Fallen Warriors Memorial

Last Thursday we stopped by the Fallen Warriors Memorial on our way to Zone Training.

It's cold in Houston

Brrr!  I can't believe how cold it's been in Houston.  The ward members says it's usually not this cold.  I would expect this cold weather in Missouri - but not Houston. 

This past week we've been busy helping ward members with their family history.  Leva, who is from Samoa linked into her family tree that goes back to the 1600's.  That was fantastic.

Mirta sent her mother's citizenship paperwork in. 

We found that Kevin has several German lines that go back to the 1700's.  We also found out that a few people on his family tree have already had their temple work done.  He thought he was the only person in his Catholic family who had joined the church. When his parents get back from their cruise he is going to tell them they have Mormon cousins:)

It's our ward's turn to clean the church this month - so we help with that each Saturday.

Sunday, family history class lasted about three hours (for those who wanted to stay and get help).  We finished in time for the Christmas Devotional broadcast.  Since we didn't have time to drive to the stake center we hooked the laptop to the church's TV and watched it in the Relief Society room.  The Elders from our ward, the Elders from the deaf branch (we selected sign language view), and Kevin & Millie stayed and watched also.  We got home about 8:30 pm.

Thanksgiving and November Ends

We were able to close November with an eventful week. We are glad for the blessing of health returning to some who have had surgery and are recovering well.

On Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed a visit to downtown Houston and unexpectedly experienced heavy downtown traffic. We found that Houston has a Thanksgiving Day parade and it was just ending as we got there. Streets were closed, and people were walking and then driving everywhere. The streets stayed closed on the parade route as floats and participants were gathering up and leaving, so we were sent away from where we were wanting to go. We did see the Budweiser Clydesdales up close as they went passed us going the other direction. We got a good look at downtown Houston as we traveled slowly in the traffic. We had time to look and observe while we stopped and waited so that we could move 20 more feet and stop again. We ended up west and south of our destination before they started opening streets up and we could make our way back to our goal, the theatre district . We then walked around to see some of the sites. Here are a few pictures of what we saw:

This sculpture was  in front of one of the buildings. And with the parade over, we didn't have any crowds to contend with on our tour.

Friday, as we were going to zone meeting, the car's "check engine" light came on. We were near an automotive center we had used for an oil change, so we turned in to get it checked. We texted the elders to let them know we would not make zone meeting (yes, we have learned how to text). We spent the next 4 hours there getting it diagnosed and repaired. Now the car is fixed and we can travel safe and sound.

We spent a weekday evening and more time on Saturday assisting a member get his family history entered into the computer. His wonderful Aunt Mary had collected the information years ago and he had been given a copy. When  we started the Family History class, he remembered he had it and pulled it out of a closet. What a gold mine. He is learning computer literacy and his ancestors are going onto the computer. And the stories he remembers as they are being entered are wonderful. He will have many opportunities for temple attendance in behalf of his family. This is a joy to participate in.

The month and week ended positively. The Lord loves and is mindful of all His children. ALL of them and ALL of us.

Good Productive Week

Taught Andrew Reyna a lesson at the church.

We taught family history classes on Thursday and Sunday (small groups so we could give individual attention, as needed).

Helped Michael start his family tree.

Helped Millie and Kevin start their family trees.

Took some CIS applications over to Mirta.  Mirta is trying to help her 80 year old mother with her U.S. Citizenship requirements.  Joe is progressing very well after his surgery.

We met with Candida (our sweet neighbor from El Salvador) with the elders.  Later, we took her to the church and the elders helped her and Pedro with some on-line job applications.  Afterwards, the elders gave her a tour of the church building, and we watched a short video (in Spanish) of the celebration and dedication of the temple in El Salvador.  The spirit was really strong.  Candida and Pedro are moving from their apartment to a house tomorrow.  Elder Alvarenga is going to get their new address and pass it to the Spanish-speaking missionaries.

Mary is finally out of the hospital. 

We drove Gloria to her post-op appointment this morning.  The doctor said she is doing really well.  We hope she will be able to come back to church when she's healed up sufficiently.  She is very happy that the healing process is progressing so well.  Gloria said we need to get some boots and become Texans.

We had district meeting on Friday.

We had Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday.  After the Saturday evening session we were able to talk to our former bishop (Orem 60th Ward, Utah, 1977-1979) Albert Haines and his wife Norma.  That was fun.

