Comalapa, Guatemala

Comalapa was a town of about 20,000 people, and unlike many other towns around it, Cakchiquel was spoken virtually all the time. Even most of the very few Latins who lived in Comalapa spoke Cakchiquel. It was also a close-knit community that was skeptical of outsiders. Thus, it was important that the missionaries speak Cakchiquel and gain the trust of the people. The town was very religious—either strongly Protestant or strongly Catholic. It would be important to establish the Church correctly, so that the townspeople didn’t see it as a Gringo church—or as a church just for Latins—but as a church for the whole community. Therefore, the first families we baptized would need to be the right families.

On May 29, 1975, President Arnold called missionaries (Elders Taz Evans, Steve Schmoliger, Julio Salazar, and Daniel Choc) to go into the town of Comalapa and open it to missionary work—the first time the Restored Gospel had been preached in that town. The missionaries dedicated themselves and worked hard.

On October 21, 1975, I received word that I had been reassigned from Patzicía to Comalapa to join the Elders already there, and that my companion would be Elder Daniel Choc—the Church’s only native Cakchiquel missionary from Patzicía. He was a very dedicated missionary. Read more about Elder Choc on the page about the earthquake.

I loved working with Elder Choc. One day, we committed to teaching 10 lessons. I remember we ran from door to door to find people to teach, and by about 9:00pm we had taught nine lessons. We needed one more lesson, and we said we would reach the goal even if we had to teach a drunk in the street. We finally found a man at home who agreed to let us in and hear our message. Part way through the lesson, we realized that the man had been drinking. So, we did get our ten lessons and we did teach a man who was drunk!

On December 3, 1975, Elder Choc was assigned out of Comalapa with Elder David Frischknecht to open the town of Sumpango. Elder Gary Larson was assigned as my companion and the two other elders in Comalapa were Elder Taz Evans and Elder Luis Manuel Argueta.

Our district report for December 1975 showed that I taught 130 lessons in 99 hours, with 64 hours study time, and 264 total proselyting hours. My best teaching day was December 20 when I had 10 hours proselyting time and 10 lessons. We finished the week with 59 hours and 35 lessons.

On January 2, 1976, Elder Argueta was transferred out of Comalapa and Elder Steven Schmolinger came in his place.

Progress brought about a search for a building to rent in Comalapa where we could hold church services. We found a few possible buildings. We selected one and held the first public meeting in Comalapa on January 25, 1976. This was the day after we baptized the first members in Comalapa—Rigoberto and Elena Miza (see the section below). As we were putting up the sign the Saturday before, it caught the attention of the landlord’s evangelist pastor and he told the landlord to not let us rent the building. The landlord agreed to let us hold meetings the next day, but then we had to move. We rented a green house behind the Catholic church for Q25 a month. The Church in Comalapa grew slowly. We began with simple general meetings, then gradually expanded the meetings and programs of the Church. We held the first junior Sunday School on April 25, 1976 and the first priesthood meeting on May 2, 1976.

On January 27, 1976, the mission began Cakchiquel classes (a language LTM) with additional missionaries. My companion, Elder Larson, attended the LTM during the week in Patzicía, then returned to Comalapa to work with me on the weekends. During the week, my companion in Comalapa was Eber Caranza, a 19-year-old prospective missionary from Patzún.

We ate our meals at the Hotel Don Juan, a small place a block away. One morning when we arrived to eat breakfast, Don Juan wasn’t there, so we asked the Indian lady who cooked the meals where he was. She shrugged her shoulders and said “Cuando yo venís, ella no está.”

On February 4, 1976, an earthquake hit Guatemala. Of the 20,000 people in the town of Comalapa, 3,200-3,500 died and 5,000 were injured. See the page Latter-day Saint Missionaries in the Guatemala Earthquake of 1976 for an account of the earthquake and our activities until March 31, 1976 when I returned to proselyting work in Comalapa.

See a letter to my family, dated April 3, 1976, where I informed my family that Elder Choc died, and that I had returned to Comalapa.

