TRANSFER TO JUJUY!
HEY I AM ALIVE AND ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS THAT I AM IN A NEW AREA WITH A NEW COMP. AND THINGS ARE JUST CRAZY!!!!
Hello not from Tartagal but from JuJuy again!!!! I set a record for missionaries and it brought a lot of tears to many people. As you know I was in Perico JuJuy for 6 months and Tartagal for a month; now I am in Le desma, JuJuy!! It's rare to stay just a month in your second area. It doesn't happen because it is a time to learn, to grow because you have a chance to restart in a new ward with a new comp. Anyway, it hurts me because we had 3 baptisms-me and Bjorklund but in Tartagal, I had 9 planned for the next 2 weeks! Those people planned on me to baptize them so when they realize I left, I really hope that things don't change.
So yesterday, Sunday night I clearly knew my comp. was leaving because he is going home but in my head I didn't think it was impossible that I would be transferred too. After church members said they can't wait to get to know me better but then we received a call at 8pm. At this point I was with family Justiniano, my comp. received the call-came in and said "Darby, you are leaving" and my faced dropped because this family loved me and invited me to many things once my comp. left. Anyway we stayed another hour till 9pm just talking, I just sat there shocked and sad to leave the area because I only had 6 weeks there.
After crying my eyes out and the family crying as well, we left and it was hard as can be!!! We then visited one more family and had to go back to the pension. So it hasn't been an easy transition, I haven't slept at all because I was packing. It made me miss all of you, my last comp., the members and families like the Justiniano's. It is amazing how much love I have on my mission for the people here and how it is always hard to leave even with only 6 weeks. I am still trying to stay awake and hopefully I can kick my desire to work hard back on and set myself up for 12 baptisms.
Know I love you all and I am still shocked about this transfer. I know this email is all over the place and it is hard to understand the love I have for these people and how hard it is to not say goodbye! Before my mission I never missed people and it wasn't that hard to say goodbye but now I feel the same love that the savior has for these people.
I love it here and i can"t wait to keep working and improve my spanish and baptize more in JuJuy!!!!!!!! I know that this gospel is for everyone and that every person can feel the love of Christ as long as we have faith and strength in him. Find your true joy and strenghthen your faith because times are only gonna get harder and your testimonio will be the last thing you have!!!!!!!!
Love always ELDER DARBY
Monday, July 25, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
11 June 2011
Hey mom, family and friends how are all of you?
This week was the best week yet of my mission because we not only had great success but also had the funniest things happen on Sunday. Saturday was great, we had 2 more baptisms; Christian and Norma Enrique. No they are not related to Enrique Eglesia, I already asked them and they said no. Anyway, great 2 investigators now members but wow they are truly studs.
Christian is 15 and was attending seminary 2 weeks before his baptism and has been an investigator for 3 weeks before his baptism. Norma went to Relief Society long before she was baptized. These 2 were just so amazing to be able to baptize and convert into the only true church on the planet. Christian was walking one day and was like-hey you lived in Alamo, California do you like e-40? So I, of course, was like-duhh, he is awesome-why? He was saying how he wants to see his house so bad so I talked to him about the rap world like 50 cent and Snoop Dogg and just everyone. It was funny because my companion right now hates rap and loves rock so he just had a puzzled face while we talked about rap for like ever. Man this baptism was just the best, I mean the feeling of the spirit and the fact that I can understand what they say makes it even more powerful. They are both just the best members now. So many people showed up to the baptism.
I love this work, it is just so rewarding. We have a brand new mission president and sees Elder Darby and Elder Bjorklund baptized 3 people in 2 weeks, not bad!!!!! My companion has 15 days left on his mission so we are just working up the wall-which makes it so fun.
This last week we reached our goals; had 6 in church and had 2 baptisms, like WOW, talk about being blessed. When you are obedient things just go so much better and trust me because I had the best week ever.
Saturday went so well-we found 3 new investigators by knocking doors and we had to teach all 3 the Word of Wisdom because apparently they want to change. So Saturday morning was the Word of Wisdom, then the 2 baptisms later in the day-so it was a very intersting day. Sunday morning we realize my comp. left his camera at the church so we had to walk 40 minutes in the morning to beat everyone to the church so we got there at 8am. WE FOUND HIS CAMERA!!!!
