February 28, 2011

Estoy bien y muy animado por esta porxima semana!!! Mi companero es Elder George y el es de Washington (Cerca de canada) El es super tranquilo y lleva poco tiempo en la mision, casi lo mismo que yo llevo pero igual poco tiempo jaja El romaba antes la mision y estudiaba en BYU!

That's enough Spanish for you today! My grammar is still horrible so who knows there might be some mistakes in there but hopefully all is well, haha.

How's everyone doing! I would be a liar if I said that this last week wasn't one of the hardest weeks of my mission so far. I got a new companion this last Tuesday and his name is Elder George. He is 20 years old and is from the State of Washington. he did Olympic rowing before the mission and other than that it sound like he just studied and hung out with his friends. Elder George and I literally have nothing in common but we get along well and I feel like we will have a lot of success together. We are setting up about 4 people to get baptized in this month and hopefully at least 2 or 3 of them get baptized! I am really having to step up and teach a lot more in the lessons now and also at lunch, in church and also in the street. I don't feel like I am ready for all of the responsibility that has been thrown on my shoulders but I know that the Lord thinks otherwise (and so does the mission president).

This last week was really good and we ended up teaching a lot of lessons and found a couple of new good people. I have transitioned well this last week but it has been really stressful with all of the changes and stuff. We have had a lot of help from Elder Catucuago and our other leaders and I am really thankful for everything they are doing for us.

Alejandra, Thomas and Sylvia are fine and it is starting to look like everything will be ok with them. I don't know what more we as missionaries can do for them but we will keep helping with the little things.

I was also glad to hear that you guys celebrated Grandpa's B-day at the house this last weekend. Just by looking at the pictures of all the work you guys have done to the house i am sure it was a blast (p.s. I can't wait to come back and enjoy the hot tub you put in!) How are Gma and Gpa? And the Dastrup's? I should send out more letters but the truth is, is that I am really lazy with writing letters and getting back to people, there just isn't much time! I wish I could have been there for the party but at the same time I wouldn't rather be anywhere than where I am at right now. I hope you guys know how much I love you and miss you and pray and think about you. You guys are are my world and I am so glad I am stuck with you forever.

Your son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, friend,
Elder Cody Dastrup

January 21, 2011

Hey Everyone!

I will try to make this week more interesting, I don't know why but it feels like my last 3 letters that I have sent have been kind of boring. We had a good week this week though and there is a ton of potential here in the sector. There have been some changes here in our sector and I will write about it later in the letter. As for this week, Alejandra is still in her house but things have calmed down and we have a few options of where she can go, so we are just working with what we have got right now. We had stake conference this week and it was a satellite broadcast from Santiago Chile I think. Elder Christoferson gave a really good talk (in Spanish, he speaks really well) and Elder Packard spoke too and he started in Spanish but ended up using his translator in the end because his Spanish isn't quite as good. The conference was good though and Alejandra (our investigator) came and has a baptismal goal for....MARCH 5th!!!! AKA MY BIRTHDAY! I will be baptizing her on my b0day. Also a lot of members in our ward have birthdays close to mine and have asked if I want to come share my birthday with them, but we will see what happens.

Last night we had a really cool experience that I hope turns into something special. We had this girl Carolina that is 26 that we were teaching before and she was really solid but was always busy so we kind of had to stop visiting her. Well, the other day in the street we ran into her and she said her boyfriend Armando was coming to visit her and their kid this week from the United States and he was thinking about moving here for good so we set an appointment and went to visit them last night. He is a huge Latin guy like 6 food 4, 250 lbs of muscle that grew up in New Jersey and Brooklyn New York. I was king of scared when we started talking to him but in the end we had an awesome conversation and he told us that had shared with missionaries before and gone to church too! He said he couldn't find our church while living in Virginia so he went to a Baptist church while he was there but that he wants to come back to ours. We explained everything to him and he said he wanted us to stop by and take him and his girlfriend (who is now his fiance) and his son to church this Sunday and he invited us over for "once" which is like a small dinner they have here! I feel like there is a lot of potential with him and his fiance so we will see what happens.

