Bio of Susan Nietfeld (Bliss)

Family: Married to Bill. We have three great kids at home. David is 22 and returned last year from his mission to the Mississippi Jackson Mission. He made some real good friends there who still call him from time to time. VeeAnn is 17 and will be a senior this year and Kenneth is 15 and will be a sophomore. We also have two children who are not living at home but who are waiting for us in our home above. Perhaps "waiting" is the wrong word as they are probably as busy as we are here, as they are preparing for the last days and second coming or whatever their occupation there may be. Samuel died at birth almost 19 years ago and Karen passed away on her 16th birthday in 1996.

Bill and I were married in August of 1978. He was baptized in March of that year and we were sealed in the Mesa Arizona temple in April of 1979. We met in the cafeteria of the school in which we were both teaching, Bill has said that we were "high school sweethearts" and I guess we were because all our students watched the romance with great interest and a lot of gossip. He had bought a house about the time we met and when we married I moved in. We added on to the house as the family grew and have lived here for 25 years. (Our silver anniversary is next week!) Bill just retired after teaching 29 years in Thatcher, and has recently accepted a new teaching position in Mancos, Colorado. We just bought a house outside of Cortez, and he and VeeAnn will be moving up there next week. I have commitments here I can't leave right now, but will move up next year. The boys will stay here with me this year. David is enrolled at the local college and Kenneth's art teacher asked if he could "please stay one more year."

Church: Right now I'm in the Young Women's presidency in our ward. In the past I have worked in stake and ward Primary presidencies, and as a teacher, Relief Society teacher and presidency, and Sunday school teacher. A way long time ago I was in a young adult stake presidency. I think the callings I have enjoyed most and from which I learned the most, were Nursery leader, young adult stake presidency, visiting teacher, and primary president. When my husband was interviewed for baptism, the bishop asked if there was anything he thought he would like to do in the church. He told the bishop that he had been Sunday school secretary in the Baptist church, but that he thought he would like to work with the boy scouts. I guess the bishop thought that was a good idea, and Bill has been involved with scouting in some way most of the past 25 years. He has also worked with a bishopric and stake young men's presidency.

Education: I graduated from BYU in Home Economics before the mission. After returning I taught home ec. and Spanish (guess where I picked that up!) for 3 years. I quit when we started our family, but after about 3 or 4 years I started a little preschool in our home, which I continued till 1999, taking a few breaks when new little ones came along. (Yup, about 15 or 16 years) I accepted a job in Early Childhood Special Ed. in 1999, and will start my fifth year there this month. A year ago I decided to make a third attempt at a Master's degree, and will complete that this December. Work: I do love my job teaching little children!!! We have had children with just about every kind of disability in my classes, and even a few "normal" ones. Little children are so great because even though they may be naughty sometimes, they aren't being mean or nasty maliciously. They have no guile, and if they are naughty, it's usually just mischievous, or part of their personality or disability. I hope I can find a job in Colorado working with the little kids. I can still hokey pokey pretty well!

Hobbies: My favorite hobby is reading. I also enjoy tole painting, but mostly because it's an opportunity to get together with friends. Comps: Sandra Birch, Kelly Griffin, Maria Quesada, Shauna Peck, Ligia Casteneda, Diana Brandvold, Sherma Bunderson, Buffy Quinney, I hope I didn't leave anyone out or misspell any names! Areas served: I served in Hatillo, Costa Rica; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; San Jose, CR; Panama City, Panama; Tegucigalpa Honduras. Dichos: No one I have ever talked to in Spanish know what the verb guipiar means. I can't even find it in my Spanish dictionary. It's a great word though and one that was used a lot during the mission. I wonder where it came from? Do you remember that word? As in "El siempre esta guipiando con todas las chicas."

I have always heard that a mission is the best two years of your life. It was a hard eighteen months, but a most rewarding time. Not very many days go by when I couldn't see how the time spent as a missionary affected my life in some way. What a blessing that time was for me.