July 4th 2010

Hello Dear Family and friends,
Greetings from Texas, I hope this has been a good week for you and that you are not all sweltering in the heat. Most of the Whitney Clan are at the annual family reunion in Marysvale. We think of you all together often and hope you are having another great year together.
We are saddened by the news of the fire at Warm Springs and the Big House. We all have many fond memories of swimming and enjoying that oasis in the desert. Too many fires in the valley the last couple of years!
We have had a lot of rain the past 10 days or so. Much of it is still a part of the storm of Hurricane Alex moving up thru Texas. Fortunately we have had no significant wind but 4 or 5 times there has been 1 to 2 inches of rain in an hour or two. The rest of the time, just rain. We are starting to learn about umbrellas. We usually have one in the truck, however we have found that doesn’t do a lot of good when you’re trying to GET TO the truck. In just a few yards you become completely drenched. We’ll have to figure out a different plan I suppose.
We have had a good and steady week at the Center. The latest news of the economy is not good as far as jobs go, so we will most likely remain busy. At least someone has some job security.
We actually exceeded our monthly goal of helping 150 people find work by a few. Generally people come in to the Center because they are ready for help, but occasionally someone comes that is not quite ready for new ideas. I met with one such a fellow this week. Sometimes the hurt runs deep I think, he is an IT person with many years experience and has been looking for 18 months. A pleasant fellow but it didn’t seem like I was able to offer him anything that he thought would be helpful. That morning I had gotten up a little early and was doing some reading. I read an article by President Monson given in about 1993. I was impressed with the following quote,
“There are all sorts of people who are willing to alibi or to make excuse for a failure. During World War II, a vital decision was made by one of the great leaders of the Allied military, Viscount Slim from Great Britain. He made this statement after a defeat occurred in a battle for Khartoum in 1940 against the Italians: “I could find plenty of excuses for failure, but only one reason—myself. When two courses of action were open to me I had not chosen, as a good commander should, the bolder. I had taken counsel of my fears.”
“Don’t take counsel of your fears. Don’t say to yourselves, “I’m not wise enough, or I can’t apply myself sufficiently well to study this difficult subject or in this difficult field, so I shall choose the easier way.” I plead with you to tax your talent, and our Heavenly Father will make you equal to those decisions.”
“In this life, where we have opportunities to strive and to achieve, I bear witness that on occasion we need to make a second effort—and a third effort, and a fourth effort, and as may degrees of effort as may re required to accomplish what we strive to achieve.”
Well I didn’t remember all of those words but I kept recalling the words, “Don’t take counsel from your fears.” So at the end of our session together I told him I had some parting words for him that I had read recently in an article by President Monson. I shared those words with him and he became very still. In a few moments he shared that he had received a priesthood blessing several years ago when he left California and came to Texas. The counsel was, ‘Go forward and don’t be fearful.’ It was a wonderful opportunity to see how the Lord can prompt us and put articles and things in our pathway so that we can pass on his message to his children.
A couple of hours after he left I did hear of a job that seemed to fit his area of expertise and I was able to pass this on to him. JC Penny’s corporate offices are here and they sent notice of about 50 new job openings, there are a couple that he would qualify for.
One of our homeless friends that we have seen on and off for quite sometime is back in, needing help. He has gotten a traffic ticket and doesn’t have the funds to pay it off. He has been assigned 50 hours of community service so he is coming to the Center daily to work it off. He likes to read the Bible and is becoming more interested in the Book of Mormon. We are beginning to see a change come over him as he has a place to go where he can help and do some service.
We had our Spanish Branch piano class this week, 27 people came. I think this group will maintain. We did 2 sessions again, but most of the people in the 2nd group were people who just stayed on to hear it all again. Our keyboards arrived from Salt Lake using the Harmon grant. We were expecting 4 but they sent 6, so we were very happy about that. This week we will start using them and mostly likely dividing into groups, the children, the young women and those who have a little previous experience and an adult group. It’s been a fun thing to do, great to be doing a little teaching again.
