The Best Ever Evening with our Son

Well, as usual, Jeff took his mom and dad out to a fine dining restaurant to complete our visit. It was the best restaurant I have ever eaten at, very exquisite! And we got to dine with the best company on the reservation. We at at the Inn of the Mountain Gods and had a great visit. It is a beautiful place and a lot of people go there. It was hard to say good bye the next day. We hated to see him leave, but we REALLY enjoyed his visit.

Jeff out on the reservation

Of course we took Jeff out on the reservation to see the houses and Mom just had to show him her pet Elk "Coconut. At first we couldn't see her, but the second time around, she came up to see us. I think she liked Jeff too.

Jeff At Catholic Church

We took Jeff to see our little church on the hill on Mormon Ridge. We found out that the first Mormons n Mescalero used to live on that hill and that is why it is called Mormon Ridge. It was fun to let Jeff see our little church. Then we took him to the Big Rock church (Catholic Church) to let him see the other side of the reservation. Everything there in that church is changed to fit the Apache Culture. They have an Apache Christ, Apache God and Mary, etc. Jeff even got to give a sermon (of course there was no one there).

Jeff at Apache Museum

We were so lucky to have Jeff come and visit us this week. We could hardly wait for him to come and we saved the whole day to visit with him. We met in Mescalero at the tribal store and on our way out went to a truck that was buying and selling Elk Horns. You see every year at this time all the Elk shed their horns. The indians go out and pick up these horns to earn extra. The horns are sold to china, furniture makers for unique lighting fixtures and they are ground up into pharmacy materials because they have potential healing strengths. It is a big business and they spend days picking them up all over the reservation. It is only leagal for the indians to do this. A half of a shed can weight as much as 15 pounds and when sold the value can be as much as $8.00 a pound. The new horns can grow as fast as two inches a day and they grow the horns very quickly. We then took him to the Museum in Mescalero where he learned about the Apache culture. Ellen Bigrope gave Jeff a personal tour. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Not a lot of News

There hasn't been a lot of news this week. Dad has been sick most of it. I think he got the flu and he is having a hard time shaking it. We were trailed by the police again and they stopped us because we didn't have a light over our license plate. Then I got so nervous I couldn't find my insurance card so he wrote me up a ticket for that. Yikes! What is it with these people. Our last church meeting had 41 people there. We were so excited! We are getting a few new people coming now and I think it is because of our efforts in visiting them and inviting them to church. A lady donated a lot of clothing to the Mescalero people so we started offering it to the members. They were pretty excited. One lady, who is not a member came with her two daughters and took home armfuls of clothing. She inivted us to come the next day for dinner. When we arrived, she wasn't home. I guess she forgot. She is a real nice lady too and I like her.

Last night we went to a combined Church meeting at the baptist church. They have five different churches in Mescalero and at Easter time they all combine their meetings and each preacher gives a sermon. It is real different. We thought we would go to each one to show that we are not afraid of the different religions, but I think they are intimiated by us showing up. Some of their sermons aren't too bad, but they lack the spirit. They do a lot of singing and the preachers yells the sermons and tells them how they need to change to be able to go back to be with their Heavenly Father. Sometimes I wonder why the indians attend their meetings. Of course, I always get disappointed when they pass the plate.

We have had two calls from members of the branch asking for our advise and help. It seems as though alcohol makes people do crazy things. One girl is 24 years old, she already has three children. One has been given up to adoption and the other a relative is caring for. She has been put into jail three times now for drinking while having her child with her. Sometimes you wonder if they ever learn.

We are getting excited about spring coming. However, even though the sun is up the wind is terrible. Maybe there will be more news next time.

More YW/Primary Activity Day

Here are some more pictures of the YW/Primary Activity Day!

Our first YW/Primary Activity

We just completed our first YW/Primary Day Activity with the girls in the branch. We had two people called to this position to help me out, but after they were called, they disappeared. We could not reach them at their homes, by phone, or other people. So because I had told some of the girls we were going to have this activity and they kept asking me I decided to go forward on my own. I gave out 15 invitatons and got a little discouraged when I called the night before to remind them to find most of them unavailable. On the way to the church I became very sad. It seemed like I had spent a ton of time getting supplies and working on our "Heart Attack" to show our appreciation to the branch Presidency and I was real excited. I became very discouraged. After offering a prayer to the Lord to ask me to find success in someway with this people, we trudged forward. The Lord answered my prayer, I had 12 girls and three adults come. Not all that I invited but many brought friends!!!! The Lord really does love me and I have thanked him over and over for the success.

We decorated posters and made cards for the Branch Presidency to tell them how much we appreciate thier love, devotion and leadership. They loved it! I had made cookies and we made a plate for each of the brethern. Then we made bubble gum necklaces for the girls! They were so excited. I had to poke holes in 200 bubble gumballs for this occasion with an ice pick. I only stabbled myself five times. But it was worth it to see thier smiling faces and see them get together.

Our Pet Elk Coconut - who is getting bigger

Here are some pictures of our pet Elk, Coconut. She is really getting big and she is so cute. We stopped by the other day and saw her in the yard so we called to her. She came up to the fence and stuck her head right in the window. I think she thought I was going to feed her. She is a beautiful animal and extremely friendly - so far.

More Missionary pictures

I took some pictures of some sister missionaries who moved into our district. They are so great and it feels wonderful to have them here. They have a beautiful sprit about them. We tried to be as crazy as the elders, but just don't have the knack. It was a fun day. They funny looking elders are the elders we room with. They don't know how to be serious and you can't make them behave.

Our crazy Missionaries - We love them

It is time to say good bye again to some of our missionaries! My what Sons of Thunder they are in many ways. They make us smile and we love being with them. They certainly are the lords choicest spirits. This was at our last District Conference and everyone was acting crazy. Hope you enjoy the moment. Notice the Prophet Pose! They thought that was halarious. they brought cupcakes for mine and Elder Tuttle Birthdays (See the poster). It took many pictures to get the one with all of them in action, but I thought it turned out GREAT!

The Medicine Man

Oops! I almost forgot. Here is the picture of the medicine. I wasn't really suppose to get this picture.

Charlotte's Birthday Party

We were invited to Charlotte's Birthday party. She is a young girl who is turning twelve. She was so excited to to have us come and take her pictures. They always have a large turn out at the parties and hire a band for dancing, food and fun. While we were there we met the medicine man who was HIRED to come and bless the food and over seer the party. It was a very interesting experience. He came up the table, shook some pollen all over Charlotte and blessed her with good health and prosperity. then he tooke the pollen and sprinkled it over each dish that had been brought for the family to eat. They always ask the ELDERS to eat first, as it is their tradition, so the medicine man and Elder Lee went first, followed by me (they call me elder too) and we sat down to eat with the medicine man. We asked him a lot of questions and he would not admit he was a medicine man. (I guess you cant do that in their culture) Only the natives are suppose to know that) He started to tell us that he believes our body is a temple of God. We said we believed the same thing. He said God loves all his children. We told him we believed that God does love all his children. Jokingly I said, Hey you believe a lot like us. Then he said, Yes you do, because your people stole the good things from our people and copied them. We just don't do things correctly. It was very interesting. Just a note!!!! You know how we always talk about a paid clergy when we preach the gospel. They are paid to come to these parties.