Hey!
Another good week of work put in this week!! We baptized Alajandra this Sunday and it was an awesome experience. Our ward here did a really good job befriending her and in the end I feel like that's what got her to her baptism. Our ward is starting to work really well and we had a capacitation this week with President about working with the wards and I feel like it will really help us out in the long run. We also did a lot of work in the street and found some really good new investigators. We are working with this one guy named Claudio and his girlfriend Claudia who are living together. Claudio is 27 and is a member and is a really good guy but he has made a few mistakes and is now a little far from the church and everything. Claudia isn't a member of the church but wants to start going and change her life and it's still really early but I feel like they have a ton of potential.
This is kind of off subject but mom asked a question about the ward in the email and the answer is...every sector where missionaries work is only 1 ward and you can have 2 or 4 (which is rare) missionaries in a sector. Elder Scott and I work in a Ward called Lorenzo Arenas and we are the only missionaries over our ward and sector and we only have that 1 ward in our sector.
Lets see...today we went to the beach and played ultimate Frisbee and a little football and I really liked it. It was the first time that I had seen the beach in all of my time here in Chile. I took some good pictures and I will try to put some of them in this email. I am doing good and have been reading a lot of the talks that mom sent me for Christmas and also reading the book that Buzzz Miller sent me it's REALLY GOOD and perfect for a missionary and it's called "Sustaining the Faith" (I think) haha. The President changed our schedule too and we wake up a half hour later at 7:30am and we go to bed a half hour later 11:30pm. I love it!!! Not to much happened this week but we are going to go make pizza with a member for lunch so I am going to get going because I am starving!!! And I got the package from you mom and from Mark and Vonda (thank you) and yes I still get a pretty decent amount of letters :)
Have a wonderful day,
Elder Cody Dastrup
I asked him if Pizza was the same as here and he said no it isn't the same but it's not bad. It's definitely way better in the states because here instead of pizza sauce they usually just put sliced tomatoes on top of the Pizza.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
January 17, 2011
Hey everyone!
This week has been a long one full of surprises and a lot of work! My companion Elder Scott and I have been working our butts off this week and I feel like it has really paid off. The beginning of the week started off kind of slow but on Wednesday morning the Zone Leaders came over to our house to study with us and do divisions. I went out with Elder Catucuagu (from Ecuador) and we did some contacts in the street. We knocked a door and a couple of girls answered and we entered the house and taught a really good lesson. Both of them seemed really excited to go to church this week and I was expecting to see them there, but...Sunday rolled around and we called them in the morning and they didn't answer, we went to church and they didn't show up. I was kind of bummed that they didn't come and as we were walking home from church the phone rang and I answered, they asked if "Cody" was there...And then I realized I had made a mistake...for all of you who have never been missionaries there are a few things you should never do...1st tell two teenage girls your first name, 2nd Don't call them from your cell pone without blocking the number and 3rd...I don't know but lest say that these girls seemed so solid, looks like they might have just been more interested in the missionaries then the message haha. But all is well and we have straightened out that problem. As for Alajandra...She didn't end up getting baptized on Sunday. On Tuesday we went and visited her and her abusive ex boyfriend showed up. She was crying and it was just a mess but she is on track to get baptized this Sunday and we are going to pass by every night to make sure nothing stops her from getting in the water. I am really excited for Alejandra and her family and I feel like she will be one of my strongest converts that I have baptized in the mission. I just ask that you guys can pray for her that everything goes smooth this week and that she will be ready for baptism this Sunday.
As for me I am doing good. I am really enjoying the mission,, my Spanish is improving and I love the people we are working with. We have a ton of potential here in the sector and I can't wait to see what this ward is like in 2 more months. I am missing home a little but every time that I think about how much I miss everything, I think about how much I love everything here and it makes everything alright. This last week I completed 9 months in the mission and it is so weird to think I have been out that long but...it's true. Does it feel like I have been gone that long to you guys? Ohh and I received some bad news this week. I have heard that Elder Garcia has a hip problem and he has to have an expensive surgery (which is $$ that he doesn't have) and he might have to end his mission early and go home:( I love him and have been praying that everything works out for him and ask taht you guys do the same, he is a really good guys. That's all I have for today, but if you guys need or want anything else just let me know and I will be more then glad to do it.
