Elder and Sister Williams NY NY South Mission: Hot and Busy!

This last week was as tiring as any we've had. By Friday night we were too tired for anything (even seeing 'Dunkirk', which Diane has looked forward to for weeks!), so we relaxed and got our second wind. (My companion thinks I say that way too much!) It was above 90 degrees all week, and when you add in a mega-zone conference with meals, lessons, car inspections and driving tests each day, it's about all you can handle at our advanced age! For the week: Getting caught up from playing with Jay and Stephanie last week, plus lunch for 200, 44 car inspections, 7 driving tests, several car swaps, two new accidents, and body work for 2 other cars. We are really looking forward to this next week, which looks kind of quiet!! (Just get loaner cars out to three sets of missionaries, collect theirs for body work, and maybe pick up 12 new cars from a dealer in Manhattan.)

A few thoughts from last week with Jay & Stephanie. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes tour of the Billie Jean King/Arthur Ashe tennis center! The US Open starts here next month, and the place was a hubbub of activity getting things ready! Three weeks a year the place is full to overflowing, and the rest of the year 75% of the place shuts down. You can play on any of the courts the rest of the year, but the prices range from $10,000/hour on the main court, down to only $55/hour on the practice courts. I especially enjoyed the only place where pictures aren't allowed - the players locker rooms. The winners name is added to the inside entrance wall each year (before they get back to the locker room from the finals match) and they get permanently assigned the same locker as a sign of respect and good luck. Multiple winners get multiple lockers with their name on them. I sat on the benches where Venus Williams and Roger Federer will sit starting the 8/28! (It was interesting that Serena William's locker was all scratched under the handle from the long, fancy fingernails she favors.) Anyway, the tour was great!

Jay & Stephanie at main court

At the Smith cabin near the Sacred Grove, several things struck me. The first was that the upper bedroom where Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith three times during the night also had five or six other beds with sleeping brothers and sisters in them! Somehow I had always thought of a private bedroom for some reason. Fascinating that a glorious vision can be seen and heard by one person while others sleep undisturbed mere feet away. (Makes sense, though, and was repeated later several times when the prophet (and sometimes others in the presidency) saw glorious visions, while others who were less prepared and/or didn't hold those keys, saw nothing but the glow on the prophet's face.)

The second thing that struck me again this time was the peace and spirit in the Sacred Grove. Even though the site was quite crowded (Hill Cumorah Pageant, youth conferences, etc.), it still has the same quiet, peaceful spirit as being in a Celestial room in a temple. All voices, people and car noise fade quickly to silence when one listens inward to the spirit of the Holy Ghost!! What a joy it was to be there!! There is no doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ visited Joseph Smith there and began this last great dispensation of the gospel! And here we are, a part of it.

I was surprised to enjoy Niagara Falls as much as I did! My other times there have been quick walk-thoughs on a family vacation or business trip, but this time we were there long enough to ride the 'Maid of the Mist' boat up to the falls and feel the power and majesty of the falls from below! We also walked up the steps (with a million other people) to a viewpoint right next to the edge of the falls. Pretty mind-boggling!!