April 23, 2011

Hey Everyone!
I had a really busy week and I can't believe it is already Saturday again (I would say P-Day but...we are working today). We have been working really hard and I feel like time is flying by and I just can't keep up with it. I love my new assignment and I love having more responsibility and all of that but, it is also pretty stressful trying to juggle everything. This week we didn't have a ton of time to work in the sector and when we did we were looking for people and didn't really find any. Tonight we actually have a devotional tonight that we helped plan and it will be in our building, I will be in charge of all the technical stuff (the PowerPoint, sound and all of that ) so I hope it goes well. Last night we did a devotional in Chiguayante (a city near conce) and I was in charge of all the technical stuff and when I went to push play on the 1st video it didn't have sound. I had no clue what to so so I said a little prayer and unplugged a cord and then just plugged it back in. It worked and the sound actually sounded pretty good. I am nervous that something like that will happen again tonight so we are going to the church building a few hours early to be able to be better prepared. It's kind of a bummer being in the office a lot and having to do all of this kind of work but I know it's important and somebody need to do it. I am grateful for everything that I have and for all of the support I get from everyone. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous that you guys are at Disneyland but...life goes on! haha Keep working hard and give some good references to the missionaries so that they can do their job! Love you guys a ton.
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

April 16, 2011

Pictures of Cody with some of the families he said goodbye to from his last area in Concepcion before being transfered to serve in the mission office....

Elder Reed and Elder Dastrup

Hey guys!

I had another exciting filled week here in the office...(Sarcasm). I am surprisingly enjoying the work here in the office. I am learning a ton and can already tell that my time here is going to be full of success and fun. We live in the 12th floor of a big apartment building in downtown Concepcion and I will be honest, the best thing about this new assignment of being in the office is living in that Apartment with the Assistants. I love living with such great Elders and I have learned a ton from them already on how to be a better leader and companion. Elder Page is my companion and I already knew him pretty well before we became companions, but he is really good and has a ton of potential. I have a feeling that although we don't have a ton of time to work in the sector, we will have a ton of success. I have a cool story but it's really long so I will cut out some details and tell you everything when I get home in a year...haha.

So, there are 4 missionaries in our sector. I was on a mini transfer with one of them and we were helping them set up for a baptismal service. We were kind of wasting time, just hanging out at the church with members waiting for the baptism to start and we had about a half hour before it was going to start. I was standing there thinking how good it would feel to go knock some doors (seeing that I am always in the office working on computers). So I grab Elder Thomas (who has only been in the mission 7 weeks) and we went out to work. We touched about 6 or 7 doors and realized we were out of time. We then got a call from our District Leader and he told us to head back and finish setting up the baptism. Elder Thomas started walking down the hill and I told him that we had to touch 2 more. We touched the first door...nothing. 2nd door...nothing! But it was a huge house that had a speaker in front of the front gate, so I said what the heck and pushed it. A lady answered and said she was busy and I asked her if she would just come out to shake my hand and say hi to us. She hung up and about 10 seconds later she came out. We started talking and she told us that she has lived by the church for a while now and 10 years ago she entered in the church and had a very spiritual experience but that that experience had kind of scared her away from the church and she didn't know why. She told us that every time she saw the church she wanted to go back in but hadn't done it. We testified strong and told her boldly that we were going to have a baptismal service in the church in 10 minutes and invited her to come. She thought for a second and said "I will change and be there in 10 minutes". She showed up and I sat next to her and talked to her the entire time. After the actual baptism she was sitting by herself and I went and sat by her and asked her how she liked it. She told me it was beautiful and that the same feeling that she had felt 10 years ago in the same building, she felt again when the person was baptized. She is a pretty wealthy woman that works almost every day but said we could come by today in the afternoon and share with her and that she really wants to come to church this Sunday. I am really excited to see her tonight and ask that you guys pray that all goes well with her. Also we are working with a family of Ecuadorians and I think we might have the possibility to baptize 1 or 2 people in the house. I am stoked for all of the blessings that the Lord is giving us and all of the blessings that are still to come. I thank you guys for all of your prayers and this is evidence that they are paying off! Love you guys a ton!