Con Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
This week has been a long one full of surprises and a lot of work! My companion Elder Scott and I have been working our butts off this week and I feel like it has really paid off. The beginning of the week started off kind of slow but on Wednesday morning the Zone Leaders came over to our house to study with us and do divisions. I went out with Elder Catucuagu (from Ecuador) and we did some contacts in the street. We knocked a door and a couple of girls answered and we entered the house and taught a really good lesson. Both of them seemed really excited to go to church this week and I was expecting to see them there, but...Sunday rolled around and we called them in the morning and they didn't answer, we went to church and they didn't show up. I was kind of bummed that they didn't come and as we were walking home from church the phone rang and I answered, they asked if "Cody" was there...And then I realized I had made a mistake...for all of you who have never been missionaries there are a few things you should never do...1st tell two teenage girls your first name, 2nd Don't call them from your cell pone without blocking the number and 3rd...I don't know but lest say that these girls seemed so solid, looks like they might have just been more interested in the missionaries then the message haha. But all is well and we have straightened out that problem. As for Alajandra...She didn't end up getting baptized on Sunday. On Tuesday we went and visited her and her abusive ex boyfriend showed up. She was crying and it was just a mess but she is on track to get baptized this Sunday and we are going to pass by every night to make sure nothing stops her from getting in the water. I am really excited for Alejandra and her family and I feel like she will be one of my strongest converts that I have baptized in the mission. I just ask that you guys can pray for her that everything goes smooth this week and that she will be ready for baptism this Sunday.
As for me I am doing good. I am really enjoying the mission,, my Spanish is improving and I love the people we are working with. We have a ton of potential here in the sector and I can't wait to see what this ward is like in 2 more months. I am missing home a little but every time that I think about how much I miss everything, I think about how much I love everything here and it makes everything alright. This last week I completed 9 months in the mission and it is so weird to think I have been out that long but...it's true. Does it feel like I have been gone that long to you guys? Ohh and I received some bad news this week. I have heard that Elder Garcia has a hip problem and he has to have an expensive surgery (which is $$ that he doesn't have) and he might have to end his mission early and go home:( I love him and have been praying that everything works out for him and ask taht you guys do the same, he is a really good guys. That's all I have for today, but if you guys need or want anything else just let me know and I will be more then glad to do it.
Con Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011
Hey Everyone!
This week has been an interesting one full of hard work and blessings! We set a goal for Claudia to stop smoking by this last Saturday so that she could get baptized this week but she continues to smoke and we had to drop her this week. It is tough to drop people (stop working with them) but she lives far away and right now we just don't have the time to visit her on a consistent basis, hopefully she changes. On a good note we witnessed a miracle last night. So we have been working with the lady named Alejandra and also with her son Thomas (I baptized him a week ago) for like a month now. She goes to church every week and really wants to get baptized. At Thomas' baptism she was balling her eyes out and kept telling us how beautiful it was, but she was living with someone who she isn't married to so she couldn't be baptized. The guy she was living with is the dad of her 2 kids but his a total...beeeeep (plug in your own word here) or LOSER!!!! He always brags about how he has been in jail a lot and how he is really gangster and he is soooo annoying! Guess what....Alejandra kickedhim out of the house so that she can get baptized this week!!! She is working a lot now because she has to pay for the rent but I think we might have found a job where she will make more money and stuff so hopefully it all works out and she can afford to live alone with the kids. Please pray for her, that everything will work out and she won't have anything bad happen to her this week. I am really excited for her and I will fill you guys in on whatever happens with her.
As for me I am doing good, on Monday I took a huge bag of tobacco from Claudia so that she couldn't smoke it and I left it in my scripture case all week on accident! My bible now smells like Argentine tobacco! Also the last couple of weeks i have shedding a few extra pounds. I went to the office today and weighed myself and....I am back to 155 lbs (less than when I was in the MTC) I think I lost weight because I stopped cooking at night and I have actually done my exercises a few times in this transfer opposed to before when I would just roll out of bed and drag myself to the shower. I am going to start waking up at 6:30 again (the rule is 7 here) and start playing basketball at a park by our house. I am really excited for this transfer and expect to grow a tonnn this next 6 weeks. Wellll I love you all and hope you all are doing well. Let my mom know if you need anything from me.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
This week has been an interesting one full of hard work and blessings! We set a goal for Claudia to stop smoking by this last Saturday so that she could get baptized this week but she continues to smoke and we had to drop her this week. It is tough to drop people (stop working with them) but she lives far away and right now we just don't have the time to visit her on a consistent basis, hopefully she changes. On a good note we witnessed a miracle last night. So we have been working with the lady named Alejandra and also with her son Thomas (I baptized him a week ago) for like a month now. She goes to church every week and really wants to get baptized. At Thomas' baptism she was balling her eyes out and kept telling us how beautiful it was, but she was living with someone who she isn't married to so she couldn't be baptized. The guy she was living with is the dad of her 2 kids but his a total...beeeeep (plug in your own word here) or LOSER!!!! He always brags about how he has been in jail a lot and how he is really gangster and he is soooo annoying! Guess what....Alejandra kickedhim out of the house so that she can get baptized this week!!! She is working a lot now because she has to pay for the rent but I think we might have found a job where she will make more money and stuff so hopefully it all works out and she can afford to live alone with the kids. Please pray for her, that everything will work out and she won't have anything bad happen to her this week. I am really excited for her and I will fill you guys in on whatever happens with her.