After we waited around till the classes started because we have priesthood, followed by gospel priciples and then the sacrament. But for the first class we are at the door just greeting people when one family we almost dropped shows up, I mean the whole family of 6 but 2 are members. They came at 9am which is a record for anyone who lives here. They came-then our 3 recent converts came early as well and 2 more investigators on time for the classes. Usually if people come they come at 11 for the sacrament but this Sunday-they came on time!!
So the classes go well because they are about marriage so me and my comp. were just making jokes to each other, it was fun as can be. Then our second class we joined the larger 'old people' class and watched Faith in Christ which is so weird in spanish because the voice of Jesus is a lot different. The class went very well and ended leaving it time for the confirmation of 2 more investigators and the sacrament. The 6 investigators that showed up stayed for the sacrament and 2 minutes before we started the sacrament meeting, my comp and I get called to give 12 minute talks!!! Me being ok with the language but not a pro, I was so nervous. I quickly remembered that they were leaving for the temple the next day so I thought I'd talk about temples but my comp. gave his talk all about temples so I quickly pulled out the Foundation of Christ. I pulled out 2 scriptures and just talked and talked for 13 minutes in pure spanish. I was so blessed.
The confirmations for Norma and Christian just went so well. After church we start working and get to an area we want to knock at and see Jehovah Witnesses at all the doors, so we see if they visited one member in that area. We turn the corner and see 2 of the witnesses in front of the members house so I wave and say 'hey brother how are you"? The witnesses immediately look back with faces like uh oh. The member gives me a giant smile and a thumbs up because he is a good member and was a missionary at one point so you could tell he was getting a kick out of it. So yes, on the sabbath we punked the Jehovah Witnesses. Later we visited that member and he said their faces were priceless and when they asked if he was Mormon, he told them he'd served a mission and they just left.
Classic story but the next hour we are down on numbers we needed 2 new investigators and a member present but we realize all the members are busy getting ready to go to Bolivia for the temple. So we get to an appointment but find out our investigator was sick and didn't show so we asked this sister if she was home alone and said nope. So we entered and her husband wanted to listen to us but we needed a member present because it doesn't count if the member lives in the same house. At this point it is almost 9pm and we need to be in the pension by 9:30pm so we ran to a members house, we politely asked him if he could come to this cita with us and he said yes. (this member has 7 in his family going to the temple and was packing for them but still came with us) we had the cita with this member and so 1 new investigator down and a member present down but we needed one more investigator. The member says can we pass bye my neighbor, I need my haircut and he says the lady is a member and you guys can teach her son. My comp. and I look at each other with 12 minutes before curfew and just smile. We ended up teaching the son and completed our numbers in the last minutes of the week.
I said that this was the best week because of the faith that I have grown. Last night my comp. said it isn't possible to complete this week so lets just knock and I said "comp. it is the 4th quarter with 10 minutes on the clock we have one cita and we can find a new after that." (at this point we were walking back from the church that normally is about 40 minutes) When I said this-he looked at me with a smile and said "ok hail mary" so we started walking FASTER AND FASTER!!!! We were exhausted from the week but while walking we saw frogs and a ton of them. Mom-Frogs!!! We watched one live frogger in the street, he dodged 3 cars and a scooter, so tight. So we had a good laugh and completed the night with faith AND frogs!
I learned that we need to always trust in the Lord and have faith because with this faith he will always provide a way for us to succeed. We were blessed a ton this week with teaching people with addictions and baptizing. This work is the best work in the world and with my companion almost going home-it makes me realize going home is not gonna be fun but sad because I love what I am doing and always will. I love you all and you are always in my prayers.
Love ELDER DARBY
This week was the best week yet of my mission because we not only had great success but also had the funniest things happen on Sunday. Saturday was great, we had 2 more baptisms; Christian and Norma Enrique. No they are not related to Enrique Eglesia, I already asked them and they said no. Anyway, great 2 investigators now members but wow they are truly studs.
