Week 93

Hey family,

Another good week here in Comayaguay is still really hot. You cannot escape the heat.

Its been a pretty eventful week. Monday we did the usual playing soccer and shopping. On Tuesday we went out to the military base for our family home evening group. We had a pretty good turn out. We are getting a lot of support which is pretty cool. We have a few investigators and less actives coming pretty consistently. We are making quite a few friends out there. Our investigador lance gives us rides in his military police hummer pretty cool haha. He wanted to take us out to the shooting range to watch them do target practice haha pretty sweet.

On Wednesday i got a phone call from the zone leaders in my last area telling me that carlos, one of the sons in la familia landes that got baptized, died a few days earlier. He was 12 years old. He got hit by a motorcycle and had some head injuries. He was in and out for a few days in the hospital until his lungs collapsed the doctors weren't too focused on anything else but the head injuries. The dad, Juan carlos, had gotten the melchisedek priesthood a week earlier and one night while in the hospital with carlitos he woke up and saw his son struggling. He gave him a fathers blessing telling him that if it was god will, that he pass on and start his mission on the other side of the veil. 20 minutes later he died. The family is doing pretty okay considering the circumstances. I wrote them a letter, and the dad sent me a pin of the temple that he had made (he is a jewler). Im really grateful that carlos was able to receive a baptism before passing away. A few hours after the zone leaders called me we went to the church for interviews with president. One of the first things he asked me was are you ready to train?创 haha i was pretty surprised. I wanted to finish my mission training and that exactly what ill do. On Friday i went to tegus for a meeting for people who will be training. There are 4 of us from my group that will finish training. Pretty cool.

On Thursday Rima Rusnac bought us a bunch of beef jerky and Swedish fish and other stuff from the PX on base love that place.

On Saturday our friend Matt Moss from the military base took us out to the run way and flight deck to see all the blackhawks. IT WAS SO COOL. We got to sit inside and he showed us how to fly a Blackhawk felt like a little kid. He had just gotten back from a mission in Belize burning marijuana crops. Pretty cool stuff.

On Sunday I bore my testimony in church and was able to say goodbye to the branch. I really loved it here. Then at 1600 we went to the service on base. It was a good day. We got to talk with the chaplin and some people from other churches that wanted to know more about us.

Well that about it for this week. Transfers on Wednesday so it sounds like its good bye Comayaguay next email ill be writing you from some other place. I love you all. Take care.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 92

Hey Family,

First off, my schedule looks pretty sweet. Im excited about classes this fall and to do well in my classes. Its nice to know ive got good brothers sisters and parents that take care of me. Its a relief to know things are ready for after-mission life. Thanks again.

Conference was AMAZING. It could not have picked a better session than that for my last conference in the mission. I got to watch it all in English. I loved Pres. Uchtdorfs talk about light and darkness, we cant just wait sitting in a dark room waiting for someone to flip the switch of our spiritual light. Elder Holland`s about help thou my unbelief, we need to believe first, or want to believe and the lord will work with what we have. Elder Christopherson`s about redemption, we need to help redeem others when we can...and of course Elder Kopischke´s talk was great. Haha i bet john was really excited to see his mission president talk. Mom and dad met him too right?

 We had quite a few investigators show up too which is always great. We found an older gentleman on friday named David. He lives here and comayagua and also in a house right by the temple in Tegucigalpa. He said he has been jumping from church to church and feels like he hasnt attained anything in his life spiritually. He went to conference sunday morning and was touched. It was cool to see how he attended church so soon after us meeting him. He says he feels lost and wants to make changes. I hope that he will continue progressing. Also one of our investigators from the military base, lance, sent us a text asking if we wanted to go get lunch with him that day. We told him we couldnt, but we invited him to watch the afternoon session of conference. He and a recent convert friend of his, Rima from Maldova, came right at the beginning of Elder Holland`s talk. Perfect timing. That was the perfect session for them to go to. He comes pretty regularly to our FHE group and sunday service on post when he isnt working. Last thursday we did our group on base and we were walking and he ran out after us to say hi, and said he wasnt working so we invited him and he came with us.

