The Carbines are coming

We were so excited when we found out another senior couple from the TExas Lubbock Mission were coming to visit us. They were on their way to Las Cruzes and wanted to know if they could stay with us on their way down. oF course we said Yes!! We met them at 4:00 in front of our apartment and showed them all around Ruidoso and Mescalero. Of course, there is not much to see, but we laughed, and shared stories and really enjoyed ourselves. At the Inn of the Mountain Gods restaurant they had to kick us out because we stayed so long. It was great to have their company there and share our lovely Mescalero. They really enjoyed our Apache stories. It was a lot of fun. I don't have too many pictures because I accidently deleted them from my camera at the graduation (because I couldn't see what I was doing it was so dark. So I took pictures! of some of the pictures I had developed to send to them, that's why they look so funny. The big barrel is a baptismal item they use at the Apache Mission for baptizing. It is beautifully decorated in the Apache art. We found a castle and Sister Carbine and I had a wonderful time taking all kinds of pictures. We called it Rapunzel's castle and acted silly like a couple of kids. The men just looked on like WHAT? Sorry, but I lost most of the other pictures. Maybe it is good you can't see how crazy your mom is.

Lv Ya

More Hondo Iris Farm

Here are more pictures of the Iris Farm. If I didn't love Utah so much, I think I could enjoy living here on this farm. However, it is too far away from everything. I think I need more people. It would be like living on a plantation but with only hired help. Yuck! I need my family. Miss you all

More Hondo Iris Farm

More Hondo Iris Farm

Hondo Iris Farm

We visited the Hondo Iris Farm where they have thousands of different kinds of Iris flowers. It was ok but I was not that impressed. They did, however, have a lot of people come to buy and see the flowers. I think my brother Fondd has a more beautiful yard than their display of flowers. But people seem to like it. They did have other things around the farm that were interesting. The old Adobe house if over 200 years old. Some of the original bricks are still there by the ditch bank. They have a lot of antique items i the yard that were interesting as well. Of course, we enjoyed the swimming hole by the bridge. It was a perfect place for a swing to jump into the water. Dad loved that and wished he had his swimming suit. Everything here is very southwestern and beauitful.

News from the Mission field May

It has been a growing expereience for us in the mission field this week. Sometimes we feel like we are being asked to walk on water because things are so difficult. We have served diligently for nine months helping to build up the branch, finding new investigators, baptizing, teaching and doing the Lords work. We feel like we have served well. Well to our dismay, the branch members have been so busy with the feasts, graduation and parties that they don't have much time for church. Our attendance has dropped dramatically. The high council says this happens all the time in the summer. They are just too busy to come to church and their cultural things take precidence. The last time we brought an investigator into the branch, no one would talk to him. I don't know why. We brought one grandmother who also brings two little children with her and she won't come now because one of the families has offended her. We have trying hard to find new investigaors but ony find out they won't give up their alcohol and refuse to come to church because our little church doesn't have enough people. Of course, they are right!!! our little church only has bout 25-30 members come on a regular basis. Well on Sunday, we got there and no one was there. The Branch President has been very sick and unable to come for almost two months. His first and second counselor have found one reason after another for not coming. They had to take a trip to Albuquerque, play in a baskteball tournament, fix breakfast for his wife and family, too tired to get up, had to wait for his wife to fix the girls hair, went to a class at 11:00 p.m. and it was too hard to get up or just didn't feel like it. Wow. That was very hard on us. We have tried so hard to get the branch going. Dad felt so low he went outside to sit on the path next to the church. I sat by the organ and played, "I know My Redeemer Lives" until the tears started to flow. We asked the question, "What are we doing here??? What is our Purpose???? I cried so hard dad was concerned when he came back thinking something had happened to me. As we spoke about our feelings it would take a miracle to find someone with faith here on the reservation. If there was anyone, we wished the Lord would send them to us.
Then we heard a voice, "Hello, Is anyone here?" It was Carol. I tried to wipe the tears from my eyes and look half way decent. She was an investigator we have been working with. We had no idea that she was coming to church. We made all kinds of excuses as to why no one was there, but I think she realized there really wasn't anyone but us. So we read the Book of Mormon with her. I think she enjoyed it and will probably do so again. Then to our surprise another young man we have been working with came to church. After we asked him if we could come and teach him the lessons and he accepted. Then another member came in with his son. THREE investigators in one day!!! Is the Lord trying to help us? I think so. It made me think of when Christ was walking on the water and his apostles were toiling in the ship with the raging wind and water. When they say Jesus coming towards them they became afraid. Who was this. Was it a spirit. Then Jesus said unto them, Be not afraid, it is I. Peter was so excited that we wanted to go be with the Savior. He steppped out onto the water but then became afraid and began to fall. THE LORD IMMEDIATELY REACHED OUT TO HELP HIM! Yes, the Lord loves us and as we were beginning to fall, he IMMEDIATELY reached out to help us. Oh how we love the Lord!!! We love him with all our hearts.

