Email from October 24, 2011

Well....

Another week come and gone. And dang it was a good one. I am loving it right now.. So our zone set a goal for 12 baptisms for the month of October. This is a goal, that President said he expected from us and we thought about that number, and were determined to get it...

As of October 9th, which we figured most of the dates would need to be set by then, we had 1 baptism, and 4 set. We were looking at having just five for the month... Dang.. But not so fast. We started seeing a few miracles that week, but nothing to big. But this last week we had several more baptisms, 4 total for the month so far. And as a zone, the Lord has truly blessed us. We have 8 baptisms now on date for the 29th and 30th. Our zone is very very blessed. We will be having two this weekend. And other areas will be having two as well..

Therese's baptism, on Saturday, was great. Yes it took several tries to get her completely under water :) But she is a champ and just kept going until she got it.. It was a fun day. We have a baptismal date with Tamika this Saturday and she is awesome. She knows exactly what the Lord wants her to do.. Her family does not want her to do it at all. They actually told her no. We will be meeting with her on Tuesday. Keep that in your prayers!

Then on Friday, We met with a new investigator named Munsamy.... We felt like the Lord had prepared him to be baptized in the month of October. So we invited him to be baptized on October 30th. He accepted, so we taught the Word of wisdom, because he had a coffee in his hands... He poured it out immediately and said, whatever the Lord wants me to do, I will do.... We were stoked out of our minds... But come Sunday, for some reason he didn't come and his phone is shut off. So we have to delay the baptism. That was number 12 and we were kind of down about that but we knew that it would be provided with faith. So last night, The assistants call us and connect us with some Sisters.... They have been teaching someone that lives in our area and has a baptismal date for the 30th.. BACK TO TWELVE.. I know for a fact that we are being watched over.. What a blessing..

I have been able to call some of my converts and people I got close with this last couple days. I got to talk to Edith (the 86 year old convert from Willow Park ward) if you remember her. I made both of our days. She is doing so good. It was fun to get to talk to her.. She is figuring out a day to go through the temple. Either the first or second of February, and I was given two Flames (hockey) tickets for the 3rd. So It looks like we are coming back up that week! Mom you will get to experience some real cold weather. Good stuff...

So I am truly loving it up here.. I can't believe I come home in a week and a half.. To soon....

I am supposed to give you my Flight info...

I fly from Calgary to PHX on US Airways flight #248 I arrive there at 856

Then I fly to SLC on US Airways flight #457 And I arrive there at 1238...

Oh good stuff... Now just remember that is on THURSDAY NOV. 3RD.. Don't screw that one up..... :)

Welll I love you all. Have a wonderful week. And I will see you next week!

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from October 17, 2011

Familyyyyyyy.....

Well isn't this weird...Time just keeps getting less and less and less... I don't know what I think about that. As much as I can't wait to see you all, It is getting harder and harder for me to realize that I won't ever be doing what I am doing again out here.... Kind of hard to swallow.

But as for this week, our zone saw miracle after miracle after miracle. As a zone we set a goal of 12 baptisms for the month of October, which is pretty high. Even a week ago, we were projecting just 5.. This week we have set several more dates for the month, and if all goes through we are looking at 10 now. Just two more very possible miracles. And it WILL happen.It is so fun to be apart of.

We have two dates set as of right now. 1 is for this Saturday, with Therese. She will be baptized at 11. She has chosen everything for her program and seems to be good to go. Pray for her, and for us to be able to do the things necessary to help her!

The other date set is for the following Saturday, the 29th.. With Tamika. She is doing really well as well and has a very strong testimony of the Gospel. It is so fun to be apart of. It will be a good way to lead out of my mission... Being the last two weekends. I have been so blessed out here, it is amazing. I see some of the trials that the family is going through, and I still know that the Lord is watching over all of us. NOTHING will hinder his great work..

Then the last person we are working quite a bit with is Daniel, He is sweet. We have been meeting with him more and more, and truly is looking. It is neat to see the spirit work with him. I think he is enjoying it, I guess he wouldn't keep coming back if he weren't...

It is all good on the East side of Calgary..

So mom, you didn't really answer the question I had about what I should bring home, So I guess should I just decide on my own. There is a lot of stuff that is definitely worn to shreads that I won't be bringing...

I can't believe Brett gets home this week... So weird. Then I get home two weeks after that, then Nick leaves quickly after that. There is a lot going on in a short amount of time....

Well I guess, once again I have run out of things to say, I love all of you..

Shawn be strong my brotha, you will be in my Prayers!

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from October 11, 2011

Hey everybody, sorry this email was so late.

Yesterday was Canadian thanksgiving so everything was closed. And today we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We are so busy and barely even found time to come email. Luckily we found some.

Our week has been great. We set two baptismal dates! One for the 22nd. Her name is Therese. She is solid. She accepts everything and understands the gospel of Jesus Christ so well.

The other, we just came from the lesson actually, is Tamika. She is awesome as well. She has lots of trials, but is facing them straight on, we have helped her recognize how important it is to be baptized now rather than wait, she has started to recognize that. It is fun to watch.

Well, i really have no time at all.

but I do have a couple questions..

Mom, can you get a dentist appointment set up for me the week after I get home.?

What time is our ward, so I can tell some friends that want to come?

And as well, it is about time for me to pack, mom do you have a preference of what I bring home, or leave here? I just want to weed out the things I don't want, but I don't know what you want?

Well I have to send a bunch of pictures to the assistants, for our farewell Fireside. So I love you all and miss you. I will write you more next week!

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from October 3, 2011

Well it is a wonderful day here in Canada...

Only because I am 21. Other than that it is a pretty regular p-day..

My whole mission I have thought, when I have my 21st birthday, I am basically done with my mission... Ummm I don't quite feel like that anymore. I still feel like I have a while left. I think I will feel like that until I am actually home though, so no worries. I am just going to love what I am doing now. No worries in the world! (Except trying to get our investigators to church....)

Life is good in Canada though. We had a wonderful week will finding new investigators, which was our goal of the week, and having some really good lessons! Nobody accepted the invitation to be baptized. But almost everybody we are teaching is right there and ready. Just a few more spiritual experiences and chances to read the Book of Mormon and all is well.

Elder Stephan wanted to go knock on a door this week and so we were walking there, and we street contacted a lady from Burma, By China I think, and she invited us back to teach her family that night. They have three children and two of baptizing age. There is definitely a language barrier, but we will break it and the family will be baptized!

We also taught some amazing individuals. Daniel being one of them. He is the man. He came to conference this weekend and enjoyed what was said. I really like teaching him. He takes in everything we say, and really wants to know if it is true.. He continues wanting to meet with us to learn more. We are inviting him to be baptized on the 22nd and know he can be ready for that day. He would be a really good solid member. I enjoy teaching him...

This week we started teaching a lady named Theresa. She is from central Africa. Speaks Swahili? But we have taught her twice so far and she came to conference as well. We are making a lot of progress with all these individuals..

Oh yeah, and Tamika. She is sweet. She basically already has a testimony and is just trying to help her mom meet with us. She is sweet as well!

We have such amazing investigators everywhere. All of them are so close. Just need to get over the hump... Then it is all down hill from there unto their eternal happiness!

Wasn't conference amazing? I went with three solid questions... And all three questions, were said back to me word for word by several different apostles, then answered by them. It was so sweet. I love seeking and receiving revelation.. It has got to be the coolest things about being a missionary... Receiving revelation.

I love it... Being a missionary is great. No better work.

Mom and Dad I got your package.. Thank you so much. I love you both. The popcorn is amazing. I got one of my companions hooked on it.. Now hopefully I just don't lose the gift card. That would be bad news...

So Holly, you mentioned me coming down to St. George pretty soon after I get home. I wouldn't mind that at all. I want to see the boys play some ball, whether it is basketball or football. And I can visit some friends from the mission! But Real quick so I can write drew back, what is your address again, I think I have it, but just incase.....

Mom, I know it is still over a month away, but can you see what my topic for my homecoming will be.. I like having a bit of notice so I can think about it, and come up with some good experiences.... Thanks!

Well we are going to do lots of running around today for my birthday then go to dennies, cause they give free meals on birthday... So I am going to take advantage of that.. Well

I am going to get, I love all of you. Miss you. Have a wonderful week, and more importantly day, just cause since I can't celebrate it, you all can!
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from September 26, 2011

Yo what up!

First of all, Happy birthday Holly! I hope you had a wonderful week.. You deserve it. Then this next week better be good, cause I better deserve it, my last birthday on the mission!

So it sounds like everyone had a pretty good week. Mom, you got to find out which General Authorities are coming to our stake conference. That is so cool you are in charge of the food. Don't give them food poisoning! :) No pressure though... hahah

This week for me was very bitter-sweet. Very bitter at moments and very Sweet at moments... Got to love the mission eh?

Start with the bad. They four baptismal dates we had for this upcoming weekend (October 1st) all dropped. Shawn and Nicole had a bunch of things fall right at the wrong time. They are going through a tough time. We are praying for them and hoping that all will end well. I have loved going over and teaching them. Shawn has been amazing at recognizing the spirit. We have a good connection with them. It is really neat to have and see the gospel work in their lives.

Dusty, had a trial come up. Tithing. The circumstances that came up are very difficult. He only gets money from the govt. That is it. The program he is on, he actually isn't even allowed to pay tithing. We didn't know about that until after the lesson. So we are going to try and get him going again for this Saturday. We will see what happens. Keep them all in your prayers.

So this week I may have made the newspaper, and for sure I made the article on the Internet. Find where they do the "Calgary Sun" News on the Internet and you might find me..

We helped out a ton with a Food Drive on Saturday and the newspaper was taking pictures and I am in one of them.. You will have to go find me on the Internet! hahah except it says nothing about my name, just the other missionary, but I am definitely in the picture!

Me and my new companions are doing great. Elder Hawkins and Elder Stephon. Elder Hawkins is from Ogden and I think I have played against him in basketball in a summer league (of course we beat them though) hahah and Elder Stephon is the brand new missionary from Alpine. So he went to Lone Peak. He knew Travis VanLeuwan ( I don't know how to spell that at all) pretty well. So it is always fun trying to figure out who we both know. We know quite a few of the same people, just mostly people from Alpine though.. Us two get along really good.But I am just going to make a really strong effort to include both and never get annoyed! haha Because that would not be a good way to finish.. It is interesting having a companion that is brand new just as I am about to finish up. It really helps me not talk about home because it would make him a lot more home sick. I don't want that to happen. So I just won't think about going home!
That will be easier.

Oh yeah, I forgot what I was going to say about the SWEET part about this week. Fil's baptism!!!!!!! It was so good. It happened last night. Their wedding was on Saturday and that was great as well. Elder Newman, Elder Langi (My last two comps.) and me sang at it... I know that you are all laughing right now, but it actually went pretty good. It was definitely really good. I was so stoked the whole night.. Last night, I was able to just sit and think about how much I love it out here. So many cool things happen. The spirit just overwhelms at baptisms. You HAVE to love it!

Elder Newman's parents are coming up today, so him, his parents, Elder Langi and I are going to go teach one more lesson together at Fil's house tonight. It is going to be awesome. Definitely going to love it.

Well I am out of things to say, but I love you all. and Miss you.
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from September 20, 2011

Wow, another week come and gone... Crazy.

So it is transfers this week, and something definitely interesting happened. So last Thursday I got a call from the assistants to the president finding out that I was going to be training. I was excited, yet confused. They don't ever have zone leaders training so I thought that I was going to be transferred for my last one. I came into email this morning and found out that I am staying here for my last transfer and me and another zone leader (Elder Hawkins) will be training a new missionary together. Definitely was not expected. But the lord does was he wants and we do what he tells us. So I will finish my missionary work on a 3-leg. Always interesting eh? good stuff...

So for this transfer being a very difficult one, it sure finished on a great note. We had a sweet week. We set 4 more baptismal dates for October 1st. So now, we have one this next Sunday with Fil.. He is the man. It has been so fun teaching him and his soon to be wife (Saturday is the wedding) It has been really fun. I have enjoyed it.

Then Shawn and Nicole and Liona have a date for the 1st of October. It has been so awesome going over and teaching them. i have loved it. They are really coming around and love having us over. They recognize the gospel and how good they feel when we are over.... It is good stuff..

Then Dusty is the other one on the first. He came to church this week and really recognizes the importance of the gospel.

Gotta love the missionary work. It is so sweet. Weird that I am finishing up soon. But I still have a few weeks before I need to worry about that..

But according to Shawn's email I am already the RM... haha not quite though. My comp right now is Elder Newman.. His parents are coming up this week so obviously it has been hard for him to focus. I just hope I don't dwell on it to much this transfer... I am going to try and keep it a secret from my new missionary how long I have been out. I don't know how long I will be able to hide it. But I am going to try....

Oh by the way, Rachel I got your package.. THANK YOU. as of right now I am not receiving much mail haha. But it was good to get that. So none of you forget. My birthday is in a couple of weeks. Keep that in mind eh? That would be much enjoyed by me! hahah

So for my last transfer I have made it a goal to take the Christ like attributes from preach my gospel... There is enough for about one each week.. and study that one in depth. This week I chose FAITH.. I have been doing it for two days and I have learned so much. I love it. I am going to try and apply each attribute a lot stronger that week..

So I don't want to bring this up... But BYU got killed. what the heck.. That was the saddest thing I have ever heard of.. I can say one thing, I am just glad I didn't have to watch it.

Well I love you all. I will talk to you next week...

Again my b-day is in 2 weeks :)
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from September 12, 2011

Yo Family

Another Week come and gone. Too bad in this one the Cougs had a loss. Both my companion and I are big BYU fans, so people let us know. It sounds like they had a pretty frustrating loss. Lame... But my companions time is winding down fast. He has just a little over a week left. I am lucky to not have had any companions be in there last transfer while I was serving with them. This is my first... And I am glad it is my last. It makes me think about going home way to much, And I really don't want that. I am doing my best though. I will be glad to move on to next transfer. We will just leave it at that.

It is good to hear that Bishops son is doing so well. Prayers bring miracles. We see that as missionaries time after time after time... It is one of the greatest parts about being a missionary. Seeing people get answers to their prayers. If not them, it sure builds my testimony. Because without fail, every single prayer is answered..