On friday we traveled to President`s house for ZLC. Most my friends in the mission are ZL`s now so its fun to spend some time with them. still bummed that we arent allowed to go to the temple yet...

Remember Luther Hyde? Well he finally got back home from the coast and we met with him on 2 days and now he has a baptismal date for next saturday on his son`s birthday. His son passes the sacrament every sunday and is a really great kid. Now a year from then they have plans to get sealed as a family in the temple. The missionaries have been struggling with him for YEARS but now he is finally ready. I really hope everything goes as planned. We have also been working SO hard with la familia Rivera. They are like hardly ever home when we go over there, but everytime we do meet with them, they are excited about baptism. We are working to get them baptized this weekend along with Luther. If i get transfered that will be a great way to end my last week in this area. Transfers are on the 17^th

Im absolutely loving my time here. I love the members. Even the members i didnt really like that much before are really starting to grow on me haha. I feel really loved here.

How was march madness for brett and dad? Oh, happy belated birthday brett haha. I ate a cupcake in celebration. Heather`s house looks SICK. 

also...my electric razor ran out of batteries, so ive been shaving acoustically. I dont know if someone could send me a charger for a phillips electric razor? it saves me a lot of time in the morning. i would buy one out here but, im pretty sure it will be impossible to find...stupid thieves, why did they have to take that? nobody will even have an electric razor to use it. 

alright well that is about it for this week. Less than a 100 days left...haha im trying not to count. i love you all. take care!

Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 91 Semana Santa

 

 Hey familia,

   Well let me start off by wishing Grandpa a very very happy Birthday. I Sent a postcard in the mail...but i have sent a few postcards in the mail, but i dont know when they will arrive. But it sounds like mom and dad are having a pretty fun time traveling around making the rounds to all the family. This week was nuts. Lots of crazy stuff happened. Some good, some bad. 

   Last monday after writing, we went to buy some groceries at the supermarket and took a taxy back to our house. I tried opening our front gate but it had the lock from the inside turned...weird... so i reached around and unlocked it from the inside, then again from the outside. Then I walked in through the front door to see all my stuff on the floor and stuff on my desk pulled out and looked through. Went to the other rooms and saw that my luggage had been moved and a bunch of other stuff looked through...and a LOT of stuff missing. We got robbed. We have a big wall around our house with an electric fence around top, but they cut down the fence behind the house and climbed in. Then they chiseled away at the wall so the could pull the bars off the window and climb in through there. Then they used the bars to climb out and over the wall again. They stole one of my wallets with my money in it, but left all my cards and stuff that was in it on my desk. They stole our irons, chargers, a few usb/ SD cards...They stole my electric razor charger but not my electric razor...but now my razor is out of batteries and those chargers dont exist here. And as the days went on i discovered lots of other little things that they stole. It was pretty frustrating. We called our landlord right away and he called the police. Then the next day some people came to fix the electric fence...but if it didnt work the first time i doubt it will work a second time. Luckily I had my camera and the memories that have all my mission pictures on them.

   Tuesday we went out to the military base to start our Book of Mormon reading/ Family Home Evening group. We are having a decent turn out of 5 to 10 people. There were some less actives that we have met in our time there from Utah that came and were participating and afterwards they asked for copies of the book of mormon because they wanted to start reading on their own too.  We also have a few investigators coming pretty regularly. They get pretty bored on base haha so its pretty easy to get people to come, when the alternitave would be to go drinking. We went thursday as well for the reading group and kept seeing new faces.

   On Wednesday, The other companionship here in our branch were walking and a guy came up to them on a bike, pointed a gun at them then shot the gun between them, and then asked for their money and other things. It was pretty scary. We were headed to that same place where it happened right when it happened, but i decided to go to the bathroom before. The other elders called us and told us what happened, we called president, and he just told us to hang tight and stay in the house for the day.