Landon Kahze Baptism

Landon McCarthy Kahze was baptized on May 21 in the Mescalero Branch. It took us almost a month to get a date that would work for the Kahze family because they had such a hard time committing. It seemed like everything came up at the wrong time. On Saturday, we finally got a time but it had to be later because they had a birthday party to go do. It was one of the best attended baptisms we have ever had. There were about 30 people there. It was fun to see the family pull together for this. I wish they would put as much effort into coming to church.

Landon is a great kid with a lot of faith. His only problem is his mother works on Sundays and is unable to bring him all the time. But when he sees us on the road he runs towards us and waves. He is happy to see us.

Lorraine's Graduation

One of girls from our Branch graduated this week. Lorraine Luna is from the Naiche family and very talented and smart. She has tried hard to do well in school and got a scholarship from the University of New Mexico in the fall. We are very proud of her.

We attended her graduating class with 23 students. They all got to pick two people who have made a difference in their lives and give them a rose. It was a beauitful sight and everyone cried and it was very touching. THe seniors all got a lap top computer as a gift. Wow! They try really hard to help the graduates continue their education so they can come back and help the tribe. However, many of the girls are already mothers and there were several who were pregnant as they graduated. It was a beautiful ceremony and fantastic speeches. Lorraine is one of the fortunate ones who has had the gospel in her life.

It's Hump Day for the Mescalero Missionaries

Well, Guess What? We are half the way through our mission. The missionaries call it

"HUMP DAY" So we decided to have a little party with the missionaries we are staying with. We wrote a letter asking them to get together with us in the evening at 9:00 for a companion evaluation. They worried all day long thinking that they had done something wrong. We laughed as they tried to avoid us at 9:00. When we finally asked them to come to the table, they both said, "Did we do anything wrong?" Laughing we pulled out our silly string, paper balls and confetti and yelled "We're Half way through our mission - Hump Day. We laughed and ate root beer floats and we told them of the things we have done on our mission. It was a great time!!!

More Zone Conference Pictures

Here are more Zone Conference Pictures. We have these Zone conferences quarterly. There are five or six zones in the mission. Ours is the Roswell Zone. It's a fun time and stressful time as well. They have study groups to see how your teaching is coming along. We got a little silly after the conference, but had a great time. I love being with the missionaires. They are GREAT!

mothers day at Mescalero Branch

Here is the Mothers Day Pictures from the branch I forgot to post last time.

Last Zone Conference for President Robison

We just had our last zone conference for President Robison. He will be leaving the mission on July 1, 2011 and a new Mission President will be coming. His name is President Arnold Augustine. We are sad to have President Robison leave but anxious to see our new President too. It is bittersweet. So at our last zone conference they said their good bye's to us. President Robison said he would try to come to Mescalero to talk with us before he goes home if all goes well. We all gave them cards with farewell thoughts and our testimonies. At the end, everyone went crazy taking pictures. You know your mom, she had to take some too.

Hope you enjoy them. You will recognize a group pictures of everyone there, a picture with all the sisters, a group picture with the elders, the elders we are serving with in Ruidoso, Elder Rane and Elder Whitear and a special picture of two elders who are serving with us from WEST BOUNTIFUL. Can you believe that? We were so shocked to find out they are from OUR STAKE, Elder Nilson and Elder Rose. The world is a small place.

Mothers Day in the Mission Field

Well, it was a great day in the mission field celebrating Mother's Day. It seems as though the holidays we think are so special to us are not that special to the women here on the reservation.

Anyway, I spent a great deal of time making tissue flowers to give to the mothers for Mother's Day after church from the primary children. They were suppose to help, but when the day came for them to help, only two kids showed up. So I ended up mKinv 36 flowers by myself. I will have to say they turned out beautiful. The primary children gave them to all the mother's after sacrament meeting and they ran back to get all they could. It was a great day. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Some of the ladies left before I could get them in the picture.

Hope all you mothers had a great day. You certainly deserve it!!!

Specialty Dances at the Pow Wow

Here are the specialty dancers at the pow wow. Some of them were very difficult to get because they move all the time. But I really enjoyed these

There was the queens dance, the native dancer, the jinglebell dance and the grass dancer.

Enjoy wish you could have been there