Update!

Whew!
Guess I need an update on here eh?

Well, lots has happened. (as usual!)
No, my life still hasn't calmed down.
Seriously???

My job has been killing me- as in suffocating and exhausting and stressed to the max.
Luckily God has this incredible way of taking care of me. Especially when I'm incapable of taking care of myself. :) *winks to the sky*

I had a friend of mine who came up to me and said she was hiring.
That got me thinking about my job. And that's when I came to the conclusion that it was killing me. Prior to that I was adapting and smiling and trying to do the best I could. Which wasn't good at all. Just ask my husband.

I interviewed for the position and was hired on the spot.
Nice!
I prayed about it and wrote out the pros and cons.
No brainer.
My current job -- I had to work weekends- be on call and the load was HUGE. And they wanted me to .... be trained to be a leader - and I really didn't want to do that. It was multi-tasking on steriods. Seriously.

In my prayers I saw a vision of a cupped hand scooping me up and placing me down at my new job.
I knew this is where i was supposed to go.
So I gave my resignation - and finished out my two weeks - which was REALLY HARD!
But I was big girl and a REAL adult and did it with a smile and tried to leave them in a good position- with no loose ends. I hope I succeeded.

At any rate.... this has been the first week with my new job.
I LOVE IT!
I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all he's done for me.
This is the first week in FOREVER!!!! That I feel like ME.
Like I'm actually back.
I'm not depressed -
I have been SOOOO depressed and I didn't even know it. But now that I feel so much better... gosh... I actually have this peace and comfort and I'm so less stressed.
It's amazing.
totally amazing.
I stand in awe.
I'm grateful for being able to pay attention and for my Father in Heaven knowing exactly what I need. Being mindful of me and showing me how much He loves me.

Life is good.

OH...and my church life has changed completely. We had our boundries changed and now I got to different building - with some of the same and a few different people and I'm no longer in a presidency- so that is a bit less stressful too.

So now I'm starting to see that my life is going to be MUCH better.
Doesn't it make you crazy when in hindsight you see --- totally see --- Geesh! I was crazy! What was I thinking doing that job?
I would love a pair of hindsight glasses - wouldn't that be awesome.
But that's not in the plan - I don't get to see the end from the beginning.
I'm just grateful I having Someone on my side who can!
:)

Week 3 in BOGOTA!

Hey Mom! week 3.
Beginning with things that are different.
There is graffiti on every wall. I mean literally there is graffiti on
every single wall. Also you can see your breath at night sometimes after
it rains when its not even cold out! weird. I feel like i'm the only
person out here who does not get cold. It isn't cold here! But, my comp
thinks its cold all the time. Also i made my first pouched egg. It was
so good. I had it with toast. Mmmmm. Also the eggs here, the yoke is
orange. hey taste the same. The milk here and everything that is liquid
is in bags. Kind of weird. The milk here is more sweeter too. Its soooo
good. So last P Day i had the opportunity to play soccer for the first
time in my zone. I played goalie cause thats what i felt best at. There
were 4 elders from the U.S, 3 from Chile, 3 from Peru. It was sweet. I
did decent for my first time playing soccer like legit. We won. Everyone
said i had amazing reflexes. Thank you hockey! haha but yeah it was
really fun. Also everyone here is sooooo impatient after the light turns
green immeadiately everyone starts honking. Its funny. Also no one here
has manners. I was on the bus and i noticed that lots of the women were
standing and the men were sitting. So while we were on the bus all the
seats were taken and i got up to give my seat to a lady. Hey someone has
to be an example of manners here. Why not start now.

Friday

So
everyday before we start companionship study we sing a hymn. It was me,
Elder Cornejo, and Elder Huaman. So we sing the song and at the end my
comp dramatizes the ending and that didn't make me happy. I told him
after we finished the hymn that they are sacred and another way of
prayer. Also that we shouldn't be messing around with the hymns. Well i
find out that Latinos don't really that critisim well. He just shrugged
and said he never heard of it being a form of prayer. So i showed them D
and C 25:12 how the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me. It says.
So since then there hasn't been problems haha. Also I had beans for the
first time in my mission. It was 17 days in and i got to have beans.
They are really good. I like them. The food here is different but not
bad. It's good. I had yucca, beans, rice, chicken, mojarra(fish), and
potatoes. That was one meal. I about died afterwards. Then afterwards i
was offered Tinto. Tinto is coffee without the caffine. Its like coffee
that Mormons drink. I said no to it and said i don't drink anything that
is a substitute to coffee. So that was interesting. That night we
visited Deymer. He is one of our investigators that is coming to church
every week the only problem for him is getting married. So we are
working on that. But we watched the movie Together Forever. Its a church
movie. I had to read the subtitles cause i didn't understand
everything. But at the end of the movie they showed how the church
changed the life of a guy who was on the wrong path and was doing the
wrong things and how the church completely turned his life around. It
got me thinking of the whole conversion of Ashley and how that came
about. It got me all emotional cause it was just so awesome to see the
church make her so much happier in her liffe and now she has a purpose.
So after the movie we bore our testimonies about how families can be
together forever and how the gospel can giuve us purpose in life and
give us true happiness. I started to tear up in my testimony. I felt the
Love of God so much. Thats when i cry i notice is when i feel the the
Spirit and Love of God so much that it overpowers me.

Saturday- BAPTISMS!!!

