First Week in Mexico

Final Week in the MTC and Birthday Wishes in the MTC

Hola!

Wow it is crazy how fast the time has gone here! I can't believe that in a few short day that I will be in Mexico! I am so grateful to all of you for your letters, prayers, and care packages to help me through the MTC. It's been another eventful week here in the MTC.

Let me start with Friday.  At lunch we received our travel plans! I am going from here to Phoenix and then after a short layover  to Mexico City on September 16th, one day after I turn 19. I have to be at the MTC travel office by 3:30 AM! it is  crazy to believe it's finally here! Focusing has been a little hard knowing we are leaving in a few short days...but time is still going fast!

Sunday we had personal interviews with our Branch Presidency. I met  with the first councilor and he told me that i was special and that my Mission President was lucky to have me going to that mission. he told me he can see the spirit working through me and said I will make a great example when I have my time in leadership.

Monday and Tuesday were all right nothing exciting then yesterday I got to host again!! it was a lot of fun to help the new missionaries come in. I helped four again going to Tennessee, Eugene Oregon, St. Louis, and Eugene. The last elder I helped was just like us. The family and him was all weepy cause he had a close bond with his family, as we got to his class the door was closed and I gave him some advise. I  told him "I want you to do one more thing I want you to always write your family. They are here to support you. As their first missionary and they love you,  trust me I know.  When your littler sibblings write you with pictures you hang those pictures up and you will be the coolest Elder ever. Make sure you write them back and when they see your letter it will make their day and they will talk about it forever!" It was a pretty cool experience being the one to give advice to a younger missionary coming in.



Brett hosting new missionaries coming to the MTC on September 4, 2013

 

At dinner I received packages from home for my birthday! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Please let the York's know how much I appreciated their donation to my birthday. (Brett was sent a Ipod Nano filled with Church music and some small speakers to listen to it with.) When I saw what was sent my jaw just dropped! Thank you a hundred times over!!
 

Tomorrow we have the in-field orientation. It is 6 1/2 hours long session about public etiquette. Since some of us have been couped up here in the MTC for 6 weeks and our only time in public has been walking to the exercise field or to the temple this will help us as we get out into the mission field in our respective missions. We had our last gym time on Monday since we hosted yesterday. On Saturday during our gym time we are suppose to used the time to pack and get ready to go. We will have a last few moments on Sunday to make our final preparations.
 

I can' t wait to talk to you some of my family on Monday prior to flying out. I should be through security at about 5:30-5:45

Well i think that is about it for this week! its crazy that going to Mexico is already here!!

 

I love you all so much!! I want you to know that yo se que vida me redentor. yo se que Thomas S. Monson es el profeta verdadero! yo se que eso porque el salvador jesucristo murio en la cruz y suffrir en el jarden de gethsemene nosotros podemos regresar con dios y jesucristo. you soy un represantante y missionario de jesucristo y yo creo en cristo! (I know that my redeemer lives. I know Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of god! I know that because Jesus Christ died on the cross and suffred for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane we can return home to live with God and him. I am a representitive and missionary of Jesus Christ and I belive in Christ!)
 

I love you guy so much and cant wait to talk to you on Monday!

Love,
 

Elder Darcy

A week and a half to go in the MTC

September 5, 2013

Familia!

I have a lot to talk about before I get to yesterday, but first lets talk about the rest of the week! last weekend we found out that we were loosing one of our teachers Hna. Vawdrey 

Because of the way her school schedule worked out at BYU. So we got a new teacher and it was tough because we are only with this new teacher for a week and a half. The cool part is that our new teacher,  her name is hna. Luna, is she is from Mexico! We are teaching her investigator though (her) and the investigators name is Sandra and she is Jewish which has made it really hard to teach her. but we have here reading the Book Of Mormon!!

Sunday was my first and only fast Sunday here in the CCM. Fasting was surprisingly easy for the first part of the day. Then we got down to the hour before we were to eat dinner and I got really shaky and dizzy so I had to break my fast an hour early and eat something:/ the Devotional was cool the speaker was the former president of the CCM (MTC) in the Philippines and i was sitting on the first row of the bleachers and from there he looked and sounded like president Bush:D 

Ok Drum roll please........

Yesterday wed Sept. 4th 2013 I Elder Darcy hosted and was the missionary for the teaching experience!! Yesterday our district got the chance to host! We had about 600+

Missionaries come. They said we would be only helping 2 each........I ended up helping 4! the four missionaries that I had did great and are super excited to be here! All four of my missionaries are going to: Arizona, Mexico City South, California Fresno, and Oakland (speaking Cambodian)! It was so much fun and I would do it again!!

For the teaching experience all we had to do was go in and start a lesson for a room full of new missionaries. 

