Big Day for the Mission

September 2,

This is a big day for our mission. We did not start off the month well. But if we want to finish with the results that we had hoped for for this month we must have a very large sum of baptisms this week. We have enough people with a baptismal date to break the record of baptisms in one week. We will have to do it in order to have over 200 baptisms for the 6th month in a row. I have no doubt that we will complete that. Our mission is looking to finish this month strong. and start the month of september next week a lot better than we started august. We need to be consistent. That is one of my big responsibilties as AP. To verify with the zone leaders on how many baptisms we will have every week, and every month. And to push them to reach thier goals. And it is not simply because we want to be the highest baptizing mission in central america (which we were in july). It is because we are seeking to help as many people as possible to enter into baptismal waters. I see so much potential in our mission to help even more people, so my job is to push them with higher goals in order to do so.

On wednesday we had a trianing meeting with all of the new missionaries and thier trainers. SInce June over 40 missionaries have entered the mission, so there were over 80 missionaries there. There were more sisters than elders. The meeting went well though. President Hernandez was not able to attend because he had a tooth pulled and was recovering. So Elder Quevedo and I were in charge of everything. It went really well though. I practiced teaching with the new elders. Most are from the states and are learning spanish still. I just put them on the spot and made them teach. That is the best way to learn. After that we rotated and I had the trainers with me. I did the exact same thing with them. Not because they need to practice teaching, It is so that they will practice with their new missionaries. My trainer was great and all, but he never practiced with me. I turned out ok, but imagine if we would have accelerated that process. That is what I want the new people to do. Become great teachers, and as soon as possible. I hope that they can learn from our past mistakes, and be much better missionaries than I am and the rest of my generation. 

The rest of the week was pretty normal. I will have a baptism on tuesday. Her name is Amanda. She is about 50 yrs old and has a son who is 17 named Juvinee. He has been a member for 4 or 5 years and has always wanted his mom to join him. She never really wanted to though. I actually taught her for the first time about a year ago. She is finally ready for baptism though. I am very happy about that. It has been a great experince to be in the same area that I was in a year ago. She wants to be baptized on Tuesday becaue it is her sons birthday. He will baptize her. It will be amazing. I have seen that so many people have progressed more and more towards the gospel in that time. She is one of them. There are also others that have not progressed at all in that time. They rejected the gospel the first time and their life is the same or worse than it was before. And they sill reject it. It is a sad thing.

Well I love you family. It has officially been a year since I left Guapinol and I got the the 30 for the first time. It has also been about 2 years since I opened my mission call. Crazy right? It has gone by very quickly. I have loved it though. 

Love Elder Comstock

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Letter to Grandma and Grandpa as they prepare for their mission.

August  18, 2013

Grandpa and Grandma,

I am very happy to hear that you will be enterning the MTC so soon. I hope that you are as excited as I was to go there. I loved my stay there. Im sure that you wont be there for anywhere near as long as I was, but you will enjoy it. I know that the number of Elder and Sister missionaries as gone up a ton since last october. I wonder if that also had an effect on how many senior couples are serving. Our mission only has one senior couple but they dont work with us: They are in charge of the churches perpetual fund.  Anyways, I was very happy to hear that you would be joining me out here in the mission field. I know that you will help many people in mississippi. 

You will have to send me a letter or an email with details on all of your responsibilities next month once you have been out there for awhile. I cant wait to hear about all that you are doing. It will be very different from what I am doing I am sure, but It will still be exactly what the lord needs for you. You wont have as many rules as I do. Lucky you. I am actually very used to the rules by now so I dont mind them. In fact, they have helped me alot through my time out here. It will be weird when I finish and I have to go to normal life. I am glad that I still have 4 more months before I have to start worrying about that. 

