14 March 2010

Dear Family & Friends,
Good Sabbath to you all. We are back to ‘busy’ this week. However still working hard to keep up with the job postings. Jack has done a wonderful job of reporting our activities this week, as seen posted on our blog spot, so I will be brief.
Some of the unusual things this week would be…..
We went out to Arlington Tuesday evening with Julie. We met with some of the Stake leaders as they are putting things together for a Stake Employment Center. They would be open each Tuesday most of the day. This will be a great help to many people in the Fort Worth area, making it so they wouldn’t have to drive so far into Carrollton.
Thursday we enjoyed our visit to Corsicanna. Jack got some good Willie Nelson history time in so he loved it all. That evening we got home and the Sister missionaries called. They are in a trio right now and one of the sisters was sick. So the sick sister came over here with us while the other 2 went out and made their appointments. If was a nice evening and she was pleasant to visit with. She was here from 4:30 to about 9:45.
Friday I’m afraid I had to take a day off. I was feeling so tired to the point of almost sickness. So Jack went to the Center without me. I must say it was very good to have a day to go at my own speed and just do things here at the apartment. I did some cleaning and straightening, washing (but no ironing), I even made a macaroni salad and had dinner ready when Jack got home. Such a novelty these days.
This is the day that Timmy McCauley came into the Center to do some volunteer work. (Each week Wards and Stakes are assigned a certain amount of hours to come in and help.) It was so good to see him!! They took a little break and came over to the apartment and visited with me too. Afterwards I wondered if he is still ‘Timmy’, maybe he has grown in to being a ‘Tim.’ Well, it’s still Timmy to us.
For most of the week we have enjoyed beautiful weather. So great to have Spring arrive. There has been a heavy rain, some wind and a cold day, but overall very beautiful. There are a lot of trees with blossoms on them – very beautiful. They have a saying here in Texas – ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute, it will change.’ We are finding that to be true.
We also went to a nursery and got a couple of flowering plants to pot up. They look so pretty at our back door. (Don’t tell anyone that it made me cry to walk into a nursery with all the beautiful growing plants.)
Well when all is said and done – I’m really not that passionate about resumes, interviewing and negotiating skills. HOWEVER, being able to help people when they’re going through such difficult times in their lives, when they are out of work and wondering how they are going to care for their families, just makes all the efforts worthwhile. We continue to meet so many new and interesting people, from all walks of life and educational backgrounds. It really doesn’t matter how much you made last month if you’re not getting a paycheck this month, it al equates to a person in need. Everyone is in the same boat. It’s a blessing to get to know them and hear of their stories and lives and help them find hope in the next steps to take. It is always a challenge to try to post jobs in a variety of positions, from highly skilled and educated to those with little or no experience and may even be struggling to communicate in English. I like the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants where it says ‘The earth is the Lords and there is enough, and to spare.’ To work is a commandment as well as being self-reliant, the way and the possibilities are out there, we just have to find them.
We had another person find a job this week who has spent a lot of time in the Center. He is in the financial market and has been working very hard for several months. He has been offered a job in Las Vegas, no less. His wife’s family is from there so that makes the move there much easier. We hope that we can look him up once we get home and visit with him again. I suppose we should tell him to watch out for people from Logandale when he is at the temple, maybe one of you will meet him too. Look for the young bald guy.
Our homeless friend, Wayne, has also found a job so we hardly see him anymore either. We are of course always truly excited for them but we miss their friendship.
We also continue to try and motivate the Ward and Stake specialists. Some we learn so much from but others don’t quite see the vision of it all. Maybe they just don’t understand what to do, I think that’s mostly the case. (I’m afraid I would have probably been in that category if I had been called to the position at home.) Others are just very busy. When people sign on to the new website, we are notified thru our account. We wait a few days and if the Ward and Stake specialists don’t contact them, then we are to contact them and offer assistance. If a Stake is not doing things on their end, it makes a lot of work for us, so it is a good reminder to help activate the Ward and Stake specialists. Saturdays are a good day to make these calls, since more of the working people are home. I did contact a fellow yesterday however who was able to tell all of the things we should be doing better on the web site. I tried to explain to him that the site was not set up to do such things but he still tried to convince me that we would do much better if we did it his way. I tried to tell him those were great ideas and his Ward and Stake should pursue doing those things – but I’m afraid he wanted us to do it all, which is not possible for us to do – well I guess I should have called Salt Lake to see if they could make the changes (ha, ha). It was interesting however because at first he told me he was the new Ward Employment Specialist for his ward. At the end of the conversation when I asked for his information to update our records he confessed that he really wasn’t the Ward Employment specialist, he was just trying to help the one that was in their ward because he wasn’t doing his job as it should be done. It takes all kinds doesn’t it?

I was asked to play in church today as the organist was out of town. Of course I was delighted to. This also included playing for choir practice. I had put some money in reserve from piano teaching before we left home in case it was possible to buy a keyboard. So I had the money and the desire but this created the motivation. So last evening we went to a music store and made our purchase. What fun, so good to be able to play again.
As it turned out a sister had ‘checked out’ the key to the organ this past week and she wasn’t at church today so I ended up playing for Sacrament mtg all on the piano. That was actually fine by me, less stress for sure. The Bishop even turned to me during the meeting asking if it was okay to change the intermediate hymn. Of course it was. Everyone was very noisy during the prelude music so I wondered how it was all going to work out but they really sang for all the congregational hymns, so it was good.
We had our Relief Society lesson on the creation. One of the sisters shared a wonderful phenomenon that she experienced on a recent trip she took into Oklahoma. She was traveling at night and actually saw stars in the sky!!! She was very impressed by their beauty. I’m glad to know there are still some up there. 
Well I guess I’ve ended up being long winded again. Oh well, no one is obligated to read all of this, except maybe our mothers and possibly our fathers too, but it will be something that we enjoy reflecting back on in the years ahead.
Our love to all of you, you are each so special to us. We always knew that, but our separation makes it even more significant. Thanks for the thoughts and notes you share with us. I remember when Mom and Dad were on their mission and even Susan and Alma how redundant my letters seemed to be. Each day and week seemed to be quite the same. Even though we are having many new and varied experiences, we so miss the daily things of our life with you and appreciate each reminder of those wonderful times.
We are grateful for this time to serve together as missionaries in the Lord’s kingdom. What a blessing to be a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ with latter-day prophets to lead and guide us – we are truly blessed. We hope we can serve him and do what he wants and needs us to do to help his kingdom roll forth.
Our Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye
Elder & Sister Nelson

Jack n Gaye