May 28, 2010

Hey Everyone! Como Estan? The MTC is still going good. I have seriously made so many lifelong friends after only 6 weeks here! I know it's crazy I have been out over 6 weeks! After my time is done here at the MTC I will be about 1/12 done with my mission....CRAZY! It feels like I have been here for 3 days. The food was good for the 1st few weeks but I am totally over it now, I have put on 15 pounds! (No worries to the ladies, it's all muscle) haha. I was able to teach 6 lessons in complete Spanish this week (with the help from my companion) Keep praying for me, the language is coming but a few more prayers couldn't hurt, right? haha We got new missionaries this week in our zone and it was a cool experience. As a zone leader we are in charge of getting them comfortable with the MTC, showing them how to teach lessons and giving them a tour of the campus. You Arizonans will be shocked to hear this but guess what? We had a blizzard on Monday! Not a light snow storm but a BLIZZARD at the end of MAY! It snowed so hard that 2 huge trees 40-50 feet tall came crashing down by the mail room. I have some pictures of it and it was really cool. Enough about me...How is everyone? Are you enjoying your summer? How is Gma Poll? How is Travis? I think about him and his family all of the time and I hope they are doing well. Thanks- Jessica and Mom and Gma Dastrup for sending me packages recently, they were much appreciated by both me and my roommates...and the whole floor! I am so thankful for the opportunity to be serving as a missionary in such an exciting time in the world and can't wait to get out into the field in 3 weeks...CRAZY! Thanks for the support, keep sending letters and stuff, I really appreciate it. Adios Elder Cody Dastrup

May 21, 2010

Hey everyone como estan! How are ya'll doing? The MTC life has picked up a little bit and we are working wayyy hard! This week (yesterday) we had to teach our whole lesson in Spanish! It was so flipping hard! My companion can speak almost fluently though so it's all good. But anyways I have a funny story about our lesson...well I was about to bear my testimony to the lady we were teaching and what I was trying to say was "I know my Spanish is bad BUT I know that God loves all of us etc..." but what I ended up saying was I know my Spanish is bad BECAUSE God loves us....AHHH! Just to clarify things to everybody, my Spanish is not bad because of God's love for me, it's bad because I am a white boy from a white town with all white friends and a white family! haha Anyways, my companion thought that it was hilarious and gives me crap about it like every day. Esta bi en. I have been studying the Book of Mormon hard and will probably finish reading it in 2 weeks or so. (I started over the day I got here). We have another district leaving on Monday, but we did get some good news, we get a new district of 12 with 4 hermanas (sister missionaries). It's always nice to have some sisters in the zone, it keeps us humble. How is everybody doing? How's the weather? It is still a little chilly here on most days, but I love it. I watched a video on the lds.org world report and it talked about Chile. The report said that over 1 million homes were either destroyed or badly damaged. It's crazy to think of how many that is. I am so excited to get down there and help those people out, and even though I might not know a word they are saying, I will still know how to serve. I just wanted to thank you mom and dad for always teaching me by example how to serve and love others no matter what your reward may be. I heard something the other day that hit me kind of weird, it's really simple but I think we can all ask ourselves this question before we go to sleep at night. "Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need?" If you haven't then you are doing something wrong and you seriously need to evaluate the way you are living your life. I promise to you that as you serve others you will be a happier person and you will be a great example to others. I love you all so much and pray for you nightly, keep praying for the people I am going to serve that they may be prepared to learn. Have an amazing week. Love,
Elder Cody Dastrup

May 14, 2010

Here are a few pictures of Elder Dastrup while serving at the Provo MTC. They are with his first District and Companion Elder Reed.

This Weeks Letter:

Hola! Coma Esta!!! I had an awesome week here at the MTC, I don't even know where to begin. Oh now I remember where I wanted to start...Tuesday night Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke to us! Crazy huh? He is the most powerful speaker that I have ever heard. The greatest thing that I learned from him is how he spoke to us...He was so powerful and so bold that you felt like he was looking into your soul and telling you everything that you as an individual needed to hear. He said some really rememberable lines to us, he said "How dare you think that you have the right to be the one missionary who wastes his mission and the Lord's time." He also said that if we ended up leaving the church and come up to him with a bunch of tattoos and long hair and try to talk to him about our missions, that he will "punch us right in the nose" haha I thought it was a very funny thing for an apostle to say but it is very true. The main point that he talked about that I wanted to share with you is how he said we were such examples to young children. He said that his grandchildren look up to missionaries with such high esteem and for us to be anything less than what they think is horrible. I hope that I was a good example to all of you and that I had some positive impact in changing someones life for the better. Yesterday we had TRC (our last one in English) :( and we taught a pretty awesome lesson on the plan of salvation. I got to use the story of how I will see my older brother again who died at birth and what a blessing that is to me. We taught another lesson last night on the word of wisdom and how important it is in our lives and it was super powerful. I just went through the temple for a man who was born in 1637! He has been waiting for over 300 years for somebody to help him out and I was the one who got to do it, it was such a great experience. I love you all and miss you so much. Thanks for all of the support I receive, it means the world to me. Ooo and by the way on a super spiritual note...I heard the suns swept the spurs, I knew I would be blessed for serving a mission I just didn't know my blessings would be so great!!!haha Love you guys...Elder Cody Dastrup

May 7, 2010 Letter

Hola! How's it going!? This week seems to have been pretty uneventful, but there were some experiences that I would like to share with everyone. We have TRC appointments which are fake investigators (people interested in the church) but how it works is that you get to teach these people that you have never met, find their needs and meet their needs. We had a lady who had a niece that has cancer. Her niece is 32 and has 3 kids. She has about 3 more months to live and had no concept of what happened to her after death. So...we decided to teach her about the plan of salvation PERFECT. As we were teaching I shared a personal experience with her and felt the spirit sooo strong. It was so powerful and at that point the spirit so strongly testified that the spirit was true. The lady committed herself to baptism without us doing much work at all, it was the spirit. Anyways, I am still really enjoying my time here at the MTC. My companion and I haven't gotten on each others nerves yet and that makes all of the difference int eh world. By the way anyone is welcome to send us food anytime:) (mom send us more lemon bars) The days drag on here and the weeks fly, it's weird and hard to explain why, but this feels like home (for now) haha . I am picking up the language and with the help of the Lord I should have it in no time, or maybe a couple more months, haha. Some elders from our zone are leaving this week which is going to be tough on me but it will be ok. I have become close with so many people and have at least 10 people I am going to try to stay in contact with even after my mission. How is it in AZ? I miss it there. I miss all of you especially the family. I miss Addie and I miss the Suns! I miss everything sooo much, but at the end of the day...The mission is where I need to be and where I want to be. Everything else will still be there when I get home, but I may never get an opportunity like this again. Remember to follow your desires and as long as they are righteous and you are obedient God will prepare a way for your greatest dreams to come true. I love you all and have a good week. Adios! Elder Dastrup