Baking and Baptism

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a busy week. Missionary work in Rosebud is taking off and we love being a part of it. Monday evening we took the Elders to meet Daryl and Crystal, a couple we've been working with for a couple of months. They had a new baby girl on New Years Day who we hadn't yet seen so it was great because I had the opportunity to hold that beautiful little bundle while we visited. My only regret is I was so busy holding I forgot to get a picture!

Elder Lindsey asked me to teach him how to make pies so on Tuesday afternoon while I prepped the soup for our Wednesday lunch he worked with the recipe I gave him and with an occasional question he made enough crust for three pies. He baked two apple pies for a dinner appointment on Wednesday and then we froze the other crust to use on Saturday to do a pie for our Sunday potluck.

Rolling out the crust. Next time he'll wear an apron.

The berry pie for Sunday potluck. Notice the fancy lattice work crust.

As is obvious from the picture Elder Lindsey is a natural pie baker. His first three pies turned out prettier than any pie I've ever made. He now officially has the job! While Elder was making his pie on Saturday I tried out a new roll recipe. Homemade crescent rolls. Its been a good fifteen years since I've baked homemade rolls and I wanted to brush up my skills.

I was very happy with the way they turned out and they were delicious! I call the missing roll in the middle quality control.

Our rolls and pies were well received at the pot luck and they went great with all the rest of the wonderful food. 

Wednesday we invited the Missionaries to our ARP meeting so they could be familiar with the program as they come in contact with people in the community who might benefit from it. Wednesday afternoon we had a teaching appointment at the Barker's with the three young women we are teaching. The Missionaries taught a good lesson on the restoration and then we had dinner with everyone before taking the girls home. Elder Lindsey's apple pies were a hit. 

Friday we joined the other Missionaries in the District for District meeting. These meetings are held in Winner which is about 45 miles from Rosebud. It also gave us a chance to visit with the Olson's a Senior Couple who serve in Chamberlin. 

Elder Lindsey being greeted by this dog who was hoping for a handout.

This bell is on the back side of the Winner Chapel but has no inscription and we have no idea why it's there. The Church bought this building from the Community of Christ Church (formerly RLDS). 

Saturday was Zaidyn Barker's baptism. I was asked to speak on Baptism and Elder Lindsey was one of the witnesses. We had a full house, including quite a few non members. After the baptism we had Indian Tacos for dinner and of course cake and ice cream. It was a fun afternoon and evening celebrating this special time with some of our favorite people.

Zaidyn and I

The Barker family L to R Ryan, November (foster daughter) Rogan, Tevian, Makisa, Laura, Zaidyn and Savannah asleep in her car seat.

Poor Elder Lindsey has developed a bad chest cold so he stayed home from church today. He got a call from the Missionaries while I was at church and found out they are both sick with the same thing...thanks for sharing guys! Church was good and potluck was fun...it is always nice to visit over good food. We had 9 investigators at Church today! 

Just before everyone went home for naps Jennifer Gilson lined the babies up and we snapped some pictures. Left to right we have Savannah Barker (7 months) Wyatt Gilson (8 months) Kiaralysce Poor Bear (4 months) and Colton Gilson (5 months).

Each of these babies has a sibling who is two or three years old depending on the family plus older siblings. We have a very large primary for such a little Branch. You might have noticed that Wyatt and Colton are brothers born three months apart. Wyatt was adopted and while they were in SLC for Christmas with family he was sealed to his family in the Salt Lake Temple.

The weather has been unseasonably warm and we are certainly enjoying that. The natives assure us that winter will return but until it does we are going to enjoy what we have.

Our love and prayers ,

Elder and Sister Lindsey

Heat Wave

Dear Family and Friends,

Winter is over!!! Lol. We wish, but we have had a nice break the last few days of the week with temperatures in the high 40's. We are looking forward to more of the same this week and we will happily accept it.

