Walter Rane

One day when Jeff was here we were talking to our young missionaries and asking them what they wanted to do when they went home. Elder Rane said he wanted to be an artist. We laughed and joked with him about starving to death or maybe living in Paris. I just happened to send a few pictures I took of him telling his mother what a fine young man he was. One day we received a beautiful picture of the empty tomb of Christ with the linens on the table from his parents. It was named "He is not here!" I looked down and saw the signature of Walter Rane. I am not very familar with these things so when I went to the library and found out he is a famous LDS artist and does many paintings for the Engisns.

I am posting some of them so you can see them or look them up on the web. Walter Rane uses his family as much as possible in his paintings and several of them have him in them. Look for him, his wife and Elder Rane in the ones I am posting.

Ensign December 2005 The desires of my Heart shows Elder Rane as Joseph Smith

January 2007 Master I have brought unto Thee my Son shows Elder Rane as the child

April 2011 Peace I leave with you shows Walter Rane as a desciple next to Jesus (no beard)

December 2006 Behold the Lamb of God shows Elder Rane's mother as Mary

Have fun. Next time you read an ensign look for his pictures.

Pecan Trees

There are beautiful orchards of Pecan trees out here.

A great Week of Faith

What a great week of Faith and trust in the Lord. Dad and I were feeling a little down the all the health problems we have been facing. On top of that we weren't doing very well with our investigators either. It seems like they were not responding. We went to district conference and the District leaders gave a beautiful lesson and keepin the faith that our Heavenly Father would help us in our work. They said we needed to remember, this is His work and we would be guided. They told us to be bold in our invitations to our investigators. They told the story of Nephi when he was wandering around in the wilderness and they were starving, cold, hungry and very discouraged. Both Laman and Lemuel had lost their bows. When Nephi broke his they became very angry at him. BUT, did Nephi murmur? No!!!!! He went to work and made a bow and arrows. Then he counseled with his father about where he was to go to look for food. They prayed to the Lord and asked for help. Did Heavenly Father help them? YES! And he will help us too. All we have to do is prepare and pray. So we did just that. We made a plan of who we would visit and what we would say. We planned on being bold in our committment to be baptized or listen to the lessons. It was a great day! The first place was to a less-active home. She was not there, but her daughter was. She told us she had a 10 year old girl that needed to be baptized. WOW. We walked out elated. Then we went to Priscilla's home, she wasn't there. On our way down we saw a car in front of a home we had been trying to get to for months. So we decided to knock on the door. A young lady answered, invited us in, listened to the first lesson and said she would like to come to church. The funny thing was the next day we met her at the carnival and she came up and introduced her son to us. Then we went to the commanche family and they said they would let us come back. Can you believe that!!!!!!! Faith works Miracles.

Feast Huts in Mescalero

We found out they were having a blessing feast in Mescalero. They hire the Crown Dancers to come and dance for them to give them blessings. We were really excited about going. However, the dancing does not begin until after dark (about 10:00). When our friends said they were'nt going we decided not to go too. It was a big event. The next day in church, I mentioned to the ladies, while we were eating our pot luck dinner after church that we didn't go because it was late and Teresa said women weren't allowed to watch the dancing.

The ladies hooted and hollered. They thought that was so funny. One of them said. Don't you know the women are not allowed in the tents!!!!!! Innocently I said, well what do the women do while the men are dancing. They laughed and laughed. Then they said, The women make fry break and cook!

Verlinda's Birthday Party

We are teaching two investigators Adam and John. Verlinda is the wife of Adam. We had them close to baptism until the mother-in-law asked them to come back and live with them because one of her sons was having a hard time with alcohol. Now they are nervous about having us return. Anyway, Verlinda invited us to her birthday day party. There was a lot of people there and we kind of got acquainted with the mother-in-law.

Verlinda was very happy in her new birthday dress and necklace that she was given. One of the pictures is with her grandma and aunt. She was very proud. They had 16 kids all come to the birthday party and they all came down in one car. I tried to take a picture but I could only get a few. I have never seen so many kids in one vehicle. They were laughing and gigling and had a great time. Thank goodness there was not an accident.