So
Saturday we had to get up at 4:30am to clean the baptismal font. It was
the last day for Elder Huaman. He was going home right after the
baptism. So that messed with my head a little. But after we cleaned the
font Elder wanted me to play Lady GaGa Bad Romance on the Piano for him
so he could videotape it. So i di a pretty decent job for not having the
music or anything haha. He videotaped it and said he was going to post
it on FBook when he got home along with photos of the baptism. So
hopefully it isn't too bad. So after that i played hymns until it was
time to get ready for the baptism. Everyone arrived and we got ready.
There were only like 15 people at the baptism. Both families of the
young ones getting baptized. So i went second to baptize. Elder Huaman
was first and i saw how he did it. I was a little nervous at first but
once we got in the font i was ready to go. I had the opportunity to
baptize Barbara Paopla Falla Chavez. I said it all in Spanish and dunked
her and came up out of the water. The feeling i felt was just amazing.
True happiness. I just pictured later in their future how they would
always remember their baptism and how happy and excited they were. I got
a picture with her coming out of the font(not sure if thats allowed or
not but we did it haha) then i watched the other young girl get baptized
and got changed. I felt sooooo happy. It was the same feeling i felt
after doing ordinaces in the temple. Just speechless and happy. Anyways
after the baptism we left immeadiately and went to the airport. Kinda
sucked cause I fept thinking about when i was going home and how i had
only been out for like two weeks. But i kept pushing it out o my mind.
We said bye to Elder Huaman and thats when i checked my money. I didn't
know what to check so i just picked one. I know now it is in checking
thanks haha. So after we left the airport we helped a lady move. It was
raining hard and i got pretty wet but just didn't complain and kept
doing service. I love doing service. Its fun! Especially cool cause
everytime I do service i think of Ammon and how he was selfless always
and always wanted to serve the people. Thats what i want to do too. Also
i saw one of the movers who had on a NASCAR jacket and i talked to him
about NASCAR for a little bit. It was cool. His driver is Juan Pablo
Montoya obviously haha.

Sunday

Church
i am feeling more comfortable with the people and understanding them.
Oh i forgot to mention this last weekend. Last week for church me and my
companion gave a talk! So i had no idea i was giving a talk until like
Saturday the day before. Of course we don't have time to prepare for
talks. My comp told me it was about missionary work. I was like ok sweet
i'll talk about Ammon of course. I asked what he was going to share. He
said oh i'll talk about Ammon. Oh! great sweet now i have nothing to go
off of. So i talked about how it says in I think the Principles of The
Gospel book how it says Every Member A Missionary. So i talked about the
importance of referals and missionary work and the blessings. Also i
shared the scripture in DandC 18 10, 15 and 16 about how every soul is
great in the sight of God and how great our Joy is when we bring even
one soul to God. So after that i bore my testimony about how i love it
here in Colombia with an O mom haha. Also how everyone here is more nice
than the U.S or maybe they're just nice to me cause i don't understand
everything they are saying haha. nah jk they are pretty nice here. and i
ended and sat down. So that was my first talk in Spanish in Colombia.
It went pretty well i thought. I didn't really stumble at all. Alright
so this past Sunday I felt real comfortable with everything. The bishop
still hasn't asked me to play the piano so I don't play. I want to but i
don't really know the hymns like on paper. I usually do the right hand
and make up my own bass. It sounds better anyway so if i'm called on to
play thats what i'll do haha. We had two new families come to church so
we have some new investigators. One of them the Dad is a less actice
member and the mom and kid are not members and we have another family
who is a mom and dad and child who aren't members so thats awesome!
Anyways in Sacrament Familia Falla got confirmed. At least the three
young kids. But, Dayana showed up late! She didn't get confirmed and we
have to do it this week. So we didn't complete our goal this week of 4
baptisms and 4 comfirmations but its all good we'll get her confirmed a
member this week. So that night we went to a family where we watched the
Joseph Smith movie. (yeah the movie that is shown in the temple) My
comp had it pirated! haha what an oxy moron. But hey it was cool to
watch it in Spanish. We didn't watch it all but we left it with them.

Monday

So
we didn't have any official appointments so we did some contacts. But
it was way different. We opened the church and stood out in front on the
sidewalk and contacted people and asked them if they wanted to take a
tour of the church. I was pretty skeptical of the idea but as we tried
it we got some awesome people who came in and entered the church and we
got an appointment with them. It was pretty sucessful! I like the idea.
we're going to do it more. After finishing the contacts we headed home
and as we were walking in a park we saw a family and walked past them
and i felt the urge that we needed to contact them. So i told my
companion that we need to go back and talk to them. So we turned back
and contracted them and they were interested! We set up an appointment
and will see them sometime this week! MY FIRST EXPERIENCE FOLLOWING THE
SPIRIT for a contact. It was awesome! I was so happy and my comp was so
happy for me. He then said he felt the same feeling to but didn't act
onit so he was glad i did. What an awesome experience too cause i had
been praying for the Spirit to help guide me to who what and where i
need to go to find people who are ready to hear the Gospel. I gave
thanks to the Lord after that moment and for our sucess that day.

Tuesday

So i
have pretty much everyday for food this: rice, chicked, fried bananas,
and vedgebles. So last week Elder Sherwood had another traumatic thing
happen to him. He lost his journal! I felt bad for his companion. His
journal is like his life. Thats all he did in the MTC was write in his
journal. He lost 150 pages of writing haha. That sucks. He said its like
all the way back to 2 weeks before we left the MTC. He said it was like
losing the 116 pages of the BoM. I was like WOW... really??? Well, now he won't take it with him everywhere i hope.
Also! oh my gosh. I got the SHAFT again. It has caught up to me. So i
had my camera out cause one of the little kids wanted to see my
pictures. 1. Bad idea.
So i gave it to him and he looked at the pictures and took some
videos which was good. Then i look over and he takes the cap off the
memory card and pulls out the memory card while the camera is still on.
NOOOO!!! so i take it away from him. and look at it and i have 3 things
on my camera. Just those videos of him. Every SINGLE photo was erased
off of my camera i think. Kinda sucks. No not kinda. It really sucks.
But were trying to figure out something to do. My comp said there is a
way to get it back if the camera is formatted right. I lost 150 photos.
nice huh? Yeah i'm never giving my camera to any kids anymore. We'll
figure it out.

