The Dallas 6th Ward

Hi y’all, we delight in this greeting, native Texans really do use it frequently in their conversations - its great! We’re trying to fit in too. One lady at the center says to be sure and figure in ways to say ‘all y’all’ so I will try that out too.
How are all y’all doin’?
We are doing great here. It’s been another full week, with much to learn and do. Monday and Tuesday found us at the Employment Resource Center or ERC from 8:00 to 5:00 or 5:30. We leave when it’s dark and cold and get home when it’s dark and cold. After these two days I was quite overwhelmed and thinking if I can learn to answer the phone and greet people at the door and have them wait until someone is available to help them, I will be doing good. However our Wednesday /Thursday training days have helped me put things all together and I’m seeing how things come together quite a bit better.
There are many resources at the Center, one being the new website that will be launched in January. Now we are using the Beta (test) site. Beyond that there are workshops taught to help candidates put together a portfolio, resume and practice interviewing. We tell candidates if they come to the workshops they will understand how to package themselves and present or sell themselves to potential employers. There are regular staff people that teach these workshops and they are really terrific!
There are also workshops given on tips for self-employment, marketing, test marketing etc, etc. There is a fellow who volunteers each Friday and comes in to help and give advice to people who are interested in starting their own business or needing to improve their businesses. He has a degree in marketing and business.
There is another Spanish fellow who will come in anytime and help people who speak Spanish and who are looking for jobs. He helps people know their options and knows businesses who hire people who speak little to no English. I had one of the Elders in the area call the other day who had met such a person and wondered if the ERC had anything to offer in way of help to him. I assured him that we did and we could set up an appointment with him anytime.
There is also another fellow who comes in on Mondays, Elder Dahl, related to the Dahl’s that some of you know in northern Nevada, he helps with tax advice etc.
There is also another fellow who comes in on Mondays but all I can remember about him is that he builds harpsichords in his free time. I guess I better find out what he does to help at the Center too.
Our manager is Julie Poole, abt 62 years old. She is full of life and energy, she has been here 25 years. The life and success of this Center is due largely to her. She has built connections with businesses and people. Our Center includes most of New Mexico, Oklahoma, parts of Missouri, the Dallas Mission and Fort Worth Mission also. Jack and I have been assigned the 8 Stakes in the Forth Worth area to train the Stakes and Wards there.
The Center is very much geared to helping the career/business/educated person. It can be a little difficult for me, I don’t know much about the corporate world, let alone the corporate world in Texas but I’m trying to learn.
This week as part of our training we get our ‘Me in 30 Second’ statements, Power statements, resumes and interviewing skills practiced, as if we were looking for a job. Its all very interesting and helps you beable to identify your talents, abilities, skill, education, training etc and beable to talk about them in a clear and precise manner. I’m working on it!!
However with that said, Jack and I and the other couple, the Phelps receive this training as people are coming and going from the center and answering telephone calls. Monday and Tuesday were very busy!! With 6 to 8 people at the center at anyone time. Wednesday/Thursday were not quite so busy. Probably one in four people are not members of the church but come in with a member. We call them friends of the church and help them in any way we can.
So with all of that said – some of you have asked what it is we do in a day, that’s why the lengthy story. I definitely have a long ways to go to get that down to 30 seconds don’t I?
Anyway, this is what I have boiled it all down to over the course of this week. A person comes in, we greet them in a warm and friendly manner. We have them sign in, then we begin some type of interview process. Sometimes its informally asking questions, or if its busy and we need somewhere more quiet we take them to our interview office (Jack and I have our own) and begin to see where they are, what they are needing help with, what kind of job or training they need or are looking for.
We then get them to a computer, helping them as much or as little as needed and have them sign on and begin to build their profile. They can also do a key word job search and see what kind of jobs are available in the area.
If they don’t know exactly what they are looking for we ask questions about their skills, the things they enjoy doing, even helping stay at home Moms who may be entering the workforce begin to see what skills they have and how to write those skills and experiences in a way that would sound good on a resume or in an interview.
There are personality tests that they can take and part of the results suggest what kinds of jobs you might be interested in and good at. There are also activities that you can do with them to help them determine what kinds of things are most important to them in finding a job.
The list goes on and on of resources available. I hope you skipped this part if its not interesting to you!!!
Wednesday we took a break from the office for an hour and met the Dallas Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Smith. We had a nice visit and enjoyed getting to know him. He is relatively young, his youngest daughter is just graduating from high school. He is an articulate, energetic person. I was glad Jack was at my side because I didn’t understand all of the words he used but Jack was right in there.
Last week we attended the Carrollton 1st Ward, a great ward with great people, in a fairly affluent area. They are a big ward, well staffed, good music people etc etc. So when we met with the mission president we asked if there was a ward that was a little further out that may be struggling and needing help with visiting inactive members or help in music.
