Temple

Hey! this week was crazy! we got to take a trip to Xela and we got to go and study outside of the temple...and it was AMAZING. I would LOVE to do that everyday of my life. 

It was a fun trip, its was like a two and a half hour drive in the truck there then two and a half back so it was an all day trip. But it was great. Then we had a really great week. I am getting used to my new ward and this last Sunday we had three investigators in church and after a really good gospel principles class we put a date for baptism with one of the hermana, then we passed by their house Sunday night...yesterday and they want to get married and baptised! it was freaking AWESOME! hahahaha. 

My new area is great! we have like 7 active members in our boundaries but we share the ward with another set of elders, Rodriguez and Pederson and they are super cool, and work in the office too. Anyway, we are going to have a wedding and a baptism here in a couple of weeks and that will be real sweet! 

Things are good here, not much else, sorry for the short email, but I gotta run! #busyPDAY :/ but it was good:) I love you all! and have a great week. "and incase I dont see ya, Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!" 

-Elder Darling 

The Office

dun dun dun, da da dun dun dun, da da dun dun dun da da da DA DA dada Dundundaaaaahhhh dun da da dun da 

....the office theme song, if you use your imagination.....

YO! WHAT IS UP MY HOMMIES???

Itzzz ya BOY Elder Darling cominag at ya with his weekly news:)

Hello, this past week was super long and crazzzy. I got into my area on Tuesday then Wednesday night or so, Prez asked me to go to the capital with a new missionary so I took a trip for two days out of the mission. While I was there I got to know a couple missionaries from Elder Whelan's mission and I wrote him a note and I hope that it gets to him. So its great being in the office, but we get like half the amount of time to work out in the field. But I work in a different way. Without me, the mission wouldn't report any baptisms. so..."I'm kind of a big deal" hahaha. But there is a lot of stress too, but its great! We have air conditioning and get to drive a truck:) Her name is Lola

So we went to do some visits this past week and found an awesome family where the dad is a less active but SUPER positive about the church and we put dates with a friend with his and his daughter for the 16th of september. That was cool:) 

Not much else that i have time to write about, Love you all!!!!!

Baptism, Air Conditioning and a Gringo comp!

HEY!!!!! This week was flippin DOPE! haha. quick story,

So, we had put a fecha for Hermana's baptism for the 12th which was a Saturday and she finally said yes about a week ago. then we went to their house everyday to visit them and keep the date fresh in their minds. We found out that the Hermanas were going to have a baptism Sunday in the afternoon at like 5 so we moved her baptism to have the two baptisms at the same time.

-CURVEBALL-

Thursday at 11 o'clock pm, I received a call from our zone leaders. "Elder Darling, how are ya?" , "Sleepy" haha. Then they were like you have to be in the office at 2, tomorrow with your bags packed. "ummm, okay". "okay goodnight!". they hung up and I couldn't sleep at all!!!!!!!!. I was thinking about my area and my Mamas and all of my families and the ward, awwww it was rough. So in the morning I packed my bags super fast so that I could say goodbye to a few people before I had to go. 

I cried soooo much! it was awful haha. First we went to get our clothes from Mama Milagros and....tears. then some recent converts, more tears. Then Mama Margareth and actually I didn't cry that time. But then Mama Rosa, more tears. then I was out of time. 

So I am temporarly in San Andreas until wed or tuesday then I will be the secretary of registros bautismales and phones in an area called San Carlos. (baptism paperwork) and my comp will be the district leader, and we will be working in the office....AIR CONDITIONING!!!! hahaha, so thats going to be awesome. and my comp will be Elder Palmer, MY FIRST GRINGO!!!!!!

anyway, Sunday I called my old comp Elder Lopez to see that everything was good for 5 o'clock and he told me that lastnight Hermana Angela and Richard got into a huge fight and the baptism was off. I was so BROKEN!!! then he was like, haaaa! no everything is good, I was ready to KILL HIM!!!!!! hahaha. So Sunday we baptized Hermana Angela Finally! hahaha. It was so amazing. So amazing. 

thanks for the emails, I love y'all!!!!

-Elder Darling

pics! baptism of Hermana Angela, and me with a member friend named Ludwing and a gringo Elder Lewis hahah

Baptisms and prepping for transfers

Hello:) This email is going to be full of good news! because, yeah. 

So I had a dream about a month ago that I was in a lesson with Hermana Angela and Hermano Richard and I was like "Will you be baptized....?" and Hermana Angela was like "YES!". I woke up happy that morning haha. 

well, that dream came true last Friday!!!!!! I was like, "Hermana Angela, will you be baptized by somebody holding the priesthood authority of god this 12th of August?" and she was all like, "yes". Ahh it was awesome. So what has happened is that the family of her husband did something and they all got into a big fight and so she doesn't want anything to do with his family. SO. They want it so that the family of the husband doesn't know that she is getting baptized, which is a little strange but whatever, haha. BUT YEAH! She gon be baptizzzzzzzed! I am so excited!