The 4th of March we have a Talent Show that we have planned and we are hoping that it turns out really well. My companion and I are planning on dancing "La Cueca Chilena" It is the national dance of Chile so it should be really good and funny because one of us will have to dress up as a girl. I am really excited about everything but, we have transfers tomorrow and....Elder Scot is out of here. He was a really fun companion but I will be getting a new one tomorrow. His name is Elder George and he has like 5 months in the mission I think, which means I have been asked to go up to senior companion. I am one of the youngest senior companions in the mission so I am nervous but I am really excited for the new responsibility but I really hope that he is willing to work because we have to get things moving here in the sector. I am glad that I will have a little bit more say in what goes on here in the sector and hopefully I can improve some things that need to be improved. I ask that you all pray for me though because I don't really have anyone to fall back on anymore, just the Lord and his mercy! Also some really good news is that Elder Garcia is going to be alright and stay here in Chile and even better, he is going to be the new AP! (Assistant to the President) The AP's live here in Concepcion so I am going to see him a lot and get to work with him on occasions too hopefully. All is well for me but I am really in need of help from the Lord right now because I have to step up. I hope you are all praying for me this week and our investigators and I hope that you know that you all are always in mine.

Elder Cody Dastrup

February 14, 2011

Hey Everyone!

This last week was a really intense one full of its ups and downs. As you all know by now we had a 7.0 earthquake on Friday. The epicenter was close to Concepcion, which is the city I am in right now and it was pretty intense. I was in the house of a member talking to him because his wife just had a surgery and we were passing by to check in on them. We were just chatting when the earthquake started. It first started shaking from side to side kind of slow and then it started getting intense. All the glasses started falling out of their cabinets and his kids were outside so the guy (hno Escabar) got up and went to get his son. His wife was trying to get down the stairs but was recently out of surgery (stomach surgery) so I went up and got her and we waited it out in the street (I am pretty much a hero). It lasted like 30 or 40 seconds I think and it was rocking up down and all around. We went and checked on all of the members and they were all fine but the earthquake really ruined our day and nobody wanted to listen to us after that.

I am not trying to sound insensitive but I really enjoyed it and nobody was hurt from it so...its all good. I learned that earthquakes can be really powerful, I can't imagine what the 8.8 was like last year in Concepcion. If I were being honest with you guys I would say that the earthquake wasn't really that terrifying or super intense to me but I think it made it easier that I didn't have my family here or anything to really worry about; just me, my companion and the members. The one thing about the earthquake that was crazier than I expected is the aftershocks. Saturday night was full of aftershocks and they woke me up wondering if there was going to be another big one but the best aftershock of all was on Sunday. We were in sacrament meeting and I had to give a talk and as you could have probably guessed there was a huge earthquake while I was at the pulpit in the middle of my talk. I just said "Tranquilo va a pasar" (be calm it will pass) and kept talking and it stopped, it was kind of cool to be giving a talk while the church was shaking!

As for Alejandra, Thomas and Sylvia...she is still in her house and the Bishop doesn't look like he is going to do much to help so, I think we are going to look for a house today and see what we can do to get her out in the next few days. The problem is, is that her ex keeps coming back and like terrorizing her. He will just pass by and like look at her or something and then run away before the cops come. He can't be within 200 meters of her so he is violating the rules but the problem is, is that the cops take like an hour to get to the house like an hour late, she could be dead by the time they get there soooo we have got to get her out of there. We have everything under control we just have to get her out of there quick and I don't think there will be any problems. Don't worry though we are fine and safe and so are they for now, just keep praying for us!!!

We are working really well and we are planning on having our next baptism on my birthday, March 5th! I am excited and we also have an appointment with a family tonight that has a ton of potential to be getting baptized soon. I feel like we are in really good shape and we found 9 new investigators this week so we have a lot of work to do. I hope we have another week like this one with a little less stress and movement of the earth. Keep praying for us and I am sure we will be safe and have a lot of success, thanks for everything you guys I really do love all of you sooo much, hope you all know that.

Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

February 7, 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

I really like the emails Mom and Dad sent me this week so I will talk about those first. CONGRATULATIONS GUS!!! South Africa will be a really exciting mission and I know he will have a lot of success there because he is an awesome kid. When does he report? Also dad mentioned the Superbowl...I would be lying if I said I didn't see a part of the 2nd quarter!haha We had to take our laundry to a members house and they had it on! Also I can't believe the weather was in the teens this week in Arizona, I guess Al gore was wrong about the whole global warming thing! And Katie got her patriarchal blessing, what a neat experience. I have read mine like 500 times here on the mission but the best time to read it for me is when I am feeling down and need a pick me up. If we are living the way we need to be the things in the blessing will happen that have been promised to us but at the same time we definitely need to strive for the blessing that have been promised to us because the blessings promised to us are the ones the Lord wants to give us and we will reach our full potential when we obtain these blessings. (Don't know if that made sense).

