November 28, 2011

Mother I am also online right now!!  My clothing is great, shoes are not even scratched-they are bulletproof. No transfers, I didn't lose my companion so on Christmas we can talk to each others family. He is a gringo from Utah, Elder Yates, and you have been talking to his mom! 

The craziest change was I am still district leader but they changed the district area and now I have 7 missionaries to teach not just 4.  The president said to me that "I am the baptizer" and he switched the district because he wants me to help the other Elders what it is that I know. !!!!! How exciting, right? I mean me? Goodness, the Lord is just blessing me and my comp. and now we are gonna be together for Christmas-we are so excited!!! He is awesome and we are just like best friends, unified and doing amazing in the lessons that we teach. 

Mom, I love you so much and everything is great still in Jujuy San Salvador.

I have skype all ready with a camera plus 3 other houses in case one doesn't work so skype is guaranteed and yes I would love Danielle to be there because I want to show you how well I can bare my testimony. I don't want a sad call or to cry and say how much I miss you but a fun call to laugh and joke around a lot. Dont worry about packages you can send a few small ones but money would be better because customs charges me!!!!  I am working hard and the Lord is happy with me and has blessed me with spanish and with his spirit. 

November 21, 2011

Things are looking great the transfers are almost over and that means I could be released as district leader (I doubt it but you never know). I am more worried about my companion leaving me and that will be a sad moment because we are just working so well together and working hard at that. I love Elder Yates, he is such a beast but the best part is the friendship we have and the spirit we carry with us. We baptize because people feel the spirit with us and feel comfortable and there is not a better thing to hear than a person when they say "I want to be baptized".  

That leads me to my next bit of information and yes it is another baptism that we had this last Saturday!!!! It was just awesome!!! It was tough because this boy is 11 and has one amazing testimony but his dad was a rough guy. We found out he loved old computer games and stuff so I chatted with him about his games and after a few lessons and fun chats he finally gave in.  Marco (the boy we baptized) came into the room and gave the most amazing testimony and his dad said, "he is ready-when is the baptism?" this was Wednesday and we said, "Saturday!!" The dad was excited then Saturday morning he called me and said, "I think my son needs another week to prepare" but the spirit filled me with an anxious feeling to open my mouth and I said to him "Brother, you could suspend another week and have his baptism next Saturday but he is ready and there is really no point to wait any longer because not only is he waiting but so is his Father in Heaven". Man it felt good to know that we are not the ones convincing these people, we are just small instruments that the Lord uses to bring forth his spirit to those who are ready. I know that there is not a more important work than the work I am doing! Sure I do feel far from my familiy and can't really relate to any of your stories or experiences but I can tell you I am filled with a more satisfying joy that can't be found anywhere else. 

I remember this last Saturday I watched as this amazing young boy entered the water, his testimony and the desire to be baptized. It was an amazing experience to baptized an angel and be able to watch as he looked up to me as a good person. I don't care if you are the coolest person and have the greatest party stories or whatever because none of that matters to the Lord. Although it might feel good to feel better than others we need to realize we are actually less if we think we are more. The humble people in the world are the ones who the Lord wants to call his children because they are the ones who set the example and are truly real representatives of our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST!!! I love you all. 

