Derek Letter #7 8-13-12

What's up family!!

 

I can't believe I forgot Caitlin and Billy's anniversary yesterday. I know they wouldn't have noticed but I would've wished myself a happy anniversary or something...I don't know. Speaking of weddings, I forgot to mention that I got Sarah's wedding announcement like 2 weeks ago. It has now hit me how strange this is because she JUST GRADUATED seminary for Pete's sake! Ohwell, it happens. Like to my Mom. Good thing I wasn't alive yet. But I'd like to congratulate her because she seems really happy. I wish I could be there for the sealing in 4 days. Tell me how it goes because I'm sure you'll be there.

 

Sorry I don't have any pictures this week because Mike (the one who recently got baptized...4 times) went to Michigan to take his son, Noah (who has a baptismal date for the 25th), to see his biological mother with his wife, Pam. A couple of weeks ago, they had some friends go to Tennessee to see their baby get born. They were living with Mike before that and when they left (Oh, by the way he paid for their Greyhound ticket and pretty much everything. Mike is really Christlike especially since he's been baptized) they stole their 2 cameras. One digital one like I have and one that costed $1000. So I gave them mine to use for a week. I hope they made good use of it. I think I trust that they will give it back to me, haha! Last week I also forgot to mention that I went on splits with one of the zone leaders, Elder Avenius, and another elder who is going home this week, Elder Gabbittas. We had more people answer the door than normal but I was glad to have Elder Clare back.

 

Sounds like you guys had a good church meeting. Oh, hey did you tell brother Haws and Grandma and Grandpa to keep sending me letters? It's easier for me to do that. About Cody's Eagle, I was the same way; not really motivated. But if I were to do it again, I would be. Just make sure he knows what he's doing on project day. At least I was able to get a majority of the ward out to help, as I know he can do too. Cody? Writing about indexing? Who gave him that talk? I just hope he's glad that it only had to be 5 minutes instead of 15, or 60 like an apostle or somebody who can talk that long. Jayce watched the Light Soldier? AKA dark night? Muy malo, muy malo. Oh, we've been teaching this Spanish family and I can't understand a lot of what they're saying, but that's why we send people to Spanish speaking missions to help fellowship later in life. We hope to see them again tomorrow or tonight depending on what that Spanish speaker is doing. I've been getting more bug bites than I have wanted here in the past few days. I have a total of 5 right now when I usually would have 1 at a time. Also these past few days, 3 women in our branch had babies in 3 days time: 2 on Friday and 1 yesterday. It has been exciting to be able to see them for the first time without huge bellies.

 

Yay! Did you post my address on my page and motivate people to write me? Because the only letters I got last week were those 2 denials to Caitlin. I WANT MAIL! Elder Clare got 2 packages the other day. Oh, actually I got a manila envelope from Sister Beebe and some girls in the PQ2 primary. I got Meghan's flat Stanley and will take pictures with it as soon as I get my camera back. It looks so cute and I can tell they worked hard on it. Tell them I said Hi. Sounds like you are getting a taste of what it is like here in Kansas. Still can't be too bad. Oh, hey last week I met a guy who moved into our branch from Manhattan (since we got a new building, the boundaries changed) named brother Hancock. And he lived in Gilbert, Arizona a while back and had Elder Clare's grandfather as his stake president. Small world huh? Well just wait because it gets smaller. He lived in Mira Mesa about 10 years ago and had President Riding as his bishop! So it was way cool to hear that. Plus, I was wondering who the stake president was back then because I have been straining my mind to think of his name for the past week and can't think of him. I know his counselours were President McPhee and Winter. He was eventually mission president in Argentina, and is the coolest guy ever. Why has the name escaped me?

