Hey hows it going?!
I am sitting here in an Internet place and if I had to guess I would say it was about 95 degrees in here. (Air conditioning isn't a big thing down here yet). Everything is going really well here and we are really having a lot of success. I am excited because we are about to reach our zone goal, I did 7 baptismal interviews this week and we are also preparing a couple people from our own sector to get baptized in the next 2 weeks. We are working with an 18 year old named Ignacio who will have his interview for his baptism tomorrow with President Humphrey and then we are working with another young man named Moses who isn't really progressing anymore and we aren't 100% sure what's going to happen with him. the other person that we are working with that I feel like will be baptized in the month also is named Carla. Carla is a special lady. She is 25 and comes from a past of difficulties and hardships and is making some huge changes in her life. without going into too much detail, she has some addictions that she is trying to leave behind, but I can really see the Atonement taking action in her life and I can really see how much this message means to her. Those are pretty much all of the people that we are working with that seem to be progressing the fastest, but we have a few more.
I would say that the experience that made this week the most was with another investigator that we have. She told us 2 weeks ago she didn't want to continue sharing with us and then she mentioned that she would be leaving out of town for a while and we left her with the invitation to think about it and to pry while she was gone. we passed by her house for the first time in 2 weeks on Friday and to our surprise she let us in. We got in and I shared a scripture in Matthew that talks about following Christ before any other person and she really like it and then we invited her to do a fast with us and she accepted. She completed wit the fast and we went over to see how it went and to see if she got her answer and guess what she said...No!!! I feel like we did our part and we had a lot of faith but for some reason or another it is taking her a long time to receive an answer. Pray for her please, she needs it. (Her name is Natali)
Anyways....it is hard to concentrate because I am sweating like crazy and I have a lot to do today still so I will let you guys go. Thanks for all of the support and for everything you do for me. I am really excited about Taylor's baby. When is she going to name him? Love you guys!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, February 13, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
February 6, 2012
Hey Everyone,
I am doing really well and had another great week in my sector. We worked really hard and got another new person to church that has the goal to get baptized at the end of this month. we are working with a group of about 6 people and I am feeling pretty strongly that at least half will get baptized this month and the other half next month. Everything is going really well in the sector and even better news...everything in the zone is going really well too. we met our goals last month and it is looking like we will meet our goal here next week for the month and we should be able to shatter it by the end of the month. My companion is awesome and I feel like me and him together is the best combination of missionaries that I have had in my entire mission. (Don't know if that made sense to you guys haha). Like I mentioned the other day I am in Talca and yes it is super hot and really dry. It hardly ever rains here and there are a lot of Cactus and plants that you see a lot in AZ. In terms of the ware, its really small. Like 70 or 80 assist church and we are asked to give talks quite often. Mom wanted to know if we gave a lot of talks...I have probably given about 15 in my mission and we always bear testimony on fast Sundays. As weird as it sounds I think I am more comfortable giving talks in Spanish than in English. we speak a lot of Spanglish, so don't be surprised if after the mission I accidentally drop in some Spanish works mid sentence. Another fun thing about this sector, don't remember if I mentioned it last week but we live with 2 other zone leaders and play basketball every morning. Me and Chilcote are 5-2 (won 5 lost 2) haha
There isn't a ton more news on my end, but I just wanted to say how much I love you guys and I am sorry but I think every week the letters are going to keep getting shorter and shorter. I honestly don't know what to write about and I feel like most of the little things I will just tell you guys after the mission Any news back home? How is gma Poll? How is the ward and stake doing? I hear Romney is running for President!? That will make things interesting for the members in the states. I love you guys a ton and miss you more than you know, but like always I am really glad to be where I am at doing what I am doing. Love you all.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
