Derik's Mission Emails -- Week Three

Hi!

I think Mosiah 4:9-12 is what I actually want for my mission plaque:

 9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.

 11 And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.

 12 And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true.

I don't know whether it is because I am excited, or because English is hard, but typing is really difficult now. I leave the Missionary Training Center in roughly 2 weeks, though I do not know the exact date. 

The Spanish is coming along excellently, I now know seven (I think) ways to conjugate a single verb, and my lessons are still mostly me talking and explaining things, but I rarely stumble or cannot find a word to express my thoughts anymore. 

Elder B's accent has gotten worse, and he gave a talk in sacrament meeting this Sunday. These short five minute talks are solely in Spanish, and should contain a scripture, a quote from preach my gospel, and a testimony. In Spanish. Elder B walks up, say Hola, and then proceeds to apologize, because he did not bring his scriptures in Spanish. He then gives the entire talk in English, except for a couple of word which were in Spanish. The branch president cut him off because he wouldn't stop talking. He just told him he needed to be finished. And if that is not a humbling enough experience, the president of the whole MTC was in our sacrament meeting. (Oh, just so you know two random missionaries are selected weekly to give talks. He was chosen, he didn't know he would be speaking.) 

Also, during this time I got really sick. I had to leave priesthood meeting earlier that morning because my right eye had come completely red and I could no longer see out of it because it was watering so much. That lasted for roughly three hours, and then it miraculously just ended. Then, as soon as I sat down for sacrament meeting, I discovered that I really wasn’t feeling well. I was going to ask my companion to leave with me right away, but he got called up to give a talk. As soon as the first 2 talks ended I ran past the President of the MTC in the Cultural Hall with my companion. I remained entirely uncomfortable in the devotional and throughout the night, but don’t worry. I’m better now. It sure wasn’t fun, though.

I also learned this week how being blessed with empathy can sometimes be really difficult. I have related to you some of the problems my class has been having with one of our instructors. We finally had a sit down heart to heart with the guy (which would be hard for anyone) but I have been given the blessing of understanding and feeling in part other people’s emotions. The emotions in the room ranged from furious to absolutely confused. And I felt and understood the reasons behind every single one--at the same time. And you know me, when I actually care about something, I become a much less eloquent speaker, and I get really confusing, even more confusing than normal. So there we are in the classroom. My district Leader has been “discussing” with our teacher in private. And we have a heart to heart. We use English because we are unable to express ourselves well enough in Spanish, and he uses Spanish, which many of my compatriots do not understand, which causes more frustration. So, my district now knows more about him as an individual, and can respect the reasons for his choices. Also, he’s seeing a girl that he is in love with this weekend for the first time after she got home off of her mission, and we all wished him luck. I think things will be better between us in the future. 

Well, Love you guys. Hope you have as much fun as I'm having (not possible!). 

-Elder Scott

The only thing constant is change...

This summer has been a whirlwind of activity. Jess came home and had two surgeries (a tonsillectomy and a second surgery to remove the cyst from her spine), the girls went to girl's camp, Derik and Kyle went on a high adventure sailing trip in the gulf, we went to a Scott family reunion in Idaho and then spent time with my family while dropping Jess back at school, we got Derik ready for and sent off on his mission, and I took Jess a car and attended BYU Education week.


As my three sweet daughters who are still at home went back to school this morning (Aubrey 12th grade, Laurel 11th grade, and Eryn 8th grade), I have a lot on my mind. First, I'm constantly praying for Derik and Jess while they're away. They're doing such wonderful things and I'm so pleased to see the phenomenal adults they are becoming, but it's still hard to have them gone. Second, I'm praying for my three girls who are still at home--hoping that they'll have a successful school year, make new friends, be happy...not wreck the car. Third, I'm praying for Kyle and his job, calling, etc. Fourth, I'm apprehensive about and praying about beginning the college/scholarship apps for Aubrey. Fifth, I have so many possibilities running around my head for myself, and I'm praying about how to best focus my energies this year (after choosing to not continue my job at the junior high so that I can get healthy again and have time to focus on the more important things in life). And sixth, how much food DO I buy when I go to the grocery store today?!!? With two grown ups now out of the house, I know it will be less, but how MUCH less is the big mystery. The never-ending challenges of life! :)

Derik's Mission Emails, Week Two

To start off my email this week I would like to tell you all something that I find very aggravating but pleases me as well. It is really hard to write in English. I leave out random letters because the Spanish word is sometimes very closely spelled, and I think it is kind of annoying but cool. :)

We actually lost another elder, although he just got transferred to the Spain MTC. My district is now eight elders going to Reynosa, and one going to Irvine California (Elder B). 

