November 29, 2010

Some pictures he sent that didn't get to me until later on Monday....the first picture he is with the Young Mens Pres. in the ward and with his most recent companion Elder Gil (pronounced Hill), the second is his zone in Chillan, the third we are not sure what the building is, fourth is him up a tree when he and Elder Gil went fishing with the Young Men in the ward, and the last one is his second companion Elder Bastow.

Hey!

So I have got some news...I am getting transferred. This morning when the zone leaders called and told me that I was leaving I was kind of surprised and I really was a little sad. We have 2 baptisms this next week and it's a mom and her daughter, we have 2 others that are 2 weeks out from being baptized and about 5 more that should get baptized in the next month or 2. There is so much potential here in our sector and it is so sad to be leaving it all behind. In this next transfer we are going to have Christmas, New Years Eve and 2 young men leaving for the mission. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that I was leaving. On the other side of things I am going to Concepcion the biggest city in the mission, I will be closer to the assistants and President and the best of all....Elder Reed and Elder Stermetz (my 2 best friends from the MTC) are going to be in my Zone! I am really excited for the new adventures and challenges that lie ahead. I wasn't told who my new companion was going to be but my ward or sector is called Alonzo Arenas and the ward has a pretty good number of members. I am going to miss this place like crazy but I know in the end that the Lord needs me somewhere else and I am content with the transfer. I know that I am going to have success in this new ward that I am going to and even if it is hard work I am really dedicated at this point in my mission to do whatever it takes to help the people that want to listen to us.

This Thanksgiving I had a lot of time to think about the things that I am thankful for and honestly I have so much. We didn't celebrate thanksgiving obviously but it was good to be in a different country with less physical things to be thankful for and more spiritual things. For example, I am thankful to have my family here in this life and to have the knowledge that I will have them in the next life. I am thankful to have the people in my life that I do, the examples that have brought me to this point and all of the many blessings that I have enjoyed here in the mission and in my life in general. I miss everyone a ton and this next couple of weeks might be tough for me but I am going to get through it and come out the other end stronger than when I entered. I am so thankful for everything I have and for the time I had here in Volcanes "Donde Pica la Jiva". Love you guys.

The one and only,
Elder Cody Dastrup

November 22, 2010

"Please feel free to send Elder Dastrup a Christmas Card soon....it takes about a week and half to get to the mission home and should cost $1.20 if it is larger then the normal size letter envelope which costs .98 cents to send...we know he would LOVE to hear from you"

Hey Everyone,
Had another good week and it is looking like if I have 6 more weeks here we are going to have a few baptisms. We are on fire right now! We confirmed Laura this last week and I have a story about that but here is the short version, we had a baptism last week and Sunday was the confirmation. We got to church and I asked her who she wanted to confirm her and she said me! So I mentally prepared myself and we get up to the stand in front of everyone (120 people in our ward) and the mission leader starts doing the confirmation! What the heck!!! I'm never going to confirm anyone! These last 2 weeks or so we have just been finding people like crazy and they have actually been doing their compromises. I feel like the sector will have 5 or so baptisms in the month of December and hopefully a baptism or two the 19th of December (moms birthday) because it is a Sunday. Also the 26th is a Sunday so if we are here we are going to try to baptize somebody Saturday the 25th...Christmas Day. I am really excited for this next week, I feel like we are going to have a ton of success and we are really in a groove right now. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to leave and know a different part of Chile but I could definitely wait another 6 weeks. We have transfer next week so I will know next Monday if I am leaving, and if I am leaving I will leave Tuesday in the Morning. I have been really blessed in this sector and I couldn't have asked for a better start to the mission. I have had a lot of experiences here and I don't think I will ever be able to forget my first sector in the mission.

Today we played soccer and I had 2 goals!! We played against the other zone of missionaries in Chillan and we lost horribly but we played a game of basketball afterwards and we destroyed them, so it's all good. I am starting to lose a little weight and get a tan (or sun burnt) because it is really starting to heat up and the Sun down here is devastating. I have heard Chillan is the hottest part of Chile and December, January and February are the hottest months down here so if I get transferred it will be a blessing in that sense. What else...I am working really hard with the language and if I have another transfer with Elder Gil I feel like my Spanish will be pretty solid. I am starting to wake up at 6:30 (usually we wake up at 7) to have another extra 30 minutes to study and I still have a ton to learn. I actually like studying here and I am learning a ton. Anyways, I am doing really good and I have a lot of energy and excitement to work these next couple of months, hope everyone is doing well and if anyone has any questions send them to my mom and she can send me them. Love you guys...Have a good Thanksgiving and save me some pavo! (turkey)
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

November 15, 2010

How's it going? I will try to keep it short this week because I don't have to much to talk about. This week we worked a lot with Laura and we baptized her yesterday after church. I have the pictures bu they are in the house so I will have to remember to send you more this next week. The baptism was really good but she still has a long way to go and to be honest I won't really be satisfied until she is really converted and active in the church. Baptism is a really important decision that all people need to take if they want to enter into the kingdom of God but at the same time it's just the door and there is a lot more to do after. Chile is the country with the highest percentage of inactives in the world. All of the converts that we have baptized are really good and active but we have a lot of work to do with other new converts in the past year.

