[Not included in the original printing of
Voices From The Past: Diaries, Journals, and Autobiographies]

Peach Springs, Arizona

October 22, 1952

I am enjoying my work very much but we have lots of opposition. This work must go on and there is nothing that can stop it for it is the Lords work. We will open up the way so it can go forth and spread. I know this and I want to do all I can to teach the gospel to these humble people.

We are very busy and working hard. There is a medicine man here that has lots of influence with the people. Elder Hill who has been here for a year and was transferred when I came said if I could convert this medicine man then the rest would be easy. I have had wonderful success here so far. In a short time I have been here, one month today. I have been able to get into homes of Catholic families that any other Elder before has not been able to do. I am the first Elder that has been able to get into some of these Catholic homes. I am glad to say that some of them are quite friendly. Some are becoming very much interested. I know without the help of the Lord it would be impossible to get into some of these Catholic homes. I know without the help of the Lord I couldn’t do anything. And without the faith and prayers of my loved ones, Molly (my wife) included, I cannot fail, but will be strengthened, so I can go forth and do my duty. After all it is the Lord that does the converting and no man. And I know it is through the faith and prayers of my family and the help of the Lord that I have been able to do what I have done, and I thank my Heavenly Father that my loved ones have been so good and faithful to help me. And I pray the Lord to bless them always with his richest blessings.

Mescalero, New Mexico

Feb. 20, 1953

We went to missionary conference last Saturday and Sunday. It was held at Albuquerque. We had a very good conference. It was a long trip, though. It took four days all together. And it was quite expensive. We had to stay in an autocourt the 4 days. Our eats ran quite low, too, but we had a wonderful conference. Saturday was a meeting for the Elders each gave a story on the flannel board. Then Sunday each Elder talked in conference. It was inspirational. The hearts of most everybody there were touched very deeply by the spirit of the Lord. We are having some very cold weather. It snowed yesterday and the wind sure did blow and it has turned very cold. Today is the day we have scheduled to meet with Mr. Wilson. We have been meeting with him about 9 in the morning. This morning when we went to see them his wife was very sick. She had a bad pain in her side and was vomiting quite bad and hadn’t slept all night. She was really sick. We talked with them a little and then asked her if she wanted us to administer to her and she said “yes”, and so we did. The pain left her immediately. She went to sleep in a few minutes. Well, a person ought to have seen the look on her husband’s face when she had no pain and said she wanted to go to sleep. Well, her husband is the medicine man whom the Elder’s hadn’t been able to do anything with, not one of them, not even able to hardly talk to him. Now he is one of the most friendly one of all of them and I would say my best friend. I am sure I could baptize him now, but we will have to teach him the principles of the gospel first. He is converted now but we will have to wait until we teach him some more. The medicine men are taught the religion and traditions of their forefathers and it is difficult for them to see and understand the principles of the gospel. They say that those Indians here are the hardest to preach to of all the Indians. They are desendants of Gernisno’s band, that was captured and taken to Florida. Lots of the old Indians here were born as prisoners of war in Florida and to the Catholic Church which is well established here and lots of the Indians are Catholic. With the help of the Lord, a person can do almost anything, the Elder who left here when I came would term it a miracle to convert this man. He said he was the hardest man in the whole tribe to convert. If I convert him, then I could convert the whole tribe. He said that they hadn’t been able to do much with him. I have been here 10 days and have had wonderful success with him. I have given him 2 lessons on the flannel board and he is very interested and is very friendly and has invited us to his home and said his door was open anytime we wanted to come and visit him. I think that I have done a lot. I have made friends with him and have changed his mind almost completely. And I don’t think it will be too hard to convert him now with the help of the Lord.

Mescalero, New Mexico

March 5, 1953

We are having some cold weather here now it has been storming quite alot. It snowed last Saturday and again Monday. We are having a new church house built here. They have got the foundation in and will soon start to putting up the walls. They are going to put in living quarters in it for the Elders and that will be a great deal better. The place we live in now isn’t very good. Our district Pres. Hill was here and two other Elders that came last Friday and stayed until Monday. Pres. Hill was the most surprised man I believe that I ever saw. He said that he couldn’t believe his own eyes that such a change had come over the people. He had been here over a year when I came and took his place.

