Letter from Mission Mom

Dear Brother and Sister Bastian,

We had a very nice time with your son and his new companion today in our office.  We invited them here for lunch and to take care of some paperwork.  Elder Bastian is just wonderful (as you know), and we’re so happy to have him here.  He and Elder Cooper are both doing well, and Elder Bastian actually slept through the night last night.  That’s pretty amazing.  It takes me a good two weeks to get to that point when coming from the states.  His companion, Elder Bunga, is a spiritual giant.  He is from Hyderabad where the first stake in India will be formed in a few weeks. 

India is very different for these young missionaries, but they’ll be just fine.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you, or if you have any questions.  Thank you so much for helping prepare Elder Bastian to serve in this great mission.  We already love him.

Kind Regards,

Sister Jackson

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Me and my companion, Elder Bunga 04-2012

First impressions....India

I loved that I got to call you guys :) :) Totally funny that I got you mom! (FYI this email is going to be sporadic I just reread it) India Ummm.... this is crazy!! It's cool, but wow! This is different. Flying with Elder Cooper was good, the flights were long (2 eight hour flights), New Delhi is massive, and I sure hope I adjust because this is different. My companion is Elder Bunga he's from Hyderbad, India. He's leaving in 12 weeks. I don't even know what to tell you. I really am bewildered at everything.
     I guess I'll begin with the plane rides. SLC to D was quick I slept the whole way. Though 20 minutes before we landed I woke up to a lady talking to us about her mission and she gave both Elder Cooper and I both 20 dollars each for our trip over to India. She's was super nice. Ohh Elder Cooper was in funk about not having any mountains to base direction on and also flippin out about the size of the high school football fields. I'll give some credit on the football field. Then D to LDN was good. It was a little crowded, but I made it. I read and slept a lot on that ride. Then the trip from LDN to IND was not so nice. I got a little air sick and had to take a pill from the airlines. I tried to sleep the whole time as we flew over here. New Delhi is massive. So many people, noisy (honking all the time), and dirty. Street dogs are everywhere. Soo this is weird and totally different. I think I'm just in shock over all of this because it's so different. I really hope to learn to love it here, otherwise I'm going to be miserable. I keep saying different.... please ask questions to help me explain things better :) There are 27 missionaries right now in our mission. Only 4 of them are American including Elder Cooper and me. There were actually 4 other Americans here  but because of visas they had to fly back to Washington after their year here in India. The driving is crazy and yet I'm not scared because it's just so normal for here I just go with it. Weird I know. I believe this is about the time whenever I will be emailing you guys. It'll be about 11-11:30 in the morning whenever I get on to do emailing. 11:30-12 at night your time.  I first have to write to Pres. Jackson each week but then I'm good to email you after. It also seems like I'll get an hour or so to email each week. I love you guys. I hope you know that and that I can feel comfortable here in India. I grew up in the Church and the US but this is an act of faith for me to Heavenly Father. I hope I can show my love for him and that he will comfort me during these first few days. I love you :) Elder Devin Bastian

Last Letter from USA

I GOT MY VISA!!! It is a definite "go" to India! My district and I found out Thursday in a special meeting for us. Some church representive came and gave us the headsup on what to say when we reach Indian customs. Bascially, no preaching to the custom officials, we are missionaries that were invited by the Indian Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the use of preaching or converting in our vocabulary is definitly prohibited. That's where we found out we all recieved our visas. :) So Monday I'll be calling you at the airport. Either in Salt Lake City or Dallas. We are flyin out of Salt Lake City to Dallas from Dallas to London from London to New Delhi. Blahh stinkin long plane rides. What can I say though, I'm going to India!

     Not sure what all to write. Life's been better this week and I'm just trying to do what I'm suppose to and get things done. I guess I haven't told you at all what life is like here. 6:30 we wake up and get ready. The showers here are interesting. Meaning it's either really hot or cold, the nozzle is powerful or weak, and when someone flushes the toilet the water temperature spikes or goes ICE cold. The food at the cafeteria isn't too bad, but it's getting old (it's not my momma's cooking :) ). I think I've gained 4 pounds here too surprisingly and yet I someone still manage to be under 140 pounds with that extra poundage. Does that make any sense? Gym time is fun. There's a track upstairs that I go run on for 30 minutes everyday. There are two missionaries that I meet there. One is Elder Johnson and the other is Sister Maldrum. Elder Johnson is from Cali, was a cheerleader before coming to his mission, has had surgey on his knee many times because of cheerleading, graduated in 2009. Sister Maldrum is from Ponca City, Oklahoma! (She's the one I try to talk to haha ) She ran track and crosscountry in high school, alto in choir, and she's been going to BYU Provo for the last couple of years. Both of them are in the Hong Kong Mission learning Kantaneze. We tell each other all the time, when we are running by, guy-eoh. It means good job in Kantaneze.

