WEEK 52

12 down 12 to go!!!

Hey everyone!!

This week will make it a year since I've been out on my mission!! It's so crazy how fast time has gone! I've been loving my mission and all the experiences I've been having! It's pretty cool to see the changes I have seen and the knowledge I have gained! Grateful to be out!

So just like Trev there were changes this last week!! I'm in Couva... again! It was great to see all the members again, they were pretty happy to see me! This area is so amazing, it truly is a home away from home. We have some pretty good investigators as well. There is a kid and his dad doesn't want him to be baptized just as yet. He is 9 years old but probs smarter than me haha but we are working on that!

Oh and just like Trev too I am a district leader! I have already done a baptismal interview for this 12 yr old girl. She was so prepared and it was a great experience interviewing her. I witness her baptism as well. She told me that this gospel has brought happiness to her and her family and I know that's true this gospel is truly amazing and does bring happiness and joy!

Oh and some less actives I was working with over 6 months ago are finally coming back to church! That is something really great to see, they made the change they needed too and they are seeing the joy from it now. So I was really grateful to see that.

I'm excited what this year will bring me and to see what's in store here in Trinidad. Thank you everyone for your support! I love you all and have a great week!

one love!

~elder colton bastian~

no pics... my battery is fried I think...

WEEK 51

These are some extra pics from last week during our service work and a little bball:

(Thank You Heidi Hunsaker for the pics)

ONE WEEK CLOSER TO MY YEAR!

          Hey everyone!

This week was an amazing week. One of the best weeks I've had out here! The one thing we did was teach and teach some more. We didn't have many fall throughs and if we did then there was someone always to see. My comp and I have been working really hard in this area and we are seeing the blessings from it. As you have diligence and faith you can see hard work pays off. So I'm really grateful for this week. 

Also we were able to set 2 baptismal dates this week. They understand that they need to be baptized my the priesthood authority. They both have been baptized so that was great. Katlyan (one we set date with) came to church last week and this week and she is loving it. She will be baptized here n the future for sure. We also had Affeza and Onika come to church. I talked a lot about them a couple weeks ago but they enjoyed it as well. We have been having very spiritual lessons too . We have been having people cry and everything so they are feeling the spirit for sure and being taught by the spirit.

So transfers were this week... I'm leaving this area so that's pretty sad. I'm headed to Couva once again for some reason. There must be work I have to do there. I've already been there for 7 months so after this transfer I'll be there over 8 months! So that's pretty crazy. Elder Hagood isn't my comp anymore either it's Elder Plumb so he is from Idaho and is really cool so that's awesome. Hagood was awesome to be with though.

Well I hope everyone has a great week. Keep looking for those small blessings that we receive each and every day. Also ponder in your hearts about the atonement. I've been teaching a lot about that and plus Easter is coming up, so I know the atonement is a powerful gift that we have to open up and use. 

Love you all. 

Elder Colton Bastian

Elder Hunt after Exchange 

Affeza and Onika at church

Sister Sooraj, a funny and cool member

PICS FROM ELDER HAGOOD'S CAMERA:

WEEK 50

ALMOST A YEAR!!!

Hey everyone!!

This week has been a good week. We are really working hard in our area. We have really been seeing a lot of cool people coming closer in the gospel. We are working hard even more cuz they might have to take all missionaries in Trinidad out cuz they won't allow permits to let us in. So that's pretty crazy, I was the last missionary to get on so I'll be the last to leave.

We did service with the other elders this Saturday picking up this members father's yard up. It was pretty fun moving a lot of heavy things around. So I was able to that with Elder Hunsaker too. We have been doing a lot of stuff together since we are so close by.

We had sports day today so all of the missionaries in Trinidad got together and played sports. Our zone was in charge so we did a few small games but then we played dodge ball. That was a blast!! Our zone won of course haha but it was great coming together for that.

We were able to have an investigator at church. The church is like 20 minutes away so it's really hard getting people coming out. But we were able to have Katlyan come out. She really enjoyed it, so can't wait to see her keep coming! Also we had two less actives come they are teenagers and they haven't been to church in a while so that was pretty great. We have been working with them a lot here.

Other then that not too much happened. Continue to read and pray! As we do the small things, great things will come to past. love you all and have a great weeek!

-Elder Bastian 

one love

- service pics

- a kid got baptized that I taught a lot in Couva

- Elder Garcia at sports day

-random pics

-what the heat does to the bread (all the white is mold)

WHAT A HANDSOME MAN!!!!! (side note from mom)   :) 

WEEK 49

Hey!!

 I feel like I just emailed not too long ago haha but I guess a few things happened within those days.

1) Still contacting and having lessons with Muslims, pretty interesting haha I've gotten to learn about that religion a bit. 

2) Met this lady who turns out she was married into the church ten years ago but never was baptized sooo we are teaching the family so that's pretty sweet. She still remembers a lot and good potentials. The missionaries before made it easy with the law of chastity thing hahah

3) We have an investigator and she is really cool! She can SING, she has sang for us and she can sing like Adelle with no problem. She can go way far in singing if she chooses to do that! I'll try sending a video next week.

4) We had stake conference yesterday in Port of Spain. All the missionaries sang as the choir (so all 20 of us haha) but it was really good. Some really great talks too. Trying to get the Trinis excited to do missionary work cuz you know idk how much longer we will be here.

Anyway I hope you have a great week! I like this saying here " When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves" so it's a lot about attitude and really any situation we are in you can make it a good one, when you have a great attitude about it. So I know that's true! Since I'm almost a year out, I have seen a change as I've changed my attitude from the start to now. And I'm so happy I'm able to be out here, to be able to bring this gospel to others!

-love elder bastian

**Colt didn't send any pics this time but these pics are from Elder Hunsaker to Brodie and she sent them to me!!!

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK............GOTTA CATCH UP WHILE YOU CAN

WEEK 48

Carnival Week

Hey everyone!

   This week was pretty interesting! So I wasn't able to email a couple days ago cuz it was carnival. For those of you that don't know what carnival is, it is chaos haha usually they have missionaries stay inside for three days, but we were able to go out but be in really early. During the few days there is a lot of drinking involved in the streets, people hardly wearing clothing, people getting hurt. haha so it is pretty dangerous. So we were able to still see some people where it wasn't so crazy. I was able to see some of the more cultural side to it when we drove past the parades and stuff so that part was really cool! 

   We have been contacting in this Muslim village. So you can guess how that's been working out. It is interesting to hear their beliefs. They are pretty nice tho, they invite us in sometimes but they are mostly die hard Islamic people, we have found some interested people tho. With them we have been teaching a lot about the nature of God and the God head, the lessons have been so spiritual. In the lessons you can feel it's the spirit teaching and not us. This women started crying in one, it is truly amazing to see people understanding who our Heavenly Father is. Our Heavenly Father wants everyone to know who he truly is and these lessons, people have been able to understand that and feel the spirit. That's been one of the highlights of the week.

    Not much else, just the same old same old. I want to challenge everyone to have that daily prayer in their lives, prayer is so important and special. It is communication with our heavenly father. As we speak to him, he is going to speak with us and I know for a fact that he always answers our prayers!

    I hope everyone has a great week. one love!

-elder colton bastian

CARNIVAL....I HAVE BETTER PICS, JUST HARD TO FIND ON THE CAMERA

BOUGHT A RASTA HAT HAHA

HOW PRINCESTOWN GOT THE NAME

JUNGLE OF P TOWN

ZOOM IN TO SEE THEM HAVING A PARTY

TRUCK FULL OF SPEAKERS HAHA