Our Cattaraugus Branch Area

These photos are included to help us remember the Cattaraugus Branch, our area and the people we’ve grown to love so much.

The Cattaraugus Branch meetinghouse is small but nice.  It takes a lot of effort from the branch members to keep it looking neat and clean and often the task ends up being done by the same faithful few. Behind the church is a little cemetery where many devoted past saints of the Branch are buried.  To the south is a good-sized apple orchard. The orchard requires a lot of work. This year they tried spraying with an organic insecticide, i.e. pureed onions, garlic, and cayenne pepper steeped in hot water.  Elder Jeppesen was on the spraying end and I was given assignment to puree. Whew!  After some consideration, the second spraying was done using a quick and easy commercial insecticideJ!   

Attendance at church varies from 70-80.  Of those, about 60% are Native American, primarily Seneca, and 40% Anglo.  We’ve seen a gradual increase in attendance in the 14 months we’ve served.  Members of our Branch Presidency are all natives: President Jones is Seneca; Ira Jones, his brother and 1^st counselor, is also Seneca; and Cliff Garlow, 2^nd counselor, is Cayuga.  The Iroquois people consist of six tribes: Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, Onandaga, and Tuscaurora.  Their confederacy symbol, a wampum belt called the Hiawatha Belt, is seen on homes, flags and buildings throughout the reservation.

We live on the edge of the Seneca Indian Reservation. The reservation is part of the Seneca Nation, an independent national entity.  According to Hugh Jones, our branch president and also a Seneca, the reservation is home to approximately 2000 of the 7000 Senecas living today. Senecas are of matrilineal descent meaning one is Seneca if born to a Seneca mother.  Many say the political system is corrupt and this causes much strife between families.  Also, because of the grand casinos on the reservations now generating income in the form of annuities there is a lot of drug and alcohol abuse.   Finding people living on the Rez who are interested in the church is difficult.  Some have told the missionaries they are not interested because “they are Longhouse now,” meaning they espouse the traditional religion.  We are told these traditional ceremonies, held in the traditional Longhouse on the Rez, are spoken in the Seneca language and few today can understand it. High Schools in the area allow students to take classes on their traditional languages so Seneca is now taught in nearby schools.  The Nations’ leaders, in recognition of the high incidence of diabetes related illnesses among their people, has taken up the slogan,  “Food is our medicine”, focusing upon eating more fruits and vegetables and encouraging families to plant gardens.  With this in mind, President Jones has also suggested branch members plant family gardens.  As a part of this effort members have planted a “demonstration garden” behind the church.  We’re all encouraged to take a part in its care.

  

One real benefit of living where we do is being able to take advantage of low gas prices on the reservation.  Because these establishments don’t collect state taxes, things like gas, food and cigarettes are considerably cheaper.   We get our gas at Wolf’s Run, the cheapest on the Rez.  We also eat at the Native Pride Diner, where you can get good sandwiches, soups and salads at very reasonable prices. 

Dusty Nephew is Baptized!

We continue to have our share of frustration. The phone calls we make are not answered, the appointments we made previously all fall through, and we drive for miles to knock on the doors of a few less active members only to find them not at home, or worse still, home and not answering their door. But then there are other days—days like today—when everything seems perfect.   Today Dusty Nephew got baptized!  Brother Nephew has been an investigator for years—one of those investigators who attends church every Sunday, whose wife is Primary President, and whose three young children make him appear the ideal Daddy.  Today, this remarkable man made a commitment with God to enter the gate and begin his life anew.  We were very much involved in the day’s events and had worked hard, like several other missionaries, teaching him and his family over the years.   Sixty-plus people attended the service. The program was lovely, the spirit strong, and the food afterwards delicious.  It will always be one of the high points of our mission.  Brother Nephew’s strength and goodness will bless his family and the Branch for years to come.  More importantly, though, he will go forth in his life, knowing he has done what the Lord requires, and is now on that straight and narrow path leading towards eternal life.   

