Sister Lee and Santa

We were invited to the Ruidoso Christmas party last night and I got to sit on Santa's lap. We had a wonderful time renewing our friendships with the members of the Ruidoso Ward. They are great people and very warm and friendly.

Another Convert Baptism

Wow! #7 Convert Baptism. We are in seventh heaven! Darren Ahidley was baptized on December , 2011. We was so happy because it was scheduled over a month ago, but the day of his baptism the indians turned off our gas supply and there was no heat in the building, so we had to cancel it. It took us over amonth to reschedule, but he has been baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and says he wants to go on a mission. What more could a couple of missionaries ask for.

We have another Baptism

Here comes number five member baptism! Kayla Comanche was baptized on December 4, 2011. We actually contacted her mother about her getting baptized in the spring but she said she was going to baptized in another church. Then one day she started coming to church and told us she had a a dream from her late grandmother who told her to get Kayla baptized in the Mormon Church. So she asked us if that was possible. Of course, we happily accomodated her. Kayla is a very special girl and very musically talented. She smiled all day long. We are glad that she was baptized and happy to have her come to primary.

More Thanksgiving with Senior Couples

Here are some more pictures of the Senior couples that we had Thanksgiving with for November 2011. Great memories and worth the trip

Thanksgiving with Senior Missionaries

Thanksgiving this year was an absolute blast! We traveled to Lubbock Texas and stayed in the Mission Home with President and Sister Agustin. Our first night we went to the Lubbock Texas Temple. It is very beautifulbut very small. Some of the senior couples stayed at the mission home as well and we stayed up very late visiting and enjoying each others company. We had at least 10 pies and cookies and food that came from some of the best cooks in town. It was fun to share our expereiences and everyone agreed that we have the hardest mission. Two of the couples were office missionaries, one family search, and the other two (including ourselves were proselyting). It was hard to say good bye and we feel we have made eternal friends.

Thanksgiving Day at Mescalero 2011

Well, we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the branch the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We had 60 people attend. They had to stand in line to get their food and there was lots of it. We had eight non memnbers there. It was great! We were so crowded that we had to have people eat in the foyer. I wish all these people would come to church!!! It was a traditional pot luck dinner and the branch furnished the turkey. Dad and I spent the whole afternoon at our apartment cooking mashed poatoes because we only had one large pan to cook with. It was crazy. The night before at 6:00 p.m. Lula called and said President Fossum had gone deer hunting and she didn't have a check to buy the turkeys! Yikes! Of course we came through and met her at the store and purchased the turkeys. Of course, we will be reimbursed, but the whole thing could have been a disaster. When we asked him at the dinner, he said he forgot. Oh Well! It was a wonderful time and we got to see almost everyone that is active in the branch.

Lorraine's Baby Blessing

Lorraine Luna, who lives with the Naiches, had a baby girl and she was blessed yesterday at church. They named her Lalani Rainbow Naiche. She is a beautiful girl with tons of black hair!!! I keep teasing them that they should nickname her Cherylee, but they won't listen to me. Lorraine is the mother, but her sister Teresa is adopting the baby because Lorraine doesn't want to be a mother just yet. She is a very lucky girl to have such a good family to help her grow up. I took a picture of the cradle that they put her in. The Apache's put her in the cradle after birth and she stays in that cradle all day long except when she is hungry or needs to be fed. They say they stay in the cradle until they are one. Now think of that girls - no crawling babies running around your feet. When they are placed into the cradle they know it is useless to fight so they just go to sleep.

Youth Dinner and Dance

We were able to take two of our youth to a Stake Dinner and Dance on Saturday. We had to drive to Roswell, but it was worth it to see the youth go. Two young men Denandre and BJ went. As shy as they were and sat in the corner, several young ladies asked them to dance. It was wonderful to see them participate and the the boys felt really good that they got to participate. When I tried to take thier picture they just hid their faces as usual. But we fell we are making great progress even getting them to go.

