Dear Everyone,

 

This week was really good! We only had four days in our area because of divisions, but it was still great. Last week President Fluckiger had a special interview with our District Leader about how the work is going in the ward. He told us that we needed to work more with the members to help our investigators and gain a better relationship with the members. So on Tuesday we worked with 4 different members and had a total of 7 lessons with members present! It was so wonderful and helped the area so much! We have a goal of having half of our lessons with members this week, and I am so excited about it. Billy, a recent convert, doesn´t speak Portuguese very well, but he was soooooo excited and he helped our stubborn investigator feel more comfortable with the idea of being baptized and coming to church. What a blessing! Plus, Billy has strengthened as well. How fun was that!

 

Yesterday only one out of the 7 people we asked to come to church showed up, which was rough, but I won´t let that get me down. His name is João and it´s his second time in church but he doesn´t even live within the ward boundaries. He was a reference of a friend of his that we know. Good for him! We are excited that he is showing such interest. He even asked us when our collegues in his town were going to pass by. I really hope that he will continue to progress.

 

We did two divisions on the Azore Islands this week, which means we had to take some flights! It was fun because Sister Gidney hasn´t traveled a whole lot so it was a great adventure. First we went to Ponta Delgada Island to visit Sisters Bos and Camacho. They have the sweetest companionship and it was fun to see how they are doing such a good job. I did the division with Sister Camacho and I was so impressed with her! It is her second transfer in the training and she is already speaking and teaching well. She is actually from the same ward in Texas as the Fluckigers, which is sweet. On Ponta Delgada there is a GORGEOUS chapel (really on both islands there are great meeting houses) and some really great recent converts. We had a lesson with the family member of some recent converts that is marked for baptism. It was such a treat to be a part of their conversion!

 

The other division was on Terceira Island to visit Sisters Mendes and Riveros. I went with Sister Riveros and it was really fun and different because she is 39 years old! It was like going on a division with Arlene! How fun! She is from Peru and only speaks Spanish with us because it´s the closest thing to Portuguese that she knows. Good thing I took all those Spanish classes because I was using it to interpret what she was saying! They are cute sisters and I think and hope that we helped them and their area a lot.

 

On the Azores the work is basically the same, but there were some things that were different than the mainland. First of all everything is really green and there are COWS! I never realized how much I liked cows until I went without seeing a single one for 9 months! It was a hoot. The islands look like checkerboards because they have so many fenced grazing fields and ranches. I heard that the milk products are fabulous but we were fasting so we didn´t try any.

 

Anyway, I have a big piece of news. We got a phonecall from President Fluckiger last week that was kind of surprising. he called asking if I would consider and extention of 2 more transfers, so I would be staying three more months than we were planning. He said that I have a little while to plan and pray about it, so that´s good. I really want to, but I still need to come up with a final decision.

 

Thank you so, so much for your prayers. I really apreciate all that you do. We kept safe in our travels and happy in our spirits. I love you all!

 

Sister Derrick