For example ( I actually just thought of this). This week, I started out the week (Sept. 5th) asking That we would be able to see some body have a baptismal date by the end of the week.. We worked hard all week, but I kind of forgot what I had asked for... Sunday night came and we hadn't set a date with anybody. Still hadn't thought of the prayer I started the week out with. At 10:25 I was laying in bed and we got a call from the Assistants to the president... They had somebody on the phone ready to talk to us.. The sisters in another part of the city had asked us if we had been praying... I immediately thought of the prayer I said at the beginning of the week... They had taught somebody that day, and he accepted a baptismal date for October 1st.... And he lives in our area. The Lord Definitely answers prayers. I definitely should have thought about it more thoroughly through out the week, but the Lord knew that we did our best this week and he rewarded us!

So we now have baptisms two weeks in a row. The 25th, With Fil.. and the 1st with a man named Dusty. But we haven't met him yet.

Fil is so awesome. Him and his wife are so neat. We have a really good time going over and teaching them. The other day we actually had Vietnamese sub sandwiches at their house. Who would have known those were any good? Well they are. We even went the next day for lunch. Good stuff. We should be doing Family home evening with them tonight. That will be fun.

It sounds like the Atwoods will be at the house tomorrow. That is exciting. I love the Atwoods. They are one of my favorite families since I have been out. Their son Brady will be a baller missionary. He came out with us to lessons every once in a while and he did a great job. He always gives himself a hard time, but he will do really good.. Brother Atwood was our Branch mission leader. And he backed us up big time. He was a really good help in that branch. There was lots of leadership that wasn't behind the mission programs that we have, but Bro. Atwood stuck with us. Sister Atwood had to put up with us coming over all the time to have Lunch and Dinner haha. Whoops! But they are all great. I am excited for you to meet them.

As far as what ward I will go to when I get home. Well I may go to our home ward for the first two weeks (Fast sunday and My homecoming talk) but then I will probably go to the YSA ward (Young single adult) But that is still plenty of time until I get there. I still have a full transfer ahead of me so no worries.

The last couple weeks have been a bit rough, but I really believe this area is about to take off again. There is too much potential for it not to take off.. I am excited to see what will happen!

So last night we had a new member fireside and it was on testimony... There was a portion on actually giving testimonies.. And I realized how important Testimony really is. That short declaration of what you know to be true leads us to do everything we do in the church. Of course there was some that included LONG stories that didn't apply. But a testimony can be 20 seconds and one of the strongest...

I finished the Book of Mormon the other day, and it was fun to be able to take moroni's promise once again. Every single time, prayers are answered. It is fun to be able to do so. If you are not, I suggest you read the Book of mormon every single day. It makes a difference in our every day lives. I love it.

Well I have once again run out of things to talk about, but I love all of you. And miss you. I will continue to keep you in my prayers and hope that you all pray for me!
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from September 6, 2011

Wow, what a week. I can't believe it has already been a week since I was in here. Crazy to me.. Weeks just keep going faster and faster...

But I am loving it up here. The weather has stayed warm, (surprisingly) and we have had a much better week than the last few.. Our numbers still look like we are in a rut, but fortunately that is not all that matters. We have seen many miracles happen this week...

An awesome investigator, named Fil, decided to get baptized on the 25th. I am so excited for him. We have had some really intense lessons where the spirit has been so strong. He is a really good man, and hopefully in a year from now I will be back up to see them get sealed in the temple!

We also were able to pick up several more investigators. An unwed couple and there daughter. We had a couple good lessons, and if we are resistant with them, it looks as if they will get baptized on the 24th. We still have a long ways to go to help them, but their hearts have already been softened a huge amount. I love being a missionary and seeing the spirit work on people. There is nothing better.

Elder Langi, Newman and I are doing good. Elder Newman is going home in two weeks, so it makes it really hard for me not to think of home, but I am trying my best to finish strong. I can't believe that this is going to be my last transfer... It is probably getting pretty hard for Elder Langi, He still has a year left. But he is a trooper and will hang in there well..

We are all going through what is called 'The Purification Process' which is helping us all be a lot more spiritual. We stop each other from doing anything that isn't alligned with the spirit. It is a 40 day thing and I am on day 19.. We push ourselves. And there are many times that I get so annoyed with it all but realize that it is just to help me. Nothing like getting pushed out of our comfort zone. Us as missionaries are good at doing that to others, so we though we would change it up by us being the uncomfortable ones...

This last week we had another zone leader council. It was amazing. The spirit was really strong and we all received revelation what needs to take place in our zones.. It always pushes us to do better, but many times we forget about it the following week, so we just need to keep it in our minds. It was fun being able to see Elder Gelwix, plus he took in all the cans and bottles we had collected and we both got 30 bucks each. So that was nice. Nothing like a little extra cash as a missionary to buy more food!