14 November 2011

Hello everyone!!!! Man what a week that was one of the most amazing experinces in my entire life!!! This last Saturday all the missionaries in the Salta Argentina mission went to Salta to have a special conference and ELDER D. TODD CHRISTOFFERSON spoke!!!!! He was incredible, a true servant of the Lord, we all got to meet him and shake his hand!!!! It was the most spiritual feeling, to look in his eyes and be proud of who I am and what I am doing as he said, "it is an honor to meet you Elder Darby". I had the biggest smile ever and started crying when I sat down because I truly felt humbled to shake the hand of one of his servants. There are only 14 apostoles in the world. This saturday was special but even better is that he came to my ward here in my area to talk to all the stake. We had all our investigators there to see this amazing apostle and our recent converts that were under 18 years old shook the hand of the apostle and they loved it. Perico is also in our stake, the first where I served, so besides the members of Perico I saw several I've converted. One convert spotted me and gave me the biggest hug and said "without you I wouldn't have found the true happiness in my life" you could only imagine me just crying and smiling, being able to talk perfect spanish with him, it was so great. He gave me a tie that is clearly present in the pic I sent. He now has a wife and wants to go to the temple when he completes a year so you could only imagine how happy that made me. Man I love this work and love having the most amazing experinces especially seeing the entire mission and how many knew who I was or have heard of me. It is incredible how you may feel solo but so many people are watching and relying on you. I feel so loved by my Heavenly Father and the fact i can feel his love and his spirit in every lesson to be able to touch our investigators and for being 20 yrs. old feeling such power and authority. I mean just yesterday I had the privlidge to see an inactive family show up to church after 20 years of being inactive and they all said "are you happy now Elder Darby?" I said "yes I am extremely happy but you know who is even happier? Your Father in Heaven!!!" I love the power and the spirit to make such bold and powerful statements because I know I would never be able to think of stuff like that without the spirit. I love my mission and am here working extrememly hard and it is paying off with such success!!! I love you all and to let you know I love my new area, the members, the people we find and the rainy weather is honestly the best combination ever!!!! Christmas is coming up and although the devil convinced the world that it is a time to buy things of the world, I hope you realize it is a time to remember the greatest sacrifice that was for every single one of us. I hope you all have humbled yourselves in front of God because although we think we are so profound in this world and don't rely that much on God. He has all the power in the world and he doesn't need us but surely we need him. I can testify the second coming is close, there is much rejection in the world so don't be left behind. My comp. said he doesnt want any missing chairs in his family and I say I dont want a single missing chair out of you and me and everyone I know!!!!" Stay strong, pray hard and dont worry if you fall because when you do, look up and grab hold of that helping hand of Christ that is always there to lift us back up to carry us and care for us. You may live in this world but don't EVER be of this filthy world of materials and money. We are members of the true church and in these last days, our purpose is to PREPARE!!! I love you all and I hope this makes you think because there will be a lot more when I come home. haha Love your son Elder Darby

7 November 2011

HALLOWEEN EN ARGENTINA MEANS ALCOHOL AND PARTIES!!!!!!! Although a missionary sent me a fake heart wrapped in a meat package so that got me excited as my comp. woke up the next day, opened the fridge and yelled WHAT THE HECK IS THIS DARBYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man we are having so much fun together and I don't mean fun like visiting places or going to Dave and Busters but fun as in leaving the apartment and coming back just exhausted. But it is paying off with this last saturday we witnessed a true miracle.
We have an investigator that is 45 and when my comp. first met her like 2 months ago she was smoking 40 cigarettes a day!!! When I came, we got her to only smoke 2 so one day we passed by and I asked "how many cigarettes today?" She said NONE!!! So what did we do? I grabbed her cigarette pack and we each took one out of the pack and we destroyed them into an ash tray. It was so fun and she was never happier. After, I said here are the Doctrine and Covenants videos and Book of Mormon so if you get bored-watch these. So after a week of quitting and the special strength blessing I gave her, she's quit completely.
This past Friday we were about to leave when my comp. asked "what do you think of baptism, YOUR baptism"? She responded and said, " I have been thinking and I want to quit my other church and be baptized". You could only imagine the happiness we had so of course i gave out a Darby OOHHH YEAHHH!!! aND MY COMP A YYEEEHHAAWWW!!!
So, we set up a baptism interview the next day Saturday. She had her interview and her daughter turned to me, took out her piercing and said, "I want to be baptized as well"!!! So we set up another baptism interview an hour before the baptism. This last Saturday we had 2 BAPTISMS!!! MEANING 3 IN 2 WEEKS!!!!
The next best thing is that we have the Apostle Elder D. Todd Christofferson coming to talk with the whole mission and the next day to OUR WARD!!!! I am so nervous because we better have a lot of investigators in the church for this Sunday!!!
Family, friends it was so great to hear your halloween stories and to receive your emails. I am sorry that I never write anything really that great but I hope you realize it is hard for me to remember your lives and the things you are doing because here we have the spirit and are constantly thinking of our investigators.
I love you all and just to let you know some more information about Jujuy it is "hot" and I have been told this is the best area for weather in the entire mission because what is hot here is nothing in the other areas. It rains about every 2 days and I love the rain because it pours big time.
I ate peanut soup for my first time yesterday and it was good it has french fries, parsley, chicken drumstick, and ground up peanuts to make a really thin like mush. The taste was great but after we were walking back to the pension and we both felt really dizzy and just tired so as soon as we got in the pension I took my shoes off and my companion as well pulled out my Book of Mormon and just passed out for about an hour. I felt so guilty after but my companion (just an awesome elder) Said, "look the scriptures say don't run more that you have strength" so we figured out we were working really hard and it was a blessing to be able to relax just a bit.
We are seeing miracles and converting the most amazing members and usually we have about 67 in church but after visiting a ton of inactives we had over 100 people in church!!! The spirit is a blessing and as much as you all say some missionaries are better than others, all it is is obedience, prayer, and diligence!!!! Work with all your heart, might, mind and strenght and you will stand blameless before God in the last days. This is true because God is the God of miracles but we just have to devote our lives and time and talents.
My knowledge of the scriptures are great, my spirit is better and my testimony (in spanish) is strong. Not a lesson goes by without the spirit and I am so grateful to have such an amazing companion and friend to trust and inspire these amazing people of Argentina!!!! I love you all and don't strive to be adequate but strive to be a God because that is what this life is, not to follow Christ but to become our own Christ!!!! Work hard and share this amazing Gospel because every single person needs it. I love you all your son friend and number one fan ELDER DARBY

