Elder P is 25 and is a champ! We get along really great, he's hilarious. He is very motivated, maybe not super excited motivated, but he wants to go out and work and he makes it fun. He's been out for ten months. It's a miracle in and of itself that C has a date. A few months ago he said the Book of Mormon was of the devil and he wouldn't even touch it. He's just Catholic, so he's literally breaking the tradition of his fathers. :)   Hyrum Smith said that "Character is the ability to make a decision after the emotion of the decision has passed" and it's easy to say, oh, well I would do this and that, but then the time actually comes and I hate how often the time has come for me and I've failed to show the kind of character I should have. All you can do is respect his agency and he will realize you respect his agency to make the right choice whatever that is. Way to finish the 5k in under 30! That's great! You're looking really slim dad, give yourself a pat on the back and a five second break! Tsk tsk, Ammon and Zenock and even Talmage are SLACKING!!!

Dad, if you've done anything right it's that. I couldn't have asked for a better dad here on earth and whenever I imagine how heavenly mom and dad feel and think about me I think of you and mom. I love you and mom and the rest of the family tons. 

Hunter
Hunter sent us a link to his favorite talk for mother's dayby Elder Holland
“Behold Thy Mother”

I love you mommy! Happy happy Mother's Day! I'm sorry I didn't have more time to share my testimony it was a little lame.

I had some proselyting to go do! We went back up the huge hill I biked up, but in a car, and gave the same lady a Book of Mormon and she has a son named Hunter that runs. :) So we were able to set a return appointment, it was great! Ain't no way I can sell Julliet! (his bike) I'll have a member keep her for me until I can bring her home. Maybe I can bike home over a summer or something, that would be fun!! Is M the one we gave our grey couch to? That's to bad that he's less active. I would've been even more blunt probably. After we skyped we were tracting some later in the evening and I sad this to a older YSA girl that wasn't really caring about what we were saying. "You know, just about everything we've said has gone over your head or in one ear and out the other, and I can't blame you. Most people don't really appreciate the significance of what we have for them until they try it out." I wasn't meaning it in a mean way, but she thought I called her stupid, and we ended up just walking away. What do you do? I love the council of Alma to Helaman in Alma 38. I do  feel like I was overbearing though, she just didn't want what we had to offer. :/ anyway, I love you mom! You are the best mom in the whole world and don't ever beat yourself up about 'not being good enough.' None of us are! But you did your best, and that's all I needed. :) I love you so much and I'll see you in three months!

Hunter 

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers and future mothers! I want to share a short excerpt with all of you from the words of the Prophet of God on earth today, as he related a story from The Civil War about Mothers.

"Men turn from evil and yield to their better natures when mother is remembered. A famed officer from the Civil War period, Colonel Higgenson, when asked to name the incident of the Civil War that he considered the most remarkable for bravery, said that there was in his regiment a man whom everybody liked, a man who was brave and noble, who was pure in his daily life, absolutely free from dissipations in which most of the other men indulged.

One night at a champagne supper, when many were becoming intoxicated, someone in jest called for a toast from this young man. Colonel Higgenson said that he arose, pale but with perfect self-control, and declared: “Gentlemen, I will give you a toast which you may drink as you will, but which I will drink in water. The toast that I have to give is, ‘Our mothers.’” Instantly a strange spell seemed to come over all the tipsy men. They drank the toast in silence. There was no laughter, no more song, and one by one they left the room. The lamp of memory had begun to burn, and the name of “Mother” touched every man’s heart."

I want to share my brief testimony with you all of the power and influence of mothers in the lives of others, mainly their children.

The Book of Mormon tells of the powerful influence that mothers have in a letter from a prophet and commander named Helaman to his commander in chief, Moroni. Helaman was the leader of 2000 young men, in a war between their people and another group of people called Lamanites that wanted to kill them. During an operation to take back a city, things went wrong, and they were going to have to fight when they weren't supposed to.

"And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus. Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers,

saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.......fast forward to after the battle.......And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.

But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war."

There is no greater calling in the world than that of a mother. I love all of you and especially all of you mothers, and if anyone hasn't told their mother that they love them in the past 24 hours, go and do it. :) Elder Johnson

1. I climbed that pole three times. That pic was the third so I was too tired to do pull ups at the top.

2. A service we did.