Elder Rane Birthday

We not only got a wonderful breakfast from Elder Rane and Elder Whitear but the next morning we awoke to a beautiful Birthday Cake for Elder Rane. Elder Whitear stayed up late until 11:00 after his companion had gone to bed to make this cake for him. We didn't know anything about his birthday so we were surprised when we were summoned to sing happy birthday to him. I hope you like the cake. It says Happy 13 because Elder Rane looks very young (as you can see). We have two of the neatest companions.

Guess what? I sent home a couple of pictures from my camera to their parents and today we got a package from the Rane family. It seems Walter Rane, a famous LDS artist, is Elder Rane's father. They sent us a singned picture to thank us for sending those pictures. Look him up on the internet.

Also the carnival is in town in Mescalero. Everyone who ame to church went to the carnival after church. It is Pot luck Sunday, every third Sunday, and they all run to the store to buy thier food if they forget to get it ahead of time. I think they might need a lesson on keeping the sabbath day holy.

Matthew and the prom

This is a picture of Matthew Naiche in his tuxedo. He is our newly ordained priest. We went to his house to find out why he didn't come to church today and found out he went to prom last night. He was so proud of his tuxedo that he was wearing it when we got to the door at 2:00. He is very shy but a really nice kid. Somehow he was baptized at the age of 8 and never given the priesthood. He was excited to get it.

Heavenly Father Warrirors and Mescalero Future Warriors

Mescalero YM basketball and eating

Here are some pictures of the Young Men and the missionaries playing basketball.

Young Men Activity

A few months into our mission, we realized the young Mescalero boys were great candidates to be misionaires in the future. We gathered them together to teach them how to use their scriptures and work on the Duty to God award. They were so excited. We started with two young men and now have five. They have been praying and reading the scriptures. They have even given tqalks in sacrament meetings and they just completed their first service project.

We gathered together on Saturday to clean out the branch shed, which by the way has not been cleaned in many years. They worked hard filling a truck load of junk, rat droppings, cobwebs and organzing the shed. We carried out a lot of boxes from our little chapel and extra chairs that have been taking up a lot of room. We actually had a lot of fun!!!! One of the members brought a non-member who helped us as well. They had a lot of fun acting like ghost buste3rs, (which we called "Goof Busters"), chasing each other around and getting acquainted. Lots of pizza, root beer and ice cream brought shouts of joy. They most fun part for the boys was playing basketball, each team fighting valiantly to win. We too the young missionaires that live with us up to help with this project. Side by side we watched as our Missionairews and our Mescalero Warrios worked and played together as brothers. We stood with pride on the baksetball court outisde our little church as people from the village drove by watching Native American boys playing basketball with two missionaries in white shirts and ties together. They couldnt believe it!!! It was a wonderous sight!! The next day in curch, I overheard the boys taling about how much fun they had. They asked us if they could get together again this Wednesday to work some more on their Duty to God Award and again on Saturday to play basketball. How can you beat that? They have a campout planned for June 17, which we are calling a Father and sons's outing.

We are working hard to get this little branch to fellowship and feel good about themselves and their little branch. It is great to see them grow.

New Addition to the Mescalero Tribe

We have been working with this family for several months now. This post is about Renee. We had a hard time working with her in getting her son Jayro baptized because she was put in jail and we had to wait for her to get out before we could perform the baptism. Well, we are now trying to teach her brother-in-law and step brother. We have seen her at least once a week for the past four months. One day we walk into her home to find out she just had a baby. What a shock!!!! She said she didn't know she was pregnant!!!! The baby is really cute, a girl, and very large. She was 10.9 lbs and 24 inches long. The mother says she doesn't know who the father is. But she is adorable and we welcomed her to church on Sunday.