The time passes by very quickly. You will see that once you get out there. We are just so busy as missionaries. It is the best. It is just wierd to look back and see how far I have come. By the time you leave I will be about to hit 20 months as a missionary. That is more time than you will even serve I think. (Yours is 18 months right?) But when I see all of the pictures, journal entries, and people, I cant believe that it has been that long. I am glad that I have had all of my trials and difficulties that I had throughout the first year of my mission. The second year has been full of a lot less tears, and a lot more smiles. Many better companions, the ability to communicate with ease to anyone that I need to, the success that we have had as a mission, and the changes that I have seen in so many peoples lives. So dont worry if It takes you a little to ajust to the mission, all of the struggles help so much for the rest of your time. The Lord prepares us for our final year and months, to truly become the great missionaries that he knows that we can be. 

I like saying we. I feel a sort of brotherhood knowing that you will be missionaries just like me very soon. Its about time that someone from the family joins me! I know that dallin will serve and maybe even Whitney. I will encourage her to do so once I get home and she is getting closer to 19. Your example in going out on a mission will serve them, and the rest of the younger girls, in many ways over the next 18 months. I truly support Elder Hollands statement when he said in october 2011, " Those little darlings will be just fine, and I promise you will do things for them in the service of the Lord that, worlds without end, you could never do if you stayed home to hover over them. What greater gift could grandparents give their posterity than to say by deed as well as word, “In this family we serve missions!”"

It is the truth. In this family we do serve misisons. And you 2 are the example. Thank you for always being the example. You have always helped and supported me in everything that I have ever done, but never have you supported me as much as you have in my mission. Thank you for the help that you have given me monthly that will allow me and my parents to send me off to school after the mission and not have to worry about the money, because I didnt have to spend all of mine and thiers to be here. Thank you so much. I feel so blessed. I know I have not been much of a personal writter, but I hope that you have enjoyed my weekly emails. They are written to each and every one of my family members. Anyways, thank you for everything Grandma and Grandpa Jordan. You are the best Grandparents that a Grandson could ever ask for. Good luck with your talks tomorrow. I cant wait to hear from you and know how things are in mississippi. I love you so much.

Love, Elder Comstock

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Back to Guapinol

I just got back from a trip to the south. I have been on a bus for 4 hours and I am feeling kind of sick. I must´ve eaten something down there. I will be fine though. I started my last journal this week. I have filled up 3 already.

Tuesday morning I spent in the office working on a presentation for zone confernce next week. It is going to be a good conference. I am excited to teach the entire mission over a 3 day period. I have a few videos that we will be watching and I have prepared a power point. Wish me luck. After that I headed down to the south for a week. We got there at 9 o clock so we couldnt do much on tuesday.

Wednesday I met up with Elder Dockendorf and Mendoza for divisions with them. I went with them a couple weeks ago. Their area is so incredible that I had to go back. We ate an iguana for dinner that night. Next time I send pictures you will see that. It was pretty good. 

Thursday I went with a different zone. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. They were both new in their area so they kept geting lost. We probably walked like 8 miles. We made our own fun as we walked though. 

Friday was the coolest day of the trip. I went back to GUAPINOL!!!! that was really really cool. Everyone is doing great out there. I will tell you the biggest guapinol news next week, but it was really good to get to see everyone and help the elders out there.

Today I woke up sick to my stomach but I had to come back so we are here now. I made it on the bus. I will probably just work on my presentation for next week and rest untill our baptisms tonight. We should have 1 and possibly2 from our own area. Our ward supports us a lot while we are on our ap trips. I love you family. Have fun getting ready for school!!!

Love Elder Comstock

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220 Baptisms!

August 4, 2013

I had a good week this week. It was very busy.

On Monday we had all of the mission dats that showed us that we had 220 baptisms in our mission in july. That is the most that we have ever gotten in a month with only 4 sundays. So we did a good job. We are definetly getting better as a mission and we are getting closer to our bigger goals. 

On Wednesday we had our monthly meeting with the zls and the sister training leaders. The meeting is a lot bigger than it used to be. There used to only be 22 zls in the mission. Due to all of the growth of missionaries in our mission there are now 34. Plus 6 sisters that are in charge of the sisters. There is a lot of leadership in our mission. That is a good thing. I had to teach them something and I talked about goals and we set goals as a mission. I also talked about being realistic with our goals. That is something that our mission is not as good at right now. We are working on it though.

