Post #20 Mon. Dec. 21 - Sun. Dec. 27, 2009

It has been another busy and blessings filled week for us. Monday was an easy ride to the employment office. The traffic was noticeably lighter, I guess probably because many had taken the week off from their jobs. Steve, the employment manager, is on vacation so we (employment missionaries) had staff meeting just with Alex. He is pretty casual and after the meeting he had made shrimp cocktail for us to try. I am not a real sea food fan but Elder Walker is and actually it was pretty good. We contacted some of our candidates and sent job postings. We received an email from one of our candidates telling us that he had had a couple of interviews with a company. In his email he said that during his interviews he felt that he had a lot more confidence in himself and thanked us for the career workshop that Elder Walker had taught. We hope and pray that he will soon be offered a job.

Suzanne and Allen Smith are in Houston visiting their son and his family for Christmas. They came to the center today and took us to lunch. It was fun to see and visit with them and talk about Alpine and family. Suzanne is Steven's cousin (Aunt Lucille's daughter).

On Tuesday we went to work early because we closed the office at about 3pm so we could attend the mission Christmas dinner, devotional and picture "shoot". At work we had one of our candidates come in. She is a single mom of two boys. She drives a school bus and makes $16.00 per hour but wanted a better paying job so she could provide a better life for her boys. She has friends who work at a refinery and make good money and have good benefits so she has been trying or thinking that she would like to work at a refinery. We talked to her about a school that she was looking at to take a class that will help her get into a refinery job. Steven advised her that she should make sure that after she takes the class that the school has a good track record of graduate placements. He also pointed out that at a refinery she most likely would have to work shift work. She had not thought of that and who would watch her boys while she was working? We then talked about her bus job and if there was a possibility of advancement there. Steven helped her think of things that she had not thought of before. She said that we were an answer to her prayer. We told her that we just wanted her to make sure that she had all the facts before paying lots of money for a class that might not help her get the employment that she thinks she wants. She said that right now she needs to be home with her boys at night so I think that she will check on advancing with the school district bus department. A very smart, ambitious young mother trying to do her best to take care of her boys and herself. When she left the church I could tell that she was happier, less confused and more at peace with her life.

I am so thankful that we were able to go to the mission Christmas conference. The devotional was great. One zone sang a Christmas song and read scriptures. One sister played the flute when her zone sang. Two sisters and two Elders sang together; all the musical numbers were just beautiful. President Hansen offered the closing prayer, what a powerful prayer as he blessed the missionaries and their families. He offered a special blessing on a young sister who is going home for emergency surgery. It was a very spiritual meeting and I am so thankful that we were there. After the meeting they passed out letters to the young Elders and Sisters from their parents and gave them time to read them there in the chapel. We then each received a gift from President and Sister Hansen and also a Christmas card from the First Presidency. I am thankful to be a missionary and the great army of missionaries we are serving with.

When we returned home Elder Cameron and his new companion stopped by. He has some slacks that need a stitch or two and I am very thankful that I can help. These young missionaries who are serving in these latter-days are the best!

Wednesday was real quiet at work, no one called or came in. We sent job postings, checked new church employment website and updated our candidates files. The weather was real damp and warm, kind of reminded me of Arabia in December. It was our mission temple day today so we closed an hour early and went to the temple. It is a beautiful temple. After the session, I was leaving the dressing room I saw Sister Beck who used to live in Delaware. Her husband was the Bishop of the Christiana Ward and while he was serving as bishop he had a heart attack and died.

She then moved to Houston and we lost track of her after that. She has remarried and works in the temple on Wednesday! Another "tender mercy" to be there at the right time and to meet her again. We caught up with Steven and met her husband for just a second, I hope we can get together with them at a latter time. Today is Prophet Joseph Smith's birthday. I know he truly is a prophet and through him the gospel was restored. It has been a great day. I am thankful to be a missionary and I have the best companion!

Thursday we went grocery shopping for just a few items that we needed. We delivered a Christmas treat to our Hispanic neighbors who live above us and to the side of us. Our neighbor above us is worried that her three children make too much noise but we assured her again that they were just fine. In the evening we went for a drive to see the Christmas lights in some of the nearby neighborhoods. The weather was cold and very windy today.

