21 February 2010

Hello Family & Friends,
Time to share our week’s adventures. The weather has been much more pleasant with only a couple of days of rain, however I believe all of you are getting as much or more precipitation than us.
Things at the Center have not been quite so hectic as they were in December and January. It seems to me we are seeing more job openings and not quite so many coming in with layoffs. Hopefully that trend will continue for all of us. It’s nice to have some time to follow up with people and keep things a little more organized.
Tuesday evening Jack & I were invited to the home of the Ward Employment Specialist in our home away from home Ward, for dinner and visiting. They have a son who has cerebral palsy and is deaf. He is in his mid to late twenties, has served a full-time mission in Washington DC, sign language. We had a very pleasant evening and we were able to converse a little with the young man, Nathan.
The parents were interested in his getting some employment, however Nathan is not so interested in that. A thought came to us that since he really likes the computer and is quite good at it, would he be interested in coming in to the Center and volunteering for several days a week, for several hours and do some computer data entry for us. His face just lit up when we communicated this to him. He can read lips just a little bit and with my little bit of knowledge in sign language we were able to communicate with each other, even though it was limited. Of course we had to run this past the managers, but they thought it was a great idea. We worked out the details of him coming in via email the next couple of days. I’m very excited about it because I have done a lot of the things at the front desk, keeping email addresses, Ward and Stake Employment Specialist, Bishops and ‘rics info up to date not to mention getting the jobs typed up and emailed or printed so job seekers can see them. I think he will be able to help with all of this and really ease our burden. Then if he gets to the point where he wants to look for a job he will have experience that he can put on his resume. So I think it will be beneficial to all concerned!
The Presiding Bishopric is putting quite a bit of emphasis on helping those who need a little extra help in getting to be ‘job ready’. So on this past week’s conference phone call I was able to share another example of what we are doing here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to help move this along.
I have been trying to brush up on my sign language a little bit more. Those at the Center wanted me to teach them some basic things such as ‘How are you?’ so we’ve been practicing. It’s very different trying to communicate in a conversation as opposed to planning and preparing some words for a song. But I’m excited about it all and I’m grateful for the limited experience that I do have, at least I’m willing to try. I’m sure that we will do a lot of our communicating on computers – which should work fine.
We had a very special experience this week where we were able to witness the Lord’s hand. Wednesday morning a man (in his 30’s) came into the Center. He had lost his job, got a job as a truck driver but when he showed up for work the first day, they realized that he hadn’t driven for 2 years so they wouldn’t hire him. He is married and has a young family. He is investigating the Church and the missionaries are teaching him. He was so excited because he was trying to do what the Lord would want him to do and things were seeming to go so good, until this happened. He was just devastated! Jack and Donna were working with him and I was at the front desk. When asked what kind of job he was looking for he said truck driving or work in a warehouse, or anything he could find. As they were working with him and were about 15 minutes into it the phone rang and I answered the call. It was an employer, he said, ‘I don’t really know how to do this but I need to hire someone and I thought I would call over and talk to you.’ I asked him what type of job it was and he replied that he needed someone to drive truck for part of the time and then work in the warehouse the rest of the time. I told him we had someone in right then that he could talk to. We connected them on the phone and it seemed to be a good match. We helped him get a resume ready and prepare for an interview the following day.
Yesterday we called and talked with him, he was so excited!! He got the job and starts Monday (tomorrow) AND he was getting ready for his baptism that evening. It was just all truly amazing to be a witness to this experience. We all cheered and rang the bell loudly as we shared in his joy!
This past week Jack and I were able to go out to Fort Worth and visit the Botanical Garden and Japanese Gardens and a couple of museums on our P-day. It was so good to get out and finally have our P-day land on a sunny pleasant day. We really enjoyed it all and felt invigorated and ready to go back to the Center the next day.
Saturday Charlie and Carla Morrel invited us out to their home for dinner and an evening of visiting and playing recorder and harpsichord music. We really enjoy this. What a treat!! Well I really enjoy it and Jack is a good sport and takes along a book to read and visits with Carla while Charlie and I are playing.
Next weekend Jack and I go out to Denton (a couple of hours away) and do a workshop in their Stake. This will be for job seekers. It will be Saturday morning for 3 hours. Sunday we will go back out there and do a presentation during the 3 hour block for Relief Society & Priesthood combined in one of the Wards. This will be for everyone, job seekers and general membership. So we are getting our presentations ready to go.
We love our work here, we feel like we are settling in and getting more proficient at helping people find their direction in their job search, preparing their resumes, interviewing skills and even helping them decide on a career. There are so many tools and helps for them that we just point them in the direction. The church web site is getting a lot of the bugs worked out and we are all learning how to navigate it better.
We love and miss you all. Thanks for keeping us updated on the family and valley life. It’s always so good to hear from you!!
May the Lord keep us in his watchful, tender care,
Grandpa & Grandma, Dad & Mom, son & daughter, brother & sister,
aunt & uncle, Elder & Sister, friend,
Jack & Gaye
Jack n Gaye