Con Carino,

Elder Cody Dastrup

April 9, 2011

Hey, I have finished my first 5 days in the office and I am exhausted. I have had a ton of work to do and have been here in the office for the majority of the week. The Fischbecks and President haven't been in the office at all this week, so I have been in here with just my companion and a lot of times with the assistants too. My companions name is Elder Page and he has been in the office for 9 weeks and it's looking like we will be together for another 12ish. The living situation is interesting...we live in a 3 room apartment with the 3 assistants the 2 elders from Central and the 2 of us, making 7 (19-22 year olds) living in the same apartment. It's interesting to say the least! I love the assistants to the President and have really gotten to know them better this last week, this morning we actually went and played soccer with them and some other Chileans. I am enjoying my time here in the office so far but I can't wait until we finish some of the big projects we are working on and get out to work in the sector. We got out one night at like 7:30 and went to do contact in a place called Upper Conce. Upper Conce is pretty much all of the richest people that live here and...they are most definitely rich! Their houses are gigantic and we can't wait to go back and try to get into one of them! My week has been pretty uneventful except for what happened today. I had the opportunity to go back to my old sector and baptize another woman named Sara. She is the mom of Alejandra and she is really special. She asked me if I would baptize her like 3 weeks ago (when we invited her to get baptized) so we drove out to Lorenzo Arenas - I drove:) and we did the baptism. I am really grateful for all of the amazing people that I have met and all of the opportunities I have had to baptize people and help them progress in the gospel. I love what I am doing and even though I am in the office, I know that I will still have success here in this sector. Love you guys so much and can't wait to see you in a year! (I hit a year in the mission on the 14th!!!) It is flying by way to fast and wish it would slow down! Hope all is well back home. Yours Truly, Elder Cody Dastrup

April 5, 2011

Hey Everyone!

Bar none this was the craziest week of my mission! So I will get started by saying that everything was going smooth until Friday-ish. This Saturday and Sunday we had the opportunity to hear from the Prophet and I absolutely loved it. So much happened this weekend I am sorry if the letter seems to be a little disorganized but...here we go!

So this Thursday I had the opportunity to work with Elder Garcia for the afternoon in my sector. We visited all of our best investigators and had a really good time. Elder Garcia is leaving tomorrow and so I really enjoyed being able to work with him one last time. I have to go back to the office in a bit so I should be seeing him one last time. His plans are as follows; Go to Santiago and have his surgery, finish his mission (6 weeks0 in Santiago East Mission as an MTC Teacher and a normal missionary for 2 weeks, go back to Ecuador, come back here in September to Chile to visit, Finish learning English and come live int eh USA and get married/study at BYU. I am not too sad because I know that I will see him again but it is sad that the next time I see him he won't be a missionary.

I really enjoyed conference and had an amazing time watching it with the President, his wife, the Fischbecks and the assistants at the Stake Center here in Concepcion. It was good but the 2 sessions I enjoyed the most were the Priesthood session and the Sunday afternoon session. I LOVED Richard G. Scotts talk about his wife and appreciating her and doing the little things to make sure she knew how much he loved her. I also loved the talk by the Prophet in Priesthood session about marriage. We watched the priesthood session with President and he was cracking up the whole time and kept joking with us about getting married after the mission. The theme of the Conference seemed to be Marriage and the family, and as I was watching it I was really thinking about how I could relate it to my life right now. I realized that I need to focus harder on finding families and couples that can go to the temple one day and make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father. I LOVED CONFERENCE! After the 1st session in the morning we had a baptism of an 11 year old kid named Lucho. We had been working with him for a while and we finally got permission from his family so that he could get baptized and it was a really neat experience. We did the baptism together with Elder Stermetz (my best friend from the MTC) and his companion. President Humphrey spoke in the baptismal service and it was just a really great service.

So today we heard about transfers and I thought that I was safe because we were having success and because I didn't have a lot of time in the sector. I got a call at 7:40 am today from the Zone Leaders and they told me that I had been transferred to the mission office/Universitario Ward as Senior Companion. I talked to Elder Garcia and he told me it was a last second decision that President made and that it kind of shocked everyone. I will be working everyday in the office until we finish all of our work and then after that I will be able to leave and work in my sector. There is a lot of responsibility being in the office and a lot of meetings with the President and i am more than excited/nervous/I don't know, it will be an adventure. I also will be living with the assistants and 2 other Elder in a really nice apartment in central of Concepcion. I will be replacing Elder Reed (my companion from the MTC) and I will be working with Elder Page. I know it is possible to have success in the office but I also know that I will have to scrape for every ounce of success that I want to have in the upcoming months, but I am willing to sacrifice everything for this work.

I love you guys and am so glad that I have your support. I know that this is the Lords work and that this is the only church that has the authority to act in Christs name...there is no other church with this power on the face of the earth. I love what I am doing and I know I am here with a divine purpose. Thanks for everything...

Yours Truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup