Spirit of discernment

It grows on you

I was just talking with a recently returned missionary who just came home my same mission. We compared our food experiences: the good, the bad...and the scary! Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to be a missionary — you just don't expect it to be at the dinner table!

Back to camp

I found a cartoon that should have run with the other gags from Girls' Camp about a month ago.  I like the message of this one.

Monday Sketchbook: What do you do in the summertime?

I liked this idea for a "missionaries in the summer" gag (when I was on my mission, one of our favorite things to do in the summer was get ice cream). But I thought it was a little too similar to one I did about missionaries ordering pizza.

I wonder if we have any rocky road left?

You're the inspiration

Yep, it's almost the end of the month, brethren! Again!

Strong stuff

Hermana Klein, aka The Mission President's Wife, just held a clinic for their missionaries to teach them how to clean. Her lesson inspired me!

Prithee, which holiday is it?

I remember having this confusion in my younger years!

A song in your sole

I just read an article that explained one of the reasons that the pioneer children walked and walked and walked across the plains. The wagon ride was so bumpy — these were the days before shock absorbers, road graders and bungee cords — that stuff would bounce around and fall out. It was actually safer for them to walk than to try to ride in the wagon!

Happy Pioneer Day!

*By interesting coincidence, Arie Van de Graaff references this same Primary song in his cartoon today!

Betcha can't eat just one!

Mmm!

Totally hot

I think one of the main purposes of the Pioneer Trek reenactments is to encourage suffering among our youth. But they always seem to come back happy and energized!

By the way, this cartoon was featured in Meridian Magazine this last weekend. Now you know!

Monday Sketchbook: Carry on, Carry on, Carry on

Trip Scrapbook No. 6

It's always fun to see the students — and chaperones — experience a new culture.

Especially the food.

Coming back home, we had just a little glitch in Customs.

All in all it was a great trip, with a lot of amazing experiences. But as they say, there's no place like home!

Trip Scrapbook No. 5

We had a couple of exciting adventures when we got to Paris.

Ever since we were in Germany (home of the Volkswagen), a couple of kids had been playing Slug Bug. Well, the boy saw a Beetle, and slugged the girl.

Out of nowhere, this big (and drunk) guy got right up in the boy's face: "They may do it in Spain! They may do it in Italy! They may do it in Germany! But in France, we DO NOT HIT GIRLS!"

We were able to shoo him away before anything bad happened, but it was a surprise to everyone! I think they moved on from that game and on to something else from there.

 

The next adventure was on the subway. We told our kids several times to hurry onto the car; the doors close very quickly at this stop. We lined up; the subway train came. The doors opened...and one girl hesitated. The door closed on her arm, and she had to pull it out and get back onto the platform.

She had the presence of mind to get on the next train, and our group was reunited again.

Trip Scrapbook No. 4

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to CERN, the largest science and research complex in the world, and home to the Large Hadron Collider, the particle accelerator that they used to find the Higgs boson.

For science geeks, it was amazing.

The LHC was undergoing maintenance, so our group was able to go down (30 stories down) to see it up close and in person. It was unbelievable. Our science teacher was over the top!

The LHC will start up again in September, so we were one of the last groups that could actually see it. A once in a lifetime experience!

If you're actually interested in seeing any of our photos, they're compiled on our Flickr site.

Trip Scrapbook No. 3

As we got into the German speaking part of Europe, the road signs began to transition from Italian to German. Hence the dual language sign here,  ustica (Italian) and Ausfahrt (German) both words meaning "exit."

Apparently fahrt is a common root word to see on German highway signs. Einfahrt is used for entrances, and Ausfahrt is used for exits. And if you're with a group of high school students, well, that's just hilarious!

It wasn't the only German word that gave our kids problems...

Trip Scrapbook No. 2

Here's one that was drawn from real life. As we were crossing the Alps from northern Italy into Austria, one of our group (it may have been an adult chaperone...I'm not saying) was excited to see the mountains. Giddy may be a better word. And then she (or he) blurted out this line:



In case you're geographically challenged, Mount Everest is in the Himalayas.