 

All right I'll answer your questions. I don't really hear from brother Crouch that much even though I live in his house. He seems kind of sensitive about some things just as his wife is. But I know that he went in to get a surgery date to remove the cancer. That's all I know. The new building is AWESOME! Although the new building feeling wore off after only a week because lots of inactives came and left. I feel so blessed to have this building and I shouldn't have taken for granted the Penasquitos stake center. That building is awesome, especially because of it's full sized basketball court. I think that new building feeling will come back as we have the open house this Saturday. I get the 4-6 shift. The building should be dedicated next Sunday. The new building is on Vineyard road in St. George, Kansas. Yeah, we eat up a lot of miles just driving from home into town. It stinks because we are limited on miles. That family lives out in Frankfurd (or Frankfurt, I can't remember) and it is like 30 minutes away. Unfortunately, after seeming really interested, they haven't been answering our calls at all and we have dropped them. We lose the care this week and will not have it as often anymore because after transfers this week, the zone leaders in Manhattan will be getting full-time cars and we'll probably have to walk/bike a whole lot more. Speaking of bikes, I called the mission vehicles guy and he said that he has a pretty nice bike that he could sell me for only $200. So I went to the ATM and withdrew the money from my personal account. You can see it if you go to Chase. I should get the bike by Friday or Saturday. Well I think taht's all I can think of to say right now. I love you all and keep writing me letters! Facebook amigos included. Love,

 

Elder Derek Sutherland

 

PS: "This meeting is officially under order. Let us all say the pledge: 'I am a nice shark. Not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, NOT FOOD!.'"

"Except stinkin' dolphins!"

"Yeah, dolphins they think they're so cute. 'Hey I'm a flippy little dolphin. Look at me I'll flip something for ya.'"

"Okay, that's enough. All right today's lesson is bring a fish friend. Now you all got your friends?"

"Got mine." hmhmhmhmhmhmhm

"Hi there."

"Excellent, Chum. Anchor, how about you?"

"Oh, um I have seemed to have misplaced my, uh, friend. (suck)."

"That's all right. Why don't you go ahead and take one of these for today."

...

"Just start with your name."

"Okay. Hello. My name is Marlin. I'm a clownfish."

"A clownfish!!! REALLY!!!"

"Go on! Tell us a joke!"

"Oh, I love jokes."

"Well, I have one that's pretty good. Um, so there's this mollusk. And it walks up to this sea cucumber. So the mollusk says to this sea cucumber... 'Daddy!!! HELP ME!!' Nemo!"

"HAHA! Nemo! HAHA! I don't get it."

...(I'm not going to type the whole scene. Have Cody recite it for you.)

Derek Letter #6

Hey Mom, I don't have much time but I'll try to answer your questions. So that's way fun that you had fun with Jessica, her girls, and Caitlin. I also heard all about high adventure. It sounds like it was a great. Come on Cody. Before you know it you'll be 18 and won't be able to get your Eagle. Besides, it would be nice to get driving experience before your mission. Don't worry, I was scared the first time I drove on a freeway but you'll get used to it. But I'm not you. Do whatever you want. We might actually have another baptism on Jayce's birthday. But we are going to ask him today. So as for the pants, I have 5 dry clean only and 4 washable. I discovered that after I asked you. I don't care if you send more, I've been working with it and I just might wash my dry clean only's in the machine anyways. I can pretty much buy everything here. There's a huge Wal-mart in Manhattan that we buy stuff at every week so if I need anything other than prescription stuff don't worry about it. Yeah, we have an open house on the 18th. Oh, that picture that I sent is the view from where I live. Jealous? We do have a few people that are mean to us. But if they're not interested, that's all they say. Most of the people here are really nice. Yeah, way to go Pad Squad! Any players that have been called up since I left? I remember the starting lineup for opening day was Maybin, Headley, Guzman, Alonso, Hudson, Bartlett, Hundley, Venable, and Stauffer. Of course the Padres released a certain couple of players in that lineup, I just want to know who's been called up besides Grandal. If you want to see my comments about Dallin, see the e-mail I sent to dad. But when he gets there, ask him if he's been here in Wamego. Because there's a train that comes through here everyday. I know it's a coal train but hey, it's a possibility. I love you and I got to go,