Wednesday

So
we had lunch and this lady came up to us and showed us this sweet pen
that writes on glass and porcelin and stuff. It was so legit so i bought
it. It was only like 2 dollars or 4 mil pesos. haha its sweet. I
haven't figured out how it works but I like it haha. Also the reason why
i couldn't talk yesterday was because we went shopping for
Corbatas(ties). Oh my gosh mom everything here is soooo cheap! We went
there and they hab so many ties it was hard to choose. I take forever to
pick out stuff. The ties each were 8 and 9 mil. ONLY 4 to 5 dollars.
haha so i went on a rampage and bought 6 ties haha. it all added up to
25 dollars. Thats one tie in the U.S! a good one at least. One tie is
Orange and Blue(whoo Boise State!) Red and White like a candy cane.
White and Black. Green, bright Green haha. light blue and white like the
Argentina soccer team colors. Also a pure Blue and grey one. I'm going
to have so many ties when i get back i'm just letting you know haha. I
aready have 22 ties. So i have been looking for a flag here. I never
knew how hard it would be to buy a Colombian flag in Colombia. haha Yeah
these people here really are patriotic. We found out that there is a
store close to our house that has flags. I'm going to buy two big ones.
One for my comps to sign and one for me to have. So hopefully i'll get
that soon. I'm going to hang it up on the wall. So i also bought some
cereal and milk. They have raisin Bran but in Spanish. It's awesome. I
love it. I bought two boxes and have already eaten one box. I got to buy
more boxes haha. Also today i got my haircut for the first time in
Colombia. The lady asked how i wanted my hair and i just said uhhh....
short :) haha so yeah it went well. My hair looks good. also guess
what?! It was only 3 dollars for a haircut. This is amazing here! I feel
rich! haha so yeah thats all that happened this week. I sure hope my
letters don't get shorter. Lots of things happen every week it's hard to
not write alot. Anyways I love you all and all that read this. Thanks
for all your prayers. I love you all and will write you all next
Wednesday.


LOVE YOU MOM and DAD


Elder Damian Darrach

P.S the photos are awesome!

CREATE!!

I spent last weekend helping put on A HUGE writers conference.
It was BEYOND successful.
It was inspiring, educational, entertaining, exciting, uplifting, FUN and LOTS and LOTS of work.
It was the ANWA Writers Conference - "Writing at the Speed of Life."
There were authors, agents, publishers, editors and TONS Of writers.


And it helped me to get back into the mindset of what I really enjoy doing.
WRITING!
This last year has been SOOO crazy. I haven't REALLY written anything in FOREVER. But I really love writing. I got to talk with Kirk Shaw about my book and he'd like to look at it. (he's the senior editor for Covenant!)
Also talked with the Query Letter guru who helped me HANDS on - one on one in the board room for presenters. Yeah, it's true... I cornered her. LOL  Why not?

Anyway... now I'm perplexed - I really don't have lots of time to write. I work TOOOO much.
But at least I've figured out that I WANT to write... and I'm going to send Kirk my book and then start writing something else. I have something in mind - kinda weird cuz it's not YA. But it's a story that NEEDS to be told.

Anyway.... pray that I'll find some time ---- Scratch that....
pray that I'll MAKE the time to nurture my passion and kindle the fire that has dwindled in grief, change and just plain exhaustion. I barely got it lit at the conference - and now I've GOT to keep the adversary from blowing it out. Because for sure he doesn't want me to create or be happy.

Hopefully I can get through the next few months - they are going to be HARD ones. Remembering what I was doing a year ago - isn't bringing me joy --- it's making me a bit depressed. (that would be an understatement). I suppose that's MORE reason to dive into something to help me get through it.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite videos~~
"The more you trust and rely upon the spirit; the greater your capacity to create." Dieter F. Uchtdorf

A part of you is still here with me :)

Dear Mom,

      Having an awesome time here! The weeks are going by so fast.... I need to get going more! But i need to take this time to tell you all what is going on down here with me. So Thursday we went to a family where they had all these Native American instruments. I said i could play some instruments and they brought out all these whisle type things and recorders. I was thinking to myself ¨uhh yeah these are ridiculous¨ I had no luck playing them but it was fun. We also had hot chocolate with bread. They do that alot here. But, let me tell you this, I need your power to drink this stuff. They give it to me like still boiling and it takes me forever to drink it. They always ask if i don't like it and i say ¨ No i like it a lot its just really hot!¨ But my tongue heals everyday so it's all good. Also they serve juice with every lunch i have here. It is SOOOOOO good! So fresh too! I love it.

 

The food here overal is very good. rice with ervery meal and some type of vedgeables. Its all pretty good. I haven't weighed myself in like 5 days but i think i weigh about 260 now. So the Colombian diet here is pretty good! haha nah but i'm doing alot of walking so thats some good exercise. So i am trying to follow my Patriarchal Blessing. I read it everyday and really try and focus on applying it to my mission. I know there is a mission section but i am trying to apply everything to my mission. Epecially the part about goals. I see that it is an important part of my mission here and an important part of my life so i am trying my hardest to set some goals that will make me stretch and that are attainable. For example we always set goals for contacts and never acheive them. So i had a talk with my companion about it and he agrees that we need to focus on keeping our goals or in Spanish metas. Then, we had our first district meeting and zone meeting and the focus was on GOALS! Kinda cool cause that is exactly what i wanted to focus on so we're gonna get it done. 

   Oh so funny story. I was walking out of my apartment on Saturday i think and saw a picture of Juan Pablo Montoya on the cover and was like oh thats weird i wonder why they have a picture of him on there. Then like a split second later it clicked. He's Colombian! hahaha I just remembered now that he is Colombian. Thats so sweet. Keep me posted on how he does too. 