Upon returning to Comalapa after the earthquake Camp in Patzicía, we lived in a 13’ x 9’ tent in the back of the house we lived in before the earthquake. There were four missionaries in that tent. We had good food, and the only flush toilet and hot-water shower in town.

On May 12, 1976, I wasn’t feeling well, so I visited an American doctor who was working at the emergency hospital that was still functioning in the town square in Comalapa. He gave me a test and reported to me the next day that I had several different types of intestinal worms (tape worms and Ascaris eggs) and parasites (Strongyloides stercoralis). He gave me a prescription for 22 tablets 300mg of Piperazine. I asked him how many to take per day, and he said “I want you to take 11 pills today and 11 more tomorrow. That should kill most of them. Then come back and we’ll test you again to see which kinds of worms are left and we’ll treat you for those.”

People of Comalapa

Miza Family

The Miza family was the first family to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the town of Comalapa, Guatemala. They were baptized on January 24, 1976, in the river Pixcayá between Comalapa and Panabajal. Elder Evans baptized Rigoberto and Elder Schmolinger baptized Elena. They were then confirmed by Elder Argueta and Elder Larson, respectively.

• Read Elder Taz Evan’s story about finding, teaching, and baptizing the Mizas.
• Read Elder Larry Richman’s story about the Mizas.

See the baptismal service program and the recommends for Rigoberto and Elena.

Sister Miza passed away June 21, 2007.

On December 10, 2013: I (Larry Richman) was on Facebook and Noe Miza messaged me. He was sitting in his living room in Guatemala with his mom and dad and wondered if I wanted to video chat with them. I didn’t have a camera on my computer, so we just messaged back and forth a little. Noe had just bought his dad a tablet and set up a Facebook page for him. Rigoberto’s profile picture (see below) was of him and his wife Elena in front of the Salt Lake Temple with Lery Nelson Miza and his new wife. Noe said, “that’s my brother named after you! And that’s his wife from Chile. It is great and good memories of Larry Richman the missionary! This is part of the blessing that came thru your service!”

I pointed them to some pictures of their family that I had posted online. After they looked at them, Noe responded, “Hey! that´s me and my bro! Seems we were not sad. Thanks for the memories. I fully remember. Ok, this is Lery Nelson my brother.” As I pointed them to more of their family pictures, Noe responded, “This is amazing. Wow wow and wow! I feel something in my throat. This is incredible. Thanks for sharing, we are commenting here.” Then Noe sent me the picture below of him and his wife.

In closing the conversation, Noe said, “Thanks Larry for taking, keeping and sharing my family photos. You missionaries did a huge and total change in a Lamanite generation. Thanks!”

See other pictures of the Miza family when Elder Richman saw them at Tikal at the end of his mission.

On October 17, 2016, Melanie Miza (Noe’s daughter) posted the following on Facebook. Melanie came back from her mission the previous February, and in March, her brother Fielding left for a mission to Quito, Ecuador.

“Rama San Juan Comalapa. Hace mas o menos 43 años mis abuelos fueron las primeras personas en entrar a las aguas bautismales en este lugar. Esta semana leímos una pagina en donde el Elder Taz Evans describía la conversión de mis abuelos, Estoy profundamente agradecida por la manera en la que el Señor trabajó a traves de estos misioneros. Tres generaciones hemos sido bendecidos grandemente por el Señor a partir de ese día. Hoy tuvimos la oportunidad de asistir a la Rama de Comalapa. Me encantó compartir con los miembros alli :D. Gracias Larry Richman por recopilar toda la Historia de la Iglesia en Comalapa!”

Translation: About 43 years ago, my grandparents were the first people to enter the waters of baptism in Comalapa. This week, we read a page where Elder Taz Evans described my grandparents’ conversion. I am profoundly grateful for the way the Lord worked through those missionaries. Three generations have been greatly blessed by the Lord since that day. Today, we had the opportunity to attend the Comalapa Branch. I enjoyed being with those members. Thanks to Larry Richman for gathering the history of the Church in Comalapa!