March 28, 2011

Hey! This week was definitely not the most exciting one but it was definitely a little interesting. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that you guys had a good time with Taylor there this last week. I am so glad that you guys got to go to the temple and have the experiences that you had. I can't wait til I am back and will be able to go with you guys and share those experiences with you, but for now I am content with the experiences that I am having. Elder Garcia is ending his mission this week and we have transfers this coming week. He is doing well and will have the surgery right after he ends the mission up in Santiago, Chile. He is an AP right now and he told me that he wanted to work with me one last time before he goes home, so he is going to come out on Thursday and me and him are going to go out and work in my sector. I am probably gunna cry like a baby when he leaves, he is such a good guy and has done so much for me, but I know that the mission has to come to an end at some point. I am sooo excited to get to work with him again! As far as work in the sector...this week was pretty good. we didn't find anyone new that has a ton of potential but our investigators are progressing a ton and we are looking to have a solid 3-5 baptisms in April We are working really hard and I know that the Lord is going to bless us with people when these ones get baptized. Nothing too interesting happened this week so I guess I can just skip straight to Sunday which was packed with excitement, and just to let you guys know stuff like this happens all the time to me...So we get to church right as it is starting and they start with the normal "Hows everyone doing" and then the bishop's counselor says "We are going to start with a hymn and Elder Dastrup will lead the music..." I went up and did my best to lead the music then went down to sit by my companion. Then he says we are going to prepare for the sacrament by singing another hymn and so I got up and led another one. After the hymn ends, he taps my shoulder and says "prepare yourself to give a talk". So I go down to my seat bust out my scriptures and end up having 5 minutes to prepare a 15 minute talk. I give the talk and it went pretty well, and after sacrament meeting ends I look around and I don't see our teacher for the 2nd hour anywhere. She is in Santiago!!! So we start the 2nd class and the Mission Leader says..."The teacher isn't here, but sometimes that just happens but that's why we have the missionaries..." I end up teaching the class pretty much by myself (A full hour by the way) and I think I am pretty much done for the day but...that would have been to easy. After the class an older woman comes up to us and asks us to give her a blessing of health. Of course she wants me to do it and so I did it. After that we get asked to take the sacrament to some older lady that lives on the other side of our sector. After we did all of that...we got to go to lunch and I was sooo happy. Until the lady brought out Chicken liver to eat, haha. LONGEST SUNDAY OF MY LIFE! Well I have no time left so...I hope all is well and that you get this email quickly. Love you guys a ton and hope that you know that. Yours Truly, Elder Cody Dastrup