Thursday he called us back, after speaking with the Stake President, and we are now assigned to go to the Dallas 6th Ward.. It is about 12 miles from our apartment in Farmer’s Branch (name of the city). We went there this morning and immediately felt at home. There are 500 plus people in the Ward – including Beth Nelson’s brother, whom Jack met and visited with – there are about 230 active people. There are a lot of single people, ages 40 to 50 age group, many of them are inactive and have not been contacted in several years. So they are happy for some help.
When we walked in this morning they were finishing up choir practice, they had 3 Sopranos, 2 Altos and a Tenor and a Bass from the Bishopric. I asked if I could join them and they seemed quite excited, but what ward choir director wouldn’t be, another warm body is always welcome.
The fellow playing the organ for sacrament mtg, bless his heart, I think he may have been substituting today, he didn’t look like a Millie to me, played prelude and the opening hymn on the organ and then gave up and went to the piano for the remainder of the hymns.
I relate better now to people who come to the Logandale 2nd Ward and say that they feel at home right away. That is how we felt here. Just good humble people. People with struggles that turn to the Lord in faith and prayer and are blessed because of it. It felt like a cross between Logandale and Cannonville Wards. We feel lucky to find that small town feel in the middle of all this city life.
We are signed up to bring food to the Ward Christmas party this Friday, go to Missionary Correlation mtgs on Sunday mornings, Ward choir practices etc already. We also have a meeting with the Priesthood Leaders Tuesday evening to review the needs of the members and identify some that we could visit.
May I mention what a truly wonderful invention the GPS is!!! We use it constantly everyday!!! I could get from our apartment to the Center but that is about it. Fortunately the Chevron station down the road a short distance also doubles as a post office, so now I know where to mail letters. But beyond that there are stacks and stacks of freeways every which way you turn, I’m not exaggerating. The freeway closest to us is the George Bush Toll Road. We were able to find a place to buy a toll tag yesterday. Its handy but it cost 14.5 cents a mile to travel on it. Right now its usually worth it as we try to find our way around. Jack is doing great driving in all this traffic. It’s difficult to get your directions, it really is hard to find north with no mountains.
Here’s an example of how well I’m doing, those who know me well will not be surprised. After Relief Society I couldn’t find our truck, and I knew we were parked by a tree. Because it was raining and cold outside I didn’t want to just circle the building. There were several people who greeted me and welcomed me here so I finally confessed that I was directionally challenged and couldn’t tell which side of the building the parking lots were on. They were very kind and one young man said he would help and even went with me to show me. Of course he was a nice guy – he had just moved here from Las Vegas and the first person I have met in weeks who knew where Logandale is.
Well if you are overwhelmed just having to read this, you know a little how I have been feeling. BUT Friday a fellow from church headquarters in Salt Lake, Deseret Industries division, met with us and we were introduced to a new pilot program that our Center is involved with.
The Presiding Bishopric had previously been concerned in the beginning of this century about church members who were CEO’s, had corporate jobs, business men etc and their jobs, so an emphasis was given to that sector. Now the Presiding Bishopric has a great concern for the people on the other end of the spectrum - or bell curve. Now their concern is about those who deal with struggles and barriers such as handicaps, emotional and mental problems etc. Those people who, living in the West are blessed by the training that Deseret Industries provides. How do we get the blessings of that system past the West and into a world-wide church environment. Can we make a Deseret Industries without walls that will work anywhere in the world? And how do we do that. Our Center will be part of a pilot to initiate programs with stakes and wards in the area and find ways to facilitate helping this group of people.
So come January part of what Jack and I do will be to go out to Stakes and train on the new ldsjobs site and also train on new programs to help more people become self-reliant. We are actually quite excited about this, I feel like I have more experience to draw on in this realm rather than the corporate world – Jack fits in nicely to either side.
We also went to the temple yesterday, we enjoyed a session there. It is a beautiful temple. It is quite a bit smaller than the Las Vegas Temple and the flow of traffic is VERY different, needless to say I was constantly asking for directions, but everyone was very kind and helpful.
...... We just returned from the Broadcast of the Christmas Devotional. I did very good till the opening song, which was For Unto Us a Child Is Born from the Messiah. Oh dear, I finally had to get up and leave for a few moments and gain my composure again. I understand where Susan is a lot more now. Love it but can’t sing it. Beyond that it was great, enjoyed all the messages. We do miss BYU TV.
I was glad we went to the broadcast because there was a sweet, elderly Spanish lady, well she’s older than me, there and if we hadn’t been there she would have been by herself. We had sat together in Relief Society and gotten to know each other there a little bit too.
Well enough for tonight. We are learning so much and so grateful to be in the Lord’s service. I pray that we can learn and become comfortable with the things that they need us to do so we can bless our fellowmen. The gospel is true, we are so grateful for it, grateful for a living prophet, what a blessing.
May God bless you all,
Mom, Dad, Grandma/pa, Aunt/Uncle, Jack/Gaye
Elder & Sister Nelson OurAddress:
1020 Raleigh Dr #801
Carrollton Tx 75007

It looks the same as the Moapa Building It has the track around the outside. AS President Messer said, "just keep circling and you will end up somewhere"
The Spanish Branch meets at this building as well


Ah, something Sister Nelson and I are familiar with.


What a great ward. I feel like I have come home here! Wonderful

Jack n Gaye