Friday was a very sunny beautiful Christmas Day. We slept in until 7am and had a very nice morning together, our first Christmas in the mission field and we are glad we are here. We received nice gifts from friends and family. Debbie had put together a book with the Family Proclamation and pictures of our family though out the book it is beautiful, tears flowed as we read it. What a beautiful day, with the flowers out and all (in front of the apartment complex).

We went to my cousin Kent Chamberlain's home for dinner. It was fun to visit and be with him and Diane. There was just the four of us and we talked of Alpine and our families. It was a wonderful day. We talked to our kids and some of the grandchildren, everyone is doing well and they have each enjoyed Christmas. We are thankful for our family.

On Saturday the senior missionaries came to our apartment for breakfast, it was fun to have them. We drove to the Johnson Space Center together and enjoyed our time there. It is an interesting place but very crowded today. The weather was a bit on the cool side so poor Elder Walker nearly froze.

Sunday we visited the Katy 4th ward. We met our only candidate in that ward, he is now employed and we were happy to get that news! Sacrament Meeting talks were very good and we enjoyed meeting with the members of that newly formed ward. The priesthood and RS lessons were very good. A very nice sabbath day, cool, lots of sunshine and no wind.

We love our mission experience and are so thankful to be able to serve together.

May the Lord bless you

Love Mom and Dad

19th Post - Monday Dec 14 - Sunday Dec.20, 2009

It was a rainy drive up to the Hafer Road office Monday morning, but the traffic was not bad at all. We had our staff meeting this morning and reviewed every one's schedule, career workshop schedule and so on. Alex found several items in the fridge so he decided to make a breakfast casserole, which turned out real good. I think he leaves his home without breakfast most mornings. We spend the day contacting our candidates and reviewing their progress on the new website. It took us over an hour and ten minutes to get home this evening - the traffic was bad.

Tuesday morning we got the car serviced at a little shop just a couple of blocks away. This is our go to the office at noon day. We made several phone calls to candidates this afternoon. One was to a returned missionary that came into the office a week or so ago. We gave him a really good contact in the Methodist Hospital system last week so we wanted to follow up with that. Well he had not done much because he does not have a resume. We told him to come to the center right away and we would help with his resume. I can not believe how some folks never get out of low gear.

We got up early this morning and drove over to Alex's home to meet Sister Lish and Sister Billingsley. We left our car there and drove the office car to San Antonio. Steve Stott, the office manager, drove the storehouse pick up to San Antonio earlier in the morning. We moved the employment office in SA from the downstairs to the upstairs of a church building. The move was mostly completed by the time we got there (about 3 hour drive), but there were still some things for us to move. Following the move Steve drove us up to the temple to take some pictures. The temple is on one of the highest bits of land in the area. We could see all over San Antonio - what a beautiful location. The temple is really something. The stain glass, even from the outside, is magnificent- the windows are so large. We then drove to a real Texas BBQ place and ate some of the best BBQ we have ever had. Turkey, beef, sausage, potato salad, beans, cream corn that was really good, peach cobbler and coleslaw. The food was excellent. We then drove down to the Alamo. What an interesting place. For Texas this was the real beginning of their freedom from Mexico and a starting point of the Republic of Texas. We enjoyed the history and feeling for patriotism a lot. We then walked along the River Walk which was especially beautiful as they have the Christmas lights hanging from the big cypress trees along the river (more like a canal). It was really quite cold but we enjoyed the walk. Steve had hotel rooms for the night for us.

Thursday Steve had some office work to do and then training meetings in Austin so he told us to enjoy our day in San Antonio. We drove down to a market place down town which is the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico. It was very interesting to walk around - so much stuff and things to see it was fun. We then went to see the story of the last few days of the Alamo. It was a movie made especially for the IMAX theater. Very interesting movie, even if at the end it was a bit to realistic - you were right there as the last defenders were over whelmed. Great story. We drove back to Houston in the late afternoon. Interesting country side around San Antonio, more hilly and not as flat as it is around Houston.

Friday we were at the Bering building. No career workshop this week as those that were going to come either had temp jobs or one even had an interview - so that was all good. We left early to come home as Steven had another slice and dice appointment with the dermatologist. The Doctor removed 5 more moles or what ever they call those dark spots. He felt OK enough to attend a wedding reception for Alex's step-daughter that evening. The ring ceremony was to start at 6:30 pm but when we got to the church at 6:20 there were only 2 or 3 cars in the lot, we thought we were at the wrong building. After the people started to arrive things really started to hop. The ring ceremony finally began at about 7:30pm. It was a fun evening.

Saturday was washing and cleaning day. We also did Christmas cards, made candy and treats and went out to get a few groceries and to the post office.

Today we attended the Spring Branch Ward, which is about 15 miles from our apartment. They had their Christmas program which was really nice. Their choir was very good (not like Newark, but almost). The start of the program was different. They had a man singing a solo, and then a woman stood up in the audience and joined in and then another person stood up and then another until one by one the whole choir was standing in the aisles of the chapel singing. Then they made their way to the choir seats. Again the music was really good. They gave Steven a few minutes in priesthood meeting to introduce himself and talk about employment. There were some who wanted our cards to contact us later. The weather has been really nice the past three days, warm sunshine during the day and cool evening.

We pray you will have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy new year. Thank you for your love and support.

Love, Mom and Dad

18 th Post Mon. Dec 7 - Sunday Dec. 13, 2009

Monday Dec 7 th - Pearl Harbor Day and our day to travel to the Hafer Road Office. It is also the day for our "welfare complex" Christmas dinner. The LDS Social Services, Employment office, Bishop Storehouse, and peanut factory folks all brought food for the dinner. It was great. We had fried turkey, ham, TurDukIn, all kinds of salads, veggies, rolls, pies and all the trimmings. Never heard of TurDukIn? It is boneless chicken stuffed in a boneless duck, stuffed in a boneless turkey. We had a great time visiting with many folks we have not met before, many are volunteers at the bishops storehouse or spouses of the employees. I just felt like having a big nap after such a big lunch. Diane Bromley (Dobson) was in town and called us. She came over to the center for a quick visit. Still the same old Diane, just goes a mile a minute. It was good to see her. We sure have great friends throughout the world who have blessed our lives.

Tuesday we got up early and ran as normal, but also fixed breakfast for the two sets of Spanish speaking Elders in the apartment complex. Leona really fixed a nice breakfast casserole, pull-apart-bread, fresh fruit salad, etc. I think the Elders were full by the time they left. We sure enjoy them. They even sang a Christmas hymn in Spanish for us before they left. As we were eating we said, "have some more casserole Elders". Well, one Elder wanted to know what a casserole was. In the explanation we made a comment "I'm sure your mother has made casseroles before" to which he commented that his mother does not cook. Poor kid. We had a fellow come into the center this afternoon who was born in Peru and is a returned missionary. He has lived in this country since he was about four. Real nice brother, with a big family. Hopefully we will be able to help him.

We had invited several to our Career Workshop today, but only one showed up. It's too bad, people who could use the help do avail themselves of what the church has to offer.
Tobiaus seemed to enjoy the class and the information. I also enjoyed my time with him. His English was not bad and he is a very intelligent person so I am sure it will not take long for him to find something.

Thursday and our day at the Broadway building. Another returned missionary came in today. He is not married and is looking for anything right now, especially at a hospital as he has worked at a hospital before. We started the registration process online and told him about the career workshop next week. I hope he will attend. We had to travel back to the Hafer Road office this afternoon for monthly Ward and Stake Employment training. It was really good training but not very many attended. The drive home was long as the traffic was real heavy even though it was late. Very cool and windy today.