That about sums up my adventures for this week! I will hopefully be updating you with the travel plans next week!

Love you all so much!

Love 

Elder Darcy :D

Half way through the MTC

August 29, 2013

Hola!! Como esta familia? mi tiempo en el ccm es muy bueno y rapido! hay es mucho tiempo por estudiar! yo escribo en espanol en me ajenda siempre! you comideo muy mucho orques et es muy bueno y filling! el espiritu santo es siempre aqui!

How are you family? My time here in the MTC has been great and quick! We have A LOT of study time! I have gotten to the point where I can write in my planner in Spanish! I have eaten a lot of food and it is good but filling! the spirit is always here. It is crazy we (my district and I) are past our halfway point! Three weeks from today I will be in Mexico! We figured it out that one week from this Monday the 2nd so the week of the 9th we will get our travel plans!! Our time has just flown by here, it is crazy!

This last week has been another great week! From becoming Zone Leader to seeing Niel L. Anderson for our devotional Tuesday! Sooooo where to begin??!! Thursday was great, we got to go to the Provo Temple. Friday and Saturday we taught our two investigators again Jesica y Miguel and that went good. I have not had the chance to host the new missionaries that have come in yet :/ fingers crossed for this week and being able to host.  As Zone Leader I miss the last hour of class to orient and give a tour of the campus to our new district.  Monday was a hard day. My companion Elder Rushton found out that one of his best friends died Sunday night in a car accident. That really shook him up, the branch presidency allowed him to miss class and send some emails during the day. By the end of the night he was better because he told us because of the plan of salvation he will see his friend again.

Tuesday was good. We were at the Marriot Center on Tuesday for our devitional, the speaker was Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quarum of the Twelve Apostles. He told so many cool stories about missionary work! Then after it was raining and thunder and lightning really bad so we stayed after and sung hymns and Elder Anderson came up to our section to shake our hands. He stopped and turned back about three rows before me. He was 10 feet away though and a really big power of the spirit surrounded him!

Yesterday we had our lesson with one investigator (Miguel) and it was our best yet as we taught we could see how much he was changing and I think he saw we cared! Tomorrow we are extending the commitment to be baptised!! so keep your fingers crossed!!

 It is just crazy how much time has flown! One thing i have come to realize is that the Spanish is starting to come a lot easier! we have these grammar books that we learn out of and they have been super helpful! It is a book that I will take with me when I head to Mexico to continue my language study! The way it looks when I leave I will be at the SLC airport by 6 am and then I will have a hour layover in Georgia. every Elder headed to mexico city or south of there has gotten the same flight plans the different weeks that they have headed out!

 We got a new district last week and they are pretty cool but they make me feel dumb because they are intermiediet Spanish. but they are a great district.

Well thats all for this week! Please write when you have a chance.

 Love, Elder Darcy!

Two Weeks Down in the MTC!!

Hey everyone,
 

Well I have done it I have made it two weeks in the MTC!! It was nice to be on the same schedule as last week, because I knew what was happening all week and what I had going next. we had our Sunday devotional this week and the speaker was Vai Sekahima and it was super cool! He is a former punt/kick returner for BYU and a few different NFL teams.

 

Our days are super busy! There is a lot of study time and there is 6 Hours of class time. I have two different teachers throughout the day the first teacher is Hermana Vawdry she has been teaching us since day one. Then there is Hermano Byrd who started teaching us last week. When we walked into class and saw him it kind of blew our minds. He was the investigator that we were teaching last week!  When we walked in his back was turned to us and he waited until we sat down then he turned around and I think almost all of us had a heart attack! When we all saw him we were like what is going on. He has been a great teacher. Depending on their schedule whoever comes in first will teach us the language and how to teach. The night teacher teaches us gospel principals, public manners, how to be sincere with everyone. We are taught to talk to everyone thus fulfilling our purpose.
 

Between classes we have Personal study time, additional study (companion study), language study and TALL (Technology assisted Learning). They are all super useful. The area I am struggling with the most right now is the language.  The four years that I took Spanish in school Mrs. Anderson and Sr. Ayaviri talked about present tense conjugations and that is all we used. In the Spanish language there is close to 20-30 conjugations that we have to memorize. Not to mention all 150 plus verbs we need to remember. The nice thing is that our teachers have said as long as you know the verbs use the whole form so like vivir, hablar, cominar, leer, and escuhar. one of the few things that I can do really well is introduce myself: Hola! mi nombre es Elder Darcy y el es Elder Rushton y Elder Kershaw Mi compeneros. Nosotros Somos mssionarios de la iglesia de Jesus Cristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. y nosotros tenemos mesenje importante por usted.

That translates to "Hi, my name is Elder Darcy and this is Elder Rushton and Elder Kershaw my companions. we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we have an important message for you.
 

