Nobody is a Nobody

Elder Green is absolutely right.

Deserted Island Missionaries

Ah, the old deserted island cliché: a cartoonist most trusted crutch. I'm terribly proud of myself, though, in thirteen years of publishing these gags, today's is only the second time I've resorted to depositing my characters on a tiny island with a solitary coconut tree.

Incidentally, it makes sense that long after these missionaries were stranded on this island, their district leader would still be calling them once a week for numbers.

Celsius or Fahrenheit

Before I left for my mission, my wise older brother who had also served a mission in Europe gave me a piece of great advice. When it came to temperature, just keep in mind that roughly 20 degrees Celsius is 70 degrees Fahrenheit. That was all it took for me to know whether or not to bring a coat with me as I knocked on doors.

(25 degrees Celsius is 77 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Noah's ark

My good friend and fellow ward cartoonist, Kevin Beckstrom, has been posting a series of gags corresponding to this year's Come, Follow Me curriculum. They are quite good.* Today's offering, then, is evidence that I too am paying attention in Sunday School. 

It's kind of ironic that we depict the Annihilation of all but eight people as something cute and cuddly, but the story of Noah is one of deep trauma. That sense of trauma probably explains why God promised Noah after the events of the flood never to do that again and why Noah later drunk to excess (see Genesis 9:20-21).

*Having already created an entire book following the Old Testament curriculum, I'm curious to see what Kevin does when we get to some of the minor prophets' books.

Basketball Hops

Shortly before I arrived in Slovenia as a missionary, there was a missionary who returned home to play college ball. He was so good that, reportedly, he was recruited to join the national team after a coach saw him playing a pickup game. I can't verify the veracity of that story, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen today. In the most recent Summer Olympic Games, Slovenia finished fourth--just missing out on a medal.*

*Slovenia has already got seven medals in the ongoing Winter Olympic Games. (Not bad for a country with a total population of 2.1 million!)

Personal Urim and Thummim

This is precisely the reason why we won't get our own urim and thummim until after the resurrection (see Doctrine and Covenants 130:6-11). If we had it now, we'd try using it like a Magic 8-Ball.

When I came up with this gag, I briefly considered having a young man speaking, but then reasoned that it was unlikely that any young man would spend more than a fleeting moment wondering about his relationship while there is food still on his plate.

Sharing the Scriptures

Perhaps the reason why Arnold Friberg drew Nephites so swoll was because he figured they had to lug around their personal set of scriptures everywhere.

Let Your (Blue) Light So Shine

We have a policy at our home where we collect all digital devices and charge them in our room every night. It's the best piece of parenting I think we've ever done.