   So Sunday we taught Familia Falla, the three kids that are going to be baptised this Saturday. We had a member come with us. She was Catholic and was baptised awhile ago. long time ago. She is an older lady. Her tesatimony is soooo strong. She basically taught the lesson. We had the dad and mom sit in this time and the dad had some questions about some stuff like what happens to kids when they die without being baptised. I knew right away and started flipping to the scripture in Moroni 8 but Gloria, the lady knew too and answered right away i was like ok cool good practice haha. But my companion asked the three kids if they knew that this church was true and have they prayed about it. Usually they are joking around and not paying attention but when he asked this the room was so quiet and filled with the Spirit, they nodded and said Si. I was so excited for them. I wantd to get up and yell like Kyle Busch just hit the wall in the middle of a race. Oh by the way aesome about Kyle Busch even though he finished good still. 

 Sooooooooooooo... I AM BAPTISING THIS SATURDAY!!!! Whew this is crazy. During a lesson with familia Falla my comp asked them who they wanted to them to baptize. We mentioned of course that it's better to choose someone other than us like the bishop or the priests in order for them to build relationships with the members and all of them said no and Camilo the 15 year old picked Elder Huaman who has tagged along with us for the past couple weeks. and Paola who is 13 put her hands on my shoulders. I was like what?!! No way. and the third Estefania who is 12 picked my comp Elder Cornejo. So all of them want to be baptised by us. But, on the good side we got Dayana the other young girl who is 12, she wants to be baptised by one of the priests so thats sweet. But yeah crazy. haha My comps say that i'm going to be the youngest Elder with a baptism in this mission. So 2 weeks 5 days and i'm baptising. AHHH! haha its surreal. But, whatever the Lord wants me to do i'll do it.

  So this past Monday and Tuesday we had Zone Conference. We had like 5 areas come and we did some practices and heard some teaching from some of the missionaries and Assistants. what was cool about it was Elder Sherwood, Stallings, Wilburn, and Francom were there! We had 5 out of the 7 of my district in the MTC there at the conference. I was so stoked to hear also that Elder Wilburn for Sunday and Monday would be staying at our place. His area is Aguazul which is Blue Water get it Agua and Azul. So that is like 8 hours away from my area along with Elder Stallings who is in Yopal. So it was cool that El. Wilburn could stay over. BUt, that first night some of the elders were being loud and we got a phone call from the room below us. Granted now i was already in bed with my lights off. I know when the phone rings at night it means something bad cause it´s happened before. Well the lady was cussing out Elder Thomas who is in our room with us. He is an American too. He is the zone leader. So he just kept saying ¨ Señora señora señora. por favor. then he said one thing and said buenos noches and hung up. She called again and he didn't answer. About 5 minutes later we heard a loud bang on the door. It was the POLICE!! they were banging on the door and Elder Thomas shut off all the lights went into his room and waited until they left. Well the hall light shut off outside and one of the Latinos thought oh they must be gone. and the Americans Wilburn and Thomas were like no don´t and he flicked on the light and BANG BANG BANG harder hahaha. So after that i heard nothing but apparently Elder Thoas talked with them and everything was cleared uyp. It was pretty funny the whole situation. I knew i was protected because i had been obeying all the rules of the missioin and being 100 percent obedient so i felt that i had the Lord on my side and i was fine.

  So about conference now. So we started conference with testimonies of the new missionaries that have arrived. So two hermans went first then me. So before i go into this let me tell you this:

  

   EVery single person here can´t say my name. Which i new from the get go. So i was prepared one hundered percent. So i've been called Dare rock Dare ahCH. But most people here call me Elder Dare ahCH with the double r rolled. It sounds sweet i love it! So yeah now back to my testimony.

  So i was called up by Dare ahCH. He stumbled like twice to say it and i just nodded yeah thats fine. So I get up there to the podium and say all in Spanish of course: Good morning my name is Elder Dare uhh Dare ahCH Dare rock whatever you want to call me. and everyone started laughing so hard for some reason. It surprised me but cool i was fine with it. Good way to break the ice. There were like 50 missionaries there by the way. So i gave my testimony of how i loved the people and how they are all really nice here and i´m grateful to be here and ended. My comp and Elder Huaman said my Spanish was so good and that it was the best of the rest of the Americans. I said thanks but i´m sure the others are good to and that i need more practice. I tried to be humble about it. But it did make me feel more comfortable and more confident in my speaking. After the complimnet i said a silent prayer inmy heart of thanks for the gift of tongues and thanks for all the blessings i have in my life. Thats one goal of mine is to never ever be prideful of the things that i accomplise because they are not my teachings but the Lords. I feel that Humility is one of the most important qualities of a missionary. Because right when you start thinking that everything good that is happening is because of YOU then you aren´t serving for God you are serving for YOU. So just something important i want to always do. So we did some teaching exercises and also got another compliment! That i am so much better and fluent in my Spanish when i teach now. Another blessing of God. haha so of course after that i said another silent prayer of thanks and continued working hard. 

  So the first day was in a stake building and the second day was in the Bogota Colombia MTC! WOW it is sooo small haha. It is the equivilant of on building in the MTC in Provo. pretty crazy. But to start the meeting some of the missionaries were late and didn´t get breakfast. So President Hacking gor up to start the meeting and said i know some of you are sad cause you didn´t get any breakfast but, this is what he said:

FALTA DE PLANEMIENTO DE SU PARTE, NO SIGNIFICA EMERENCIA DE MI PARTE.

which basically means: Bad planning on your part, doesn´t mean an emergency on my part. 

   Thats your saying! haha i was laughing hard inside. That was a nice reminder that a part of you is still here with me :) 

  So yeah that was awesome. All of conference was really awesome! It got me pumped to teach more and talk to more people also just typing this gets me pumped too!

 So everything here is sooo good. It´s going well. Some of the Elders have gotten sick because of the food and have diarria. But the Lord has kept me healthy and strong. I love you all and am going to end this email with my testimony.

Yo se qué Jesucristo vive y la iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es verdadera. Yo se que José Smith fue un profeta verdadera y Thomas S. Monson es nuestro profeta hoy. yo amo esta obra y gente aqui. yo amo enseñar mis investigadores. Tambien yo amo que todas situaciones aquí son real. Yo testifico que yo estoy aquí por una razón. Y tambien que yo estoy aquí enseñar personas que nesecita (wrong speeling) mi enseñar ellos. Yo comparto estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.  

