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
Monday, December 19, 2011
Dec. 19, 2011
Hey mom HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I love you so much and have appreciated all of the support that you have given to me this last year and 8 months that I have been out here. I am doing well and miss you quite a bit, but I know the best birthday/Christmas gift I can give you is to just keep working hard and return with honor. You have been a big motivating factor to me and have really given me all of the support and all the tools I have needed to become a successful missionary. Thanks for everything mom.
It was a really good week as we had the opportunity to interview and baptize a few of the people that we were teaching here in the sector. I have grown a lot as a missionary this week and feel re-energized to go out and work hard these next couple of weeks. The good news is that we baptized the people that we were teaching, but the only bad news is that now we have nobody to teach. This week we plan on hitting the ground running with intentions of finding solid people that are willing to follow Christ. This week has drained me a lot and I honestly feel like an old man. All of the new missionaries are coming in and they have so much energy and are so willing to learn and progress and I look at myself and see the difference. I really admire the newer missionaries and the energy they bring to the table, my companion has really kept me working hard. We have been able to find a way to have success in all that we do here in the sector and are hoping to not only continue baptizing and reactivating families that have fallen away, but really help these people so that they can endure to the end and become successful in all that they do.
Next week is Christmas!!! I am so excited to see you guys and to open the presents you sent. (I already opened most of them haha. Thanks for the scriptures, I knew you were going to send me some and I wanted to use them in my studies so...I opened them early haha. Sorry. They are really nice though. Don't worry though, I will wait until Christmas morning to open up the ties that you sent me this week (I only opened one...haha) It seems like you are all doing well though and I am so glad that we can talk this next week! Are you guys excited? I am not 100% sure what time we will talk at. Anyways love you a ton and wish you a very very merry Christmas!
Love you!
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
Hey!
Sorry for getting back to you guys so late today, I had a lot of little things to do. It was pretty uneventful wee here (worked hard but nothing crazy happened). We have 5 people that are preparing to get baptized right now and I am honestly feeling like all 5 of them will make it. One of the people that we are working with is ready and has been ready for a long time but she doesn't have permission from her parents because they think that she will be kicked out of her (catholic) school. It is really a dumb situation and so I have been talking to a few people that work here in the government and they are going to help us find out a way to protect her rights and get her baptized in the church. I am so thankful for always having a family that supported me in everything I did and I honestly feel so much pain when I see parents who don't want whats best for their kids, but are more worried about their own personal problems. We have made progress with the family and we are hoping that she can get baptized on the 17th of this month. Which brings me to the next topic...the 17th of December. We are planning on having a baptismal service at 7 or 8 in the night and we are expecting to have 8 or 9 baptisms!!! I am so excited and have never felt better about the work that we are doing than I do right now. I am loving everything and I love where I am at/hoping that I don't get transferred in a week! We have changes in a week and I am really hoping that I will be able to spend Christmas here.
Today we were in the office of the mission putting in the numbers from the week and stuff and we got to talking to Hermana Humphrey and I thought you would like what she said....Our office is right next door to the other mission (Concepcion south) office and they decorated the office like crazy. They have a Christmas tree, streamers and a bunch of other stuff. Well, hermana Humphrey saw that they had decorated the office and she saw that ours wasn't and it made her a little jealous, so she went and looked at it, examined it and then came back and decided that they couldn't have a "more cute" office than us. Anywho, it turns out that their president gave them a certain amount of $ to decorate and so hermana Humphrey said we could us a little more, and they had a Christmas tree so hermana Humphrey said we needed a bigger one...anyways one thing led to another and before I knew it I was cutting out paper ice-cicles and hanging them from the roof of he office ceiling (using an hour of my p-day), but I did it all in the spirit of Christmas haha.
It sounds like all is well back home and I found it really interesting that you guys had a little snow. We had a little rain the other day but it is like 85 degrees here right now, so there are no predictions of a white Christmas. How excited are you guys for Christmas? I am not dying of excitement, but I am definitely excited for the opportunity to talk to you guys. I will be taking a ton of pictures and I will make sure to be better at sending you guys any pictures that I take. Love you and hope all is well! Tell Josh I am sending him a letter but the line at the post office was too long today and I didn't have time to wait and that I will send it next week!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Sorry for getting back to you guys so late today, I had a lot of little things to do. It was pretty uneventful wee here (worked hard but nothing crazy happened). We have 5 people that are preparing to get baptized right now and I am honestly feeling like all 5 of them will make it. One of the people that we are working with is ready and has been ready for a long time but she doesn't have permission from her parents because they think that she will be kicked out of her (catholic) school. It is really a dumb situation and so I have been talking to a few people that work here in the government and they are going to help us find out a way to protect her rights and get her baptized in the church. I am so thankful for always having a family that supported me in everything I did and I honestly feel so much pain when I see parents who don't want whats best for their kids, but are more worried about their own personal problems. We have made progress with the family and we are hoping that she can get baptized on the 17th of this month. Which brings me to the next topic...the 17th of December. We are planning on having a baptismal service at 7 or 8 in the night and we are expecting to have 8 or 9 baptisms!!! I am so excited and have never felt better about the work that we are doing than I do right now. I am loving everything and I love where I am at/hoping that I don't get transferred in a week! We have changes in a week and I am really hoping that I will be able to spend Christmas here.
Today we were in the office of the mission putting in the numbers from the week and stuff and we got to talking to Hermana Humphrey and I thought you would like what she said....Our office is right next door to the other mission (Concepcion south) office and they decorated the office like crazy. They have a Christmas tree, streamers and a bunch of other stuff. Well, hermana Humphrey saw that they had decorated the office and she saw that ours wasn't and it made her a little jealous, so she went and looked at it, examined it and then came back and decided that they couldn't have a "more cute" office than us. Anywho, it turns out that their president gave them a certain amount of $ to decorate and so hermana Humphrey said we could us a little more, and they had a Christmas tree so hermana Humphrey said we needed a bigger one...anyways one thing led to another and before I knew it I was cutting out paper ice-cicles and hanging them from the roof of he office ceiling (using an hour of my p-day), but I did it all in the spirit of Christmas haha.
It sounds like all is well back home and I found it really interesting that you guys had a little snow. We had a little rain the other day but it is like 85 degrees here right now, so there are no predictions of a white Christmas. How excited are you guys for Christmas? I am not dying of excitement, but I am definitely excited for the opportunity to talk to you guys. I will be taking a ton of pictures and I will make sure to be better at sending you guys any pictures that I take. Love you and hope all is well! Tell Josh I am sending him a letter but the line at the post office was too long today and I didn't have time to wait and that I will send it next week!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
First off...letter to his dad (explains some of the pictures)
Hey,
It sounds like your thanksgiving was way more eventful than mine. We tried to buy a chicken right before going home but...there were none left by the time we got to the store haha so we ate something called chori panes. Kind of like bratwursts haha. Oh yea and something I forgot to put in the big email that I will put in the next week is that we had an activity in the church that we were in charge of. We had a culture night! We assigned a country to every active family in the ward and some of the investigators that we are teaching as well. What you had to do was give a brief resumen of your country: population, number of members, temples, etc and prepare a typical food from that country (a national food?) we had the US and we made chili cheese fries with 2 of our investigators. It went really well and we ended up with 5 investigators there and all of them but 1 participated.
We have challenged ourselves to baptized more then we have before so I am really looking forward to the challenge and the best part of all is that I absolutely love the people that we have that we are teaching. It has been a crazy couple of weeks and we are looking to do things that have never happened before in the sector.
