Spring/Summer

With spring here and summer soon to come (and me to sweat some weight off) all the "stuff" is starting to get going. Catrina will be here in Boston Sunday night thru Friday and she has a couple nights off and next Thursday totally free so we'll be taking her out. She really wants to see the Salem area and all the witchcraft stuff so we'll probably spend the day up there and see the ocean and hopefully some lobster fishing. July 4th is a really big deal here. The "Esplanade" on the Charles River is the scene of the biggest New England celebration on the 4th with the Boston Pops and Neil Diamond this year. People have told us yoou can't get near the place, people to people everywhere and sometimes trouble with drinking and rowdiness. I can't stand having to navigate thru the masses so I splurged and bought tickets to get a front row seat, sitting in a sail boat on the opposite side of the river where we'll be able to be in a no alcohol area, , hearing the concert and being right under the fireworks!!! We can come and go in and out of the area from 4 pm on which will be nice and they'll have concession stands for food. It's an area for families so you don't lose your kids in the crowds. The river is not that wide (if you look back on our blog and see the pix from the top of the Prudential building, there is a shot of the esplanade and the boat dock across from it).

Then every...hmmm, I can't remember how often....anyway, there's a "Tall Ships" festival in the harbor. At any rate, this is the year so I got tickets for the cruise (just a 90 minute one) to go out and get a close look at all the ships. Should be fun!!!! That's on the 10th. I guess the ships come from everywhere---even foreign countries. Somewhere in there we have all our mission stuff---still have our office hours, workshops and meetings with people. But, since this is our only summer here we need to see what we can!!!!

Well,I started this blog a couple weeks ago and never finished. Things kinda go on normally and there's no much new to report. We continue to have our office hours at the Belmont Chapel every Tuesday from 11-2 and Thursday from 6-9. We're about to give up the Thursday night as no one ever comes. It's been 8 weeks now and only one person has come in the evening. We're beginning to think we should lean a little on the Stakes and let them know we'll come to them!! We'll keep the Tuesday morn as the New York office wants us to advertise our "space".

I think we finally have a "job landed" that we can take a very small kudoo. There's a guy that's been out of work for 2 years. We talked with him when we first got here and have met with him since as has the Bishop and his quorum leader. He's attended our workshop and he finally got a job yesterday as a driver for UPS. He was told that he got the job because he looked the interviewed right in the eye when answering questions. Eye contact is a really big part of what we have the participants practise in the workshop. So that's our piece of the credit!!!

We've been to Hartford to present the Self Employment workshop and we're going out to Springfield Stake to do one next week. That's the Stake that is just floundering with not enough Priesthood holders to complete the High Council or Bishoprics. Their economy hs remained stagnant for years---no growth at all. So their employment situation is really bad.

I just have to include these beautiful pictures. There's so much rain here that the flowers have the deepest colors. They say that's why the leaves are so gorgeous in the fall---the more rain, the deeper the colors. It's been a beautiful spring but after a full week of rain, I'm ready for some good old fashioned summer sun!!!