Oh yeah, I got my flight plans and everything set out. I can't believe how fast that is all coming.. Just right around the corner. I am sure they emailed them to you as well mom. I don't know.. If they didn't then I will bring them in next week to tell you. All I remember is that I have to fly to PHX before SLC.. Lame eh? Oh well it is all good.

Well, I am going to get back to work, but I love you all and will talk to you next p-day (Monday next week)
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from August 29, 2011

Hey family...

So another week has flown by, and now I have hit the 22 month mark. I can not believe it. Not to long ago I feel like I was out, 2 or 3 months. They just keep passing bye.. It makes it kind of difficult cause my companion goes home in 3 weeks. So obviously it is going to be on his mind. I just don't like it on mine. We are both trying really hard not to mention anything about it.

But, as for this week, we definitely had a trying one. It gets pretty frustrating, but obviously we need to learn something, or have certain trials, so we are just putting our faith in the Lord that everything WILL work out for the best. We are setting up appointments with new investigators all over the place. The problem is, when we go to teach the specific person, we have a hard time ever finding them where they say they will be. LIFE OF A MISSIONARY.... We had 19 lessons cancel on us this week. That is a few more then normal. haha. But the positive side we are getting out and working hard. Nothing better then going home at the end of the night knowing you did absolutely everything you could to help someone get to church, or feel the spirit, or whatever it may have been..

So good news this week, we got in a car accident. It wasn't to bad though. I was sitting in the back seat when it happened. And my eyes were closed. but all the sudden we hit the car in front of us. No one was injured. I did hit the seat in front of me pretty good. That was kind of funny. It was a head ache getting all the paper work to Elder Vellinga. We had to do that all today. We actually aren't even taking a p-day today, cause on Saturday we are going down to the Cardston Temple. I am so stoked. It will be good stuff. I love going down there. We are going with a member of the YSA ward he. He is sweet.

On Thursday our suit coats are back on. Unless it is 22 Degrees or hotter three days in a row. Once it hits the criteria, the jackets are back off. But knowing Canada, it won't get there. My days with just a white short sleeve shirt are veryyyyyyyy limited.

Mom I am glad you got everything set up with the Atwoods. They are awesome. I loved that family. It sounds like they will just be staying at the house for one night?

I hope all is going well with the Heaps. I have kept them in my prayers. It was sad to read about his accident last week. It is never fun to read those.

But, Terra congradulations!!!!!! That is awesome. I didn't find out until Tuesday when we put numbers in. That is exciting. When will you actually find out what it is? Before or after I get home?? Or I should ask, when COULD you, seeing that you may not find out? haha Wait, when is rachel due? I kind of forget these things when I don't really think about it until monday comes around..

I am sooooooooooo stoked to hear about Nick's mission call. I will get to see him for a week before He goes out. How cool is that?? Mom tell him to write me a letter, or get his address so I can write him one. That is so awesome. Nick and Max will be exactly a year apart. That is cool.. Good for them...

Well, We have four investigator lessons set up for this afternoon, so, we need to get back to work. Hopefully our faith is more sufficient this week and more or them happen. (We already had one cancel on us this morning....) I will be emailing on TUESDAY next week seeing that it is Labour day. So I will talk to Yall then... Love all of you...

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from August 22, 2011

Yo what is up....

Wow there seems to have had a lot of things going on at home this week, and I really only heard it from mom.

Hopefully all goes well with Abe, I will keep him and the Heaps family in my Prayers. It is always so sad to hear tragedies such as that. As a missionary we hear of stories often that are horrific and you never want to hear. But that is why the gospel is so comforting. We need to do our best to live its teachings, and the outcome won't nearly be as sad because of the gospel. We are very blessed to have the teachings in our life.

I am so stoked to hear about Nick!!! that is so awesome. I am stoked for him. Mom give him a call and let me know where exactly he is going and when he leaves! I have been thinking about him quite a bit lately actually and what he is up to. Wow look at my memory. That was impressive. I will be back into my email on Wednesday to put in numbers. So I would love to hear about it mom! Tell him he needs to write me too so I have his address and stuff. I am so stoked about that.

We are really putting an push on finding new investigators. EVERYTHING is canceling on us. But excitingly enough. This week coming up will be super solid. We have 11 new investigator lessons. We will be meeting our goals! It is always fun to be able to have a good solid week ahead of you. Tomorrow we get to hear Elder Baxter Speak. He is from the quorum of the 70. That will be exciting. It will give the mission a much welcomed boost to help us get going! This week I also got what is called my Truny call. Where the mission office calls and asks where I am flying home to and everything. Good thing I am not to trunky, cause that could be bad. But I am excited to keep on going in the work.

