Arboretum in Dallas

20 December 2009 – Mission Journal

Dear Family and Friends, Another Sunday rolls around. Once again we have had many wonderful and varied experiences. The employment center continues to be busy, as you in Nevada and Utah know, it’s a tough job market out there! And Texas is not as hard hit. According to national reports, as other states. Monday afternoon I was at the desk answering phones. A man called in and said he went to work and found out that he had been laid off, no prior warning – boom, just like that. He was devastated and worried and concerned about providing for his family. I probably spoke with him about 10-15 minutes just listening and letting him know what resources we have at the Center that may be able to help him in his job search. I hung up the phone, for not more than 2 or 3 minutes and the next caller was another man with the same exact situation. Again we visited about some of his options that he could do to begin his job search. Finally I had to call Elder Nelson over and ask him to take the phone for a while, I didn’t feel like I could listen to another one in a row without breaking down and crying – after all we are supposed to be positive and give hope! One of the men came into the Center in just a couple of hours and we were able to begin working with him and getting him on his way. It turns out this time of the year is when a lot of companies lay off, even before the new year and budget begin.
On the flip side we also had some calls come in while I was on phone duty of a couple of businesses who were needing an office manager. We had been working with a couple of people with those qualifications and it was exciting to call them and tell them about these job opportunities, they are always so grateful to get a lead. Often people will report when they are sending in a resume or going in for an interview. They will come in and have someone look at their resume or we have workshops on interviewing and they also do ‘mock’ interviews. It is always so exciting when people either come in or call in when they’ve gotten a job – we have a bell (quite a loud bell) that is on the wall and when someone gets a job they or we ring the bell and we all cheer. We’ve had several bell ringers this week. 
Tuesday evening we had a Christmas Party with everyone who works at the Employment Center and their spouses. This was a very enjoyable evening! It was so nice to be in a home, especially now at Christmas time, and enjoy their Christmas tree, nativity and other holiday decorations. The other thing that we enjoyed was the fact that it was at Brother Morrell’s home. I guess this is the first time they have done it this way but Brother Morrell had volunteered to do it so they went ahead with it. It was sure great for us.
Jack and I ended up getting there about 15 minutes early (we never know how long it will take us to get anywhere). He was able to show us his harpsichord that he had built and tell us about the building and making of it. He is mainly an organist and he showed us his organ. He not only has one but he built it himself. The cabinet is nothing special, he just uses the cabinet from an old organ (this particular one is from a Rogers church organ) but the sound, the stops, the voicing that he does is really incredible. It really has a beautiful sound and he has it hooked up to other speakers in the room so it is really very nice. He played a couple of things, one of them being ‘Prelude in Classical Style,’ one that Susan, Mom and I have played too. He then let me have a turn. They pulled out a hymnal and I played some Christmas hymns. Bro. Morrell joined me on the other manual adding chimes and embellishments – so fun! The first opportunity I have had to play since leaving Logandale.
He said that we could come over anytime on our day off or evenings and he would just let me play the organ or the harpsichord – I told him he better not say that unless he meant it, he assured me that he did mean it – I assured him we’d be seeing him again.
Then the rest of the group came and we had a very lovely dinner. Afterwards Bro. Morrell and his cello playing friend gave us a little concert of cello & harpsichord music. If you’ve seen the pictures on the blog you will see that they even donned their powder wigs for the event, very fun.
It was a fun evening of visiting and sharing experiences. Somewhere along the way I mentioned that I played the recorder. Sometime we hope to be able to get together for a fun evening of playing. I called Jill and she was able to pull some of my solo music w/harpsichord -piano accomp. and she will send it to me here.