Some big news on the mission front. July 1 2015 the Rapid City, South Dakota Mission will become the North Dakota Bismarck Mission and the boundaries will be the same as the Bismarck Temple district. That means the area the mission covers will be somewhat smaller than it currently is but it is still a good size geographical area. Along with that the Mormon Handcart Historic Sites have become a new Mission of their own. They are now the Wyoming Mormon Trails Mission and instead of a Director  now has a Mission President. Elder Bushman has become President Bushman. All of us are super excited with these changes. The Mission includes Martin's Cove, Sixth Crossing and Rock Creek Hollow.

Monday Sister Patti Busch invited us to dinner and to watch the movie Maleficent. We always enjoy spending time with Sister Busch and she makes a delicious chicken enchilada. The movie was fun...no car chases for Elder Lindsey but enough action to keep him happy.

Sister Busch and I

Wednesday's ARP classes continue to go well and as the word gets out more people are showing an interest in joining us. Good people showing a lot of courage as they work to change their lives.

Thursday morning we headed to Rapid City. Elder Lindsey had a doctor appointment on Friday and we wanted to visit some sites on our way so we headed out early. Our first stop was to the Minuteman Missile Museum. 

This is the first step in a fascinating two site tour.

After the tour at the main building we followed our tour guide to the actual site of one of the missile control facilities.

 Four miles west we came to the bunker site where the crews lived as they kept everything in readiness for possible firing of the missiles.

This is the interior of the capsule 31 feet under ground where a two person crew did 24 hour shifts in readiness to fire the missile if needed. 

This artwork is on the outside of the massive door to the capsule.

We found the tour faciniting. Our tour guide was a retired Air Force Col who had worked at the facility when it was active so he knew what he was talking about. 

From the missile site we headed to the Badlands National Park to view them with the winter snow dusting the hills and valleys.

It was so beautiful!

The Big Horn Sheep were out in force and quite content to have their pictures taken.

After checking into our motel we headed out to Mt Rushmore to enjoy this beautiful National landmark without crowds of people. We were able to tour the museums, watch the films and even get a snack without waiting in a single line and it was wonderful. We even took pictures without having to wait for people to clear the areas. 

We had never seen the monument lighted so this was a real treat.

After seeing the sights at Mt Rushmore we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant East of Utah...On the Border. We shared steak fajitas then headed back to the motel for the night.

Friday morning we went over to the Mission office to visit with the other Senior missionaries. We are surrounded by wonderful people in Rosebud but we do miss that association with the other Senior Couples that we enjoyed at Martin's Cove so it was nice to spend a little time sharing experiences. 

When we left the office we headed out to get the car washed then went to visit the Berlin Wall Memorial Park. 

Elder Lindsey next to a large piece of the Wall.

Next we wandered downtown Rapid, had some lunch then because we had a bit of time to spare before Elder Lindsey's doctor appointment we went to the Journey Museum. It houses the story of South Dakota from prehistoric times to present day.  

Elder Lindsey almost lost his head!

Everyone who comes to Rapid City visits Mt Rushmore but there are so many other interesting and fun places to visit I'm glad we had an opportunity to explore some of them.

Elder Lindsey's doctor appointment went well. He's doing great and is now starting the process to wean off the final doses of steroids. We have been blessed to receive excellent medical care while so far away from home. Our drive home was uneventful...but long and as always it's fun to travel but there's no place like home...or motor home!

Saturday morning we did chores and in the afternoon I attended a baby shower and Elder Lindsey spent time with the new Elders who will serve here in Rosebud every other week. We are very excited to have Elders here as are the Branch members. 

After Branch Council today we along with the Elders had a teaching appointment. We are teaching three young women who come to church but who have not yet been baptized. Today we focused on Jesus Christ and how he has blessed our lives. After the teaching appointment we took the Elders to St Francis and introduced them to a young lady who wants to be taught. We were able to set up a teaching appointment for later this week with her. Elder Lindsey and I are excited to work together with the Elders in teaching these great people.

After three months of laying the groundwork and wondering if the work is ever going to take off here in Rosebud we finally are seeing things move forward and that is exciting! 

