November 14th 2010

14 November 2010

A walk to the park this week one sees lengthening shadows, active squirrels rushing with acorns in their jaws preparing for the winter months ahead, beautiful leaves of gold and deep red – a pretty time of year.
This week at the Employment Center has not particularly busy, steady but not frazzled. We have had discussions on how we might better serve the people in this area with employment needs. We attempt to make contact with candidates who have not been into the Center but it’s difficult to get a response, either through email or by phone.
At the same time we try to support and help the leaders on the local level, we don’t want people thinking you have to come to the Center for resources and bypass the local leaders.
The ldsjobs.org website is now a year old, a great site. I’m afraid all too frequently people don’t take advantage of the site and really use it like it could be used. We continually try to educate people on how to use it and what the benefits are of completing their profiles and direct their attention to the many great articles that give them ideas on how to approach their job search.
Monday was a very busy day, people coming and going all day. Finally we had to excuse Nathan M. and another volunteer who were posting jobs on the computer. We had to free up computers for the candidates who were in working on resumes, job searching, working on their profiles, etc.
I worked with another candidate who has a felony conviction this past week. A tough place to be for sure. Many times trying to help people focus on the positive things in their life can be a great challenge. Looking at the things that you CAN do rather than focusing on what’s wrong.
We had an exciting day Tuesday when one of our candidates came in and reported that the interview he was preparing his dossier for last week, resulted in a job offer. He was pretty excited – and of course we were pretty excited for him. He has been coming in regularly for a couple of months and all of us had helped him with one thing or another. He brought in doughnuts and treats and we all celebrated with him.
We also had a fellow in who may get evicted from his apartment this week, too many weeks without work. We help with all that we can. He comes in hungry so we get some food together for him when he’s there.
I had a visit with Donna T. a couple of days ago. It seems that those hardest hit by this economic situation have been the men in their 50’s and 60’s. We see many in this age category and some of them have been out of work for quite a long time. Companies are hiring younger people who they can hire for less money and often more qualified. Of course they don’t have the experience but if you’re figuring out a budget on paper the younger one comes out a head. It becomes their ‘job’ to convince employers that their experience is worth more to them than the inexperienced worker – a hard thing to do. Many of them are finding some contract work, hired by companies to do a couple of weeks or months or work on a project without hiring them full time. Definitely not a very stable income but of course better than nothing. Seeing this it seems to be increasing important for people to keep up on their skills at their work, being careful not to become outdated and always working to stay on top of your ‘game.’
Many of the younger job seekers who are graduating from college, are choosing to go on and get a higher degree in hopes that by the time they finish, the job market will have improved.
We heard of a new phenomenon a couple of days ago. Out in west Texas they had what they call ‘thunder snow.’ There is thunder and lightening but it snows rather than rains. I’ve never heard of such a thing before.
I forgot to mention last week that we went to a fireside about the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was very good and interesting. We learned that they have found many names used that are found in the Book of Mormon. Even though it was not found in part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in other scrolls they have found the name Alma used. Today many people feel that Alma is a girls name but this confirms it to be a male name because it says ‘Alma the son of _______.’
Elder Nelson and I both commented on the prelude music and how much we were enjoying. When they introduced him they mentioned that he is the person that wrote the words and music for the Primary song, “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission.’
A few days ago I got a phone call from Hermana Brooksby, the missionary from Las Vegas who I met first in the temple, then the MTC and then lived in our apartment complex here in Dallas. She had some health problems and had to be released but she is now in Colorado with her sister and things are going well for her. It was fun to visit with her once again and get an update on how things are going for her. She’s a great young lady.
Tuesday evening Jack drove me out to SMU and I was able to play recorder with the Dallas Recorder Society. Friday evening we went with the Phelps out to the Artisan Theater to the play, ‘Annie’. Last month we went to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ when Donna and Dennis were here. You fill out a card with your name on it and they have a drawing, the prize being 2 free tickets to the next play. I wasn’t going to bother with it because I never win anything like that anyway. So Jack took my card and filled it out for me. Guess what! Yep, they drew my ticket out – so we had free tickets this time.
Thursday morning we went to the temple and did some sealings. In the afternoon we met up with Joan and Delmar Leatham and Katey. They are here visiting Paul and Katey for a few days. It was so good to see them and we enjoyed visiting with them and spending the afternoon and evening with them. After Paul got off work we all met for dinner at the Blue Mesa. A yummy Mexican restaurant, the first time I’ve had sweet potato chips – they were actually very good.
Paul gave the lesson in the Gospel Essentials class today and did an excellent job. It was on Family History and temple work. He had the class share stories from their heritage. There were a couple of investigators there with the young Elders who shared a little of their history. One’s father had escaped Cuba’s Casto regime and had made it by boat to America so his family in future generations would have a better life. The other one’s mother had eaten scraps from an orphanage in Britain to survive and was able to save and come to America where they have been able to build a better life. Now they are having the opportunity to hear the gospel.
We just returned from Paul & Katey’s apartment. They fixed a Thanksgiving meal and invited us over. It was very delicious and once again great to spend some time visiting with friends from the Valley. That was our Thanksgiving meal for the year. We have three days where the Center is closed so we have decided to go to Houston for a couple of days and visit the sites there.
I’m feeling pretty good about the Sunbeck Spanish piano classes. We’ve had a couple of new people start coming and we are seeing some progress. I need to call SLC about the grant and have them send us some more books.
Saturday evening we had an evening concert at the Morell’s home. There were about 25 people that came to listen. Our evening of music was titled, ‘Music of the Hit Parade of 1740.’ There was Charlie Morell on the Harpsichord, Alaina Bryner on the Violin, Duane Bryner on Cello and I played the Alto Recorder. We played Sonatas by Sammartini, Telemann, Loillet, and Vivaldi. I played the first part on all of the pieces (I kept trying to get Alaina to trade with me, but she wouldn’t go for it). I think maybe it’s not as stressful to play for people that you don’t know at all or just casually know. It was an enjoyable evening and a wonderful experience to be able to play with these other musicians – not only because of their ability, but they are just good people. Carla is always such a gracious hostess, she doesn’t seem to stress but has everything so nice and always fixes a delicious dessert for everyone afterwards. As I visited with one lady afterwards she commented that this is a ‘blessing sent from heaven.’ I full heartedly agree with her.
We have appreciated the pictures and phone calls from family today as the Nelson’s have gathered in Cedar City for Grandpa’s 86th party. It sounds like it went well and everyone had a great time. We miss being to things like that and look forward to sharing those family times again next year.
At Church today in the Dallas 6th Ward as we visited with people we had two people share with us that they lost their jobs this last week. Both of them in the 50 year old range. One of them is the Ward Employment Specialist and has been very kind to us and has had us in their home for dinner. It just makes you want to cry when you visit with them. So I’m afraid we’re not done with our work here yet.
It’s exciting to hear about some of our friends and their calls to serve. We hope that Elder Bob Jones is on his was to recovery. Amazed at the new assignment for Nick and Bonnie Bowler to Iceland, that will be a challenge but who could take on something like that better than the Bowlers?
We are grateful for this opportunity to serve in the Lord’s kingdom. We are grateful to have such wonderful family and friends like you. As we meet more people and learn of their situations in life, we truly feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We love you and miss you but we are pressing forward in the work. We need and seek His guidance and inspiration in all we do. Till next week ~ our love,
Grandpa & Grandma, Dad & Mom, Jack & Gaye
Elder & Sister Nelson

Jack n Gaye