Jack n Gaye

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Last P day in Texas Dallas Mission

Hey, is that my Grandpa and Grandma Nelson coming home?!

New wonderful missionaries to keep the work going!

Our last evening with Dr. Paul and Katey. We love these two so much and have enjoyed being in the Dallas 6th ward with them. He is the Ward mission leader and Katey is a counselor in the Primary.

The door closing behind this good man and the Nelson's is going to be very difficult

What a wonderful friend, musician and gospel theologian.

Dr. Morell's Plano strings group preformed at SMU Tuesday evening for their grand finale. The Bryners are leaving on a mission and Sister Nelson is headed for Nevada

There was a nice crowd and the music was wonderful

Sister Nelson set new ground for being the first missionary sister to venture on top of the Grain silos

It is such a view from the top of these hugs silos

Shutting the door for the last time to the Coffin Elevator that take you the 120 foot journey

The view looking North from the top of the towers

These towers contain hard red wheat stored for disaster relief

Jack n Gaye

Sunday, April 10, 2011

April 9th 2016 - last full week in Texas

I think when I get back to the Mountains, I will try climbing the Great White Throne! The Grain elevators is the highest point I've been in Dallas.

We spent the evening with Bishop Russell and his good wife. He is the one that came to Fort Worth a year ago and rescued us when the fuel pump on the truck died.

Bishop Jim Russell and Sister Nelson walking along the edge of his creek.

The wonderful temple day with Brother Wil Bosewetter and the Morells

Sister Nelson and Fara who will take over the piano class.

Brother William E Bosewetter after the Session at the Dallas Temple

Sister Nelson and Donna Toups talking about the Front office direction.

This is Sister Burgess with the puzzled look that is taking over the front office.

Cache Miller and the Nelson's at the Rose Gardens of Fort Worth

Beautiful Blue Bonnets the Tx State flower

Jack n Gaye

10 April 2011

A few of the children in the Wednesday Piano Class. The Class presented Sister Nelson with a nice plaque to say thank you and goodbye.

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Texas, can you believe it, there will only be one more of these weekly letters. Hard to believe........ what experiences we have had!!

Once again we have worked with many people this week, each ones story is so unique and it's always a blessing to get to know new people and be able to share with them the program the church has for helping people find employment or improve their employment situation. Last week a man had called in to the Center and wondered about the procedure for coming in, whether an appointment was needed. He had a very strong accent, one of the new sisters had answered the phone and she couldn't understand him at all so she passed the phone to me -- I guess that's one thing you get better at with experience -- we meet with a lot of people who have come from all over the world. This man was from Kenya. You don't need an appointment to come in but you can if you want to meet with someone specifically. He wanted to make an appointment with me because I could understand him. The proselyting missionaries have been teaching him and they recommended that he come and see us. He was quite down hearted and discouraged when he came in but as we worked together and talked about things he could do, found job leads to share with him, helped him with a resume -- Elder Nelson assisted also, and by the time he left a few hours later he even had a job interview set up for the following day. We see this happen time after time as people come in discouraged but when they find help and we help them see what they can do to help themselves, they leave with a lighter step and a smile on their face.

We also have been working with a young mother who was recently baptized. She's been coming in several times a week for the last couple of weeks. She came in Monday and shared her excitement and enthusiasm over listening to her first General Conference. What a treat to listen to her share about her favorite things.

We are seeing the new Development Program grow and take hold here in the area. Matt Crawford is getting out and getting people in the wards involved in the program. With the request of a Bishop and with his support and that of the Ward Council people can be involved in the program, receive training/certifications etc to help them gain skills that will make them more employable. Some are doing business partnerships where their pay will come from Deseret Industry's funds - at no cost to the employer, to give them on the job training and experience. This only being tried in a few areas and only where there is not a Deseret Industry.

Tuesday the Center is open from 8 am to 8 pm to accommodate the Bishop's Storehouse hours. The Phelp's volunteered to take the late shift on Tuesday's but now they are gone we volunteered to take it this week. Dan & Elsie Banks wanted to get together one more time before we left for Nevada. They were willing to drive over to Carrollton, so we met for an early lunch at the 'Cotton Patch.' It's always great to visit with them, they have made us feel welcome in Texas.

Julie has asked that I train Sister Burgess on the front desk responsibilities and also the Stake Jobs that I take care of. So from now on, other than working with candidates, I don't just go to work on my tasks but show her and train her on how to do things. We are making some good progress but I'm afraid our stack of papers of things to do keeps getting deeper rather than smaller.

Some good news - we had 193 placements for the month of March!! That is our best yet - we were all very excited. Another great thing that has happened was a call from the Employment people in SLC. After watching General Conference and spending several days in the MTC, the Schiebs have had that spiritual confirmation that they are going to the right place and that they will be doing the right thing. Julie is especially grateful.

