Marcy and Todd

When I wrote the other day I forgot to talk about the visit of my sister Marcy and her husband, Todd, so I thought I’d add it.  They drove up from Washington D.C. and got here at about 2:00 PM Saturday (10/21).  We took them on the big tour of the office and our apartment, and then we walked up the street to ‘Maca’, a Peruvian Restaurant and had a great talk for an hour or so while we ate.  Then we drove with them over to their hotel in Astoria, got them checked in, then took an Uber (a first for Diane and I) over to the big Pepsi-Cola sign on the East River.  We got to the river near dusk, then walked down the riverfront walkway and caught the ferry at Hunters Point (directly across from the UN building) and rode south to the Wall Street stop, enjoying the lights of Manhattan on one side and Astoria/Queens/Brooklyn on the other side!  At the Wall Street stop we got off and walked around lower Manhattan for an hour or so, seeing the ‘Wall Street Bull’ and the ‘Fearless Girl’ statues for the first time.  (Somehow, even though we had been all over that area of Manhattan, we had not run across the statues before.) I didn’t know, but both statues are actually guerrilla art.  The bull has since become a Wall Street institution, and the girl was just put in place this year and hopes to follow suit.

Here is what Wikipedia says about the “Charging Bull” statue: Charging Bull, which is sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull, is a bronze sculpture that stands in Bowling Green in the Financial District in Manhattan, New York City. Originally guerrilla art, installed unofficially by Arturo Di Modica, its popularity led to it being a permanent feature.

Here is what the New York Times says about the “Fearless Girl” statue: “Fearless Girl,” the wildly popular statue that has spent the last few weeks staring down the financial district’s well-known “Charging Bull,” has received a new lease on life. Originally scheduled to be removed next week, it will now remain in place until early 2018, officials said on Monday.

“Fearless Girl” was created by the sculptor Kristen Visbal and erected in Bowling Green, a small park, by the financial firm State Street Global Advisors in honor of International Women’s Day in March.

The statue was an immediate hit, drawing crowds who snapped selfies or stood alongside the bronze child and mimicked her pose: hands on her hips, slight smile on her face, and her skirt and ponytail seeming to blow in the breeze.

New York Stock Exchange

Charging Bull statue

As usual, a few other people had the same idea! Bull is left
center, Girl is on the right of the crowd.

After our walk in the Financial District, we caught the ferry and headed back up the East River, enjoying the lights again along the way!  After an Uber ride back to the hotel, we said goodbye, and Diane and I enjoyed a late-night stroll through Astoria until we found the subway stop. (One of us was just a little uneasy during part of the walk…) It was a fantastic day - - 75 degrees and sunny, and the company was great, too!!  We feel so blessed to have family that we admire and enjoy spending time with!!!! (But not enough to take a picture of them, unfortunately...)

Lights of lower Manhattan

Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan

Giant Pepsi sign on east side of East River

Busy Busy Busy

The Lynbrook Building (swapping a wrecked car for a loaner)

On 10/22 we had stake conference in the Lynbrook Stake. (BTW, I learned this week that the stake name came from reversing the name Brooklyn.)  It was a good conference, with many good speakers, but the highlight for me was after, when three of the men I taught in my last priesthood advancement class were ordained elders!  Jose (Anthony) Carpintero, Adrian Dimitriou, and Edgar Cheka were ordained. Anthony is a 19 y/o who has been coming to my SS class the last year, Adrian was baptized when we first got here on our mission, and Edgar was baptized a little more than a year ago.  I was honored when two of the three asked me to stand in their ordination circle.  (I’m sure if Anthony had known he could, he would have invited me also, but he went first from our branch.  President Shinn spent a lot of time teaching before the ordinations, since very few in the room had been involved in these kind of ordinances before. I’m sure they will remember it forever.)  There was a great spirit in the room while three men from our branch and two men from the Chinese ward were ordained (One in Spanish, two in English, and two in Mandarin).  I was so thankful to be a part of teaching some of these brethren about the Melchizedek Priesthood and the blessing it can be in their lives and the lives of others!  Nearly everything I’ve learned in life is a result of my priesthood callings and my marriage.  I’m so blessed!!

On Monday we met some of the other senior missionaries in Brooklyn at our favorite pizza place, Grimaldis.  As usual it was great to talk and see each other!!  We used to have FHE on Mondays for the senior missionaries, but that hasn’t happened since Sister Petersen went home from her mission.  Sister Postma, who took Sister Petersen’s place is a great person and we are learning to love her!  The dynamics of the senior missionaries change as people change, but they are all wonderful people!!  What struck me Monday night was that we left at 5PM and got home a little before 9PM – four hours to travel 15 miles, eat dinner, and return home!  As I’ve said before, everything in NYC seems to revolve around transportation and parking!  In Kent, we drove a mile, had “empty nester” FHE, then drove home – pretty much everything in 90 minutes with energy to spare.

