Grapevine lake in December
Beautiful pipe organ in the Episcopal church of Dallas
Brother Morell Harpsichord, Sister Bryner Violin, Sister Nelson Recorder
The Williams are over the Mission Office. Great folks!
The Dallas temple the last day of December
Dear Loved Ones,
We are grateful for this season of the year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. I suppose being on a mission helps one to focus more on the true meaning of Christmas where we are not so involved in all of the commotion of preparations etc. However there are many traditions of the Christmas season that we miss such as the family gatherings and delight of children.
Generally it has been a slower week at the
We were only open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Monday and Tuesday were rather slow days, mostly assisting the volunteers so we were told on Wednesday if it was a slow day we could close up shop a few hours early. However Wednesday afternoon it got very busy and we were good to close by 5:00. I guess everyone realized it was their last chance at getting in this week. It was of course fine, it didn’t hurt us a bit.
Monday evening we took Sister Gloria Lyle out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, they have a lot of good ones around here. Afterwards we drove out to
Tuesday Jack helped a lady create her resume, Wednesday morning she called in and said she had an interview that very afternoon, she was so excited and we were excited with her. It was the first interview that she had been able to get in quite sometime. We always say the purpose of the resume is to get you an interview, so they did GOOD!!
Thursday morning we left for
On our drive there were stopped President LB Johnson’s ranch and cemetery. We were also able to locate
Friday morning we left Fredricksburg and traveled over to
This has been an unusual weather week. Tuesday the high was 87 degrees. We noticed the young Elders were back in their short sleeve shirts. However yesterday and today were very cold, the coldest yet this year, the highs only in the low 40’s. Friday on our trip back to
Friday evening we were invited over to the Mark Morell’s home for Christmas Eve. It was so nice to be with a family. We enjoyed some yummy treats, dinner and the Christmas story and thoughts. On Christmas day we went to Charlie and Carla Morell’s home where all of their children and grandchildren gathered for a delicious turkey dinner.
Today Carla Morell asked our group of Charlie, Duane & Alaina Bryner and myself to play the prelude music and a special musical number in the
We are so grateful for all of you. We are so blessed to have a wonderful family and friends who support us and support each other. I have been reading President Monson’s biography, the other night I read a paragraph of what he taught at a mission presidents’ seminar. He uses a scripture to reassure missionaries: “Your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.” We continue to put our faith, trust and hope in the Lord as we serve him and the people here in
May His blessings be with us all this week,
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye
Elder & Sister Nelson
26 December 2010
Jack n Gaye
We spend Christmas eve with the wonderful Morell family of Plano Tx
Here is a Christmas Pyramid from Moapa Valley Nev
The beautiful Sister Nelson in front of the George Bush Christmas Tree
We thought he was a monopoly game piece.
The two Eric's from Family Services
Sisters Phelps, Lyle and Nelson
Brother Matt Crawford of the staff and Elder Nelson
The audience was able to join in the chorus on a few of the numbers
Both performances of the Messiah was sold out weeks ago. It seems many of the families has made this Messiah Sing a Holiday tradition for their family.
Sister Nelson was privileged to lead #52 "If God be for US"
Our friends the Bryner's and Charlie Morell.
I really enjoy association with Dr. Charles Morell. Here he is playing on the Harpsichord that he built.
19 December 2010
Another week has flown by so quickly. We are enjoying the sights and thoughts of the Christmas Season here in
This past Monday we had the annual
We ended the evening by going over to Salt Grass for dinner. It is a very yummy ‘
One thing great about being a missionary is getting a Christmas card from the First Presidency.
We had our piano class this week. Several new people came this week; you just never know what will happen. Sister Hernandez played the postlude music in Relief Society last week. She inspired 3 more people to come after listening to her. She is really blossoming right now, I’m so proud of her. She helped the young women students while I worked with the 3 new students who came at that time. At the end of our time I asked her if she would play one of the Christmas hymns she’s been working on while we all sang. She agreed and did well and then we all clapped and cheered for her, it was great.
From the
We had a tough situation when a family of seven, parents and 5 young children came in needing help. They had recently left
There are still some coming in that have been our regulars for a couple of months now, plus a few new ones. I have gotten several responses to welcome emails I have sent out. They have wanted their resume reviewed, so I’ve gone over it and then sent them a reply with suggestions. (Who would think!, it still seems odd.)