31 October 2011

Hey how are the elect people in the world that have the most amazing opportunity to be in the only true church on the face of the planet? I have to say, I have the most amazing purpose right now to be able to see miracles and to feel the spirit of God every single moment.
Here I am with my companion. We are both gringos, he has 5 months and I have 10, he is 19 and I am 20 and yet we are here in Coronel Arias Jujuy sharing a message that can change a persons life in a different language, to a different culture and yet it is EASY!!!! Please tell me how this is possible without the spirit and our Lord? This last saturday we had another BAPTISM!!!!! She is 11 and is such a smart girl. Her family are inactives but yet she goes to church every single sunday alone!!!!! We have the oppurtunity to teach these inactives; one of the husbands that would fight with missionaries is now my best friend!!! Elder Yates told me to be careful the first lesson with him in the house (oh by the way there are 13 in the house at once) so I entered, went up to him gave him a strong handshake packed him on the back and said "when is your baptism?". He looked at me and said "you tell me!!" This is my second week here and I have taught him 3 lessons and after 13 years of hating missionaries, yesterday I received a text message in church that said "can you meet me at 11:30 in front of the church so I can enter?" So at 11:30, there he was and he gave me a big hug and sat next to me. As I explained the sacrament service and after the 2 talks he told me, "wow her testimony and this feeling I have is real!!" I told him "hermano, you are in the only real church of Jesus Christ and that feeling is his spirit"
I have never felt more accomplished to see him show up without the cross around his neck and with an open heart just because he feels comfortable with me and Elder Yates, 2 gringos. He is really smart, has millions of questions but said after church that he wants to receive the lessons and with time be baptized. After that I read in 2 Nephi 'when a man speaks with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost penetrates the hearts of the children of God'.
I realized it wasn't my personality that he loved, it wasn't because what I said but because the spirit was there and I was prompted to say what the spirit told me. I dropped on my knees and gave more thanks than ever in my entire life because I felt loved. I knew the Lord trusted me to have him in my presence and to be there for him.
Gosh the feelings I have every day I can't explain and the miracles and stories are just incredible. All I can say is that if we are worthy and we strive to be like Christ and always think of him, we not only receive his spirit but the power and His trust. I can testify that there is power in the priesthood and the spirit makes words become weapons. Nothing can change a heart like the spirit. The miracles we are seeing right now are amazing and the work we have is because we are being obedient.
Do not slip and fall on the path to Eternal Life because if you fall short you will be miserable and stuck in this forever. Obey the commandments, help others and pray not to get gain but to have the spirit to be with you. I love you all so much.