We are also having a baptism on the 10th. Her name is Hermana Lesbia. She is pretty cool. She wants to get baptized on thursday because it is her Dad's birthday. That's pretty coolio. After she gets baptized their whole family will be members and all be able to get sealed in the temple. She has an older brother that passed away like four years ago and she has been using his triple (book of mormon), he was a member when he passed away and so that family will become eternal, SO COOL!

This missionary work stuff is pretty neat. In the mission, sometimes you want to cry because you miss home, ut if you are focused on the mission and why you are there, you cry for different reasons. Like when baptisms fall through, I hate that. It hurts, just like heartbreak. 

I am in the last week of the training with my comp and I am pretty sure that I will leave this area finally this next tuesday or Wednesday, we will see. But boy it's going to be hard to say goodbye. I have really grown to love the people in my ward and I have gotten to know them so well. But at the same time I am tired of this area, walking the same streets everyday gets boring after a while and I am ready for a change :) 

love yáll! 

-Elder Darling

pics! 

Anggie, the baby of Hermana Angela fell asleep in her toy chair thing and Hermano Richard wanted me to take a picture. Haha this baby is SOOO stankin CUTE!!!!!! Mariscos, this is a soup of sea food, and I ate all of it....ALL of it haha. Meat market. And Elder Sanchez and I #DAB

Eating Fish Eyes and Chicken ______ [boy parts]

haha, thats funny. 

Excuse my language, but thats what has happened this week. We went to a house of a member for a lunch and they gave us fish. A whole fish, "oh watch out for the bones" they said. "Hermana, how do I eat this?" I asked her haha. "All of it, just be careful of the bones"..... 

"Uhhhh, okay, thanks!" and I dug in haha. Ate the eyes first. Because I have never eaten fish eyes before, it was sooo weird! haha but the fish was good:)

We also were given dinner by our neighbor and we were eating in our house and it was roasted chicken that was pretty good, then I realized what I was about to eat (chicken parts that could only come from a rooster), haha. It was so weird!

That was just a funny experience. 

So, We have an investigator on date for the tenth, her name is Lesbia. Her parents got sealed about a month ago and she started going to church with them and now she about to get baptized! She is like 32 years old and her husband passed away about 4 years ago. She is really cool. She fixes clothes for her job so I have taken all of my new pants to her haha.

AND. Finally haha we have dug down to the bottom of the needs that Hermana Angela has. She is a little scared of her parents. Turns out that they are leaders in the Catholic church and she feels like she needs to talk to them and inform them about what she wants to do before getting baptized. SO, she has the desire to get baptized, she just wants to talk to them first. so now she isn't praying about if the church is true, but for the courage to talk to her parents. Which is awesome! GOSH I love that family! Her husband in a returned missionary and they little baby is 5 months old and SOOOOO CHUBBY! hahaha

I never explained the title from my last email. Its just that Now, I can talk back in Spanish so we have our little "arguments" like messing around and when he tries to comeback at me it just reminds me of Ty (my sister), "no....just don't". haha.

That's right Ty, your come backs suck too! hahaha Love ya! 

So I am doing great. My ward is so great that I am gaining weight because they feed us so much food! haha Also one of the members is an owner of a panaderia, a bakery and they don't charge us😀👍 so i am getting a little chubby but what I have heard is that most of the areas in our mission don't eat dinner, so I am pretty blessed right now. and I will lose "my testimony" in the next few months or so. (Testimony=stomach) haha

Thank for the emails! I love you All!!!!!!! Have a great week! 

-Elder Darling

PICS! haha fish, kissing fish, video;) and an some of "My Parents" here in the ward. Mamá Margaret and Papá Luis. 

My Comp's Comebacks Suck!

haha its true. 

Hi! this is going to be a short email this week! 

I went on intercambios (where we go on splits with different missionaries) with Elder Sunday this Saturday and Sunday in an area called San Carlos and it was weird! haha I went to their church Sunday morning and when I got back, Elder Lopez (my comp) had told everybody that I had emergency transfers. haha. Funny story from that. 

Here in Los Brillantes we have like three main Hermanas that we call our "mama" and one is Mama Margaret. She has two daughters, one just got back from her mission and the other is prepping to leave. They are both really cool haha. So Elder Lopez was in a class at church and she was sitting behind him. Elder Palmer (another gringo) was with my comp in the church. She asked, Where is Elder Darling? and he was like, "Emergency transfers. Now he is in san carlos", and LEFT IT AT THAT! haha WHAT!? but, turns out that they were talking for a bit during the class and some of the hermanas in the ward were "macheteando" the crap out of him for "snakiando" (haha its like flirting,) [this is a made-up missionary word]. Thats what he gets for telling everybody that I was gone, haha. 