L to R: Sister Shapiro (Aunt Debbie), Diane, Congers, Adams, Hos, Carlins

Last night we met seven other senior missionaries and went to “Hello Dolly!” at the Shubert Theatre.  It was fun!  Five of us rode the subway from our place, 2 rode the subway from Jamaica, and two drove (Elder Openshaw has a bad foot).  The theatre is an old theatre and is very ornate (and steep!).  We sat in the upper balcony, but they were still very good seats, once we got over the impression that we were going to fall forward!  The show stared Donna Murphy and David Hyde Pierce (from Frasier).  Just like at the Rockettes show last Christmas, the talent, sets and sound were spectacular!  I guess Broadway gets the best, doesn’t it?!

Ceiling detail at the Shubert Theatre

Waiting for the play to start.

10 PM in Times Square (truly the city that never sleeps!)

It’s still fun to have so many experiences we thought we’d probably never have, and Diane’s bucket list still has more items than there is time!  What a joy it is to serve the Lord (and have some fun on our own) in NYC!!

Biking Fool

A week ago Saturday (10/7), my friend Jay took me on a bike ride along the entire west side of Manhattan, and it was great!  We had a beautiful day (75 degrees and partly cloudy) and the ground was mostly level—perfect for a neophyte rider!  Jay rides quite a bit, and he slowed down his pace a bunch for me, which I appreciated. (I sometimes wondered how he could even stay upright at that pace…)  I rented a bike in the Midtown West area (see map), then rode a few blocks west until we hit the bike/walk/jog trail that runs up the entire west side of Manhattan along the Hudson River.  It was generally a pretty peaceful ride in spite of the congestion in a few places (this is the most populated borough of NYC after all!).  I especially enjoyed the times when we could ride side-by-side and talk!  We rode north first, up to the George Washington Bridge, where we ate lunch at the little red lighthouse under the bridge, turned around and headed south to the very south end of Manhattan, then retraced our tracks back north to 50^th street and returned the bike.  Jay says Manhattan is about 15 miles long, so the ride was about 30 miles in all.  Surprisingly, I was still able to walk with hardly a limp the next day, and luckily I didn’t need to come near a bike seat!  It was wonderful to see the beauty of the Hudson River and New Jersey coast on one side, and the striking architecture of Manhattan on the other! A day to remember!!!

We rode the entire west side twice. The guy on the right just looked 

so 'Metro' I had to take a picture! Loafers, no socks, rolled skinny 

jeans, tailored jacket, sunglasses...

The starting point on the Hudson (now Diane wants to go kayaking

there).

Looking south somewhere near where Sulley landed the plane

Looking north at the George Washington Bridge and NJ.

The lighthouse under the GW Bridge. Jay says all grade school children in NYC read this book.

(I was just acting tired for the picture...) Note the tan legs. LWR picture: looking south from the lighthouse. Manhattan on the left, Jersey City on the right

Jay and me

Looking south at the south end on Manhattan. Note the Statue

of Liberty behind the rescue statues.

Looking north from the south end of Manhattan

Carnegie Hall on the way back to the subway.

Walkin' & Tourin'

We had a fun weekend. Jay took us, along with some other senior missionaries on a walk through Columbus Circle and then the Washington Heights section of upper Manhattan.  It was an area where we had never been.  There is so much history here in New York and it is so fun to have our own 

personal local guide.  Of course the best part was the company.  We love the other missionaries (and Jay, who is just like one of us) so much!

Group with "tour guide" at Colombus Circle.  We think Jay
 should get a guide's outfit.

Flower in Fort Tyron Park.
I had never seen this flower and was told it is a hibiscus.
It only blooms for one day and we were fortunate
enough to be there for that one day.

L to R: Sister Adams, Elder Conger, Sister Conger, Sister Postma,
Sister Williams, Jay

This morning in Primary we were working on the Scrament Meeting program (yes, I know it’s late but that’s how they seem to do it).  The president has the kids divided into groups and she was particularly worried about how one group of boys was coming along.  She texted Sister Thompson and me about it last night asking for help.  The boys were overwhelmed at the prospect of coming up with talks (even with LOTS of help).  I didn’t know what to do so this morning I prayed that I would be able to come up with a way to help.  I sat down and, in about ten minutes, was able to come up with a script that capitalized on each boy’s abilities and personalities and still required input from them without overwhelming them. I shouldn’t say “I was able to come up with one” because clearly I wasn’t able to until I prayed and asked for help. 

When it came time to work on the kids’ parts, the room was way too noisy so I took the boys across the hall to our classroom where it was quiet.  Two or three of them said, “I just love this room.”  I like to think it’s the spirit they feel when they are in class. 

One of the things I’ve learned while we have been here has been a greater confidence not only in myself but in in how much Marc & I can do as a couple.  We feel like we have done a little to strengthen the Branch but would like to do so much more.  We just feel like the Lord has big plans for this Branch and Stake and are happy to be a part of it.  We just can’t believe we only have about 2 and a half months left.  There is just not enough time!  We will miss the people here so much but we’re getting pretty excited about being with our family again.  

