Sandy read the following scripture from the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 17:3-6) and likened it to our time in the Redlands Temple and Laguna Niguel:

"And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them....And we did sojourn for the space of many years....And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea....And it came to pass that we did pitch our tents by the seashore;"

I've mentioned previously that every mission vehicle now has a GPS device that detects speeding, non-use of seat belts, and aggressive driving (hard acceleration, hard stops, hard turns, and hard bumps). We received a comparative report this week stating that the Canada Edmonton Missionaries are the safest drivers among all 129 missions in the US and Canada. Below is from an email the mission president sent to all of the missionaries announcing our number one ranking:

"Elders and Sisters, in a recent report from SLC, they compared each mission in NORTH AMERICA (129 Missions) against each other with respect to the TIWI results.  Read below to see how we are doing. This looks so good on you!  Elder Kerr, in our reserved ways, FIST PUMP and HIGH FIVE over this! We love you!  You are exceptional.  Remember , all things are spiritual unto the Lord! What impresses us the most is this is reflection on what is going on in the inside of each missionary!  We are the best mission in North America!  That is what TIWI says!  Believe it!"

At 1:38 this morning my cell phone woke me up with a text message from my brother John with some 2017 tax information. I wrote him back, "You are up late." I laid down to go back to sleep when  a text from my brother Rolfe arrived, "At least three of us are." A moment later my brother Duane sent this text, "Me too." I then wrote, "Amazing! We must be related." Rolfe then wrote, "Well, I was just up to the bathroom." The last text came this morning from John at 7:43, "A chuckle like that in the middle of the night could make it hard to go back to sleep."

A few recent and fun missionary assignments:

• Sisters Kuchar and Karcher are companions.
• Elders Baker and Cook are companions.
• Elder Wood was sent to serve in Wood Buffalo.