“See how large a letter I have written.” (Gal 6:11)

Reno Nevado Mission Email

Dear family, friends, and subscribers: 

Soooo… yes. It’s been a while since my last massive mission missive (MMM), but this email is proof perfect that the “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” You probably recognize the quote from Mark Twain. The quote lives on‒even though Mark Twain is now definitively dead. Henceforth, don’t expect a MMM from Elder Twain, unless the veil of heaven is rent in twain. That’s just a little New Testament humor for you. But I digress. 

And now, back to our regularly scheduled MMM. Kindly excuse the tardiness of my tales of late. Life has been busy here in the Nevada Reno Mission (NRM) for several months. Among other reasons, more than the usual movie-making mania has materialized. Several months ago, the mission president said he wanted a new “Welcome Video” for the NRM. He’s under the delusion that my movies are actually good. Sister Cassinat says his personality matches my own, which may explain his very poor taste in movies. In any event, at his direction I began to create the new Welcome Video. Sister Cassinat and I travailed in travel along the highway and byways of Nevada stopping at scenic sights to gather images and B-roll video. I also attended the Fallon livestock auction and got footage of a goat sale that has found its way into the video. It’s totally the GOAT. That’s one of those terms you learn when you hang out with 180 missionaries.  The GOAT means “the Greatest Of All Time.” So yeah, that pretty much describes the new Welcome Video for the NRM. You can check it out here by clicking this → LINK.

We had a movie-making reprieve in September because we didn’t have a normal Zone Conference. The Elko Temple had its open house in September, so all the NRM missionaries toured the temple over a two-day period. Most of the sister missionaries also served as temple tour guides during the open house. Instead of vehicle training, I did a 90-minute power-point presentation on the Book of Revelation for all the missionaries during their two-day sojourn in Elko. That was a lot of fun, but it took some work since I’m not exactly a power-point expert. Fortunately, Jenna came to my rescue, so all is well. Maybe some day when life is a little more laid-back, I’ll record the presentation and post it on our new and improved website at UnveilingJesusChrist.com, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

For the October Zone Conferences, we made another vehicle safety video with a Mission Impossible meets My Fair Lady vibe. You can find this latest star-studded-epic on my website or just → CLICK HERE. When you watch this latest training video, you’ll meet Elder Norcross near the end.  He’s the missionary who drops his sunflower seeds when arrested by agents of the PMG (Possible Mission Group). Elder Norcross is one of our oldest and funniest missionaries in the NRM. On the day of his Zone Conference, he and another missionary were sitting at their lunch table long after all the other tables had been cleared and put away. I approached the two elders and asked why they were still sitting at their table. Elder Norcross responded in a matter-of-fact-manner, saying: “We’re talking about women!” I burst out laughing, and announced to everyone within hearing distance that Elder Norcross couldn’t be moved from his table because he’s too busy talking about women. But then, I totally lost it when he corrected me and said, “I didn’t say women…. I said swimmin’!!!  Naturally, I wasn’t about to admit that I have a hearing deficit, so I kept telling all the missionaries to beware of Elder Norcross because you can’t get him to stop talking about women. 

In other Zone Conference news, President and Sister Saxton scheduled our last conference at Cleveland Ranch down by Ely, Nevada. This is a church owned ranch that runs about 4,000 head of cattle. After the conference, the missionaries did a service project to pick up rocks off one of the fields. They did a similar service project last year and gathered about 18 tons of rocks.  We probably did a similar amount this year after a rocky start. Don’t worry, we left plenty of rocks for another service project next year, and the year after, and the year after…. 

After the Ely Zone conference, Sister Cassinat and I drove to Elko and did an initiatory session and a sealing session in the new temple. It was great. The Reno temple has been closed for renovation for the last six months so there has been a temple famine in the land. The Reno Temple is supposed to open again in December just a month or so before we come home. I guess it’s better than not opening at all before we leave. 

In addition to all the usual vehicle stuff in the mission, I’ve been busy working with Josh and Kristin to update my website at UnveilingJesusChrist.com.  It has many great new features that you’ll want to check out. Let me put it this way. The website is a lot more fun and interesting than this email. I know, that’s not saying much. But seriously, you need to check it out and ask Aida any gospel question.  Who’s Aida? She’s your personal Artificial Intelligence Doctrinal Assistant. I’ve been playing with this feature while the website has been in beta.  I’m really surprised at how good Aida is. Truly. It’s something you need to try. Think of the most obscure doctrine you can and then ask Aida. I think you’ll be surprised. 

I’ve also updated my book and given it a new named called: Unveiling Jesus Christ in the Book of Revelation. Most of the content is the same, but with the help of Jon Daley, all the footnotes have been made easily accessible online. The pages of the physical book now have QR codes that make the 17,000 footnotes and 64,000 quotations accessible by just hovering a smartphone over the codes. By reducing the footnote footprint in the physical book, we’ve been able to reduce the book down to a single volume without sacrificing any content. I’m very pleased to make the book more accessible and affordable. To make all this happen, I’ve done a lot of editing and proofreading. I’ve also started recording audio sections of the book‒about 100 sections so far‒that are also on the new and improved website along with an E-book version of the book. 

All-in-all, I’ve been a busy beaver since I’ve also continued with the twice-weekly podcasts and weekly videologs (VLOG’s). By the way the new website incorporates search features so the subject matter of the 200+ podcasts and 70+ VLOG’s can be topically searched. That’s pretty cool as well. 

So last, but not least, I created a little video with missionary photos and captions to let you know what’s happening in our world.  Our mission is going great and time is whizzing by. The missionaries keep asking when we go home. Sister Cassinat has extended invitations to so many missionaries to come visit our home in Provo, it’s going to feel like we never left the mission field even when we get home. It will be great. We love the missionaries even though they sometimes make us crazy. So here’s a fun little missionary video to watch as I bid you all a fond adieu. → CLICK HERE

Elder and Sister Cassinat