At the airport the day after transfers.  Early morning departing
missionaries (except for Elder Brown on the rt.--he's an AP.
so helps drive.

This is the house in Riverhead that the Senior Missionaries get
to live in.  I'm so jealous.

Waiting for Marc to do a drive test with one of the elders.  I
couldn't resist taking lots of pics of the church grounds.  They
have so much grass!  Even by Western US standards.

One of our favorite activities when we deliver cars or have other
responsibilities out on the island is to visit diners.  Great food!

From our Saturday tour of Washington Heights.
There was an actual fort here during the
Revolutionary War.

The other Senior Sisters and I were fascinated by the various gargoyles.
This building had lots of them.  We never figured out why most of
them were reading.

Fort Tyron Park.  I was too busy taking pictures so missed
most of the guide's lecture.

Highest point on Manhattan:  265.05 feet.

General Conference and Mission Life

General Conference morning, so I have plenty of time to do the blog.  The first session doesn’t start here until noon.  (And last night’s priesthood session ended at almost 10PM!) We get so used to the time where we live that we don’t think of the times it must be on all around the world!  It reminds me of the time that I decided to go to church in Nagoya Japan on a business trip, only to find (after a $50 taxi ride) that no one was at that church. After I sat there for an hour or so waiting for someone to show up, I got looking closer at the church bulletin (in Japanese) taped in the window, and figured out that everyone was at another building watching general conference!  It was the week after conference, but Japan is a day ahead of the US, so they show it the next week. 

We watched the general sessions yesterday in our apartment, then I went to the church next door to watch the priesthood session. In between sessions I changed the oil in the car and got it washed (pretty exciting stuff!).  I may have mentioned this before, but car washes are everywhere here!  Few people have access to hoses or places to wash cars, and the car washes do a great job for $12-20.  The place I go is $14, which includes vacuum of the inside, then hand wash with soft brushes, run it through the automatic car wash, then window wash, dust interior, wipe down all the door edges, apply shiny stuff to the tires and hand dry the car.  They do a better job than I do!  (And the lines sometime stretch around the block on prime days, which I avoid. But that’s NYC.)

I love watching general conference and feeling the spirit of the brethren and sisters!  I always have a few talks that strike me watching live, but I must admit that I miss much of the doctrine until I read the talks later and/or listen to the talks while working out.  I do not believe that any honestly seeking person can listen to the words of the prophets without knowing they speak the truth!  I know these men are prophets!!  Conversely, when I see televangelists on TV, the words that come to me are, “they are as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1).  As I watched yesterday I realized that we will have been home for several months when the next general conference comes—Hard to believe!

Our main activities this past week have been finishing up the emergency kits and getting them out to 100 sets of missionaries (Diane), and getting new cars delivered and out into service (me).  Toyota of Manhattan (the bane of my life the last few months!) will only deliver three vehicles each Wednesday, so it’s taking forever to get them (this after sitting in their storage lots in NJ for 4-6 months)!  We made another trip in last week and picked up 3 more, and this Wednesday we should pick up the last 4 (an exception so I won’t have to make a trip back for one car).  By comparison, we picked up a Nissan Altima this week, and it took one call and one voice mail and one week to get the car! (Compared to nagging ToM since May.)  Don’t ever buy a car at ToM!  This next week will be mostly consumed with transfers, monthly reports, and getting things reorganized after all the changes. 

Toyota of Manhattan. 7 floors, service department on floor 2, 

parking on top. 

Elder Lammi and Elder Afoa on subway. (Elder Smith, 

Elder Cunningham & me in the reflection.)

Waiting for some new cars. Elder Cunningham, Elder Lammi,

 Elder Smith, Elder Afoa. After lunch at the Halal cart outside.

In Alma 36 (3) Alma tells Helaman that God will support us in our trials, troubles and afflictions if we put our trust in Him.  An instructor at education week used other scriptures in Alma to equate ‘trials’ to issues caused by our own misuse of our agency, ‘troubles’ to issues caused by others misuse of their agency, and ‘afflictions’ to issues caused by plain old mortality.  I loved that concept, and I found myself often using it in counseling when I was a bishop. 

I’ve been thinking lately of the blessings you receive when serving a mission, and in our case, the trials and troubles have been mostly eliminated, leaving only the afflictions to deal with.  We still have the health issues we’ve always had, but somehow we are strengthened every time to be able to do what the Lord needs us to do!  Often at the end of a long busy day, Diane will say, “How did I do that?!”  I’ve always thought it’s pretty miraculous what Diane can accomplish in spite of various afflictions!  (While I just float along feeling fine…)  I did fall down this week while jogging and scraped my knee and banged my hip, but that’s about the extent of it.  (You have to pay attention to the uneven concrete, and I was in the exciting part of a Sue Grafton novel, so I didn’t.  My pride was injured the most, since I always imagine myself floating along like a world-class runner, and there were several people around to say, “Are you OK (old man)?”)  Anyway, I love my mission and I love my companion!!!!  I’d recommend a mission to anyone!