Elder Sutherland

PS: "Show them that you're their friend. Be nice."
"I love you."
"Not like that."
"Hello."
"Hey, how are you doing?"
How am I doing?"
"You want to buy some chocolate?"
"Sorry, chocolate contains sugar which turns into bubbling fat. Isn't that right bubble boy?"
"Tee hee. It tickles"
(Sorry that may not have been entirely accurate)


Hey Dad. Thanks for letting me know how the high adventure went. It seemed like fun. Last year's was not fun so I hope it was different and it actually was fun, haha! Yeah I got your letter but I forgot it in the car so I won't type much about it. I really liked reading that though and even if it seemed like it or not, I have been doing my very best to control my anger and frustration about others since sixth grade. I got sent to the counselour's office at Mesa Verde for something I would've done in fifth grade and decided that I would control my emotions. That's why I'm so quiet and not really social now, I think. That's why we have companionship inventory in the field once a week; it is meant to tell your companion about things that bother you in a loving way. Elder Clare and I get along really well so we don't really degrade each other about anything we've noticed.

Michael got the Priesthood!? That's awesome! Wow, I can't believe my little Miky is all grown up. Did he go on the high adventure this year? I really feel sorry about Sister Peterson. Those are times that we really need to focus on being Christlike and be loving even though it's something that really hurts you.

So my normal schedule was sent in an e-mail a couple of weeks ago, but I'll give you the watered down version. I get up at 6:30 (this is all in the missionary handbook if you have one), study from 8-12, eat lunch, go proselyting until 8:45 or so with dinner for an hour at 5 or as late as 6:30. I then go home and have planning at 9:30 and go to bed at 10:30. We go tracting almost every day. Not for an extensive period of time but whenever we have nothing to do and we need to find. The best time to tract is Sunday because everybody is home. I have a car 3 out of 4 weeks at a time. I then walk everywhere because I don't have a bike for that one week. There are no signs of cooling here. Man, Dad you need to give your missionaries some referrals. They can't do any work without the help from the ward. They might eventually be removed because the work is so slow. President Hinckley once said "So many of us think of missionary work as simply tracting. But we all know that there is a better way. That way is through the members of the church."

Dad, I want you to show Dallin these words from the computer as quoted by president Uchtdorf: STOP IT!! Dallin, you NEED to stop doing what you're doing and come back to church. The Lord sees you as his son and even though you didn't serve a mission, he still loves you and you can still help many people come into the gospel. If you could see a talk that I saw while in the MTC, elder Holland said: "Don't even practice the thought of going home." I know you're not on a mission but this same thing applies to activity. Don't even practice the thought of staying away from this church. If Erin is an excuse then bring her into the church. I want you to re-fill your spot at our celestial table. I see lots of people here in Wamego that could've had better lives had they taken the right path and what you are doing is NOT it. For example one guy we are teaching turned down Football scholarships to many large schools so that he could go into construction and be with his friends. Satan has gotten a strong hold on you and I know that with faith in Christ like Alma the younger, you can come out out of this rut and "become as a saint. Submissive, meek, gentle, kind, full of love, willing to submit to all things[...]"(Mosiah 3:19) Don't become like the natural man. For "wickedness NEVER was happiness"(Alma 41:10; emphasis added). Dallin I love you and wish you could hear my voice when I say these things. Please...please follow the counsel of the prophets, your father, and me and repent.

I love you Dad, and this might be the only letter I write to the family this week because I'm waybehind on typing. Please emphasize that last paragraph when you see Dallin again. Love,

Elder Derek Sutherland

PS: Could you please tell everyone that has sent me e-mails (Grandpa, Brother Haws) to please send letters. I have limited time on the computer and want only you and Mom to e-mail me. Sometimes (like today) even that's not enough time.

Wonderful Visit Part 1

My niece, Jessica, and her adorable little girls, spent the last two and a half weeks at our house. We invited her to come and get a break from the Texas heat. Her husband is deployed in Afghanistan until November, and she needs to stay busy to pass the time while he's away. What better way than to visit San Diego?