 This has been a struggle but it is starting to come along. I am getting along with Elder Kershaw and Elder Rushton real well. We have been able to work out who teaches what in each lessons. Elder Kershaw is pretty good at Spanish now so it is nice to have someone there who is doing better than me right now. The goal is to be able to understand at least 50-75% of what is being said to me by September 16.
 

On Monday ,Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday we have time in the gym. This is a nice break to take some time to step back and breathe. On Monday I was playing basketball and I hit 6 2's (3's because we go by ones and twos here) and it impressed a few people. The food is all right. 

 

On Monday my district and the other district that came in with us become the oldest district in our zone. Our last zone leaders left for Mexico on this past Monday. The current zone leaders leave this Monday for Argentina. They were in the process of being  reassigned today cause their visa have not come through. Then on Monday they got travel plans and they were able to get a three month guest permit while they wait for their visas that they should be getting in two months!
 

I am loving the care packages and letters from home. We have been trading snacks with the Russia missionaries on our floor. They sing the Russia war song every night and they get LOUD!!

So that is my week, it has been a great week. Please take time to drop me a line if you have a minute I would love to hear from people from home.

 

Elder Darcy

Hola! Buenos Dias,



Well I have done it! I made it a week in the MTC without loosing any vital body parts or organs! :D its been great here just super busy. I got here last Wednesday, August 7th and it has been non-stop work since the moment that I walked in.

 When I got here my companion, Elder Parker, was a little more advanced in Spanish and got moved up to the intermediate Spanish class! Because of the change I have two companions now! I had been sharing a room with both of these Elders prior to the change. The first companion is Elder Rushton, Elder Rushton is from Orange County, California and has lived and grown up in California his whole life. He was born and raised in the church. He loves to surf and hang with friends. he is a great companion. Elder Kershaw is my second companion. Elder Kershaw just like Elder Rushton was born and raised in the church. He lives here in SLC and playes for the SLCC soccer team! He has a walk on spot to the team when he gets home in two years! I have a pretty cool district most of us are from Utah, but there is Elder Rushton and Elder Rolph (another Elder in my district) who are from California (Elder Rushton) and Mesa Arizona (Elder Rolph). Elder Rolph is such a funny guy. I think every day we have been her we have had a realy good laugh because of something he said. The best part is that he does not try he is just naturally funny! 

It was a crazy first week! We were told by other Elders and Sisters who had been here a few weeks to make it to Sunday and it would be easier. We made it to Sunday and this week has gone by a lot faster. Last week was kind of slow because Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we were in the classroom all day doing either personal study, language study, or additional study.

This week we have been teaching our first investigator David. It was hard because I don't know a lot of Spanish yet, but when we went in to teach David I was able to bear my testimony and give some thought to the message with the little Spanish I do know and something sparked in David, and we got him to commit to baptism last night!!! So maybe I won't be too bad of a missionary!

On Tuesday we had a devotional at the Marriot Center on the BYU campus and we got to hear from Richard G Scott of the Quorm of the 12! It was so cool and the message was based on missionaries who are going to a foreign mission. 

I think that about sums up the week. One last note I would love to get hand written letters or Dear Elder. The way Dear Elder works is you can send me a letter and it can be delivered that same day as long as the letter is submitted by 12 pm that day. Otherwise I will get the letter the next day. My mailing information is below. I love you guys so much and miss you all!

Hope to hear from you soon! please feel free to write!

Much love,
Elder Brett Darcy

If you want to write my the mailing info is:
Elder Brett Jeffrey Darcy
Sep 16 MEX-MCC
2009 N 900 E Unit 125
Provo UT, 84602



                                     
                                          Elder Parker and Elder Darcy

                                         Elder Rushton, Elder Kershaw, Elder Darcy

                                          The Book of Mormon in a nutshell
                                                  
This afternoon Brett sent the following message to his Grandma:

We rode Front Runner and Trax to the Mexican Consulate. It is in the weirdest place ever.

It would have been the last place that I would have ever guessed. Its behind Spring Mobile Ball Park, the Bees Stadium.

Brett has his visa and will be going to Mexico City when he is finished in the MTC.

The Day is finally here . . .

This is Brett I just wanted to thank every one who came to the open house. I am about to head into the MTC. Thank you to all who contributed to my missionary fund in anyway you did. I will be in the Provo MTC for six weeks learning Spanish. If you want to write me my MTC address is:

Elder Brett Jeffrey Darcy
Sep 16 MEX-MCC
2009 N 900 E unit 125
Provo UT 84602

Thanks to all who came again and hope to hear from you all soon.

                                              At Breakfast with Grandma Linda at Mimi's

                                          Everyone who came to see Brett off

                                                  Getting in a final jab at his sister

                                                  Heading in to get to work!