Saturday was our P-day this week. This week we went out to Garland to the Dallas Arboretum. In some ways its not the greatest time to visit gardens, most things are dormant this time of year. We did see many pansies, ornamental cabbages and dusty miller, same kinds of things that grow this time of year in southern NV. However, the original home/mansion was so beautifully decorated for Christmas that we were so glad we had gone. We also enjoyed the many water features etc that they had. There. We definitely plan to go back in the spring time of the year, it promises to be very beautiful then for sure. They have nearly ½ million bulbs planted that will bloom then.
This morning Jack & I went to Dallas 6th Ward Missionary mtg at 9:00 then Choir practice at 10:00. At 11:00 was Sacrament Mtg – the choir sang 2 hymns, the primary children sang a couple of songs, which was very sweet, and the congregation sang 3 hymns. It was a very good meeting and a very strong spirit was there.
After our meetings there we left for the Legacy Ward. Brother Morrell had told us about his ward Christmas Program and invited us to attend. Before I get into that I have to tell one thing we were very excited about on our drive out there. This Chapel was about 30 miles from our home location and when we were getting closer there was a small break in the city and we actually passed a FIELD!! There was some farm equipment and all. We were so excited, we wanted to stop and take a picture but the camera was not handy and the 4 lanes of traffic would not allow it. Well anyway, Brother Morrell was the organist (he built the organ for this building too) and his wife was the choir conductor. It was really beautiful and we enjoyed every moment of this meeting also. Brother Morrell is a very accomplished organist and they have many musicians in their Ward. I won’t go into more details because Jack described it and summed it all up so very well.
Tonight is a community Messiah Sing-a-Long that Brother Morrell and his harpsichord will be attending. He lets people borrow it for different concerts and church occasions – but tonight he will be playing it himself. He will bring an extra score for me so I can sing along too. They have 2 sessions at 6:00 & 8:00, it’s free but you have to call ahead and reserve a spot.
We just returned from the Messiah. It was a lot of fun, very casual in an old theater, in the round. They definitely don’t have anything over on us. It was fun to have the harpsichord, some of the solos were outstanding and some were okay. They had more solos than choruses, I like to focus more on the choruses. The choruses are sung by whom ever shows up so there is no core choir like we have to carry it along but non-the-less we enjoyed it and had fun.
It has certainly been a busy day for Jack and all the driving he has had to do!!
A couple of little side notes ---
-- Water boils much faster here, we’re at about 500 feet.
-- Tony Terry called the Center a couple of days ago, he is a man from Logandale, he and his wife are serving in the Employment Center in Detroit Michigan. He visited with Jack for quite a while, they had a great time sharing and comparing notes of the two Centers. It sounds like our Center is bigger staffed and busier than what he’s dealing with.
-- Happy Happy Birthday to our Jill Marie today!!!
--It was also very special as missionaries to get a Christmas card from President Monson and the 1st Presidency. I believe this is a first for us.
This is a wonderful time of year, it is going to be so different not to share it with our family and loved ones. We try our best to always keep positive but sometimes the tears slip through. We are so grateful for each one of you and appreciate your love, prayers and support. It buoys us up and keeps us going. Thank you so very much. I hope you feel our love reaching out to you across the miles in our absence.
We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, for his birth, life and sufferings for our sakes. We pray that as missionaries we can honor his name and people will be able to feel the love of our Savior through us. Our testimonies are burning stronger each day and we are grateful for this opportunity to serve together, being yoked together in the same cause.
With all our Love,
Jack & Gaye, Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Aunt & Uncle
Elder & Sister Nelson

