27 February 2011

Greetings from the Big ‘D’.
We have had another great week of missionary service here in Dallas. There continues to be plenty to do – I have learned soooo much but still feel like I need to keep learning. I will never ‘get’ it all, I’m so grateful that we work with such wonderful and capable people as Donna and Julie that are never too far away to be able to ask a question or have them give their advice to people we serve. I remember months ago when I asked a man what type of job he was looking for and he said he was an actuary and I didn’t even know what one of those was, let alone help him find a job as one. But like most things, I’ve learned that there are principles involved and we can teach people the principles or strategies and they can apply them to what ever type of job they are seeking.
Elder Nelson and I have spent a huge chunk of time this week getting things prepared for when we leave. Elder Nelson knows things about working with the ‘company sign-ons’ that even the managers don’t know. This website was new when we came and they just had him get into it and figure it out. Between the two of us we have kept things going for the job postings also. Which companies are aggregated, which companies need to be sent in for aggregation, which companies do their own job searches, which ones we manually post the jobs for, which ones we receive emails regarding job postings etc. etc. So this week I’ve been creating an Excel spreadsheet (had never spent time with this before coming here – I was asking Dustin questions about it all the time) and between the two of us creating a document for this information to organized for someone else to take over when the time comes.
Speaking of that we just found out that the couple that is replacing the Phelps has accepted the assignment and will be here earlier than expected and will arrive on the 1st of April rather than the 12th. Sister Phelps has been having trouble with her shoulder and has quite a bit of pain so this will be good for them. We also found out the couple that was supposed to take our place has been reassigned and is going to Montana or Wyoming or some such place. I wonder what they will do?? With the new set of Senior Sister Missionaries here it won’t be too critical of a situation I’m sure.
Sister Gloria Lyle, who has been serving as a local service missionary, came to the end of her assigned time, she was going to extend and continue to serve, however her little granddaughter is in need of a babysitter – you know how those Grandma’s are!! She will just come in once a week now. We will really miss here for multiple reasons, she was super great at the front desk but more than that she has become a dear friend. We’re excited for her to be able to spend time with this little granddaughter though.
One evening this week we were able to meet Paul and Katy Leatham at Braum’s Ice Cream, have a little treat and catch up on their lives. They are such a fun, cute couple, we enjoy them for sure. We see them at church each week but we don’t always get to visit with them much.
We had a book club night over at the Morell’s this week. The book was the new book about Hoover/Boulder Dam. Jack led a great discussion, a fun time had by all. One evening we went with the Morell’s to a silent movie with live organ music. The movie was King of Kings by Cecil B DeMille, the director who did ‘The Ten Commandments.’ It was about the life of Christ, very enjoyable. I’ve never been to a silent movie with live organ music like that before.
On our P-day we went over to the Fort Worth Stock Yards and picked up some Texas memorabilia and watched the long-horn cattle drive down the street. We always enjoy that, an interesting place to be sure. We stopped by the Botanical Gardens while there, the daffodils and tulips are starting to bloom and are so pretty.
Wednesday evening piano classes in the Sunbeck Spanish Branch actually went quite well this past week. Most of the students actually practiced this week – hooray! I was getting a bit discouraged the week before due to the lack of practicing. Seems to go along with the territory. I sent an email to the Stake President yesterday updating him of the status as far as how many were participating, ages etc. Also letting him know when we would be leaving and asked if would like to call a person in the Stake to continue forward with the program. He said they would discuss it this morning in Presidency mtg and get back with me. It was interesting when I arrived last week for classes the Stake Primary President was entering the building at the same time. She expressed her appreciation for this opportunity that the Spanish Branch has to have learn piano. That was very nice to hear that from her.
It was also a busy week with quite a few candidates coming in. We are also helping the new sisters with learning the ins and outs of what we do. This last Friday being the last Friday of the month we had an early morning training meeting. We start at 7:30 am and they bring in some breakfast goodies to eat while we have our meeting. There will be another significant website update Monday night so we were shown some of the new changes that will be made. We met until about 10:00 in the conference room. As soon as we were finished the door opened and all these people came in to be helped. The new Sisters wondered if we had posted or announced that we would be opening later that morning but we hadn’t. That is just the way it goes when doing the Lord’s work, it always works out.
Saturday Elder Nelson and I were in the Center alone, everyone else had assignments outside the Center. There usually aren’t too many people come in on Saturdays so it was no problem. We had one man that we have been working with, I did the initial interview with him and Elder Nelson has also spent time with him also; he came into ring the bell and express appreciation for the help he had received from the staff at the Center. He brought his whole family, wife and 5 kids in with him too. He said they all went through those unemployed days together and they all wanted to thank us, they even baked some cookies for us. It’s always so nice when someone takes the time to say thanks. He had only been looking for a month, but it seemed like a long time to him.
Julie had given us permission to close the Center at noon so we could go to the temple with Carolyn Lohre. We met her a little more than a year ago at the Center while she was job seeking. She became active and attends the Dallas 6th Ward also so we were able to stay in touch with her. She invited us to go with her and we were so glad it worked out. There were two men that walked in at 11:30 so we each worked with one and did the fast track assistance. Actually they had called in earlier that morning to make sure that we were open on Saturdays and we told them that we would be closing early at noon. They both said they would be happy to come back another day and do more work, they were basically wondering what the services were I guess.
Gail flew in to visit Andy this weekend so they were able to meet us at the temple and go through the session with us. We picked them up for Church this morning and they had time to come over for dinner and visiting before Gail’s flight left this evening. It is always so wonderful to see family or someone from home. We have enjoyed and looked forward to these visits with Andy on weekends. So great to see Gail too!!
It was also a busy week with quite a few candidates coming in. We are also helping the new sisters with learning the ins and outs of what we do. The last Friday being the last Friday of the month we had an early morning training meeting. We start at 7:30 am and they bring in some breakfast goodies to eat while we have our meeting. There will be another significant website update Monday night so we were shown some of the new changes that will be made. We met until about 10:00 in the conference room. As soon as we were finished the door opened and all these people came in to be helped. The new Sisters wondered if we had posted or announced that we would be opening later that morning but we hadn’t. That is just the way it goes when doing the Lord’s work, it always works out.
We are so grateful for this opportunity to serve as missionaries together. It’s been great to be involved in the same experiences and work together. Elder Nelson is an awesome missionary companion. He is always the go-to-guy when any of we missionaries have a computer question or an employer needs assistance. Which reminds me he had an employer walk in at 5 to 5 the other day, he was with a big company and they will be hiring 30 new people. Elder Nelson was happy to stay after and assist him. He is so good working with people fro all walks of life.
It’s hard to be away from home and family as new little ones come and as the challenges of life come to us but we know the Lord loves you and loves us. We know that he is blessing us all and strengthening you to meet the challenges of the day. We continue to put our trust in Him and know that He is mindful of us all and our needs. We pray that He will continue to keep us all in his loving and protecting care.
Our Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye
Elder & Sister Nelson

A Thursday P day at The Stock Exchange

Jack n Gaye