Hot Town, Summer in the City

Chrysler Building--my favorite!

What a wonderful time we are having on our mission!  We may be having too much fun.  Last weekend Jay, who we sometimes now refer to as “Jay 2” to differentiate from our Son-in-law, Jay aka “Jay 1” (only because we knew him first), took us along with Sister Petersen on a afternoon to nighttime tour of Manhattan.  Actually, it was only part of Manhattan but seemed like we walked all of it.  It is great to have a local guide who knows all the little out of the way places and secret treasures of the city.  One place he took us was to the Chrysler Building, which is now my very favorite building in all of New York.  It is so beautiful.  We learned how, when it was built there were 2 buildings under constructions that were competing to be the tallest.  The Chrysler people had constructed and hidden the spire inside the top of the building and they didn’t raise it until the very last minute, winning the race as the tallest. 

We also went to Chinatown for dumpling soup (the soup is inside the dumplings).  Everyone goes to Joe’s Shanghai but the line was very long and it was noisy and crowded inside.  About half a block down the street was Joe’s Ginger which is owned by the same guy and has the same menu.  It was just as good but without the line or the crowd.  The food was good and the company better. 

Then we took the ferry back to Queens and enjoyed the skyline at night.  It was spectacular!  On the Queens side, Jay took us to see the giant Pepsi sign which is left over from the bottling plant, and treated us to some more history of the area.  We got in rather late for missionaries but it was a night to remember.

Bryant Park Hotel.  Also a beautiful building. 

Jay always has lots of pictures to show us of what the
city looked like in decades past--fascinating!

Hampton Bays.  I seem to gravitate toward greens and blues.

A combination of mega-zone conferences and the heat/humidity took a lot out of me so when Marc took me with him on Wednesday to deliver a car to Hampton Bays it was a welcome relief and served to revive my spirits.  We ended up taking the elders to lunch.  These two elders, Elder Rogers and Elder Johnson were true gentlemen and wouldn’t order drinks or dessert and only ordered what Elder Williams was having.  They even opened the car door for me!  It was a beautiful day and I found that when I got back I had a lot of pictures on my phone of just trees on the side of the road.  I love the green, and the water and beaches were beautiful, and we had fun gawking at the mansions of the rich and famous.

This past week I helped out with the Mission Leadership Council meeting lunch.  Sister Reynolds had it catered by Chic-fil-a so I didn’t have to do much but got thanked anyway.  The missionaries thought they were in heaven!  I always feel so much better when I am giving service (even when Chic-fil-a is doing the actual work).

Friday we went (uninvited) to the New Testament class that the Elders in our ward have for whoever is interested.  It was wonderful to discuss the Gospel with adults after being in Primary all the time.  (Although I love the kids a lot and don’t know what I’ll do when I have to leave them.)

Elder Williams and I have realized lately how much we think alike.  We find ourselves, several times a day, saying:  “That’s what I was going to say”.  Now we just say, “Guess what I was thinking”.  I feel like we are more and more truly one. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be “one” with.

The UN

The city from the ferry

Giant Pepsi Sign