Not much news...

There isn't too much to report and there are no new pictures, but Dereck has told us some stories that I thought I would share. He has had some funny experiences. He and his companion were walking down a street to do some street contacting and a guy on a bike wanted to talk to them. It turns out he was doing a movie about missionaries going to West Hollywood - I don't suppose it would have been a very nice movie. They left him pretty quickly. Another time, they were street contacting and Elder Burris got pegged with a rogue water balloon. I guess they can laugh about it now, but at the time he was not too happy.
He has been very busy attending zone leader conferences and become somewhat discouraged to find that their zone was not up to par. Rather than whine, this is what they decided to do. I think he can tell you better than I can. Here is what he wrote:
"This has been a week of weeks. We have been trying to put more out, to truly leave it all out on the line. We were super busy with zone leader stuff. Well we knew if we wanted to change the laziness of this zone we needed to start setting a better example and bigger and do more. They have something called the goal. We must get 20 lessons, 10 hours of tracting and 2 member presents. There is also a standard that has been set up that is called the standard of excellence. Well, that is something that I have been striving to accomplish my entire mission and to set that standard. Well now that I am a zone leader I was told that that would be changed because of so much stuff to do. Well that is not true, we started working our tails off!! Dang i love that. Well, we got the goal we got the majority of the standards of excellence and more importantly we are truly preparing souls to be baptized. We never found one person off of tracting and what we were doing but we got a referral over the phone and went over there and found a golden investigator. Then we went to pec and in the middle and a lady called and said I want to be baptized and she and her son will be taught tonight. I don't have good speaking skills. I don't have lots of gospel knowledge. I am not the best missionary. But, I can testify if you will put yourself out in full the Lord truly picks you up in your failings All those things become useful for good. This is true the Lord cares for you and and I. I love all of you and I love the Lord. "

The latest ...

Well here I am trying to play catch up again .. so sorry. In a recent email we learned that Dereck "is a sinner". Not exactly what you want to read from your missionary son ... well it turns out he was late for interviews and was caught speeding. He was so bummed. He told his mission president and he starts waving his arms around telling Dereck that he needs him to be able to drive so he needed to go to a defensive driving class. Well, a Saturday and $200 later, he has a clean record and is able to drive the mission car. It is a good thing too, because he celebrated his 20th birthday as a newly called Zone Leader. I guess ZL's need to drive! He and his companion are over the Phoenix North and Glendale stakes. One of the stakes includes the two wards he was serving so he is able to see some of the people that he has grown so fond of. The really bizarre part of this whole thing is that his companion is Elder Burris, yes, the same Elder Burris that trained Dereck when he first went out into the field. So he will have the same companion as he did this time last year.
He loved the DVD we sent him with everyone saying hi and Happy Birthday - so thank you everyone for your willingness to support our son.
He attended his first Zone Leader council on Sept 30 which was held in Flagstaff. He said it was good to see the place again! He is adjusting to being a zone leader, but says it is hard, because he has to have things go through the appropriate chain before he can get involved. This frustrates him because he liked being able to just jump in and help. He said his new area is dead and "full of eternal investigators", so he is hoping to make a total fresh start of the area and see what happens.
We have officially passed his one year mark, so we are on the downhill slope. I am so excited to see him again, but I also know that he is having the time of his life and is loving his service to the Lord, so I will try not to wish his time away.
Here is a little note from Dereck's last email that I thought I would share:
"well family i know this church is true... the book of mormon is true.. NO one that has read and prayed about it can deny the fact that it is true.. if they did or do they will be lieing to them selfs, to the world and more importantly to there god who has created them! Jesus christ is the savior of the world.. with out him there is no happyness, there is no joy, with him the world is lifted out of a "dark and dreary world" this i know to be true.... i love and miss all of you but i am so excited to see what this next year will bring thanks for all you do!! love Elder Wesche"


Dereck's old "District of Love"







I thought the wall of badges was a cool picture - it is amazing to see the strong army of the Lord!

Lets see - where to begin, where did I leave off? I am so far behind, oh well, I just do the best I can.
The three weeks with his mini mission companion, Elder Tanner Cathcart was a huge success. He loved serving with him and notes from his mom makes me believe that Tanner loved it and grew from his missionary experience. I am glad that they both had a great time. As far as the work went, they did several cottage meetings and had a musical fireside that they were in charge of. Dereck tells me that he is attempting to play the piano, but when he does everyone just laughs. He did say that he can play the Viva La Vida song by Coldplay pretty well -- it only has 4 chords. What a goof. Anyway, he said the fireside went okay, but the next one will go much better because he knows what he needs to do to improve. He also leads the music, but as he put it, that doesn't mean he is on beat.

Please tell me that this wasn't the musical fireside...

Here is Dereck's version of Mr. Incredible - He really does have the weight of his district on him!



They had an opportunity to hear from Elder Costa of the seventies. Dereck didn't say much about it other than it was great.

I assume this is Dereck's district that he is over... not sure though!

As of August 11, Dereck became a trainer to another Elder Tanner -- this one is from Idaho. He is a quiet talker, but hopefully after he becomes comfortable with his new role as a missionary, he will open up. I reminded Dereck that he was also quiet when he first came out, and that as he become more confident he opened up and now he can't stop talking! So we will see. I will get to hear more (I hope) with this next email on Wednesday.

His old companion, Elder Jensen, now referred to as Brandt, was on his way through Glendale on his way to school and stopped by the Cathcarts home to spend a couple of nights. Dereck was on splits with another elder and happened to stop by as well. What a surprise and such a happy reunion! Dereck really loved him. According to Sister Beck, the missionary president's wife, Elder Jensen was one of the best trainers- he saw the whole picture is what she said about him. I talked with her for a few minutes to see if she could help him line up some dental appointments and she just talked and talked about what a great missionary Dereck was as well. This was the first time we had talked to the mission home since his arrival, so it was good to hear that he is considered to be one of the best in the field.






Elder Wesche and Elder Jensen - now referred to as Brandt Jensen


Well -- I think that about catches up for now... isn't it good to see that Elders really do come home!

So quite a bit has happened since the last update, but I will try and condense! First of all, we have hit the 10 month mark -- no more single digits!
Dereck is loving being back in Glendale. He has had a few bumps in the road the last few weeks and faced the challenges of being a DL. After being back for a couple of weeks, his companion ended up going home as well as several others from the mission. This left his mission short on missionaries and they were faced with closing his area until the next transfer came along which would be August 12. To make a long story short, they were able to keep the area open because a cute 18 year old was worthy to be a temporary missionary. His name is Elder Cathcart and he just graduated from high school this year. He is from Dereck's area and is the son of the stake president there. So for the next three weeks he is now a missionary serving in his own ward and area. They seem to get along great and have very similar approaches to missionary work and life in general. I have had the opportunity to receive an email Elder Cathcart's mom. Here is an excerpt from her email dated July 29 - I am not going to lie, it makes a mama proud!


"I have always told the full time missionaries that they can stop by our house any time any day for pretty much anything so they will always have a stopping spot if they need one. Its been great to have missionaries in our home for our boys to see the great examples they are…almost all of them have been. Your son is no exception… Elder Wesche is AMAZING! He and Tanner seem to get along super great, its been a whole week and Tanner hasn’t driven him crazy yet from drumming on everything. Tanner is a drummer and has been able to maintain his addiction to drum on everything since he’s been on his mission with Elder W. But Tanner is also a sports freak so I guess he and Elder W are getting along great!
They had a baptism last Saturday which we were unable to attend, out of town, but I heard it was wonderful. They are serving in our ward which is La Pradera Park and Manistee Ranch Ward in the Glendale Stake. Sunday night they held a “cottage meeting” or investigator fireside at our house and about 30 people in attendance including the members, but it was great. My husband and I both LOVE the missionary spirit and always hope to be able to be around missionaries and share the Good News of the Gospel. I want you to know how much everyone in our ward LOVES Elder Wesche! Everyone was sooooo excited that he was able to serve in our area again. I hear that it’s the best baptizing area in the mission so President puts the best here! There really is lots of work to do here for sure. Elder W is the best. We love him."


I am not only grateful that they were able to keep the area open due to this young man, I am so grateful for his mom who was able to let me know what is going on! Dereck is quite frustrating in his lack of commuication -- he is great to email each week, but just doesn't clue us in to anything. This has been a blessing to our family to have Sister Cathcart keep us posted.
At the end of the three weeks, Dereck will receive a new companion and I am guessing it will be a "greenie" because he mentioned that he would be a trainer to his next companion.
We also received a phone call from a lady who's daughter worked with Dereck while he was at Paces. They were visiting Arizona for a wedding and lo and behold, who do they see when they walked into the stake center. Our little Dereck. What a small world. The picture is of Dereck and Elder Cathcart, along with Brit Christensen.

Dereck did say that they have been working with a 14 year old boy and that he has committed to being baptized and is scheduled for Sept 5. He says this kid just rocks and has a bunch of questions but they were able to answer them all. This kid reads the scriptures and gets answers to questions that he didin't even know he had. He will be in Glendale for at least another six weeks.

Transferred ... again!

So we have some news...after 6 short weeks in Sedona, Dereck has been transferred again. He is back in Glendale, AZ. If you recall, he was in a threesome companionship with Elder Roberts and Elder Jensen when he was previously there . Elder Jensen has fulfilled his mission and flew home on Tuesday, leaving Elder Roberts without a companion. So you guessed it, Dereck is back with Elder Roberts and they cover the same area. This time, however, Dereck is serving as the District Leader. He was so excited to go back to this area. He had such a hard time leaving, as I suspect he felt like he had unfinished business there. It was interesting that in one of his letters he told us about a comment his mission president made when he told Dereck that he was being transferred to Sedona. I think he knew how that transfer made him feel, and he told Dereck that there was always a chance that he could come back to the Glendale area. Well, now he is back. Since the transfer just happened, there really is no news to tell yet, so let me give you a quick run down on the Sedona/Cottonwood weeks.
The work there was slow when he arrived and not much was going on. In his last letter from that area, he mentioned that the work had picked up a bit, but nothing too special was going on. He related a teaching experience he had when he went on a split with another elder. They went to a less active family's home in Campe Verde. Here is the excerpt from that letter, "Yesterday I was on splits with an elder from Camp Verde... and we were in Camp Verde... we went to a less active guys house. Well, he happens to be the wrestling coach over at the jr. high and his boy is a 6th grader that took state wrestling 8th graders... well they have a mat in their basement... during the lesson, I mention something about wrestling, (I normally don't really do it cuz no one really cares) but I didn't know all of this when I was teaching. After the lesson they freaked out and I got to mess areund a little bit down stairs with them. It was really fun. I miss it sometimes thats for sure..." I find it very interesting to learn how the spirit whispers to the missionaries to open doors to peoples hearts...even if it is through wrestling in the basement. I hope he will tell me the rest of the story, if there is one.

So here is the latest on Dereck. As you know he is in the Cottonwood/Sedona area. Things seem to be a bit tricky there. He said today (yes I am updating the blog the same day so the info is "fresh") that they are working really hard to re-establish the trust between the members and missionaries. I guess that there were some problems in the past, but he did not elaborate, other than that they have been slowly getting the members to help them with their missionary work again.
He still has a car, but they do ride their bikes sometimes "cuz we are getting fat" (oh please) "and don't have enough miles" left on their mileage allowance. He did say that they are working with some people, but again, did not elaborate.
They had a district activity last week where they went bowling and hiking. I asked him how it went and he said that he really didn't bowl to well, and that whoever was in charge of planning the hike obviously didn't understand the term because all they did was walk up a dirt road that cars can go on. He said it was lame, but we all have to remember that he is Mister Adventure Man and what may be lame to him, is pretty cool to the average Joe. He sent a picture of his district. They look like a fun bunch!

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a couple that had Dereck at their house. Dereck and his companion, Elder Wolcott (Tom) painted the fence for this couple and they took some pictures of their fence and of the boys and sent them to me. It was fun to see the fruits of their labors, and they actually did a pretty decent job from what I can tell. It is always good to hear that your son is actually out there doing good things, serving people, and honoring his Heavenly Father.

Well - we have news of where the boy landed. He is serving over the Sedona/Cottonwood area - which is just over the mountain of Prescott. So my reliable source was close. He writes that it is so beautiful and he feels at home there. From what he has been told, the work there is going to be a bit of a challenge. About 40% of the wards are less active members and the area is more of a retirement community where there are a lot of people "set in there ways". He is excited to take on the challenge of motivating the wards to help get ball rolling and get them involved.
His new companion is Elder Wolcott...that is all I know folks. I did get some pictures, and from the tie his companion is wearing I am going to guess he is from Texas.

Well - the enivitable happened. It was transfer week last week, and Dereck was transferred. He was not very happy about it as he really loved being in Glendale. He said that they were working with some people who had committed to baptism and he seemed a little frustrated that he wouldn't be able to see that happen. He really grew close to the people there. This will be a hard transfer for him I think.

