I don't have any new pictures so I thought I would post our missionary picture that we had taken at the house last summer. Velyn looks like my daughter since my hair is so gray, and it is only getting more so. Instead of it making me look distinguished, it makes me look extinguished.

We have had some more experiences that remind us of how difficult things can be for those around us. We have come to know a mother and daughter that work at Deseret Industries, that are from the Dominican Republic. Part of their training is to put together a resume, so they came in one morning for some help. The mother Julia, had recently been in the hospital with some serious heart issues. She did not look well at all and I asked her (in Spanish) what was wrong. She said that she had gotten into an argument with her adult son with whom she is staying with, and he wants her to leave. She is planning on going back to the Domincan Republic anyway in about 40 days but he wants her out. I asked why she didn't move in with her daughter, Anaiza, and she said that she doesn't have a place for her to sleep without getting a bed. So a week ago Saturday, Velyn and I went to Costco and bought a mattress, pillows and some bedding for her and took it to Anaiza's apartment. I saw Julia on Monday and asked if she had moved into Anaiza's apartment yet and she said no because she can't get down on the floor with just a mattress and be able to get back up. She is about 78 years old. So Velyn and I ordered her a bed frame and box springs so it would be high enough for her to be able to get in and out of. Hopefully, it was delivered today.

We have had quite a few people that have come to the US legally, have social security numbers and working permits, and are very educated. Three of my job seekers were attorneys in Venezuela, 2 are civil engineers, and 2 were professors at Universities.  Now, they are lucky if they can get a job as a janitor or washing dishes. Yet, their situation is so much better than the terrible conditions that currently exist in Venezuela. A lot of the people from Venezuela are afraid that the government is going to send people to the US to hunt them down and kill them because they were involved in protesting the dictatorship of Maduro. 

We take for granted so many things that we have in our lives and opportunities we had while growing up in this country. Today, in the Spanish speaking ward that we attended, they had an English speaking lady play the organ and one of the sister missionaries often leads the music. The Hispanic people in general, never had the opportunity to learn much about music growing up. The couple from our English class that we were sitting next to, didn't understand how to follow the verses in a song, so I explained to them that they sing the song by verses and all the way through the song. So they never had any musical training even in their schools while growing up.

This week will be our last class for English Connect. We will start over with lesson 1 the Tuesday after we get back from Utah, on the 17th. We have grown so close to these humble people, it will be difficult for us to see them move on to level 2, but it is important that they do so to improve their ability to speak English. It has been very rewarding to see them improve in their ability to speak English. This time around, it won't take as much time to prepare the lessons since I already have power points prepared for them. That will give us a little more time to get other things done.

We had an LDS business owner and two of his people give us a presentation at our monthly Staff meeting and potluck lunch this last Tuesday. He owns two large businesses and always has at least 15 jobs open at any one time. One of my most desperate job seekers was just hired by one of his companies as their Fleet Manager. It was a life saver for Gustavo to get this job. He was on the verge of having to sell his car to pay his rent. These jobs will help us a lot in being able to find a good job and good work environment for some of our job seekers.

We leave this coming Friday for Salt Lake for the Employment Manager's Conference. We will be able to attend Eily's Baptism, and also her birthday on Saturday the 7th. Our conference starts Monday evening and finishes on Thursday at noon. We are going to drive down to Spring City afterwards to do to the eye doctor and drop off some things that we found out we didn't need here in Houston. We will drive back up to Logan on Friday and celebrate Joseph's birthday on Saturday the 14th, so it worked out perfectly to attend all of these important family events during this trip. What a blessing to be able to see family half way through our mission!

Once we start our new round of English classes, I should have a little more time to be more diligent on posting on our Blog.