Elder Downs here! Another fast week. Funny how people gage how fast time is going. Mine is how fast I seem to be filling up my seven day pill box with my vitamins and a few prescripts! Weird, I know. Also hard to believe that next Sunday is Easter. Sherrie and I both have Sunday School classes that we teach, Sherrie has all of the teenagers 12 through 17, mine is the Missionary Preparation class of 4 - 7 students depending on the day. We both have been teaching to our "students" about the Savior, his Crucifixion and Resurrection and what His atonement has done for us all. Or let me say, we are teaching as we can best understand what the Savior did for us. It is so hard to wrap our arms around what He really did for us. As Neal A. Maxwell once said "Jesus did not find pleasure in hanging on the cross; joy came after duty and agony. He went to Gethsemane and Golgatha out of a sense of supreme service, not because it would meet his needs. He fulfilled all things by giving all in that remarkable and special act of service. He descended below all--taking more than all of us put together have taken--before being lifted up".
    That makes our little sacrifice of time in our lives to serve a mission quite minimal, but knowing we are doing it for Him is reassuring to us.
    Last night the big missionary fireside/party occurred that we and the young Elder Missionaries had been planning. As with any such fireside you hope for the moon as far as how many will attend. Could have been better, but we had a handful of non-members attend and two handfuls of less active people that came. Food was first, then the fireside in the chapel and then back to desserts and Marshallese dancing! Those Marshallese sure know how to have a good time and eat! I think we mentioned in a previous blog that we had been working with a man and his large three generation family who have been less active in the church for about three years. Two Sundays ago he and his extended family of  thirty showed up to attend our worship service. They filled up a third of the chapel!! Some of his family again came last night and some were there today also. So maybe we can get them turned around after all.
    I want to end tonight by saying that these past few weeks have been a little trying for us. Missing the family, not having as much success as we would like here, missing family, missing family, but reading about the Savior always brings it back into proper perspective. Elder Bednar in his book entitled Act In Doctrine spoke about striving to develop a more Christlike character in our lives. He spoke how the Savior in his moment of anguish upon the cross was not concerned as much for himself as he was for those around him. Likewise Elder Bednar gave examples of people he personally knows who have displayed the capacity that while they were in their own moment of despair, they were still able to recognize and appropriately minister to other people who were experiencing the very same challenge or adversity that was most immediately and forcefully pressing upon themselves at that moment in time.
    I guess when we all lean on the scripture of "line upon line, precept upon precept" we will in the process of time increasingly be able to reach outward when the natural tendency is for us to turn inward.
     Have a good week my friends and family.

Elder John

March 17, 2013  So much for trying to blog every week!  :)  I didn't realize it had been so long when John reminded me tonight that it was still my turn to blog.  We had gone to our mission president and asked for additional work and lo and behold, our wish was granted.  Here in our little Marshallese Branch of the church we can almost visit everyone in the branch within a 10-16 day period.  We are still holding our English classes, "Daily Dose", 2 times a week but our attendance has dwindled.  We read/teach English in 3 or 4 other members homes on a weekly basis as well.  We did finally find an inactive family, had a wonderful visit, and they promised to come to church.  Well, last week they didn't show and we were really disappointed.  But, today they came with their WHOLE family which consisted of about 6 grown children and their families!  The pews really filled up fast when they all came into the church!  We will be visiting them this week and hope to establish a relationship with them and nurture them along into activity.  The church has a new program called the Women's Auxiliary Specialist.  These are qualified single sisters who desire to consecrate their all to the Lord by serving a full-time mission.  It is very similar to our calling but they will be serving under the auspices of the mission president but work closely with the stake president, stake Relief Society president, and ward Relief Society presidents.  They will be living in our apartment complex so we will be happy to have fellow missionaries close by to fellowship with in our off hours.  John and I will be dividing our time between the Marshallese Branch and 2 other wards.  Our primary responsibility in the other wards will be to visit less-active single sisters.  It's still kind of "a work in progress" but we are excited about the possibilities to serve in different ways.  Our Sunday's are always pretty full so we are ready to collapse when we get home late in the afternoon.  John definitely had a full plate today.  He spoke in Sacrament meeting, taught the Missionary Preparation Class and then taught priesthood.   I just struggled along with my class of teenagers in trying to convince them that the Atonement is really, really important.  We then had a meeting with several folks from the Stake and D.I. about the employment struggles that members are having.  While we were in that meeting there was a knock on the door and one of the brethren asked if any of us had a white car.  I was very relieved to remember that ours was beige.  Evidently, two teenagers got hold of some car keys and decided to take the car for a little drive.  Unfortunately, the one behind the wheel had NEVER had his hands on a steering wheel before.  He accelerated, jumped the curb, turned the wheel to keep from hitting the church and crashed into another car.  No one was hurt, thank goodness, and we were so blessed that there were no children playing on the sidewalk.  John had been having a lot of trouble with one of his hips but our dear son-in-law, Dr. Alph, gave him a RX for physical therapy and it has really helped.  Still brings him a little distress at night but is much better.  John was at P.T. last week and a man and woman shuffled out of the therapy rooms with some difficulty.  When he went into the therapist he said he hoped he would not be that way when he was their age.  She smiled and quietly said, "You are older than they are!"  We feel so blessed to  have our health, with just the regular aches and pains, and are able to go about the Lord's work.  I am reading an excellent book on receiving personal revelation entitled "Hearing the Voice of the Lord" by Gerald N. Lund.  John and I often find ourselves in situations that we just don't know what to do or to say to motivate and uplift the saints that we serve.  We are trying to learn how to receive, recognize and then respond to the voice of the Lord.  Spencer W. Kimball said the following:  "The blessing of revelation is one that all should seek for.  Righteous men and women find that they have the spirit of revelation to direct their families and to aid them in their other responsibilities.  But...we must seek to qualify for such revelation by setting our lives in order."  So the challenge is on to us all.......to set our lives in order.  Not easy....but definitely possible!