I am doing really well and had another great week in my sector. We worked really hard and got another new person to church that has the goal to get baptized at the end of this month. we are working with a group of about 6 people and I am feeling pretty strongly that at least half will get baptized this month and the other half next month. Everything is going really well in the sector and even better news...everything in the zone is going really well too. we met our goals last month and it is looking like we will meet our goal here next week for the month and we should be able to shatter it by the end of the month. My companion is awesome and I feel like me and him together is the best combination of missionaries that I have had in my entire mission. (Don't know if that made sense to you guys haha). Like I mentioned the other day I am in Talca and yes it is super hot and really dry. It hardly ever rains here and there are a lot of Cactus and plants that you see a lot in AZ. In terms of the ware, its really small. Like 70 or 80 assist church and we are asked to give talks quite often. Mom wanted to know if we gave a lot of talks...I have probably given about 15 in my mission and we always bear testimony on fast Sundays. As weird as it sounds I think I am more comfortable giving talks in Spanish than in English. we speak a lot of Spanglish, so don't be surprised if after the mission I accidentally drop in some Spanish works mid sentence. Another fun thing about this sector, don't remember if I mentioned it last week but we live with 2 other zone leaders and play basketball every morning. Me and Chilcote are 5-2 (won 5 lost 2) haha
There isn't a ton more news on my end, but I just wanted to say how much I love you guys and I am sorry but I think every week the letters are going to keep getting shorter and shorter. I honestly don't know what to write about and I feel like most of the little things I will just tell you guys after the mission Any news back home? How is gma Poll? How is the ward and stake doing? I hear Romney is running for President!? That will make things interesting for the members in the states. I love you guys a ton and miss you more than you know, but like always I am really glad to be where I am at doing what I am doing. Love you all.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 23, 2012
January 24, 2012
Hey everyone,
I am really pressed on time and I have quite a bit of news. I have been transferred to....TALCA! Yea, Talca. I am really excited to head out there and work. I will be a Zone Leader again out there and I am excited to be able to have a fresh start serving a new group of missionaries and for the opportunity that I will have to work along side another ZL. Elder Chilcote will be my new companion. I am grateful for the opportunity that I will have to have another Zone Leader companion and for the opportunity that I will have to learn from another missionary that has a lot of time and experience in the mission. From what I have heard and seen Elder Chilcote is a really quiet but confident and very capable missionary that I am sure will teach me a lot about humility and Christlike service. On the other side of things, I am really sad to be leaving the zone and to be leaving Elder Weston and Elder Ford especially. Elder Weston will do a great job taking over the zone with the new Zone Leader and I am sure they will be able to take the zone to a level that we never got it to. Elder Ford has been a really good son and I know that he will go on to have a successful mission and help a lot of people come unto Christ. I will miss him and hope that he realizes how much he has helped me as a missionary and as a person. In terms of families I will miss here....All of them. I loved this ward and have been in and have had the opportunity to get to know a ton of new people that will always have a place in my heart. Last night I had the opportunity to go and say bye to the Luarte family and it went well. We talked and had a good time and they made me a video with pictures of all of us that they had taken and then they had me say a prayer to bless their family before I left. I cried...P.S. I have cried 2 times in my mission and both times have been in this sector with the Luartes! I really wanted for them to accept the gospel...but the Lord knows we did our part. Anyways, I have to go finish applying for college ughh! I'm not trunkie, but the deadline is in a week, so it has to be done. I love you all and hope that all goes well for you this week. Let me know if there is anything that you want to know or hear about.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
