Bailey's New Pump Skin

Childhood Memories

Gooseberry Cobbler

Dad and Mom came and spend Sunday afternoon and Monday morning with us. It was so fun to see and just visit with them. I wanted to show Dad the gooseberries, and so he helped pick them. There wasn't a whole lot but enough to make a cobbler. I just feel bad that Dad and Mom left and they didn't get to eat any of it.

Camo Formal Dress-Beautiful

About a year ago Bailey decided she wanted to make a formal dress out of camo. She asked her Grandma Lerwill if she would help her make one. She agreed and the hunt began. She found this dress on line and it is what she wanted. This dress on line cost 524.00 dollars. Wow!

We had looked around IF for some camo material and could not find any. We finally found a place on line and we ordered 2 yards of this bridal mossy oak camo satin. When it arrived we were thrilled. It is gorgeous material. We had found a pattern at Walmart that was similar to what the dress on line looked like. We also found a bolero pattern and bought it. On Bailey's birthday we went to IF and shopped with Grandma and bought all of her material. It was so much fun. We had to order the top tulle because they didn't have enough of it. A little over 16 yards! I had to pay for it and just the tulle was 100.00. Well my awesome sister told me about Jo Ann's great coupons and gave me one. When I went back to pick it up I asked if we could apply the coupon. She said no, but then said we could return the material and buy it again and use the coupon. YES! Katie had given me a coupon for 50% off. So we got all the tulle for 50.00. We were so excited. Bailey and Grandma have been working on the dress all summer. They have had a lot of fun together and it has been so fun to watch. They had their ups and downs with the pattern not fitting and the sizing's being so different and on and on. Grandma ended up basically making her own pattern. She is so talented! Even if she thinks it's been such a long time since she has sewn, she still has it. It was amazing for me to watch. Bailey learned a lot from the whole process too.  Bailey had it here at the house on Sunday and we thought we were all done. She tried it on and Grandma is going to make a pleat in the back to help the bolero lay flat and add two more hooks on the corset. But we got some preview pictures taken, so here they are. It turned out so beautiful and we have 150.00 dollars into it. Thank you, thank you, Grandma for helping Bailey make this dream of hers come true!!

E-Mail Aug. 29, 2011

Hello to everyone there. sounds like you have all had a busy good week. lots of good things happening. i hope that you are able to get things running there and get it all in the bin. after it is there i will ask how it looks...until then I'll just keep praying for you! :) Bailey your dress is sweet. it turned out so good. what dance are you wanting to go to in it? that will be so much fun for you. how have you been liking school? good classes, teachers, friends!? hope your enjoying getting back into the swing and schedule that comes along with school! keep safe. so ya, Luke was right about Nov. you said last week in your email that it was starting to cool off in the evenings there and hoping it would do the same down here...we had a really nice spring so every one is saying that it will be mid November before we start to see much under 95. pretty crazy. it hit 117 this week and it was so miserable! things are still going good though. :)


I am doing well and good on things here. just changed my set this morning and its kinda hurting me but we'll give it a while and it should get better. :) I have almost got your tape wrapped up so i can send it to you. so crazy how time is flying by. yesterday we finished Aug. planners and are now in September. so hard to believe how fast time fly's by. i just heard about all the east coast stuff yesterday at church. i had no idea what was going on. in all the prayers they were blessing the east coast...i had no idea what they were talking about. ya i figured that they are all liberals back there and need some prayers...but it still wasn't making sense to me until i asked and found out about the earthquake and hurricane. pretty crazy all the natural disasters going on at this time.