     I love you all and have tons more to say about my testimony but it just takes more time to type in Spanish. I love this work and i wouldn´t want to be anywhere else. I love hearing that Ashley was baptised what a great joy i have in my heart about that. I will feel the same this Saturday. Our service will be held at 9 o clock am. which is 7 your time. WooHOO! haha i´m happy here and am safe. I´m doing so good and i hope you all are good too. LOVE YOU ALL!!! Talk to you next week. I'm sure i'll have even more to say.

  Your missionary and son,

         

            Elder Damian Darrach

Tomelo Satanas!

Another letter from Damian- Wed are really my FAVORITE day!!!  I actually got to chat with Damian at bit today - via email... we just send short thing back and forth. He was waiting for his companion to get done. It was GREAT. 

Alright!
Hey mom i'm still alive here in Colombia.So about the Gutierrez family. I pretty much sat there the whole time. My comp taught the first discussion and when it got to the part of the first vision he stopped and looked at me. I was like wow haha so this is how i start. I quoted the first vision in Spanish perfectly! Whew that was a relief. Then i testified and my companion finished the rest. 
Well i have a lot of work to do i thought to myself. But on Thursday we taught the family Falla. We taught abouty testimony. They have 3 kids and mom and dad. The mom and dad don't care to listen but they don't mind if their kids do. Which is awesome. They respect what we do. Anyways, we finished teaching and my comp gave them an invitation to be baptized and they said yes! So they are going to be baptised on the 26th of this month. Camilo who is 15 and two girls Paola 13 and Estefania 12. It was great to hear them say yes to the date. 
Also we taught a girl this week who is 12 and her name is Dayana. She is such a sweet girl. She has been taking the discussions for awhile i think and we read with her 3rd Ne. 11 about when Christ came to the Earth and after finishing reading and xplaining the importance of baptism we extended an invitation to her and she said yes. She said she felt really happy and wants to get baptised. I don't know why but when she said yes i had such a happiness in my heart that i have never felt before. Now i know the feeling that all missionaries talk about when someone says yes to baptism. 
What an awesome blessing the Lord has given us right away to have success as a missionary. I make sure everyday i thank him for all that has happened with our investigators. I quote everyday from Alma 26.12 in Spanish and it gets me ready and in the spirit of teaching. 

      So, when we go to appointments i have no idea where i'm going and i just follow my companion around. Everything is so beatup here. I can totally see that it's a 2nd world country. But i love it here and the people. So when we get to an appointment i'm always so surprised when he says we're here. Cause the people like live behind their restaurants and... it's just different. But, it's a good different. So on Saturday there was a Relief Society activity and me and my comp went and some lady taught a lesson and i kind of understood what she was teaching about but not totally. It is soooo weird being the only person in the room not knowing a thing which is going on. It's sweet. I love a challenge. I'm so glad i have been blessed with God's attribute of Patience. Cause i really need it here. 

  So it rains here at least once a day for like maybe a half hour then it stops. My comp hates the rain. He is scared of the thunder. I laugh at him for it. Good times. I like the rain a lot because we don't get it much! Also, all the Latinos here think its freezing. I'm like elders i just came from 10 degrees and below don't even tell me it's cold. All people here in Bogota think its cold. They all ask me if its cold and i say nahhh never haha.

   Sunday! First day in church i was introduced and the bishop is excited i can play piano so i'll be playing every week now haha. Which is sweet so i'll play least get to play some kind of musical instrument here. But yeah i didn't play the first Sunday but maybe this week i think. We'll see. But sacrament was awesome and singing the hymns is different cause most people here can't hold a pitch so it is difficult. But it's the thought that counts haha. I loved Sacrament. I understood pretty much everything that was said and i was really edified. More than at the MTC. I felt the Spirit alot. It was awesome going to Sunday School for the first time in like 2 years. learned about the creation our investigators were there too! So there are like 100 members in our ward so its pretty big. everyone came up and introduced themselves to me. Kinda cool except they would ak a question and i would just say repeat that again. Then i would look to my companion for a more simple translation. There is a little bit of slang i have to get used to so thats one thing difficult to deal with. I went to priesthood for the first time in awhile in a ward too That was cool. We talked about sacrifices i think. I'm not exactly sure on that haha. But all in all it was an awesome experience. So i got to be apart of three blessings this week. Pretty crazy. I had to read from the book because i don't know the anointing of the oil in Spanish. Another thing i need to work on. It's hard to pronounce their cause they have like 4 or 5 names sometimes haha. But i'd get it write eventually.

The busses here are crazy. Transportation period here is crazy. We got on a bus yesterday because we needed to go to another church to do a baptism interview for the sisters and my comp gets on the bus and i' waiting for him to pay and get on so i can. At this time i was waiting to get on. So he moves up and i get like one foot on the bus and he starts going. I was like.... ok so this is how the bus works. The doors weren't even closed and we were moving! crazy. Then when i wasn't fully in he closed the doors on me while my backpack was still outside the bus. Kinda funny. 

 Also! This was yesterday coming back for an appointment we came one the Transmilenio which is like the light rail except it's a bus. It has it's own lane and stuff so it's faster. But the problem is everybody uses it. When our stop came my comp said this is it so he got on and people started packing in and i pushed myself in there and the doors barely closed. When the bus would turn i wouldn't even move thats how many people were on the bus. It was Awesome!!! My comp hates when the bus is crammed like that. I think its fun.

