family in a very short time. The husband is drinking anymore and they started praying together. they are so grateful for what we have helped them do. The sad part is that the son whi is 15 is going to the united states to new york. He wants to get baptized this saturday before he leaves next week. He wants to go to church up there. Gus is doing great, he is reading the book of mormon and is already going to finish mosiah. He says that he is willing to make changes to get baptized. He was planning on going back to NY soon, but he likes it here so he is going to stay a little longer. Things are going will with the temple, We are getting a bus from the military base ready to go. There are some members there that are helping a lot (all recent converts or recently activated) but their are a few that dont like the idea of it because they want a separation of church and state...but its just a temple open house and is a cultural activity and a lot of people want to go. The guy who doesnt want to let us on the base or bring people to the temple is a return missionary (go figure) and from blackfoot. He says he knows grandpa. His last name is parker...maybe they can get someone to talk some sense into him haha. All of our other friends say that there wont be a problem. We are going to go on the 23rd with them i think. and we will go with the stake on the 15th, 22nd, and march 1st. We want to go to the cultural night but its later and night and we dont know if we can make it back in time. But they will broadcast it here in the chapel.

well thats it for this week! love you all

con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 80

Hey family,

    A good week here in Comayagua.  Im writing a little later than usual because we just got back from a little Pday adventure. My companion and i went with a recent convert here in the branch to a city close by calls Siguatepeque. Its really beautiful there and this member owns a lot of land and a couple hotels there so we went to go sight seeing for a little bit and he took us out to lunch. We just got back and im still feeling a little carsick. but anyways, it was pretty fun to go see that. Last Week we went to this museum in the old cathedral thats here in the central park of the city. they gave us a tour and everything and we got to see the worlds second oldest clock haha. It was cool because its the only like cultural touristy thing ive done like that in my mission. I took pictures but forgot to bring my camera cord to upload the pictures so i will do that next week. If anyone from the family happens to take a trip to honduras i would recommend coming here. 

   On wednesday our zone had our scheduled interviews with President Fortuna, its always a good opportunity to see how im doing and how i can improve. later that night we got robbed in the street, which was way surprising because its a super safe city, that didnt even happy when i was in Tegucigalpa. But the police cought one of the guys that had my watch, money, and our cell phone but we have to go pick it up from the police station at some point. On thursday we did exchanges for 2 days with the missionaries that are in Siguatepeque. I stayed here in piedras bonitas with the district leader, Elder Garcia, who is going home at the end of this change. He is really baggy. haha but we`re trying to help him finish strong. 

   We´ve been also working with some pretty great investigators, finally people are starting to progress. We met this kid named Gus on the street a week ago, He is 19 and has lived his whole life in the states (new york and texas) but had some problems with his papers and got sent to honduras to live with his mom who is from mexico and his step dad. Its kind of funny because i speak better spanish than he does...poor guy. anyways we have been traching him and its pretty different. we got him a book of mormon in english and have been teaching him and his mom. Gus came with us to church on sunday which was really great.

   Theres also this other family, la familia Rivera, that we have been working with a lot. The dad has stopped drinking and the mom who had been pretty hostile against us opened up a lot and went to church last week and really liked it and came again this week. Now they say that they are going to be preparing to get baptized. It has been incredible to see the change in them since we first met. And theres another family, familia Hyde, The mom and children are all members and the dad has been meeting with missionaries for years and years, but now he started coming to church again. He got in a really bad car accident and i think that made him realize that he needs to start living a better life. We invited him to get baptized on the 23rd, but he said that he should do it sooner, so He set his own date for the 9th. We hope that he goes through with it.

   Anyways, how are things going at home? how are all the kids doing? its so weird to think that its winter out there because it is BLAZING hot out here. well i love you all and hope that everyone is doing well. The church is true.

Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 79: me quedo!

Hey everybody,

    Good news, Ill be staying here in Piedras Bonitas, Comayagua for another 7 weeks. The assistants called on Tuesday morning letting us know the changes...about half the zone left. It was pretty crazy. Then Elder Gillespie was pretty happy to go because he has been in this zone his whole mission (18 months). We spent what little time we had saying bye to some people. Then early Wednesday morning we got on the bus and went back to tegucigalpa to my old area Lempira where we have the changes meeting. My new companion is elder rockwell from Utah. Another gringo haha. luckily my spanish isnt suffering too much. Anyways, My comp is a new zone leader and has about a year on the mission. im excited for the change.