We had so much fun! It was busy and hectic because I was still in school and I participated in our Stake Girl's Camp, but it all worked out. Fortunately, Caitlin was home for a couple of weeks, also, and for once, the girls outnumbered the boys!

We started off the week with a Padres game! They happened to be playing the Houston Astros! The Astros won, of course.

I had to include this picture because I thought it was hilarious. I took care of the girls in the morning when Jessica and Caitlin would go running. This is one way the girls chose to wait for their mom to return.

The San Diego Zoo was one of the first stops. I stayed home to work on my final papers and exams for school. I'm sure Jessica got a lot more pictures (only serious photographers sling their camera around their back :)). I'll blog more when I get her pics.

One night, we went to Del Mar for sunset. We grilled hot dogs and enjoyed the beach. It was one of the funnest things we've done all summer. It was beautiful and relaxing. 

 Cute girls!

 Maggie has a love/hate relationship with sand.

 Jessica goes to great lengths to get the perfect shot!

 It was so great to have Caitlin home.

 Maggie basically ate chips for dinner that night.

On my birthday, Jessica and Caitlin got up early with me to go for a run on the beach. It was awesome!

 Then we got cleaned up, and Cody watched all the kids while the girls and I attended the temple.

 Jessica's birthday was two days later, and she wanted to celebrate by parasailing! They jump right off over the ocean!

Mark watched the girls and we went shopping for four hours! We introduced Jessica to Nordstrom and Anthropologie! These were a couple of birthday gifts.

This is the only picture I have from Sea World (so far). It took three of them to get sunscreen on Maggie!

They've been gone for two whole days and the house is too quiet! We loved having them!

Derek Letter #5

Derek's first baptism!

They have a brand new church building in their area. It reminds me of our Bainbridge Island building. It's so exciting for them to have a building now.

This is where they used to meet...behind a Chinese restaurant!

Hey family!

It's good to hear that you had a busy yet fun week! The olympics started on Friday and I was bummed to miss it yet at the same time I was happy because I chose to serve a mission and not give up in the MTC as one person here in the branch did back in April. But I better get used to it because I am also going to miss Winter 2014. My mission has been so cool so far and I hope it stays that way (cool not as in weather-wise; it's been over 100 all last week pretty much). It's good to hear how the Padres are doing. I love hearing about them even though I can't watch them. Nice! Huston Street signed an extension! That will be great to see him in a Padres uniform when I get back.

Yeah, I have been using my priesthood so much! And it is really cool to be able to make even non-members happy when I use it on them or someone they know. Mike's baptism was this past Saturday and it was really special to me because he wanted me to do the baptizing. Okay, don't laugh at me, but we were both pretty nervous and I had to baptize him 4 times before it was right. The first time I forgot to close my eyes when I said the prayer and he stuck his foot out of the water. The second time it was everything (eldow, head, arm). Third time it was his elbow, and before the fourth time brother Seljastad calmed him down (this whole time I thought it was my fault) and then we got it right. The congregation cheered when we got it right (I didn't feel that was appropriate, but whatever). That was very special because the building had literally just been completed and it was the first function in the new building. It only took under 2 hours to fill the font too! But it was kind of small and low but that was okay because we got it done. As always, it took me a long time to change and dry off and I got back just in time to see the last 2 seconds of the 20 minute video to show while we changed. We then confirmed him a member of the church yesterday in the new chapel and after church, he also received the Aaronic Priesthood. So he's set to lead his family down the right path. Even if they don't want to join the church right away. Brother Chandler taught the gospel principles class AND the combined Relief Society lessons. I know that he's a school teacher but that's a lot of stress for one week of church if you ask me. His lessons were very, very good though. He's the bomb.

Yeah, he did live a little longer than expected just as I said in the blessing I gave him so that was really cool. Yeah, I guess I could've given him a blessing but he wanted to battle through it on his own...I don't know. I am pretty sure he prayed a lot. Maybe his home teachers gave him a blessing, I don't really know. We are also teaching this new person named Orki. He is in the army and his wife's friend went on a mission to Florida who speaks like 7 different dialects of Spanish. He has a lot of questions. He is Christian just as we are and he wanted to know a lot about the gospel. I think tomorrow night when we go teach him again we'll try and invite him to baptism.