On Saturday me and my companions made a bad decision.... We went to a resturaunt with a member of the ward. And we got the hottest wings the chef could make. Not on the menu at all. We all ate one and it was bad. Hahaha all my reaction was right there. I downed a glass of milk and about 15 glasses of water. one of my companions Elder Langi, the Tongan, accidentally touched his eyes and was tearing up pretty bad, well all of us had tears flowing. And Elder Newman Ended up not being able to sleep that night. And he LOVES the hot stuff. It was pretty funny. But I need a break from hot stuff for a bit. Totally worth the memory of it.

So this week we have been thinking about prayers and how specific they need to be.... They need to be reallllllllly specific.

For example. On Saturday night I prayed to have a new investigator at church that wants to be taught and will be able to progress towards being baptized and have the gospel in there life...

Not specific enough.....

Since We are covering two wards right now. Two of the wards are at the same time, we went to one called Sunridge. The non member that I prayed for went to Elliston park.... No one there got her info or anything so we have no way to contact her. Bummer eh? I know my prayer was answered. But even more importantly my testimony was built on how specific it needs to be. I needed to pray for her to be at the ward we were going to so we could get her information!!!!! hopefully she will come back next week.

Mom I got the Atwoods number so you can give them a call to invite them to stay at the house in September.

Here are a couple pictures. The last one is us being smart enough to not read the label to the soap for the dish washer.... I thought only Katie did that??? It said right on the back "Only use for hand wash. Do not use in dish washer." Whoops. Well it was fun to clean up.

Well I have once again run out of things to talk about. But I love you all and miss you.. I will be back again next week with better news about the missionary work..
--

Elder T. Dastrup

Yo family....

So in my new area with my new companions. It is awesome here. I love it. It is good stuff.. There are some pretty rough area's around here.It is sweet. I'll be safe though mom, don't worry about it. The Lord is protecting us.. There is a lot of... lets say international influence here... Mostly from India, Africa, Israel... Anywhere you can think of. It is here.

Oh I don't know if I told you but I have two companions right now. Elder Newman and Elder Langi. Elder Langi's comp never came out from the MTC. So it is all three of us. Elder Langi is from Tonga. I love it. I have been learning all kinds of Tongan.. Like Koficia...MEans I am hungry.. It is good stuff. We hope to get him for the whole transfer. We live in an apartment so we just have to squeeze everything in a little tighter and it is good stuff. We stay soooooooooo busy because our area is really busy right now and We are covering Elder Langi's Area right now as well. We don't have enough time to breathe...A good way not to focus on home! So this area I am in has just been off the charts with how good it has been doing. Right when I got here, We set high goals, and all the sudden our investigators started droping us like crazy. It is definitely a trial. But we will be a whole lot more solid in our faith after this transfer. It will be good stuff.

We do have a new investigator lesson tonight with a man named Chris. We don't much about him. But we are positive that it is someone the lord is preparing. We have several new investigator lessons set up this week. So it will be good. We are going to perservere through the trials..

So my new companions are making me run every morning again. It sucks. But is really good for me. I am still doing my pull up program and My companion said that I am looking way stronger than I did a few months ago! haha yeah! that is good news eh?

There is this kid in our ward that looked really familiar, and he served his mission in provo. We figured out that he was the little skinny elder that had dinner at our house from calgary right before I left on my Mission. Crazy huh? Small mormon world. I thought that was pretty cool. He is in Franklin park YSA ward.

It is weird to think that this will be the last area of my mission. I feel like I have had just perfect spread across the mission. I have never served in the same zone twice and I have been to some pretty AWESOME areas, and I am finishing where I have wanted to serve my whole mission...

Oh by the way, mom and Dad or anyone are you going to be around the first week of October? There is a family coming down and I am going to try to convince them to take home a bag for me and get all the heavy stuff that I wont need for the last month of my mission...That would be sweet eh? They are going to be staying in Lehi so we will see if they can take something down for me.

Well we got a late start on p-day due to cleaning a disgusting apartment that is now spotless. So we are going to take off. I love you all and Will talk to you later..

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from August 9, 2011

Family...

Drum roll.... Transfer emails came. And Elder Gelwix and I are unfortunately getting split. I am going back up to Calgary. To the east zone. I have wanted to serve there my entire mission. I am really excited for it. I am going with Elder Newman. They have been tearing it up.. They have been baptizing people like crazy. So I will be going in there, and watch it will all stop. Haha hopefully I can do as good and continue to help them. But I am really excited.

This week was AWESOME... Park's baptism went so good. Everything went just right. I was blessed to baptize him and Elder Gelwix Confirmed him in church. He is a baller. Unfortunatly I won't be able to say Bye to him because he doesn't have a phone.. But it is all good. I will be back here soon. Mom and Dad I plan on coming back up in February when Edith Goes through the temple, and then we can just do a tour of the mission. (I want to ski in B.C. in Fernie) Close to Cranbrook. :)

Mom and Dad, I asked you before but I never really got an answer.. Are you going to be home on the 11th 12th 13th of September? Some of my favorite members from the Jaffray branch are droping their son off at the mtc. I don't know how long they are staying, only a couple days. But that would be awesome if they could stay at the house. I am going to give them your numbers and stuff then they can just call you. They are the Atwoods. They are awesome. He is our branch mission leader out there and he gets work done.

