FInding comfort in the scriptures

I can't tell you how many times I used my missionary scripture set as an impromptu pillow!

Bright be thy dawn!

There are some kids who just LOVE getting up early!

Good morning, sunshine!

In the outlying areas away from Zion, we get to have early morning seminary rather than release time. It was worse when they had early, early morning seminary for those who had early bird classes!

The sun might not come up tomorrow!

This doesn't work.  It ALWAYS rings.

Not ready!

I know of lot of other folks are already back in school, but summer is taking its last gasp here. Rats!

Monday Sketchbook: Going to the well

OK, I know the stake/steak thing has been done to death. But it usually involves something like a restaurant or barbecue sauce, not the meat section of the grocery store. Plus, we just had stake conference in which we had a change in stake leadership, so for me, at least, it's a topical topic.

#calledtoserve

I haven't seen any missionaries armed with tablet computers yet, but I'm sure they're coming soon.

Which makes me wonder...what apps should they load (the apps on the download page are a given) to missionary iPads?

Recycled: Callings

This cartoon represents one of my first interactions with another real, live blogger! Sis. Williams suggested the idea for this cartoon, and she shared it with her family. As a newbie blogger, I felt like I'd gone viral!

Sis. Williams now has nine children, and is an active contributor to Pinterest. I think she's responsible for about half its content!

Recycled: Wagons

Here's another old one that ran in the New Era many years ago. What kid wouldn't want a tricked out Conestoga to cross the plains, right?

Recycled: Laurels

My wife was our ward's Young Womens Camp director for a couple of years. This was how she felt by the last day!

Recycled: Fish

For me, using the words "chandelier" and "fishy" made this one. It's old, but I still enjoy it!

Recycled: Explore Provo

It's time to do a little recycling! For the next couple of days, I'm going to pull out some of my old cartoons. I published some of these on the blog way back before anybody besides me was around to read them!

This is one of my favorites from the Explore Provo series that I did when I was with the Utah Department of Transportation.

Monday Sketchbook: So many choices!

This wound up staying in the sketchbook because of one thing: the word "Barbie." For one thing, it's trademarked, and Mattel's attorneys are vigilant about its use. For another, there's the whole "Barbie" concept -- she's not representative of today's young women. I like the idea of the playsets, but the tradeoff wasn't worth it, so in the sketchbook it stays.

Here they come!

Sis. Kerry Jo is on her way to the mission field!

Did you see the infographic that the Church put out about the number of missionaries now serving? It's gone from 58,000 in September to 75,000 now. Our new local mission president, President Samuelian, said that our mission could be made of up to 50 percent sister missionaries.

Like Elder Holland said, "Here they come!"

Tender mercies, tender toes

You learn as a missionary to savor the simple pleasures... 'cause that's about all you get!

Troubled waters

Don't mess with the kid wearing braces.

Souvenirs

Sand gets everywhere, and it never goes away.

Dieting for the birds

You know what happens when you drop a sandwich in the parking lot at the beach? It's like a scene from The Birds. Or Finding Nemo.

I imagine, then, that to the seagull palate, crickets are more of a delicacy. Perhaps a dish to be enjoyed at holiday time!

Bringing it in

Oregon beaches: cold and windy even in the heat of summer. The kid's got a good idea!

Monday Sketchbook: Where do they swim?

The more things stay the same...

The concept of the Church being the same everyplace is one that can be hard for kids to wrap their heads around. I remember visiting another ward when my oldest was a kid. One of the speakers said something about "this is the true Church." My son looked at me with shocked, wide eyes and said, "But I thought our church back home was the true one!"

Message from the mainland

Important safety tip: always keep your eyes on the water!

What's the message?

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water...

What's in a name?

There were years when our kids would refuse to eat clam chowder. Then their wise Aunt Janae told them, "This isn't clam chowder -- this is Nintendo Power Soup! It helps you play video games even better!"

From that time forward, clam chowder has been a favorite on the menu.

Ocean breezes, ocean waves

These things happen...

Starter kit

We recently took a vacation to the beautiful Oregon Coast. The ocean there is pretty big.

Monday Sketchbook: The same thing

It works for a certain demographic...

Called to serve...in just a bit

I made a mistake!

The other day when I ran another one of Sis. Kerry Jo's cartoons, I was supposed to write about a few other very worthwhile missionary blogs!

First off, my niece (actually, my cousin's daughter -- but for convenience's sake, we'll call her my niece), Sis. Kimmie, is serving in Ukraine. She's a hoot! Kickin' it in Donuts tells of her amazing and awesome adventures in her own words. Check it out!

Next is my nephew, Elder Bahr, who is serving in the Czech Republic. He comes home at Christmastime, and his blog gives a bit different perspective than Kimmie's, but it's also well worth reading. The Czech Missionary shows how the work is going in that part of the world.

Every so often, I run my Mission President cartoons. But have you ever wondered what it's like to me a mission mom? My friend Kristin is doing just that. Her husband was called to be mission president in Honduras. Hermana Kristin shows us the behind the scenes operations through her photos and writing at The Mission President's Wife.

Lastly, but not leastly, Arie Van De Graaff offers up his perspective on missionary life every Monday.

Missionary work. It's out there!

Testy marketing

Recommended for teenagers.

Getting to the basics

Time to check in with Sis. Kerry Jo. She should be about ready to leave the MTC and head out into the field any time now...!

Small acts

I figure it's about time for another Not Quite Zen cartoon. They're some of my favorites!