June 21-- Fathers Day

July 4 - Breakfast and canon shoot

July 17- Pioneer Day Rodeo and Family DanceJuly 18- Pioneer Day Celebration in Pima

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,It is hard to believe half the year is here and almost gone. June is always an exciting time. The temperature goes up, vacations start and it is the start of summer and all this time of year brings. ! In my profession we like to use acronyms for everything. The one that is starting to gain national recognition at work is W.I.N. It stands for: Whats Important Now. At work it is to remind law enforcement when a situation is unfolding, quickly prioritize, and then do what is important at that moment. I have thought about this same principle in my personal life, but on a larger scale.! For me whats become important now and forever is family, faith and service. Every Sunday I grow more mindful of the remarkable families in my life: my wife and children, my extended family and my ward family. As I get older, I just recently got my AARP card

in the mail (It must have been put in the wrong P.O. Box. Or maybe they start now at 50ish?) I have the deepest appreciation of these special relationships and can trace my greatest blessings to family. ! Elder and Sister Bednar in a recent world wide broadcast shared an answer by President Hinckley to the question, how do I prepare for the future? President Hinckley thought and then said something to the effect of; have faith in the Savior, faith in the Church, faith in the future and faith in you. I am very grateful to know there is always a Prophet who receives inspiration to help us know whats important. ! I know our Father in Heaven and His Son live. I have a testimony of this gospel. I know if I live by its principles and listen to Church leaders and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost I will know what is important now, and if I act on that I will be blessed. I know I speak for the entire Bishopric when I say we are humbled by your prays in our behalf and how you serve our Father in Heaven. We love you and wish you a happy and safe summer.

Love,Brother McCormies

C e n t r a l 1st W a r d C e n t r a l 1st W a r d

A place where friends and family meet to uplift one another in the Central 1st Ward of the Pima Stake of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints

A Monthly Newsletter Issue #50--June 2015

Missionary Corner-

Elder Cook

Page 3

Our Amazing YouthScout 50 Miler

Page 4 & 5

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Message from the Bishopric

Brother Jeff McCormies 1st Councilor

Ward CouncilWe are always thankful to those people who serve so willingly

BishopricBishop Rob Pursley -- 348-9504 Jeff McCormies -- 428-3263 Jeremy Hughes -- 348-1607

call Randy Skinner at 651.3211 for an appointment with the bishop.

Relief SocietyPresident Carol Parris -- 651-6568

High PriestsLeader Ross Ferrin -- 428-0242

Elders Quorum President Matt Marshall 480-655-6367

Young MenPresident Tom Pursley 651-1115

Young WomenPresident Sherrie Greer -- 245-4127

PrimaryPresident Christie Larson -- 651-4464

Sunday SchoolPresident Bill Allred 428-9462

Ward MissionLeader Darvil Boren 428-5017call Brother Boren if you have a friend you would like to share the gospel with or if you would like to feed the missionaries.

LibrarySister Marva Bryce -- 428-0578

Ward Bulletin &Sister Jamie Biggers text @ 480-980-2736 mikeanjamiebiggers07@gmail.com

Building ScheduleBrother Kaye and Sister Sharon Taylor -- 928-322-4772 or 928-651-4269Schedule the building far in advance. It fills up quickly!

Ward NewsletterSister Tracy Pursley -- 428-6370 call Sister Pursley or send your news item for the next newsletter edition to traco@cableone.net We always welcome your good news!

Upcoming Events

Welcome to the wardWillis Family

Book ReviewPage 6

We Mourn the Passing

Sister Phylilis Pattee

Thank you Brother Wilson

Page 2

Central News

Can you find SIX differences at this service project?

How many of us have seen Brother Wilsons number on our caller id and hesitated as we have picked up because we knew that we were going to be asked to give a talk? Brother Wilson has been a faithful, right hand help to the bishoprics for the past 16+ years! He has served as Executive Secretary for Bishop Glade Smith, Bishop Gary White, Bishop Steve Hooper and our own Bishop Rob Pursley. Isnt that amazing?! We all want to give you a great big THANK YOU for all of your time and effort in making our ward run so smoothly.