Yeah, sorry Pennie but you just can't go chase a frisbee because you'd be so confused. Go ahead and tell her the truth. Bandit is so cool. As for our room, we have a bathroom and the kitchen is still under construction, but we just wash our dishes in the bathroom sink. It's not like that's bad or anything. I think we kill 1 large creature a day in our room. The common theme has been crickets, but I also killed a spider as big as a silver dollar the other day. Sometimes I feel lazy and just vaccum it up with the little roller vaccum that we sister Crouch gave to us. I haven't seen any roaches here but I love it when a bird goes up into the trees and owns a cicada. Those large flies deserve it.

Yeah, I memorized the first lesson, but I'm only a third of the way done with the second lesson and Elder Clare is almost done with it. The "Our life on Earth" section is super long and that's the part that is next. I hope Cody knows how important it is get to know those scripture mastery scriptures because they sure are helping me out here. Hey, did you get my letter to Cody and Jayce? I hope they enjoy hearing from me as much as I love hearing from them. Eating fast can be hard. Especially when the food is terrible. There's this one sister in our branch (should be ward because of how big the congregation was yesterday) who always gives us terrible food. Good thing she gives it to us in containers so that we can just go throw them away when she's not looking. I'll be darned.

That's way cool you went to Seaworld last Monday. Did you guys ride that new ride that they have there? Seaworld can get rather boring after 5 hours don't you think? I guess not for younguns. It sounds like girls' camp was so cool! The young women have always loved you and I'm sure you did great. Brother and Sister Walton sure sound like the people that love to help and teach because that's exactly what they do. I wrote a letter for them but don't have their address. Could you give that to me. Sorry if I already said that before. 1 AM, huh? That's fun stuff right there...especially 2 straight nights. Hey, at Disneyland did you ride the new Cars ride? It sounds like that would be a fun one for little kids. Cody and Jayce sure made a wise choice by not going. Especially because it seems like they go three times a year anyways. 

Let me know how the high adventure goes. Dad e-mailed me this morning too. What exactly were Dad and Cody planning on doing at lake Powell? You went to Gene and Michelle's? I am way jealous. What were Rifka's friends names? I think I could probably remember who they were. They sound like they were in my FHE group. Was it Sarah/George, Aimee, or any other of her roomates? 

Yes Cody! I remember presenting my project to Mr. Intimidating, brother Hatch. At least he passed. If you don't want to do the same amount of work as you did for mine, have Cody pitch in more so that he knows what he's talking about on project day. I remember I didn't know quite enough even though I still got it done. Haha, he had to wear Dad's. That's funny. Who's Mr. Boyd? I loved my counselour a lot and didn't care that he lived in San Marcos. Brother Gonzalez was his name. Good idea. got to get it done before the sports start kicking in. That's why I did mine before high school. Too bad Cody can't turn back the clock.

It's great to hear that you might go to Provo. I can't give you any advice so it's up to you! Have fun a the Wild Animal park. A guy in my branch, the branch mission leader brother Earl (it's so hard to remember to say "branch" because of how long I've been in a ward), went to a REAL wild animal park in Africa. Well, he's there this week. He went to Tanzania. Hey, why don't you do some missionary work by sharing the link to your blog in my facebook wall so that people can get an idea of what I do. I hope it becomes interesting to them. I have unfortunately run out of things to say. I love you all and hope you get pumped up for school coming back in a few weeks! Love,

Elder Derek Sutherland

PS: "Nine thousand nine hundred ninety eight, nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine, ten thousand. Where's the "X"? It should be right here. The map said ten thousand paces east."

"Oh, east? I thought you said 'weast'."

"That's 'west', Patrick. You're fired again."

Derek Letter #4

Hey family!