I am really pressed on time and I have quite a bit of news. I have been transferred to....TALCA! Yea, Talca. I am really excited to head out there and work. I will be a Zone Leader again out there and I am excited to be able to have a fresh start serving a new group of missionaries and for the opportunity that I will have to work along side another ZL. Elder Chilcote will be my new companion. I am grateful for the opportunity that I will have to have another Zone Leader companion and for the opportunity that I will have to learn from another missionary that has a lot of time and experience in the mission. From what I have heard and seen Elder Chilcote is a really quiet but confident and very capable missionary that I am sure will teach me a lot about humility and Christlike service. On the other side of things, I am really sad to be leaving the zone and to be leaving Elder Weston and Elder Ford especially. Elder Weston will do a great job taking over the zone with the new Zone Leader and I am sure they will be able to take the zone to a level that we never got it to. Elder Ford has been a really good son and I know that he will go on to have a successful mission and help a lot of people come unto Christ. I will miss him and hope that he realizes how much he has helped me as a missionary and as a person. In terms of families I will miss here....All of them. I loved this ward and have been in and have had the opportunity to get to know a ton of new people that will always have a place in my heart. Last night I had the opportunity to go and say bye to the Luarte family and it went well. We talked and had a good time and they made me a video with pictures of all of us that they had taken and then they had me say a prayer to bless their family before I left. I cried...P.S. I have cried 2 times in my mission and both times have been in this sector with the Luartes! I really wanted for them to accept the gospel...but the Lord knows we did our part. Anyways, I have to go finish applying for college ughh! I'm not trunkie, but the deadline is in a week, so it has to be done. I love you all and hope that all goes well for you this week. Let me know if there is anything that you want to know or hear about.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012
Hey,
Wow! It is good to hear that there is a lot going on back home and that President Wagner has been called to be a mission President. He will be awesome and his missionaries will love him. Do you know what mission it is yet? That's a bummer that he is getting released this Sunday, but there are a ton of great candidates in the Stake that could do an amazing job as a Stake President. As for my companion and I , we worked super hard this week and I am not going to lie, things didn't go super well. we found a decent amount of new people and I feel like we have some good ideas for this upcoming week on how we can find even more, and more importantly find the people that are willing to make covenants. Marcelo and another older man that we found last week both came to church and we have a family home evening with Marcelo on Tuesday. The problem with him is that he doesn't really give us the time to teach him and he really isn't progressing towards baptism. we need to change a few things up if we want to see him progress.
We have also been working really hard with all of the new converts and with all of the less actives here in the ward. We have seen a lot of success working with less actives and we hope to be able to reactivate a family or 2 this week along with finding some people that really want what we have to offer SALVATION!!! Anyways, in other news we have transfers in a week and it is about 95$ likely that I will be leaving to go to another sector to end the mission there. I am really excited to have the change of sectors and I feel like a fresh start in a new sector is exactly what I could use right now. I have come to love new challenges and I feel like this one will be one of the most challenging. I am preparing myself to take everything that I have learned as a missionary and as a leader and apply it 100% all out for the last remaining months.
On a less spiritual note...today we went paint balling for a zone activity that Concepcion invited us to and it was awesome. We played in a section of abandoned houses between the river and some foresty hills. It was really fun and we ended up winning 2 out of 3 games. It was nice to get my mind off of things for a half hour, but now we are refocusing and ready to go back out to work today. Thanks for all of the letters of encouragement and everything that everyone back home does for me. I love you all a ton and can't wait to serve you all as much as you have served me over these last few months.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Wow! It is good to hear that there is a lot going on back home and that President Wagner has been called to be a mission President. He will be awesome and his missionaries will love him. Do you know what mission it is yet? That's a bummer that he is getting released this Sunday, but there are a ton of great candidates in the Stake that could do an amazing job as a Stake President. As for my companion and I , we worked super hard this week and I am not going to lie, things didn't go super well. we found a decent amount of new people and I feel like we have some good ideas for this upcoming week on how we can find even more, and more importantly find the people that are willing to make covenants. Marcelo and another older man that we found last week both came to church and we have a family home evening with Marcelo on Tuesday. The problem with him is that he doesn't really give us the time to teach him and he really isn't progressing towards baptism. we need to change a few things up if we want to see him progress.
