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