  But anyways i'm having an awesome time here. When ever i feel like i wanna just go lay down or when i'm getting tired i just think of when Christ atoned for our sins and his apostles couldn't stay awake. I have vowed myself on my mission that i will never take a nap here my whole mission or slow down my pace cause my feet or legs hurt. It's worked so far and i am being blessed with success as we teach and find people to teach. I can't believe we got 4 baptism dates on my first week. Tomelo Satanas! (Take that Satan!) I love it here and can't wait to teach some more. This week has gone by so fast and it's just a realization of how fast this mission is going to go. So i need to work every minute of the day and help others come unto Christ. I love you all
and know that i am here in Bogota for a reason and know that i am here to teach people that only i can teach and that will feel my love of the the Gospel and want it in their lives. I love this Gospel  love this work and i love you all!!!! I loved reading your letters and can´t wait to hear more. 
Keep cooking Dad you rock!

Somos Sus Soldados

   Your son and missionary,

      Elder Damian Darrach

Damian's 1st & 2nd Letter in Colombia

FEB 9th----
Sorry today has been such a crazy day!

I have been so busy with things and getting to be a resident they have not allowed us to have anytime to
write so i'll try to write as much as i can.

We made it here ok. This place is amazing, crazy and the rest i can't describe. It hasn't rained all the time just a little here and there. The sky is always cloudy though. At least right now. I am the only elder to write today so be grateful for that haha.

The first night we stayed in the grounds of the temple. it was sooooooooo awesome!!! i woke up to a nice view of the temple. It's all granite too. The second day we spent it with the president and we had breakfast and lunch and i got my area. It's called Salitre. It's located in the city of Bogota. My companion is Elder
Cornejo. He is from Peru and he speaks like 10 words max in english. This is sweet. I will learn Spanish so fast.

The buildings are all made of brick and i have my Colombia (?money). It's 100000 Mil in pesos which is 50
dollars. Everything here is cheap! It's sweet.

I wish we would have had more time too to talk but that was better than nothing. Oh by the way say happy birthday to Emily for me.

The food here i don't know yet but will by next week for sure. I'm teaching my first lesson tonight. It's to the Guitierrez family. We're teaching about Joseph Smith tonight. I have confidence so we'll see what happens.

The trafic here is nuts.
There are no rules! Well there are but they don't follow them. The people in Colombia are the best drivers ever. I don't see how they don't crash more often. People cross the road everywhere.

But, everything is all good. You don't need to worry about me. I love it here and can't wait to start teaching and actually understanding them. That's one thing i don't have and won't for awhile is understanding them. They talk pretty fast so i just got to keep my ears open. I have faith though through Christ i'll pick this up and i'll get used to the language. I just have to have patience. Which i am grateful for because i do have it. People here in Colombia though don't have patience. They honk if they are waiting behind someone for like 10 seconds.

So these past 2 days we haven't really done anything as missionaries because of all this paperwork but tomorrow and the rest of my mission it will be legit. Well i love you all and will for sure write a heck of a lot more next
week. I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!
 Somos Sus Soldados!


                     Elder Damian Darrach
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FEB 10th!!!

Dear Mom,

        Ok so i get to write home today also because i hardly had time yesterday. So last night after all the paperwork we had dinner with the Elders Quorom president. He is only like 26 or something it was
crazy. We had some pasta soup which was good and a giant plate of shredded chicken and rice. It was so much food i barely finished it. I also had my first soda for like 3 or 4 years. It was a Sprite. It was really carbonated. I better get used to that cause i'll be having a lot of soda here.

After dinner  we had a lesson with the Guitierrez family. They have had all the lessons but the dad Alex hasn't prayed to know that the BOM is true and that JS was a true prophet. So we taught about JS and the restoration. My comp talked about Joseph Smith's life and the it got to the first vision and he stopped and looked at me, He put me  on the spot! But, with the help of God i recited it perfect and continued on. He continued taching and near the end i bore my testimony and he did the commitment to read and pray about the book of mormon then i testified and verified the committment. After i said if she prayed she would feel the love of God and recieve and answer she said something and i didn't hav a clue of what she said. We finished the lesson and i was so excited. I had done my first lesson for real!

After we finished the mom brought some food to us and i had already eaten so much i couldn't eat anymore. I tried eating and got most of it down. I asked for something to drink and she asked if milk was ok i said yeah and when she brought it back when i drank out of it... IT WAS SOOOO GOOOOOOD!!!!!! The milk here is like milk but tastes more rich like someone put sugar in it. It's sooo good. I told her it's better than the
milk in the U.S and we left. I was so excited and we left for our apartment for the night. All went well.

The next morning which is today we did our personal study and comp study and language study. it took
awhile. Hard to explain stuff in Spanish so it takes longer. But it's really cool just speaking Spanish all the time. When we finished our studies we went to a members house for dinner. I had rice and some
vegetables with an egg on top. It was ok. The veggies are different here and the egg york was like orange. weird but it was ok. We shared a message and i shared my fav. scripture in Alma 12:26 and said i am
nothing without God's strength here. That i need to have faith that i will understand Spanish with time.

After that we went to look for a lady's house cause we just got a referral last night. She said we could
come by today and when we got there we couldn't find the house. We called and a man answered and said he was her son and that she didn't want to hear from us. Totally a lie so we didn't go see her and now i am
here in a shop just emailing you all in the back. It's pretty crazy. I love it here. I'm still getting used to the culture but i like it all mostly. After every meal i feel like i'm going to throw up cause the food is different but i haven't thrown up yet haha.

    What more.... Um there are 5 elders in my district. Elder Cornejo, me, Elder Tomas (American and zone leader), Elder Huaman, and Elder... some other latino name. But they are all pretty cool. It's good
to have Elder Thomas around cause if i don't understand something i just ask him. Our area is Zarzamora. Its one of the biggest in the mission. We are teaching 3 more tonight. We're going to try and get some baptism dates. Wish us luck!

I love you all and can't wait to hear from
you all. Love you!

       Elder Damian Darrach

Where have I been?

And so the blogging world would like to know where I've been?
(not really - but ya know.... )


Well, I've been
E. All of the above.