The Chance to travel to Fort Worth and Visit the Artisan Theatre for the Messiah Sister Nelson was able to sing along

Our two friends are the Cello player and the Harpsichord player

Brother Morell built this Harpsichord.

He thinks sister Nelson is a kindred spirit in the world of Classical Music.

These two brethren are fantastic talent, what a treat to listen

The Messiah director

A beautiful Sunday in Texas.

Sister Nelson and I headed to our Missionary correlation meeting at 9:00 this morning held at the Dallas 6th Ward. This ward is a blue collar to semi poverty and under employed members of the Stake. The building is older and has seen lots of use. The automobiles in the parking lot are all older and mid range rigs to say the least. The old Ford fits right in. The folks dress is not elaborate or over the top with jewelry and costly appeal. We had a chance to sing with the choir for the Christmas program. It turned out very nice with the talks and the primary sang a couple of songs.

As soon as the Sacrament meeting was over we headed out to the Plano 4th ward. We have become friends with the Morrel family in this ward. He is the Harpsichord player and Organist. We arrived at the Building a bit before 1:00 so we had a chance to visit with some of the members. This is the affluent area of the metroplex. George W Bush lives out here as well as Ross Perot (remember his run at the Presidency?) The Building was huge and very new and well kept. The members dressed the part. Much costly appeal and fine clothing were obvious to the eye. The vehicles out in the parking lot were BMW’s, Lexus’s and Cadillac. The old Ford F 250 didn’t cut it here. The Choir was huge maybe 25 members and they were outstanding. They have violinist and flutist. They had the best organ player I have ever heard. (He built the organ for the ward.) The program was very enjoyable. Brother Morrel invited us to a theater here in Dallas called the Artisan. He will be the organ player for the Messiah performance there tonight. Sister Nelson is very excited about this opportunity.
I contrast these two visits this morning with the observation that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in full operation whether you are in a rich ward or one of modest means. Each ward made us feel very welcome and the message was identical in both locations. It is such a testimony to me that whether a ward in Romney West Virginia or Kensington Maryland or Dallas 6th ward each will share the same message of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and do the same kinds of ordinances that we each recognize and feel at home with! I love this opportunity to share the gospel and feel I’m becoming a stronger member by doing so. We thank our family and friends for your support and letters of encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We love each one you for your support and love. Merry Christmas to each of you.

Elder and Sister Nelson

A wonderful staff party out in Plano Texas where Bach and Vivaldi performed for us.

Brother Morell played a harpsichord that he built himself. Wonderful music!! Sister Nelson was in heaven!

A Saturday visit to the Dallas Arboretum

A Texas village with wagons and cabin's!

What a great time we had.

Sister Nelson said the old Ford was better to travel to Texas in!

Sister Nelson is in there!

Grandpa Bill showed me how to use the scythe to mow the hay

Oh we love the plants and plan to return this spring when the Tulips are in bloom.

The poetry garden

I quoted the Love song of J Alfred Prufroc for sister Nelson. She was a good sport.

Maybe while have to rent it to return to Nevada!

The DeGolyer mansion was all elaboratly decorated for the Holidays

Lots of decorations

Lots of books, Mr DeGoyler was a book collector and a big Texas attorney!

The Parlor Tree

The Reflecting Pool
Sister Nelson loves nature and all the landscaping.
A wonder visit with a promise to return. The arboretum is on the border of Garland and Dallas.
Sure felt good to get my Cap and Pirate jacket on instead of the White shirt and tie worn the other 6 days!

Jack n Gaye

The Employment Resource Center et. al.

The Grain Silo's. Quite the Landmark in The Dallas Metroplex! Elder & Sister Phelps office.

The Boardroom or large classroom where we teach the workshops.

Sister Nelson at the front desk keeping everything smooth

The Walk in boxes at the Bishop Storehouse

The Storage area of the Storehouse

Another row at the storehouse

Brother Art running the fork lift. I told him I would rather do this. He said, "You don't know anything about Chinary!"

Christmas decorations are fun to have up
Another view of the front desk
A couple of brothers that are volunteering from the McKinney Stake
Sister Poole's office at the back, she is the director of the Dallas -Fort Worth office

Jack n Gaye

Visit Gaylord Texan

13 Dec 2009 Missionary Journal

Today we attended Stake Conference in the Carrollton Stake. I am happy to report that the Saints here in this Stake are trying to build Zion here too. It was a great conference with many inspiring talks. Only one thing was missing, they had no choir, how unusual from our perspective.