This week was a good one but at the same time very difficult. We worked really hard and did a lot of contacts this week but it didn't result too much and we still don't have a ton of investigators. We had a baptism this week because we were working with some paperwork and found a 10 year old kid, his name is Jan Carlos and he is a real good kid but doesn't have a lot of help from the family. We need to keep working with him or it will be hard for him to stay out of trouble. On Saturday as we were setting up people to go to church and stuff we learned that every single one of our investigators was going to be out of town for the week. We only had 1 person that we thought would go to church this week but....she bailed out at the last minute so we had 0 in church, which is tough. All of that happened in the week but the thing that most frustrating was on Sunday. Alejandra and Thomas didn't show up to church so we went over to her house right after sacrament meeting (the main meeting we have) and when we got there she had a big bloody cloth over her eye. He ex-boyfriend showed up the night before and punched her in the face like 10 times. her eye was swollen shut completely and she had blood still running from her nose, a lump on her forehead and a bunch of other stuff. The part that put me over the edge was that this pathetic excuse of a man, after beating the mother of his 2 kids half to death went after Thomas (the kid I baptized). He hit Thomas a couple of times but then Thomas got away. She asked if I would give her a blessing and I did and I felt really strongly to tell her that if she left the place where she was and stayed strong in the church she would receive every blessing that she needed and she would be safe from the pain that she had experienced previously. All of this happened yesterday so as you can imagine I am still a little frustrated about it. The police know about it and so does the ward. We talked to the bishop and I think we are going to help her move out the house and find her a safer place to live so that he can't find her or the kids. I just ask you to pray for her and the kids and also pray for me that I don't kill the guy if I see him on the streets...haha

Well I am running low on time but I hope you all realize how blessed you are and really appreciate it. I have grown to love some people here so much and I miss you all but I need to be here right now. I love what I am doing with every fiver of my being and appreciate the support I have from all of you and for all of your prayers. I challenge you all to do something special for someone this week, big or small it doesn't matter. I will most likely be moving Alejandra out of her house today and i would really love to hear back from you guys on some of the things that you are planning to do for others. Love you all with all of my heart!

Yours Truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup

January 31, 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

I had a rough week this week! I have enjoyed a lot of success in this new sector but I feel like this week was one of the rougher ones of my mission. The mission is full of ups and downs like for example...we had 2 baptisms this month of January and yesterday we went to go check on some other people that are getting ready for their baptisms and....they don't want to listen to us anymore. We aren't giving up on them but I definitely took that kind of hard. O yea and I had a funny experience too. I don't know if you know but people in other countries either love or HATE America and we ran into a guy who hates it....We knocked his door and I said who we were and said "Do you believe that Christ is our Savior?" this is what the nice man said to me "Are you here to kill us too? Because you are going around killing everyone else" So I said "I killed someone? I am a missionary" and he said "Your country kills innocent people everyday and you are all the same, you are just here to kill more people" So....I tell this nice man that "I am from Canada!" and he still slammed the door in my face!!! I feel like something like that happens at least once a week and it makes doing contacts in the street way more exciting. But as for our sector...we had an activity this last Friday and me and my companion planned everything and did pretty much everything at the activity. Only like 15 members showed up (to a ward activity) and we had about 10 non members there. It was pretty successful but this next month we are going to plan everything out better and hopefully have more people attend. On Sunday we didn't have anybody show up to church and we were expecting like 5 or 6 people. We passed by later in the day for the people that said that they were going to come to church and some of them told us that they didn't want to talk to us anymore. I was really bummed about that but we will keep working with them and hopefully we can pass by and save the situation.

In other news, I heard about the Superbowl and that sounds really exciting! I feel like the Steelers will win 27-21 over the Packers. I also was at a members house and saw a clip from a Suns game while we were eating lunch which was really weird. I also have been writing to David Hall a lot recently and it sounds like he is really excited to be able to go on a mission. I am so excited for him and hope that I made some kind of positive impact in his decision to go because he is making an impact on my mission right now. He is an awesome example on how people can really grow and change in a really short period of time and I absolutely love the kids! I also heard Derek is coming home this next week! That is crazy! It feels like he just left, but I guess it has been 2 years now, amazing how time flies. Well I have got to write some more letters to the family so I am going to go but have an amazing week and remember to do something good for someone else when you get the chance.

Love always,

Elder Cody Dastrup