Now for the group letter:
Hey!
How is it going!? Another week in paradise and honestly I have no complaints this week. I don't have a ton to write about this week because the truth is...everything went pretty much as planned. This week we are looking to have 2 baptisms and I am pretty excited about that. We are baptizing a girl named Darling and a boy name Bastian. Bastian is the little brother of Marcela (the girl that we baptized in September) and Darling is like my little sister. We have been working with Darlings family and as you can remember we taught her family with the President like 4 weeks ago and she is looking really good for this Saturday (I will send a lot of pictures next week)! We are getting closer to Christmas and it seems like every day I am being reminded by other missionaries and members that I don't have very much time left! (April) I have mixed feelings, but for the most part I just look at it for what it is. I still have plenty of time to find, teach and baptize and that is what is keeping me focused. We had a lot of people in church again this week and we have put some pretty high goals for ourselves in the sector and as a zone. I am confident in the people we have and know that if we do our part we are going to be able to help these people make covenants with God and make the important decision to get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Sorry it is just one of those weeks where nothing is coming to my mind that would be exciting to tell you about. But...something kind of cool that we get to do because we live close to Concepcion is that we get to go to the leadership conferences that we have once a month with President Humphrey and talk to him and Hermana Humphrey for like 1 and 1/2 hours about he mission and about normal stuff too. Today while we were talking to them President mentioned how he lived in Venezuela for a while and how he has traveled to China many times as well for business. I think it is really cool that he has had the opportunity to do a lot of international business and I think he might be slowly convincing me to get into the same field some day haha.
It is amazing the vision that the President has for the missionaries though, and the confidence and faith that he has in us as 19-21 year old young men and the sister missionaries to go out and get a job done. He is a really good leader and he knows how to run things in the mission and I have taken a lot of notes on his leadership qualities and hope to one day be in his same shoes. Also, before I forget...Elder Keller emailed me and said he is doing well. He had some really nice things to say and some good encouraging words for me. He is a really good guy and if he ever comes over to AZ, make sure that you invite him over to the house for dinner and hook him up with someone to go on a date with (he tells me he is still waiting on that first date...haha)
I am doing really well though and hope that you guys aren't getting too trunkie. I need your support until the very last day and I know that I will have it. I am so grateful for the support that I have from you guys. I got the Christmas package you sent and I am super thankful to have the family that has the means to be able to support me and provide for me. I love you guys so much and hope that this is one of the best weeks of your lives.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 21, 2011
Chiguayante Zone Nov 2011
Spider
Roberts, Dastrup, Keller
Dastrup & FordHey,
Another week in the books. I really enjoyed the week and I felt like we really picked up the pace and got a lot of good things done. This week we decided that we needed to buckle down and find some good people to teach so...we did just that. We took a list of all of the inactive members in the ward and we set a goal with the other 2 missionaries that share the sector with us to visit every single inactive person in the next 4 weeks. There are 700 inactive members in our ward but a lot of them are families so I am thinking that we will have about 150 households each to visit. This week we found a ton of inactive members that hadn't attended church in years and we got 13 to come to church. It is amazing that sometimes people just need the invitation and they are more than willing to come back. We also had a few investigators in church including that whole family that went to church last week I really don't have any huge regrets.
My companion and I are also doing really well. This week as a mission we had the privilege to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 Apostles and all I can say is....WOW. He came and talked to all of the missionaries in our mission. He told us that contrary to what many missionaries think, our purpose is not to baptize. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite all to come unto Christ. Our job is to strengthen all of the wards and branches here in Chile, to baptize, reactivate, prepare future missionaries to serve and do everything in our power to leave our wards better than we found them. We are branch builders. It was a very interesting talk and I felt like it was a nice breath of fresh air that our mission really needed. At this very moment there are about 130 people who assist church every Sunday and we have put a goal with the other missionaries to get that number as close to 200 before we leave the sector. I am really excited for the chance we will have to not only teach to baptized, but also help those that have fallen from the path.
Mom asked that I would share the funniest thing that happened to us this week and I can't really think of anything. In the new house that we have, we still don't have a stove or anything to cook on, so we have been having to cook everything in the microwave. Well, I bought like 100 eggs the other day to start the diet back up (haha) and I wanted to east some so...I cooked them in the microwave (like grandpa Guthrie does for his dog, haha)and they came out fine, and then the Bolivian that lives with us wanted some, but he wanted them hard boiled. I walked out of the kitchen and apparently he stuck a bowl of water with 2 eggs in the microwave and left it for 5 minutes. About 2 minutes into the experiment I felt and heard a loud bang! The eggs exploded, the microwave door flew open and we lost power in the entire house! I ran into the other room and saw Elder Arana walk out of the kitchen saying that he couldn't hear anything. Well, we fixed the microwave and taught him that you can't stick anything in the microwave especially not eggs and metal haha.
Anyways, I hope all is well and that you are all doing well. I miss you all, but like always I wouldn't trad this experience for anything.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Another week in the books. I really enjoyed the week and I felt like we really picked up the pace and got a lot of good things done. This week we decided that we needed to buckle down and find some good people to teach so...we did just that. We took a list of all of the inactive members in the ward and we set a goal with the other 2 missionaries that share the sector with us to visit every single inactive person in the next 4 weeks. There are 700 inactive members in our ward but a lot of them are families so I am thinking that we will have about 150 households each to visit. This week we found a ton of inactive members that hadn't attended church in years and we got 13 to come to church. It is amazing that sometimes people just need the invitation and they are more than willing to come back. We also had a few investigators in church including that whole family that went to church last week I really don't have any huge regrets.
My companion and I are also doing really well. This week as a mission we had the privilege to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 Apostles and all I can say is....WOW. He came and talked to all of the missionaries in our mission. He told us that contrary to what many missionaries think, our purpose is not to baptize. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite all to come unto Christ. Our job is to strengthen all of the wards and branches here in Chile, to baptize, reactivate, prepare future missionaries to serve and do everything in our power to leave our wards better than we found them. We are branch builders. It was a very interesting talk and I felt like it was a nice breath of fresh air that our mission really needed. At this very moment there are about 130 people who assist church every Sunday and we have put a goal with the other missionaries to get that number as close to 200 before we leave the sector. I am really excited for the chance we will have to not only teach to baptized, but also help those that have fallen from the path.
Mom asked that I would share the funniest thing that happened to us this week and I can't really think of anything. In the new house that we have, we still don't have a stove or anything to cook on, so we have been having to cook everything in the microwave. Well, I bought like 100 eggs the other day to start the diet back up (haha) and I wanted to east some so...I cooked them in the microwave (like grandpa Guthrie does for his dog, haha)and they came out fine, and then the Bolivian that lives with us wanted some, but he wanted them hard boiled. I walked out of the kitchen and apparently he stuck a bowl of water with 2 eggs in the microwave and left it for 5 minutes. About 2 minutes into the experiment I felt and heard a loud bang! The eggs exploded, the microwave door flew open and we lost power in the entire house! I ran into the other room and saw Elder Arana walk out of the kitchen saying that he couldn't hear anything. Well, we fixed the microwave and taught him that you can't stick anything in the microwave especially not eggs and metal haha.