I hope that the weather will hold out for you for a little bit longer so you can get everything you need done there.

we had a really good week this week. we taught 17 investigator lessons and 3 of them were new investigators. we set 2 baptismal dates and talked to some sweet people. we taught Vona again. she is in her 70's and is ready and prepared to join the church. its really sweet to see a older lady who has a whole life full of habits be willing to sacrifice and make changes in her life to come closer to Christ. we also set a date with one of our new investigators. her name is Shannon and its a PMF. the boy friend is a LA member who is ready to come back. they some how got a hold of our WML and told him that he wants to come back to church and his G/F wants to learn more about the church. we taught them on Saturday night and set a date for her to get baptized on Oct 8th. then yesterday they came to all 3 hours of church. they loved it and really felt the spirit. we also had a family of investigators come to church. Wendy, Teressa, Raymond and Raul came for the first time and really loved it. so many sweet miracles.

Elder Ricks and I are still doing really well and having a blast. time is going by so fast and this next week is going to be really crazy. we have ZLC on Thursday and meetings on Wed and Friday so we will be staying busy with that alone, not including all of our area lessons. these seem to be the weeks that go by the fastest.

went on exchanges this week with elder Davis. it was so much fun to be with him. we get along really well and have started to become really good friends. so much fun to be able to serve in the same zone as him and get to know him better. awesome person and great missionary.

well i don't know what else to say or tell you, haha, i have told you a lot of the details on my tape that i am getting ready so i will get that off in the mail today or tomorrow hopefully so you can get it this week.

you are all in my prayers and i hope that you have a great, safe, effective week and get lots accomplished. thanks for all you do and your willingness to help me. if there is anything i need i'll let you know but i am well. be sure and keep cool in that 80 degree weather. it was 90 and cloudy on Sunday and we had our windows down and enjoying it until i looked down and seen that it was 91 and it made me sick to think that i am adapted to it. i am going to freeze my butt off back in ID. i love it here. i love being a missionary and seeing all the blessings. keep safe and have a great week.

Love

Elder Dalan Lerwill

Skeet Shooting

The Saturday before school started we had a skeet shoot with the Green's. Wouldn't be complete with out a cook out afterwards. We had a great time.

First Try at Cutting Grain 2011

Isn't this a cool picture Bailey took.

We tried cutting grain Friday afternnoon. Got some really dry samples and some not so dry. We will hold off for awhile. On Saturday we were a trucking family. We took two load out to Newdale to sell for feed, to clean up before the new grain goes in the bins. We had a great time together.

Second Day of School, First Day of B Day

Aug. 24, 2011 First Day of Bailey's Junior Year

Cute new pants.

Old Green takes another round!

Bailey had a good first day of school. Went to her first 4 classes and will go to her next 4 tomorrow. She has a good schedule and classes with her friends. It will be a awesome year. Can't believe she is a Junior. Wow!

Dalan's E-Mail Aug. 22,2011

Hello there, how have you all been this week. sounds like you have been keeping really busy and getting a lot accomplished! so great to hear that all is going well. I cant believe that it is even getting close to time to start cutting grain. so hard to believe especially sense the last time i saw pics it was just getting out of the boot. CRAZY! how it all goes well and you can get rolling and get it all in the bin. I am praying for you! :) The new horse looks awesome. how old is he? looks pretty broke. That's exciting that you can hopefully have a horse that wont want to challenge you every time. what happened with spur? he tried to roll when you were on him? that's not cool either. hopefully he'll work out! :) I am excited for you all to be able to go riding. that never happened when i was home. haha, glad to hear that your going to be able and enjoy that. Bailey good luck with starting school this coming week. it will be fun to get back and see all your friends and have the social aspect back...the home work, not so much but you'll do great like you always do. good luck and have a blast! :)


we have had a really awesome week here. so many miracles and blessing we have seen. its always a little bit of a relief when you see p-day roll around. i am pretty exhausted! we are going to be going out east of town in the "mountains" with some missionaries who have been struggling a little and spend some time with them. it should be a lot of fun. we are going to take a lunch and go see if we can find some thing worth bragging about! :) and then hopefully have some time to lay around, write letters and take a nap. should be a fun day.