Tonight Lei Lani brought some chili and cornbread for us and the elders.  She has also been helping in the family history class, as needed. 

We are going to miss our new friends when we go home.  December is our last month.

Hospitals

I'm glad to be feeling better this week.

This week we've spent a fair amount of time in hospitals.  Gloria had her reconstruction surgery on Tuesday (about 4 hours). 

Joe had surgery on his carotid artery (about 6 hours) at LBJ Hospital.  Mirta was glad we sat with her in the waiting room.

Mary has been admitted to LBJ Hospital for acute pancreatitis.

Saturday we were part of a clean-up crew at Charles & Carolyn's.  Vicki hosted a baby shower for Carolyn in the afternoon.  That was very nice.

We taught family history classes again this week.  We've been helping individual's on a one-to-one basis also.

Bro. Ding took us to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes on Thursday.  I really like their large variety.

We had one teaching appointment that fell through on Saturday.

We had movie night again on Sunday (2nd viewing of Ephraim's Rescue).

Slow Week

This week has been a slow week.  I became ill on Tuesday and have mostly been unable to leave the apartment for several days.  We taught our family history classes on Thursday and Sunday.

Thursday we had a Zone Conference again - special training on conversion.

Thursday evening, Elder Halterman dislocated his shoulder so we spent from 9 pm to midnight at the Emergency Room at Methodist Hospital.  He will probably need to have some physical therapy.

We were planning on going to the Indian PowWow on Saturday at Traders Village, but I wasn't well enough to go.  That was disappointing.

A home in the southern part of the ward

 

A nice garden in Gloria's neighborhood

We visit the man working there, when we see him

 

About eight horses are kept here by black cowboys

Home near the Houston Texas Temple

 

Home near the Houston Texas Temple

 



The Houston Texas Temple in in our Stake.  It's located in a ward north of us.

 

Elder Jenkins discovered that our former bishop, Albert Haines lives in the Champion Ward of our stake.  He was our bishop when we lived in the Orem 60th Ward when Elder Jenkins was attending BYU.  At that time he was the City Manager for Orem.  He has since been the City Manager for Houston; as well as a mission president.  He currently is a ward mission leader and temple sealer.  He responded to Elder Jenkins' email and said he looks forward to seeing and visiting us.  

 

Nancy Glazier also lived in the Orem 60th Ward - she is an artist and is known for painting the "Lamb and Lion" that we see in many church buildings.  [She allowed me to watch her work on a painting once. She also gave me one of her small paintings that she painted when she was learning.]

Driving Miss Gloria

Last week we went to Zone Conference.  We learned about finding people to teach. 

Recently our zone and district have been divided.

 

This last week we did yard work for a part-member family, and made visits.

 

We started teaching family history classes last Sunday.  There is a new booklet from the church that we are using for beginners.  Last week we helped one member start to work on his family history.  His non-member companion asked us to help her with her family history too.  Her attitude towards the church has become more positive.  We will do what we can to help her.

 

Elder Jenkins has sent a proposal to the stake to see if we can get a couple of computers for family history into our building (satellite from the stake family history center).  It would make it easier for those who don't have cars or internet service to be able to work on their family history.

 

Today we drove Gloria to her pre-op appointment at the hospital.  Her surgery has been rescheduled for November 12th.  Once she gets healed up from the surgery she should be able to attend church again.  She claims to be the only person who has survived an intestinal aneurism.  She is so funny and keeps us laughing.  She told the nurse that if she needs a transfusion, she only wants blood from rich people.  She wants the nurse to get Donald Trump down here to give blood.  And if they needed a list of rich people they could call to donate blood, she could provide such a list.  She also told the nurse that when people call the hospital to ask about her condition after the surgery that she wants the nurses to tell them that she has been transferred to Spain.   

 

Saturday, C.J. was baptized and Sunday was confirmed.

 



Sister Jenkins, Elder Jenkins Elder Halterman, Elder Alvarenga

C.J.

It has been great having Elder Alvarenga here (waiting for his visa to Sao Paulo, Brazil).  He has really been a big help to those who speak Spanish or Portuguese.

We have a fresh "move in" list with 21 names on it - for us to check out and see if they actually live here.  If they live here, we welcome them into the ward and invite them to church.