But then... (hahahahahaha) we went to a lesson with our recent convert family and ate corn on the cob with lime and chile and salt (it was awesome!) then he ended up having an allergic reaction on his chin and in his throat. so we went to Mama Margaret's house so he wouldn't #die haha and thats when they all saw that I hadn't left haha. 

I want to share with y'all that this gospel, is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the church that Jesus Christ had put on the earth when he walked these trails that we walk as missionaries, spreading his word. Yes, I am only 19 but I know in every fiber of my body and my spirit that this church is true. okay, maybe I can't hold my own if you want to Bible-fight me, you 60-year-old Spanish speaking pastor haha but I am preaching the truth, sorry to tell ya, you don't have it all the way right. I am going to be very blunt. Yes, as they say, "all churches are good" but if you are not in the TRUE church, you are only wasting your time and maybe even your money. I say that with the most love that I can put into some words on a screen haha. Nah, I ain't a perfect teacher and I may say something offensive on accident because I am still learning Spanish, but that is what the Holy Ghost is for. To put the feelings that you feel when you read and listen to truth. 

I love EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!! And I especially love YOU! whoever you are that is reading this, I love you, a whoooooooooooooole lot haha #CarlsonChalkThrower. 

Thank you! Thank you! I will be here next week! Goodnight Washington! or Utah! or England! wherever you are when you read this, Goodnight!!! 👍

---

Let me in the booth and I'll fry you like frijoles and roast you like a platano

just sayin... 😋👌 

[Editor's note: we hoped that somewhere during this email we'd come to understand the title, but we didn't. Just sayin...]

haha HELLO!!!!!!!!! How are y'all? I am flippin' fantastic:) not a ton happened this past week, just a whole lot of personal stuph. 

I want to share a cool story with you guys.

One time there was this boy, a young teenager, that lived in the same world that we do now, just about 100 years ago. He lived on a farm and worked his booty off to keep things around the farm and the house running with his family. His family was also very religious and went to church regularly. But there was something that this boy noticed in the churches, that they were all claiming that they had the correct and true church as well as when he saw that the pastors were fighting one with another. This boy didn't really like this but, he had a very important question. "Which of these churches is the true church, and how can I save my soul?" he went around to the different pastors asking this question and always received the answer that they had the true church and that he needed to be baptized in their church to save his soul. So much confusion was going through his head at this time. So he also searched the Bible, and read in James 1:5 " Y si alguno de vosotros tiene falta de sabiduría, pídala a Dios, quien de a todos abundamente y sin reproche, y le será dada." [If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.] 

He felt this passage in "every fiber" of his body, and knew what he had to do to find his answer. 

So one beautiful morning he left the house early and walked deep into the woods where he could put all of his focus on this moment. He had picked a spot in the woods before and he returned to that exact spot. He knelt down, and prayed. 

"Vi une columna de luz, más brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza; y esta luz gradualmente descendió hasta descansar sobre mí. Al reposar sobre mí la luz, vi en el aire arriba de mí a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripción. Uno de ellos me habló llamando me por mi nombre, y dijo, señalando al otro: Éste es mi Hijo amado: ¡Escúchalo!" 

[I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!]

At that moment, this young teenager received his answer. That none of these churches are correct because when Jesus was crucified and his disciples were killed, there was something that was taken from the earth, called the Priesthood, God's authority to perform His ordinances and work. But also, this young teenager was being prepared to help Jesus Christ restore his church on the earth again on the earth as well as the power of the priesthood. 

This young teenager is named Joseph Smith. Yes, I testify that Joseph Smith served as a prophet of God to restore the true church of Jesus Christ again in this world as well as the power of the Priesthood.

I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I testify that he lives and loves EVERY single one of us. I also testify that Joseph Smith was used as an instrument in God's hands to do this work. 

As a Member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as a missionary I know without a single doubt in my mind that that young teenager grew up and served the rest of his life as a servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Yes, we talk about Joseph Smith a whole bunch, because through him we have been given the truth again on the earth, yet, we do not adore (worship) him. We adore and praise and pray to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because without them, we are nothing:) 

I love and serve my Savior with all of  my heart and with all of my strength. I know that this church is true and I plead that you will not judge this email nor this story on my aweful spelling haha. 

Love you guys! 

pics! Hector is a menos [less] active that drives a Tuktuk, he is really dope. the view of the volcano, a neat picture of one of the catholic churches by our house, papaya (#powerful if you know what I mean HAHAHA) and a freaking huge avocado haha👍