     Yesterday was our in-field orientation and so today we are doing some getting ready for Monday. Laundry, packing, and yahda yahda. Oh and I took my Malaria pills for the first time today. So definitely getting ready to leave :)

     Well I love you guys and hope to talk to you soon.

                                                                                      Love you,

                                                                                                Elder Devin Bastian

"Grandma Cookies" :)

Fingers crossed! but by next Tuesday I should hopefully be on my way to India! :)

     In my last letter I told you I was super excited about being here and wondered if that changes. Well.... I swear someone saw me wrote that because this past week has been hard on me. I've just been hard on myself and feeling like it's just way too hard and I've got to do this for two more years. But this last Saturday I asked for some help and that really helped me. Sunday I had just been thinking about all that the Savior has done for me and how I could better show my love to him and others. To me the Sabbath is so special and it has totally blessed my life to keep it holy because Sunday I my thoughts were turned heavenward and it has definitely given me more hope. In the evening we had a MTC devotional and two special guests were there. Elder M Russell Ballard of the twelve spoke and Elder Archelata sang for us. Simply stated it was an amazing devotional that helped me.

     I feel like I'm not doing justice with explaining things through emailing because of this dumb timer. :/ Dumb timer that's all I've got to say... haha.  

     Actually the first day I was having it hard was when I got a package from home (mom  ). We were given a challenge of not opening any letters or packages until the evening and so I that's what I did. I'm glad I did too because later on that day was hard but when I got back to my dorm I opened the package and I got to enjoy some chocolate and other goodies. I will say though, when I first opened the box all I saw were the containers of raisans and prunes. Thoughts: "Really Mom! I know I like eating healthy but raisans and prunes! (pick the containers up) Wait these don't feel or sound like raisans or prunes. (opened them up) NOO WAY!! Grandma Cookies!!" Needless to say mom you totally made my day and totally got me :) I can just hear you saying "That's right! You don't know!" hahaha

     It's so hard trying to write out my thoughts in an email. Next time or in India I should say I'll write down bullet points to bring with me to help me write out things I want to say to you guys and knowing what things I've learned and answering questions you had. Oh well this is a learning process.

    

I'll write you more in a letter. Times up. Dumb timer!

Love you family,

   Elder Devin Bastian

In the MTC

Alright not much time to write and type. We only get 30 minutes here at the MTC to use e-mail on preperation day.

Mandy-Loving the MTC Can't wait to see your gorgous face either! Loves

Sophia- Doing good Sopie Sue :) MTC is a learning process, but I love this enviroment. Love you

Stephen- Yea I've been having a good  day Stevers! Loving the food and my companion. Love you

Brianna anna- Miss you princess :) haha That's a sincere princess! Learned so far..... A LOT!!! Like being patient (key one), how to even teach an investigator and I'm still trying to understand how to teach and even what to teach. Favorite part of the day... umm Gym time and to an extent the end of the day because it's the end of the day! Days here seem like weeks yet weeks only seem like a few hours ago! haha Don't know how that works but it does. Random thing... shoot I don't know... I'm living on BYU property yet I'm a missionary. Oh the Elder thing is kind of empowering now and as missionaries we are only allowed to address each other by Elder or Sister. Proper titles only. Weird I know but it is empowering. Ask dad what he felt about it.Love you Bri.

Mikky- I'd love the sharpie art! Love you Mikky

Dylan-Yea it does seem weird to hear you filing out your papers but it's soo cool.

Dad-Totally a blessing Tyler was there. Haven't really thought of it much, but I do know it was a blessing. I would really like to read the Bible here, but I think it's just too much to cram into these already crammed days. It's crazy how hard it is to teach investigators, but it'll come :) I Love you Dad

Mom- I love you mom :)

The Big Day

Day 1:  We dropped Elder Bastian off at the MTC yesterday.  We spent a few minutes across the street at the Temple with Grandma & Grandpa Jones and Aunt Suzette.   Said our goodbyes and headed to the MTC.  It was bitter-sweet.  Sad to see him leave.  Way excited to see him serving our Heavenly Father.  As we pulled up to drop him off, Elder Tyler Robertson from Mustang, Oklahoma (one of Devin's friends and members of our Oklahoma ward) was there.  As we got out of the car, he gave me a big hug. (He's a big boy so he gives big hugs.  I think he's like...  6'6")  He then hugged Elder Bastian and escorted him off to his MTC dorm.   Elder Robertson was not specifically waiting for Elder Bastian and in fact was due to leave the MTC the Monday before...   Very cool "tender mercy".                           Dad