According to a very reliable source, he has been moved to Prescott. I won't be able to find out all the details from him until Wednesday...they have changed P-days from Mondays to Wednesdays.

They were able to take the Herrera family back down to the Mesa temple (again). They traveled down with my reliable source, Liz, and she took some fun pictures that she has given me permission to share -- so here they are!

So to explain who Liz (my reliable source) is -- she is a lady that was in one of the wards that Dereck was serving in while he was in Glendale. I met her when she came up for spring break with one of her friends. They came to our house to pick up some stuff for Dereck and took it back down to him. They really appreciate their missionaries in Glendale! Anyway, Dereck taught alot in her home. She has said some very nice things about Elder Wesche -- which is nice to hear as I don't hear to much from the elder himself!

It was so great to talk to Dereck on Mothers Day. He sounded so good...and grown up! He said it was because he has had a sore throat for the past week. Things are going really well for him. He is super excited as they have been able to commit the Herrera father to be baptized. He is scheduled for this Saturday. When I asked him what his favorite part of his mission has been, he answered without hesitation that he has loved working with this family. It sounds like they have spent quite a lot of time with them and have grown quite attached to them. They have also been working with a lady named Wendy who is really a great lady.
Transfers are scheduled for this week and he really wants to stay. We will see I suppose. His P-Day's have been changed to Wednesdays instead of Mondays, so we won't know what happens until then.
We tried to pin him down on some details of his day -- so here is a typical day -- He gets up at 6:30 eats, exercises, has personal study time, and than companionship study and is done by 10:00 a.m. Then they go tract, do appointments, plan their week, etc. They always have dinner appointments with the members, unless they have investigator dinners. So I know he is getting fed.
One funny thing that he told us was that he has learned to love hot sauce. He would always tease Scott about dumping tobasco sauce on everything when we went out to eat. We would dare Scott to eat something with all kinds of sauce on it for a quarter ... of course he would, and than he would try to get Dereck to, there was no way that he was going to try it. So to hear him say that he loves it now is music to Scott's ears.
For my Mother's Day gift he set the phone down and played a song on the piano -- it was one of the primary songs about moms. I know the song, I just don't remember the name of it. It was so sweet -- I was laughing, crying at the same time. Although it was not perfect it was a perfect present. He was happy to hear that it made me cry. He said that he had made a video of him playing the song with the other elders singing, but couldn't find the SD card anywhere in the house. Hopefully he will find it and send on it's way.
I guess that about wraps it up ... how many more days until Christmas?
He finally sent me some new pictures in his last email. They were able to take the Herrera family and Wendy to the Mesa temple and do a visitor tour. It sounded like it was a fantastic opportunity.

Did I mention that he gets to call home in one week!

Well - so much for my promise to do better... so here is what has been going on with Dereck this past month. Transfers were at the beginning of April and he is staying in Glendale with Elder Jensen, however, they have added another elder to the mix. His name is Elder Roberts (I think.) He was in the MTC at the same time that Dereck was, and Dereck really liked him. So I guess we will see if they can live together and still get along. He never really talks about his companions much, other than to say that "he rocks". That has been his description of all of his companions to date. The mission work moves forth. He says that they are really busy. They have a lot of people that are starting to know. He is hoping to stay through at least one more transfer because he is hopeful that they will learn of the truthfulness of the gospel and he wants to see them through. I guess it is pretty funny to see the three of them standing on a porch. It is a bit awkward I suppose.
He told us about an fun "run in" he had with a 10 year old boy. I guess this kid was outside throwing a baseball around and Dereck approached him and asked him if he played. He said he did, and that he just got back from Puerto Rico playing for a US team. He threw Dereck a glove and pitched a few balls to him...I guess he had a wicked knuckle ball and could throw a 70-mph fastball. Dereck was obviously impressed. You can tell he really misses the game. He finally told us the name of the "big" family they were able to baptize -- Herrera. One of the kids from the family plays and so they try to go watch him to "support" the family. Yeah, right.

The ceremonial tie burning

Okay - since Dereck has rules against "ceremonial burning of clothing" and couldn't do the traditional tie burning celebration that marks the 6 month mark, we decided to have our own celebration. We tried to sing Called to Serve while the tie was on fire, but it didn't go so well...Anyway, here are some of the pics from the big event on April 1 2009!

Six Months!!