Depressed, numb, sad, overwhelmed, lost, determined,

Yeah, I could probably come up with a few more adjectives (or maybe they are verbs!) but you get the picture. Life's been hard for me for the past 8 months. But I think I'm finally coming over the hump.
The good news is - I DOOOOO see the good/great blessings in my life.
I do have MUCH to be grateful for.
It's just hard grieving and acclimating to my totally different life.
Literally there has been an event in my life EVERY month besides Jan. SO CRAZY.

But I'm starting to surface and breathe. Thank goodness.
Updates:

Damian is IN Colombia on a mission, which leaves me and Jim empty nesters (which Jim couldn't be more pleased about). Only 22 months till he comes home!
Jessica is engaged to get married
Sam is expecting baby #2
James and Cheryl are moving into a new soon.
My uncle's house burned down and now he's living with my mom.
I still LIKE my totally busy and crazy job.

I'm ready for the HAPPY to come back to life. Don't get me wrong. I adapt well, or should I say, I keep plugging along well. But as my husband pointed out recently - I've been QUITE numb and I'm feeling like it's time to jump in and start to participate in life and BE HAPPY.

Well, see how it goes.
But for now... I'll post a few letters from Damian. THOSE make me happy!
:)  I've missed you all - and look forward to reading about your adventures.

Warp Speed

Seriously?
It just can't be November!!!!
Holy cow, my son is leaving to go on a mission in a month. Whew.

We had the GREAT time of going to the temple. Always a great experience and I think for a parent you get to breathe a sigh of relief that they made it. Or at least I did. :) (I'm so proud of him, what a great kid!)

Jim took the grandkids ( and big kids/parents) trick or treating on Halloween (I was on a plane and missed it all) here is a picture of everyone but James aka Jimmy - Baby Jaydin is the cutest!!

My job is GREAT. I am working for a national plumbing company and I really like it. I don't like that I'm working SOOOOOO much. But I do like my job. I enjoy being there. The job is challenging and the people are fun to work with. 

They even flew me (and my co-worker Nanci) to St. Louis, Missouri for training on how to answer the phone. Crazy huh? Actually it was TOTAL customer service training. They are sticklers on excellent customer service. And the trip was great - aside from some crazy travels ....first on the St. Louis Metro link (which was stupid to take on halloween evening- we were swarmed by 40+teenagers *ahem* hoodlum type kids - it was scary!) Then and the horrific flight home... 2 hours on the tarmac. Ya gotta love this annoucement: "ladies and gentlemen this is your captain. Do not be alarmed by the loud noises coming from the back of the plane. We are having some issues with the hydrolics, it's really the computer system but we should have it fixed shortly." (loud noices would be an understatement). This picture is the poor flight attendant explaining how everyone missed their connecting flights and everyone freaking out about the awful noises!

Then after we finally took off - the plane made a horrific noise as it gained altitude- it sounded like it wasn't going to make it. Talk about nerves and tension. I was praying...
Then when we finally leveled off - we hit turbulence. INSANE turbulence - as in.... everyone was a bit nervous until the flight attendant came over the speaker with her voice shaking, "Under no circumstance is ANYONE to get out of their seats! I repeat Under no circumstance, PLEASE do NOT get out of your seats!"  I've never been in anything like that before. People were murmuring, crying and TOTALLY praying. It was like a roller coaster - where you feel like your free falling. SCARY!!!!

And I've been working like crazy!!! No time for anything. But we are at least catching up on bills and getting a few things done. Like shots for Damian *ahem* almost $500!!!!!! Not kidding. Sheesh!!!!
 Now I need to get clothes for him and luggage. And misc incidentals....
And family pictures....
and ... and.....
I know this month is going to go crazy fast. Damian is speaking in church (farewell) on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so that means a full house for the holiday. At least I have bought a turkey. :)
Sheesh!

Hello Blue Skies!

MOST CERTAINLY there has been a black cloud following me around. For like the last er.....year!

And I think I'm FINALLY starting to shake it. Maybe I needed to write Riley's Gift so that I could find my way through the storm????


I've been under SOOOOOOOO much stress, that I was exhausted, depressed and BARELY functioning.

I'm really liking my new job, and the fact that I'm not stressed. I'm making money- will be able to pay my bills and well, my previous job was REALLY stressful. I don't think I realized HOW stressful. They have been struggling to stay afloat themselves and so being the office mangager - it was kinda on my shoulders as well. OH ... and that's besides the fact that my hours had been cut and my pay had been cut (several times) and I wasn't sure they were even going to be able to keep me.

NOW!!!!!

I have a new job that is BUSY! I have so much to do it's crazy.  :)
I work with some fun people.
And they even want to pay me overtime to get them caught up.
How great is that?

It's like the *ahem* Black cloud that's been following me around is finally starting to LIFT. And I feel GREAT!!!!!

YAY!!!!! I told my mom yesterday that I finally feel like I can BREATHE.... like I've been holding my breath for months - well since last June. That is when life got interesting for me- and boy it took quite the turn.

I'm grateful for God having a plan for me. For knowing me personally enough to know I wouldn't leave my job until / unless I was forced to. I was there 8.5 years and really loved working for them. But it wasn't working for me financially or emotionally. Nice to know someone is looking out for me.

Thank goodness for obedience - or was it desperation? I figured it wasn't working - we were drowning financially. And something had to change. I'd been prompted and had the feeling I wouldn't be there for much longer. (I can always see this in hindsight- I only wish I could realize it during the time)

At any rate, I'm REALLY REALLY happy to start to feel like me again.
It's great to be back!
So good bye black cloud.......(even though I always knew the silver lining was there) and lets bring on the Blue Skies!

Not that I'm in the clear or anything. I take each moment one day at a time - and today! It's all good!

Never ending Changes ...

About a month ago my employer told me he'd have to cut my hours. AGAIN (for the 3rd time to be exact). I'd figured out the night before they gave me that information, that we were NOT making it financially. And I have a missionary leaving in Dec? sheesh!

