Weekly Report 3/13/16

According to my companion, it’s my turn to write in our blog this week. It seemed to be a pretty normal week in the office—at least I hope that was normal (hard to tell after less than 4 weeks what is normal…)!  No accidents, but had my first training of new missionaries (3 weeks in field) on the driver certification process, with lots of safety encouragement also. I guess I also had one ‘emergency’ driver certification, for a missionary whose companion who had to go home early, plus the normal 10 or so maintenance visits to authorize, track and pay, and introductory visits with some of the regional commercial auto account managers and vendors we do a lot of business with.  The days go fast! 

This next week I have my first two mega-zone conferences (two or more zones), with training sessions and car inspections of 23 vehicles.  Also, Sister Williams and I have our first opportunity to take elders and sisters to the Manhattan Temple.  They get to go on their 6, 12, 18 & 24 month anniversaries.  I think we have 13 this Tuesday to get there by subway without losing any.  Only one transfer under Times Square each way, so we should be able to keep track of them.  (One elder was lost last week for a few hours, but he eventually found his way home.)

On preparation day yesterday we had a clear sunny day, so we took off to drive to the very end of Long Island.  118 miles, according to our GPS, to get to Montauk Point. We were surprised how soon we got out of the city and into normal suburb areas (like Kent, Auburn, etc., but I suspect the property values are 5 times as high).  From 30 to 80 miles was suburbia, then from 80 to 118 miles was tourist city, with homes of the rich and famous the nearer you get to the ocean.  Lot of Bentley, Porsche, Lamborghini, and other high-end dealerships.  They are also into beautiful hedges, some 25 feet tall, but during the winter you can see through and see the houses—pretty nice!!  My companion did say she felt a lot calmer driving out in the suburbs than riding with me in the city. (And I found out she can still drive…)  It was a beautiful day and good company, and I’ll include a couple of pictures. 

Montauk Lighthouse (commissioned by George Washington)

House along South Hampton beach