John reminded me today that I didn't blog last week so 'tis that time again to reflect and record.  What's that old saying, "Be careful what you pray for, you might get it."  We prayed that we might be busier and our prayers were answered.  We are happy because we are busier now and we feel that we are accomplishing more (hopefully, that is.)  I'll start from today and go backwards. :)  Sundays are our very busiest day.  We are at the church by 10:00 and don't arrive back home until around 3:30 or 4:00 p.m.  Today we went early to test our translating equipment and of course several of them did not work.  No rhyme or reason....just didn't work!  Since there was no Marshallese speaker today, we were really concerned that our Marshallese members would get nothing out of the service.  We were the 2 speakers today and we had really worked hard and prayed about what we should speak on that would edify the members. Then we realized the woman who had committed to translate was a no-show.  It did cross my mind that this would be an opportune moment for the gift of tongues to kick in! :)  We talked someone into translating at the last minute so we tried to talk slowly so that our English could be translated more easily.  Most of you know that I do not speak slowly so this in itself was a challenge.  I spoke on the topic of the importance of learning and John spoke on our commitment to the gospel.  We hurry off the stand to quickly shake as many hands as we can, particularly if they are less active members, before we head off to teach Sunday School. I love my Sunday School class but ache for one of the young men.  He is 17 years old and each year he has just been moved on to the next grade in school and no one seems to address his learning disabilities.  He does not speak good Marshallese, nor reads it; nor does he speak, read, or write much English.  His one sister and two brothers are in my class as well and each of them have reading difficulties.  Thus, a new project comes on the scene for Elder and Sister Downs!  One of the administrators in the school district here is aware of this family and their education struggles.  She is determined to help all four of these kids. She is working on new IEP's for each child and we are going to mentor them and see if we can assist with some one on one tutoring.  Back to Sunday, after all three meetings John works with members who are receiving church assistance and I teach a "Daily Dose" English class.  Our English class is so much fun.  I could teach "Daily Dose" all day but 50 minutes of teenagers just about does me in!  The Marshallese are very funny and have a delightful sense of humor.  Today I took words out of the scriptures and we pronounced them and discussed their meanings.  After class one brother was walking down the hallway saying to one and all, "Behold, I am here.  Hearken, hear my English!  I am good, good, good!"  Yesterday, we, and about 1100 other members and non members in this part of Sacramento participated in "Mormon Helping Hands Day".  It was an awesome day.  I was so proud of the members in our branch.  They were there on time and worked like crazy for 4 straight hours.  The LDS Church organizes  these events throughout the U.S., maybe the world, and does major service projects.  Our assignment was to completely overhaul a big city park.  It had playground areas, baseball fields and soccer fields.  They were all in disrepair and when we left it looked like an entirely new park.  Tuesday was my birthday and on Monday night we got free tickets to the Sacramento River Cats, a minor league of the Oakland A's baseball team.  A friend of Amy's is LDS and a player and offered to get us free tickets.  We took 9 kids and had a great time.  That was our token baseball game for the next 5 years.  John talked the "garbage detail" into coming to us and leading all the folks around us in singing Happy Birthday to me.  Such fun!  We took the kids for an ice cream cone at McDonald's to celebrate my birthday and everyone sang to me again in McDonalds.  The next day, my actual BD, we went to a home for scripture study and I walk in and this sweet sister starts singing Happy BD to me in Marshallese.  By the way, there are 7 verses to that song in Marshallese!  Great birthday!  John bought me new glasses for my BD and now I look 5-10 years younger!  Just wanted to leave with a quote from my talk this morning.  Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley stated: "You have the potential to become anything to which you set your mind.  You have a mind and a body and a spirit.  With these three working together, you can walk the high road that leads to achievement and happiness. But this requires effort and sacrifice and faith."  Good goal for us all.  Sure love ya!