Saturday Elder Nelson and I 'manned' the Center alone, Donna had a granddaughter getting baptized that day so she was able to go spend time with family. It was not too busy and we were even able to get some of our computer work done. Kristy came in, she is the young mother-to-be that is living in a shelter right now. We have seen her spirits lifted as she has accomplished a lot with her resumes and the direction she wants to go in life. She is ready to go to Alabama now and be with her mom until the baby is born. We had a tearful good-bye as she hugged me and gave thanks for the help she had received and I gave her words of encouragement as she goes on her way now.

Wednesday was my last night of teaching piano classes at the Sunbeck Spanish Branch. After communicating with the Church Music Dept in SLC, the Dallas mission office and the Stake President, I think all is in order for the program to continue forward. Ferrah Caranza will continue with the program. She has been there from the start and is a great teacher and organizer. She had been earnestly praying for some time that she would have an opportunity to learn more and improve her skills at the piano. With tears in her eyes she thanked me and the Lord for the opportunity that she has had to have some lessons. She will do great with these beginning students! She gave me this framed poem as a parting gift.

Women Who Change the World

There are women who make things better...

Simply by showing up.

There are women who make things happen.

There are women who make their way.

There are women who make us smile.

There are women of wit and wisdom-

Through strength and courage-

Make it through.

There are women who change the world every day..

Women like you.

-Anonymous

The Branch President also stopped by our classroom and expressed his gratitude for this opportunity for the Branch. There have been quite a few people, young and adult stop by our classroom the past couple of weeks wanting to join the class. We have told them at the beginning of the summer we will start another class of new students. I think this is the spirit prompting people at this time so the program can and will move forward and a confirmation to Ferrah that there are people that she can help.

Charlie Morell was asked to play a 30 minute organ recital at the First Presbyterian Church last Thursday. He asked if I would join him with the recorder. He played an organ solo then we played an organ duet with recorder, we went back and forth with that format for the 30 minute time period. They have a beautiful pipe organ at the building, and the room has very good acoustics. It was a small gathering so it wasn't too stressful. It was actually very fun to be able to play in that setting. I've been surprised at how well the recorder and organ go together. Jack recorded the program and it turned out pretty decent. Afterwards the church's music person asked if I would come and play for their Sunday service sometime, she was even willing to make it happen today when I told her that we would be leaving soon, but I declined, next week I will be playing with Charlie in his ward so today was our last Sunday to go to the Dallas 6th Ward.

Thursday afternoon we met Will Boesewetter at the Dallas temple where he would be going through for the first time to receive his endowment. He had asked Jack to be his escort so that was a very special experience for him. Jack & Will became good friends as they worked together everyday at the Center for about 6 months. Will had only been baptized for a couple of months so Jack helped him with many questions and helped him as he had his first opportunities to give blessings to people at the Center. Charlie and Carla Morell and Bishop Bott also attended the session. Will's wife Ellie didn't attend so I went with him in the prayer circle. Afterwards Charlie, Carla, Will, Jack and I went out to dinner.

Saturday as soon as the Center closed we went right over to the temple to attend Will and Ellie's sealing ceremony. They asked Jack to be one of the witnesses for the sealing. We are very grateful for these special experiences and friends we have made. Gloria Lyle was able to attend the sealing. We don't see her very much anymore, with the price of gas she is not able to come into the Center much and does most of her work from home. We took her out to dinner and enjoyed a nice visit with her. She promised to come into the Center a couple more times before we leave so we can see her again.

We have been invited over to the Russell's of the Dallas 6th Ward, this evening for dinner, they have been so kind to us while we've been here.

That about wraps it us for this weeks adventures. We have had pleasant weather, a bit breezy but nothing too bad. We hear that it has been very windy, cold and snowy in Utah and Nevada. I hope it looses it strength by the time it comes our way.

We love you and hope you have a good week. Our prayers are with you, may the good Lord bless and keep you.

Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye

Elder and Sister Nelson

Charlie Morell, Sister Nelson, Elder Nelson and Wil Boesewetter at the Dallas Temple

Jack n Gaye

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

3 April 2011

I can't remember if I'm just arriving or just leaving!