   Last monday for Pday we went to one of the areas here in the zone called Villa de San Antonio to go ´´fishing´´. We went to this pond which was more like a big puddle. and we only had 1 fishing pole so the others tied fishing line to some sticks...and i just played the harmonica the whole time. but it was nice to be with the other missionaries. We didnt catch any fish. Today we are planning on going to this museum here in the central park of the city. 

   Things are going well with the investigators. We have been finding a lot of people through the members. They are inviting people over to their houses to have family home evenings about the temple. The stake has REALLY dropped the ball with the temple...they really havent been doing much. There is no money for buses so the branches and ward are getting money for their own. Luckily our ward mission leader is amazing and is really helping us (he is the old stake president). He is a professor here at the university so he is going to get a bus of students to come see the temple. We are also working with the military bus so they can get a bunch of people to go see. The goal as a country is to get 200,000 people to go see the open house. Its been kind of frustrating because a lot of the members dont comprehend how amazing it is that they are going to have a temple now and that this only happens once in their life. But i think we are waking the people up now.

    We have been teaching a family Rivera for the last few weeks and have been working really hard with them to get to go to church and finally the mom and dad and one of the sons showed up this sunday. I was so happy to see them. They could only stay for the first hour because their kids had soccer games but it was still really special that they came.

    Thanks for the info about BYU, its a little scary how fast time is going by...its a lot easier to just worry about teaching the gospel than life back home. So im not going to be worrying about it until i have to haha.

   Alright well thats it for this week! love you all and let me know how everyone is doing. The church is true!

Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 78

 
Hola familia,

   Hey well no word on changes yet...i assume that my companion Elder Gillespie will be transferred because he has been here for a long time. Actually his whole mission he`s been here in this zone, we have about the same time in the mission. But you never really know what will happen. I thought i was pretty sure i was staying in my last area and they dont tell us until tonight or tomorrow and the changes meeting is on wednesday. So its kind of a bummer if you buy a lot of groceries today and you get transferred...thats what happened to me last time haha.

   Its been a good week here as usual. Love the branch and the members and loving the investigators. Its been pretty hard lately though, we have been working really diligently and doing everything we possibly can to help the investigators progress...but they just wont come to church. The thing that bothers me the most is how easy it is for people to lie haha. they say that they are going to go and say it every time, or they tell us to come to their house at a certain time and then arent there. Its really hard. But we just keep finding new people and are hoping to find more people that will listen.

   We´ve been getting quite a few references lately. We have had a lot of success with the temple activity we were doing with the branch where the members come and then commit to having a family home evening with the people they are going to invite to the temple. The stake here has an assigned time to go to the open house on the 15th and 22nd of february, and march 1st. at 9 in the morning (all fridays) we hope that people will be able to take work off. Im really worried though that the members here really arent taking advantage of this opportunity, it seems like the missionaries are the only people working. Im giving a talk in church next week and i think ill talk about the temple to see if i can get people a little more excited.

   On wednesday we did exchanges with another companionship here in the city. i went to the other area. we took a bus pretty far and got off at this dirt road and we hiked 3 miles into the mountains to get to this village where they are starting a group of members so they dont have to travel so far to go to church. We were there for a few hours but had to leave before it got dark because there isnt electricity or running water and nobody has cars...so we hiked the other 3 miles back out..i felt like i was in scouts again haha. Later that night we went to a family that had gotten baptized a few months ago to teach one of their daughters who is deaf and mute...it was a really special experience. The sister translated in sign language for us. The girl says that she has a testimony and wanted to get baptized. So this saturday we i did the baptismal interview with her and her sister translated and she got baptized right after. 

   Yesterday we had a few investigators in church, but we are still struggling with getting others to come. But it´ll get better soon if we keep working hard. Miguel from the military base couldnt come because they are preparing for a mission and they leave to panama soon for a little while. But he calls us to let us know when he cant come.

  i reeeeally hope i dont get changed haha. Im loving it here. I think ill be here for 1 or 2 more transfers. Its crazy to think that i only have 4 more transfers left.

   alright well thats all for this week. I love you guys! the church is true. The book of mormon has the power to change people and we should really learn to trust in that power. The message of the restoration is really simple and we dont need to over complicate things. People gain a lot stronger testimony when they receive a witness that the book of mormon is the word of god rather than being convinced through reasoning. I love how the mission gets more fun and easier as i learn how to become a better missionary. Im loving it! 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 76

Hey everybody,

    Another fast week here in Comayagua. It was really nice talking to mom and dad on christmas, too bad i couldnt see you all but i could hear a few screams from the nieces and nephews for a few seconds haha. Its always good to hear your voices. My christmas was a pretty normal day, but thats the missionary christmas and i really wouldnt have wanted it any other way. Next year hopefully we´ll be able to be together.