On our P-day Thursday we went out past Fort Worth to Mineral Wells. One of our Ward Employment Specialists that we have gotten to know quite well lives out there. We visited Fort Richardson and the Clark Botanical Gardens. The Fort was very interesting and the Gardens were beautiful. It was a very enjoyable day away from the city. It’s nice to have our P-day on a Thursday as opposed to a Friday or Saturday because we often have these places to ourselves. There are a lot of crepe myrtle shrubs/trees here. They are very beautiful this time of year and are expected to bloom throughout the summer into the fall.
There are very many cities in this metroplex area. Nearly all of them had their 4th of July celebrations on the 3rd this year. A few of them will be on Monday. We decided to go to Mesquite – Mesquite, Texas that is, and go to the rodeo and fireworks. We had a great time, a fun thing to do. Both of us grew up going to rodeos on the 4th of July so it seemed an appropriate thing to do. (This rodeo was a little bigger than the ones they had in Gunlock, Panguitch or Ruby’s Inn, but almost as fun. ) They have a rodeo each Friday and Saturday throughout the summer. One thing that was very impressive was, they began with a prayer, it was great. They also had a nice patriotic pre-show, horses and cowboys/girls presenting flags from the different military branches etc. Jack always comes up with great ideas of things for us to see and do.
Thursday afternoon we got a call from Delmar & Joan Leatham saying they would be to Dallas the next morning. They were helping Paul and his wife Katey move here. He has just recently graduated from dental school and has found a job here. We were so excited to hear from them.
Friday Jack left the Center to go and help them unload. He also called the young Elders to help out. They got things taken care of pretty quickly. Sister Phelps had shoulder replacement surgery that day so I needed to stay at the Center and work.
Friday evening however Delmar, Joan, Jack and I were able to go out to dinner and spend the evening together. What great fun. It was so nice to spend a few hours with some friends from home. We gave them a tour of the Employment Center complex, our apartment and showed them the temple. A very fun evening indeed.
When Delmar called and told Jack the address in Addison we just couldn’t believe it. Addison is right next door to Carrollton AND we are in the same Ward!!! None of us could hardly believe it was really true!
I just couldn’t believe that in church this morning we were sitting by folks from Logandale that were actually going to be a part of the Dallas 6th Ward. I bore my testimony, mostly a gratitude testimony of so many blessings in our life, family and mission. I mentioned who Paul and Katey were and that they would be members of the ward. It was truly amazing, after the closing prayer was said they were just surrounded by people from the ward greeting them and welcoming them into the ward, especially the young couples. There were many who told Jack and I afterwards that they would really watch out for them and help them feel welcome here. What a great ward this is.
Paul mentioned today how interesting it has been that when we were serving in the LV temple that his ward’s temple night was on Wednesday and we saw him there frequently. We enjoyed his friendship and looked forward to seeing him. And now we meet up again in the Dallas area. Katey said (if they read this I hope they don’t mind me saying) that she was always amazed that no matter where they went in Nevada or Utah that they always met someone from Logandale or someone who knew someone from Logandale. She told him, just wait until we get to Texas and then we’ll see how it goes. And so it goes…….. What a great young lady she is, Paul, you did good. I must say however that there were 3 people visiting in Relief Society today and all 3 of them were from Colorado, Katey’s home state.
Bishop Robertson is such a good, good humble man. He conducted and bore his testimony to begin the meeting. His mother died a couple of weeks ago, he reported than when he got back they told him that his job was being eliminated. He said that he had a peaceful feeling that things would work out alright. I hope that we will be able to serve and help him in someway.
There are several people in the ward that we have been able to be involved with as they have gone through unemployment, to now having work again. We have a close friendship with these people now.
We are enjoying our service here, so many tender mercies!! I think that rather than saying the traditional, ‘As luck would have it,’ we must say ‘As the Lord would have it.’ Even though there are many sacrifices to serving a mission, it is wonderful to be a part of His work and see His hand in so much of what goes on. Truly there is guidance through the Holy Ghost and personal revelation. The trick is staying in tune and in touch with it.
We pray that this finds you well and in good spirits. May the Lord keep you in his watchful, protective and loving care.
Our Love, Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye (who’s that?)
Elder and Sister Nelson
Jack n Gaye