Our Thursday P-day was a relaxed one. Jack enjoyed the temple so much on Monday that he went back and did another session. I stayed at the apartment and did some catching up on things and did some practicing on the recorder. (I hope our neighbors don’t mind!) We went to dinner with Will & Ellie Boeswetter that evening.
I was asked to play the flute part for one of the Christmas selections, a Soprano/Alto duet, in the
Charlie Morell has an orchestra group that plays together; they practice a couple of times a month. They invited me to play the recorder with them this year for the Messiah. I was of course very happy to accept the invitation. I created a part from the flute and oboe parts. I borrowed a CD and played along whenever I could sneak in a few minutes. They had a couple of Saturday rehearsals with the orchestra and soloists. Mary Poulter is the director and brings it all together beautifully. She lives in
Mary sings one of the solos, they usually have someone lead the orchestra for that one number but they are out of town this year so I will be leading it. The duet for Alto and Tenor – ‘Oh Death, Where is Thy Sting,’ is sung by a husband and wife team. The wife has been battling cancer, she was finished up her treatments several weeks ago and was confident that she would be strong enough to do it. We had a practice about a month ago where she was able to come and practice. However, last week she had some complications and died. Her funeral was just a couple of days ago. I assumed they would have to cancel that number or find someone else to sing it but they decided to have in performed in memorial to her. They asked me if I would play the recorder for the alto part and Alaina Bryner will play the tenor part on her violin.
This is a ‘Sing A-long Messiah’ setting. It is held at the Artisan Theater in
This is a more difficult time of year to be away from home and our dear loved ones. But we try to keep our hearts and minds on our service and the new opportunities that we are having here. Truly we learn more about faith and hope as we meet with others who are in struggling circumstances and as we move forward. We are grateful for our Savior, for his birth, which means so much because of his life – and death. Our testimonies are strengthened as we continue to serve. We hope you have a blessed week and that we all feel of the true meaning of Christmas in our hearts this season.
Our Love, Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye ~ Elder & Sister Nelson
Jack n Gaye
President Russell Grant Counselor to President Smith. His white elephant was a Piñata
President Tony Brigmon counselor to President Smith. It took them both to open the present.
Elder Chuck with his new belt buckle and boots, and the new exercise ball for his white elephant.
Sister Nelson playing the piano and Pres Brigmon leading the singing.
12 December 2010
Hello Family and Loved Ones,
We hope you have had a pleasant week. The work is moving along here. We’ve had some people get jobs, but I’m afraid others have lost ones. This time of year has reflections of last year at this time. There are those companies that rather than give Christmas bonuses give them the letter that their job is terminated. Such a hard time of year to go through that, well I don’t know if there is a better of year, not if it happens to you for sure.
Jack was still sick on Monday and Tuesday but fortunately by Wednesday he was doing better. It was good to see some life back in him.
There was one lady that came in that was actually very excited that she had gotten ‘the letter.’ Very unusual for sure. She had been in several months ago and had begun working on her resume etc. because she knew that the company was not doing well and she didn’t like where she was at. She has a couple of months and a severance package after that so I guess she’s relieved that the inevitable happened and she can really focus on getting a new job now.
Roberto was in yesterday, he is a regular for almost a year now. He is homeless but lives in his truck, one of our ‘friends.’ After all this time I was finally able to get him to work on his profile at ldsjobs and get him a resume going. I ended up doing the typing but insisted he help with what into it. He has many qualifications about what he will do and what time of day he will do so I don’t know if he’ll be able to get hired. I at least feel like he has made a big step forward. He is only able to do entry level jobs so there are not that many options for him.
He kept calling me Donna so after several times I pointed to Donna T. and said that’s Donna, I’m Sister Nelson. I corrected him a couple of times but he said he liked the name Donna better. After a couple of hours he left for a break. He called back in and Sister Phelps took a phone call from Roberto for Donna, so I took the call, I reminded him that I’m Sister Nelson. The next time he called he asked for Donna Nelson. It wouldn’t be so funny if I didn’t have a sister Donna and growing up I was often called by her name.
