New Mexico Welcomes Elder Dalan Brown

Elder Dalan Brown, son of Ronald and Vanda Lawson and brother to Elder Macklin Brown currently serving in the Australia Sydney South Mission, was "a little bummed" when he opened his call letter and realized he would not be serving a foreign mission.  But he knows this is where he is supposed to serve.  And it only took a minute for him to realize, although he is not specifically called to serve on reservations in the New Mexico Farmington Mission, he will likely have many opportunities to teach the gospel to the area's Native American people.  

The Church was first introduced in New Mexico in 1846 when a few members of the Mormon Battalion, on their way to fight in the Mexican-American War, crossed through the state. Missionary work in New Mexico began as early as the 1860s when two elders found success among the Zuni Indians on the Little Colorado River where they baptized more than 100 converts. After the turn of the century, many Church settlements in New Mexico absorbed refugees from the Latter-day Saint colonies in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

Today, there are 2 missions and more than 70,000 members in 138 congregations throughout the state.  In March 2000, the first temple in New Mexico was dedicated in Albuquerque.

Elder Brown - the 6th missionary to serve from the blended Lawson / Brown family - will enter the MTC on March 12.