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!