News from Mescalero

Things are going well in Mescalero. We had 41 people to church on Sunday. We took two youth to a youth dinner and dance on Saturday night, Dad took two priesthood members to the Bishopbric and Priesthood training session on Sunday and we are feeling good! The Lord is trying to help us make this branch grow! We just finished teaching Norma the temple classes and she is ready to get her recommend. We have a baby blessing next week. What more could we ask for?
However, three of our baptismal candidates have fallen through, which has broken our hearts we know the Lord has touched their hearts and someday they will be able to make the right choice. We got a referral from church headquarters from a young lady that we taught the first part of our mission, so you see the Lord touches their hearts at different times. Pray for our investigators will you.
Dad is doing well, and we are finished with his cancer treatments. Halleluyah! Those treatments are so hard on him. His leg is getting better, but they say it will take a few more months. Hopefully before we come home it will be completely healed.
We are happy to be serving the Lord and thank him for our many blessings. At this time of hear we have to remember to have gratitute for you children. We love you so much and are so greatful that our Heavenly Father gave us such wonderful children. Thank you for all you do and what who you are? The biggest blessing we have is that our children have all been brought up in the gospel ane they are all strong and true. We love you!!!

Miracles happen today

It has been a year since Uncle Bob died and dad realized the time had come to do his temple work while we were here on our mission, so we asked Julie to do the paper work to get it temple ready. After many hours of learning she sent us the temple ready paper and we were ready to go. We planned a day and called for an appointment at the Albuquerque Temple to do the work only to find out there was a slight problem. Being a little disappointed, we didn't do anything for a couple of months. One day while traveling down the road, I got the distinct impression that we should once again try to schedule an appointment for Uncle Bob. I told dad I was going to call the temple and make it happen. So we called and made the appointment. Everything was going well, until one night four days before we were to go to Albuquerque Dad said, "We have a problem! I won't be able to do the baptism for Uncle Bob because of my infected leg. Wow! That was a stumbling block we weren't expecting. Dad was insistent that someone from the family do the work so we called Jeff. The Lord works in wonderous ways and he was able to get a business meeting schedule in Albuquerque on the same day that we had the appontment set for Uncle Bob's baptism! Wow! It still brings tears to my eyes to see how much the spirit works. So on Tuesday, November 8, Jeff flew in from Ohio, we met him and went to the Albuquerque Temple and Jeff was baptized for his Uncle Bob. It was a wonderous sight to see him in the font in proxy for his Uncle and knowing the sacrifice he made to do it. No where but in the church do we go over and beyond what is expected to give people blessings. Thank you Jeff! He took us out to dinner that night and spoiled us as usual. The next morning he left at 5:00 for another appointment and Dad and I went to the temple to complete his work. Uncle Bob is not ready for entrance into the Celestial Kingdom and we did all that was necessary for him to make that choice.

I will have to say that being in the temple that day was a glorious feeling. It has been a while since I have been to the temjple and I felt so close to the Lord and really felt the spirit. We were able to meeting the temple president, who by the way knew Richard Anderson, who served as mission president in Abuquerque. Small world huh? He complimented us on serving the Lord and coming to Albuqueruqe to do the work for Uncle Bob. We also sealed Uncle Jimmy to his parents that day too.

The gosepl is so worth it. We love our Savior Jesus Christ and all he does for us. We have been so blessed to be able to serve him. And we thank our beautiful children for loving us and supporting us. We miss you all. FAMIILIES ARE FOREVER!

Primary Program at Mescalero

When we came to Mescalero we were shocked to find out the children knew very little about the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of my goals as a Primary worker was to teach them who Jesus Christ is, Who Joseph Smith is, Who the prophet is today, What church they belong to, and what the Book of Mormon is. Well, I was rewarded well on Sunday as we held our Primary program. We have been studying the New Testament this year and the children made my heart sing when I heard them sing the song, "As I Listen with my Heart (I know the scriptures are true)" It was beautiful and I knew their testimonies were beginning to form. They learned about eight primary songs that they know real well and put on a Sacrament Meeting presentation for the congregation that can't be described. All I can say is "I KNOW THE GOSPEL IS TRUE" It brings light and love to everything! There are many rewards when you keep the commandments.

Elder Justensen and Elder Walkers Birthday Party

Our new Elders Justensen and Elder Walker just had their birthdays. They turned 20 and 21. Elder Walker had his birthday two weeks ago but was so shy that he didn't say anything so we celebrated them together. We did our traditional celebration with silly string, a surprise birthday song, hats, candles and pie. It was great and they were totally surprised. We are always surprised at how many faithful and dedicated sons our Heavenly Father has in his service. We are extremely blessed.