Friday and back to the Bering building. We had just one at the final session of the career workshop today. He had lots of questions and comments so our time was well spent. We were just ready to sit down and have a bite of lunch when a sister came in for resume help. She is a graduate of our career workshop some months ago and has been to the special resume writing class. She has had writers block and just can not get her resume done. She told me she was disappointed in the resume class as she did not get what she needed. Well over 2 hours later she left with an outline and with a greatly increased sense that she could "do this". She could not thank us enough. While I was helping her with the resume a young couple and a fellow from Africa came in. Leona was really hopping to keep them all going. The young couple apparently were living with parents and did not have much of a clue on job search skills. Not sure they came into the center on their own (probably had some encouragement from parents!!). I got a chance to talk with the fellow from Africa before he left. He has been living in France, has a very good education and is very smart. I am sure he will get a job soon.

We completed our normal p-day activities in the morning and early afternoon. It was then off to the Houston South Mission Home for a dinner with the South Senior Missionaries and their mission president. President and Sister Saylin are new to the mission, they are young and have their 6 children with them (ages 15 to 4). What a challenge that would be! We have became acquainted with some of the South senior missionaries (as we live in the South Mission) so anyway we were invited by them (not sure the mission pres and his wife knew we were coming or a least that we were not part of their mission). Anyway they made us feel very welcome and it really was a great dinner. We all then went over to the Williams Trace Baptist Church to hear the Fort Bend Boys Choir and their Christmas program. The music was very good and we really enjoyed the evening.

We attended church in the Katy 3rd ward today. Leona met a lady sitting next to her in RS who was at the Uof Delaware with her husband years ago. She knew the Tabors, Ridges, and Bushmans. I got to spend a few minutes with the Bishop, but I do not think they have many that need employment help. The one candidate we have on our files is now in the Katy 4th ward after a very recent ward division. No one came up to us and shook our hand or welcomed us today. We made the first move in every case. The ward did seem more affluent than what we normally see. The talks and the special music were wonderful. The special music in sacrament meeting was provided by two young men, one on the cello and the other on the piano. They played "O Holy Night" it was really good. I was reminded of Charlie, he was such a good person and I have missed him. We had Elder and Sister Greenwood over for dinner today. They live in the apartment complex, work at the Clayton Library downtown and leave to go home this Wednesday. It has been good to have them close and to get to know them.

We sure love and appreciate all the good folks we have met since we arrived in Houston. Our mission experience has been such a blessing to us.

May Heavenly Father bless and watch over you all.

Love Dad and Mom

17th Post Mon Nov. 30 - Sun Dec.6, '09

It is hard to believe how fast each week slips by. We have had another wonderful week in the mission field and will be eternally grateful for this experience.

Monday took us to the main employment office located by the mission office. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 70 minutes to get there from our apartment. The ride on Monday was good not much traffic. It was a quiet day, we had our weekly staff meeting and discussed little problems we are experiencing with the new website. We each received our assignment for the Christmas lunch that will be next Monday with all those who work in the bishop's storehouse and peanut butter factory. Sister Lish returns from Idaho (her sister's funeral) tonight, she has been missed.

It rained a lot on Tuesday, in fact we got wet on our early morning run. The furnace at the Bering Building is having problems so no heat in the part of the building where our office is. The chapel was warm so we opened the doors hoping some of the warmth would come down the short hallway. When our hands got too cold we would sit in the chapel to thaw out for a few minutes. A nonmember family came for help in the late afternoon. The missionaries are teaching them. They have a new baby and a three year old. He spoke pretty good English but his wife did not. We helped them on the computer with restaurant jobs and phone numbers and addresses. He has done construction work and we found a job lead for that type of work that he will call about tomorrow. A very nice family and they so appreciated our help. We told them to come back and use the computer if they needed to since they did not have one at home. If I was wealthy and had a business I would like to hire him and the many others just like him that we have met. Our side walk outside of our apartment was flooded by the time we returned at 9:30 pm so it was another one of those times of walking through ankle deep water to get home - another missionary memory for us!

On Wednesday it was very cold at the church. We usually take a lunch but today we left for a bit so we could go someplace a have a warm bowl of soup. A church maintenance man came to fix the heating problem but had to call the contractor because he could not figure what was wrong. A member came in for employment help. He wants to go to the Middle East to work. He has friends who are working there and "making lots of money". Steven told him that his best chance of getting a job over seas would be to contact his friends and get information from them of job opportunities. He plans to come to the career workshop next week. We left at about 4:30pm because it was so cold. I never thought in September that Texas could get this cold.