We have also been working really hard with all of the new converts and with all of the less actives here in the ward. We have seen a lot of success working with less actives and we hope to be able to reactivate a family or 2 this week along with finding some people that really want what we have to offer SALVATION!!! Anyways, in other news we have transfers in a week and it is about 95$ likely that I will be leaving to go to another sector to end the mission there. I am really excited to have the change of sectors and I feel like a fresh start in a new sector is exactly what I could use right now. I have come to love new challenges and I feel like this one will be one of the most challenging. I am preparing myself to take everything that I have learned as a missionary and as a leader and apply it 100% all out for the last remaining months.
On a less spiritual note...today we went paint balling for a zone activity that Concepcion invited us to and it was awesome. We played in a section of abandoned houses between the river and some foresty hills. It was really fun and we ended up winning 2 out of 3 games. It was nice to get my mind off of things for a half hour, but now we are refocusing and ready to go back out to work today. Thanks for all of the letters of encouragement and everything that everyone back home does for me. I love you all a ton and can't wait to serve you all as much as you have served me over these last few months.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 9, 2012
January 9, 2012
Hey everyone,
We had a "Rebound Week". In other words we worked hard and have things back on track. We had a ton of investigators show up to church, not only in our sector, but in the entire zone. We worked really hard this week and we have seen the fruits from our labors. This week I actually had the opportunity to go on splits and work with Elder Reed for an entire day and study with him the next morning in our sector. We have changed a couple of things that we are doing in the sector and one of the things that we have done better is that we have bettered our planning at night. The night before Elder Reed came over to work with me I planned out a day of pure finding...we didn't have a single visit scheduled and we managed to enter into 7 houses of non members and teach lessons to every one of them. The day went really well and the next day when Elder Ford came back we managed to do pretty much the same thing. We have invited almost all of the people that we have found to be baptized and almost every single one accepted. It has been a really good week and it was topped off by what happened on Sunday. Marcelo came to church again and although he hasn't accepted a specific date to be baptized he is progressing toward baptism for sure. Anyways, Sunday was testimony meeting and his wife got up and delivered a powerful testimony directed right at her husband and said over the pulpit that she was glad to have her entire family in the church and that she knew her husband would be getting baptized soon and that she was glad that his time had finally come. It was soooo good and I felt sooooo good seeing the tears roll down her eyes as she bore testimony of the truthfulness of the restored church of Jesus Christ.
Anyways, I have to go write those essays for my BYU application, but wish me luck and keep on praying for the people that we are teaching. I love you guys with all of my heart and hope that all is well and that you all are safe.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
We had a "Rebound Week". In other words we worked hard and have things back on track. We had a ton of investigators show up to church, not only in our sector, but in the entire zone. We worked really hard this week and we have seen the fruits from our labors. This week I actually had the opportunity to go on splits and work with Elder Reed for an entire day and study with him the next morning in our sector. We have changed a couple of things that we are doing in the sector and one of the things that we have done better is that we have bettered our planning at night. The night before Elder Reed came over to work with me I planned out a day of pure finding...we didn't have a single visit scheduled and we managed to enter into 7 houses of non members and teach lessons to every one of them. The day went really well and the next day when Elder Ford came back we managed to do pretty much the same thing. We have invited almost all of the people that we have found to be baptized and almost every single one accepted. It has been a really good week and it was topped off by what happened on Sunday. Marcelo came to church again and although he hasn't accepted a specific date to be baptized he is progressing toward baptism for sure. Anyways, Sunday was testimony meeting and his wife got up and delivered a powerful testimony directed right at her husband and said over the pulpit that she was glad to have her entire family in the church and that she knew her husband would be getting baptized soon and that she was glad that his time had finally come. It was soooo good and I felt sooooo good seeing the tears roll down her eyes as she bore testimony of the truthfulness of the restored church of Jesus Christ.
