In case any of you are wondering if I am enjoying not being in sub-zero degree weather right now, I actually am enjoying having to worry about being cold, since all you have to do to cool yourself down is wave something in your face for a little while. Unfortunately, I don't think you can just wave a curling iron in front of your face at top speed to get warm in winter; It takes time to warm up in a cold environment, especially in Wyoming where people walk like leaning trees to counter the wind that never stops. But, just a little advice: Enjoy not having malaria carrying mosquitoes to deal with in mid-December. They like to fly really close to your ears, especially at night. It's a constant battle to kill them once they land and smother them with your pillow, but they have immediately won that battle if the power goes out at night (which sometimes it does) because there is no fan to deter them away.
Speaking of power outages, we went without power for an entire night this past week because of an electrical issue. Yes, you are correct. That meant I was still up in the morning swatting mosquitoes to get out and stop trying to give me malaria. That was fun!
All of these things have been (and will continue to be) frustrating at times. But you know what? That's life! That's what I signed up for. I don't know what I said to my Father in Heaven before I came here, but whatever I said there I will paraphrase here: I will never give up.
Enter another space/physics analogy: The Photon. Mass-less, minuscule, and wave-like, this particle travels constantly at 186,282 miles per second in the vacuum of space. That is fast enough to traverse a million miles within about 5.3 seconds, or to circle Planet Earth about 11 times per second. Unless otherwise influenced by Gravity or any of the 4 fundamental forces of the universe, this particle always travels in a perfectly straight line, never ever deviating from its fixed course through the cosmos. Because it is mass-less, it has no problem traveling at the universe's speed limit, though much distance awaits. Our Galaxy is 100,000 light-years in diameter, which is about 5.8 Sextillion (5,800,000,000,000,000,000,
How are we like that tiny particle that must traverse so long a distance? We must stay constantly up to speed with obedience, prayers, and faith. We must have Charity, the eternal, immovable love of Christ to fuel our desire to do good and to avoid evil at all costs. Satan may be the prince of this world, but the Glorious, Righteous King and Orchestrator of everything as we know it knows how to guide and tutor our unquenchable desire to dodge his fiery darts. We all have our galaxies to cross in this life, but whoever said we have to go alone? I promise that 5.8 Sextillion miles will never help more that when your memory and experience of it comes to mind and as you use it to help others cross their next fex hundred thousand light years. It won't help you, however, if you endure to the end halfheartedly. At that point, you aren't a photon. You're just another particle traveling really fast. Put your whole heart into it, and don't let space drag you down! As there is a saying for the proton (Be like a proton: Always positive), I give a new one. Be like a photon, constantly full speed ahead. 
Thank you all for your prayers, love, and emails. Keep them coming!
Elder Johnson