I looooooved those pictures and really wish I was there. Yeah, that pitcher, Randy Wells, we picked him off on waivers a couple months ago since seemingly everybody in our rotation was getting hurt...and in the minors too. I guess he has been called up since I was was set apart. Anybody on the team doing well? I also loved the other pictures. Those girls are really cute. Sorry, I should've said happy birthday last week, but I forgot. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Good job on finishing up your classes, I'm sure you were stuck in the computer room all the time working. Ah, how I miss school...not. I want to hear if Tyler graduated from BYU-I and how that went. I don't think I mentioned this but my branch president in the MTC, President Mickelsen I think was Tyler's mission president and knew him really well in ijhffioh;owiy3948riowfawej, Russia. Let me know when Tyler and Rifka get engaged (just making assumptions).

So, last Monday, we gave up the car because once every 4 weeks we have to go a week where it's bike week. But since the bike I'm supposed to use still needs repairs, we had to walk everywhere or snag rides from members. Let's just say I got super sweaty over the week. I really don't mind the heat but sometimes it would be nice to have a car, or at least a bike. We get a car back tomorrow. So we have this golden investigator I told you about named Mike. His baptismal date is this Saturday and yesterday he spent in hour in the branch president's office to interview for the Aaronic Priesthood. He said that he wants me to baptize him and Elder Clare to do the laying on of hands. It's been really cool to use my preisthood here in the field: this past week we had dinner at a member's house that the wife was super pregnant and their 1-2 year old daughter had whooping cough. So we gave the daughter a blessing. A couple weeks ago I gave a blessing to an inactive family's Dad who passed away this past Wednesday. He died of natural causes and gave him a blessing to live just a little more longer, which he did.

As for Thomas, he couldn't meet with us last week because he wasn't "prepared". Elder Clare thought he was ready and I think we are going to show him the Joseph Smith video this Wednesday. We also met with a guy named Josh who has several health and mental health issues. He also smokes a lot and occassionally drinks. He gets depressed from all the news in the world, especially the recent shootings at that movie theater in Colorado on the Batman movie midnight showing. I heard about that and it's just sad what the world has gotten to (like the wars in Syria and Middle East) but I know that that is Satan's way to happiness. It just starts with one person at a time to change, then the whole world will change.

I finally memorized the first lesson! It took a while but I got it done. On to lesson 2 which is longer than lesson 1! No, I'd rather prefer e-mail letters by you and/or Dad and written latters by everybody else. Don't worry Jayce and Cody, I have your letter I wrote to each of you right here next to me about to send so expect it in the mail later this week. I got your package last Tuesday and was grateful for it. On Thursday the people we live with, Brother and Sister Crouch, went to the hospital in Topeka. Brother Crouch had his final round of Cemotherapy and is probably hurting today because he said it takes a few days for the effects of Chemo to get to you. Sister Crouch had knee surgery on the same day and some of their family is here to help them out. I don't know is I told you this but they have a dog named Bandit here and I have to say he is way cooler than Pennie. He really understands when you speak to him. If you say "speak" he will bark. If you say "Do you want to get baptized" he will bark or even say "Do you want to read the Book of Mormon?" He will bark. His barks are really loud too. Sorry Pennie, you've been beat. He also has toys that we play with him. We usually use either frisbees or paint bucket lids and throw them as far as we can, and he will go get it and bring it back, even if it's in the thick foliage. Just say "Where's your toy?" and he will get it. Then you have to say "drop" to give it to you. I love that dog.

The members feed us dinner every night. I love it. I'm not trying to be too picky, but maybe it seems like I am. Most nights, I'm given ice water to drink. I loath ice water because I get teeth freezes and it hurts. Just give me cold water please. You know that I eat really slowly sometimes. That's my main problem because I'm still eating and eberybody else is done and migrating to the couch for our message. I never get full either. We're actually not supposed to help with the dishes, although I'd like to and want to but the members are so nice anyways. Yes, I use my Camelback everyday! It's so nice to have cold water when you're walking around everywhere. Also, everybody here says the phrase "I'll be darned" instead of something like "cool" or "wow".