This week we had a lot of success and found a lot of new people. This next week we are going to do a lot of divisions with the young men in the ward who are preparing to go on missions, so we should have a lot of new investigators and find some really good people to teach. I have gotten really close with some of the youth here and it's going to be tough to leave the sector when my time comes. My comp and I are working really good together and I feel really good about the next two months or 2 in this sector. I am excited for Christmas and I hope that I spend it here in Chillan and not in some other new sector!! haha What is the family going to do for Christmas? Is there any big news? I love you guys and hope that your week is amazing and that you have some good times. Take it easy and choose the right! Yours Truly, Elder Cody Dastrup

November 8, 2010

Hey Everyone!
We had another really good week out here in Volcanes and we are looking at a lot of future success! We have a baptism scheduled for this week for Laura, she is a single mother who has 3 kids and their dad is in prison. I have never seen somebody with such difficult circumstances in my entire life. She has been sharing with us for a while but recently has found the desire to be baptized and go to church every week. It is a miracle what we are witnessing out here in Volcanes. I met Laura my 1st cambio in the mission with Elder Garcia and I remember thinking that there is no way in the world that this lady is ever getting baptized, WHAT A LACK OF FAITH! Slowly she has progressed and her day is here. She is being blessed by the Lord already and I can't wait to see the miracles in her life after the baptism. Her kids are ages 1,3 and 5. They don't have a dad and we are the only guys that they have in their life (all of the men that live on their street are in jail, haha) but I am worried that when I leave the sector the kids are going to be really sad. I can admit that I never really liked visiting this family at first. They live in the most ghetto street that exists in our mission and their house is small, dirty and just a bad environment...but over the last 3 weeks or so I have really found a love for this family and I am really excited to baptize her this week. We have a couple other baptisms coming up in the next couple of weeks too but I will talk more about them when the time comes.

Everyone always asks about he food here and the weather and stuff so... I thought I would let you know a little bit more. The weather right now is warm in the day (like in the 80's) and at night it still gets pretty cold (50's). We had a lot of rain and wind this week which is miserable but it could definitely be a lot worse. This week we didn't have a lot of good lunches but we had something called gnnocis, it's Italian food and is pretty good. Here the things that they eat or sell in the street more than anything are Completos (hot dogs w/guacamole and tomatos), Sopapillas, Papas Fritas (French Fries), Churrascos (sandwich) and Anticucha (like shishkabob). this one lady sells Anticucha by our house and everyone in the ward tells me not to eat it because the meat is dog meat but it's so good and I buy it like every night, haha.

I am doing good really good though and had a really good week. We found a lot of people and we have way more potential in our sector than we have had in the past month. I am working my butt off and it's really paying off and I am excited to see where we will be in a month from now. Thanks for all the support, the letters and the packages. I love you all so much and hope this next week is the best week of your lives.

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

November 1, 2010

Hey I literally have 5 minutes to write this week so here we go...I had a great week and there is finally some new investigators this week, 3 good ones named Paola (and her 2 daughters), Laura and Filemena. I think all of them will get baptized in this next month but we will have to wait and see! I am working hard and with my new companion I am teaching more and definitely have more responsibility. My other companions before him were such leaders and really always pushed me to do what is right but he is more laid back and easy going about everything so...we are working on that! haha I love him though and he is one of the funniest missionaries out here and he is a fanatic soccer or anything that has to do with Argentina! He makes Argentina sound like the Celestial Kingdom, so I think I will need to check it out for myself after the mission. Everyone in my zone pretty much got switched out this last transfer so I have the most time in our zone out of everyone, I like it but it feels really weird. Oh and Elder Garcia wrote me this week and told me that he had a vision that I am coming to his Zone in Curico (the zone farthest north in our mission). Oh and I forgot to tell you but I saw Elder Reed in the bus terminal for 5 minutes when Elder Bastow left and I gave him a huge hug! I love that Elder and miss him a ton but he is doing good and is working in the office (haha) Bad news...Elder Martell from my MTC District is going home because he needs to have surgery on his knees which is really sad, but we are all praying that when he recovers he will make the right choice to come back out. Well have a good week everyone and know that I love you guys and miss you a ton. I hope you all are are enjoying life back in the States as much as I am down here at the bottom of the world. I think I will be out of here after this cambio mom so don't worry about sending anything for Elder Gil but what you could do is just buy a bunch of ties and make a thing of brownies or lemon bars or something for whoever my companion is. And tell all of the relatives to send me a tie...ugly, nice, new, old, I don't care but I only have like 12 ties and there is 7 days a week so I am getting a little bored haha. Love you guys! Love always, Elder Cody Dastrup