When he left there was from a half a dozen people coming out to Sunday School. Last Sunday when he was here we had 36 people to Sunday School and the Sunday before we had 52 people to Sunday School and the weather has been very cold and storming and alot of people sick he said these people were the hardest people that he ever saw to convert. Now they seem to be easy to convert. He said people when he left here a lot of them wouldn’t let him into their homes. Now are wanting to be baptized. He said, “I can’t see how that is possible that such a change could come over the people in such a short time.” He kept saying, “I can’t believe my own eyes. I can’t see how it is possible that such a great change could take place in such a short time.” Well since I came we have been in homes that no other Elders have ever been in and more of the people will listen and seem to be interested and some have asked to be baptized.

Mescalero, New Mexico

April 2, 1953

The Church house will be finished in May, then we will have a nice place to live and hold services. We are still working hard and are having wonderful success. The Lord is blessing our labors greatly, there has been a great change came over the people. We will have several converts to baptize in the near future. There is some that have asked to be baptized as soon as they can. There has been alot of sickness here and we have administered to alot of them and in every case they have been healed. Some of them were healed instantly as soon as we took our hands off their heads they said, “the pain stopped,” and they were healed and some of these people were very sick. They were very grateful to us and said they knew we healed them and I told them that “it was the Lord that healed them, not us. That we were only the Lord’s servants.” The Lord is truly blessing our labors beyond description.

Our District Pres. when he came back he said he couldn’t believe his own eyes that such a great change had come over the people in such a short time. He said I can’t believe it. I don’t see how it could be possible. There are a few homes that we haven’t been able to get into yet, but the barrier is being broken down and we will soon be able to take the gospel to them also. We have been able to get into most of the homes that were bitter and they are friendly now. I know it is through the help of the Lord that we have been able to accomplish this hard task of getting into these homes that no other Elders have ever been in and I know if we put our trust in the Lord he will bless our labors beyond measure. The Lord never fails, it is man that fails. We must have faith and put our trust in the Lord, then he will bless us if we ask him to. I can testify that I know that these things are true.

Ft. Apache, Arizona

June 5, 1953

I want to testify that I know if we have faith and put our trust in the Lord that he will bless us. I want to testify to my loved ones and the whole world that I know that the Lord has blessed me beyond measure and has blessed me more than I am worthy to receive. I have seen the sick healed instantly. I will tell of one instance while there have been many. The medicine man that I told about that no Elders had been able to touch his heart. We visited him four weeks [and] I gave him 4 lessons on the flannel boards then I asked him if he believed what I had taught him and he said he believed every word. Then his wife took sick and she was sick 2 days and she was really sick with appendicitis. We administered to her and as soon as we took our hands off her head she was healed. She said, “The pain had all stopped,” and she said she “wanted to go to sleep,” and she went right to sleep and slept like a baby, because she hadn’t had any sleep for so long (2 days). When she fell asleep I asked her husband what his convictions were now and he said he knew that we had healed his wife. I told him that it was the Lord that healed his wife and not us, that we were the Lord’s servants. Then he said “I know this is the true church, and I am thoroughly converted.” I can truly say that the Lord has blessed my labors so wonderfully. I know these things are true as I know I live because I have witnessed them.

We had a wonderful conference at San Carlos, Arizona on the 31 of May. I was put in District President at conference. I can see that the Lord is blessing me wonderfully I would say more than I am worthy to receive.

San Carlo, Arizona

Oct. 13, 1953

We had a wonderful conference. President Buchanan gave a report on the amount of people baptized up until then and we had baptized an average of 15 people to the missionary.

We have been the top mission of all the missions in the church on the amount of  baptisms this year and have broken all records in all the missions since the early rise of the church. If we continue on to the end of the year, we will have baptized eight hundred people which will make and average of 20 baptisms to the missionary. We have already made the best record in the church for nearly a hundred years. We already have an average of 15 baptisms to the missionary.