We have been quite busy so I didn't get anything posted last week. We had a senior missionary dinner on Monday. It was nice to get to know the other senior missionaries in our area a little better. The couple on the far end are the Taylors. He is in charge of all the automobiles in the mission, and she manages the finances in the mission. The next couple on the left are the Owens. They are in charge of all the housing. So they have to arrange for all the apartments for the young missionaries as well as us old ones. It has to be a difficult job since they have to move all the furniture to new apartments as well. The next sister missionary is the nurse for the mission. The closest couple on the left are the Petersons. They are self-reliance missionaries. The other couple closest on the right are the Garrisons. They are in charge of the peanut butter factory. This factory produces all of the peanut butter for the Church nationwide. It goes to all the Bishop's Storehouses for those families that are in need, and the rest is donated to food pantries across the country.

I had a lady come into the employment services office that only spoke Spanish so I got a chance to use my Spanish to help someone.  She has a degree in civil engineering from a University in Cuba many years ago. She worked in Africa building hospitals for 3 years. Now she and her husband, who also has a degree in civil engineering, are legal residents in the US, but the only job she can get would be entry level. The Church has English as a second language classes (ESL) twice a week with two sessions per night. Velyn and I attended one this week and I was amazed at how many different classes there were, and how many people were taking them. These classes are free and are open to anyone regardless of their religious affiliation. They have 3 different levels of English classes, and once they are in the third level, they are qualified to enter the BYU pathways courses which allows them to work on a college degree. This lady that I mentioned is taking the level two class along with her husband. I helped her fill out a job application when she came into the office.  She was very appreciative of the help and was surprised that a gringo could speak Spanish. I had no idea that this ESL program even existed until we found out about it through the employment center. 

There have been so many people who come into the employment center that are desperate to get a job. They are willing to work, but because they don't have any training or college, the only jobs available are minimum wage and they just can't earn enough to provide for themselves, especially if they have children. It makes me appreciate how fortunate most of us are to have received a good education and have jobs that have provided for our families. 

Our elevator finally got fixed! Now I won't have to buy new pants to compensate for my growing leg muscles. They will probably be back to my normal chicken legs by next week. 

This is a picture taken off of our balcony tonight. We are fortunate to have a nice apartment with a nice view. Another missionary couple in our building a view of the H.E.B. grocery store loading dock and gets woken up at 4 am with trucks unloading. Now that our elevator is fixed, the only problem we have is that the people in the apartment have a German Shepherd that they put out on their balcony and he barks constantly. We are lucky that they let him in at night so at least we can get some sleep. I should have brought some dog tranquilizers with me.

Velyn's brother Ben and his wife Lolly stayed with us on Saturday night, and we all had dinner with her sister Deana and her husband Paul who were in town to see two of their daughters who live here in Houston, Jana and Carlie. It was nice to get to be able to spend the day with family even though we are so far from home. 

We have had a lot of information to learn about how to help people find jobs, but we are finally feeling like we are gaining ground and can help those to are coming into the employment services office. We still have quite a ways to go but we are making progress. We both appreciate this opportunity to be of service to our Heavenly Father, and to be able to do it together. It makes us feel good at the end of the day to know that we were able to be of some help to a few of God's children.