Anyways, I hope all is well and that you are all doing well. I miss you all, but like always I wouldn't trad this experience for anything.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
November 14, 2011
Hey,
Another week in the books. I really enjoyed the week and I felt like we really picked up the pace and got a lot of good things done. This week we decided that we needed to buckle down and find some good people to teach so....we did just that. We took a list of all the inactive members in the ward and we set a goal with the other 2 missionaries that share the sector with us to visit every single inactive person in the next 4 week. There are 700 inactive members in our ward but a lot of them are families so I am thinking that we will have about 150 households each to visit. This week we found a ton of inactive members that hadn't attended the church in years and we got 13 to come to church! It is amazing that sometimes people just need the invitation and they are more than willing to come back. We also had a few investigators in church including that whole family that went to church last week. Sunday went very well and looking back on the week I really don't have any huge regrets.
My companion and I are also doing really well. This week as a mission we had the privilege to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 Apostles and all i can say is...WOW. He came and talked to all of us missionaries in our mission. He told us that contrary to what many missionaries think, our purpose is not to baptize. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite all to come unto Christ. Our job is to strengthen all of the wards and branches here in Chile, to baptize, reactivate, prepare future missionaries to serve and to do everything in our power to leave our wards better than we found them. We are branch builders. It was a very interesting talk and I felt like it was a nice breath of fresh air that our mission really needed. At this very moment there are about 130 people who assist church every Sunday and we have put a goal with the other missionaries to get that number as close to 200 before we leave the sector. I am really excited for the chance we will have to not only teach and baptize but also help those that have fallen from the path.
Mom asked that I would share the funniest thing that happened to us this week and I can't really think of anything. In the new house that we have, we still don't have a stove or anything to cook on, so we have been having to cook everything in the microwave. Well, I bought like 100 eggs the other day to start the diet back up (haha) and I wanted to eat some so...I cooked them in the microwave (like grandpa Guthrie does for his dog, haha) and they came out fine, and then the Bolivian that lives with us wanted some, but he wanted them hard boiled. I walked out of the kitchen and apparently he stuck a bowl of water with 2 eggs in the microwave and left it for 5 minutes. About 2 minutes into the experiment I felt and heard a loud bang! The eggs exploded, the microwave door flew open and we lost power in the entire house! I didn't know what had happened so I ran into the other room and saw Elder Arana walk out of the kitchen saying that he couldn't hear anything. Well, we fixed the microwave and taught him that you can't stick everything in the microwave especially not eggs and metal haha.
Anyways, I hope all is well and that you are all doing well. I miss you all, but like always I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Another week in the books. I really enjoyed the week and I felt like we really picked up the pace and got a lot of good things done. This week we decided that we needed to buckle down and find some good people to teach so....we did just that. We took a list of all the inactive members in the ward and we set a goal with the other 2 missionaries that share the sector with us to visit every single inactive person in the next 4 week. There are 700 inactive members in our ward but a lot of them are families so I am thinking that we will have about 150 households each to visit. This week we found a ton of inactive members that hadn't attended the church in years and we got 13 to come to church! It is amazing that sometimes people just need the invitation and they are more than willing to come back. We also had a few investigators in church including that whole family that went to church last week. Sunday went very well and looking back on the week I really don't have any huge regrets.
My companion and I are also doing really well. This week as a mission we had the privilege to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook from the quorum of the 12 Apostles and all i can say is...WOW. He came and talked to all of us missionaries in our mission. He told us that contrary to what many missionaries think, our purpose is not to baptize. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite all to come unto Christ. Our job is to strengthen all of the wards and branches here in Chile, to baptize, reactivate, prepare future missionaries to serve and to do everything in our power to leave our wards better than we found them. We are branch builders. It was a very interesting talk and I felt like it was a nice breath of fresh air that our mission really needed. At this very moment there are about 130 people who assist church every Sunday and we have put a goal with the other missionaries to get that number as close to 200 before we leave the sector. I am really excited for the chance we will have to not only teach and baptize but also help those that have fallen from the path.
Mom asked that I would share the funniest thing that happened to us this week and I can't really think of anything. In the new house that we have, we still don't have a stove or anything to cook on, so we have been having to cook everything in the microwave. Well, I bought like 100 eggs the other day to start the diet back up (haha) and I wanted to eat some so...I cooked them in the microwave (like grandpa Guthrie does for his dog, haha) and they came out fine, and then the Bolivian that lives with us wanted some, but he wanted them hard boiled. I walked out of the kitchen and apparently he stuck a bowl of water with 2 eggs in the microwave and left it for 5 minutes. About 2 minutes into the experiment I felt and heard a loud bang! The eggs exploded, the microwave door flew open and we lost power in the entire house! I didn't know what had happened so I ran into the other room and saw Elder Arana walk out of the kitchen saying that he couldn't hear anything. Well, we fixed the microwave and taught him that you can't stick everything in the microwave especially not eggs and metal haha.
Anyways, I hope all is well and that you are all doing well. I miss you all, but like always I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Hey Everyone,
Due to time this letter might be a little short but...I think I will manage to get mostly everything in. Update on the companionship: Elder Ford is doing really well and his knee seems to be doing a lot better as well. He is progressing and I am so proud of all that he has done to get to the point where he is at right now. He still struggles a lot with the language and with the gospel knowledge, but we are working on it and I feel like he is putting in his part. We had a really good week of work and for the 1st time in a long time I feel like we met our potential. We had a few investigators in church and we actually have 3 that are progressing towards baptism. We also had a ton of members attend church this week, we normally have an average of 130 people a week and this week 166 people showed up. Elder Ford and I and the other companionship in our sector came up with a good idea to find new investigators. We took the ward list and basically have been passing by every inactive member to see if they have any kids or spouses who aren't baptized and we are also getting a lot of references from them. We found 12 new investigators this week! It was a really good week.
Big story of the week...On Thursday afternoon we set up a visit to go see the family that we are working with and we invited President to come meet them and help us get things moving. It was incredible how well the lesson went. President basically went in there and just took over. In 20 minutes he got to know them, gained their confidence and then we started teaching basic doctrinal principle of the gospel. We talked about many things but the main focus was on the eternal family. The father really liked the idea and he is really putting in his part so that he can receive the blessings that come through obeying the commandments and making covenants with God. Anyway, the lesson went great and on Saturday morning I went over, invited them to be baptized on the 26th of this month and we shared our testimonies with them. They accepted the goal that we put with them and we are really hoping that they can get there. Well...the climax of the story, Sunday afternoon rolled around (they all went to church in the morning) and I get a call that something had happened and the father was leaving the house (packing his bags and moving out)! I met up with Elder Weston and ran over there. We walked into a really difficult situation. He was getting his stuff ready to go and there had been some kind of argument that led him to want to take off. We sat them down and began to talk to them and the flood gates opened. The husband, who I am very close to really opened up to us. I testified pretty boldly that Gods plan is that the family can live together forever, in no part of Gods plan does it say that we can just quit. Nowhere in his plan does it say that we can just leave the family or that we can find happiness doing something else. We testified that God loved them and that his plan was that they could work through this problem, enter into the waters of baptism and step out of the water as pure as when they were born. We testified of many things and for the first time in my mission I cried in a lesson, 1 year and 7 months without a single tear, but I just couldn't hold it in...lol I told them I loved them and it came from my heart. I felt the love of God, I felt what I have been trying to feel my entire mission in the moment that I told a struggling father that I loved him, and that I loved his family and that I wanted to see them happy, and I wanted to see them in white. (Baptism, temple, celestial kingdom) I was very in tune with the spirit at that moment and I invited the family to get on their knees with us, grab one anothers hands and asked the father to give a prayer to bless his family through this tough time. He gave an amazing prayer and with a ton of conviction he promised God that as the head of the house he would do better in leading his family to salvation. After the prayer we gave the wife and him blessings of strength and help for their trials.
