Mosiah 2:41

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

This scripture is amazing. I read it with President in spanish and then he told me to translate it, I did a pretty good job haha. But this scripture is amazing. President was explaining that in the Book of Mormon it says a bunch of times that as we keep the commandments of God, we shall prosper in the land. The land not only refers to here on earth but in heaven where we will be able to live with our eternal families in a state of happiness and joy. What a blessing. When we obey the commandments of God we will receive blessings both spiritual and temporal (as stated above). Wow! We will be blessed in our homes, as families, in schooling, work, hobbies, anything that is good. Because Good things are of God. 

The reason that we are here in the earth is to prepare to stand in front of God in the judgment day, Alma 34: 32 "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."

As humans we are here with a purpose, to prepare. That's pretty cool if you ask me. We are here to prepare so that we can live eternally with our families in this "happy state", also so that we can receive all...ALL of the blessings that God is ready and so happy to give us. 

Life is good:)

We have a family (Paty) that is going to get baptized the in November, that was supposed to get baptized this week but they didn't go to church this last Sunday :/ And some more but not exactly sure on the date, but I know that it will be in November, November should be a great month:) haha. 

Anyway, I love you all and thanks for the emails:) Have a great week!

-Elder Darling 💪😎

"I Don't Adore a Dead God"

We were sitting in sacrament meeting and one of the members went up to bear his testimony and that's what he started with. "I don't adore a dead God". and it hit me. 

Life is full of a whole lot of roller-coaster ups and downs, right? Yep. Sometimes, life is hard and everything, absolutely EVERYTHING is going wrong. Yet, He is there. 

I DON'T ADORE A DEAD GOD. 

My life has been shaped by lots of factors. I am who I am because of what has happened to me, things that I have experienced, lived through, as well as heard about. But I know that there is and was a reason for every single one of these experiences; The people I know, such as my Mom, friends, wards, schools, hobbies and sports, bike crashes, brain surgeries, sufferings, joy, pain, fun. Everything that has taken place in my life is bacause I have a God in heaven and a Savior that live and love and care for me. I dont adore a dead God. 

In the mission, everything happens in God's time, we see it everyday. For example as we meet people, they explain to us that we had come in just the right moment, or we arrive after something aweful had happened to them and they can feel and know that First, God's not dead, and Second is that he loves them. 

La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días, is the only true and authorized church in the whole entire world. I love this work, I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon and the Bible are the holy and sacred scriptures that help us to understand the desires of God for his children. I know that Families can be together for ever and ever and ever. I know that God lives, and he loves each one of us and knows us personally. 

if you dont know or understand these things, humble yourself before God and ask him personally. He will answer you. 

I love you all! thanks for the emails and support (and all that good stuff:) 

Have a great week!!!

-Elder Darling

Better late than never!

[Editor's note: This was sent at the end of last week, but we weren't able to send it out until today. Sorry]


Hey y'all! I didn't get to write this week on p-day so I finally go the time to do it today

These past weeks have been pretty chill, but this week has been a real good one. 

We have an investigator named Paty. She is really cool and super nice! I think I shared the story about when she got shot. but she is doing better now:) Anyway, Paty has two kids and they are freaking adorable. Her son is 10 and her daughter is 7. They are so cute. Her son a few months ago fell during a soccer game and broke but arm right above his elbow, so when we met him he had it in a cast with nails sticking out that were holding the bones in place, it was gnarly!!!! But now its all taken out and he is just working to get it back to normal. ANYWAY, haha we were in a lesson with then a few days ago and her little kids had some great questions! About why did Jesus pray, and why are there so many churches! It was awesome haha. So we got to teach the three about these topics and during the lesson we talked about the book of Mormon. When we gave the BOM to Paty she said " You have finally returned into my hands". WHAT!? The spirit was SO strong! it was crazy cool! She had gone to church for a while in Los Angeles and somewhere else here in Guatemala, but hadn't for years. It was amazing. We put dates for their baptisms and are helping them get ready to be baptized!!! its awesome!!!!!!!! 

My new companion is Elder Chavez, he is from Guadalajara, Mexico. He is pretty coolio. we get along well:) ALSO!!! we found out that there is a gym in out area and its like two minutes from or house. We have been going for like a week and we tell the lady that we are going to be there in the morning and she comes and opens it for us, but this morning we were waiting outside and our landlord guy (dueño) passed by, then put his car in reverse and came and talked to me. we were like hey whats up?! and he was like nothin! and then he was like, "are they not here?" and I said "I just called her and she is on her way". Then he told us that his cousin is the owner and that he will get us a key!!! SWEET!!!! hahaha he is super cool. His name is Gustavo. So that made my day haha. 