Thoughts as we close in on one year in the mission

Finding investigators is tough.  People are not inclined to open their hearts to our message even though we’d all like to be giving more Preach My Gospel lessons.  We continue knocking on doors and encouraging branch members to reach out to extended families as President Jones constantly counsels.  Each week we meet with the missionaries in our apartment for Branch Missionary meeting.  Pictured above with Elder Jeppesen is Elder Hunt and Elder Williams. Although giving more PMG lessons is an on-going objective we always find opportunities for service.   In the past month Elder Jeppesen and I have made several trips with needy members to doctor’s appointments and grocery shopping.  We take soups and rolls to several homebound members and always try to share a little food for the spirit with them too when we visit.  Some of those we keep close tabs on are Sister Boehm who is receiving dialysis, Brother Hockenburger, struggling with advanced age, Sister John, a recent amputee, and Sister Wease, whose family has many needs.  There are couple investigators on our visiting list along with many who are less active.  In the past year we have had lots of tender faith-filled moments while sharing the truths of the gospel.  Brother Mike Sternisha was ordained to the office of Elder two weeks ago.  We’re so happy for their progress in the church.  The branch now has 19 active Melchizedek priesthood holders.  15+ need to be maintained for at least one year to become a ward.  It’s likely the Cattaraugus Branch will be a ward by 2014.  Good things are happening here, the gospel is true, and we continue to testify “there is great healing power in the restored gospel!”  It is a privilege to be serving the Lord and we are both learning so much.

Missionary Happenings

Elder Jeppesen celebrated another birthday this month, so we took a little break from missionarying and invited the two senior couples from our Buffalo Zone, the Westerns from Alpine, Utah and the Wood’s from Liberty, Utah to have dinner with us.  We played “catch phrase” after dinner.  Such a fun time! Now and then we get homesick for our family and good friends back home, and for a few short hours it felt just like being home.  

Elder Jeppesen and I have grown to appreciate our young missionaries and it’s a little difficult when they get transferred from our area.  So it was with Elder Williams (far left) who left our branch to serve in Niagara Falls.  We will certainly miss him.  Serving now in our branch with Elder Hunt (far right) is Elder Wood, a Navajo/Pima Indian from Arizona.  We hope Elder Wood enjoys his time here.  We were told he really wanted to rub shoulders with the Native Americans in our area.

An Easter Visit with Ty's Family

 

Easter weekend was incredible!  Our oldest son Ty, his wife Anne, their two sons Wic and Peter, and their two daughters Jane and Margaret spent several days with us.  We went to Niagara Falls Canada on Saturday.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  We took in the falls then went to the butterfly emporium.  Butterflies of every kind and color flew in, around, and on us.  We got some fantastic photos. Sunday we took in church at the Cattaraugus Branch and tried to introduced them to as many of our friends as we could. It was a beautiful Easter service. The branch choir, all twenty of them, sang “I Stand All Amazed.”  The spirit was strong and once again we were reminded of the blessings of the Atonement and our Savior’s love.   Ty’s family was anxious to meet our converts from last summer, Mike and Marlene Sternisha, so we invited the Sternishas to join us for Easter dinner at our apartment after church.

Even though the weather was cold and unpredictable we had a great time visiting the church history sites.  The wind gusts on top of Hill Cumorah nearly sent us airborne! Two of our sister missionary guides had previously served in our Zone so it was fun seeing them again. Sister Shank conducted the tour at the Joseph Smith Farm and Sister Raine at the Peter Whitmer Farm.  Walking through the grove, seeing the historic farmstead, hearing our sweet six-year-old granddaughter in the Peter Whitmer cabin bear testimony of the restoration and the prophet Joseph, were memories we’ll cherish forever.   Thanks Ty and Anne for a great visit!

Apple Tree Pruning at Cattaraugus Branch

Some days it’s hard to believe it’s really spring because the wind blows cold here in Southwestern New York, especially when you are living close to Lake Erie.  For folks in the Cattaraugus Branch, the coming of Spring means pruning the apple orchard located behind the church. This year some members of the Seneca Nation helped in the effort.  There is so much diabetes on the reservation that for the coming year the nation has adopted the slogan, “Food Is Our Medicine.”  The nation’s leaders have planned many activities to stress the importance of healthy eating habits and using lots of fruits and vegetables.  Besides their efforts in encouraging people on the reservation to plant their own gardens, the nation joined the Latter-Day Saints at the apple orchard to be taught proper fruit tree pruning and get some hands on experience.  I was happy to see Sister Vicky Seneca attending the event.  She recently lost her grandson under tragic circumstances and it was good to see her there.  I spent the time mostly inside setting up the luncheon while Elder Jeppesen raked branches. The event was well attended and provided a good opportunity to get better acquainted.

High Tech Dairy

Elder Jeppesen is always interested in the farming ways of Western New York, so when Elder Jensen, who works at the mission office, arranged for us to see a high tech dairy where the cows are milked by robots, Elder J was anxious to take a look.  The setup was pretty impressive.