What's that smell?

We just got back from the Zoo! I haven't been to a zoo in ages. Now, the Fresno Zoo may not be anything to impressive, but it was worth the $7 (which could have been 6 if I had known that there was a coupon in the phone book). But I digress. Saw some animals that I haven't seen in a long time, some that I've never seen (Giant Cockroaches anyone?). It was fun, I'll admit it, though I was a little skeptical when I first heard we were going to the zoo for our zone activity.

We're having a special stake conference this weekend. Bishop Burton, of the presiding bishopric of the Church, will be attending ours and speaking to us. We don't get quite as lucky as Fresno East Stake, who is getting L. Tom Perry. So close. We got a little excited, because we found out that we're having a mission wide conference on Saturday, which has been done in the time that I've been here before. We all assumed that because they were gathering everyone in the mission together, and that L. Tom Perry justhappened to be in town that day, that we were going to be hearing from him. Well, according to the assistants, he's not. Sad day, but I'm still super excited to hear from Bishop Burton and Elder Snow of the seventy. I'm sure that they'll have lots to share with us, and I can't wait to learn.

On an odd note, I've been learning a lot about Bees lately. Bees are actually very interesting insects, and one of the most profitable. In the summer time, bee keepers use the bees to make honey. During other parts of the year, they use them to pollinate. Mostly Almond Orhcards here, but they'll take them up north this time of year to pollinate apples in places like washington and the like. Theres a bee keeper in our ward, and he is going to try and take us out and be bee keepers for a day! Sounds like a blast. So do you want to know some random facts about bees? You do? Ok!

The only bees that do the work, like collecting pollen, making honey, and the like, are females. These are called the working bees. There only purpose is to work.

The male bees, or Drones, serve only one purpose. Reproducing with the queen. They have no stinger. When they reproduce, the queen bee flies up as high as she can go (usually around a mile in the air) and all the Drones fly after her. The one who gets there first, gets to do the reproducing, but theres a catch. After they're done, their male bits break off, and they die. Not so awesome. You can hold a Drone bee in your hand, and he can't hurt you. Its pretty awesome.

You know, they often compare the church to a bee hive, and I'm sure they're comparing it to the efficiency and hard work of a bee hive, but people already believe some strange things about us..... haha.

I love and miss you all! Happy Easter!

Elder Keenan Monnett