I have a testimony of what I am doing out here. God is real, he lives and loves each and every one of us. I know all of this not because I have seen him or had a dream, not because he has talked to me or sent an angel to visit me and convince me of his existences, but I know that God exists because I have felt ht power of his son Jesus Christs atonement in my life. I know that he exists because I have seen how the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed the lives of so many people that I have contact with the last year and a half. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he saw God the father and his son Jesus Christ. God lives and loves you and me and each and every one of us. Thanks for all of the support that I have from all of you who are reading this. I love each and every one of you and would do anything to be with you, except leave Chile. This is the Lords work, and I will work until the very last day.
Con Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Due to time this letter might be a little short but...I think I will manage to get mostly everything in. Update on the companionship: Elder Ford is doing really well and his knee seems to be doing a lot better as well. He is progressing and I am so proud of all that he has done to get to the point where he is at right now. He still struggles a lot with the language and with the gospel knowledge, but we are working on it and I feel like he is putting in his part. We had a really good week of work and for the 1st time in a long time I feel like we met our potential. We had a few investigators in church and we actually have 3 that are progressing towards baptism. We also had a ton of members attend church this week, we normally have an average of 130 people a week and this week 166 people showed up. Elder Ford and I and the other companionship in our sector came up with a good idea to find new investigators. We took the ward list and basically have been passing by every inactive member to see if they have any kids or spouses who aren't baptized and we are also getting a lot of references from them. We found 12 new investigators this week! It was a really good week.
Big story of the week...On Thursday afternoon we set up a visit to go see the family that we are working with and we invited President to come meet them and help us get things moving. It was incredible how well the lesson went. President basically went in there and just took over. In 20 minutes he got to know them, gained their confidence and then we started teaching basic doctrinal principle of the gospel. We talked about many things but the main focus was on the eternal family. The father really liked the idea and he is really putting in his part so that he can receive the blessings that come through obeying the commandments and making covenants with God. Anyway, the lesson went great and on Saturday morning I went over, invited them to be baptized on the 26th of this month and we shared our testimonies with them. They accepted the goal that we put with them and we are really hoping that they can get there. Well...the climax of the story, Sunday afternoon rolled around (they all went to church in the morning) and I get a call that something had happened and the father was leaving the house (packing his bags and moving out)! I met up with Elder Weston and ran over there. We walked into a really difficult situation. He was getting his stuff ready to go and there had been some kind of argument that led him to want to take off. We sat them down and began to talk to them and the flood gates opened. The husband, who I am very close to really opened up to us. I testified pretty boldly that Gods plan is that the family can live together forever, in no part of Gods plan does it say that we can just quit. Nowhere in his plan does it say that we can just leave the family or that we can find happiness doing something else. We testified that God loved them and that his plan was that they could work through this problem, enter into the waters of baptism and step out of the water as pure as when they were born. We testified of many things and for the first time in my mission I cried in a lesson, 1 year and 7 months without a single tear, but I just couldn't hold it in...lol I told them I loved them and it came from my heart. I felt the love of God, I felt what I have been trying to feel my entire mission in the moment that I told a struggling father that I loved him, and that I loved his family and that I wanted to see them happy, and I wanted to see them in white. (Baptism, temple, celestial kingdom) I was very in tune with the spirit at that moment and I invited the family to get on their knees with us, grab one anothers hands and asked the father to give a prayer to bless his family through this tough time. He gave an amazing prayer and with a ton of conviction he promised God that as the head of the house he would do better in leading his family to salvation. After the prayer we gave the wife and him blessings of strength and help for their trials.
I have a testimony of what I am doing out here. God is real, he lives and loves each and every one of us. I know all of this not because I have seen him or had a dream, not because he has talked to me or sent an angel to visit me and convince me of his existences, but I know that God exists because I have felt ht power of his son Jesus Christs atonement in my life. I know that he exists because I have seen how the gospel of Jesus Christ has changed the lives of so many people that I have contact with the last year and a half. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he saw God the father and his son Jesus Christ. God lives and loves you and me and each and every one of us. Thanks for all of the support that I have from all of you who are reading this. I love each and every one of you and would do anything to be with you, except leave Chile. This is the Lords work, and I will work until the very last day.
Con Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31, 2011
Hey!
Happy Halloween! you mentioned the trunk or treat in the church this week and I wish I could say that there was a cool activity like that here but...there are a very few members that have cars here and Chileans don't really do Halloween very big here. Anyways, another week en la obra del senor and it was a good one. We had a great week and although we weren't able to baptize this week we had some really good possibilities coming up and I feel like we could be seeing some people getting baptized in the month of November. We are working with a family in the month of November. We are working with family that the 2 daughters are baptized but the rest of the family (3 more) aren't. I went over this week with Elder Weston and we had a really good lesson with the parents where we shared 1 Nephi 8 and we related it to them and their desire or lack of desire to follow Christ. The full family showed up to church and then afterwards we had lunch at their house. They are such a cool family and I am going to do everything humanly possible to get them to the waters of baptism so that they can always be together as a family. I feel like I am the first missionary to really gain a relationship with both parents and the dad of the family has progressed sooo much since I got here. Last night we had a visit set up with them and he wasn't there, so at about midnight he got home and felt really bad for not showing up to the visit and apologized. The family is moving forward for the 1st time since I have got to the sector and I talked to President Humphrey and he said that he would come visit them with us this week with his wife. I am sooo excited and I hope that we can teach them a powerful lesson on Wednesday. If everything goes as planned they will be getting baptized in 2 weeks and they will be some of the coolest converts that I have had the opportunity to help over the last year and half.
Everything else in the sector is doing pretty well. My companion is taking physical therapy for his knee but I feel like everything has gotten a lot better and that we will be back to 100% in no time. Me on the other hand...I am suffering, from ALLERGIES! It is spring here and I am soo miserable. It is destroying me and I have medicine but nothing is really working. I have about a month more of spring and then we will be in summer, so I guess the best solution will be just to stop complaining and keep working through it haha. Mom had mentioned how she doesn't want me getting any skinnier and that I need to eat more healthy food and keep doing exercises. Well I am doing pretty good on the exercising but he food has been a little harder. We have these 3 liter bottles for water that we filled up with cement and stuck a thick piece of re-bar in the middle and so we have a "barbell" to do curls with (it's just really ghetto haha) Other news...Elder Weston and his companion are moving in the same sector as us. We are changing houses today in the afternoon and we are going to be living in a house that is a little smaller but it is in a really good part of our sector sooo I am really excited.
Also, I got Josh's package and I will write him a letter this week to thank him and stuff, that was really nice of him and it was good to hear from him again.
Love you guys and hope you have an amazing Halloween and I hope that Grandpas party goes as planned. I love you guys and think about you every now and again and hope that you are all really happy and enjoying your lives. Thanks for everything. Love you guys a ton.
Con mucho Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Happy Halloween! you mentioned the trunk or treat in the church this week and I wish I could say that there was a cool activity like that here but...there are a very few members that have cars here and Chileans don't really do Halloween very big here. Anyways, another week en la obra del senor and it was a good one. We had a great week and although we weren't able to baptize this week we had some really good possibilities coming up and I feel like we could be seeing some people getting baptized in the month of November. We are working with a family in the month of November. We are working with family that the 2 daughters are baptized but the rest of the family (3 more) aren't. I went over this week with Elder Weston and we had a really good lesson with the parents where we shared 1 Nephi 8 and we related it to them and their desire or lack of desire to follow Christ. The full family showed up to church and then afterwards we had lunch at their house. They are such a cool family and I am going to do everything humanly possible to get them to the waters of baptism so that they can always be together as a family. I feel like I am the first missionary to really gain a relationship with both parents and the dad of the family has progressed sooo much since I got here. Last night we had a visit set up with them and he wasn't there, so at about midnight he got home and felt really bad for not showing up to the visit and apologized. The family is moving forward for the 1st time since I have got to the sector and I talked to President Humphrey and he said that he would come visit them with us this week with his wife. I am sooo excited and I hope that we can teach them a powerful lesson on Wednesday. If everything goes as planned they will be getting baptized in 2 weeks and they will be some of the coolest converts that I have had the opportunity to help over the last year and half.
Everything else in the sector is doing pretty well. My companion is taking physical therapy for his knee but I feel like everything has gotten a lot better and that we will be back to 100% in no time. Me on the other hand...I am suffering, from ALLERGIES! It is spring here and I am soo miserable. It is destroying me and I have medicine but nothing is really working. I have about a month more of spring and then we will be in summer, so I guess the best solution will be just to stop complaining and keep working through it haha. Mom had mentioned how she doesn't want me getting any skinnier and that I need to eat more healthy food and keep doing exercises. Well I am doing pretty good on the exercising but he food has been a little harder. We have these 3 liter bottles for water that we filled up with cement and stuck a thick piece of re-bar in the middle and so we have a "barbell" to do curls with (it's just really ghetto haha) Other news...Elder Weston and his companion are moving in the same sector as us. We are changing houses today in the afternoon and we are going to be living in a house that is a little smaller but it is in a really good part of our sector sooo I am really excited.
Also, I got Josh's package and I will write him a letter this week to thank him and stuff, that was really nice of him and it was good to hear from him again.
Love you guys and hope you have an amazing Halloween and I hope that Grandpas party goes as planned. I love you guys and think about you every now and again and hope that you are all really happy and enjoying your lives. Thanks for everything. Love you guys a ton.
Con mucho Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, October 24, 2011
October 24, 2011
Another week in the books and my companion and I feel good about all that we did. The truth is that this week was a little rough and we tried our hardest to find new people, but for some reason or another we weren't able to have much success with anyone. We have a family that we are teaching that is progressing slowly...and as much as we love them we don't know if we are wasting our time on them or not. We have been teaching them as a family for over 2 months now and the progression has been slow, but noticeable nonetheless. We got the husband to attend church with all of the daughters and we have taught some very powerful lessons to them. We have reminded them of our purpose as missionaries and how we are here to help people progress and not only reach the waters of baptism but to be exhalted and live together forever. They love the idea of having an eternal family and the mother (who isn't baptized) has even told the daughters that she is going to get baptized. The problem is...we are getting them to church and they are now sooo close but they fault something and I feel like it might be a powerful lesson with a firm commitment to be baptized.(not sure what that sentence really meant from him) I was thinking President and the hermanas could help us a ton if they have time one night to come out with us and teach them or if they aren't able to I could just do a mini cambio with Elder Weston (the other ZL here). I love my companion and and know that it is all a process, but the process is going by pretty slow and it would be nice to have a little help with this family so we can make a decision whether or not we will continue working with them. And also, we are going to get my companions radiography that he took last week (he has a bad knee and we think it might be because he is a little overweight) and we will be seeing a specialist sometime this week. We will let you guys know how it goes. We are also doing a diet together as a companionship and it seems to me like Elder Ford has lost about 10 pounds already (we will keep you updated on that as well). I also have lost between 5 and 10...Unfortunately I wasn't overweight so...I am not a little underweight haha. I am eating a can of tuna and 2 eggs for breakfast every morning though to combat the lack of junk food. I feel really good about the diet and it got me to thinking...If I am having to diet, you guys (the family) should do it with us. To support my companion and I, you guys could do the diet with us! We are not eating any sweets, no cookies, candies NOTHING! Also, we aren't eating bread or drinking soda. We aren't eating chips and we are drinking skim milk and low fat yogurts. The only food we eat in the house is fruit, oatmeal, eggs, tuna and yogurt. It is working too! Try it for a week or 2, see how you like it.
I am feeling really good about everything. I am stressed and the diet is probably not helping, but one thing that I noticed is that I am pushing myself to grow now more then ever. It is stressful to be in the position I am in right now and if I wasn't a little bit stressed I think it would mean that I was taking my calling and responsibilities a little to lightly. Nonetheless...we are having a good time. We are also changing houses this week (forgot to mention that). The President is giving more missionaries to work with out here and for that we are super thankful, but...they are taking the house so we are moving into a smaller one that is in a better location of our sector. By the way, I still haven't taken any pictures of the sector, but hope to be able to do it today or sometime this week. (It's a little hard because the sector is really ghetto and I don't want to get my stuff stolen). Love you guys and hope you have an awesome week! Happy B-day Katie!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
I am feeling really good about everything. I am stressed and the diet is probably not helping, but one thing that I noticed is that I am pushing myself to grow now more then ever. It is stressful to be in the position I am in right now and if I wasn't a little bit stressed I think it would mean that I was taking my calling and responsibilities a little to lightly. Nonetheless...we are having a good time. We are also changing houses this week (forgot to mention that). The President is giving more missionaries to work with out here and for that we are super thankful, but...they are taking the house so we are moving into a smaller one that is in a better location of our sector. By the way, I still haven't taken any pictures of the sector, but hope to be able to do it today or sometime this week. (It's a little hard because the sector is really ghetto and I don't want to get my stuff stolen). Love you guys and hope you have an awesome week! Happy B-day Katie!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011
Hola hola,
We are in October! Wow...How time flies when you are busy. This week was another busy one and we topped it off with a baptism. It was a kind of rough week because we found out that one of our investigators doesn't have permission from her mom to be baptized (she was suppose to be baptized on Sunday...) We are praying for her and for her mom to allow her to do it but I feel like it would be a long shot if she could get baptized in the next couple of weeks. Jose is the name of the person that got baptized this week and it was a really neat experience. We have been working with the family a ton but they are inactive members of the church who hadn't been to church in the last 10 years. This Saturday we went over to their house and promised them if they attended church and went to their sons baptism that they would feel better and that they would receive many blessings from doing it. They went and they loved it. Our bishop cornered them and pulled the parents in for an interview. Afterwards at the baptismal service the parents thanked me for sticking with them and promised that they would be at church again the next week to see their sons confirmation. I feel like we will be able to get them assisting church on a consistent basis and we are going to be putting goals with them so that they can make it to the temple in the next year. We also had another inactive family that we are working with show up to church. The husbands name is Miguel and he is not a member. He shared with the missionaries 3 years ago and wanted to get baptized but couldn't give up the Cigarrets...I was over there the other night and the family told us that they feel like we are missionaries that are going to be able to "change their lives". I felt really honored that she thought of us with such high esteem. He has a son named Miguel who is 8 and wants to get baptized, so we are also using that to our advantage so that he has incentive to be prepared before his son so that he can baptize him. I will keep you guys updated on how that all goes, but I am hoping for the best!
I have felt really good lately though. I have been thinking, or looking at things in more of an eternal perspective lately. I feel a need to find families. I want one of the families that we are teaching to get sealed in the temple in the next year or so, so that I can have a legitimate excuse to come back here and visit all my converts and stuff! Over these next 6 months I am determined to baptize a family and get them on the path to the temple. I actually had the opportunity to visit a family from another sector yesterday and see a family that I interviewed for their baptisms. They are soooo cool! They invited me and my companion over to celebrate their 2 months as members and they gave us a ton of food. I loved it and I feel like they will stay strong in the church and continue progressing towards bigger goals. I love being around families and I would be lying if I said I didn't miss mine right now. A year and a half is a long time to be away from anyone but it is harder when its the family. Its incredible though to think that I have been gone for so long but I haven't forgotten about any of you. Thanks for the support, the love, the....everything. I have the best family and the best friends in the world and I will be with you soon enough! Pray for me and my companion to keep having success!
Love always,
Elder Cody Dastrup
We are in October! Wow...How time flies when you are busy. This week was another busy one and we topped it off with a baptism. It was a kind of rough week because we found out that one of our investigators doesn't have permission from her mom to be baptized (she was suppose to be baptized on Sunday...) We are praying for her and for her mom to allow her to do it but I feel like it would be a long shot if she could get baptized in the next couple of weeks. Jose is the name of the person that got baptized this week and it was a really neat experience. We have been working with the family a ton but they are inactive members of the church who hadn't been to church in the last 10 years. This Saturday we went over to their house and promised them if they attended church and went to their sons baptism that they would feel better and that they would receive many blessings from doing it. They went and they loved it. Our bishop cornered them and pulled the parents in for an interview. Afterwards at the baptismal service the parents thanked me for sticking with them and promised that they would be at church again the next week to see their sons confirmation. I feel like we will be able to get them assisting church on a consistent basis and we are going to be putting goals with them so that they can make it to the temple in the next year. We also had another inactive family that we are working with show up to church. The husbands name is Miguel and he is not a member. He shared with the missionaries 3 years ago and wanted to get baptized but couldn't give up the Cigarrets...I was over there the other night and the family told us that they feel like we are missionaries that are going to be able to "change their lives". I felt really honored that she thought of us with such high esteem. He has a son named Miguel who is 8 and wants to get baptized, so we are also using that to our advantage so that he has incentive to be prepared before his son so that he can baptize him. I will keep you guys updated on how that all goes, but I am hoping for the best!
I have felt really good lately though. I have been thinking, or looking at things in more of an eternal perspective lately. I feel a need to find families. I want one of the families that we are teaching to get sealed in the temple in the next year or so, so that I can have a legitimate excuse to come back here and visit all my converts and stuff! Over these next 6 months I am determined to baptize a family and get them on the path to the temple. I actually had the opportunity to visit a family from another sector yesterday and see a family that I interviewed for their baptisms. They are soooo cool! They invited me and my companion over to celebrate their 2 months as members and they gave us a ton of food. I loved it and I feel like they will stay strong in the church and continue progressing towards bigger goals. I love being around families and I would be lying if I said I didn't miss mine right now. A year and a half is a long time to be away from anyone but it is harder when its the family. Its incredible though to think that I have been gone for so long but I haven't forgotten about any of you. Thanks for the support, the love, the....everything. I have the best family and the best friends in the world and I will be with you soon enough! Pray for me and my companion to keep having success!
Love always,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 10, 2011
How are we doing? It's been another incredible week full of adventures. On Monday we had a leadership conference that I talked about a little bit in my last letter that I really enjoyed and I learned a ton. On Tuesday we had our Zone meeting and Elder Weston and I went over the need to have more urgency and taught the zone how to help their investigators progress more rapidly and helping them become more converted to the gospel. After we finished teaching our section, President (who showed up by surprise) taught the zone about 1 Nephi 8, 11 (Lehi's dream) and he showed us how we can apply it to our investigators. Elder Bednar gave an awesome talk on Lehi's dream in the October Ensign that you all should read! On Wednesday and Thursday my companion and all of the new missionaries went to a capacitation with President and they were there almost all day. I ended up working with Elder West (one of my best friends here) and we worked half the time in my sector and the other half in his sector. We had a good time and taught a ton of good lessons. My companion Elder Ford seems to be progressing more and more every day and I feel like in another 9 weeks or so he will be able to understand everyone and communicate himself.
In terms of my sector (mom wanted to know more about it), I work in a sector called La Pradera (The Prairie). It is gigantic and I have been pushing really hard to get 4 missionaries into the sector to help us work a little bit more efficiently. Our sector has a reputation for being extremely dangerous in certain parts, but I feel like its just got a lot of poor parts. The people definitely seem to be more humble here though and I can see the hand of God blessing these people that have so little materialistic things. I hope that we can continue finding good people. Our sector is like 30 in. in bus from the office of the mission and we come into Concepcion to do our internet and get our cards and stuff every week. The sector is beautiful but...I haven't taken a ton of pictures, I will try to take a few this week.
I think the biggest thing that I learned or that I felt this past week was just how lucky that I am to be here serving these people. We are having a ton of success in our Zone and I feel like it has come from our ability to be obedient and diligent in all that we do. My companion and I are determined to have a good week and I know that this next week will be better than the last. We are working with an in active family and are planning on baptizing their son this weekend. We are also teaching a girl named Loreto and we feel like she will be getting baptized as well, but she didn't come to church on Sunday so I am not really sure what will happen there.
Thanks for the support and all of the letters. I am coming down the homestretch and although I am not looking forward to leaving all of this behind, I am glad to know that I have amazing friends and family to go home to. I love you guys a ton!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
In terms of my sector (mom wanted to know more about it), I work in a sector called La Pradera (The Prairie). It is gigantic and I have been pushing really hard to get 4 missionaries into the sector to help us work a little bit more efficiently. Our sector has a reputation for being extremely dangerous in certain parts, but I feel like its just got a lot of poor parts. The people definitely seem to be more humble here though and I can see the hand of God blessing these people that have so little materialistic things. I hope that we can continue finding good people. Our sector is like 30 in. in bus from the office of the mission and we come into Concepcion to do our internet and get our cards and stuff every week. The sector is beautiful but...I haven't taken a ton of pictures, I will try to take a few this week.
I think the biggest thing that I learned or that I felt this past week was just how lucky that I am to be here serving these people. We are having a ton of success in our Zone and I feel like it has come from our ability to be obedient and diligent in all that we do. My companion and I are determined to have a good week and I know that this next week will be better than the last. We are working with an in active family and are planning on baptizing their son this weekend. We are also teaching a girl named Loreto and we feel like she will be getting baptized as well, but she didn't come to church on Sunday so I am not really sure what will happen there.
Thanks for the support and all of the letters. I am coming down the homestretch and although I am not looking forward to leaving all of this behind, I am glad to know that I have amazing friends and family to go home to. I love you guys a ton!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, September 26, 2011
Hey guys,
Once again...awesome week. I love the mission. Things have gotten a little spicy around here with all of the changes but nothing that we can't handle! I am now working as a Zone Leader here in Chiguayante with the responsibility of training a newbie! He is really cool and I really enjoy him. We are not a ton a like, but it is ok because he has a really good heart and is really willing to help the people come unto Christ (our purpose) haha. I have been a little stressed because he doesn't speak any Spanish and it has been really hard to watch him struggle and it has been hard to have to do everything here in the sector. I went from a very experienced missionary who spoke perfect Spanish, who I depended on a ton, to now having a newbie and really having to run the show! It has been interesting this week and I am really praying that he can pick up the language a little bit so that he can help out a little more in the teaching. The week was good though and I don't really have any big complaints. We are working with 2 people that should be getting baptized on the 9th and the 16th of this month and we hope to find more people this week that we can take to conference this weekend. I am soooo ready for conference! I love having conference in the mission. When there is conference we go to the stake center and all of the members and latins watch it together and all of the gringos missionaries watch it in english in their own room. I love it, and I get a lot more out of conference in the mission than I did before.
It sound like everything back home is good. I am sooo glad that Tiff and Jeff live in our ward now and I can't wait until I get back and can go hang out with them. So what exactly are they doing in our area with the church? They are going to have more advertisements and commercials on tv? (he's talking about the new mormon.org campaign) That will be cool and will be a lot easier to talk about the church with people. You guys are going to be so shocked with how much I have changed here in the mission. I feel like I haven't changed too much but I am definitely more direct, goal oriented and willing to do whatever it takes or make whatever sacrifice to reach what I want to become. I thank you guys so much for sending me out here and can't wait to be able to come back and help the church in my own ward. I promise I won't be one of those lazy RM's who "doesn't have time"for missionary work. (so frustrating when rm's say that here) Love you guys a ton and hope that all is well!
Your boy,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Once again...awesome week. I love the mission. Things have gotten a little spicy around here with all of the changes but nothing that we can't handle! I am now working as a Zone Leader here in Chiguayante with the responsibility of training a newbie! He is really cool and I really enjoy him. We are not a ton a like, but it is ok because he has a really good heart and is really willing to help the people come unto Christ (our purpose) haha. I have been a little stressed because he doesn't speak any Spanish and it has been really hard to watch him struggle and it has been hard to have to do everything here in the sector. I went from a very experienced missionary who spoke perfect Spanish, who I depended on a ton, to now having a newbie and really having to run the show! It has been interesting this week and I am really praying that he can pick up the language a little bit so that he can help out a little more in the teaching. The week was good though and I don't really have any big complaints. We are working with 2 people that should be getting baptized on the 9th and the 16th of this month and we hope to find more people this week that we can take to conference this weekend. I am soooo ready for conference! I love having conference in the mission. When there is conference we go to the stake center and all of the members and latins watch it together and all of the gringos missionaries watch it in english in their own room. I love it, and I get a lot more out of conference in the mission than I did before.
It sound like everything back home is good. I am sooo glad that Tiff and Jeff live in our ward now and I can't wait until I get back and can go hang out with them. So what exactly are they doing in our area with the church? They are going to have more advertisements and commercials on tv? (he's talking about the new mormon.org campaign) That will be cool and will be a lot easier to talk about the church with people. You guys are going to be so shocked with how much I have changed here in the mission. I feel like I haven't changed too much but I am definitely more direct, goal oriented and willing to do whatever it takes or make whatever sacrifice to reach what I want to become. I thank you guys so much for sending me out here and can't wait to be able to come back and help the church in my own ward. I promise I won't be one of those lazy RM's who "doesn't have time"for missionary work. (so frustrating when rm's say that here) Love you guys a ton and hope that all is well!
Your boy,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, September 19, 2011
September 19, 2011
Hey,
A lot of big news this week! 1st off, we didn't have any baptisms this week and it is looking like we won't be having any for a couple more weeks. General Conference in coming up and the stake has asked that we don't baptize on that weekend soooo we will have to wait an extra week with everybody. We have worked really hard though this transfer and have put ourselves in a good position to have a ton of success in the month of October. Also, as you guys know, we have transfers tomorrow. My companion Elder Zarco has finished his mission and is actually at Presidents house right now about to eat "The Last Supper" with President and all of those who are leaving. He was a really good companion and we worked well together and had tons of fun. I also received word from President that I would be training as a Zone Leader this cambio!!! I will have a ton of responsibility and depending on whether or not he is Latin or gringo I might be teaching him Spanish as well. I am excited for the opportunity to serve in a new capacity, but I would be lying if I said I felt qualified. I have heard before that the Lord only calls those who are qualified and those who are not.... either way he will qualify you in one way or another. (don't know if that made sense) haha. I know that the Lord will help me, so I am not too concerned.
I am doing well and have really enjoyed this weekend. It was the 18th of September celebration here, which is the biggest celebration that they have, and it is like our 4th of July (independence day) but they do it on a larger scale. We ate a ton of food and went to our ward party where we ate more food and celebrated the holiday together with all of the Chilean people. I have really come to love this people and I am really going to be sad when I get the call that I have to pack my bags and head back. There is just nothing like the mission...I love walking into every house or in the street or wherever you are with your plaque on and feeling like a celebrity. When we walk in the streets people look at us so different and when we enter in houses people receive us with so much love and I just wish that it could be the same when I got back and for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for this opportunity I have to be here and I thank God every day for being blessed by so many great people. Love you guys and miss you a ton and just so you know...I'm still not yours! 7 more months, and I will enjoy every moment!
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
A lot of big news this week! 1st off, we didn't have any baptisms this week and it is looking like we won't be having any for a couple more weeks. General Conference in coming up and the stake has asked that we don't baptize on that weekend soooo we will have to wait an extra week with everybody. We have worked really hard though this transfer and have put ourselves in a good position to have a ton of success in the month of October. Also, as you guys know, we have transfers tomorrow. My companion Elder Zarco has finished his mission and is actually at Presidents house right now about to eat "The Last Supper" with President and all of those who are leaving. He was a really good companion and we worked well together and had tons of fun. I also received word from President that I would be training as a Zone Leader this cambio!!! I will have a ton of responsibility and depending on whether or not he is Latin or gringo I might be teaching him Spanish as well. I am excited for the opportunity to serve in a new capacity, but I would be lying if I said I felt qualified. I have heard before that the Lord only calls those who are qualified and those who are not.... either way he will qualify you in one way or another. (don't know if that made sense) haha. I know that the Lord will help me, so I am not too concerned.
I am doing well and have really enjoyed this weekend. It was the 18th of September celebration here, which is the biggest celebration that they have, and it is like our 4th of July (independence day) but they do it on a larger scale. We ate a ton of food and went to our ward party where we ate more food and celebrated the holiday together with all of the Chilean people. I have really come to love this people and I am really going to be sad when I get the call that I have to pack my bags and head back. There is just nothing like the mission...I love walking into every house or in the street or wherever you are with your plaque on and feeling like a celebrity. When we walk in the streets people look at us so different and when we enter in houses people receive us with so much love and I just wish that it could be the same when I got back and for the rest of my life. I am so thankful for this opportunity I have to be here and I thank God every day for being blessed by so many great people. Love you guys and miss you a ton and just so you know...I'm still not yours! 7 more months, and I will enjoy every moment!
Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, September 12, 2011
September 12, 2011
Hey,
Another good week in the mission! We really got down to work this week and it seems like things are going to be picking up a ton in the next few weeks. We had a confirmation this week of the girl that got baptized last week and it looks like there is a good possibility that we have another baptism this week and the week after as well...but we will have to wait and see. The week started off king of slow but looking back on it I don't know if I have had a more successful week in the mission. We entered in 10 new houses this week and have found 3 new families to teach. I really feel strongly that 2 of these families are going to progress, but we want them to progress together as a family and be able to be baptized together as a family as well. It is amazing how things can change so much in 1 week.
Last night we had a lesson with one of the families that we found this week. They had shared with the missionaries about 8 months ago and went to church a few times but they ended up not getting baptized because they felt like the missionaries were being pushy and just wanted them to get baptized. We talked to them about following Christs example in everything and promised them a ton of blessings. The father is a member of the church but is inactive. the mother and their 3 kids are not members and aer the ones who actually have more desire to listen to us (I think the dad was drunk last night). But anyways, in the lesson last night we asked the wife if she really wanted to progress and if she would do the preparation so that she could get baptized with the kids. The dad jumped in and said "She doesn't want to listen to you guys, she won't follow through with this and you guys are just going to waste your time on her...Isn't that true?" and then the wife looked at him in the eyes and said "I want to do this, I want to do the preparation, but I want to do this as a family and I want all of the kids to get baptized with me!" Her husband almost had a heart attack when he heard that and my companion said to him, "I bet you haven't heard that from her before" and the husband said "no, that the first time that she has said she wanted to get baptized, and I know she isn't lying". We feel really blessed to have found this family and we are going to do our part to make sure that they start progressing.
How is the AZ summer? It is finally coming to an end! How was Sept. 11th, the 10 year anniversary? I remembered it and thought a lot about how lucky we are to live in a free country and have all of the luxuries that we have. Chile is a nice country, but we are so blessed to live where we do. I've got to go, we are in Chillan and my companion is going to say bye to some of his converts today. Thanks for everything. Love you guys a ton!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Another good week in the mission! We really got down to work this week and it seems like things are going to be picking up a ton in the next few weeks. We had a confirmation this week of the girl that got baptized last week and it looks like there is a good possibility that we have another baptism this week and the week after as well...but we will have to wait and see. The week started off king of slow but looking back on it I don't know if I have had a more successful week in the mission. We entered in 10 new houses this week and have found 3 new families to teach. I really feel strongly that 2 of these families are going to progress, but we want them to progress together as a family and be able to be baptized together as a family as well. It is amazing how things can change so much in 1 week.
Last night we had a lesson with one of the families that we found this week. They had shared with the missionaries about 8 months ago and went to church a few times but they ended up not getting baptized because they felt like the missionaries were being pushy and just wanted them to get baptized. We talked to them about following Christs example in everything and promised them a ton of blessings. The father is a member of the church but is inactive. the mother and their 3 kids are not members and aer the ones who actually have more desire to listen to us (I think the dad was drunk last night). But anyways, in the lesson last night we asked the wife if she really wanted to progress and if she would do the preparation so that she could get baptized with the kids. The dad jumped in and said "She doesn't want to listen to you guys, she won't follow through with this and you guys are just going to waste your time on her...Isn't that true?" and then the wife looked at him in the eyes and said "I want to do this, I want to do the preparation, but I want to do this as a family and I want all of the kids to get baptized with me!" Her husband almost had a heart attack when he heard that and my companion said to him, "I bet you haven't heard that from her before" and the husband said "no, that the first time that she has said she wanted to get baptized, and I know she isn't lying". We feel really blessed to have found this family and we are going to do our part to make sure that they start progressing.
How is the AZ summer? It is finally coming to an end! How was Sept. 11th, the 10 year anniversary? I remembered it and thought a lot about how lucky we are to live in a free country and have all of the luxuries that we have. Chile is a nice country, but we are so blessed to live where we do. I've got to go, we are in Chillan and my companion is going to say bye to some of his converts today. Thanks for everything. Love you guys a ton!
Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup
Monday, September 5, 2011
September 5, 2011
Hey,
Time is flying! I feel like I was just here writing you guys a letter the other day. Not too much has happened this week out of the ordinary. We are working well in our sector and as always there are no problems between my companion and I . He is leaving in 2 weeks to go home to Fresno CA and he seems to have mixed feeling about it. I know that he is excited to go home and be with his family and friends but he is kind of nervous about the transition, so....we have been talking about what he should do when he gets back (studies, dating, working...etc) He has had a lot of family trouble as well so it has been hard for him and I feel like he is probably going home to a pretty difficult situation. I love my companion though and we are staying really focused as a companionship and continuing to work hard, which leads me to my next point. We had another baptismal service this weekend! I am really grateful for the success that we have been able to have and I really feel like we will keep going strong and keep having success here. We have 2 other people that we are working with that are really close and could possibly get baptized this weekend but it would be a real long shot. One of them is super close to being able to get baptized and has made the decision that she wants to do it but wants the support of her family. She is 20 years old and technically doesn't need the permission, but I understand where she is coming from a little bit and we are trying to get her mom to support her decision.
Our zone of missionaries is doing awesome and we are off to another really good start this month. The missionaries in my zone are Zarco,Jenson, Stowe(the jansons know him), brown, Orihuela,Weston, Arana, Sisters DaLuz, Brady, Child and Bustinza. We had set some goals as a zone last month and met them, so today we took the zone and did a really fun activity with them. (we got permission from the president and took the entire zone bowling and afterwards to PIZZA HUT! (the pizza hut is in the other mission but we got permission) I bought a whole family size pizza and a double 1/4 pounder from the Mcdonalds next door to eat tonight after we get home from work. The zone is working really well as a group right now and although there are 2 sectors who aren't' seeing much results, there are other sectors that have been consistently strong, which makes up for them. I love where I am at and I feel like we are looking strong again this month.
I am doing great though and am really happy with everything. I am starting to put goals with myself so that I don't get trunkie in these last months of my mission and so that I can push myself harder and have an awesome end to the mission. Miss you guys and love you a ton!
Love,
Elder Dastrup
Time is flying! I feel like I was just here writing you guys a letter the other day. Not too much has happened this week out of the ordinary. We are working well in our sector and as always there are no problems between my companion and I . He is leaving in 2 weeks to go home to Fresno CA and he seems to have mixed feeling about it. I know that he is excited to go home and be with his family and friends but he is kind of nervous about the transition, so....we have been talking about what he should do when he gets back (studies, dating, working...etc) He has had a lot of family trouble as well so it has been hard for him and I feel like he is probably going home to a pretty difficult situation. I love my companion though and we are staying really focused as a companionship and continuing to work hard, which leads me to my next point. We had another baptismal service this weekend! I am really grateful for the success that we have been able to have and I really feel like we will keep going strong and keep having success here. We have 2 other people that we are working with that are really close and could possibly get baptized this weekend but it would be a real long shot. One of them is super close to being able to get baptized and has made the decision that she wants to do it but wants the support of her family. She is 20 years old and technically doesn't need the permission, but I understand where she is coming from a little bit and we are trying to get her mom to support her decision.
Our zone of missionaries is doing awesome and we are off to another really good start this month. The missionaries in my zone are Zarco,Jenson, Stowe(the jansons know him), brown, Orihuela,Weston, Arana, Sisters DaLuz, Brady, Child and Bustinza. We had set some goals as a zone last month and met them, so today we took the zone and did a really fun activity with them. (we got permission from the president and took the entire zone bowling and afterwards to PIZZA HUT! (the pizza hut is in the other mission but we got permission) I bought a whole family size pizza and a double 1/4 pounder from the Mcdonalds next door to eat tonight after we get home from work. The zone is working really well as a group right now and although there are 2 sectors who aren't' seeing much results, there are other sectors that have been consistently strong, which makes up for them. I love where I am at and I feel like we are looking strong again this month.
I am doing great though and am really happy with everything. I am starting to put goals with myself so that I don't get trunkie in these last months of my mission and so that I can push myself harder and have an awesome end to the mission. Miss you guys and love you a ton!
Love,
Elder Dastrup
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