So we're also teaching this part member family where the Mom is a member but nobody else is. The husband, ironically, wants them to get baptized so we went over out in the middle of nowhere to teach their 2 daughters ages 12 and 8. They said they'd get baptized and hopefully they stay active. But it will be really hard because they live 40 minutes away from the closest meeting house and also in a part member family. We need to get them to the temple. They are the Taylor family. Well I love you guys and wish you the best in everything you do. Look for missionary opportunities everyday. I'm sure I forgot something to say but that's okay (good ryhme, huh?). Love,

Elder Derek Sutherland

PS: "I see someone coming"

"Give me those. Sound the alarm."

[bite] "AAAAHHH!"

"Sorry Wickershoms. I promise I'll clean all this up later."

"Bring the amo!!!" (slow motion armpit fire)

"I love the smell of bananas in the morning."

"Banana in the hole!" (launch)

"Woah. [Russian accent] I'm beginning to think this diplomatic process is beginning to break down."

Derek at the Provo Temple.

Barbara and I made a ton of cookies and sent them to the MTC when Derek and Jeremy were in there together.

 Derek with his Mission President and his sweet wife.

 Derek's introduction to cicadas.

 I'm sure missionaries are happy to see this sign.

Derek's companion studying in their basement apartment.

Derek Letter #3

Hey family!

I'll tell you about everything. So I woke up Wednesday morning at 1 AM at the MTC to make it to the travel office by 3 AM. Everybody got up on time and were awake when we left. I got to the airport and talked to you on the phone for a little bit. Sorry it was a little early in the morning. In Denver, the stupid phone card was being retarded so I couldn't use that anymore even though I tried for like an hour. On my way to Denver I talked to this 19 year old girl from Orlando who was flying home from a backpacking trip to Wyoming. She was very nice and willing to hear what I had to say about the gospel. I gave her a Mormon.org card and encouraged her to check it out.

Sorry Cody and Jayce, I forgot your letters at the place that I am staying so I won't be able to write to you until next week. After the flight to KC (where the All-star game is tomorrow), I was picked up at the airport by President Keyes (pronounced Kais) and we went to see some of the sights. We went to the brand new Kansas City temple and took a couple pictures. We then went to Liberty Jail and the Independence visitors center across the street from the snowcone for the community of Christ. After that we had dinner and a nice evening at the mission home where I stayed the night. That night I found out where I was going and who my new companion would be. I'm here in Wamego, Kansas (15 minutes outside Manhattan, the home of K-State University) and my companion is Elder Clare from Gilbert, Arizona. He is 6'3'' and I like having a tall companion to match me. Apparently the last few missionaries here in Wamego have been tall and they've just been growing and growing; the branch members joke about that a lot.

I am living in the basement of a member's home in Belvue, Kansas out in the middle of nowhere. All I hear at night outside is the cicadas, and some cows. About a month ago, the missionaries moved from a 5th wheel trailer into the basement. That trailer is so stinkin' hot I don't know how they survived. The super nice old couple that lives in that home are about to finish the super new basement. Oooops, just realized I forgot my camera again. Elder Clare has been out a little over a year and he and I are already getting along great. No offense to Elder Ellis, but he is much better because of how patient and supportive he is. My first day wasn't too exciting. I got here and after lunch we tried to go see some people but to no avail. So then we just did some tracting for the rest of the night. I had dinner at the nicest family ever, the Chandlers and they were in awe that it was my first day. It was kind of funny.

President Keyes is soooo cool. They can watch TV if they want, they can set their sleeping schedule whenever they want (talking about mission presidents), but then he wouldn't have the spirit he needed to fulfill his calling so he follows the missionary schedule to the best of his ability. Each day I wake up at 6:30, work out, eat breakfast, study for an hour by myself (it's not enough study time), then study as a companionship for 2 hours. We then eat lunch and go out and do the Lord's work until 9 with dinner in there usually at 5. I then have planning and go to bed. Okay so for studying, if you go to Ch. 3 of PMG and go to the end of each lesson it will have the 45 minute lesson plan. For all 5 lessons, I am supposed to memorize all of the bullets and sub-bullets with a scripture for each bullet. If I do that, then I can drive a car wooh!

