4-3-11

Dear Mom,

The plants were in buckets of soil. They had a worm garden and their own compost.

Thanks for the package. It was great. The caramel popcorn was very good. Ps the oranges froze. Fruit does not survive the trip to Nebraska.

We hit record highs this last week with 80 degrees. It felt wonderful. Between sessions on Saturday Elder Henson and I laid in the grass behind the church. It felt wonderful to sit and enjoy the sun.  The temperature dropped on Sunday, We had snow.

I am doing very good. We were supper blessed this last week. We taught Derek about the restoration and talked about baptism. He was asking us what he needed to do to feel the spirit in his life. To have peace.  We left him with a commitment to read Alma 36 and to pray every day. He called us the next day asking for more to read. He read the chapter three times and memorized one of the verses. He loved it and marked his favorite parts. We gave him Alma 34 and confirmed our appointment for Friday. Friday we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized on April 30^th. He accepted and we gave him ether 12 to read. Before we left, we spoke with him and his girlfriend Atinot and invited them to think about marriage. Derek’s sister (who is a member) told Derek that he needed to quit smoking to be baptized. He called us Friday night and told us he was looking for an excuse to stop smoking. He stopped smoking and coffee on Saturday and came to a session of general conference. After we met with him and laid out all that needs to happen for his baptism on April 30^th. He asked if he needed to be married to be baptized (yes!) and we discussed how it could all happen. He went home that night and proposed to his girlfriend and she said yes. They have not set a date yet but we have an appointment on Wednesday to discuss and set this all up. It has been a rather exciting week. Derek was home sick with a fever on Sunday and missed general conference. I have been praying for him. Saton is working hard to keep him from joining the church. He told us that one of the people he knows found out he is investigating the church and started giving him a hard time about a living prophet. Derek told him that it makes sense for god to call Prophets today and stood up for the church. It was neat to hear Derek bare his testimony. During general conference Saturday afternoon I felt like all the speakers were inspired to speak straight to Derek. It was amazing feeling. They were truly inspired.

We taught the swires family the plan of salvation. The family had many questions and the spirit was very strong. Brother Swires was great in helping explain the gospel to his children. He may be less-active but he sure has a strong testimony.

Well the work goes forth. Thanks for all you do. I have a new found favorite scripture this week. 2 Nephi 33:6. Love you mom, Elder Durfee