Noah's Insurance

Something tells me this is a claim Noah wouldn't be able to collect.

Flooding has been on my mind the past couple of months. In my neck of the woods, we are looking at potentially devastating spring run off. (Even prior to the run off, there have already been dozens of homes in my area that have experienced flooding.) Here's hoping for a cold spring.

Spying on the Mailman

(I continue to record thoughts on the ancient tradition of missionary mail like this is a chapter out of Saints: Volume Four. Most of This Happened in Your Lifetime.) 

I never had any interactions with the mail carrier while I was a missionary. (Although I never hit a prolonged dry spell either.)

I could count on three of four letters a week from various family members and friends. It was fun to hear from fellow missionaries throughout the world. Occasionally, I'd get a newspaper of magazine clipping (usually about the Utah Jazz). Everything from home, though, was at least two weeks old. Which meant any article I might read was long out of date. In today's world of instant news that would drive me crazy. Back then, I loved it.

Digging a Pit

What does it say about me that when I reviewed a sign-up sheet for a recent service project at church, this was the scripture that popped into my head?

(I signed up anyway. Maybe there is still hope for me yet.)

Mail Drought

Today's strip marks the beginning of a multi-week storyline about missionary post. Something today's missionaries don't deal with. These strips are incredibly dated.

Granted, I never experienced the thrill of turning on my smart phone and finding a bunch of unread emails from home, but I doubt the experience compares to the thrill of opening the mailbox at the end of a long day tracting. There was something magical about the infinite possibilities contained inside an envelope.

Mario Kartpool

So while the rest of the world was (apparently) rushing out to see the Super Mario Bros. Movie, I was busy posting a comic honoring a public television personality whose been off the air for decades. Once again, this blogs remains on the cutting edge of popular culture.

I'm trying to make up for it with today's gag which is already better than the Super Mario Bros. Movie simply for the fact that it includes Waluigi. Seriously, talk about a huge oversight on the part of the filmmakers.

Mission Bike

I rode some pretty sketchy bikes as a missionary. Of course this was the 1990s so sketchy bikes were in greater supply back then. One bike I rode actually had a pin you could remove at the base that would then allow the rider to fold the bike in half. It was, I'm sure, some sort of Soviet design. (And you wonder why they lost the Cold War).

Still, none of my bikes compared in ugliness to Elder Van Dyke's. I never once considered leaving my bike unlocked in hopes that it would get stolen.

Brother Bob Ross

When I was growing up, us kids had plenty of adults on TV we could trust. Mister Rogers, LeVar Burton (as the host of Reading Rainbow), and Bob Ross (to name three). I'm not sure kids today could say the same--MrBeast does not count. In fact you could argue the closest thing kids today have to the PBS father figures of the 70s and 80s is a cartoon heeler named Bandit.

What's the Difference?

I got this question all the time as a missionary. Even after a lesson where my companion and I tried to spell out all the differences between our church and others. I was so self-confident that never once did I consider the possibility that I wasn't doing a good enough job explaining things to them. (The most likely reason for the confusion.) I'd hope I'm more humble in my old age.

I'm probably thinking about humility because I realize I've got a lot to work on that particularly quality after enjoying another excellent General Conference. If you need to review any of the messages that were shared, you might want to check out Kevin Beckstrom's General Conference Notes (Here are his notes to the Saturday Morning, Saturday Afternoon, Saturday Evening, Sunday Morning, and Sunday Afternoon sessions). That Kevin continues to provide this resource is fantastic. That he managed to do it this time while struggling with jet lag after a whirlwind trip to Europe is amazing!