I still teach the lessons basically by myself, although my companions will: one, chime in if there is a pause and say "tiene preguntas por nosotros?" (Elder H) and the other one (Elder B) doesn't understand anything we are saying, so will jump in at random times and talk about things we have A) already discussed and the investigator refuses to do, or B) non sequitur in a huge way. 

I have already started finding joy, and I am incredibly happy to be here. Like I said in my other letter, I am having no problems learning Spanish. It's like when there should be a wall somewhere, and you know there is a wall, but you can walk right through it with no difficulty. That is how I feel anyway. I have a lot of words down now, and know preterit and future conjugations of all normal verbs. I don't know future form of verbs that change though. I'm so grateful for the help of the spirit! I am doing really great here. I know that I have been blessed with the gift of tongues, and I am very grateful for that.

Mom, you asked me why my companion was having trouble with Spanish, and you might think this is very funny. Be prepared, Ready? Alright, here goes. He was born and raised in Montpelier Idaho. He spent his childhood working on a farm, and his summers working with potatoes. In high school, he ran track and wrestled. He is also the tallest person in his family, at a whopping 5'5. I thought that was funny, because a lot of the things about him match with Dad, although he isn't super smart, so Dad has him beat there. It's been interesting dealing with him, because it's like talking to a less mature version of Dad. He has an terrible accent, and listening to him butcher Spanish makes everyone's day better. He is getting better, though. We are trying to teach him that a 'r' sounds like a 'd', all vowels always sound the same, things like that to cut his accent. He is kind of a stick in the mud, though. 

My other companion is a tall, skinny guy who is just hilarious. We have two new teachers, Hermano Z and Hermano C. Z is kind hard, and Elder H makes fun of sayings of his all the time. Z says things like "Elderes" "No siento para mi, Usted siento para Dios," and he has this scripture that he points at when we ask questions he thinks are stupid. It is Luke 22:42 [Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.]. C is really nice. He is our favorite teacher.

We had the opportunity to teach a member in TRC, which I think stands for Training Resource Center. Members who wish to have spiritual experiences come onto the campus and have small discussions with missionaries in their language in order to help missionaries get a feel for people. We taught Hermana A, and it was amazing. I felt the spirit so strongly while talking to her, and she was really a great person. Also, my companions actually helped me on that one.

In addition to TRC, we teach discussions every day to fake investigators. I do almost all of the talking still, but my companions are getting better.

I have received so many blessings here, and I am loving this experience so far. Our days are pretty jam packed, don't have any extra time. I get to visit the temple every week, which is just great. Last week was great, some of my friends got to participate in sealings for two hours.

Every week we get to attend two huge devotionals. I've had spiritual experiences at all of them. I think I've taught like twenty discussions now, and I really am very glad to be here.

Glad to hear everyone is getting back into the grooves of their lives. I love you all, have a nice week. Talk to you later everyone.

Sincerely,

Elder Scott

P.S. I ran into David Wonson, and he told me his learning of the Tongan language is going malo. Which i think means well. I was confused because mal is bad for Latin languages though. Once again, Love you all. See you in a while.

Derik's Mission Emails, Week One

Family;

I'm having a wonderful time here. I like everyone in my district. We started with twelve people in the district, and one of them decided he needed to go home on the second day. We lost another one yesterday, but he explained to us the actual reason. He had gone into the field unworthy, and knows that was wrong. So, hes going home for a while, then he promised to come back out ASAP. That one was a lot harder. We all really liked the elder, you know? I'm happy that he made the hard choice and decided to get on the right track before going out. We are losing another Elder Monday, but that only because hes going to the MTC in Spain. 

