Quiet Week...

Pretty quiet week this week. 

Tuesday I took the subway into Manhattan to speak firmly with (sounds nicer than ‘yell at’) Toyota Of Manhattan (T.O.M.) about getting busy and delivering our new cars to us.  Right now they have 11 vehicles somewhere in their storage lots in New Jersey waiting to get licensed and delivered to us, and it’s been going on and on (and on) since May when I first talked to them!  Since then the person I was talking to was let go and eventually replaced by a new person who knows nothing, and she is figuring out the process and s-l-o-w-l-y doing it.  (The local dealers do what is called a ‘courtesy delivery’ for the purchasing dealer in Utah, and they get paid a couple hundred dollars per car to register them, clean them up and deliver them.  It’s not generally high on their list of priorities, but Toyota Of Manhattan has certainly set a new (lower yet) standard!)  Salt Lake probably thought they were doing us a favor going through a dealer that is only five miles from us, but instead they accidently picked a high-brow dealer in the middle of Manhattan who seems to have all the customers they could ever want.

The courtesy deliveries are a pain for them logistically because of lack of space (dealer has a small footprint with 4 floors and an auto elevator, and all extra vehicles are stored across the Hudson in NJ).  I keep reminding them that their general manager did accept the work and sign a contract and I need the cars!  Meanwhile, we usually replace cars at 50,000 miles, and now I have ten cars ranging from 55,000-69,000 miles!  I know it will all work out eventually, but it’s frustrating!  I’ve been told that the church will never do business with T.O.M again, and I know complaints have also been made to Toyota about their lack of responsiveness.  Funny thing to be doing on a mission, isn’t it?!

On Friday after our regular scripture study class the branch had a baptism, which was neat!  The primary president, Sister Rosario’s husband was baptized.  He speaks very little English, so everything was in Spanish, and I had to wear headphones the whole time except when the branch president, President Garcia, welcomed him to the branch. (President Garcia is from the Philippines, and does not speak Spanish. I don’t know how he does interviews!)  There was a wonderful feeling there, and of course, lots of food afterwards.  We tried to sneak off to get Diane off her feet, but she made the mistake of saying goodbye to Sister Rosario, and she forced us to take home a big plate of spaghetti.  She would not take no for an answer…

 

Elder Benitez giving the Holy Ghost talk at the baptism

Today was stake conference, so it was a very relaxing weekend for us, with no lessons or singing time to prepare!  The speakers were all great! The member of the 70 presiding, Elder Buckner, is local, and he had some wonderful stories and connections with our stake!  It was very inspiring!!  Then, of course, we had a brief informal luncheon to thank the Harris’s for their service in our branch.  They are a senior couple on a temple mission in the Manhattan temple, and assigned to serve in the Flushing branch on Sundays.  Sister Harris is the only organ/piano player in the branch, so she will REALLY be missed!  Sacrament meeting and primary will now have to make do with the pre-recorded music in the organ and keyboards, which makes such a difference!  I thought it was interesting that we put all the chairs away from stake conference and then filled the gym with tables and chairs for our going-away get-together.  The branch loves to eat, and loves to be together!!  It’s one thing we will certainly miss when we go home, because in comparison we all seem to take the members and the ward we love for granted a little bit.

 

"Casual" Lunch (same size as most branch dinners)

Jay Stonehill, Elder Harris, Sister Duffy, Sister Harris, Sister Williams

We still like our mission!  Diane got a new assignment this week that will keep her out of mischief for a while.  Unbeknownst to me, she had been praying for something more she could do to be useful. (Like I always say, she’s a lot better than me…) Anyway, President Reynolds called her Thursday and asked her to be the mission emergency preparedness focal.  He said he sat up in his bed in the middle of the night, knowing that he needed to get busy on it, and he knew she’d do a great job.  Since then she’s been busy making sure that each apartment has a printed emergency preparation plan and a fully stocked emergency kit!  So far she’s heard back from a little over ½ of the mission, and there’s a lot of work to do!  As you can imagine, keeping the kits in place and fully stocked is a real challenge with all the transition and turnover.  So now she’s busy getting all the data in and buying new supplies to restock kits.  Then the hard part will start -- getting the right supplies spread throughout the mission!  She has this thing about feeling needed. I think it's crazy, but it's one of many things I love about her!!!

Group hug with 6 elders. (See, I told you I was

learning and growing!)

Cars lined up for inspection at the Plainview MegaZone conference 9/1/17