   On the 24th we ate something thats called Torrejas with a member family for a few minutes (they are like french toast but drenched in condensed milk or honey...they are way good. Its a typical christmas food) And then we left with the dad and a daughter from that family to go visit la familia guzman. The daughter is like 18 years old and wrote her testimony in a book of mormon to give to one of the daughters in la familia guzman. That was a really nice gesture and i love how the members are getting involved here. Then we went back to our house and went to bed and then at midnight the fireworks started haha with a few gunshots mixed in there haha but its not dangerous here at all. Christmas is way different here but its still a lot of fun. They wait til midnight and open up their presents right then.

  The 25th was pretty similar, we were knocking doors most of the day but we got to teach a few lessons. It was really kind of sad to see how people were just laying on the street really drunk from the night before. Thats not really the good cheerful christmas spirit we would hope for, but we are helping people change their lives to really make christ the center of everything.

   On Sunday we woke up early to go bring investigators to church. We went to la familia guzman`s house and they were all asleep so we kept knocking on the door hoping to wake them up, Then we continued on getting other investigators. Then we came back and they had woken up and said they were going to meet us there in the church so we left to church after that. But we were waiting there and waiting past the first and second hour and they didnt come. Before sacrament meeting we left again to go to their house to bring them and luckily we got the mom and three of the kids to come with us haha. It took a lot of effort on our part but they came. I hope they had a good experience but i was kind of bothered about how irrereverent some people were being. Like this dad was just running around the benches with his daughter making a lof of noise...i dont know how people like dont realize that they are being so disruptive. Honestly for myself i dont care, but its just embarassing when we try SO hard to bring people to church and then there are people acting like that...but i also have to understand that the church is really young here haha.

Today will be pretty similar to the 24th. They are actually exactly the same, just today there arent presents, but more fireworks.

anyways thats it for this week! i love you all. i hope you have a happy new year. 2012 went by so fast and it will be one of the only years in my life where i was able to give all my time and energy to heavenly father for the entire year. 2013 itll just be half haha.

con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 75: Feliz Navidad y Prospero ano

 Feliz Navidad!

 

    Hey everbody! well its been a good week out here in comayagua. Its been raining a lot though so we have been getting pretty wet and muddy as usual. Things are great in the area, a little slow lately. December has been a hard month because people travel a lot more and we set appointments and we show up and nobody is there...so lots of wasted time because of people not following through which is pretty frustrating. We have been walking SO much. Our families are doing really good here, but it has been SO hard to get them to church. We arent sure what else we can do..the members come with us to invite them to church, we go to their house early in the morning to pick them up, we even bring them breakfast to wake them up haha. But they just dont come.. mainly La familia Guzman. Its been a challenge trying to help everyone in the family progress because there are so many 8 kids, the parents, and a nephew. The good thing is that they are reading in the book of mormon and praying. The kids in the family are such a good example, they read every day and pray and ask god if what we are teaching is true. And they say that theyve recieved an answer. The mom and dad are starting to do the same. We are hoping that when the season settles down a little bit it will be easier. The other family is la familia rivera, we have only had a few appointments but they are super positive. the mom met with missionaries about 5 years ago and her sister got baptized, and she said that she cried when the missionaries left. so she really loves the missionaries. The son of the family comes to church with us and is being a good example to the rest. He has lots of friends in the church now.

  Another cool thing thats going on is that the military members that live on the base are helping out with the missionary work. They are bringing a friend to church named miguel. He is from california and is military too. He has been to church 2 times now and wants us to go teach him on the base. So now they are helping me get a pass to get onto the base. The only bad thing is that we are going to have to wait 2 weeks to go see him because he will be on leave. His friend that brings him to church is a recent convert that got baptized 2 months before coming here to honduras and he has been here for 3 months. im impressed that he makes the extra effort to go to church every week.

  On thursday the whole zone went to tegucigalpa to Lempira (my old area) for the christmas activity. We were with 5 of the 9 zones. President and his wife spoke a little bit, then each zone did like a christmas presentation. Comayagua did a spin off of the grinch. it is always fun to be around other missionaries. After the skit things we ate a turkey dinner and played basketball. It was a good time. We ended the activity then got back on the bus to go home.

   I got the small package that mom and dad sent me. I love the tie!!! im excited to open the other package tomorrow.

 im excited to see you all tomorrow! i hope it works out. If not ill just call up mom and dad on their vonage number. The time is flying by...im coming up on my 18 month mark.

 

con mucho amor

 

Elder Archibald