[NOTE: I'm going to just put initials for people's privacy.] The elders in my district are as follows: Me, Elder J (district Leader, really fun guy), Elder H (absolutely hilarious), Elder B (my first companion, has a lot of trouble with Spanish, doesn't understand anything anyone says to him), Elder S (ent home the 2nd day), Elder W (no idea what to tell you about him, leaving for Spain on Monday), Elder R (we call him Spock because his ears are pointed, he is really smart, and he doesn't talk much), Elder M (arrives at the joke half an hour after everyone else), Elder D (went home yesterday, great guy.), Elder B (he'sawesome, a lot like me, does a little beatboxing but he cannot sing notes :( ), Elder W2 (also a lot like me, good singer, hard worker), and Elder W2 (doesn't eat meals, eats a protein bar and a banana for breakfast, family sends him all kinds of junk food, works out way too much, doesn't really like anyone but Elder Spock). Those are/were my district, and I like them all quite a bit. They are like the brothers i have been fortunate to have the lord give me. All of them but D, W, and B are going to Reynosa on their missions. 

We got an investigator on the second day, and I taught her 4 lessons. That was really great, in the first lesson I had no idea what I was saying, but she seemed to understand me (yay for help from the spirit!). I taught her about quite a few things, and even with my companion(s) random interjections about things we had already spoken about, I think those lessons went really well. We aren't going to be teaching her anymore. She seemed sad to no longer have the opportunity to talk with us (me, because my companions Elder H and Elder B have no idea what she is saying most of the time). Elder H attempted to commit her to baptism, right after she had explained to me why she didn't want to be baptized yet, how she wasn't ready to give up her lifestyle. It was funny afterward, but I had to rephrase his words in order for it to make sense. 

yo bendice con el Don de lengues mucho en el CCM. I have been blessed with a lot of the gift of tongues the the MTC. I don't know why in Spanish it's the CCM. I can easily hold long conversations with people in Spanish. I am very grateful. I got to share my personal conversion story with my district for one of our devotionals, and the effect it had was pretty cool. It was part of the reason Elder D decided to go home.

Just in case you are wondering, I still sing all the time, and I still get to beat box. Almost my entire district loves my voice, and I sung The February song by Josh Groban to send off Elder D. There were many tears, although I managed to make it through the song without crying. He didn't know what he wanted me to sing for him, and Elder H suggested that. I think he needed to hear words of encouragement, and that song was an excellent choice for his predicament. 

To answer your question about captain crunch mom, I have not eaten cereal here but once, and it was blueberry muffin tops. I fixed the clock and it works right now. I forgot 2 things when I came here, my watch and my shaving cream. I actually have to shave every morning now! All the testosterone I'm living with helped with that.

They do keep us extremely busy here at the MTC all the time. However, I'm really glad I get to be here. I love learning Spanish (who knew it would be this easy? haha) and I am super grateful every time I get impressions (usually at least every half hour) as well as other blessings. I am really happy to be serving this mission.

I don't have much time left for writing, so in closing I want you all to know that your brother Jesus Christ, the Lord, the holy spirit, and I, all love you very much. 

Tengo una testimonia a la verdad a el Libro del Mormon. Yo se que nuesto querido padre celestial tiene amor por sus hijos. Yo se que la profeta, Presidente Monson es una profeta verdad. Yo se que Jos'e smith es la profeta de la restorracion, y es una profeta de dios. Jesucristo hace la expiacion por los hombres y tiene muchas sentimientos por los hombres. Porque no digo mucho espanol, y la computadors no tiene enye y otra letturas de espanol, es mi testimonio de el evangelio. Esto Jesucristo Vida.

I love you all,

Elder Scott

To whom it may concern: Just wanted to let you know that the MTC is amazing. I'm really glad I came. Email you all in a week.

Oh, just in case someone doesnt have it, my mailing address at the MTC is

Elder Derik Kyle Scott

SEP15 MEX-REY

2023 N 900 E Unit 811

Provo UT 84602

(Big side note from Derik's mom: I was MUCH happier with this email than the day-two email! :) )

Derik's Mission Emails, Day Two

Derik had only been gone one day when we received this funny email:

We were allowed a very short amount of time to inform our families that we are indeed alive, and I am very happy you found my watch. If you would be so kind as to send it to me, that would be very much appreciated. My P-day is thursday, so expect replies to emails then, as well as an update on my life. I'm doing very well here at the MTC. 

With Love,

Elder Scott

(As a mother who wanted to know that her boy was more than just alive but actually happy, this email left a little bit to be desired...sigh.)