Broadway center on Thursday. For the first 45 minutes Elder Walker does his normal routine in this building of trying to hookup/get the Internet to work and I busy myself with a vacuum and restock toilet paper and towels in the lady's restroom. This building is well used by several Spanish units and we enjoy our day serving here, just wish that we spoke Spanish. We spent the day on the phone trying to reach our candidates and sending emails. Elder Cameron and Elder Cole (they live in our apt. complex) stopped by at about 9:00pm with some pants that need to be repaired. I am so thankful to be able to help in this way. They are such fine Elders. I love to be around all the missionaries and so thankful for this blessing in our life to be called on a mission; for the bounties of life that we have been blessed with that allow us to be able to serve.

Another cold day at the center (56 degrees in the office!) . The contractor got the furnace working about 3pm so we were thankful for him and his skills. It snowed today in Houston! That was quite an event, it didn't last long but the car was covered. A member came to practice the piano and stopped by to visit with us about a job. He has a limo business but right now it is a slow time for him so he is looking (kind of) for something to supplement his income. He says his passion is piano and would like to play at weddings or fancy hotels. We had him fill out a form for us. When we left the office at 5pm we thought that we would have a crazy ride home in the traffic but was pleasantly surprised to find no traffic! I guess everyone went home early. We did turn the furnace on in our apartment for the first time - so you know it was cold.

Saturday was our clean the apartment, do the laundry and go shopping day. The snow was still on the car early this morning and there was frost on the roofs of the apartment buildings. We read some and I worked on mending the elders slacks.

Today we drove down to the Richmond Ward, which is west and south of Houston. It is a very large ward with over 60 kids age three and under. They have 4 large nurseries and two elders quorums. We were able to visit with one of our engineering candidates. It looks like his contract job may well turn into full time employment after the first of the year. They introduced us in sacrament meeting and several came up after and wanted to talk with us. The high priests gave Steven a few minutes to tell about the services provided by the employment center and after the high priest group leader said the elders need to hear that. He took Steven right down to the Elders quorum (they were combined today) and they gave him ten minutes to talk about employment. He had several express interest in the career workshop and other services we provide. It was a good sabbath day....well almost. I was sitting in Relief Society and looked down at my feet and could not believe my eyes - I had one brown shoe and one black shoe on! Well, I could not hide my feet fast enough. After the meeting Steven came to the Relief Society room to walk out to the car with me and I told him we had to leave now! He said not to worry if anyone said anything just say, "oh these are my favorite shoes and I have another pair just like them at home". Oh well, just old age and another missionary memory!!

We continue to be blessed and are so thankful for this marvelous opportunity in our life.

We love you - may Heavenly Father continue to bless you.

Mom & Dad

16th Post Monday Nov. 23 to Sunday Nov. 29, '09

The traffic was light driving to the Hafer Road office on Monday. Not sure why unless folks had the week off. Alex called in sick and Sister Lish is still in Idaho for her sisters funeral, so things were quiet in the office today. I am still fighting a cold but the medication helps. We took advantage of being at the main office to get our questions answered about the new betajobs.lds.org web site. Lots of little issues we needed help with.

Tuesday we had an interesting fellow come into the Bering center. He has a good job and does not anticipate being without work soon, but just wanted some suggestions on his resume. He has worked for the same company for 30 years and is in the process of applying for a different job within the company. He would also like to possibly get a job transfer to Florida which is home for him. We talked about several ways to improve his resume. He was such an up beat fellow and a convert to the church of several years, it was fun to visit with him. We also phoned several of our contacts to see how they were doing (not many ever contact us). We finally got a hold of one non-member who we had never had direct contact with before. We asked about all the job listings we had sent and he said he never received them. Well we knew the emails were sent so we got to thinking and asked him to check his spam mail. Sure enough there were all the emails with the job postings. He now understands how important it was to check his email more closely as at least one job would have been just right for him and probably would have resulted in an interview.