   On friday, They had a celebration in centro for good friday. starting thursday night people start to make these "carpets" out of colored saw dust, rocks, beans, rice, and lots of other things, and make really cool decorations on the streets around the cathedral and the central park. Then Later on a procession comes through with "christ" carrying his cross over the carpets. Which i thought is kind of cool. the whole idea of wanting to pathe his way with precious things. But before the parade thing people just go around taking pictures of the carpets. This was the 50th year anneversary of it. We also talked to a catholic father from england for awhile. He says his job is to keep his members from going to our church haha. 

   Sunday La familia rivera came to church which we were really happy about, and they said that they are ready to get baptized this week. We are gonna go meet with them tonight. Sacrament meeting was kind of weird...i think the branch president forgot it was easter, and assigned talks about the word of wisdom...and then he remembered and like stood up and started giving this rant for about 30 minutes and was like yelling in the microphone like an evangelical pastor...saying how its satanic to wear crosses and things like that...while my investigators are there with cross bracelets or necklaces...it was pretty uncomfortable. especially when they come to church on easter sunday...i was hoping for something different. I hope that that doesnt affect their progress in the future.

   Im really excited for General Conference this weekend. It will be my last one as a missionary...I just completed 21 months. pretty crazy.

Alright well thats it for this week, im gonna attach a few pictures. Les amo mucho, espero que todos esten bien. Cuidense mucho. La iglesia es verdadera.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Archibald

ps. oh, also another cool story. Stephany, the girl we baptized last month, Well her boyfriend here in the branch just proposed to her. They will be getting married in december and sealed in february.

pps. getting robbed was not an april fools joke

Week 91

Hey family,

    Its been another good week, but it is blazing hot. Its been above 40 degrees C about every day this week, i think thats like above 100 F…its pretty exhausting. Unfortunately la familia Rivera hasn’t gotten baptized yet. The whole family has been pretty sick the last few days and have had been in the hospital. So that has been pretty hard for us and them. We have been finding some new people as well which is keeping us busy.

    On Tuesday we had a meeting In the city with the mental health doctor of the central American and carribean areas. He was the mission president here in Comayaguela in 2003 to 2006. The cooler part was that there was a guy that my companion met in his last area who came to visit his family here in Honduras but he lives in Pleasant Grove, UT. And He wanted to take us out to lunch that day because he was here for the dedication. He was also accompanied by his old mission president and the presidents wife. He was the mission president here 30 years ago. President Bingham from Mesa Arizona. He is like 90 now. But it was awesome to get to hear him talk about how much the church has grown since he was here. He was telling about when he created a branch in Comayagua…and now it’s a stake! He was really excited to talk with us so we could tell him about what is going on in the work now. He said that he would have loved for us to be serving in his mission when he was serving haha. Then they drove us all the way back to Comayagua from Tegucigalpa.

   We had stake conference on Sunday too. Elder Duncan from the area presidency, Elder Laboriel from the area seventy, President Fortuna, And President Ocampo the temple president were there and all gave really great talks. There were lots of people in attendance and we were glad to have some investigators there too.

    We have been able to go out to the military base a few times this last week. The capt. That normaly holds the sacrament meeting wasn’t going to be able to be there so he asked us to do it. It was pretty cool to be able to serve the members in that way. There are a few investigators coming on a regular basis and a lot more recent converts that were baptized in other bases. They seem a lot more excited about it now that they are able to be with missionaries. There are lots of people that kind of fall through the cracks when they get moved and they don’t know who is LDS and don’t have a support group and that means that a lot start doing things they know they shouldn’t be doing…but in that environment its probably pretty hard to avoid temptation without a really strong base. We have some pretty strong members too though. There are 3 return missionaries, one is a black hawk pilot and he says he took a bunch of his pilot buddies to the temple open house and they loved it. We are going to start visiting them as well. The guys name is Matt Moss from Logan UT….he just got accepted into the Blackhawk special forces unit…remember the pilot that dropped the 6 navy seals in osama´s house? He will be doing that stuff…pretty sweet haha. He says he will take us out to the run way to go look at the helicopters and airplanes. There is also a lady from Romania that is American military now that is helping us out a lot with teaching her friends.

