Darn, tomorrow it will be 74 degrees and no snow in sight! Believe it or not we did have a real brief spit of snow pellets last week. It lasted a few seconds but it left the natives in awe. I've seen pictures and heard descriptions from our kids back home of what ole man winter has been like there. Eric said he was in a total whiteout in Columbia and couldn't see a car length in front of him. He said it matched the whiteouts in Canada he had been through when he was on his mission.
      Last week I started teaching a Missionary Preparation class for six young adults in our branch. I think I will call it "Reality Class 101" as I teach these young adults what they need to do to prepare themselves to serve the Lord. One of many changes will be getting up at 6:00 am and not slowing down until 10:00 pm at night which presently isn't in their vocabularly. When I asked them to put away their cell phones and told them they won't have personal cell phones on their missions to text, they had a momentary look of panic! But they'll get over that shock too.  I'm excited to see the changes that will be going on in their lives over these next 10 weeks of classes.
     We are always surprised when people, particularly non-members respond with kindness to us when they see our missionary badges. Friendly waves from neighbors in our apartment complex are nice. We have been getting our car tweeked and fed with vitamins (oil change) at a local Jiffy Lube, and the manager who is not a member of our church, but has a nephew serving a mission presently, always gives us a 15% discount each time. We are touched by his kindness. Now if I just find a gas station manager that will give us a discount on the $4.29/gallon gas we are paying!
     Just this week we got a call from a member of the church, but not in our Branch, who was referred to us by D.I. (Deseret Industries) where she has worked and received training. She is originally from Japan, and now lives across the street from us raising her two children, while she scrapes out a living and goes to college at the same time. Sherrie is helping her through the term papers that she is putting together for class. We are glad we can help her in some little way so that she can be successful in live and provide for her family.
     In closing for this week, I want to tell you how thankful that I am here with my eternal companion, Sherrie. We are learning and growing so much while we are here on our mission. Our growth here makes us realize how much more there is for all of us to do in helping others in this world.
     Neal A. Maxwell once said "as we all strive to develop more Christlike virtues we must all realize we are 'on the way to perfection' rather than thinking we are already in the arrival lounge".

Until next time,

John

February 12, 2013    This is suppose to be a cold and rainy month but so far it's been a little cool but very little rain.  Mind you, I am not complaining!  I just know that the state really counts on rain during this season to keep everything from drying up the rest of the year.  Eric and Tracie will be flying in late Friday and returning Monday a.m. so we are sure hoping for great weather.  We are so excited to see them.  We spent Friday and Saturday with Amy and family celebrating the twinners birthdays as well as John's.  Alph is our California doctor and we went early hoping that he could get an x-ray of John's hip that has been causing him so much trouble at night.  He wrote him a script for physical therapy and John had his 1st appointment today and was really impressed. When he went into the office there was a big, British bulldog walking around the office while drooling profusely.  (Californians LOVE dogs!)  John asked if that was going to be his therapist and the receptionist replied, "Of course, when his drool lands on patients it has magical healing power!" John, of course, started petting the dog like crazy.  I'm very proud of him for not giving into the temptation to rub his saliva covered hand onto his hip right there in the office.:)  Our weeks usually are about the same as far as activities go.  As we've said previously, it is our responsibility to teach "new member" lessons to those who are newly baptised.  We are working with 2 young, 10 year olds, a boy and a girl, who are so bright.  I must admit, that at times, we become discouraged while working with the adults and wonder if we are making any difference in their lives.  Then we have the privilege of "reteaching" gospel principles to children like these two, and we are quickly reminded that we are affecting the rising generation and that the Lord has great hope and trust in them to follow gospel teachings. The home we went to tonight has gotten quite full!  A brother and his sizable family have moved in indefinitely with the family that we are teaching.  The new family are not members of the church so we hope there will be opportunities in the future to visit with them.   As we were walking up the walkway the children in the home were looking out the window and when they saw us starting yelling, "Grandma and Elderly Downs are here!"  Ahhh, the innocence of children to keep one so humble.  John asked them how old they thought he was and they said, "Hmmmm, 50?"  And we of course, said, "How I wish!"  When we told them our age they couldn't believe it.  They said that in the islands, folks usually die between 50 and 60.  Our big push with unemployment has fizzled.  We worked a lot of hours with 4 folks who we thought had the most potential, with lots of encouragement and guidance, to no avail.  So many of our members do not have phones and so we have to go to their homes and hope that they will be there if we want to talk to them.  Gas has just hit $4.05 here so we really try to organize our visits in geographical units to make the wisest use of our time and our gas.  We have a zone conference this Thursday all day and have been asked to help inspect the missionaries' cars.  Althought neither of us are mechanical, we are pretty good at spotting neglect or abuse of cars.  That knowledge comes from raising 7 teenage drivers. :)  My Sunday School class had their first totally obnoxious Sunday last week.  It was like an undercurrent of wild energy was running through everyone's veins.  The lesson was on the importance of education, temporally and spiritually, and I wanted so badly to get them to think about it and really "get it".  Finally, I said, "O.K., I've had it!  I can't believe I actually asked to teach this class and that I willingly spent several hours preparing the material!"  The class went dead silent.  One of the rowdiest kids said, "Sorry, Sis. Downs, we'll be better next week."  So there is hope, I think. :) The scriptures tell us that "the glory of God is intelligence" and so we continue to learn and grow and hope that we gain wisdom along the way with new found intelligence.  Have a great week!  Since this is the week to show our "love",  see how many times this week you can show your love to anyone you see.  Love ya!!

                                                                                                 February 5, 2013    

 Hello friends and family. Still no flu here so maybe we can beat it all with Spring coming on. As Sherrie mentioned in her last entry, we went to a VegFest which means Vegeterian Festival. No we aren't becoming vegetarians, but we tasted some great samples of food that day. Sherrie is such a great cook so anything we liked there she can duplicate here in our apartment I'm sure. We've sure developed a liking for Kale Chips. So thin and delicate and they melt in your mouth!
      I think that we've mentioned to you about our scripture studies that we have with some of the members in their homes. It is so satisfying to see how people respond to reading the scriptures and how it changes their whole outlook on life. One couple who are "as old as Sherrie and I" are standing at the door waiting for us as we come twice a week to their home. We love being with them. Another sister we have been reading with stated how much her family is changing and responding to the increase of the Spirit in their home. They come to church all the time now and their 19 year old daughter is considering going on a mission.
     In regard to missions, I am about ready to start teaching a class on Sunday called "Missionary Preparation class". It will be a great opportunity for young adults who are of missionary age to study and discuss what is required of an individual who is considering going on a mission. In our small congregation there are six young adults who will start attending the class. It will be a great experience for me as well as them. Sherrie will be in her classroom next to me teaching the eight to ten teenagers that come to her class each Sunday. I admire her so much for doing this. I think I will stick to the young adult age.
     In a few days (Feb 10th) I'm coming up on my 68th birthday. That seems so surreal to me. That means in two more years we will be 70! And in three more years we will have been married 50 years! I'm so thankful that other than a few aches and pains, I'm still healthy. It gets pretty funny though to see Sherrie and I passing each other in the night, as we play the game "Who's turn is it to not sleep tonight!" That gets old real fast.
     This weekend we'll travel to celebrate birthdays at Amy's house (mine and the twinners) and then next weekend Eric and Tracie are flying out to be with us. Can't wait!
    We love you all. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Elder John

"We should not complain about our own life's not being a rose garden when we remember who wore the crown of thorns."
                                       Neal A. Maxwell