Wednesday we had our west Africa brother come back into the center. He had received the information we sent about the security company (he really wants to work as a security officer). He had started his online application at church but the person helping him did not have time to complete the application process. I told him we could help. Two hours later we were less than 50% complete with the process. He was tired and said he would come back "next week". It is so hard for some people from different cultures to figure out our USA system, but we do what we can to help.

Thanksgiving Day. We meet the other Senior Missionaries at the Hafer Road office for our Thanksgiving dinner. The Chesnuts, Dorius, Walkers, and Sisters Billingsley, Higham, and Young. Mom (Sister Walker) made pumpkin and lemon meringue pies, bake yams, dressing, and a cheese ball. We had turkey, ham, rolls, vegetables, pecan pie, green jello salad, a green salad and all the stuff that make a great dinner. The turkey had been fried so that was a first for us. It was really good. The weather was cool, never got out of the 60's (high). We had a wonderful day and a good visit with the other missionaries.

The employment office was closed Thursday and Friday so we had a long weekend. Friday we did some shopping and looking for candy supplies. We spent 2 + hours in Hobby Lobby so that was a real test for me (I believe I passed).

Saturday we got up and drove to the temple. The traffic was light so it was a really relaxing drive. Not too many on our session. We really enjoyed our visit and just relaxed in the temple for a while. We went to the "This is a Place Book Store" which is close to the temple, it's like the one in DC, just a bit larger.

Today, Sunday we drove down to the Sugar Land 1st Ward. We were there about a month ago but decided to go back as we have two new candidates (husband & wife) that we wanted to meet. I spoke to the husband about how we could be of help, but they want to move back to New Jersey. They have already contacted the LDS Employment Center for that area. Our other candidates were not at church again this time, so we missed seeing them once more.

The combined relief society priesthood meeting was very interesting. The stake YM president made a presentation about gifts, Christmas and the Savior. He talked about special gifts he had received during his life and shared with us the gift of Elder Bruce R. McConkie's last general conference address, what a powerful testimony he bore. It was a very touching experience to see that talk again after all these many years - it truly was a gift to us all. The YM president mentioned he was originally from Lehi, and that his patriarch and seminary teacher was Brother Hakes. I went up after and asked if he knew Russ Hakes and sure enough Russ was the Brother Hakes' son. (Russ was our Stake Ex. Sec, a bishop and former student of Dad's in Lehi). He also graduated with Chris Norman (my brother-in-law) and had taken shop from my dad. He told Leona and I that Brother Hakes and my dad were the two most influential teachers that he had in school. I have met people all over who have had dad as a school teacher and all have commented on his positive influence on their lives. It is really a small world.

We have had another wonderful week in the mission field. Each day we are so thankful for this experience. I have enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon this time like maybe never before. It seems every page has so many "new" lessons and applications for my life. I am so grateful for that wonderful "gift" in my life. I do have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

We love you all and are most thankful for our family and friends.

Love Dad and Mom

15th Post Sunday Nov. 15 - Sunday Nov 22

We had a interesting Sunday. We always try to decide where we should attend church, normally considering which candidates we could possible help by meeting with them. We print our list of candidates so we can review with the bishop, get the church address, and meeting times and print all this on Friday. Well we decided to go to the Baytown 1st Ward again as we have a candidate who is not making much progress. We had called the Bishop ahead of time to set up a meeting with the leadership and our candidate so we could all get on the same page. Well the church website for meeting times was wrong so we got there after sacrament meeting was over. I was feeling bad, but it turns out that was the best thing. The bishop (who was just called into the new stake presidency) walked into the building behind us so we got our candidate and had a good meeting. It was helpful as now the ward knows what we are doing and the candidate knows what he must do for himself. We were waiting in the foyer when we saw a couple of Elders we had not seen earlier, so we went over to say hello. Low and behold one of them was Elder Braithwaite who is Anna Timothy's son, our friend from Delaware (next to Sister Walker). Leona said I've been looking for you and he said I've been looking for you! He and his companion had just been transferred to the Baytown area, in fact missionaries had been pulled from that area and they were the first ones back for awhile. Anyway he had previously served in the Kingwood area and we asked if by chance he knew Perry Dobson. He said "oh yes, I have been in his home several times and he sure make a good chocolate shake." It is a small world. It was fun to be able to visit with him.