What a wonderful conference we have had this weekend. We still haven’t gotten very used to the times of 11:00 and 3:00. We didn’t have very many people that came into the Center on Saturday, only 3 or 4 ‘friends.’ We were able to set up a TV from Craig’s office in the Conference room and watch it while we were there. Donna T. is so great, she kept things going with the candidates as they came in so we were able to watch it all. The afternoon session we watched at the apartment on the computer and of course Elder Nelson went to the Stake Center for the Priesthood session. It’s always great when they give talks about where ever you serving so we have particularly enjoyed the talks about the Welfare Program. What a blessing it has been to serve a Welfare Mission! There were so many talks that spoke directly to us as missionaries and in other aspects of our life.
Cache Miller has been in Fort Worth for a couple of days for his work. He called Saturday night and wanted to go to Conference with us Sunday morning. It was wonderful to see him and spend a couple of hours with him and hear about him and his family. I fixed our traditional sandwiches for when we go out on Sunday trips and we stopped by the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. The roses were beautiful.
The closest building to where Cache was staying was the Fort Worth Church on 8th street. This was where we went last month when we helped a Ward Employment Specialist with some candidates. We saw a few people we knew there. In the chapel they had conference broadcast in Spanish so we joined about 20 other people in the Relief Society room for the Spanish version. Cache was willing to translate for us but happy when he didn’t have to. This is the building that they have the big gates surrounding it. When there are no meetings happening they have it all locked down and you have to put in a password to enter in.
After dropping him off, we went over to Kim Marshall Heaton’s. She had invited us over for the afternoon session of conference and dinner. It’s been so nice to have them here, they have really made us feel more at home in Texas.
This past week has been very busy. The Phelps left to go back home to Washington on Wednesday. We have spent our entire mission serving with them and they will always have a place in our hearts. With them gone, Sister Lyle no longer coming in (she does do some data entry from home for us, which is a great help) and Sister Burgess being sick for a couple of days, we have stayed very busy.
Monday Elder Nelson and I spent quite a few hours looking at job possibilities in the Stephenville area. The Bishop had commented that there wasn’t much available on the website for them out there. There was actually more there than you would think but we were able to add to it and make the jobs more visible. They meet in a very small ward building; there are no built in benches but they set up folding chairs each week. They have the ‘stand or podium area’ as found in a regular building, though it is a smaller version. After Sacrament meeting is over there is a sliding curtain that they pull across right in front of the podium, then they use the remaining area for class rooms.
A young man brought a friend into the Center on Monday who needed some assistance. Elder Nelson worked with him, as it turns out the young man is Darla Newman’s son. It was fun to visit with him for awhile and get caught up on the Newman family.
This is an example of just two hours of one of Jack’s mornings.
He called the young Elders and had them help him switch some beds around from the Phelps’ apartment and one of the new Sister’s. While he was gone one of the new Account Reps came in and needed to spend some time with him for some training. Just as Elder Nelson was walking in the door a lady was signing in who needed his assistance to complete some paperwork for a new job she has just gotten. An out of town employer had asked him to witness her signatures and help with the completion of the paper work. Before he was finished helping her, a company out of Houston called wanting to hire someone in the Dallas area and wanted to sign their company on the website; Houston had not been able to help him through the steps. Before he finished with that, a person walked in who needed his help with his job search – the new Account Rep. is still waiting – will need to get back with the employer editor later too. Then someone in the Center needs some documents scanned – he’s the guy for this task also. Finally he is able to help the new Account Rep and candidate. As they walked out the door Sister Nelson reminds him to call the Houston Employer back – uh-oh the next candidate walked through the door for help. So goes the day….. No time to become bored (or to have lunch)!
On our P-day this week we went out to the Dallas Arboretum, it was a beautiful Spring day, the first we’ve had for about a week, so it felt especially nice. The azaleas were in full bloom and were absolutely gorgeous. Charlie Morell was able to go too, Carla had a doctors appointment that she couldn’t change. After our visit to the gardens the four of us were able to go out to dinner at Joe’s Italian Restaurant. A little family owned restaurant with delicious food.
Our final tally of job placements is in for March – 193 job placements!!! That is a record. We were all very excited. We needed a good month because the previous month of February was our lowest at 75, we attribute the weeks of snow days to much of that both us and the candidates’ work came to a halt on those days.
A week ago Saturday Donna T. gave the spiritual thought, quoting from the Ensign about the necessity of asking the Lord for help and guidance through prayer. Fifteen minutes before closing a man came in for help. He had been out of work for almost 2 years and had become some discouraged and depressed. Friday morning he prayed that he could find some help for his situation. Friday evening he went to a networking meeting and someone at the meeting spoke with him and told him about the LDS Employment Center and encouraged to stop by and see us. He intended to get up first thing on Saturday and visit the Center but it took him all morning to find the will to do so. As Donna helped him and gave him some guidance and direction in things that he could do to make his job search more effective he once again began to feel hope and a sense of well being. He shared his story with her and she was able to share the talk in the Ensign about prayer and he even took her Ensign home with him to read all of it.
When President Hinckley dedicated the Welfare complex here in Carrollton he dedicated it as a temporal temple. Day after day we see hope and dignity restored in the lives of the people we assist. It is wonderful to be a part of this great work.
The work continues forward. We are grateful for the many, many opportunities to serve. May the Lord bless and keep you this week and always,
Our Love,
Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Jack & Gaye Elder & sister Nelson

The Dallas Arboretum April