Renee, the mother, would not let us take her picture but the other lady is an aunt and the little girl is her other daughter, sugar (Jay Lynn)

More Fire Pictures

Here are more Fire Pictures

FIRE in Ruidoso

As we left our apartment for Afternoon conference we looked into the sky and saw black clouds that were very scarry. They reminded me of the clouds in the Joseph Smith Movie when they were on Zions camp. I took a few pictures and didn't think too much of it. But by the time we got out of conference a fire was raging through Ruidoso. It started in Galivan Canyon and spread throughout the city. People were lined throughout the streets watching it rage. We got a call from Murray and Teresa in Mescalero who heard it was by our apartments and they got worried and tried frantically to call us. We met them on the hill at Wall Mart, which overlooks the city and watched the fire rage through the hills. Several homes were taken and everyone anxiously watched and worried about the water tank that feeds the city to explode. There were fire fighters everywhere. Our complex was put on alert to evacuate. We live right next to the Race Track and the fire burned two of the horse corals. But they were lucky and the huge parking lot stopped it from spreading rapidly. People came out of there houses and I got to meet lots of people who live in the complex. Isn't it funny how a disaster brings people closer together. In the evening we walked out to see how the fire was doing. The picture I have posted in the evening is not evening lights. They are tiny fires on the mountainside that are still burning. This morning we found out five homes were taken and 6,000 acres of mountainside were burned. As we drove to Roswell, we saw the devasting effects. The fire went through Ruidoso, followed the highway, (which by the way had to be closed). We saw it went all the way to the Hondo Valley. In one spot it came down a canyon, jumped the road and burned a house completely to the ground. The funny thing was the house just next door was not touched. There were several spots where it came to the roadside. It is awful!!! This is such a beautiful place. I hate to see the vegetation burned this way. We are all on high alert for forest fires this summer. I have a fear of what would happen if they had one on the mescalero mountaintop. There are too many people that would be affected by it. Keep them in your prayers.

April Conference 2011

Oh how I look forward to conference being in the mission field. We have been so lucky to have it at our fingertips while living in Utah. I find that I hunger and thirst for the gospel. We were unable to view Conference on Saturday as dad was in the hospital. I was going to drive to the Ruidoso Chapel myself but Dad said he needed it too, so we got dressed on Sunday Morning and Drove to the Ruidso Ward. The building was locked up tight with a note that said, Satelitte broken. We just sat there for a while and finally the missionaires came, they couldn't do anyting either. Then Brother Woodward came and invited us to his home. We were very excited. Conference was wonderful and I am so greatful that we were able to listen to the prohet and the apostles give us advice. Like President Monson said, there is something or someone who has prepared a talk just for you. I really loved brother Scott's address on his wife. I feel fortunate to have an eternal companion that loves me and let's me know that he loves me every day. I think you do too. I paid particular note to the talk on being tested. I feel out here in the mission field we often get discouraged because things don't always go on our time frame. I am learning that we have faith and let the Lord do the work. We just have to be his instruments. We did, however, have a few good experiences before conference that made us feel good. We began teaching David Shanta a few months out into our mission. He seemed very interested in the church but has a hard time giving up his Catholic Faith. He and his wife were close to a divorce. We spoke to him about how the gospel would improve his life and his feelings for his wife. I am happy to say they are getting along very well and the last night we met with them they were just a couple of love bugs. They are planning on leaving the reservation for the summer months to attend the Indian Pow Wows around the country and sell fry bread. They were telling us a little about how they have been reading the Book of Mormon and feel it is a good book. We were teasing them, if they weren't careful, people would think they were Mormons. They were saying how much the Book is about Jesus Christ. We also went to see Viola Morgan, one of the first people we baptized here in the mission field. She has a son who is agressively opposed to the church. He has been filling her mind with all kinds of doubts. When we went to see her last Wednesday, she was so happy so just clung on to me like a little child. I think she was glad to have the spirit back in her home. The Lord works miracles and I am sure he is helping us, we just need to be patient. We love the Lord with all our heart and I have gained a deep love for my Savior. I must always thank him for all the things he has given me and for having his influence throughout my whole life. I am have been very fortunate. We must always try to live our life as Christ would have us do. Through love, all things are possible.

April