Monday we were at the Hafer Road office. We found out that Sister Lish's younger sister passed away and so she went home for the funeral. I miss her good sense of humor. There were two people who came into the center to use the computers today that were not real computer literate so I spent most of my day going between them. They need to know how/where to search for jobs and to understand the questions on job applications (one did not read English very well). After work the senior missionaries were invited to the mission home for dinner. President and Sister Hansen are such gracious people. The dinner was a farewell for Sister Higham who is leaving and a welcome to Sister Young who just arrived. It is always a good time when the seniors get together. President Hansen gave me a temple recommend interview after the evening activities were over. It was good to get to know him better, we had a good visit (and yes I did get my recommend). While I was visiting with President Hansen Leona helped Sister Hansen wash dishes. Sister Hansen told her about their mission call and family. She said that after President Hansen retired they turned in their mission papers thinking they would be going to Costa Rica because a couple from their stake was serving as mission president there and needed (ask) if they would come as proselyting missionaries. A few days before they anticipated receiving their call they got a phone call from SLC and they were told "when your call comes in the mail do not open it, just send it back" A short time after they had returned the envelope they received a call from Elder Uchtdorf (he was not in the presidency at the time) saying he was going to be in Mesa and wanted to meet them. That took place and they just visited and Elder Uchtdorf told them not to worry he just wanted to meet them! A short time later they received a call from President Monson and they were extended the call to be mission president. They then had to wait to find out what mission when their call came in the mail. They are great people and doing a great job - what a responsibility, they are on the move constantly. We had a nice evening.

Tuesday afternoon we had a woman and her brother come into the Bering building for employment help. She is in real estate and needs to find additional work. I believe her brother has a learning disability. We invited them to the career workshop on Wednesday and they said they would attend. (It was cool running this morning, in the 40's and it didn't get out of the 60's all day - very nice).

We had four show up to our career workshop this morning. A fellow we met last week (he is one step above homeless), and a young man who recently lost his job at a big shopping complex - he was the loss prevention and security manager. Also our sister and brother from yesterday came late, but we got them caught up. It was a good group and they seemed to get a lot out of the material.

Thursday and we are at the Broadway Building. There were three relatives (?) who came in this afternoon. They were young had two very small children with them and were looking for jobs. We talked about what LDS Employment does and how we could help. We only have one computer at this center so we did the best we could at showing them how to log on the new web site and get registered, where to find possible job leads and so on. We also gave them some hand outs that will be helpful for their job search. I believe many people come into the center expecting to get a big list of jobs they can go interview for. We do have some job listings and the new betajobs.lds.org web site does have jobs listed, but some want a job given to them.

Friday we only had our two brothers show up for the workshop. The sister and her brother did call back later in the day and they do want to come and finish next week. It is interesting that our nearly homeless brother rides his bike and is always early (even in the rain - it was raining this morning). Our "west Africa" husband & wife came in late this afternoon. They had not checked their email since I set it up for them 3 or 4 weeks ago, nor had they done much job searching. We logged on and they had two emails from the company that I had helped him apply for work. Of course the emails were about 3 weeks old and same with the job leads we had subsequently sent. I think they got the message about how important it is to check their email at the library or here at the center several times a week. The day flew by even though this head cold is about to do me in.

Saturday and Sunday I have not felt like doing too much so I mostly took my Contact pills to keep my nose from running off my face and slept. It has been a wonderful week with lots of interaction with various candidates. That really make us feel like we are helping. We are so blessed to be full time missionaries, how thankful we are to be here at this time in our lives. Thank you for your love and support and for the autumn leaves from Delaware and the letters from grandchildren.

Love Dad & Mom (Steve & Leona)

14th Post

Time for another blog post. Elder Walker wrote the last two times only because he has a short memory. Last week when he said "who's turn is it?" I said "go ahead" so he thought it was his turn again. I tried that strategy again this week but it didn't work! Of course you get wiser the older you get so for sure he should be wiser this week!