   Well that’s about it for now. I love you all. How is life back home? Are you getting the house ready for me? Haha. The time is going by wayyyy too fast.

Con mucho amor y cariño,

Elder Archibald

Week 90

Hola familia!

   How is everyone doing? well it has been an event filled week. First off, It is blazing hot right now. And it should only be getting worse for the next few weeks. it gets pretty exhausting. First off, unfortunately La familia Rivera did not get baptized. We had their wedding on friday and everything went great, but the mom, leily, got really really sick and couldnt make it to the baptism...so it will be until next week. Also Luther did not come back from work in the north coast so he didnt get baptized either...it was pretty hard week for that and i got pretty sad to be honest with you. I really hope that the baptisms come through for the next week, even though they will have to wait a week to be confirmed because we have a stake conference. They will be calling a new stake president. Elder Duncan from the 70 will be coming to organize the stake. mom, did you say we were related to him some how? 

   On Saturday night we went to the stake center here to watch the broadcast of the Cultural event which was held in a stadium in Tegucigalpa. President Uchtdorf, Elder Holland, Elder Martino, Elder Amado, Elder Duncan, and one other 70 thats shweizer? i cant remember the name. Pres. Uchtdorf started off the meeting saying how he had met with The president of Honduras a few days ago and that he would have liked to come to the event but that he was going to rome to meet the pope. And then president uchtdorf made a shout out to the pope haha. He wished him luck and it was really respectful. The first stake to present their dance was from Comayagua. They did something with Nephi`s vision of the americas in the future. It was really cool. The rest of the stakes did lots of Mayan and Lenca Dances and the stakes from the north coast did some of their like tribal dances and drums and stuff. It was so cool. Also all the youth signed a book committing themselves to serving fulltime missions and gave it to president uchtdorf. It was way cool seeing a bunch of youth from my other areas and some adults that appeared too.

  On Saturday we went to the three sessions of the dedication. It was amazing. There were some really really inspiring talks by Elder Holland and Elder Uchtdorf. Really helped my desire for other people to have temple blessings. For the last session we went to go pick up some members from the base, they loved it. unfortunately the mission president told us that missionaries will not be allowed to go to the temple...he says we dont have time to do that. I guess he´s right, we should stay more focused on the work...but still im sure we could find time on a p day to go. That would be better than playing soccer. I really really miss the temple. 2 years is a long time without going to the temple. I just want to be able to do at least one session before i go home.

   alright well thats about it. thank you for EVERYTHING. I have the best family in the world. The church is true.

con amor,

Elder Archibald

ps. I got the package from mom and dad! thank you! last package from germany (sad face)

Week 89

2 years of using these keyboards, and i still dont know how to do a semi colon...

 

Hey family!

    ill start off with the good news...Im still here in comayagua! and im loving it. Monday a family took us shopping for groceries, but i didnt buy much because i wasnt sure if i would be leaving or staying. Then on tuesday morning we got the phone call from the asistents saying that we didnt have changes. YES! i was so happy haha. We went to the changes meeting on wednesday. 40 new missionaries came to the mission! 5 are from brasil and 1 from ecuador which is pretty cool...unfortunately none of them are in the zone haha so i wont be able to practice my portugues. The were some changes in the zone, we lost a district in a city up north called Siguatepeque, which was a bummer because i loved doing exchanges up there and one of my good friends just got made the district leader there, but i wont be seeing him much anymore. But president put a lot more missionaries right here in the city so we still have 4 districts and 13 companionships. There is another companionship here in the branch with us now.

     Friday we went back to tegucigalpa for the zone leader councel in President Fortunas house. He told us that we can go to all the sessions of the temple dedication if its broadcasted in our church building...and thats good because we are in the stake center. And no missionaries can go to the cultural night which is pretty sad, but we can at least watch it in the chapels where it will be broadcasted. Right now we need to be working a lot with the references from people that went to the temple. Unfortunately in my area there arent a lot of references...only 1. but in other areas there are more...but there were a lot of people that came on the first trip that didnt fill out information cards in the temple so that we can contact them because the sisters in the temple kind of dropped the ball the first few days and didnt do a good job at directing people to the info tent. But we still have a list of everyone that was on our bus and we´ll go around to the members asking who they invited. 

