Long time since posting......

I had a lovely blog written last week to make up for the 2 weeks missed and when I "published" it, it simply disappeared!  I truly believe that computers hate me.  This seldom happens to John!  This is major celebration week...we had supper twice with American families!  We have a missionary couple who are serving a service mission for the church.  They still work, live in their own homes, but are called to assist a struggling unit of the church.  Bro. Wade is the clerk, asst. scout master, and "whatever' else if needed.  Sis. Wade is the Young Women's president and is outstanding.  They are two of the finest folks we have ever met.  They shared their family with us today in celebrating her 58th birthday.  Ahhhh, so long ago....58. :)  The other couple, the Ramsdens had us over Friday evening.  He has just been called to our branch to assist with some long term goal setting for members of our branch.  We work short term goals and he works long term goals.  Since "goals" is a relatively unknown word in the world we currently live in this will be a very interesting journey in teaching the art of setting goals.  I am confident that The Lord wants this done so he has promised to help us find a way to do this and He always keeps his part of the bargain.  Now we just have to spend some time on our knees finding out how he wants us to accomplish this daunting task.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day and it seems strange not to be in our ward's Memorial Day picnic.  We have not missed it for years and have always enjoyed the good food and great fellowship.  We will probably visit a nearby cemetery and pay our respects to those who have done so much for us.  Last night we had the privilege of going to a concert by the Salvation Army New York Staff Band.  It was not only  a musical feast but a spiritual one as well.  It was all brass and percussion instruments and their skill and talent were incredible.  Their testimony of the Savior through word and music was an inspiration to us.  How blessed we were last night to meet many others who, although our doctrines differ, feel the need to witness of the Savior's great Atonement and invite others to come unto Him.  When good Christians unite, there is nothing that can stop goodness from prevailing.  The only thing missing was Cantorum singing along with this marvelous band!  Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to be with our good friends Carol and Greg Abbott who were in CA visiting their son.  What a joy it was to be with them!!  Good friends are hard to come by and we cherish those that we have. It was a little hard to wave them good by. We don't have much "new" news about our mission.  We are hanging in there and have days that we feel like we have accomplished alot and other days when no one keeps their appointments or comes to their doors that we go,  "Mmmmmm, this is an interesting experience."  :)  I'm getting ready to teach a class in Relief Society (the women's organization) on how to cook beans.  Everyone here eats LOTS of meat and have never cooked beans before.  Anyone wanting to send a case or two of Beano?  We have been to several farmer's markets that we LOVE!  The asparagus season is almost over and we are so sad.  Melissa, our daughter, found a really interesting story that really tells a lot about the Marshallese in the U.S. which I would encourage you to check out.  www.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/US/for-marshall-islanders-hopes-and-troubles-in-arkansas.html.  We get a new quote every day from an app called LDS Quotes that we really enjoy.  Just wanted to share a good one with you by Brad Wilcox from his book "Continuous Conversion".  "We don't pray because we're worthy.  We pray because we need help.  We don't take the sacrament because we are perfect, but because we are willing to be perfected.  We don't go to the temple  because we've made it, but because God is making us better there.  We are not earning a treasure in heaven, but learning to treasure heavenly things."    Have a wonderful week and remember those who gave their lives so that we might have freedom.

Hello friends. It's May 5 already. Where is time going so fast. Not wanting our friends back home to feel bad but the farmer's markets are in full swing here. Yesterday we got some beautiful fresh bing cherries, kale, strawberries, broccoli, sweet onions, and more, all organic of course! They had three colors of cauliflower but it looked too good to eat. It's still hard to imagine that in California we are in the middle of the produce mecca of the United States. Someone has to do it! We hope none of our friends are being affected too much by all the rain back home. Sounds like the ole Mississippi River is going wild again. Sherrie and I are starting to teach new members lessons to a young lady who was recently baptized. We have her over after church, teach a lesson and give her a great Chief Sherrie meal. Today it was Salmon with all the trimmings. We are so glad we have this privilege to teach people more about the gospel and answer all the questions they might have. It also sounds like the Elders have another young lady ready for baptism in two weeks so we will be doing double duty. Last week our dear Mission President announced that in our mission there are now 220 young elders and sisters along with 22 of us senior missionaries. Every first Monday night of the month the senior missionaries are invited over to President and Sister Lewis' home for Family Home Evening. It's starting to get crowded in their home when we all arrive with our canes, crutches and wheelchairs! Just joking, everyone is in good shape and eager to serve the Lord in this area of the vineyard. I've become friends with a brother in the church here who puts together and maintains all of the bicycles for the missionaries.  He's been pretty busy lately with all the new missionaries coming in. Of course he is helping maintain my bike also! I'm always amazed as I watch people from all walks of life and from many different religions who go out of their way to help others. That's the Christian thing to do of course but in today's busy world I would sometimes expect to see it less. Two Saturday's ago was a big annual "Helping Hands" project at which hundreds of our church members along with many other faiths worked together to clean up four different parks in Sacramento. It was amazing to see the difference and end results. As Neal A.  Maxwell once said "We should all carry jumper and tow cables not only in our cars, but also in our hearts, by which means we can send the needed boost or charge of encouragement or the added momentum to our mortal neighbors".

Have a great week,

Elder John