I got your tape and pics on Saturday and i have loved it. i don't want to listen to the tape too much because then it gets over fast, but it is a lot of fun listening and hearing all the inside jokes and all about life there. I'll get on a tape this week for you, i started one about a month ago but then got lazy! haha, the atonement covers it so I'm good! you asked in your tape if members feed us every night and yes they do. don't worry mom, we do our best to call the night before. :) it's really nice to not have to think about meals at night but some times it sucks. we eat so much. everyone feeds us everywhere we go so its really hard to keep your girlish figure when everyone is wanting to stuff your face! haha, its a real blessing though and there are so many sweet members who would do any thing for us. pretty humbling!

well we had some thing amazing happen this week. we were planning for the next day on weds. night and we were trying to think of who we needed to go by or where to go and so we walked over to our area map on the wall and elder ricks said to pick a spot that felt right then we both told each other and they were the same spot. complete luck or divine inspiration we weren't sure until the next day. we started to head over into the trailer park that we had decided and we pulled in and it was typical A.J. rows and rows and rows of trailers. we started drive and we were looking for people to talk to and we seen some one down at the end of a row so we tried to turn around to go talk to them but there was a pole in the way we were forced to go straight. we went around the next corning and standing in her drive way was a lady named Becky. we got out and the first thing she said to us was. " I am a less-active member and have been for a really long time. I am going through a divorce right now and just moved in here. can you help me come back to church?" haha, one min. later and she would have been gone. this was a park that we had never been in before and because of a prompting that was followed with faith we were led to Becky. she came to church on Sunday. met the bishop, RS president and stayed for all 3 hours. first time in a church in over 10 years all because of a simple prompting. it was sweet to see and be a part of. she will do great and has great desires. :)

we found 3 new investigators this week. 2 of which were just talking to people on the streets and one was a member referral for a PMF who is ready to be baptized. we have several who are looking pretty promising for September! SO many blessing!

It was a awesome week that has completely drained me of all my energy and some how we keep going! :) this work is real, if it wasn't i wouldn't be having any fun or seeing any success. Both are happening so i figure something is going right!

It is a amazing growing and learning experience that has changed my life. thanks for all your love and support. your prayers for me are felt and appreciated. keep safe this coming week and i hope you find everything well and you continue to prepare for this coming week and month. your great. keep it up!

Love,

Elder Dalan Lerwill

Elder Ricks and Elder Lerwill

Sunset over Superstition Mountain

Wow how things can change, He likes to sing????

Two things I have started to really enjoy on my mission are singing and drawing. I am far from good in both but it's a lot of fun. This picture is a Native guy. It's painted every where down here. Buildings, freeways, every where there is desert art. Kind of cool.

Dalan's Letter

Aug. 15, 2011


Time is slipping by so quickly. It kinda scares me but there is nothing I can do to change that! This past week has been crazy! It's been kinda stressful taking over this area after only 6 weeks, it's huge area and lots of people to remember but it's going well!

This morning we went mnt biking on a sweet trail. It was really enjoyable to get out and go fast! Didn''t wreck either! :) Got in a good 2 hour nap and feel like I am ready for the upcoming week.

On Friday we had Zone Leader council in Scottsdale. It, as always, was a wonderful meeting. President is such an inspired man. Spiritual power house! I can't wait for you to meet him some day!

I talked in Sacrament yesterday in one of our wards and it went really well. I talked on conversion. How we not only need testimonies of the truth but we need to be converted. I always learn so much from speaking. One of the cool insights I received while studying in the New Testament, Simon Peter, after the institution of the sacrament was told by Jesus that "once thou art converted, strengthen your brother." This man who had been with Jesus for 3 years at this time, who had been given the authority and divine apostleship, and who was a powerful and amazing teacher of the Gospel, still had to be converted no matter the knowledge or abilities. We all need to be converted, changed, we need to become some thing. So that's kin of the direction I went with it and it went food. The Elder Ricks talked about the Atonement. We spoke with a sister who is leaving on her mission to the West Indy's. I told her about Jarom and to keep her eye out for me! :)

Dalan's thought on Elder Ballard's Conference Talk "Finding Joy Through Loving Service"

Our Love is Reflected in our Actions

Mom

Some of my thoughts as I read Elder Ballard's talk on service.