So this week Elder Gelwix and I worked really hard. We had a lot cancel and all but we were able to get 20 lessons. Hopefully I leave this area better then I when I came. I loved it. And i really did work my hardest out here...

so I have still been on my pull up program and it is doing wonders. I love it. I can do way more then I have ever been able to do in my entire life. It is good stuff. I am still doing good with it. Longest I have ever been able to stay doing a single work out hahahah..

But I have run out things to say and I love you all. I will talk to you next week!

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from August 2, 2011

Another Month gone. What in the world. That is so weird.

So yesterday was a holiday up here, that is why we couldn't email. I only had a few minutes to put our zone numbers in. I have no clue what holiday it was, but it was enough for the school to be shut down!

So first and foremost, the baptism on Saturday with Elizabeth went perfect. Elder Gelwix baptized her and I gave a presentation and a talk at the baptism. It was a lot of talking from me. But it went really good. The confirmation went good as well. Elizabeth will be a strong member. I mean it did take her 3 and a half years to decide to get baptized. So she was definitely more than ready.

As for short notice, Park is still getting baptized this weekend. Which will be 3 weeks from the time that we met him. Interesting how some people just are a little quicker in being ready. I am excited for that though. I will be baptizing him and Elder Gelwix will be confirming him. That will will be cool. I will try and send some pictures next week! We are actually going to teach him as soon as we are done here.

So we have been super busy. We taught a bunch last week and we barely have a minute to spare this week. We have been doing quite a bit of service for some people. One man in the ward, is like the funniest man I have ever met. He gave me a pretty crappy nick name though... hahhaa it is Jock-strap. Oh well. I can handle it. He is a funny brother. It is always a good time when we do service at his house.

We have been having lots of good things happen. After this weekend we are going to have to kind of refresh our teaching pool. Since Elizabeth and Park are getting baptized. But that is more important. My guess is that I get transferred next week. Yes mom, transfers are then, so I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. I can't believe I only have two more transfers. That is so weird to me.... Even more so, I can't believe Lincoln is home... What in the world. I remember the day he left. Felt like a month ago. I think I will realize how long I have been gone when I finally come home and see everything that has changed.

This weekend in Jaffray was kind of cool. I got to see one of my favorite members from Lethbridge (over a year ago I was there) Troy Leavitt. Him and his whole family was out camping. They had us over to the camp grounds for lunch after church. That was pretty cool. It is always fun to see the people that you get close with later on.

So yesterday for p-day, a member from the Jaffray branch took us way back into the mountains into the middle of no where. That was so awesome. It was definitely a different P-day. But so sweet. I feel like the landscape was probably similar to Alaska. So you all could imagine that a little bit. Good stuff. I got some cool pictures, Mom you would be surprized. I take more pictures then you think I do! I am on to my third camera card now. I just never send any of them home because I want it to all be just such a fun experience when you look at them all at once!!!!!!!! That will definitely be pretty cool.

We have had some trials with some of the Leadership in this area. As you all know, we invite all of our investigators to be baptized in every lesson. Lots of the leadership does not like that. It has been kind of a trial. We do our best to explain the doctrine behind it, but we never have enough time. It is hard to understand without knowing the doctrine and being taught that. But once that is done, It makes more sense than absolutely anything else... I have never heard one missionary complain about it after they have had the training. President Archibald may be doing a training on it all when he comes out. But sometimes we just have to have faith in that the Lord called a specific person (President Archibald) to lead this area in the missionary work and to be the KEY HOLDER. Really that is all it is. But we still need to work in unison with the leaders. They are all wonderful men. Awesome to work with, that is just our one hard issue. We are doing a training in Jaffray branch next week. But honestly, it might not make much of a difference from just two young elders that have been set apart as representatives of Christ. We will see what happens.

So I was talking to a member of the Ward this week, and he served around Rachel a little bit in Tennessee. He was telling me that he served in one of her areas, Old Hickory? maybe? He just remembers how she used purple and pink pens and all that jazz haha. He said on one the potential investigator forms, she detailed him as working outside, sweaty and hott! hahah Good one Rach, I thought that was pretty funny! It was a good way for the Elders to make some fun!

Well I am gonna get going so I love you all. I miss you all. I will talk to you next week!

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from July 18, 2011

Another good week come and gone. This was definitely better than last week!

First off to answer your question mom, no I haven't gotten the package yet. But we have meetings tomorrow in Lethbridge and I will be getting Mail then. So If they are stale, they are stale! haha

This week was really good for us to just get to work in our own area though... We didn't have to go anywhere. We had some really good things happen too ..