Guatemala is a great place, the people are amazing and the way that the Lord's work is taking place is so amazing to witness everyday. 

Tomorrow I have to take one of the cars to Quetzeltenango for its "check-up" haha then on monday I need to make a day long trip into the mountains to bring a bed and a fridge to some missionaries. #busybusy

gotta run! Love you all!

-elder Darling 

Here are some questions he answered from Mom: 

What is your favorite food so far?  Fried platanos, with beans, tostadas, cream, and cheese:)

What has been the most disgusting? Chicken organs

Do you see a lot of cockroaches weird bugs? yes, haha all the time. and huge spiders too

What are the most common smells? dog poop, tortillas, and stinky water. probably in that order

Are you near a temple? Do you get to go? we are like and hour and a half away, the area 70 told us a few months ago that we cannot because its far away but we have a new 70 so prez is trying to change it back to the two visits during the mission, in the middle (one year mark and at the end)

What is your favorite P-day activity? Where do you stop if you want to "treat" yourself to a delicious snack? probably a good gameosoccer on turf, it brings back memories of lacrosse. any little tienda (store) they all sell everything hahaha, but probably like a little ice cream or something.

Sorry I'm Late!

Hello:) I am writing today because I didn't have any time yesterday because of office work and we had to move some things around from one house to another. 

This past week lasted a really long time! Things were super crazy with changes and I have a new companion now, His Name is Elder Chavez. He is from Mexico, Guadalajara. He is pretty cool. He took my old job and I moved into the job of my las companion and also became District leader. So I have been SUPER busy, but its fun:)

Conference this last weekend was amazing! The way that the speakers were guided to speak about the things that they did was amazing. This world that we live in has a lot of needs and places that we need to make things better such as in the home, and in society. The world makes destructive things that destroy our minds and even our bodies look attractive and even fun and like "no big deal". However, if we focus on what the speakers talked about in this last conference, there were a few times that we were promised strength and safety from things like addictions, and spiritual darkness, and it all starts with the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon, is a gift that we have through the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. 

Our Heavenly Father wants that his children are happy and that we at least have a way to understand the truth and how to properly follow the examples that we have been given like the prophets and Jesus Christ. Through the scriptures we can find these examples like Nefi and Alma that through the Gospel of Christ turned themselves into righteous and spiritually strong people. We can become just like these prophets of old, if we Heed to the teachings of Christ. 

I know that We have a modern day prophet and that even though the limits of this mortal life are following President Thomas S. Monson, he is the one man that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has chosen to lead and guide the church through the revelation given. I know that we will always have a living prophet on the earth because I know that God loves his children and would never leave us in the dark. I know that Jesus Christ Lives and Guides and directs his church through his prophets. I know these things with an unmovable faith, and love for my Savior. 

I love you all, and thanks for the emails and support! 

Pics!

I have the BIGGEST crush on this little girl! hahaha. pic from baptism from last week, the bonfire-side that we had. and the new car:) her name is Flo. 

I Love Elder Thomas....

http://elderdylanthomas.blogspot.com/     

Hahaha, he is one of the APs right now, and he told me to put that as my header. SO I DID

How are you alls? I am doing great:) this email is going to be short and I forgot my camera so there arnt going to be any pictures. 

Today we played tennis against President and Hermana Goodman, It was soooo fun! 

This Saturday, we had a baptism. Her name is Mishel, she is the cousin of a returned missionary. 

If there is anything that I have learned here in the mission about the way that our Savior works, its about his never ending love and Mercy. Saturday we met a lady that had been attacked in her home. She has three kids, 10, 7, and like 16. two girls and a boy(10). She was in her house then a Man tried to get in. He had a gun. She and her oldest threw themselves against the door to not let him in. He started to shoot off a few rounds and one bounced off the gas can and hit her in the leg. I have a picture of her leg, but not my camera right now.... Bummer. But we are going to start teaching her and I hope that she will progress, she needs it. Her daughter is SOOO cute, she is 7. Anyway, she was just telling us all of this things that were going wrong in her life, like what people were doing to her and it was a scary situation especially for these kids that she has. But God has a plan for her, and I could feel it while we were there with her. She has been prepared but I don't know if its for right now, but she is ready to accept the Lord´s gospel in her life and do develop her Eternal family. 