Anyways, I have to go write those essays for my BYU application, but wish me luck and keep on praying for the people that we are teaching. I love you guys with all of my heart and hope that all is well and that you all are safe.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, January 2, 2012
Jan 2, 2012
Hey,
We had a good day today, but I am super tired and running way behind schedule! We had leadership conference today in Chillan and we just got back to Concepcion like an hour ago. (kind of lame p-day) haha. The conference went really well though and I feel like we learned a lot of valuable things that are going to help us looking forward in the zone. I felt almost a little out of place at the conference though, one because I am one of the oldest Zone Leaders and 2 because I am almost positive that I won't be in the zone next transfer. I am going to miss this zone a ton and I am really sad that my time is coming to an end here in Chiguayante, but on the other side I know that we have accomplished a ton of things here and I feel like the Lord is happy with what we have done thus far. As for my companion....he is doing great. Elder Ford is progressing a ton and I feel like he will be ready to take things over if I am switched out of here. He is a really good guy and to be honest I don't know if I have ever met someone with a heart as big as his.
At the moment the only interesting thing I can think about is that we are teaching a man name Marcelo who is really cool and is the only member of his family who isn't a ember. His wife and 3 sons are all members and we are trying to complete the family. We had a family home evening scheduled for tonight but we rescheduled it for tomorrow night. We are going to do it with his brother in law (who is his best friend) who is an inactive member that we are slowly getting to come back to church and has a ton of desires to help us get Marcelo baptized. We are also working with my convert Eduardos younger brother who still hasn't gone to church but looks like he has some promise to be getting baptized here in the next month or two.
I am really doing great though and we really had a good time for new years. We got permission to eat dinner with a family in the ward for new years eve to celebrate it with them. The 4 of us Elder Ford, Weston and Silva decided to go over to the Ferradas house (the family of another convert here in the sector) and it was really good. We ate steak and chicken and a bunch of other stuff and just really enjoyed it a ton. Unfortunately we had to be in the house by 11 so we didn't get to see many fireworks, but we really did enjoy it. Anyways...I have to go but we will talk next week. I am assuming. Have a great week and try to make the best out of every situation.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
We had a good day today, but I am super tired and running way behind schedule! We had leadership conference today in Chillan and we just got back to Concepcion like an hour ago. (kind of lame p-day) haha. The conference went really well though and I feel like we learned a lot of valuable things that are going to help us looking forward in the zone. I felt almost a little out of place at the conference though, one because I am one of the oldest Zone Leaders and 2 because I am almost positive that I won't be in the zone next transfer. I am going to miss this zone a ton and I am really sad that my time is coming to an end here in Chiguayante, but on the other side I know that we have accomplished a ton of things here and I feel like the Lord is happy with what we have done thus far. As for my companion....he is doing great. Elder Ford is progressing a ton and I feel like he will be ready to take things over if I am switched out of here. He is a really good guy and to be honest I don't know if I have ever met someone with a heart as big as his.
At the moment the only interesting thing I can think about is that we are teaching a man name Marcelo who is really cool and is the only member of his family who isn't a ember. His wife and 3 sons are all members and we are trying to complete the family. We had a family home evening scheduled for tonight but we rescheduled it for tomorrow night. We are going to do it with his brother in law (who is his best friend) who is an inactive member that we are slowly getting to come back to church and has a ton of desires to help us get Marcelo baptized. We are also working with my convert Eduardos younger brother who still hasn't gone to church but looks like he has some promise to be getting baptized here in the next month or two.
I am really doing great though and we really had a good time for new years. We got permission to eat dinner with a family in the ward for new years eve to celebrate it with them. The 4 of us Elder Ford, Weston and Silva decided to go over to the Ferradas house (the family of another convert here in the sector) and it was really good. We ate steak and chicken and a bunch of other stuff and just really enjoyed it a ton. Unfortunately we had to be in the house by 11 so we didn't get to see many fireworks, but we really did enjoy it. Anyways...I have to go but we will talk next week. I am assuming. Have a great week and try to make the best out of every situation.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
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