Tuesday I was so excited about the day that I had to come right home and write about it. Tuesday comments: Some good things have happened today!! First I attended Sister Donna Toups’ Resume Class, she is a wizard at resumes. If you ever need help, be sure to see her. She knows so many tricks, just amazing.
Do all y’all remember my experience with the MTC Choir, in the choir of 750 voices a young sister missionary from Las Vegas sat down by me. In the course of conversation we found out we were both from southern Nevada, but she was not content and knew that we had met before. We finally figured out that I had helped her at the Las Vegas Temple the first time she went through. THEN we discovered we were both going to the Dallas Texas Mission. Guess who came into the Employment Center today – you guessed it, Sister, or rather Hermana Brooksby and her companion, Hermana Barber, who by the way is from St. George. She is assigned to work here in Carrollton/Dallas. I asked her where she is living AND she lives in these same apartment complex, the building right next to us. AND she goes to the same church building out in Farmer’s Branch but goes to the Spanish Branch. “God Moves in Mysterious Ways.”
We were so glad to see each other and give each other a hug. Due to flu season and swine flu precautions, we weren’t allowed to do that in the MTC.
Her and her companion have an invitation to go with a family on Christmas Eve – we will be going out to Kim Marshall Heaton’s. So we invited them over for breakfast on Christmas morning. I’m excited to be able to keep that little part of our family Christmas tradition going on out here.
I don’t know if I mentioned previously that the other Senior couple has been assigned to work and help the Dallas area stakes and wards; Jack and I have been assigned the Stakes and Wards in the Fort Worth area. An interesting thing that Jack and I realized today is that everyone that we have known to be out here is in the Fort Worth area, the exception being Beth Nelson’s brother, but we’ve been assigned to his ward. Kim is in the Colleyville Stake, that’s in our area. The Tuttle girl lives in Flower Mound and that is in our area too. Mom, I can’t remember her name and address, could you ask Shannon about it?
Tuesday evening we met with some of the Priesthood leaders in the Dallas 6th Ward and reviewed over the names of people who have not been assigned home/visiting teachers and who have not been contacted in a very long time. There are 158 households!! Sometimes I think city life is not good for you – I think you can either disappear or plain just hide with no trouble at all. Fortunately we had our GPS to find this home. It took many turns to get there. Can you say ‘affluent’? What a nice home. This ward has a great cross section of people and life styles, but the great thing is, in church service all are equal. So far we haven’t seen people look down their noses at others who are not as well off. I guess that’s a good thing or they would be looking down their noses at us!
With so many people to consider, we didn’t get home till after 11:00 pm that night. Wednesday we had another late night, well just until 10:00, with Ward Employment Specialists on a ‘web-i-nar.’ Our manager gave the presentation so we were just listening in. some days it seems we hardly have time to eat – so why are we still gaining weight? I’m not sure how that works.
Last week we were so busy trying to learn WHAT we were supposed to be doing, and this still continues on, but it seems that this week we were able to focus on the people who came in and be more focused on their needs. We have met some interesting people, in all kinds of circumstances.
One person called in, she is from California, met a man on the internet who is living in the Dallas area. He is her really good friend but she doesn’t know how to say his name. He is from Africa, here illegally, is getting kicked out of his house and doesn’t have a job, has not food etc etc. And he doesn’t know the address where he lives. She wants us to rescue him. He can’t make it into the Center, the list goes on. We have given him the names of Texas work force, told him where to go to get day jobs, since he can’t work here legally, told him where to call for social services help. Very interesting indeed. I’m not sure how they got on to us since they are not members of the church.
Another fellow called and doesn’t like his job anymore as a manager of an auto mechanic shop and wants us to find him a new one.
These people we try to work with to help them know how to go about finding a job themselves.
We also have worked with a lawyer, a couple of girls who have just graduated and others who are on the other end of the education scale.
One very pleasant young man, in his early 20’s I’d say, has come in nearly everyday this week. He is from Nicaragua and is excited to be here in the “Land of Dreams.” It has been interesting to talk to him and hear some of his story. He has had an opportunity to come to America and live. He has not graduated from high school, not because he is a drop out but because he has never had the opportunity to go to school. He wants to know how he can study and get his GED and then go on to higher education, particularly in computer/technology. He has a job during the day but comes over to the Center after work. He can get then at 4:00 and he stays until we close at 5:00, then he comes in on Saturday during our open hours. He seems to be very committed and motivated to get and education. He has grown up in poverty and wants to improve his life and help his family improve theirs.