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that only through him and the priesthood we can return to live with our Father in Heaven. I know that Families can be together FOREVER. 

p.s. I also know that I forgot to tell my Brother DALTON HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was the 15th

so I am a horribly brother...Sorry!

Lex! Happy Birthday, its the 30th, but I am telling you right now:)

I Love you all! Thanks for the emails, prayers, support, love, and everything else that you do for me!!!!!!

-Elder Darling.....the one and only

One Love...

(no, not the Bob Marley song)

This is that love that everybody has inside of them that they may not even know about. This is love for that one perfect person that is always there for them even when they are far away from him. This is the love for the Savior. 

As members of The Church of Latter Day Saints, we have and know the love that we have for our Savior and redeemer Jesus Christ. We also have the blessing to understand a little bit about the amount of love that he has for us. 

Yesterday afternoon, My companion and I went contacting to try to find new investigators because all of our baptisms for this upcoming week fell through #blessings haha. We went to a place called Santa Juaquina and knocked a few houses and talked to a few people and it was raining, a LOT. I didn't have an umbrella or a jacket so I was soaked head to toe haha Literally. But I was happy:) Dancing and singing in the rain, happy haha. Then we decided because it was getting late, that we should head home and get ready for the night. So we walked, and walked and walked and walked haha, it was raining super hard and the roads were now little rivers and the cars would SOAK us as they passed by, then very nicely a guy gave us a ride. we finally got home and we were under the entrance of our house and I could hear our neighbors fighting. I started listening to make sure that the man wasn't hitting the Woman, but it sounded like she was hitting him with a towel or something, but she wasn't happy at all. So we went inside to get changed and it continued, but there wasn't any yelling, just slamming sounds and stuff like that that made me very worried for her. Finally he yelled something not very nice at her and left. Then I went to shower and get dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. Then we went to talk to her. (Up until this point I have never met this woman)

We knocked on the door lightly and waited a second but nothing happened. Then we knocked again and then in a broken voice I herd her ask "Who?" and I calmly said "buenas" ( that's like knocking here) and she opened the window to talk to us. We started a light conversation like we would in a contact just trying to get to know her a bit, but I told her that we had heard them fighting and wanted to make sure that everything was okay. She said yes then started to cry. "I'm sorry" she said. We started to get to know her a little bit more and calm her down and help her to relax a little bit and laugh then we started to talk a little bit about church and prayer. While we were talking I felt prompted to share a picture with her that is one of my favorite pictures ever of Jesus. So I gave it to her and describbed how this picture has helped me and she started to cry and told me that it brought back so many memories. It was a sweet moment to get to help her to realize that She is a child of God that he loves and watches out for. Her name is Susan, and I call her aunt because she isnt old enough for me to call her mom and she is really chill haha. But she is going to start going to church with us:) 

I know that Jesus Christ loves us no matter what situation we are in he is there and he will always be there to help us back onto our feet and start the race again. 

thanks for the emails! I love you all! 

-Elder Darling

we were given a bust of Joseph Smith from a member haha, Went to Guate (City) to pick up a car, had a birthday cake for an elder, and a quija, lizard. 

What?! Another Earthquake?

YO! What is up? time has been flying by here in the office with Elder Palmer. We laugh a lot together hahaha. working in the office allows you to know a lot of "inside" stuff haha. Like we still re two weeks away from changes and we already know that we are going to have changes as companions and that I am going to be incharge of all the housing materials and he is going to be a zone leader but he doesnt know where. 

This past week went by really fast and I dont really remember what we did haha but we had a baptism:) that was coolio 

there was another earthquake and it happened right before we went to bed. So my comp was standing at my bedside and the fan was on and i thought that he started kicking my bed and I was like "what..... (his legs weren't moving) is happening?" then I heard this strange noise to i turned off the fan then I realized that the house was shaking. It lasted for a good while too. So that was neat. 

We also took a trip to bring some house stuff to an area like an hour away, so we had a little road trip.....

I dont know what else to talk about........

Love you all, BYE!

Pictures!!!!!! yay

the video is of what we do in the office haha, me driving the truck, and BAPTISM!!!! 

I bought some spiderman cereal #lame it had "vanilla" flavor. and some other ones that the kids took with my camera haha.