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.