Christian is 15 and was attending seminary 2 weeks before his baptism and has been an investigator for 3 weeks before his baptism. Norma went to Relief Society long before she was baptized. These 2 were just so amazing to be able to baptize and convert into the only true church on the planet. Christian was walking one day and was like-hey you lived in Alamo, California do you like e-40? So I, of course, was like-duhh, he is awesome-why? He was saying how he wants to see his house so bad so I talked to him about the rap world like 50 cent and Snoop Dogg and just everyone. It was funny because my companion right now hates rap and loves rock so he just had a puzzled face while we talked about rap for like ever. Man this baptism was just the best, I mean the feeling of the spirit and the fact that I can understand what they say makes it even more powerful. They are both just the best members now. So many people showed up to the baptism.
I love this work, it is just so rewarding. We have a brand new mission president and sees Elder Darby and Elder Bjorklund baptized 3 people in 2 weeks, not bad!!!!! My companion has 15 days left on his mission so we are just working up the wall-which makes it so fun.
This last week we reached our goals; had 6 in church and had 2 baptisms, like WOW, talk about being blessed. When you are obedient things just go so much better and trust me because I had the best week ever.
Saturday went so well-we found 3 new investigators by knocking doors and we had to teach all 3 the Word of Wisdom because apparently they want to change. So Saturday morning was the Word of Wisdom, then the 2 baptisms later in the day-so it was a very intersting day. Sunday morning we realize my comp. left his camera at the church so we had to walk 40 minutes in the morning to beat everyone to the church so we got there at 8am. WE FOUND HIS CAMERA!!!!
After we waited around till the classes started because we have priesthood, followed by gospel priciples and then the sacrament. But for the first class we are at the door just greeting people when one family we almost dropped shows up, I mean the whole family of 6 but 2 are members. They came at 9am which is a record for anyone who lives here. They came-then our 3 recent converts came early as well and 2 more investigators on time for the classes. Usually if people come they come at 11 for the sacrament but this Sunday-they came on time!!
So the classes go well because they are about marriage so me and my comp. were just making jokes to each other, it was fun as can be. Then our second class we joined the larger 'old people' class and watched Faith in Christ which is so weird in spanish because the voice of Jesus is a lot different. The class went very well and ended leaving it time for the confirmation of 2 more investigators and the sacrament. The 6 investigators that showed up stayed for the sacrament and 2 minutes before we started the sacrament meeting, my comp and I get called to give 12 minute talks!!! Me being ok with the language but not a pro, I was so nervous. I quickly remembered that they were leaving for the temple the next day so I thought I'd talk about temples but my comp. gave his talk all about temples so I quickly pulled out the Foundation of Christ. I pulled out 2 scriptures and just talked and talked for 13 minutes in pure spanish. I was so blessed.
The confirmations for Norma and Christian just went so well. After church we start working and get to an area we want to knock at and see Jehovah Witnesses at all the doors, so we see if they visited one member in that area. We turn the corner and see 2 of the witnesses in front of the members house so I wave and say 'hey brother how are you"? The witnesses immediately look back with faces like uh oh. The member gives me a giant smile and a thumbs up because he is a good member and was a missionary at one point so you could tell he was getting a kick out of it. So yes, on the sabbath we punked the Jehovah Witnesses. Later we visited that member and he said their faces were priceless and when they asked if he was Mormon, he told them he'd served a mission and they just left.
Classic story but the next hour we are down on numbers we needed 2 new investigators and a member present but we realize all the members are busy getting ready to go to Bolivia for the temple. So we get to an appointment but find out our investigator was sick and didn't show so we asked this sister if she was home alone and said nope. So we entered and her husband wanted to listen to us but we needed a member present because it doesn't count if the member lives in the same house. At this point it is almost 9pm and we need to be in the pension by 9:30pm so we ran to a members house, we politely asked him if he could come to this cita with us and he said yes. (this member has 7 in his family going to the temple and was packing for them but still came with us) we had the cita with this member and so 1 new investigator down and a member present down but we needed one more investigator. The member says can we pass bye my neighbor, I need my haircut and he says the lady is a member and you guys can teach her son. My comp. and I look at each other with 12 minutes before curfew and just smile. We ended up teaching the son and completed our numbers in the last minutes of the week.
