The Scoop From Honduras

We got an e-mail from Deric on Saturday. We thought that p-day was Monday for his whole mission, but it seems that the office missionaries do Saturday p-day because they are busy during the week. We don't have all the details yet, but here is his letter.

THIS WEEK WAS INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday we had a zone p-day. Tuesday, we had the normal meeting. I did not sleep at all on Tuesday night because we had to leave the zone leaders´ house at 1:30 AM to catch the bus to come to San Pedro Sula. In the transfer meeting I found out that I am the new secretary. I am in charge of all the immigration stuff and all of the records (Baptism, Ordination, etc.) Wednesday night, we had all of the missionaries that were headed home staying at the house. At least the house is huge. We got to bed really late and got up really early. Thursday at 5 AM we had to be at the airport dropping all of the returning missionaries off. We also went to make President Veirs a resident of Honduras. A couple of hours in immigration later and we now have a Mission President that is 100% legal in the country. Yesterday we ran tons of errands. Buying parts to fix President´s car, doing some other things in immigration, Baptismal interviews for the baptism that we have later today, Taking president to a special interview, and a ton more. In other words, there is not a ton of missionary work that gets done here. We are really just here to make sure that the rest of the missionaries can do their work and are doing all of the paperwork right. Because I will probably be here for Christmas, They are going to put me in charge of editing the Christmas video. That is going to be a ton of work, but it should be really cool.

I have done a ton of things in the last week that I had never done in my mission before. I have stayed up all night, been with President Veirs for more than 5 minutes, driven a car, taken a hot shower, and a ton more stuff.

I am doing really well. I am just really tired from the lack of sleep this week. I am hoping that there are not many more days like the ones this week. I need more sleep.

That has been this week. I am tired. Other than that, I am doing just fine.

I hope you are all doing well. I love you all.

Deric


At Stake Conference this morning, one of Deric's friends from high school (Matt Stewart), who returned from El Salvador 2 weeks ago, was talking to Conrad. He mentioned seeing Deric in a video presentation about missionaries in Central America. That's the first I've heard about anything like that. I'm going to work on getting more information this week to see what's going on. Matt also met someone (a returned missionary) who knew Deric in Honduras. Pretty cool.

We are hoping that he will have access to a card reader so we might get to see some photos. Cross your fingers for us.

Felycia's Great News

Felycia was home last weekend for General Conference. Halfway through the Sunday afternoon session, she got a text from her roommate wondering when she was coming home. Felycia told her that she would be leaving in about an hour. Then, Britt sent another text that she needed to hurry because her letter was there from the Education Department at Dixie. Needless to say, Felycia left for St. George as soon as conference was over. SHE'S IN!!!! We are so excited for her to start the real part of becoming a teacher. She starts practicums in January and then it's just 2 years to graduation. As her parents, we can't wait for her to be done either. Tuition times 2 starts next September when Deric is back home. The sooner that is over, the better.

More fun from Photoshop

This really was in Las Vegas. I learned how to contour words around objects in my photos. I love learning all this stuff.



I learned how to put words on my photos in my second class. I've had lots of fun with it.



This is the same photo from the last post, but this time, I learned how to add the banner with the words in it. Pretty cool, huh?

I have also learned now to erase unwanted things from photos. I took some family pictures for a friend of mine and I got a stop sign in the background of one shot. I took it out now. Quite convenient. I can also get rid of people I don't know and shadows in the wrong places.

Photoshop class

I am taking a Photoshop class at one of the scrapbook stores here in town. My first class was on Thursday. I learned how to do black and white and how to do sepia. I've really had lots of fun going back through 5 years of pictures on my hard drive and deciding which ones to play with.



This photo was taken about a month before Deric left for his mission. Conrad's cousin took some family pictures for us up at Calico Basin. We called this "The field is white, already to harvest..." The field really did look white until we got it home and off of the camera. Now, it's white again.



This is Henry. He was tired after a day of viewing, funeral, graveside service, and luncheon for Great Grandma Zella Flinders. He just laid on the floor and I started taking pictures. If you look close, you can see his reflection in the floor.



This picture is Deric at the Junior Boys Classic Volleyball Tournament in Anaheim, California in June, 2008. Deric tried out for a volleyball team right after graduation and made it. The Junior Boys Classic was a qualifier tournament so they could participate in the Junior Olympics in July, 2008. It was hot and a long drive, but we had a good time and the boys did pretty well, considering that they forfeited all of their Sunday matches. Mostly Mormons on the team and they didn't want to play on Sunday. The coaches made them go and watch the other teams from their club but they didn't have to play.