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.