Well, lets see if I can catch everyone up to date. I have totally slacked on my duties as a blogger...my apologies.
We had a couple of visitors from Arizona a couple of weeks ago. The bishop's daughter and a friend came to Utah for spring break and went to visit the families of the missionaries from Provo to Farmington. They told me a couple of surprises -- Dereck is keeping secrets! He is no longer on a bike. I guess they expanded his mission so they gave them a truck. So all of my worrying about him sweating to death on his bike was for not. He also has been learning to play the piano. They said he can play a (yes, singular) hymn. His companion is pretty musical so I guess he is rubbing off on Dereck, because Dereck is also singing in the ward choir.
The missionaries have been busy planning this big luau for the ward/neighborhood. They had been planning this for weeks. Well, it was a huge hit. He said they had about 350 people which is huge for down there, and with about 50 investigators. He is hopeful that they will begin teaching some of them.
They have also been working with this family (the big one) and were finally able to get most of them baptized on Saturday, March 28. He was able to perform three of them and his companion baptized four. What a big day for them! He loves this family so much and admires their trust that they have placed in the Lord. He commented that the mom works like crazy. He also learned that pushing our lawn mower around the yard wasn't all that bad after cutting her entire lawn (or whatever it is that they have there) with a weed wacker. I am afraid to see what it looked like when they were done!


He will officially be out for six months on April 1 2009 -- I asked him if he got to do any tie burning and he replied that there is a white handbook that specifically says, "no ceremonial burning of clothing" -- what an obedient child! But hey - we are 1/4 of the way!

A note from Dereck, " I just am so blessed... everything is working and we are still just doing the same old same old, and I just love it like that!"

Dereck seems to be doing better these past few weeks. His emails reflect a positive and happy young man. I love the quote he used in his last email, "there is no growing in a comfort zone and no comfort in a growing zone." He has a great outlook and knows where to turn for help.
He is doing great at protecting the privacy of his investigators. All he will say is that he has maybe 20-25 solid investigators. There is no update on the large family he has been working with which would account for 9 of the 25 if he is.
He is struggling with the season in Glendale -- you see it is spring training in Arizona. He loves the game of baseball, he always has and it is somewhat depressing for him to be there and know he can't play. He said that it is not that big of deal down there and he was surprised at the lack of enthusiasm by the locals. He has very fond memories of when he was younger and played in a tournament in Phoenix with his comp baseball team. He swears that his current stake center is the same one that he and Scott went to to watch General Conference while they were there. How he would remember is beyond me, but he is his father's son, so he could be right! Small world!
I think he is a bit fearful of summer -- he is already dying of heat. His exact words were, "it was in the low 80's all week. It was so dang hot. I am dead when summer hits."
I will end this update with two questions that Dereck has been asking himself --
First, what are the all the things that Christ has done for me, and secondly, what are the things I can do for the Lord.
Okay - there is your challenge for the week. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject!

Email from Dereck 2/23/09

Dereck has had a hard week this past week. Here is what he had to say in his last email.
"This week has been the most trying of my mission. Starting last Monday everything started to go wrong. Our big family cancelled on us four times. Our baptism was pushed back a week and in every lesson it just seemed as if I couldn't speak at all and that I would just stutter and not make any sense. I have been studying like I have never studied before and to continue to see myself fail is really hard on me and you all know how hard I am on myself...the thing that is keeping me to just push on to the next lesson, the next door, are my prayers. If I couldn't communicate with my Heavenly Father on the basics, I couldn't do this anymore. It would overwhelm me and I would just become a mess. It gets hard to put on a smile but you know that when there is a big trial in our life and times get hard that something big is coming around the corner. I have learned to just keep that hope that it is just around the corner. That if I put my faith in our Heavenly Father that he will help me. As I continue to serve with charity then Iwill be happy. I love to know that it will get better."

I am hopeful that this week is going better for him and that is spirits will be lifted. I know that he will gain confidence in his abilities to teach as he studies. We keep reminding him that missions are hard, but so worth it. He has grown so much more than I think he realizes. He has endured hard things before and has been able to push through. He will continue to push through. He knows that he has the Lord on his side and sounds like he is placing his trust and faith in Him to do all that is asked of him as a missionary. His scripture that he chose to put on his plaque is found in Nephi 1 3:7. He knows that the Lord will provide a way.
Anyway, long story short, if you would keep him in your prayers I know it would be appreciated.