As for me I am doing good, on Monday I took a huge bag of tobacco from Claudia so that she couldn't smoke it and I left it in my scripture case all week on accident! My bible now smells like Argentine tobacco! Also the last couple of weeks i have shedding a few extra pounds. I went to the office today and weighed myself and....I am back to 155 lbs (less than when I was in the MTC) I think I lost weight because I stopped cooking at night and I have actually done my exercises a few times in this transfer opposed to before when I would just roll out of bed and drag myself to the shower. I am going to start waking up at 6:30 again (the rule is 7 here) and start playing basketball at a park by our house. I am really excited for this transfer and expect to grow a tonnn this next 6 weeks. Wellll I love you all and hope you all are doing well. Let my mom know if you need anything from me.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 3, 2011
January 3, 2011
Hey Everyone,
How's it going? I am doing good and had an awesome Christmas and New Years! I have a lot to write so...here it goes. Christmas was really good, we worked on Christmas Eve until 9 and after that we went over to a members house and had Christmas dinner with them (we had Mexican food...kind of) We stayed over there for a couple of hours and had a really good time they gave me and my comp some presents and then we left and went home. Christmas morning was a little lame, but we ended up waking up and running downstairs and opening presents (ties, socks, etc) it was super exciting but lest just say nothing really beats a Christmas in the states. Later in the day we got to call the family using Skype and for the first time in 8 months I saw my family! That was my favorite part of the day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone, and you all look the same except Katie...haha. At like 7 we got back out into the street and worked for 3 hours before we finally went to sleep.
New Years was next and we had a blast! We ate dinner with a family from the church at 9 and then went and spent the New Years Eve as fun as you can as a missionary...in the house haha. New Years day we woke up and went to play paintball! We went to this place that is on the side of a mountain full of trees, mud and hills and I felt like I was in Vietnam! It was intense and we ended up playing for 4 hours and afterwards we went back to the Assistants house and ordered a bunch of pizza and watched a Disney movie. New Years day was probably the most fun day that I have had out here in the mission, it was a blast. Afterwards, like always we went back to work and had a pretty good night.
Now the serious stuff, this week we had a baptism! I was really excited and really content with the baptism that we had on Sunday. His name is Thomas and he is 9, we have been teaching him and his mom but only he could get baptized on Sunday because his mom still isn't ready. I had the opportunity to baptize him and I was really glad that I got to do it. I sent some pictures of the baptism, so hopefully they make it. Everything went really smooth and they called a new ward mission leader in the ward I am in and lets just say we are going to have some serious success here because of him. He is an awesome guy who is always thinking about how the ward can better itself and what they can do to help us (I strongly suggested him to the Bishop to be our ward mission leader 2 weeks ago and he got called last week, haha)
That's all I have for now but I will be writing again next Monday and my P-days will start being on Monday's once again. Thanks for all that you guys do for me, all the support and Christmas presents. I wanted to say thanks to Bro. Ladd and the ward for sending me that package full of candy and stuff too....THANKS A TON!
Yours Truly,
Elder Dastrup
How's it going? I am doing good and had an awesome Christmas and New Years! I have a lot to write so...here it goes. Christmas was really good, we worked on Christmas Eve until 9 and after that we went over to a members house and had Christmas dinner with them (we had Mexican food...kind of) We stayed over there for a couple of hours and had a really good time they gave me and my comp some presents and then we left and went home. Christmas morning was a little lame, but we ended up waking up and running downstairs and opening presents (ties, socks, etc) it was super exciting but lest just say nothing really beats a Christmas in the states. Later in the day we got to call the family using Skype and for the first time in 8 months I saw my family! That was my favorite part of the day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone, and you all look the same except Katie...haha. At like 7 we got back out into the street and worked for 3 hours before we finally went to sleep.
New Years was next and we had a blast! We ate dinner with a family from the church at 9 and then went and spent the New Years Eve as fun as you can as a missionary...in the house haha. New Years day we woke up and went to play paintball! We went to this place that is on the side of a mountain full of trees, mud and hills and I felt like I was in Vietnam! It was intense and we ended up playing for 4 hours and afterwards we went back to the Assistants house and ordered a bunch of pizza and watched a Disney movie. New Years day was probably the most fun day that I have had out here in the mission, it was a blast. Afterwards, like always we went back to work and had a pretty good night.
Now the serious stuff, this week we had a baptism! I was really excited and really content with the baptism that we had on Sunday. His name is Thomas and he is 9, we have been teaching him and his mom but only he could get baptized on Sunday because his mom still isn't ready. I had the opportunity to baptize him and I was really glad that I got to do it. I sent some pictures of the baptism, so hopefully they make it. Everything went really smooth and they called a new ward mission leader in the ward I am in and lets just say we are going to have some serious success here because of him. He is an awesome guy who is always thinking about how the ward can better itself and what they can do to help us (I strongly suggested him to the Bishop to be our ward mission leader 2 weeks ago and he got called last week, haha)
That's all I have for now but I will be writing again next Monday and my P-days will start being on Monday's once again. Thanks for all that you guys do for me, all the support and Christmas presents. I wanted to say thanks to Bro. Ladd and the ward for sending me that package full of candy and stuff too....THANKS A TON!
Yours Truly,
Elder Dastrup
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)