Our love and prayers are with you all,

Elder and Sister Lindsey

Bears Hibernate

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday started with another blast of very cold arctic air. We had an appointment to get the oil changed in the car so headed into Mission in the morning. After some other errands we headed home to hunker down. In the afternoon we exercised by walking  in the church and after that we ran the vacuum and did a little clean up. We are beginning to understand why bears hibernate!

Wednesday we had another successful ARP meeting. I am perfecting my fry bread recipe for our lunches and am getting positive reviews for my efforts.

On Thursday Sister Barker and I spent some time in the morning cleaning and organizing the Relief Society Closet. My friend Jan sent a box of flannel and as a Relief Society service project we are going to make blankets and quilts for the hospital to give out to newborns.

We are excited to get started! Thank you Jan for thinking of us.

Saturday the weather and the roads were clear and we were ready to get out of Dodge so we went to Pierre. A year ago we never would have believed that we'd be willing to drive for 90 minutes to see a movie or have Mexican food...or visit Walmart but that's what we are now willing to do on occasion for a change of scenery. First order of business was to get the car washed. It gets so dirty and it's too cold to turn on the outside hose, not to mention we don't want to turn the parking lot into an ice skating rink. Next we went for Mexican food and after that we explored downtown Pierre. We found a boot pad (a place to put wet snow boots) to keep the carpets dry when we come in and take our boots off. We were thinking of getting a cookie sheet when we discovered they really make such a thing.  Next we scored at a thrift store with a brand new Carhartt quilted vest for Elder Lindsey for only $29.95. New they run about $100. I picked up a couple jean jackets for $6.50 each. We just love a bargain!

After our shopping success we headed to a movie. We saw "Unbroken". It was really good, but somewhat hard to watch. After the movie we headed to Walmart for groceries then made a quick stop at the Mcdonalds drive thru for dinner on the road. It was a fun P day and just what we needed after a long week of being cooped up.

Today at Church Elder Lindsey was asked to talk about our experiences with home and visiting teaching. He told about our three families that we home taught for over 15 years. He told of some of the sweet experiences we had with them and how they have blessed our lives. It made us miss them! We both have a testimony of home and visiting teaching and I feel strongly that it will be through these wonderful programs that this Branch will go from a Branch to a Ward. Good home and visiting teachers will go out, bring the spirit into the homes with their messages and love the families back into activity.

 After church Elder Lindsey taught the last lesson for the Temple Preparation class to Annette. This is a follow up lesson where we talked about ways to keep the Temple in our lives. One of the wonderful blessings of being in Rosebud has been our association with Annette. She is an amazing woman and she works hard to bring the blessings of the Gospel to her family. She reminds us of Lehi in the Book of Mormon when he partook of the fruit of the tree his first thought was to look for his family to share it with them.

This week was a little hard for us because with the severe weather...especially when the wind blows the snow it is not safe to be on the roads and people don't want to be out so we weren't as busy as we like to be. We will have warmer temperatures this week so that will be nice and already our days are starting to fill up.  

We send our love and prayers to each of you,

Elder and Sister Lindsey

Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends,

Monday morning once again arrived with new snow and very cold temperatures. On Saturday when we went to Valentine we found Elder Lindsey a pair of Carhartt insulated bib overalls and boots that will keep his feet dry and warm and they came in very handy.

Finally it won't take the rest of the day to dry out his boots and warm his body.

We managed a quick trip to the post office and were especially happy we did when a special package arrived.

Our friend Thelma makes the best almond roca!

Tuesday was Relief Society and what a good time we had. It was the annual white elephant gift  and cookie exchange. We played a game where after everyone chose and opened their gift we passed around two pair of dice and if you rolled a double you could exchange your gift for someone elses gift. There was a lot of good natured teasing and laughing but in the end everyone went home happy with a nice gift. The cookies and other treats were delicious and visiting and getting to know the sisters better was nice. At one point we all said what we were thankful for this year and it was humbling to hear the sisters talk about their trials and triumphs and the different ways in which Heavenly Father had blessed their lives.