Letter to Bishop King

Here is a copy of a letter we sent to Bishop King in West Bountiful. We thought you might enjoy it.

We really miss the ward. We love what we are dong, but it is all so different.

Let us tell you about our last baptism. We do our baptisms on Sunday after Sacrament meeting. We arrived at 9:00 a.m. for Priesthood/Relief Society meeting and no one was there. Fifteeen minutes later, our most faithful member comes, Lula. We began to talk and visit. Elder lee gave a combined Priesthood/RS lesson with the three of us. At about 10:00 a.m. Elder Lee left to go pick up the baptismal candiate (Courtney) and her family. This brought a total of seven. Her famil began putting the preparations together for a full meal with fry bread, beans, hot green chille, brisket, corn and cake. (You see they serve a full meal on these occasions.
Sister Lee decided to begin a primary with Courtney while her family prepared the food. They sang together some of the beautiful primary songs. This is an expereience she will never forget. Sister lee was very impressed with Courtne's geneuine love for the gospel. As they sang the song "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Courtney sang like a little angel. Feeling the spirit, Sister Lee asked her if she would like to sing that song at her baptism. This would tell everyone that now she ws baptized she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. To Sister Lee's surprise, she said yes.

It was 11:00 and Sacrament meeting should be starting. Elder Lee was the only priesthood bearer there. We panicked realizng that he would have to conduct the meeting, prepare, bless and serve the sacrmaent and there was no speaker. At that moment Sister Lee realized we had forgot to fill the font. It takes two hours. We also needed additional priesthood to complete the baptism. Ina panic she called the Elders from Ruidoso and asked them to come quickly so we would have enough to perform the baptism.
At about 11:20 our presidnet and his family arrived with a few other members bringing our total attendance to ninteen. One of the brethern also helped with the sarament and Sister Lee was the only speaker.
It was a fine sacrament meeting and a very spiritual baptismal service with Courtney singing loud and clear, "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Tears came into our eyes. A day that began with a lot of stress ended perfectly with everyone feeling the spirit.
We miss you all and our good friends in teh ward. We especailly miss attenidng Priesthood/RS and Sacrament meetings where we could just sit back and enjoy the blessings of the gospel. We love the experiences of teaching and working with the Mescalero Apache Indians. It is very different tyring to teach people who love thier Native traditions more than the gospel of Jesus Christ.
However, we are loving the missionary expereiences we are againing. Last week we had an attendance of thirty six and there were six investigators. What a delight it was to see those investigators walk into the building. Our hearts certainly jumped for joy!
Someone once asked us what it is like being a missionary. It is a joy beyond compre. It is very fulfilling and rewarding. These are expereiencew we will treasure and never forget.
We want you to know that we love the Lord and we love being his servants. WE have a strong testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and we know that he lives and loves us. We are greatful for this opportunity to serve him.
Thanks for all your love and support.

Elder and Sister Lee

Elder Lee's Dog Bite

You know when you go on a mission you expect to come home with some really good dog stories. Well dad has one he will never forget!! While knocking on a door on the reservation a large dog just came out of no where and bit dad in the leg. We scambled for the car to get away with blood dripping everywhere. After examining his leg I could see he would need stitches. So off to the hospital we went. Nine stitches later, we headed back home and was told the dog would be impounded. One month later, dad began to get pain in his leg and so off to the hospital we went again. This time it was infected. We have been sent to a wound specialist and many days visiting the office for special treatment. It absolutely looks sick, but dad wanted me to post this picture so when we make a journal of our mission he would have a picture of his dog bite. If you can believe this -- He thinks its pretty neat to go home with a REAL dog story.

Halloween in Mescalero Branch 2011

Happy Halloween! We had another Branch Halloween party and it was fantastic. We had about 50 people and lots of kids. There weren't as many costumes but every REALLY enjoyed playing musical chairs. They are very competivie! We had a cake walk and lots of candy for everyone. It was a great evening.

However, our real Halloween night was spent at interviews with President Augustin. It was great to see them again and tell them all about our area. Of course, the highlight is seeing the missionaries and enjoying their wonderful spirit.