      Hello again. We've had a great past two weeks! Been busy! One of the most important was to witness the baptism of one of our grandsons, Oliver Wise. Since we just live 90 minutes from his family we were able to go there and be a part of his baptism. Sherrie and I sang a duet entitled "Where Love Is", his mother Amy and other Grandpa gave talks and his Daddy, Alph baptized him, and then Sophie his sister gave the closing prayer. Then those of us there that hold the Melchizedek Priesthood placed our hands upon his head for him to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. A very special event. For those you who are our non-member friends, our faith believes that children don't need to be baptized until the age of accountability. From latter-day revelation, we know that little children are redeemed through the mercy of Jesus Christ. The Lord said, "They cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me" (D & C 29: 46-47) which means age eight. Prior to that age they are taught the principles of becoming a member through the churches program for the children which is called Primary. In these Sunday classes they are taught about the importance of baptism and of the covenants and promises they will make with God. That we will take upon the name of Jesus Christ, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end. Oliver was so ready for this special day. For the last 30 days he has kept asking his parents "How many more days until I am to be baptized??"
     Last week Sherrie and I received two new companions!! Two senior sisters have been assigned to our area of the mission and are living in the same apartment complex as us. The four of us have now become our own District (No it's not an old people's district!) They both have energy that matches or exceeds us. They will principally be working in two wards or congregations in the northern part of the city and Sherrie and I will be assisting them as our time permits. Sherrie and I went to these areas last Thursday to seek out some recent move-ins of the church. They either hid when they saw us coming or weren't home because we went zero for ten! So we will go back in the evening when they might be home from work. We went to one apartment complex seeking one of the members and found the entire population were all Hmong's who all originated in Southeast Asia. What was unique was they have turned every available yard and ground space into gardens! Such productivity!! I'm not sure I like the order but one of the managers said the order of priorities of those that live there is first their gardens, then their cars, and finally their children. Hmmmmmm!
     Contrast that Hmong energy to the Marshallese members in our branch who due to cultural differences don't maintain gardens and aren't highly energized to find employment. Well today a step toward improving that has occurred. I had previously suggested several questions of accountability that the Branch President might use when members come to him for food or welfare assistance, such as are you seeking employment? are you attending English classes? do you know how to use public transportation? and do you have a family budget? The Stake President has helped us create such a questionnaire and with his approval we will now start implementing it. This will be a wonderful tool to help the members become more self-sufficient and less dependent upon the Church as well as the state and federal welfare system. We are excited to be a part of this. Sherrie and I will start going into the member's homes this week to help implement the program.
    As Gordon B. Hinckley once said "We must feel the need to emphasize with greater clarity the obligation for members of the Church to become more independent and self-reliant, to increase personal and family responsibility, to cultivate spiritual growth, and to be more fully involved in Christian service".  Then on a lighter but poignant note Brigham Young once said back in the 1800"s "Men and women need to pay more attention to the principles of economy in living . . . but some-times they want to have somebody feed them, and then some will not be satisfied, unless we baked plum puddings, and roasted beef for them, and then feed them while they were lounging in big easy chairs; and still perhaps they would think that they were ill treated, if we did not chew the meat for them".
      Well, I'm excited for this newfound energy and redirection that we now have in teaching these wonderful members. I know that the Lord has played a big part in this focus and direction. And I know with the Lord's help a change and redirection will start to occur here.

       Love you all. Take care.

                Elder John

April 3, 2013 Sister Downs writing here. It's hard to believe we are starting the 8th month of our mission!  The weather is beginning to warm up already and I think we can say that it was actually hot today.  We are trying really hard to remember to bring our water bottles when we go out visiting.  We have gone through a lot of water bottles and have finally found a brand that stays cool all day.  It's called a "bubba" and works great.  We had a wonderful Easter holiday!  This is the first time since the Wises' have moved to CA that we have got to celebrate Easter with them.  Our mission would be extremely more challenging if we didn't get to see their family every 4-6 weeks.  Saturday night we went to the Oakland Temple grounds (which is called Temple Hill) where Amy's stake center is located and had the privilege of listening to an incredible Easter oratorio called "The Lamb of God", composed by Rob Gardner from Mesa, AZ.  There are not words to express the beauty of the music and the power of the spirit that was present.  It was performed by an interfaith choir and orchestra that do many  joint projects in the area.  It was also presented at a cathedral in Oakland as well as San Francisco.  The music touched my spirit so deeply.  I wanted to run to the stage, put on the right dress and sing my heart out with them.  The Easter message is such a message of hope, love and sacrifice.  As a mother, I cannot imagine Mary's pain at seeing her son so mistreated and abused.  I remember when our oldest son would be mocked because of his handicap how it would pain me and I could only hope and pray that those experiences would make him a stronger person.  I do believe that he did become stronger because of those experiences. We participated in a wonderful Sacrament meeting in Amy's ward with great talks and beautiful music.  We took our DVD of the church's "Lamb of God" and watched it with the older kids to help them understand Easter in a more meaningful way.  Of course the Easter Bunny did come and we also has great fun coloring eggs.  Sophie and cousin Emma made a darling Easter cake that we really enjoyed eating. How grateful I am to know of the great sacrifice that our Savior made for me and to understand the power of the Atonement.  The Atonement is one of those doctrines that you understand more and more as you grow spiritually.  In my Sunday School class we have been spending a whole month studying each of the various doctrines that we believe.  It was the Plan of Salvation, the Godhead, and we just finished the Atonement.  Most of my students have been members of the church for less than 3 years so my challenge has been to simplify these doctrines enough for them to get a good understanding and yet teach them how to apply these to their lives.  I only had 2 people come to my "Daily Dose" class tonight but we had a wonderful time.  This is a husband and wife who I have mentioned before.  I love them dearly.  The wife went to an English speaking high school in the Marshall Islands so has a good grasp on basic English.  The husband really struggles but tries harder than anyone I know.  We didn't do the regular lesson but pulled out scriptures and started reading, stopping to pronounce hard words and talk about what the words mean.  There was no one else in the room so the husband was not afraid of making mistakes.  It was a pure delight!!  If I accomplish nothing more than helping this good man feel confident in the English language so that he can become a leader within the church, I will feel that I have been richly blessed and my time well spent.  But, even if he doesn't progress as I hope, it will still be time well spent!!!!!  I am going to try hard to maintain that sweet spirit that I felt at the oratorio and be more consistent in remembering what the Savior has done for us all.

     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! 

      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!!