We had 17 sisters attending...a record for us!

Wednesday was our ARP class. This week we had a woman come who had seen the announcement of the program in the local paper. It takes a lot of courage to walk into a meeting with strangers and we were so happy she chose to join us...especially on New Years Eve when so many have a hard time staying clean and sober. We enjoyed vegetable beef soup and fry bread after the meeting. 

In the evening Annette and her niece Mattie and nephew Memphis took us to our first powwow in St Francis. It was so interesting and fun. The Lakota tradition is to feed their guests so dinner was provided at no charge. There was also no charge to get into the powwow. The money to put on these events is raised through items they auction and raffle off. 

This cutie knew how to dance!

We loved the costumes and that these children are retaining important parts of their heritage.

After the powwow we arrived back home to find the New Year's party at the church in full swing. Many people came as this party is know in the area as the place to be for lots of fun without alcohol. There was volleyball and board games and tons of great food and for us another chance to meet more people from the community that we don't see at church every week. It was especially nice that Beth who was new at our ARP meeting that morning brought her mother and joined us for the party. Elder Lindsey and I called it a night before midnight but we did listen to the fireworks at the magic hour. 

We spent New Years Day relaxing, doing some needed chores on the home front and working on getting rid of our colds! 

Friday we took a ride to Murdo and visited the Pioneer Auto Museum. Because of the snow and icy conditions we could only see the first three buildings so we will make a trip back in the spring to see the motorcycles. 

I took this picture for Ernie.

The Love Bug!

This one gets 100mpg

Saturday we had our ARP training meeting. We do this by computer/phone on the first Saturday of every month. This Saturday I was asked to give the spiritual thought. I will share with you what I wrote. 

Courage

Last Wednesday just as we were starting the sharing portion of our meeting a woman entered the church came in and introduced herself as a recovering addict. She had seen the notice of our meeting in the weekly paper, in fact she had seen the notice for three weeks in a row and on the third week she got up the courage to walk through the door and introduce herself to us as a recovering addict.

That is what I want to talk about for just a minute; courage. In Deuteronomy 31:6 we read; be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them for the Lord thy God he it is that doeth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

As we and the people that attend the ARP classes have the courage it takes to attend and participate in the recovery process we truly will learn to “fear not” and we will learn that our Savior Jesus Christ is with us and will always be with us.

It is through having the courage to take the first step, then the second and so on through the twelve steps that we will come to know our Savior and the love he has for us.

It is through having the courage to give up our addictions and go through the repentance process that we learn the meaning of the atonement and can have the power and blessing of its effect in our lives permanently.

Yes it takes courage to walk through our door the first time…and sometimes even the sixth time but that one step will build in us the courage we need to enable us to live Christ centered lives.

It took a lot of courage for Beth to walk through our door last week and it took even more courage for her to bring her mother and come to our New Year’s Eve party that night. Just as it took courage for Daryl and Crystal to spend New Year’s Eve home with their children watching movies instead of partying but each courageous step they and we take each day toward living Christ centered lives brings us closer to the blessings our Heavenly Father is waiting to share with us.

After our training meeting we headed out to White River to pick up Bountiful Baskets. It was our first and hopefully our last opportunity to drive in what they call out here a "low blizzard". The wind blows and the snow is driven across the roads with such force that it is almost impossible to even see the lines for the lanes. We stopped at the Allen's on the way back and arrived in time to help pull Tronson out of a snow bank. He was on his way to pick up his dad because his truck had slid off the road in Mission. Treacherous conditions. We just might be hibernating for the winter!

Sunday dawned clear and cold, cold, cold! Church warmed our hearts as we had two of our less active members come with their families. Life on the reservation is hard and it takes strength and perseverance for our members to live the gospel. Many have testimonies of it's truthfulness but face great obstacles in getting to church on a regular basis. We just try to love them and let them know how much we miss them when they can't be with us. 

It's a new year and we are excited for the adventures that lie ahead. 
Our love and prayers are with each of you,

Elder and Sister Lindsey