21st Post Mon. Dec 28 2009 - Sun Jan 3, 2010

Wow not only was this a fast week but where did this year go!! We had a nice drive up to the Hafer Road office this morning - traffic was very lite. Our staff meeting was short so we worked on our list of candidates, made some phone calls and sent some emails. It was a quiet day, but it is always nice to see and visit with the other senior missionaries both in the employment office and in the mission office which is right next door. Monday is also the young missionaries P-day so we have several come into the employment office to use the computers. They are really a good group of Elders and Sisters. It was very cool last night and today - nice Leona weather.


Alex changed our schedule today so we went into the Bering building at 8 AM instead of 12 noon. That was nice not to be there until 9 pm as normal. We had three people come into the center today. The first was a man who is retired from the city of Houston and needs to find work to make ends meet. We got him set up on the new web site, shared some job leads with him and other items. His sister has a computer and so she will help him get an email account. I offered to do that for him but I think he felt he had been in the office long enough. A couple came in later in the afternoon. They were both very educated and had some very good experience. I suspect they will not have too much trouble finding jobs. They had already registered online on the new web site so they were already a long way ahead of where most of our folks are. It rained and was very cool today.

It was still raining this morning (Wednesday) when we went out running. We were soaked to the bone and cold when we got home. The Bering office phones were not working today, but we sent emails to about 17 or so candidates inviting them to the career workshop next week. Hopefully we will have several show up as we know it will be very helpful for them. Alex called this morning and told us to meet him at a Mexican restaurant not too far from our office. Alex had his two young sons with him (his wife is in Utah with a new grand baby) and Sisters Lish and Billingsley. The place we met him looked like the typical fast food Mexican place, but the food was very good. We will have to go back.

Thursday (New Years Eve) we were at the Broadway building. We only had one fellow come in. He has his own business and has done well the past several years, but the last couple of months business has dropped off a bit. He came in to get a few ideas and to talk to us. Not sure I ever did get a real straight answer concerning what he was looking for. He just knew he did not want a full time job and nothing heavy duty. We had a good chat and offered a few suggestions that he had not thought off. They had us close the office early today so we would not be on the roads in the early evening. We were invited over to the Senior Sister Missionaries place for dinner along with Elder and Sister Dunning from American Fork. They are all missionaries from the Houston South Mission, but because we live in that mission and the sisters now live in our apartment complex we do get to do things and visit with them from time to time. We had a very nice dinner and played a few games. It was great to visit and fun to get to know those senior missionaries. It was very foggy and damp all day and evening.

We had Friday off so it was nice not to have to get up so early and just take it easy. We went for a ride to find the location of some discount stores and then drove over to the Galleria to see the big Christmas tree in the ice rink. Very pretty tree. We walked through the Neman Marcus store to get to the Galleria area from the parking garage. They had a "bargain basement" sale set up in their downstairs. We looked at the Christmas socks that were on sale. Regular price was $195, on sale for $100. We were going to pick up several at that bargain price, but decided it was not that good of a deal (ya right). The Galleria area is full of high end stores, ie Saks Fifth Ave, Dillard's, Nordstrom, and diamond shops like you would not believe. Anyway a fun place to look, but not so much to buy.

Saturday we got up to another really nice day. Sunny and cool. Some previous Senior Missionaries from Katy Texas have a "ranch" about 90 miles west of Houston, out in the sticks. It is 50 or so acres, but not what you might think of as a ranch. They have a very small shack with a bed in it and an outhouse. There is running water and electricity. Anyway this couple invited a few folks from their ward and the Senior Missionaries from our Mission. They had BBQ beef, blackened catfish, which was really very good, and all kinds of pot luck salads and goodies. They have several Texas long horns. It is just a really out of the way place to go and relax. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and very delicious food. It was a great time, they are really good folks and fun to talk with. We are getting better at understanding Texan, even though we don't speak it yet.

We attended the Friendswoods 1st Ward today. Friendswood is south of Houston on the way to Galveston. It took us about 40 minutes to get there on the freeway. We drove past Reliant Stadium where the Houston Texans play football, on the way to church this morning. They were already setting up for their tail gate parties at 8:15 this morning, for a 1 pm game start. We enjoyed the ward meetings. They introduced us in sacrament meeting and then gave us some time in priesthood and relief society to tell about what we are doing. They are a very friendly bunch that is for sure. We really enjoyed the testimony meeting, so many humble and heart felt testimonies. It was wonderful to be in church today and to be on a mission. We are truly blessed. Have a great week and a prosperous new year.

Love, Dad and Mom