The first thing that hit me was the summary of topic before the article even began. "Show our love and appreciation for the Savior's atoning sacrifice through our simple, compassionate acts of service.

That's amazing, by serving and helping we are proving to God that we truly accept and appreciate the sacrifice His Son made on our behalf (which was the greatest and most selfless acts of service ever performed)

Read and Ponder, Jesus the Christ (Talmage)

Chapter 33
2nd to last section "The Lords agony in Gethsemane."

Christ took it all at once, everything comprehensible, and because of that we don't have to. That is under the condition of repentance.

In the Mesa Arizona Mission we have what is called mission culture. There are 5 points, the first being

1. We love God and others. All because we love God, truly love God and accept his will as ours, we love our fellow brethren and desire their happiness as well as ours. I think this is really awesome so I will outline it for you.

1. We love God and others

2. We are Obedient

3. We Work

4. We Baptise

5. We Expect and Facilitate Miracles

The last 4 are only possible if we are fully living #1. Because we love God, the rest follow. :) SWEET

Now we are on the level that we all love God and his Son. What things can we do to show it?

Many different example in the article but all of them come back to turning over our will. Keeping the commandments, having charity, serving.!:)

Bible Dictionary "Charity" Highest, noblest, strongest kind of love. Pure love of Christ.

In order to experience charity in it's purest form we need to be converted. BD Conversion towards the end it says "To labor for the conversion of one's self and others is a noble task."

Elder Ballard said one way is through missionary efforts.

One of my favorite sections in "Preach My Gospel" is service pg 87

As it says "One of the great blessings of membership in the church is the opportunity to serve". As Elder Ballard talks about he small flecks of gold, think of all the small acts of service performed that go unrecognized by many if not all.

I have often seen that if we are looking for that huge nugget we are not focused on pleasing God alone, but man, recognition, advancement, self worth.

So whether it is the call to be a full time missionary or a Nursery leader, it is the same. In all level, if we are working, looking, and living righteously, opportunities will arise in which we will be able to serve and make a difference.

Some thing I heard a while back that has really helped me stay focused is. When you are discouraged, disappointed, alone or in need. Do some thing good for some one else (serve) and you begin to realize how good you really got it. By helping other you help your self.

While on my mission I have had the chance to do a lot of good. But I still feel in debt. I learn more from those I serve than I think they learn from me. It is a humbling and sweet experience to be able to serve. I love my mission. I love God and that promotes me to do good and love others in a way I never thought possible. I feel a small taste of that essential and often times difficult Christ like attribute, charity.

Zucchini Relish and Flowering Cabbages

Zucchini Relish

I am so excited to use some. It smelled wonderful this morning when I was making it!

I love my flowering cabbages. They are so pretty and getting so big.

Yummy Raspberries

A sure sign of summer. We picked and made 3 batches of jam and have eaten the rest fresh.

YUMMY!

25TH ANNIVERSARY

Today marks 25 years since Stacy left on his mission. (Texas Lubbock Mission, Texas Forth Worth Mission) Wow. How can that be. This is a picture he sent me in his first area. I kept it in my wallet the whole time he was gone. It has been hanging up by the mirror for the last couple of years. He still is a cutie.

BAR T FIVE VIDEO, YEE HAW, BAILEY

Bar T Five

We took Verna and we all went to the Bar T Five on Thursday night. We had such a great time. It was way fun. We always get treated like Kings and Queens when we go there. We sure do love the Warburton Families. They are such great people. We wish our circles were a little closer these days. We are blessed to associate and be friends with them. Our children have lucked out with best friends too. Couldn't ask for more.

NEW MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

We got ride of Rio. Kind of sad, but a relief too. We have been looking for a new horse and we got one this week. Hope he is a keeper. He is a BIG BOY! His name is Regg but Bailey thinks we should call him Max from the movie Tangles.  He seems real nice. It was fun to get him home. We are getting shoes on all the horses this week. We hope to ride a lot this fall.