With letters, you send them to the mission office then they will forward them to me. I have an hour instead of a half-hour. But the time is still running down quickly. As far as the heat, I got welcomed with 106 degree days. Going tracting in that isn't fun just because I sweat so much. But other than that I don't mind it as long as I have water, haha. Today has been nice though with it being only in the 80's. When I got off the plane on Wednesday it was hard to breathe because of the humidity, but now I'm fine and lovin' it.

As far as you guys, I was thinking that Cody and I were in the same airport on the same day. Cool, huh? Sounds like you are having a blast with everything going on at home. Sorry I couldn't call longer, I wish I could've. Yay! That room is painted finally! What color did you make it? As far as sports are concerned, Don't talk to me about the Olympics please. GO PADRES! I'm glad they got a good streak going there for a little bit. Can you watch the games yet? Or is TWC still being retarded? What! Steve Nash is on the Lakers now?! I can't believe it.

So, all the slacks I got at Mr. Mac are dry clean only which is a huge hassle. I need some that are machine washable. I have 2, but I'd like to switch the others out for washable ones. As far as my acne stuff is concerned, I ran out the other night and need some ASAP (Act swiftly awesome pacaderm (how do you spell that?)). I am also out of soap but I think I can get some at the store.

So for church, we meet in the back of a chinese restauraunt as a branch. But a brand new building will be opening up at the end of this month! I'm excited and I just wonder how the members feel being in that small place. The restauraunt looks like a church building, at least the rooms we have reserved so it's not bad, just small. Hopefully the missionary work can go up because of this new building. So I am getting a lot of secondary smoking here. That's just what everybody seems to have a problem with. In a lesson yesterday, a golden investigator smoked his last cigarette right in front of us and said he was done now. I'm very happy for him but that was hard to bear just sitting in front of him and getting all the leftovers shoved down my lungs. There's also another very close investigator named Josh (the other was Mike) who also smokes a ton. He would smoke a pack and a half every day ($300 a month) and is now down to 5 a day or something. Bothy he and Mike have a baptismal date and are getting themselves prepared for that.

Well, I got to go! I love you guys so much and miss you. I loved the pictures and am grateful for your support.

Love,

Elder Derek Sutherland

PS for Cody: "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA, IT'S A GIRAFFE!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

How is it July already??

This has been a great week! We started off with a Family Home Evening with the Stearns family. We had a kick ball game, adults against kids first (adults lost) and then Stearns against Sutherland. Then, we set up badminton. It was a blast. Sorry I don't have many pictures.

Before we left the house, Pennie really wanted to come. We brought her and she was hilarious.

Pennie was enclosed inside a baseball field, except she found a way into the next field, where a huge pit bull was playing. She high tailed it back quick!

It was such a beautiful evening and very fun to hang out with their great family. 

Cambrie and Cody had to be competitive with everything we did, they even had to sprint against each other.

Wednesday was July 4th and Cody flew to Utah to attend pole vault camp. Mark and Jayce took him up to the airport in Long Beach and then hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Sutherland. (I stayed home and worked on the camp program, and tons of homework. Ugh!)

But the day started with a red, white and blue breakfast! (We put blue food coloring in the waffles, if you can't tell :)).

They went to Irvine Park and visited the zoo there.

This picture is included for Alex serving in Mexico...haha! 
(Do you get it?)

Santa Ana is the only city in all of Southern California where fireworks aren't illegal. Consequently, everyone does it. We have gone up there for years to do fireworks and the kids love it. (With Cody out of town, Jayce was the only kid....)

Today was the competition at the pole vault camp.

Caitlin took this awesome shot today -

It looks like he could hang out there all day! Way to go Cody!