Week 47: Loarque

Hey family,
    Well, I just finished my first week in the new area Loarque. Its been a really good week...this area is a lot different than any of the areas I´ve been in before. Half of it is really wealthy (well...comparatively) and the other half is really poor. We have spent the last week just getting to know a lot of members...Thats going to be really important for us in this area. In the wealthy areas are gated communities so we cant really contact like normal or just get to know the people, we have to have appointments. The other part that is really poor is called Los Altos de Loarque, Most of the members live in this part...but everyone tells us not to come around later than 6 or 7 o clock at night because its dangerous...but thats when we start working in the area, so we will see what we can do. We have an investigator there that has a baptismal date for this friday, his name is Carlos Santos. He is a really humble guy in humble circumstances. He lives alone in a small room made out of cement blocks about 12 ft by 12ft, he works as a security guard and has 24 hour shifts. He works 24 hours and then gets 24 hours off then goes back to work again...its a tough life.
     The members here are great though, its so much different from my last ward. The members are really kind and not so depressed...but some of the leaders are still lacking a little faith. They say that its too hard to have success here for one reason or another. This used to be the Zone Leaders area and they havent baptized in 7 or 8 months...really that doesn't matter to me. If people can open their doors and see the need of this in their lives in Germany they can do the same in Honduras. We have 2 other investigators as well. One is the husband of a lady in the ward, he has been going to church every now and then for the last 7 years. He used to live in Mesa, AZ working for a software company doing finances for them. We are praying to figure out what he is going to need to have the desire to progress. We also have a young guy who is 15 years old who has been going to church for the last 2 years, but his mom wont let him get baptized. For Christmas and his Birthday he just asked for his mom to let him get baptized as his present. We arent sure why she is so against the idea, but we are going to see what we can do to help. The kids name is Christopher Stanfield, his Dad is from England and lives in Miami working for British Airways...he a really sharp guy, and i really hope that something can touch his moms heart. This is all a completely new experience for me teaching people like this hah. On sunday I had my first real dinner where we sat at a table as a family and ate together haha...it was amazing.

anyways, ive got to run. i love you all, keep me updated on whats goin on back home. MISS YOU!

con mucho amor,
Elder Archibald