Brother Randy Skinner has been called as the new executive secretary. Please contact him if you need an appointment with the bishop at

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Announcements: Sister Phyllis has been a wonderful, dear member of our ward along with her husband Harold. They would spend time here in Central and then live for a while in North Carolina where they had family. The following are a few highlights from her obituary: She was born in Central to Anton and Flora Adams. She was the oldest of 13 children. Brother LeGrand Adams, from our ward, was her brother. She married to Harold Pattee in the Mesa Temple. They were married for 59 beautiful years. She worked for and retired as a manager from JC Penneys department store. She served in the church and volunteered in the community with the Girls Scouts and the Boy Scouts and even received the Silver Beaver Award! Phyllis was especially proud of her seven children, 12 grand children and 7 great grandchildren. We will miss Sister Phyllis. Our prayers are with Brother Harold and family.

We Mourn the Passing of Sister Phyllis Pattee

Tribute Concert-

Sister Sharon Watson will be performing with TRIBUTE band once again! She, Joe Goodman, and Jeff Skiba will be giving a free patriotic concert at the Safford Center for the Arts on Monday June 29th. This is a perfect Family Night activity for the 4th of July.

The Pima Pioneer Day committee has organized a fun filled weekend to celebrate and honor our pioneer heritage. Here is a list of events to plan for:

Friday July 17th- Family Rodeo @ Memorial Arena in Pima - Stick Horse Race, Boot Race, Cowhide Race and more Friday July 17th- Family Dance @ Pima Stake Center from 8:00-10:00Saturday July 18th-5K. Volleyball Tournaments, 3 on 3 Basketball Tournaments in ThatcherSaturday July 18th evening - Parade 6:00, BBQ, Pageant, Fireworks Bring a blanket and chair

Stay tuned for further details, but this should get you excited for a great celebration!

Activities

Thank You Brother Kerry Wilson

4th of July Pancake Breakfast and Canon Shoot--

Get ready for delicious food and a fun time at our annual 4th of July community pancake breakfast. There will be good food, a slip and slide for the kids, and a patriotic program. Dont forget to invite your friends and neighbors. When: Saturday, July 4th Time: 6:00 am Where: Our Building Ramada Bring: Cut cantaloupe or watermelon

July 18th

On Saturday, June 6th, the Tom and Tracy Pursley family, (our family) was coming home from our annual Lake Powell trip and we saw a circular cloud out the window. I said not to worry about it unless there was hail. -You guessed it, hail started to pound on the truck. Literally golf ball sized hail hit the truck with such force and non-stop speed that it cracked the windshield and put dents all over the hood and roof!! It was a scary, scary experience. We definitely said a prayer as we were driving that the windshield would hold up! Tornados dont happen in Arizona! Tornados dont happen to us! This cloud did touch down in San Juan valley just a little north of where we were driving. It is times like these that we learn to appreciate the prayer of keep us safe while we are traveling.

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! We are all excited for Elder Cook to be returning home from Australia next month. Chris and Julie will be flying to Australia to pick him up!! How fun for them:)! Here is his last Missionary Corner update:! Elder Cook is doing well. He is loving his time serving The Lord in Australia. He is still zone leader and loves planning zone activities for all the missionaries. Notice the picture with peanut butter and popcorn on their faces. His release date is July 29th. He has asked that we come pick him up and meet all of the people he has met, converted, and grown to love. We are so excited to go to Australia to meet everyone. Bucket list item...right? We are all so excited especially for this event. By he way, it was amazing to Skype with Elder Cook on Monday after Mothers Day. He sounds great and love his accent. Here is a picture and a story he sent just yesterday. Enjoy.! So here's a funny as story... We were walking down the path to get our car after trying to meet some new people in little China town and my companion herd a phone ringing and we looked over and there was a lonesome white Iphone on top of some letter boxes of a set

of apartments, so I answered the phone and no one said anything so they hung up. Then I looked and the same person was calling again and it was all in Chinese characters so when I answered the second time I was like, "Hey I have no idea who's phone this is but I was walking by and saw this phone ringing and answered it so if you could just talk to me then I can try and help who ever's phone this is get it back"... and some old Chinese lady responded and I had to explain myself like 4 times because of the lack of English but we waited for like 5 minutes and then the owner of the phone showed up. It was a 20 year old Cantanese guy from Hong Kong. We're teaching him next week. It was a good little miracleLove you all. --Elder Cook

Welcome to the Ward! Grant and Brianne Willis

We would like to welcome the Willis into the ward. They are living in the old Donna Norton home on Bigler Ave. It is fun to have newly married couples in the ward. Here is their introduction:

