Getting ready

How do you get ready for General Conference? Pres. Uchtdorf offers these tips.

It's good for the soul

Oftentimes members (or investigators) try to honor missionaries by feeding them special foods -- many of them delicacies in the local cuisine. For example, we like to feed the missionaries grilled Pacific Northwest salmon.

I would guess that most missionaries have at least one story of special or surprising foods. I know I had my fair share of exotic dishes that I didn't recognize (and perhaps it was better that I didn't). My favorite story, however, is of the green sister missionary in France who was served duck embryo soup. Luckily her companion was able to help her with the duck embryo part and she lived to tell the tale.

Kinda makes whole chicken soup pale in comparison!

Survival of the fastest

A plate of acorns in 30 minutes or less just doesn't have the same appeal, does it?

And all the ships at sea

Yes, this weekend is General Conference. Watch later this week for Conference Enhancement Tips and a round-up of what happened!

Monday Sketchbook: Is he or isn't he?

This past week there was a change in policy regarding who can serve in the armed forces of the United States. That got me thinking, how would that have worked in Nephite times?

Like unto...them?

I've seen the occasional handout and visual aid used in a priesthood lesson, but I don't think I've ever seen a lesson in Relief Society that didn't involve at least an easel, a picture and some sort of table covering -- usually much more!

Service to your fellow beings

There are few things worse than a service project gone awry. But isn't it all about the intent rather than the outcome?

Product placement

A year may be but the blink of an eye from the Lord's perspective, but a year in the life of a bishop usually ages them about seven.

Lo, behold!

What was it Lehi said to Lemuel? "O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast..." Maybe that would work better.

Ready to move on

When I was working on Explore Provo for the Utah Department of Transportation, there were a lot of ideas that I discarded. There were a few that made it all the way to a finished product, but I figured it was in my best interest not to publish. This falls into that category.

By September, the work zone on the project ran from the main entrance to campus to the University Parkway entrance, which was also the main access to the stadium. Football traffic was a big concern, and we worked with the university to come up with a traffic plan.

This was a time when BYU had a prolific offense, often scoring more points than the basketball team did. It was also a time when I home taught one of the offensive linemen, Dean Lott. He was huge. A nice guy, but huge. I wouldn't want to get on his bad side! All things considered, I thought it was better to let this one cartoon languish.

Until now.

I saw an article in the news about Arby's in Provo giving away free turnovers with a ticket stub from the game. I figured if they could do it, I could do it. And besides, Dean doesn't know where I live!


Normally after the rivalry game I'd publish something more like this.

Man's best friend

As a missionary in Korea, we didn't have to worry much about dogs. Well, at least not in the traditional sense -- getting attacked by a dog was a rare occurrence. There were other issues of dogs that we won't get into.

Monday Sketchbook: TLAP in Primary

Yes, I know it's tasteless. That's why it stayed in the sketchbook. But I thought I could drag it out to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Celebrate!

Wake up and do something more

In Primary the kids get to do "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" or "Once There Was a Snowman" to get the wiggles out. Maybe they should try something like that in sacrament meeting.

Rockin' it

Actually, I don't think missionaries get to choose their ringtones. It'd probably have to be a MoTab clip if they could.

Natural habitat

You know, out of the hundreds of cartoons I've drawn, there have only been maybe four or five that have had the muted background. Today and yesterday are two of those few. Is that at all significant? Probably not.

Be still, my soul...

I dare not divulge under what circumstances this cartoon came to be. But it was restful.

Hidden treasures

I know of a couple of genealogists who think this way. Come to think of it, they're in my family...

Many are called

Actually, I'm pretty sure they double check the calls before they send them out...

Monday Sketchbook: Make your time

Back in the day, there was a video game called Zero Wing. It's famous -- or infamous -- for its bad translation, including the classic line, "Someone set us up the bomb!" But the most famous phrase from the game is, "All your base are belong to us." I always thought it would be cool to see missionaries use that for a door approach.

9-11

Cartoonists all over are dedicating their strips today to remembering the events of 9-11. These two strips are what I'm running on Good Heavens and Zarahemla Times. You can see more at www.cartoonistsremember911.com

Don't rise, don't shout

The original sketch for this had the President saying "dissing," but that didn't seem like something a mission president would say.

First download and goal

My boss went to a conference a few weeks ago and one of the topics that generated a lot of buzz was QR codes -- quick response codes. They're those little digital codes that can be read by smart phones that will take you to a website, dial your phone or download information. My boss was WAY excited and wants us to use them on everything we generate. This cartoon was in response to that.

Heritage

This should have run a few days ago for my son's birthday. He doesn't like it when I remind him of things like this.

Cavity search

Even as you read this, I'll be going under the drill. Yikes!

Put your shoulder to the wheel

Backpacks are one of the scariest things about going back to school. We cleaned out one backpack a few years ago just before school started and found a couple of partially eaten lunches, not to mention assignments, permission slips and completed-but-not-turned-in homework. I think Zits referred to that layer in the backpack as "permacrud."

Monday Sketchbook: The car pool

Tomorrow marks the first day of school in our district. For some of us, getting our kids to school is a bit of a hassle. For others, not so much --

Practice time

I have eight little hands

I think nearly every missionary has an insect story or two. I have a niece currently serving in Chile who recently filled an entire letter home talking about a poisonous spider that would probably kill her in her bathroom sometime in the next several months.

Up, up and away!

Sometimes it's hard to tell how an idea will work until it's actually on paper. I originally wondered if this was too obscure a reference (I think this may be about the first cartoon I've done based on a scripture in the Pearl of Great Price), or if the guy dissing on Enoch was too much, but I think it turned out OK.

Game time!

I did the sketch for this during stake conference a little while ago. My young apprentice grabbed my paper and wrote the caption "Mormonoploy" beneath the sketch -- making it complete.

• Editor's note: According to the good folks at Google, there really is a game called Mormon-Opoly. It's billed as "a creative and exciting LDS game" with a goal "to build as many chapels and stake centers as possible." Who knew?