All the debt we've incurred from my husband being unemployed and me not working while I took care of my dad - is enormous. So we can't pay our current bills - let alone catch up on the debt. I would need to find other ways to make more money.

But that would require change. :( Something quite frankly ... I've had enough of this year.

So I updated my resume (which I haven't had to use in over EIGHT years) and began sending it out.
No one called. I sent out a grip more.

I had a few nibbles, but most didn't pay enough. :(

Then I got a call for a phone interview (45 minutes) basically screening people- then they wanted a face to face interview.
That was TWO hours. A million Questions.
She told me I was ONE out of 200 applicants.
T W O H U N D R E D ???????
Oh my gosh.
She then called me and asked MORE questions - and asked for references. Said it was between me and another applicant.

Well she FINALLY called me today and offered me the job.
It's pretty much everything I wanted.
$400 MORE a week
Health insurance -they pay 85% (I lost all my benefits when I left to take care of my dad)
7-3:30
Smaller company

I'm excited and sad all at the same time.
Sad to leave my job of 8.5 years. (they are great people!!!)
Sad to have to commute (it's only chandler)
Sad to work 40 hours (away from home)
Sad to leave the comfortability of my current employer.
Anxious to learn new stuff, meet new people, and have to prove myself.
Anxious to 'perform' - I still feel quite fragile from the last 6 months.

Excited to be in the solution
Somewhat excited about a new challenge
Happy to have a light at the end of my tunnel
Relieved to know things will get better and I'll be able to pay my bills.
Hoping Heavenly Father is in charge and he's doing the directing, because I don't want to be making the wrong choice.

AND!!!!!! I got my pellets today (hormones), and hopefully the timing is perfect. I can be a normal happy sane woman - as I learn this new job.

At any rate.... I'm hoping it all goes well.

I REALLY need life to calm down - I feel like I'm in TOTAL fast forward and there is no off-ramp. :(
(Gosh I wish I could take a week off work and THEN start this new job- but that's not possible.)
I have ZERO time for writing - and can't even find the groove.
I'm hoping once my son leaves to Columbia in Dec, things will be a little better.
Anyway... that's my update of the happenings in my life.
:)

Damian's Concert - Lamb of God

So things have been tough and we've been scrimping and scraping and just trying to recover from the lack of funds due to unemployment and well, everything that's gone on lately. :)

So I didn't think we were going to be able to go to Damian's Concert with the East Valley Mormon Choral Organization. BUT! We did get to go! (Thanks to Jim getting some money!)
Then I find out tickets were CHEAP!!!!
So glad we got to go - I was moved to tears on more than one occasion, and Damian did such an amazing job. What great talent he has playing music.
It was TRULY AMAZING!!!

Jaydin is coming soon!

 

Alicia posted this on facebook... she's 37 weeks!

We are sooo excited!

How your baby's growing:


Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Escape

I've had an excellent weekend hangin with my mom!

I soooo needed to get away from the stress and the stress.... and just BE.
After spending so many days/weeks/months solid with my mom - it's kinda weird to not see her everyday. And I only wish we were closer. I'd go over there EVERYDAY!
But instead I get to come for weekends and spend quality time.

I didn't do much. But Jim on the other hand.... DID IT ALL!
He got up early on Saturday and started digging out the garage - he took THREE load to the dump. The funniest thing. Was - he was on Trip one to the dump and my mom and I were outside talking, I was taking a drink and she said, "Boy, Jim said, 'Now I understand why Krista doesn't want me to keep a whole bunch of stuff."
I the liquid came gushing out of my mouth I was laughing so hard.
(one of the best past times with both my mom and dad - has always been our ability to laugh. Not just laugh- but BELLY laugh)
We laughed and laughed. Then we had some touching discussion about my dad and then Jim got back.

On Saturday we moved a bunch of stuff around and made my mom's nook area look fabulous! Then Jessica came over on Sunday and we got spend the whole day with her. :)

At any rate it was a MUCH needed escape from my busy life. And I'm so grateful for such an AWESOME mom! :)

Miracles

So my dad always took care of my electronic needs.

All of them.

So I've been missing my camcorder's charger. I've LOOKED everywhere ... twice. I've already lost it once...and he got me a new one. (like last year)

And thats the one I haven't been able to find.

This has been upsetting me SOOOOO much. Mainly because everytime I think about it I tear up and think of my dad.

It's stupid and emotionally brutal. :(

So I look up chargers online...and they aren't cheap ... $35-$45 and I don't have the money or the time to wait for it. I wanna video Damian opening his call (this week) and my camera is dead. :(

So I'm sitting at my desk and I hear... a voice.... "Why isn't it in that drawer?" (or maybe it was: Why? Isn't it in that drawer.)

And almost immediately I was overcome with a feeling - and I burst into tears and pulled the drawer open.... I knew it would be there before I opened it. :*(

There it was - and I've looked in this drawer a MILLION times...

And there it sat. Of course.

My dad is still taking care of my electronic needs.

God only knows...

Grieving .... I have my up's and downs.
I do really well for several days and then have a mini- breakdown.
I get an email I think, "Oh Dad would love this"

So when I get sad ... I process. I feel.
And sometimes I even grab the scriptures and search for something to lift me up.
This is what I looked up today:

"Please do not despair when fervent prayers have been offered and priesthood blessings performed and your loved one makes no improvement or even passes from mortality. Take comfort in the knowledge that you did everything you could. Such faith, fasting, and blessing could not be in vain! That your loved one* did not recover in spite of all that was done in his behalf can and should be the basis for peace and reassurance to all who love him! The Lord—who inspires the blessings and who hears every earnest prayer—called him home nonetheless. All the experiences of prayer, fasting, and faith may well have been more for our benefit than for his."
Ensign 2002 - But If Not -Elder Lance B. Wickman

God only knows when I'll be able to think of my dad and smile - rather than cry. But I'm grateful for the knowledge and the path my Savior made for me, so I can return home to live with not only him, but those awesome family members who have gone before me.