     There are a lot of people who have been attending church for awhile now but for whatever reason havent wanted to get baptized, but we are using the temple dedication as incentive for baptism. Theyll get baptized and have permission to be confirmed the same day this week so they can go to the dedication on sunday. The parents of la familia rivera (johnson´s parents), and Luther Hyde will be getting baptized this week before the dedication. and there are about 8 other people that we are going to visit with that we are pretty sure will want to be able to go to the dedication. We have lots of work to do. There is one family that we still have to meet with that is a reference from the branch president. The dad was less active, but his wife and 4 kids are members but they went to the temple and the rumor is that they all want to get baptized now...theyre called la familia Paz. We´ll see what happens. We have an appointment with them tonight.

   On saturday our investigador miguel from the base invited us to a boy scout thing he was sponsering because he knew we were eagle scouts. So we went to the bonfire they had and made some smores and got to know some other military people that want us to come visit them.

    On sunday we had quite a few investigators in church, including some from the military base. They were remodeling the church so all the ceiling was missing...so that was pretty ugly. but they are getting it ready for the dedication i guess. Saturday at 1800 hours we went to the sacrament meeting on base, it was pretty small, but we helped with the sacrament and i gave a talk...it was horrible haha i could NOT do it well in english. More people came that day because they heard we were coming so they got excited. There are a lot of recent converts there. Tonight we are having a family home evening on base with them too. They are really great people but just need a little more spiritual attention...it has to be pretty hard to avoid temptation in their situation. And now all these recent converts want us to meet their friends. So we´ll see what happens in the future there. Its pretty cool because we are friends with some pretty high rank people. The guy who runs the group on base is Chris Parker from Blackfoot ID...does the name ring a bell dad? he says he knows grandpa. All these guys have pretty sweet stories from Iraq, and they love it here in Honduras. we are just trying to figure out how the members here can go to the dedication because they dont have their records here and not very many are endowed and have recommends.

   Congratulations mom and dad for finishing your mission. Im so proud of you for dedicating that year and a half completely to the lord. just dont leave on your next mission before i get home! unless you come here to Honduras haha. Those pictures from Croatia look sweet. 

    Any news on class registration for fall? any suggestions of classes that i should take?

I love you ALL, thank you for your prayers. youre in mine. The book is blue, The church is true.

Con amor,

Elder Archibald

Week 88

Hey fam!

   Well we are here anxiously waiting the phone call from the asistants to see who stays and who goes. There´s a possibility that i will leave to open a new zone that is being created...i dont really want to go. Its been kind of frustrating how often i get changed haha. 2 changes in loarque, 2 in guaimaca, 1 in lempira, only 2 here so far...so im praying that i will stay. There are some new really positive investigators that have gone to the temple. We are hoping to baptize 3 families this month. 1 of them went to the temple and wants to get baptized now. The temple is blessing the country already. The last trip to the temple went great. my companion and i went early because we had to go renue my residence card, then we went over to the temple to meet up with the branch. Only 2 buses came from the two wards, but it was still a good turn out. It was SO full in the temple that day. Some news castors were interviewing elder Amado in front of the temple, and then we talked with him for a few moments after. it was really nice to meet him. I had met him once before in the airport when president fortuna came. So after friday 185,000 people had gone to the open house, the goal was 200,000. On saturday 35,000 people went to the temple so they met the goal! the dedication will be soon, and the cultural night will be on the 16th. We arent allowed to go. but it will be broadcast to the chapel, so we will go watch it in the church. it should be really cool. We´ll see how well the members in Colorado can do with the new temple in Fort Collins. 

   The investigators are great. We went to the military base to teach miguel and he is pretty receptive. Its really different teaching in english. La familia rivera is doing great. They want to get baptized but we have to marry them first.

thank you for getting my housing all squared away! any ideas on classes i should take?

i love you all, thank you for your prayers. the church is true!

Con amor,

Elder Archibald