Last Sunday, November 8th we attended the Houston North Stake Conference. That stake was divided and my cousin, Kent Chamberlain, was in the stake presidency so I wanted to be there. Kent now serves as 1st counselor in the new Spring Texas Stake. Elder Craig C. Christensen, a member of the 1st Quorum of Seventy, was the general authority who presided for the weekend. It was a good conference and I am thankful to have been able to attend. I remember how nice it was when Kent's folks, Uncle Zenneth and Aunt Alta were serving a mission in our stake in Delaware and now we are serving here in Houston not in Kent's stake but in the area. I am sure my Grandpa and Grandma Dunsdon are proud of their grandsons. I believe right now at least two are serving as bishops and Kent in a stake presidency. I am thankful for my family and ancestors; for their faithfulness and sacrifices and the blessings of the gospel. It was a wonderful weekend.

We had a good day at the main office on Monday. Sister Lish and Sister Billingsley are such kind and faithful senior sister missionaries, we enjoy being with them on Mondays. Steven and I have been having trouble getting on the new church employment website but that was resolved for me on Monday and they continued to work on Steven's. We had our weekly staff meeting and discussed problems that we are having with computers, candidates, and etc. so our staff meeting went a bit long. It was a good meeting Alex and Steve (Center Manager) are helpful and knowledgeable.

Tuesday was our long day at the Bering Building. We had a nice couple come in to use the computers for job application and help with a resume. They are very nice and were at the center a few weeks ago. They stayed for a couple hours and then went to get something to eat and said "we will be right back". They said that the last time they were in and it was a month to get "right back". I think that he has a part time job and she must not be too anxious to find work yet. We are here to help and I pray that we do.

Wednesday was Veteran's Day. I am thankful that I live in America and grateful for those who are fighting and serving to keep our freedoms and keep us safe and helping others in far away places. We received an email from one of our candidates, unfortunately we had a misunderstanding. We had sent him a lead on a job a couple of weeks ago and said that we hoped it was something that would be of interest to him. He email back that it looked like a "perfect fit, thank you'. Well, unfortunately he thought that somehow we were going to submit his application but in reality we just send the job postings and the candidates have to apply themselves! So for the past couple of weeks he as been waiting to hear something back from us. We feel bad because it did look like a good job and he had all the qualifications. Steven spoke to him on the phone, I don't know if it is too late to apply now or not. The fridge needed to be cleaned at the church big time so I spent some time doing that in the morning - it looks much better.

We spent the day at the main center because we had training. Gustavo Estrada from SLC was here to spend the day to train and answer questions. It was a pretty quiet day. The new website will be good when it gets up and running - still a lot of questions and "bugs" to work out. It was a monthly ward and stake employment specialists meeting Thursday night, about 15 people attended. Everyone at the meeting registered on the new web site and began their profiles. This is going to be a long tedious process - trying to get all our candidates to do this. We went to dinner with Sister Billingsley and Sister Lish before the meeting. It was a place that "threw" warm rolls. A fellow just walked around and tossed you one if you wanted it, they were SO good. He also had chocolate chip muffins to toss too. Forget the meal - I loved the rolls!

Friday was a busy day. We had two men come for help and a lady wanting help over the phone all at one time! One man was a member and one was not. The member has been homeless in the past. He has been in trouble and is trying to get things back together. He seemed pretty good at the computer and got on sites to see if he could find work as a dish washer for now. He plans to come next week to the career workshop. The second fellow is Hispanic and has done carpentry work for over 20 years. He has a truck and tools so I hope he can find work quickly. His English was good. I asked him how he learned about LDS employment and he said that his wife's friend is a member and she told him to come see us. I told him we were glad to have him and he was very thankful for our help. He got on line and we found a couple of leads for him. He said that he will come to the workshop if he hasn't found a job. A lot of good kind people in the world and we were privileged today to meet two, just hope we can help them to help themselves.

Saturday was Happy Birthday to Steven! He is a year older and wiser. He got his haircut and helped with the apartment cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping, sounds like a fun birthday! We did celebrate in the early evening and went out for dinner. We have had a good day and wonderful week. It is great to be serving as missionaries together, we are so thankful for this blessing.

Love Mom & Dad