Once we got into Switzerland, the kids wanted to shop for two things. One, chocolate (d-uh!). And two, they wanted to grab some Swiss Army knives. One gal was very excited about her new purchase. So excited that she turned off her brain and sliced open her arm. Luckily we were prepared for such an emergency, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Nevertheless, one of our group will have a permanent reminder of our stay in Lucerne!

Trip Scrapbook No. 1

So we just got back from two weeks in Europe. Not as exotic as it sounds, because we were tour leaders for three dozen high school kids on a trip encompassing several countries. It was an eventful trip to say the least.

Our itinerary took us to Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France. We saw a lot of landmarks, historical sites, and interesting places. The next few days will feature cartoons based on our trip — some inspired by and some drawn from real life experiences.

So, no, we didn't actually have anyone fall into the canals in Venice, but some of the selfie taking got a little out of hand.

Food was an adventure. In every city the kids wanted to try as much of the local food as they could. So why not roll it up into one dish?

Enjoy the trip with us. Salud!

Monday Sketchbook: Bath time!

Is it too early for Pioneer gags?

No place like home

So yesterday was the funeral and the interment. It's funny how funerals can seem a lot like family reunions! It's helps to have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.

A little background on this cartoon: I was asked to do the cover design for the funeral program. One well meaning relative (we'll give him the benefit of the doubt) said, "Oh, great. We're going to have some silly cartoon to honor (my father-in-law)!"

The cover was actually a nice montage of photos that served as the background to a nice portrait of the deceased. But the remark did make me think of what kind of cartoon I might draw if that were the case. It would be something like this.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we return to our regular programming!

You have ONE job

The memorial service for my father-in-law is today. He wanted it to be a short one — he didn't take to long meetings. If things go according to plan, one of the musical numbers will be a singalong of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Rest in peace, Cecil.

Truth rescored

I had to throw in at least one non-baseball cartoon in this week of memoriam for my father-in-law. He enjoyed other sports as well.

He was a killer on the basketball court. Literally. Fingernails, elbows and knees were part of his repertoire as much as foul shooting. As a referee, he had a pretty good idea of what he could get away with.

The Church was also very important to him. He served faithfully and valiantly in whatever calling he had. 

Fundamental skills

Grandpa Cecil wanted all his grandkids to have at least some basic skills in sports. Some were more successful at that than others.

There's no place like home

One of the benefits of having Cecil as a father-in-law was that anytime there was a big ball game, I had a place that I could watch it.

In the name of keeping the sabbath day holy, he didn't "watch" games on Sunday. He did, however, check the scores. Often.

Shakespeare in the park

The grandkids all knew that if Grandpa Cecil was officiating one of their games, they were in big trouble. In the name of being "fair," he always called more strikes, fouls or penalties on his grandkids than he did on anyone else.

Monday sketchbook: Spring ball

It was never to early or too late for a ball game. In Cecil's mind, any time there was a ball and an opponent, it was time for a game!

Lucky socks

If there were such a thing as sports missionaries, Cecil would certainly have been their mission president.

Yer out!

We're having a week of baseball-themed flashbacks. My father-in-law passed away this morning. He was a huge sports fan, and had a second career in officiating. He loved to play baseball and basketball (although he played dirty). He officiated football, basketball* and baseball, but his favorite was girls softball.

Here's to you, Cecil. Our loss is heaven's gain!




*He once had a heart attack while officiating a basketball game. He wanted to continue the game, but wiser heads prevailed. I think he still regrets not finishing the game!

Celebrating our freedoms

High hopes

Just in time for the holidays!

There's nothing like traveling abroad to make you appreciate what you have in your own country. One of my jobs in the mission home was to pick up packages from the post office and then redistribute them to the missionaries in the field. Sometimes it took months for packages to get from home all the way to the intended receiver!

If you haven't lately, check out Sis. Kerry Jo's blog to see what's happening with her mission!

C, eh?

Yeah, this is a rerun, but I really like it a lot. Happy Canada Day!