I said that this was the best week because of the faith that I have grown. Last night my comp. said it isn't possible to complete this week so lets just knock and I said "comp. it is the 4th quarter with 10 minutes on the clock we have one cita and we can find a new after that." (at this point we were walking back from the church that normally is about 40 minutes) When I said this-he looked at me with a smile and said "ok hail mary" so we started walking FASTER AND FASTER!!!! We were exhausted from the week but while walking we saw frogs and a ton of them. Mom-Frogs!!! We watched one live frogger in the street, he dodged 3 cars and a scooter, so tight. So we had a good laugh and completed the night with faith AND frogs!
I learned that we need to always trust in the Lord and have faith because with this faith he will always provide a way for us to succeed. We were blessed a ton this week with teaching people with addictions and baptizing. This work is the best work in the world and with my companion almost going home-it makes me realize going home is not gonna be fun but sad because I love what I am doing and always will. I love you all and you are always in my prayers.
Love ELDER DARBY
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
4th July 2011
What a week and what a great p-day 4th of July opportunity. Mom great email, I loved it, as always of course. You mention that I should think about how lucky I was to be born in the states, well DUHHH!!!!!!!! I think everyday how these people truly got 'unlucky'. Not only learning spanish but also here in Argentina where you don't have options of what you want to do. A member was telling us that when someone escapes from jail here the police don't even look for him, it is the job of the jail guards. So crazy how everything here is just so behind. One boy actually thought Eminem was a different singer than Slim Shady and it cracked me up.
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!! We have a wiffle ball bat, a ton of hamburgers and, of course, my favorite BBQ SAUCE. It is gonna be awesome!!!! We will have 3 latinos and 7 gringos so wiffleball it is. I can't wait-it is gonna be so much fun.
Anyway, this week was great because.....BAPTISM!!!!!!! MARIA VALLE DEL MILAGRO CARRIL!!!! Her name means 'Valley of the Miracle'. So tight because her baptism went so well but I truly ruined her confirmation of the Holy Ghost. The beginning part I kept studdering because I was so nervous, which doesn't happen to me but then once the memorized part was over, the spirit guided the whole blessing and it was long and very powerful. It is amazing because the part I memorized came from me and I kinda messed up but once I listened to the spirit and really realized I was his servant, it went so smooth and many people were shocked. So it ended up going well. Maria's parents are hard core Evangelists and hate Mormons but she wanted to be baptized so bad; we taught her in another members house and she was baptized. It is so amazing when these people listen and keep THEIR COMMITMENTS!!!! Then the lord does respond to their prayers. It was a blessing this week to be able to see Maria be baptized and confirm her as a member of the only true church on this planet.
It is cold and dogs are out and now freaking horses are everywhere. It freaks me out because I had to walk behind one yesterday and I thought it was gonna straight up kick me. It didn't because I am still alive but it was funny because I don't know horses at all. Also these dogs here are just insane, we knocked this one door (actually clapped) and 3 giant pitbulls run around the corner and just try to knock the metal gate over. So being Elder Darby, I stuck my hand in to see if I could pet them and all three jump at my hand to bite it off and crash into each other and topple over, it was so funny. Dogs are just so viscious and the dogs they have here are so illegal in the states. I got to kick my first dog on Friday!!! I clapped-it ran around the corner, this giant rottweiler and pulled it's teeth out and jumped toward my leg. I turned around and shut that things mouth with a big size 13 foot to the jaw. It squelled like a rat and just ran away. Haha, I felt pretty proud because if I would have missed, then man that could have been painful. The dogs, the horses and the christmas spirit all year long.
This town has christmas spirit and they don't even know it. They have giant poinsetta trees-like giant-and a lot of people have christmas lights out and tableclothes for christmas. It is so funny and the best part is my companion Elder Bjorklund from Utah always plays christmas music from the Mormon choir in the pension. So it always feels like christmas-which means feel free to send me packages anytime you feel like it, haha.