Thank you to everyone who sent hearts to us for Dereck. He got the heart attack and seemed to have a lot of fun reading the messages, so thank you so much! He wrote in his last note (and it is a note, because it would be lying if I called it a letter) that he really appreciates all of the support that he receives. We received a call from a lady from the mission field that was calling us to tell us that she saw Elder Wesche and he wanted to tell us Happy Valentine's and that he loves us - unfortunately, we weren't home to really talk to her, but it made me all happy inside just the same. He has a couple of baptisms lined up, but doesn't really know when they will happen as they keep experiencing delays and have had a couple of setbacks but he seems to realize that it may all be for the best and they just try to help them become more prepared to be baptized. He finally sent a couple of new pictures. They are fun and he looks so happy!

Well-we have finally got a little bit of information from the boy to pass along. He is still in Glendale, but has moved out of his apartment and into a past mission president's home, complete with pool tables, air hockey and a foosball table, and all kinds of forbidden fruits -- except on P-Day, but he says it is hard to walk by it everyday on his way to the kitchen.
The family of 12 with 8 of baptism age that they have been working with has now increased to 9. One child had a birthday and is now 8 years old. We pray that this family will feel the spirit and recognize the truth.
He was able to find a bike that he liked and is liking the exercise (he is his father's child). He says his area covers about a 10 square mile radius. For those who have a map, or want to google one, his area goes from 83rd to 35th and from Northern to Maryland...umm, yeah.
He was so grateful that he didn't have to go tracting the day after the Super Bowl -- I guess the people in Arizona were just not that happy with the outcome! Personally, I loved it! He was excited to tell us that he was able to shake L. Tom Perry's hand - He came and spoke to his mission about two weeks ago. (See if I would update this regularly all of this information would be in order! SORRY!)
Scott has started emailing questions about the gospel for Dereck to research and find the answers in the scriptures. It has been fun to see him grow in his knowledge. Dereck also encourages all of us to read Elder Bednar's talk on pray, I think it was in the 2008 fall conference issue. He says in his letter, "I can't tell you how much my testimony of prayer has increased in the last 4 months. Its been amazing and I love praying now!"
One final note -- he wants to wish "his boys" good luck on the State wrestling tournament that is going on on Feb 11,12,13. He even wore his wrestling shirt on P-Day this week in support of his team! I can't believe that is been a year since we were all sitting in the gym at UVU watching him. So, Go Vikings!

Umm - so not in "Flag"

We heard from the boy today -- we couldn't quite figure out why he wasn't emailing us yesterday, until we remembered that the libraries were closed for Martin Luther King day. So no library, no internet = no emails. So, he was told that he would be in Flagstaff through the next transfer (transfers occur on Thursdays, by the way), so on Wednesday night he gets a call from the mission president and is told that he is going to be transferred the next day. He is now in Glendale, Arizona, or the valley is what he calls it, so he should be out of the snow and freezing cold. I am not sure if this makes him happy or not. I know he truly loved the people in Flagstaff. I asked him today if he was able to say goodbyes to anyone and he said that he called his investigators as he was packing. In his words, it was difficult, but just like a bandaid, you have to rip it off.
His new companion is Elder Jensen, who has been out for 18-months and says that he is learning a lot from him. Especially on organization, I guess this guy is on top of things. Dereck said that there is a family of 12 with 8 of them baptism age. They are working on them and are hoping to get a commitment from them. There has already been quite the excitement in Glendale for Dereck. He is in an apartment building and someone two floors above him died the second day he was there. Creepy. Then, in the middle of the night on Sunday, one of the complexes near his caught on fire.
His new area is a bike area, so he is excited to be able to drop the pounds he has put on by all the Navajo tacos he ate while he was in Flagstaff. It sounds like he is doing more tracting and running -- not sure what he is running from, hopeful it is to a new appointment, and not from someone, or something!

Still in "Flag"

The information we are getting from Dereck is getting somewhat scarce -- whats with that! Anyway, we do know that he survived transfer week and is staying in Flagstaff for another few weeks. He is excited. He loves it there and really didn't want to leave yet. His companion may have a different story, as he has been in Flagstaff for nine months. He says the work is great and there are cool things happening ... he leaves us hanging with that little nugget from his last email.
Just to explain the reason that there is Coldplay as the background music -- I was driving home from work, and this song came on the radio. Before Dereck left, he announced that this was his theme song, because it mentions missionaries in the chorus. It is a stretch, but I was in a "mood" so I put it on!!
Just in case anyone is wondering, effective Jan 18, 2009, Dereck will have been gone for 110 days- and no, I don't know how many hours!