Church Callings and Service

We were called in April 2009 to begin an LDS Addiction Recovery Program in Blanding, and we have faithfully done that every week since beginning in June of 2009.  The only time we missed was last winter when a snow storm stopped travel into the church.

    We designed the flyers, wrote press releases, and letters to bishops to introduce the class, as well as posting flyers all over town, and providing smaller flyers for Bishops to use.  We follow the 12 step program the Church designed which puts Jesus Christ center front in the recovery program.  Steve has faithfully prepared a short inspiring message each week, and also runs the meeting.  We have a wonderful facilitator, Ben Haws, who is a tremendous help to us in the meetings.

   We had about 5 or 6 come the first meeting, and once in a while only had 1 or two attend, but no matter the size, it has always been worth it.  Most recently, winter 2010-2011, we've had larger groups come.  Twice we've had a social: a cookout last summer where they invited a friend to come, and once right after Christmas, but usually we just follow the program.
One change we did make after going through the program the first time, was to have a short discussion of the step, so that everyone understood the terminology, and concept.   That change has seemed to help a lot of people.  That was a suggestion Rob made, which came from one of his drug court charges.
   We've learned to have a lot of empathy for those struggling through their addictions, and have also discovered some things we need to work on ourselves.  We pray each week, that we can say the right things that will help someone at the meeting.


Fellowshipping Fun and Service


We've tried hard since we've been home from our mission to be good neighbors, to fellowship non-members or inactive people, and visit new move-ins to ward, and also kids in the dorm.  This could actually be a full time job!  I'm sure we do at least 2-3 visits each week, which if often taking soup, or a meal to someone.  Sister Beeson is one of our regular visits, but we also check on the Lobatos often.

Mary's baptism done by Bishop Carroll

It has been quite thrilling to see Lee's niece, Mary, accept the gospel and invite us to be part of that process.  We planned a neighborhood cookout with them last summer, and she was a super help in contacting people, bringing food, and helping cleanup.  She is a pearl in disguise.  We were so thrilled to see the gospel come into her life and to be part of her baptism.  It continues to be a blessing to see the changes wrought by the light of Christ.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Since there's not much to do in Blanding sometimes, we often invite neighbors and friends over to play games, or for soup suppers.  We really miss the Baptist minister, Don Camp, and his wife, Rene who were such good neighbors.  We became good friends with them over the past year.  Some of the other special memory events we orchestrated this past year included the following:

Virginia's visit to Blanding summer 2010 and the old gang!
Steve helped me fix a crepe brunch and we had a wonderful visit.
Tates came over the night before along with Stephanie, so two good visits resulted.

A good-bye cookout for Elaine and Chris Johnson, prior to their move to Cedar City.

Former friend Melissa Tatro and her two grandsons.  Steve and Pam Bronson
helped us pull together friends from the past for a cookout while she was here.

Whenever any of the family comes down, naturally we pull together a cookout, or dinner along with Rob's family and have a party.  There's always some occasion to celebrate if you look for it, and that is one of the things I love to do, and Steve is always a super help in orchestrating all the things that need to be done.  He's also turned into a great b-b-que chef!

You'll know we've really gotten old, once we stop having parties!