I have mentioned before that I have worked with several people who have had criminal records. One man had gotten out of prison after 24 years. He had upheld his innocence the entire time and worked and worked to get out. He has been out for several months now but we read in this week’s paper that he had finally pled guilty to murder. Such experiences!
One day I was working with a lady who is trying to get a job as a paralegal. She has some disabilities where it is difficult for her to interact with people. She likes to do the research end of the work. I had talked with her about a few things. She seemed quite discouraged so I really tried to encourage her and did what I could to help. Shortly thereafter a man came in with whom we have been working with, especially Jack, who is an attorney. This day he came into do some volunteer work, for his Stake had the assignment for this month. I asked him if he would spend a little time with this lady and explained to him what she was qualified to do. He was so good with her, he knew the ins and outs of the business and was able to give her some good advice and direction. He knew of some websites that were helpful and before they were finished he had found a job for her to apply for. I just really felt like the Lord was watching out for her and provided someone who could give her the assistance she needed.
Our evenings this week were spent doing a variety of activities. One evening we went with Charlie and Carla Morell and the book club friends out to dinner at a little local Italian Restaurant. One of the men is battling cancer. Seven years ago they told him he would only live a year or so longer. He has something like 25 active tumors in his body. When he gets tired he’s done! We all went to pay our bills but he and his wife kind of moved up to the head of the line, all of us assuming that he needed to leave quickly; which he did pay his bill and leave quickly. However we were all surprised when we went to pay our bills that they had all been paid. Such a generous nature they have. He is also serving as the Stake Executive Secretary in the Plano Stake.
We went out to the Grapevine Mall one evening and bought the last few gifts to mail for the grandkids. We wouldn’t want them to forget us!!
One evening we had our ERC (
We went to a Christmas Concert by ‘Evening Song.’ The director is LDS and most, if not all of the members of the choir are LDS too, but they are not a really a church choir. They gave several concerts this week but the one on Thursday evening fit into our schedule so we went to St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church to hear them. It is a beautiful church, with huge high ceilings, wonderful acoustics. They have a beautiful pipe organ also. It was a very good concert, they sing a lot of a cappella music by composers that I’m familiar with.
The morning of our P-day we spent doing things around the apartment, grocery shopping etc. It was pretty low key. In the afternoon we rode out to the Gaylord Texan Resort and looked at their Christmas decorations. We did that last year too so I guess it’s a tradition now, soon to be broken. We then went to the Grapevine Downtown Historic District. We parked and walked along the street. They really decorate for Christmas. It’s like a rule that all the shops have to have outside decorations. We really had fun walking along and looking at the decorations.
Friday night we took Gloria out with us to dinner at a Mexican restaurant that she had heard about. It was yummy authentic food. Afterwards we drove to the Farmer’s Branch Historical District, the City Hall area and then to the home that has the light show synchronized to music. You tune into a radio station and listen and watch, very fun. We enjoy her company and friendship.
Jack gave the lesson in Priesthood Meeting today in the
We send our love, we hope you can feel it across the many miles that separate us. We hope you have good week and are able to enjoy this holiday season of the year.
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye
Elder and Sister Nelson
Jack n Gaye
Sister Nelson keeping the front office all straight and moving forward.
Her is a shot of two older piano students in Sister Nelson's Spanish Branch Piano classes.
The Carrollton Community Nativity Exhibit features over 700 Nativities from around the world, complimentary artwork, statuary and even a live Nativity. Additionally, the Nativity includes a comprehensive choral and instrumental concert schedule, with seasonal repertoires brought to you by a variety of entertaining and accomplished talent from around the Metroplex.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hosts the event, which is located at 4000 Nazarene in Carrollton. Come and see why this event has become a Christmas tradition for so many families. For more information visit www.carrolltonnativity.com
With the help of his Harpsichord, Brother Charlie Morell leads a group that provides music for the events. Sister Nelson was blessed to be a part of this years group.
The different mission with the shuttle
The Astronauts use this for training
Interesting to see how it all works
One more mission for the Shuttle then a new program begins
Inside the Space shuttle weightless training, It looked fun!
A interesting tour of the Mission control Center at Houston
