Arizona Connection

Spring on the reservation is nutty!! Last night we had a snow storm
after a day of incredible winds. We woke up to 5" of snow this morning.
Then the sun came out and most of it was gone by this afternoon. The
same thing happened last Sunday. The winds were so strong, there was a
fog of orange dust and sand clouding our view as we traveled home from
Stake Conference in Page. That evening it started to snow. Crazy!! We
traveled 150 miles today to interviews with Pres. Beck. We took the
elders serving in Kaibeto, about 20 miles north, with us. The Sr.
couples provide a potluck lunch for everyone at these meetings. In three
weeks is our Zone conference and Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Quorum of
the 70 will be a visitor. He will not just be a guest speaker but will
be a trainer on the Atonement. All the missionaries were given copies of
two of his Ensign articles and a page of questions with the answers found
in those articles. It has been marvelous to gain a deeper understanding
of just what the Atonement can mean for us, beyond cleansing from sin.
Did you realize that the Lords grace is the enabling power that makes it
possible for us to overcome ourselves and progress. He is lifting us as
we put our lives in his hands. That is what faith is for because he
can't help us until we exercise faith in him, believing He will be there
to lift, and strengthen in every area of our lives. We are looking
forward to this visit to be taught by one who understands this doctrine.
We finally bought a Navajo blanket or rug. We visited a little old lady
who way sitting and weaving at her loom. She is a member but hadn't been
back to church since her husband died three years ago. Her son was there
and helped us communicate. She showed me how she washed, dyed, hand
carded the wool then spun it into yarn on a long spindle. This was a
true Navajo blanket. The others I had seen were finer and more
professional but the yarn was bought at the local craft store. As I
looked at this one I purchased I could see pieces of twigs woven into it
because the carding didn't get them all out. That made it even more
genuine. It is a horse blanket but since I don't have a horse, it will
go on a wall. She and her son are coming back to church. He has an
alcohol problem and we hope to get him help to overcome it. We now have
a Sr. couple in the mission from the LDS Social Services who provide this
help.
We hope all is well in your home. Love to all.
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Bryce and Laura Update

Hey family, just a quick update. We finally got our kitchen done, although it still needs the can lights put in. I'll show you more when it is totally done. Also this is Jordan's Eagle project. He made a bunch of games and art projects for the kids at Primary Childrens. And finally, Friday was very warm, so the kids decided to run through the sprinklers.
Love, the Westovers

Maria and Kelly Update

February, already gone? Wow. We keep plugging along. We have dealt with sick kids on and off this month, but I think we are all healthy now. Steven had a fun scout winter camp that Kelly was able to attend. They played capture the flag in frigid temps. but they didn't seem to mind. Kelly and I attended a stake Valentine dance and we had a great time dancing all night. Our feet were very sore the next day. Steven babysat for us since Amber and Megan both had paying gigs that night. Amber and Megan both participated in a choir festival for their respective grades. They enjoyed singing with other talented singers who were serious about singing. Kelly and I realized that school dances are horrible after chaperoning Megan's 8th grade dance. We were offended by some of the very suggestive dancing going on. Our kids really have to be strong to 'be in the world but not of it.' I spent Thursday shoveling 6 inches of fresh snow in 6 degree weather while Kelly was in San Diego enjoying 75 degrees. After meetings he was able to visit his twin brother and his family for a couple days. Winter will end someday, we think. Marissa had her first basketball game yesterday and loved it. She really likes to play basketball and actually has a good shot. Friday night I had a primary class party for the two oldest primary classes, Steven's class and my class. We made homemade pizza, played games and ate brownies for dessert. I think the kids enjoyed getting to know each other outside of church. We had a good time. I have attached a picture of our winter wonderland. Enjoy!

Casey and Andrea update

Hi everyone! We have had a pretty good February! We celebrated Allison's 5th birthday and my 36th birthday. On Allison's birthday, we pulled out a bounce house, I made a "Max and Ruby" cake and we had 8 of her cousins and friends over. (We were watching Drew and Joel for the weekend so they were both there anyway!) The only sad part was that Allison came home from school with a fever. We doped her up with Tylenol and went ahead with the party. We just kept her away from everyone as much as we could. We felt bad for her because I think she really wanted to just go to bed. For my birthday, Casey took me to our favorite restaurant, "Hole in the Wall BBQ." (They'll be the ones doing some catering for us at the reunion-Casey did some trade). Anyway, the other notable event this month was the refinance of our house! We lowered our payment by $500 a month and pulled out some money. We got an amazing interest rate (4.875%) so we're pretty happy! We are going to save the extra cash in the hopes that we'll be able to do some home improvements before the reunion. (We're watching the economy closely to try and decide whether to use the cash or just save it for a rainy day.) We have had a blast planning the reunion...I know it seems early but we had to put all of our deposits down by February 1st in order to get the parks and the roller skating rink. We were also very lucky to get the temple on the day we wanted...they fill up very fast! All of this planning has made us realize how much we miss you all! August can't come soon enough! (I include a few pictures that you may have already seen on facebook...a few of Allison's birthday, one of the Allison and Lydia dancing in a downpour and one of the girls one morning before church.)

Arizona Update

We attended the local "Flea Market" with the Kaibito elders. We walked around and would talk to the venders and after making friends would give them a missionary pamphlet. We encouraged the elders to get out into the crown and "OYM" but they didn't want to leave their vehicle with it's display. After that we tried to find some people on our list, without success. We did run into an interesting woman we met last week, who chattered almost incoherently in a form of Navajo English and whose eyes didn't seem to work together very often. We were suprised to see her in one of the homes we were checking out today. We first met her a couple of days ago when we picked her up on the highway and gave her a ride to the Sr. Center. No one was there so she asked us to take her to the Clinic which is near where we picked her up. On the way she asked us to turn into a drive so she could see her sister. Her sister turned out to be married to a former branch president. We will be giving him a ride to church tomorrow and possibly his wife and a granddaughter. I am sure we will see this little lady again, her name is Susie Tso. I will take a picture of her when I get my camera back from being repaired. It quit working so took it into Best Buy last week. I bought their warrenty on it so it will be repaired or replaced.
We did some exploring this afternoon trying to find Eggshell Arch which we learned is close by. We drove all over dirt roads without any luck. When we got back I checked on Google Earth and realized that I was reading the map I printed earlier, upside down. It is west of us instead of east. I felt very dumb. I know that the top of a map is north. It just looked like we were suppose to go across the street. We will try again next week. I have been wanting to explore the canyon behind us since I heard it was there. The weather is starting to warm up so we are venturing out more.
This last week was a bit disappointing because three of our appointments forgot we were coming and were not home. "Bummer!!"

Scripture of the month: D&C 50:24 Discuss it and write what you think it means. It states clearly what we have been experiencing.
Love to all.