After the meeting I got in the truck and loaded 3 beds into the back. I drove them out to Danli with the zls from Danli. So we went for a road trip out to Danli. My companion stayed in Tegucigalpa to work with zls here in the city. We made it safely. It was a fun trip. That night we had a few hours to work but the power went out and we werent able to do much. 

Thursday we had zone meetings in Danli with the 2 zones out there. That went really well. Those are 2 really good zones. They seem to be ready to have a good month in August. We took some beds to the sisters house after the meeting. We helped some other sisters move after that. I had planned on being done with all of that around 4 to go to work with the missionaries. But it wasnt that easy. The truck alarm started going off and we tried everythingwe could possibly think of to get it to stop. I was with 2 elders who were educated about cars and they were not sure why the alarm was going off. We ended up disconnecting the entire alarm system because we couldnt get it to stop. The car has been fine since then, but we are still unsure about what happened. I guess that the same thing had happened a few months ago with the same truck. It is a nice truck, it just has that glitch I guess. I ended up having to drive the missionaries that helped me out to their area because they missed the bus. I wasnt back and working until 7. It was not how I had hoped to spend my day, but it happens.

Friday I got up and drove to la zona valle verde. That is one of the few zones that I had not been to before. It is a little district out in the east side of honduras made up of tiny branches. The missionaries are doing a good job out there. That is where elder meyer is. He leaves next week. He is so ready haha. I was with elder edwards all day and he is a really good guy. He came here on the plane with me. We had a good time with the work that we had to do. We actually found a new family and taught a new lesson and that felt good. We slept in hammoks last night. true hondurans

Today we got up and started our drive back to teguc. I am now back in the office. I made the trip safely. We prayed before each departure. I know that that helps protect us. Now I am having a normal boring pday on a saturday. It is a good break at least. I love you all family. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Love Elder Comstock

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The Newbies Have Arrived AND I'm Coming Home!

This week was a crazy one. I was very very busy.

On Monday night I had to go to Presidents house at 8 to go over the changes that the mission was going to have. President actually asked us our opinions on a few changes. It was always his decision at the end of the day though. I now understand how we can assist him because we are a lot closer to the missionaries and we have a lot of information. We didnt finish the changes until about 11. We live close to president though so he went and dropped us off.

Tuesday morning we got in the Truck to go to the airport. We had a group of 12 sisters coming in at 930. 10 of them are from the usa. That is a record size of a group of sisters. They took awhile though because the airline from el salvador lost some bags. We helped them with that later though. We drove them back to presidents house and went straight back to the airport. It is kind of far from presidents house because it is part of the other mission.  We picked up the 8 elders that came in from provo. They were also all from the usa. So it was a large group of gringos. We took them home and they had a meeting all afternoon. We called the ZLs and gave the whole mission thier changes at 6. That was nice because the aps used to do it very late at night and there was no time to pack. I wanted to get it done as soon as possible. After that we had a welcome dinner with all of the new missionaries at presidents house. It is clear that these new missionaries are a blessing for our mission. They look a lot better than we were when we came haha. 

Wednesday morning was the big change meeting. We took all of the new missionaries to the stake center to start the meeting. I led the meeting and was able to share my testimony with them about how el libro de mormon helped me learn spanish. My companion shared his testimony too. I then had to translate Hermana Hernadez and Presidents talks for the new missionaries. That was funny. I forgot a word or 2 in english. We got them all thier new companions and sent them off to their new areas. In the afternoon we took the missionaries that will be going home before september to the temple. That includes Elder Tarver, Meyer, Jones, and Stone. Some of my best friend on the mission. So I drove them to the temple and we did a session in the afternoon. That really helped me relax with all of the stress that I had from the craziness of the week. We had a dinner that night with their group as well at presidents house. I took Elder Tarver to the airport the next day. He is now with his family.