Well my time is running out and I have pictures that will hopefully upload. I have had the hardest time uploading photos in these terrible cybers. I even bought a little adapter and the fastest one at that but these computers are just terrible. But anyways, I will try to upload photos.
Just know you are all in my prayers and I am constantly dreaming of what joy I will have when I see or talk to you all again. I am excited to go to bed at night here because you never know what will happen the next day. My companion goes home home the end of this month so we are working really hard. We have 2 more baptisms next week and not the next but the one after hopefully 2 more. We are working hard to bring people this restored gospel and I hope you all realize I'm freezing at the same time. It is cold but there is only so much clothing we can fit on our bodies because if you wear a lot, the walking is a lot harder. So mother, nope I dont miss the things I sent home because I have the perfect amount of clothing for winter. Haha well stay strong, I love you all. Elder DARBY
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!! We have a wiffle ball bat, a ton of hamburgers and, of course, my favorite BBQ SAUCE. It is gonna be awesome!!!! We will have 3 latinos and 7 gringos so wiffleball it is. I can't wait-it is gonna be so much fun.
Anyway, this week was great because.....BAPTISM!!!!!!! MARIA VALLE DEL MILAGRO CARRIL!!!! Her name means 'Valley of the Miracle'. So tight because her baptism went so well but I truly ruined her confirmation of the Holy Ghost. The beginning part I kept studdering because I was so nervous, which doesn't happen to me but then once the memorized part was over, the spirit guided the whole blessing and it was long and very powerful. It is amazing because the part I memorized came from me and I kinda messed up but once I listened to the spirit and really realized I was his servant, it went so smooth and many people were shocked. So it ended up going well. Maria's parents are hard core Evangelists and hate Mormons but she wanted to be baptized so bad; we taught her in another members house and she was baptized. It is so amazing when these people listen and keep THEIR COMMITMENTS!!!! Then the lord does respond to their prayers. It was a blessing this week to be able to see Maria be baptized and confirm her as a member of the only true church on this planet.
It is cold and dogs are out and now freaking horses are everywhere. It freaks me out because I had to walk behind one yesterday and I thought it was gonna straight up kick me. It didn't because I am still alive but it was funny because I don't know horses at all. Also these dogs here are just insane, we knocked this one door (actually clapped) and 3 giant pitbulls run around the corner and just try to knock the metal gate over. So being Elder Darby, I stuck my hand in to see if I could pet them and all three jump at my hand to bite it off and crash into each other and topple over, it was so funny. Dogs are just so viscious and the dogs they have here are so illegal in the states. I got to kick my first dog on Friday!!! I clapped-it ran around the corner, this giant rottweiler and pulled it's teeth out and jumped toward my leg. I turned around and shut that things mouth with a big size 13 foot to the jaw. It squelled like a rat and just ran away. Haha, I felt pretty proud because if I would have missed, then man that could have been painful. The dogs, the horses and the christmas spirit all year long.
This town has christmas spirit and they don't even know it. They have giant poinsetta trees-like giant-and a lot of people have christmas lights out and tableclothes for christmas. It is so funny and the best part is my companion Elder Bjorklund from Utah always plays christmas music from the Mormon choir in the pension. So it always feels like christmas-which means feel free to send me packages anytime you feel like it, haha.
Well my time is running out and I have pictures that will hopefully upload. I have had the hardest time uploading photos in these terrible cybers. I even bought a little adapter and the fastest one at that but these computers are just terrible. But anyways, I will try to upload photos.
Just know you are all in my prayers and I am constantly dreaming of what joy I will have when I see or talk to you all again. I am excited to go to bed at night here because you never know what will happen the next day. My companion goes home home the end of this month so we are working really hard. We have 2 more baptisms next week and not the next but the one after hopefully 2 more. We are working hard to bring people this restored gospel and I hope you all realize I'm freezing at the same time. It is cold but there is only so much clothing we can fit on our bodies because if you wear a lot, the walking is a lot harder. So mother, nope I dont miss the things I sent home because I have the perfect amount of clothing for winter. Haha well stay strong, I love you all. Elder DARBY
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