May 14, 2011

Hey Everyone,
I am doing really well. It was really good to talk to the family this last week and I feel re-charged now to go to work even harder than I have been working. We were a lot more busy this week due to the transfers that we are going to have on Tuesday, but we have been able to get in a little bit of work in our sector as well. I talked with the Assistants this morning and although nobody else really knows, we found out Elder Page (my companion) is going to be transferred. It will be sad to lose another companion but I am sure that he will have success no matter where he goes and it will be good for him to get out of the office and start working n the field more. We have taught Maria a few times and she actually wants to get baptized in a week...but she can't because sh hasn't been to church enough yet. We are really excited about her and feel like she will get baptized by the end of this month. We really don't have any other great investigators but we are hoping that we can get another 1 or 2 in church this next week. I am really nervous/excited for this next part of my mission and I know that it will be crucial in my progress as a person and as a missionary.

Another cool thing that happened was that the new missionary couple just arrived. They came into the office this morning with the President and his wife and they are very similar to the President. The Clawsons are from West Jordan Utah about 5-10 minutes from Mark and Vonda and that's about all I know about them for now. Hermana Clawson especially seems really nice and Elder Clawson does too but he seems wayyy tired from the 14 hour plane ride in. I can already tell that they will do a great job and be fun to work with.

Me and my companion had an interesting Thursday this week. There were a lot of protests here in down town Concepcion and we had to leave the office to run some errands. Well, we left the office only to find out that the police had recently tear gassed the street and we walked right into it. My companion and I decided to turn it into a game, so we pretended like the tear gas didn't effect us because we were from the United States (we just walked normal and didn't touch our faces or cover our noses) while everyone else was running around and covered in scarfs. I thought it was funny, until my eyes started watering and I learned why they call it tear gas. Also later on the same day we were walking across the street (j-walking) and the girl walking right in front of us gets nailed by a bus! YES A BUS! She was like 5 feet in front of me and landed, almost hitting her head on the edge of the cement. She moved a little bit and then went back down like a sack of potatoes. Luckily a paramedic was close by and came running over, he called an ambulance and then administered to her. She was talking when they took her away but she definitely broke something and got some serious road rash. I am glad she didn't' die and I am so thankful that nothing like that has ever happened to me!

I hope all is well with you guys and I hope you are all nice and safe. I am so grateful to know the people that I know and have had the experiences that I have had and will have in the next year. I miss you guys a ton, but now more than ever I don't want to come home, I love what I am doing, and I love you guys a ton!

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup