June 25, 2011

Hey how we doin?

I am doing well and had an interesting week. We received another companion this week and it has been a huge blessing to me. He is a really good missionary and has helped us out in the office a ton. I haven't been able to get out and work in our sector at all this week except for 1 night for 2 hours when I went out with one of the assistants. It feels to me like we didn't get very much done this week or at least in terms of the missionary work we weren't very successful but, I know I am doing what the lord wants me to do and he put me here in this office for a reason. My companion still struggles with his back problems. he is going through a lot and it looks like he will be going home in 2 transfers more. It is difficult for me because due to his pains he is not able to get up on time or able to leave the office very often and work which stinks for me but its the assignment that I have right now so I am trying to get through it with a humble heart knowing that I won't be in this position for very much longer (7 weeks hopefully haha). We have transfers this Monday and we are getting a lot of new Zone Leaders and a new assistant, which will shake thing sup a lot in the mission. I am doing good tough and I am really happy where I am at and with my progression. My spirits are up and I'm excited for another challenging transfer here in the office but I would be lying if I said I didn't have an itch to get out and do some other type of work haha. Nothing too exciting has happened here recently but at the same time I feel like I am always on my toes. I took my district out to lunch today and it looks like I will be getting some new people in my district this upcoming transfer, which could help us have a little more success. We also went and took some photos of some buildings that fell over in the earthquake that I will attach to this email. We also have a talent show and I have a baptism to go to tonight so I better get going (the activity starts in 20 minutes!) I hope all is well with you guys and I will try to send something out with more details this next week. Love you guys a ton.

Yours truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup

June 18, 2011

Heyyyy!
Hows it going back there in the USA! Well...I am still here in Chile and not much has changed. I had a really good week though and it is looking like this next week should be interesting as well. This week has been full of surprises and miracles, it started off normal but has really just turned itself into a mess. For example we have an Elder in the mission who is a young missionary and is just a great guy, super funny and is just one of those people that brightens up the room. He has been having a lot of health problems and has been seeing a lot of doctors here but nobody has been able to solve his problems. My companion and I were over at President Humphreys house (we had lunch over there with them!) and they came to the conclusion that he could possibly have cancer and that they were going to have to send him home. He will be leaving Monday morning and I am going to be really sad to see him go. Pray for him please. I have also been informed that I will be receiving a 2nd companion and he will be with us for this entire week. The problem with having him around is that he has health problems as well and CANT WALK! He too will be leaving, but he will be leaving in a week, at the end of the transfer. So I have taken it upon myself to prepare the office for him this week and I will be leaving with young men this entire week and hopefully be able to work in the street every day. I will leave my companion Elder Hinojosa here with the other Elder and take off for the day to do work.

Another thing I have really enjoyed this week has been the opportunity to be a District Leader. I got to go work in another sector this week with a younger missionary and we wen in to a house and had a really good lesson. We went into the lesson with a purpose and when we walked out the person we were teaching had accepted a baptismal goal for the 25th of this month. I have realized that the goals that I put for myself as a missionary shouldn't be to have "success", I want to have success but the way I am measuring success is totally contrary to what the world sees as success. I have made it a large priority of mine to help other missionaries progress and have good solid spiritual experiences. I have already baptized quite a bit and know that I will continue baptizing, but I have honestly found more joy in helping others. It sounds so corny but it is the truth, I don't know what happened but I just feel like a way better missionary than I was even 2 weeks ago. I love being out here and I really am enjoying all of the new humble loving missionaries coming in and the interaction I have been able to have with them.

Ok...on a little bit of a less spiritual note. I was on an exchange with another missionary named Elder Lulla and we got to talking about what he did before the missiona and he studied at BYU Hawaii. I didn't really think much of it and then it hit me...I need to go study there. It came to me like a revelation and I dreamed about being there that very same night. I still don't know why but I think it is where I need to go. (for a semester of 2 at least) I know that it is still 10 months away but, when revelation comes, it comes...haha

This morning we went and played basketball with Elder Fischbeck and the assistants (we invited President and he said he will come next week) but, we played for an hour or so and afterwards they invited us over for breakfast. It was amazing , we ate pancakes, eggs and bacon and whit hot chocolate. Also, thank you for the package that you guys sent me. It was a perfect package. I really love the beef jerky and we drank a ton of the hot chocolate this morning. I love you guys a ton and hope that everything is going well! Have a good week and wish me a ton of luck this week.

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

June 11, 2011

Hey whats going on!?? It is Saturday morning here, very cloudy and it has been raining off and on for the last couple of days. I have come down with a pretty bad fever that is putting me in a ton of pain bu....we are still working, no worries. My companion is doing better and in interviews with President this week he told me that my job was to get as much work out of him as possible and when he can't handle the pain anymore he will just have to go home. It's kind of sad to think that there is a good possibility that he won't be able to make it for the whole 2 years, but he just needs to take advantage of the time he has left and really give it 110%. I have been so blessed with good health on the mission and even though I am a little under the weather right now, it could be a lot worse.

This week has been another really tough one and we haven't see a lot of progress here in the sector. Due to the work in the office and my companions bad back, it has been especially hard this week to get out and work. I don't feel like we are working as effectively as we could be and for some reason things just aren't panning out. Today we have an appointment with Maria and I am really hoping that it goes well. I have been studying, praying and planning all week so that everything goes well tonight, so I have confidence that it will. We are also working with another kid named Guillermo who came to church last week and we are hoping that he can start progressing at the rate that he should. The work has been difficult, frustrating and we haven't seen the fruits of our labors too much, but I know that it's coming and that we will start seeing some miracles here.

In other news, I did actually get to do some fun stuff today and it looks like we are going to get out and go to take some pictures of Concepcion as well. There is a park full of big Dinosaur statues and there are also a couple of huge building that either fell down or are half way fallen from the earthquake last year. Also, Elder Robers, one of the AP's is learning how to drive stick because Elder Keller is leaving after the cambio and the truck that they have is stick shift, so we are going to go out with him and hope that I don't die int the process! We are going to have transfers here in 2 more weeks and there are 20 missionaries going him, so I think that I might actually be out of here....(it's a small possibility but its a possibility) I am fine with whatever and I really just hope that I can remain happy no matter where I am at. I love you guys a ton and think about you whenever I have a little bit of spare time (from 10:59-11:00 at night). I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the AZ summer!

Con mucho mucho Carino,

Elder Cody Dastrup

June 4, 2011

Hey!
How are we doing this week? My week has been on full of ups and downs. My comp and I got off to a rough start this week but as any ex missionary knows....that just happens sometimes. We worked out our differences and now we are really getting some work done. We have already found a ton of new investigators this week and it is looking like we might have 1 or 2 in church this week! Woohoo! Maria told me the other day that she won't be coming to church this Sunday because she has to go watch her grandkids....We have more or less had to drop her, which was a tough decision, but I feel like we did our part and she wasn't willing to do hers. I feel like I have grown a lot this week in terms of maturity and as a leader and I honestly feel like I am just a way better person than I was 1 week ago from today. I have realized that every person has their own personal battles and doubts and we as missionaries have been asked to step in and fight, step in and destroy all of their doubts. Now more than ever I have really felt the weight of my calling and I LOVE being a missionary. Not a ton has happened this week but I feel like next week, the way things are going, I will have some interesting experiences.

I am glad to hear that the package I sent go to you guys. All of the stuff I sent is stuff that I had never seen in the States before and things that they eat or use a lot here in Chile. The 2 wooden things are Trompos (the spinning top) and the other thing don't have a clue what it is called. Type in "How to throw a trompo" on youtube and you should be able to see a video on how to do it. I am glad to hear that you guys are all doing well and that you have received a lot of blessings as of lately. Also, it was cool to hear that Tiff and Jeff are going to be living in AZ again! I can't wait to get back and have a lot the family close. I haven't heard from a lot of friends and some family in a while but I hope all is well with you guys and that you are enjoying your lives. Just remember to make the best out of every day and every situation. I love you all and send you all a big hug via email!

Con mucho mucho Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup

May 28, 2011

Hey hows it going for everyone? It was another stellar week here in the mission and although we didn't have a ton of time to work in the field we got a lot of stuff done here in the office and I feel like we really helped the mission out. Its kind of hard sometimes being here in the office because sometimes you feel like you aren't helping the mission out when you aren't having success in your sector in terms of baptisms and other investigators. It has also been difficult to have a companion who has back problems. We have had to cancel appointments and drop what we are doing on various occasions so that he can come to the office and sit down because his back is hurting him. He has a herniated disk and something else wrong with his back and will need to have surgery. He opted to do the surgery after the mission, but he downfall of that is that he is in a lot of pain here and it is really slowing him down. I hope all goes well with him and that he recovers quickly so that we can go out and work and have some more success in our sector but I know that I am with him, in the sector for a reason....so I am fine with it, but we are striving to get out and have more success.

Maria is doing alright but still hasn't came back to church since the first time that she came. She is an interesting lady and it has been really hard to get her to follow through with her commitments. We are really looking hard for a family that will listen to us that is really willing to put our message to the test. Something I don't get and I don't think I ever will is how people won't even listen to our message. What do you have to lose in listening to our message? When we enter houses, we teach them what we believe and then we invite them to pray and ask God if what we taught is true or invite them to read something or go to church on Sunday and find out for themselves what it is like and I have really come to the conclusion that there are 3 main types of "Christians" that we always find here. The 1st group are those who believe in their religion and sincerely are following it because they feel like its what they should do, they do what they do because they believe in God and believe its his will. The 2nd type is the Catholics who are catholic because....it is the "oldest church" and they somehow feel like they are saved because their parents baptized them shortly after birth and although they have done nothing to show their faith to God at any point in their lives, they are saved due to tradition, who may times don't even believe in God or know what they believe. The other group that I have run into is the smallest group of them all and its the group that wants to follow God and will do almost anything to know that he really exists and really, sinceremente are good people. We are praying night and day to find someone in the 3rd group. Someone humble, that will just give us the time of day so that we can give them the most priceless and precious thing that there is! I love being here and have really found myself....who I really am and the person I need to become. I love you guys a ton.
Con Carino,
Eldero Cody Dastrup

May 21, 2011

Hey guys!
This week was a little stressful and has been full of craziness so I will cut right to the chase. So we had transfers this last week and Elder Page left. The next thing that I found out was that I would be getting a Chilean companion that was coming straight to the mission from his house the next day. He had started his mission like 2 months ago but went home after having back problems and now is back and I have him as my companion. Lets just say he has potential to be my favorite companion yet! He is really funny and speaks decent English. We always joke around, I say something funny to him in Spanish and he then says something funny to me in English. He also is a really smart kid who worked for Microsoft before the mission and had a job where he sent viruses to people who used illegal software here in Chile. (He's the guy that send you viruses, haha) I also got another surprise on Monday that I had been called to be District Leader here in Conce. I was kind of nervous at first to have the responsibility but it is practically the same thing, but I have the responsibility to look out for the other missionaries and their investigators as well. I also will be interviewing the Zone Leaders investigators which should be fun and very spiritual. Nothing to crazy has happened during the week except for a few more protests downtown and we had a really cool spiritual lesson last night. I would go into details but...I don't have a ton of time. And that's what after the mission is for anyways!! I love
you guys a ton and hope that all is well back home. I am so thankful for the blessings that I have and ask you to just keep praying for our investigators. Para Que sepan Maria is progressing and promised she will be at church this week! We will see how that goes and hopefully she gets baptized this next week!

Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

May 14, 2011

Hey Everyone,
I am doing really well. It was really good to talk to the family this last week and I feel re-charged now to go to work even harder than I have been working. We were a lot more busy this week due to the transfers that we are going to have on Tuesday, but we have been able to get in a little bit of work in our sector as well. I talked with the Assistants this morning and although nobody else really knows, we found out Elder Page (my companion) is going to be transferred. It will be sad to lose another companion but I am sure that he will have success no matter where he goes and it will be good for him to get out of the office and start working n the field more. We have taught Maria a few times and she actually wants to get baptized in a week...but she can't because sh hasn't been to church enough yet. We are really excited about her and feel like she will get baptized by the end of this month. We really don't have any other great investigators but we are hoping that we can get another 1 or 2 in church this next week. I am really nervous/excited for this next part of my mission and I know that it will be crucial in my progress as a person and as a missionary.

Another cool thing that happened was that the new missionary couple just arrived. They came into the office this morning with the President and his wife and they are very similar to the President. The Clawsons are from West Jordan Utah about 5-10 minutes from Mark and Vonda and that's about all I know about them for now. Hermana Clawson especially seems really nice and Elder Clawson does too but he seems wayyy tired from the 14 hour plane ride in. I can already tell that they will do a great job and be fun to work with.

Me and my companion had an interesting Thursday this week. There were a lot of protests here in down town Concepcion and we had to leave the office to run some errands. Well, we left the office only to find out that the police had recently tear gassed the street and we walked right into it. My companion and I decided to turn it into a game, so we pretended like the tear gas didn't effect us because we were from the United States (we just walked normal and didn't touch our faces or cover our noses) while everyone else was running around and covered in scarfs. I thought it was funny, until my eyes started watering and I learned why they call it tear gas. Also later on the same day we were walking across the street (j-walking) and the girl walking right in front of us gets nailed by a bus! YES A BUS! She was like 5 feet in front of me and landed, almost hitting her head on the edge of the cement. She moved a little bit and then went back down like a sack of potatoes. Luckily a paramedic was close by and came running over, he called an ambulance and then administered to her. She was talking when they took her away but she definitely broke something and got some serious road rash. I am glad she didn't' die and I am so thankful that nothing like that has ever happened to me!

I hope all is well with you guys and I hope you are all nice and safe. I am so grateful to know the people that I know and have had the experiences that I have had and will have in the next year. I miss you guys a ton, but now more than ever I don't want to come home, I love what I am doing, and I love you guys a ton!

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

April 30, 2011

Hey Everyone!
Sorry I am on late today. We actually ended up going to Chillan and seeing some of my converts and having lunch with a family in the ward. It was good to go back and see some of the people that I probably won't see again until the very end of my mission. I love the people from my first sector and really miss them, so it was really good to go back and see them. We also have had an amazing week and have had a lot of success in the sector. The lady that we found before the baptism the other week is named Maria. She is doing well and should be there in church this Sunday. We have taught her 3 times now and she is progressing rapidly and I have a good feeling she will get baptized here soon. We are going to try and set up a visit with President Humphrey (mission president) so that he an get to know her and help her get going and progressing a little bit more. We also have another 2 people who are Ecuadorians that have shown some interest in our message and could potentially get baptized in May or June. This week has been full of experiences and good times and I thought I would share just one of them with you because I am short on time...So this week we have made it a priority to get out and work. We have been contacting a lot of houses and people in the streets and having a lot of success. So, on Monday we were going around by the University talking to people and trying to share our message with them and we ran into these 2 kids that spoke English. We talked to them for a few minutes and then took off. Then a man came out and invited us back and asked us if we could share a message with them. Of course we accepted the invitation and walked in. Next thing I knew, I was in a house of 10 people who were part of some Reformed Catholic Christian group talking to them about our beliefs and inviting them to follow Jesus Christ. We had to be very respectful because of the circumstances, so I wasn't busting out a bunch of scriptures trying to show them why we are the right and they are the wrong, but rather we taught simply and testified strongly about what we know to be true. We got a return date with a few of the people there and we will see if it turns into something more then just an interesting experience. Last night I also had a cool experience (not super spiritual but nonetheless it was cool to me). We share P-day with the assistants and everyone else in the mission has their P-days on Mondays so last night my comp pulled his mattress into the assistants room and I slept on the extra bed that they have and we slept in their room. We stayed up really late talking and I go to know a lot more about each one of them, pick their minds a little bit and figure out what it is that got them to this point in their missions and in their lives. I really respect both of them and they are really solid missionaries. One of them is named Elder Pitcher and he ends his mission in 2 weeks. He has became one of my best friends here in the mission and has helped me mature spiritually and as a person since I have moved into house (4 weeks ago). He was talking about marriage last night and how he has received revelation on the type of person that he needs to marry and the qualities that they would need to have. I have put a lot of thought into it lately and am so glad that I am here on the mission. I have already learned so much about myself and I know that the mission has already helped me decide a few tings about my future and you guys will be surprised when I come back how much I have really grown up out here (at least I like to think so) I am also really excited for the rest of the time that I will have here in the office and for the opportunity that I will have this next year to work my butt off and leave absolutely nothing on the field. I love you guys so much and you are always in my prayers.

The One and Only,
Elder Cody Dastrup

April 23, 2011

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

April 16, 2011

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

Elder Reed and Elder Dastrup

Hey guys!

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

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

Con Carino,

Elder Cody Dastrup

April 9, 2011

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

April 5, 2011

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Yours Truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup

March 28, 2011

Hey! This week was definitely not the most exciting one but it was definitely a little interesting. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that you guys had a good time with Taylor there this last week. I am so glad that you guys got to go to the temple and have the experiences that you had. I can't wait til I am back and will be able to go with you guys and share those experiences with you, but for now I am content with the experiences that I am having. Elder Garcia is ending his mission this week and we have transfers this coming week. He is doing well and will have the surgery right after he ends the mission up in Santiago, Chile. He is an AP right now and he told me that he wanted to work with me one last time before he goes home, so he is going to come out on Thursday and me and him are going to go out and work in my sector. I am probably gunna cry like a baby when he leaves, he is such a good guy and has done so much for me, but I know that the mission has to come to an end at some point. I am sooo excited to get to work with him again! As far as work in the sector...this week was pretty good. we didn't find anyone new that has a ton of potential but our investigators are progressing a ton and we are looking to have a solid 3-5 baptisms in April We are working really hard and I know that the Lord is going to bless us with people when these ones get baptized. Nothing too interesting happened this week so I guess I can just skip straight to Sunday which was packed with excitement, and just to let you guys know stuff like this happens all the time to me...So we get to church right as it is starting and they start with the normal "Hows everyone doing" and then the bishop's counselor says "We are going to start with a hymn and Elder Dastrup will lead the music..." I went up and did my best to lead the music then went down to sit by my companion. Then he says we are going to prepare for the sacrament by singing another hymn and so I got up and led another one. After the hymn ends, he taps my shoulder and says "prepare yourself to give a talk". So I go down to my seat bust out my scriptures and end up having 5 minutes to prepare a 15 minute talk. I give the talk and it went pretty well, and after sacrament meeting ends I look around and I don't see our teacher for the 2nd hour anywhere. She is in Santiago!!! So we start the 2nd class and the Mission Leader says..."The teacher isn't here, but sometimes that just happens but that's why we have the missionaries..." I end up teaching the class pretty much by myself (A full hour by the way) and I think I am pretty much done for the day but...that would have been to easy. After the class an older woman comes up to us and asks us to give her a blessing of health. Of course she wants me to do it and so I did it. After that we get asked to take the sacrament to some older lady that lives on the other side of our sector. After we did all of that...we got to go to lunch and I was sooo happy. Until the lady brought out Chicken liver to eat, haha. LONGEST SUNDAY OF MY LIFE! Well I have no time left so...I hope all is well and that you get this email quickly. Love you guys a ton and hope that you know that. Yours Truly, Elder Cody Dastrup

March 21, 2011

Last week Cody was real sick and we only got a few lines stating how sick he was with the stomach flu....so that is why we didn't post anything for March 14, 2011.

Hey Everyone!

I am back! Last week was rough, me being really sick, we had interviews with President and we had a baptism on Saturday. As for the sickness...I am feeling great. On Sunday night I puked my brains out and I literally thought I was going to die, but I made it out alive and I am good to go for this week. I don't know exactly how I got sick but if I were to guess I would say it was just a virus. I am doing really well though and I feel like I had one of the better weeks of my mission this week. Like I said, we had a baptism this week and it went perfect, and like I think I said last week we are working our butts off and it is paying off.

The girl that we baptized is named Alejandra and she is awesome. She is 13 but understands everything perfect and is very mature for her age. Elder George baptized and I did the confirmation on Sunday. the confirmation went really well and surprisingly it was a pretty decent sized confirmation (my vocabulary has increased a lot in the last few months, haha) The baptism and everything was really good but the best part was the whole week of preparation. Last Saturday Alejandras mom asked if we could come help them take down their house and move the stuff to a different lot nearby, we said yes and we did it with the help of 3 other missionaries. On Tuesday she called me and asked if I could do a big favor for her...come over and build the house! I said we will see what we can do and that i would get back to her. Honestly, I was thinking about not doing it and telling her that that's not what we are here for but I knew that isn't what the Lord wanted. So, Tuesday night I called up Elder Reed and my DL and asked them if they could come help us in the morning, of course they said yes. We went and worked until 1 in the afternoon. Alejandras mom, Sara, seemed really pleased and then asked if we could come back later so she could thank us. We went back to the house at like 5 in the afternoon and we taught her a lesson and testified of why we are here and that we are literally servants of Christ. She got emotional and told us that she asked her church to help her the day before, they said no and then went on to talk bad about us and say some nasty things about us. She told us that she knew that we were good people because we came to help her when we didn't even know her. She came to Alejandras baptism on Saturday with Alejandras aunt and to church on Sunday. They loved church and so we went to share a message with them afterwards and her mom just broke down in tears. She now wants to listen to our message, accepted a baptismal date for the 10th of April and asked me if I would baptize her. I know that the spirit can speak to us, but only if we are willing to listen and act upon the promptings of the spirit will we receive them. If we hadn't gone and done that service for her, we would have more then likely been just another church in her eyes, but because we went, she now has the chance to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in her life.

This week we had some other good people in church and to be hones we are looking really good for April. the Lord blesses us so much when we put our trust in him and my companion and I are seeing the blessings of our hard work finally paying off. My invite to everyone is that you can go out and serve someone, anyone...you never know what could come out if it or how much it could mean to them.

Yours Truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup

PS...I heard BYU is playing Florida in the sweet 16. GO COUGS! (unless they are playing Utah) haha

March 7, 2011

Hey,
I had an awesome week! Me and my companion finally clicked a little bit and we worked our butts off and it looks like we will be having a baptism this week or the next. I am more comfortable being senior companion and my companion is helping me adjust and making the transition really smooth and easy. I had my birthday on Saturday and it was....amazing! I can honestly say it was one of the better birthdays that I have ever had. I had 3 "Birthday Parties" 2 of them were surprise parties that our investigators and members planned and the other one was something that we planned for the night. We ate a ton of cake, Chilean pizza and we had a BBQ. I had a blast and I would like to thank everyone who sent me letters, packages or anyone who has even prayed for me and just so you guys know the Chileans treat me very well down here, they are a good people. I am really grateful for all of the support I have from them and from you all.

This next week I think we will have a baptism and if not it will be the next week. I am really getting down to business here with my new companion and we are just forgetting ourselves in the work. I love working hard because the time flies by and you really just don't have time to think about anything other than the work. The baptism that we have planned is for a girl name Alejandra. She is a 13 year old that is really smart and literally answer all of the questions that I ask her better than I can teach so I pretty much just ask her a bunch of good questions when we teach her and she basically teaches herself haha (if that makes sense)

Today we obviously have our pday and we went to a church building in central and we played soccer and basketball. I realized that I am a lot better as soccer then I am at basketball now and that's not because I am really good at soccer...I have just lost all basketball skills. This next week we are planning on going to play paintball again but it is kind of expensive so we will see what happens there. Nothing else too exciting happened this week but I will keep you guys updated on whatever goes on and if anything cool happens down here. Let me know if you have any questions....

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

February 28, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 21, 2011

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

Elder Cody Dastrup

February 14, 2011

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

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

Yours Truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

February 7, 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

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

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

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

Yours Truly,

Elder Cody Dastrup

January 31, 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

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

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

Love always,

Elder Cody Dastrup

January 24, 2011

Hey!
Another good week of work put in this week!! We baptized Alajandra this Sunday and it was an awesome experience. Our ward here did a really good job befriending her and in the end I feel like that's what got her to her baptism. Our ward is starting to work really well and we had a capacitation this week with President about working with the wards and I feel like it will really help us out in the long run. We also did a lot of work in the street and found some really good new investigators. We are working with this one guy named Claudio and his girlfriend Claudia who are living together. Claudio is 27 and is a member and is a really good guy but he has made a few mistakes and is now a little far from the church and everything. Claudia isn't a member of the church but wants to start going and change her life and it's still really early but I feel like they have a ton of potential.

This is kind of off subject but mom asked a question about the ward in the email and the answer is...every sector where missionaries work is only 1 ward and you can have 2 or 4 (which is rare) missionaries in a sector. Elder Scott and I work in a Ward called Lorenzo Arenas and we are the only missionaries over our ward and sector and we only have that 1 ward in our sector.

Lets see...today we went to the beach and played ultimate Frisbee and a little football and I really liked it. It was the first time that I had seen the beach in all of my time here in Chile. I took some good pictures and I will try to put some of them in this email. I am doing good and have been reading a lot of the talks that mom sent me for Christmas and also reading the book that Buzzz Miller sent me it's REALLY GOOD and perfect for a missionary and it's called "Sustaining the Faith" (I think) haha. The President changed our schedule too and we wake up a half hour later at 7:30am and we go to bed a half hour later 11:30pm. I love it!!! Not to much happened this week but we are going to go make pizza with a member for lunch so I am going to get going because I am starving!!! And I got the package from you mom and from Mark and Vonda (thank you) and yes I still get a pretty decent amount of letters :)

Have a wonderful day,
Elder Cody Dastrup

I asked him if Pizza was the same as here and he said no it isn't the same but it's not bad. It's definitely way better in the states because here instead of pizza sauce they usually just put sliced tomatoes on top of the Pizza.

January 17, 2011

Hey everyone!
This week has been a long one full of surprises and a lot of work! My companion Elder Scott and I have been working our butts off this week and I feel like it has really paid off. The beginning of the week started off kind of slow but on Wednesday morning the Zone Leaders came over to our house to study with us and do divisions. I went out with Elder Catucuagu (from Ecuador) and we did some contacts in the street. We knocked a door and a couple of girls answered and we entered the house and taught a really good lesson. Both of them seemed really excited to go to church this week and I was expecting to see them there, but...Sunday rolled around and we called them in the morning and they didn't answer, we went to church and they didn't show up. I was kind of bummed that they didn't come and as we were walking home from church the phone rang and I answered, they asked if "Cody" was there...And then I realized I had made a mistake...for all of you who have never been missionaries there are a few things you should never do...1st tell two teenage girls your first name, 2nd Don't call them from your cell pone without blocking the number and 3rd...I don't know but lest say that these girls seemed so solid, looks like they might have just been more interested in the missionaries then the message haha. But all is well and we have straightened out that problem. As for Alajandra...She didn't end up getting baptized on Sunday. On Tuesday we went and visited her and her abusive ex boyfriend showed up. She was crying and it was just a mess but she is on track to get baptized this Sunday and we are going to pass by every night to make sure nothing stops her from getting in the water. I am really excited for Alejandra and her family and I feel like she will be one of my strongest converts that I have baptized in the mission. I just ask that you guys can pray for her that everything goes smooth this week and that she will be ready for baptism this Sunday.

As for me I am doing good. I am really enjoying the mission,, my Spanish is improving and I love the people we are working with. We have a ton of potential here in the sector and I can't wait to see what this ward is like in 2 more months. I am missing home a little but every time that I think about how much I miss everything, I think about how much I love everything here and it makes everything alright. This last week I completed 9 months in the mission and it is so weird to think I have been out that long but...it's true. Does it feel like I have been gone that long to you guys? Ohh and I received some bad news this week. I have heard that Elder Garcia has a hip problem and he has to have an expensive surgery (which is $$ that he doesn't have) and he might have to end his mission early and go home:( I love him and have been praying that everything works out for him and ask taht you guys do the same, he is a really good guys. That's all I have for today, but if you guys need or want anything else just let me know and I will be more then glad to do it.

Con Carino,
Elder Cody Dastrup

January 10, 2011

Hey Everyone!
This week has been an interesting one full of hard work and blessings! We set a goal for Claudia to stop smoking by this last Saturday so that she could get baptized this week but she continues to smoke and we had to drop her this week. It is tough to drop people (stop working with them) but she lives far away and right now we just don't have the time to visit her on a consistent basis, hopefully she changes. On a good note we witnessed a miracle last night. So we have been working with the lady named Alejandra and also with her son Thomas (I baptized him a week ago) for like a month now. She goes to church every week and really wants to get baptized. At Thomas' baptism she was balling her eyes out and kept telling us how beautiful it was, but she was living with someone who she isn't married to so she couldn't be baptized. The guy she was living with is the dad of her 2 kids but his a total...beeeeep (plug in your own word here) or LOSER!!!! He always brags about how he has been in jail a lot and how he is really gangster and he is soooo annoying! Guess what....Alejandra kickedhim out of the house so that she can get baptized this week!!! She is working a lot now because she has to pay for the rent but I think we might have found a job where she will make more money and stuff so hopefully it all works out and she can afford to live alone with the kids. Please pray for her, that everything will work out and she won't have anything bad happen to her this week. I am really excited for her and I will fill you guys in on whatever happens with her.

As for me I am doing good, on Monday I took a huge bag of tobacco from Claudia so that she couldn't smoke it and I left it in my scripture case all week on accident! My bible now smells like Argentine tobacco! Also the last couple of weeks i have shedding a few extra pounds. I went to the office today and weighed myself and....I am back to 155 lbs (less than when I was in the MTC) I think I lost weight because I stopped cooking at night and I have actually done my exercises a few times in this transfer opposed to before when I would just roll out of bed and drag myself to the shower. I am going to start waking up at 6:30 again (the rule is 7 here) and start playing basketball at a park by our house. I am really excited for this transfer and expect to grow a tonnn this next 6 weeks. Wellll I love you all and hope you all are doing well. Let my mom know if you need anything from me.

Yours truly,
Elder Cody Dastrup

January 3, 2011

Hey Everyone,
How's it going? I am doing good and had an awesome Christmas and New Years! I have a lot to write so...here it goes. Christmas was really good, we worked on Christmas Eve until 9 and after that we went over to a members house and had Christmas dinner with them (we had Mexican food...kind of) We stayed over there for a couple of hours and had a really good time they gave me and my comp some presents and then we left and went home. Christmas morning was a little lame, but we ended up waking up and running downstairs and opening presents (ties, socks, etc) it was super exciting but lest just say nothing really beats a Christmas in the states. Later in the day we got to call the family using Skype and for the first time in 8 months I saw my family! That was my favorite part of the day and I really enjoyed seeing everyone, and you all look the same except Katie...haha. At like 7 we got back out into the street and worked for 3 hours before we finally went to sleep.

New Years was next and we had a blast! We ate dinner with a family from the church at 9 and then went and spent the New Years Eve as fun as you can as a missionary...in the house haha. New Years day we woke up and went to play paintball! We went to this place that is on the side of a mountain full of trees, mud and hills and I felt like I was in Vietnam! It was intense and we ended up playing for 4 hours and afterwards we went back to the Assistants house and ordered a bunch of pizza and watched a Disney movie. New Years day was probably the most fun day that I have had out here in the mission, it was a blast. Afterwards, like always we went back to work and had a pretty good night.

Now the serious stuff, this week we had a baptism! I was really excited and really content with the baptism that we had on Sunday. His name is Thomas and he is 9, we have been teaching him and his mom but only he could get baptized on Sunday because his mom still isn't ready. I had the opportunity to baptize him and I was really glad that I got to do it. I sent some pictures of the baptism, so hopefully they make it. Everything went really smooth and they called a new ward mission leader in the ward I am in and lets just say we are going to have some serious success here because of him. He is an awesome guy who is always thinking about how the ward can better itself and what they can do to help us (I strongly suggested him to the Bishop to be our ward mission leader 2 weeks ago and he got called last week, haha)

That's all I have for now but I will be writing again next Monday and my P-days will start being on Monday's once again. Thanks for all that you guys do for me, all the support and Christmas presents. I wanted to say thanks to Bro. Ladd and the ward for sending me that package full of candy and stuff too....THANKS A TON!

Yours Truly,
Elder Dastrup