We met with Alex, a recent convert from this area, and he brought his friend Park.. Park is here going to school from South Korea. He has been here 10 days. His english is going ok, that is what he is here for. We met with him one time, on saturday, invite him to be baptized on the 30th of this month, 2 weeks from the time we met him. He came to church yesterday and we taught him there as well. It all went really good. It was exciting to see. He is loving it. As for the bad news, Elizabeth pushed her date back to the 30th. She is just super busy with everything. So hopefully all goes well. We haven't been able to teach her in about a week and a half, and that is not a good sign. But we have faith that she is doing good. She has lots of unneeded stress in her life. Definitely all of you can pray for her. That would be really appreciated.

This week we will not have much time to work in our area. Tonight we are going into Lethbridge for Leadership training meetings, we will be there all day tuesday then on Wednesday we are going to come back and go on Splits in Sparwood with those Elders. So we will have from thursday on. But I think this will be the last time this transfer that it will be like this. Gotta love the road trips.

Mom and Dad are you in Alaska right now? When are you all going to Lake Powell? I haven't heard anything about that. And I keep seeing boats up here and that is like all I can think about. I miss that place, but still another year before I will be there. We should all go like 5 times next year. To make up for the 2 years that I missed.

Elder Gelwix and I are still doing really good. We kind of have a hard time helping 1 of the companionships in our zone. Most are doing pretty well. luckily we have some other really good elders in the zone and we don't have to babysit. One of the District Leaders in the zone (Elder Harris) actually played basketball at Timpanogas... We didn't like eachother on the court. But I love the kid out here. He is a really good missionary too. It makes it a lot easier to have those types of missionaries around you. I give him a hard time lots that we beat him our senior year. He is a good kid.

There is another Elder In our zone that is brand new. Elder Northrup, he is a good kid. He is about 4 foot 7 and weighs probably like 75-80 pounds. But he has a testimony of a giant. He has already grown spiritually and mentally a ton since he has been out here.

Well today for p-day we are going to go play some dodgeball and then go to a tumbling gym. mainly just cause the people that invited us are going to buy us pizza.

oh yeah before I leave, other good news.... yesterday I weighed myself and I weigh about 169, which by the way, is 3 pounds less than what I came out at... I will be coming home at 160. Just you all watch! Especially you Sommer which said I would weigh 205......

Love you all

--

Elder T. Dastrup

Email from July 11, 2011

Yo Family

] This week was a week that Elder Gelwix and I had to work most of the week outside of our rea. We only spent Tuesday Saturday and Sunday in our areas. So not as much happened as we would have liked. But 2 of the 6 weeks are normally like that for us. Fortunately we got most everything we need to do this transfer accomplished. We did a lot of driving.. It was good stuff. We had several good things happpen this week. We had an awesome Lesson with Elizabeth. She is still doing good. She is awesome to teach. She is very very sincere. I like being able to teach people like that. She is having tons of trials in her life. Satan is working really hard on her because he knows how solid she will be. She didn't come to church yesterday, something happened with her family. Not exactly sure what. The baptism is still on schedule for the 23rd.. But with the trials she is having may hold her back to the 30th. We just keep doing our best to help her. Please, all of you, keep her in your prayers...

As well, This week we were able to set up a lesson with Mike and Chrystal (Investigators).. We haven't been able to teach them in a few weeks due to them being quite busy. We went over and no cars were home and it looked dead inside. Elder Gelwix was quick to say, well lets go knock anyways. We went up and sure enough Chrystal was home, and Mike pulled in shortly after. We were also finally able to have Justice (Their 9 year old son) Sit in on the lesson. We focused a lot of the lesson around him and helping him understand. Towards the end of the lesson we invited them to meet us at the church next Thursday for our next lesson, they always have a struggle to come to the church. Mike and Chrystal still weren't sure, Justice piped up and started telling the mom that he hasn't gone to church in a while. He said "yeah, we should go... I want to go. We NEED to go.. We are going, I have made my decision." It was so powerful. The spirit was really strong.The parents were still holding back a little bit but finally set up the lesson. We as well were finally able to get some of them praying. Justice was the example. Justice just said, yep I haven't done it before, but I will do it. The mom followed. Mike once again saw opposition and didn't want to this time. We ended on a really solid note. They may not have committed to being baptized, but it is a whole lot closer now than it was... They are doing really good and I really enjoy teaching them. They are awesome.

This week should be good. We have set a goal to pick up 4 new investigators. Our goals this week are all kind of lofty, but we definitely have to be the example for the zone. Because of all the opposition we saw in the zone this week, we need a really really good week.

Well I have ran out of time. But I love you all a ton. Miss you. All of you should write me this next week!
--

Elder T. Dastrup