Brianne WillisIm from Tucson came here for nursing school obviously and still going at it. Growing up something that was a huge part of my life was swimming and swim team. I joined summer league swim team when I was nine years old. From then on swimming was a huge part of who I was. I swam year round for many years. I did well in butterfly, freestyle and backstroke and swam in state when I was in high school. This hobby opened up many job opportunities for me. I became a life guard,

taught swim lessons, and coached swim team growing up. I love swimming but decided to pursue a different dream when I came to college. I have put most of my energy into becoming a nurse. I met Grant one semester after I started EAC he had just come back from his mission and after a few dates we really hit it off. A year later we got married in the Gila Valley Temple and weve been doing great ever since. Im working as a Life guard right now at the Safford pool and in the Emergency room as a technician. In my free time I also enjoy writing, playing guitar and piano and running. Oh and sometimes we go on roller blading dates. Grant Willis. I served a full time mission in the South Dakota Rapid City and returned home December 2012. A month later, I met my beautiful wife. After a lengthy courtship of 6 months we were engaged. (Does the engagement period count as courtshipcuz idk??) After a long 6 month engagement we were married Jan 2, 2014. Im not sure what really attracted her to me but whatever it was Im glad it did! =P. I met her at EAC, whilst studying for a general AA degree. Since I was getting married I knew I needed a job that could support a family so I ended up working for the Arizona Department of Corrections. After working there for approximately 2 years, I was given a job offer to work for the Federal Correctional System. I accepted the offer and am currently working there. Some of my hobbies include ping pong, reading, and playing piano. (I dont actually know how to play, but sometimes I can pretend pretty good) I love spending time with my wife and friends.

Missionary Corner Elder Colton CookMelbourne Australia Mission

Tornado in Arizona!

The view from our truck window

picture of San Juan Valley tornado

PrimaryWhat do you do in the Summertime? Many of you will be laying outside and reading a book. The Friend has given a list of books that you might like to read. Here they are:

Picture Books ages 4-7! Extra Yarn by Mac Burnett! Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel by Leslie ConnerTransitional Readers ages 5-9! Good Night, Good Knight by Shelley Thomas! The Adventures of Little Bear by Else MinarikFiction ages 8-10! The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye! Twelve kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan ObedFiction ages 10-12! Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jans and Gareth by Lloyd AlexanderNon Fiction! Me...Jane by Patrick Mc Donnell about Jane Goodall! Brothers at Bat: The True Story of an Amazing All-Brother Baseball Team by Audrey Vernick!!

Each year, at the beginning of the summer, the young men and their leaders load up their back packs, put on their hiking boots, and head off for a 50 mile hike. This year Brother Calvin Johnson and Brother Van Green packed up the boys and went to the

Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. The boys and their leaders look forward to this all year long. This year our ward teamed up with the Central 2nd ward and had a great time. I caught up with scout, Marshall Launer, and got the following report: ! We hiked for five days and went 6 to 11 miles a day. There were about 14 boys from our ward and about 21 boys total. One of the

funny things that happened was that Drew Thompson kept falling in the water! We crossed lots of streams, like 200 times. We just walked through with our shoes on. We had thick socks on, so it didnt really matter. We just kept walking with our feet wet. The food was TERRIBLE! We ate all freeze dried food and oatmeal. We went fishing, but didnt catch any fish. We talked about the rocks and trees and how beautiful it was and how God made everything. How can you look at the world and not believe in God? My favorite part of the hike was when we finished. It made me appreciate that I dont have to pump water at my house.

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Our AmazingYouth

Young Men 50 mile Hike

Dallin Cook is the State Tennis Champion!Thatcher Tennis won the team state tennis championship 5-4 over Desert Christian. Central 1st Ward members include Dallin Cook and Dallin McCormies and Coach Chris Cook.

Sophomores Dallin Cook and Logan McMaster took third place in the doubles state tournament. They narrowly lost in the three sets to the eventual state champions. This was Dallin and Logan's first and only loss as double partners.

Did You Know...

Our youth are really amazing people. They are always happy to help members of our ward when they are in need. They bring a ray of sunshine and happiness to the work and leave things looking brighter and better. This past month they gave a helping hand to Sister Sharon Watson. Thank you for your willingness to serve!

Coach Cook - Dallin McCormies- Dallin Cook

Hailey Greer and Sarah Green

Article by Julie Cook

Service Is Our Middle Name

Sister Sherrie Greer leads by example

Upcoming Activities:What a fun month! Get ready for camps and Super Activities--

6-9 thru 6-12 Girls Camp6-22 thru 6-27 - Deacons - Camp Raymond Scout Camp6-22 thru 6-26 Teachers - Big Lake and White Mountains6-22 thru 6-24 Priests - Super Activity @ Apache Lake6-24 All YW Sand Volleyball6-26 Tri Stake Dance @ Thatcher 8:306-28 Fireside