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