Speaking of going home. I should be home around the 23rd of December. That is the release date that President Hernandez gave me when I talked to him about school and everything. I know that mom was dying to hear that while reading this email. So I will be home within the next 5 months. The time is getting shorter... I will take advantage of it I promise. Thanks for everything family. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Comstock

Back To The South

July 20,2013

I spent most of last week in southern Honduras. It was such a good trip. I was able to work with 3 different zones and see how they were doing. The south is supposted to be the part of the mission that baptizes the most. They are doing a good job. It is known for the heat.

The first day was spent in a zone called San Lorenzo. That is the hottest zone in the mission. It was a hot day. We drove down with president to the south and he dropped me off with the zls (Elder Vorwaller and Torres) in SL. Elder Vorwaller is actually from Parker Colorado. He said that he didnt know Grandma and Grandpa though. Maybe they know his parents. We got to ride bikes all day. That was new and different for me. They are like the only zone that has bikes. Lucky them. We saw a circus there and took pictures of some of the animals on the side of the road. We helped the sisters move houses. We taught a good lesson. It was a sucessful day.

The second day I went to la zona Monte Carlo with my old friend Elder Dockendorf. He is the Zone leader in that zone That was a fun day. We went out to the brand new area that he is opening. He is breaking records of mission stats with investigators in church and lessons taught. It is a place that has litteraly never had much religion. It is very remote, but he is seeing sucess there. We enjoyed our divisions.

The third day was in la Zona Iztoca with my roomate from the mtc, Elder Evans. He is the zone leader there. We got hit by a crazy rain storm. It was raining sideways. It is a good thing that I had to go to the bathroom and we went to the house 5 min befor it started raining. We got lucky. We had district meeting that day with brownies that are delicious. 

Yesterday I got back to Teguc and to my pleasant supprise our truck was ready. Our finacial secretery Elder Peterson came to pick us up and took us to the toyota shop to pick up Presidents car that was getting worked on too. I drove Presidents car back to his house. The toyota shop is in the comayaguela mission, so I didnt really know the way back. We drove around for a few minutes and found our way. It was funny.  It was a great week though. And we have 3 baptisms planned for tonight so it should end well. They are 3 girls that we have been teaching. Wish me luck! I love you all so much!

Love Elder Comstock

DRIVING!!!

July 13, 2013

Well it sounds like you all had quite the week. Park city, new cars, living the good life. I have to be honest and say that my week was not anything like that. But the new car thing is getting close. We should be getting our truck back soon. Someone wrecked it a few months back but It is about fixed up. We will see if we are lucky enough to have it on Monday. We shouldve had it a month ago but they are just taking a really long time. I did get to drive Presidents car 2 weeks ago. It was exactly 18 months since I had driven. It went well though.

This week was filled with divisions. Like always I suppose. That is fine though. It is our job. It is funny because some people in our ward dont even think that elder quevedo and I are companions because we are together such a little amount of time. Monday and Friday we were togethrer in the 30. Tuesday wednesday thursday we were alover teguc. But one of us was always in our area. That was necesary because we are preparing a few people for baptism in the next couple of weeks. That is the fun part about being ap. We work out of our area and with the whole mission, but we are also expected to baptize in our area as well. It isnt easy, but the Lord has blessed us so much in our little time in the area to always have new investigators and people in church. I think we will have a good month this month as a companionship. 

The not fun part is all of the problems. We sent 3 missionaries home this week. I dont know all of the details of why, because its none of my buisness, but I am pretty sure that it was all for things that they did before the mission. The guilt just got to them I suppose. That is why repentance is so necesary, that is also why it is such a miracle. That we can be guilt free out here in the mission and in life if we will just be humble enough to repent. So I suppose it was a good thing that they talked to president and are on the path to repentance.

I have a fun week planned ahead of me. We are going back to the SOUTH! I havent been down there since last august. I wont be going out to Monjaras this month, maybe the next one. But I  am still excited to go back down there. It is so much hotter. I will be sweating a lot more than normal. Im sure it will bring back great memories of Guapinol. I love you family. Keep enjoying your summer!

Love Elder Comstock