Jack has been able to help him study for the GED and then he works on some computer training tutors that we have on the computers.
Yesterday I felt impressed to give him a Book of Mormon and a pass a-long card for the Christmas CD. I shared a little about it and he said he wanted to hear more of my testimony, so we went into our office where it was quieter. I looked around for Elder Nelson to come and help me but he was busy with another person so I was on my own.
He is still learning English but we were able to share with each other – our beliefs and learned some more of his background. He lived part of his time in the city but his mother’s family is from a native tribe in Nicaragua and they live in the jungle, harvesting beans and rice. He has spent quite a bit of time with this part of his family.
I shared with him the scripture in Moroni where it says that we can read these things and pray about them and we can know the truth. He seemed to really grasp that idea and felt like it would be a good thing to know the truth. He says that he goes to many churches, it doesn’t matter so much which one, we all worship the same person, which I agree with. He said maybe sometime he would come to our church with us.
So our prayers are with him that he will continue to have a desire to know truth and do the searching, studying and praying that is necessary to find this out for himself.
Friday was our P-day, it was nice to catch up on things here at the apt and go for a little ride. We went over to ‘Gaylord Texan,’ which is a hotel/resort area. It’s like Las Vegas w/out the gambling. They had some great Christmas decorations as maybe you saw in the pictures on the blog. It’s about 15 miles from here, still city but at least a little more spread out, things are not quite so tightly squished together there. Jack is so good at visiting people and finding out interesting places.
Friday evening we went to the Dallas 6th Ward Christmas party. They did all the great things, ham dinner, a little family scene w/dialog on stage, Primary Children singing and even Santa. We sat by Beth Nelson’s brother and sister-in-law. They are sure nice people, I appreciate Sister Laybrim (don’t know the correct spelling yet but that’s what it sounds like), she is so pleasant and kind to talk with. They have both made us feel so welcome.
Jack is a great visitor and loves getting to know people so he especially had a good time. The fellow across from us works for Amazon here and is just being transferred at the end of the month to Fallon, NV. So we were able to tell him a little about that area. He likes it here but its move or don’t have a job… he’s moving.
We have also found that 4-wheel drive is very handy in city traffic, you can jump up over those curbs without batting an eye!!. Jack is a very good driver and doing well with it all. I have yet to drive, I think I’ll wait till I get back to Logandale!!
The Bishop told us about a home not far away that really decorates for Christmas. So this evening after choir practice we went out and found it. It was truly amazing. They had so many, many lights decorating their home. In was in a neighborhood that you or might live in, but only in the city of course. Well the amazing thing is, when you get there you tune your radio to 95.9 and they have this marvelous light show, choreographed to the music. Lights coming on and off, all in time with the music. We sat there for a good 30 minutes and never did we see anything repeated, each song was different and each staging of the lights was different. It was very fun.
Time to sign off but want you to know how much we love and miss you all. Thanks for your prayers in our behalf. We feel of your love and support and it helps to sustain us each day. We hope that all of you are well and enjoying this season of the year. Thanks for the notes and letters you send our way. It means so much to have a little bit of home come to us.
We are grateful for this time to serve the Lord, our testimonies are being strengthened daily. We see and feel the Lord’s hand in our lives helping us find our way.
Love to all, Jack & Gaye, Mom & Dad, Grandpa & Grandma, Aunt & Uncle
Elder & Sister Nelson

PS To answer a question of several, we live on the 1st floor, thankfully.


The Entrance into the Gaylord Texan Resort attraction What a fun visit on our day off.

A stop at the Gingerbread House

Sister Nelson is ready for a ride in the One Horse Sleigh

I, on the other hard, would rather ride the Texan Longhorn

Sister Nelson said, "No you take the picture!"

The Poinsettia Christmas Tree

Come on in for great Gingerbread!

That Santa kinda looks like my husband, Elder Nelson!

Ah, my friend Rudolf the Chi Plant

Come on, jump in!

Guess I will ride alone this time

What a fun day! Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

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Jack n Gaye