Ensenada Book of Mormon Project...from Dixie and family

Dear David,

What a year DEEJ!  (For those of you who don't know I used to call David  - DJ  - which turned to DEEJ)  Anyway, what a year - Oh what a year!  I have learned much in the last year!  Thank you for the things I have learned and thank you for watching over me during some of the trials.

When thinking about what service I could do - there are so many - and when I did things I thought - oh this could be my service in honor of David.  But I wanted to do something just for you.

Courtney booked our family to go on a cruise over six months ago.  I realized we were going to be in Mexico on November 7, the day before your birthday.  I knew the perfect service!  You were such a great missionary always.  When you were a teenager I remember walking in the living room of the Ranch House and seeing you asleep with the Book of Mormon open on your chest.  You had fallen asleep reading the Book of Mormon after a long day of hard work.  What an example that was to me about loving  and reading the Book of Mormon.  I often think of that night when I think of you.

Then you served your mission in Mexico!  What better service than to give out Book of Mormons to the wonderful Mexican people - like you did for 2 years of your life.  Brandy bought 3 Book of Mormons in Spanish and Courtney bought 2 of the kids Book of Mormon stories in Spanish.  As we left the ship on the morning of the 7th to go into Ensenada, Mexico we had a special family prayer that we would feel the spirit to know who David and Heavenly Father  wanted us to give the books to.

We had not been in town long when on a corner we were trying to decide what to do.  There were 2 little chiclets kids.  When you are in the main tourist shopping areas there are these darling little kids that want you to buy this little package of gum - maybe 6-8 little chiclet size gum pieces.  It is so hard to resist - Courtney could not and bought some gum.  Noah asked about giving Book of Mormons to them, but as we turned the corner there were 4 more kids and we only had 2 kids books.  So we decided to wait.

We decided to go to hang out on the nearest Beach.  We asked the closest taxi driver to take us to the closest good beach.  He proceeded to take us on a 30 - 40 minute drive through town to get to a private beach with hardly anyone else on it.  On the way Matt sat in the front and was chatting with Frank the Taxi Driver.  He brought up the Mormons and asked if he knew anything about Mormons.  When we got to the beach Frank said he was just going to wait for us for the next 1-2 hours until we were done at the beach.  Brandy gave out our first Book of Mormon to Frank.  When we returned later he was sitting in the front of the Taxi reading his new Book of Mormon.  He has 4 kids and is going to retire from his regular job of checking  beer bottles at the factory in one year.

When we got back to the same corner we began our journey.  Those same two kids were standing on the same corner selling their gum.  It was only the 2 kids so Noah asked if he could give out the 2 kids Book of Mormon stories to them. He bought a chiclet from each of them and then gave them the books.  The kids were so excited and happy!  There smiles were huge.  We saw them 2 hours later on  a different corner selling their chiclets and still holding their new books to their chests!

Next we did some shopping.  Camden was in search of a hammock.  He wanted the kind that David slept in after his mission.  So we looked in quite a few shops and Camden just wasn't feeling it.  After quite a few stores we were in a little shop with this older sweet man.  He spent alot of time showing us different Hammocks, even had a place in the back to hang it up and try it out.  He was great.  This is who Camden chose.  He started telling him about the church and the Book of Mormon and then gave his book away.  The man seemed pleased and said he would read it.

We left the shop and soon came to a mother sitting on the sidewalk with her 2 small children.  After we passed them Noah said that is who we were to give our last Book of Mormon to.  He ran back and gave her the Book of Mormon with some money.  You can see how happy she was.  Noah came back and said he wished he had another Book of Mormon for the lady sitting across from that lady that was nursing her baby.  We had no more Book of Mormons.  I asked Noah if he wanted to give that other lady some money (she was holding out a cup for money).  Noah said "Sure but I don't think she wants money - I think she wants a drink of water in her cup!"  I love that kid!

We had a great time giving out these Book of Mormons and wished we had brought even more!  I pray that these individuals and their families will be blessed by these special gifts from us, you - David and from Heavenly Father.



We love you!  Thank you for being you!

Love,
Dixie, Brandy, Camden, Noah, Courtney, Matt and Milo