Home Alone 3

Diane is OOT this week to help with Darci & Jeremy’s new daughter, Sydney.  Sydney is cute as a button, and I’m looking forward to meeting both Sydney and Kennedy!  They are grandkid numbers 10 & 11.  Diane is making a quicker trip this time because Jeremy’s parents are local and there is help from their side, this is Diane’s busiest time in the office, and Darci & Jeremy have two cats, which wreaks havoc with her respiratory system.  Not to mention the fact that we’ll be home in a couple of months…  Anyway, I’ve become somewhat accustomed to having Diane around and I miss her!  She’ll fly back on a redeye flight Tuesday night, then probably crash for a few hours and then start catching up.  The package season has arrived, and this is what was waiting for her from just the Monday morning delivery!  We get 3 shipments a day of packages.

 

Sister Williams' desk, hidden by Christmas packages

Thanksgiving last week was quiet but nice.  Diane and Sister Postma fed 6 sets of missionaries and 4 seniors (3 missionaries and Jay), so there was lots of good food and good company!  Diane left me with a chocolate pie and an apple pie, and for some reason I’m feeling a little sick most of the time, maybe because that has been most of my diet this week.  Too much of a good thing!!

On Saturday afternoon I was feeling bored, so I jumped on the subway and went and wandered around downtown Manhattan for a couple of hours.  It’s fun to watch people and just drift along, as long as you are not in a hurry!  The only part that wasn’t fun was the weekend construction in the subway tunnels, which caused me several times to go past where I wanted to stop, then backtrack on another train.  (When we first got here, that would cause us to freak out a little bit, but now it’s just par for the course!) 

Sunday afternoon I went with Jay2 on the annual New York Transit Museum’s vintage subway train ride.  They do it on Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas each year.  We took a modern train downtown, then changed to the vintage train and rode along the F line between 2nd Av and Lexington Avenue / 63rd Street.  During the ride we moved along from car to car (you can do that in the old cars, but not in the modern cars) looking at the various differences in finish and construction, and reading the vintage signs from the 30’s and 40’s.  The old cars are definitely louder, with the ‘cooling systems’ being open windows, doors and vents, instead of the enclosed systems of today!  There were also people dressed in period dress to celebrate their rides.  It was a unique NYC experience!!! 

 

I’ve had several conversations in the last couple of weeks with Elder Palmer, who is going to take my place in late January, and that’s an interesting experience, reliving and remembering all the questions we had before we came!  It’s amazing all we have learned and experienced, and we have thoroughly enjoyed our mission! I wouldn’t trade it for the world!!

Dragging Our Feet Just to Slow Down the Time

I guess I can post this since this is
a private blog.

Whew!  Primary Program is over and it went very well with a lot of extra help from above.  It was a little scary using my iphone and Bluetooth speaker for the accompaniment to the songs.  Lol, just as the kids were going up to the stand to begin, one of the Chinese elders came in and said he could play the piano!  NOW he tells me!!  I appreciated the offer but decided it was too late to change.  It went off with nary a hitch and the kids were super!  They even watched me instead of looking at the words!  They were oh so sweet and I got a little teary as they were singing, thinking that soon I would be leaving and may not ever see them again.  

It was challenging (for me) because we sang some songs in English and some in Spanish with many verses in sign language.  We have one little deaf girl.  She was all smiles.  They were all troopers.  Once again, I felt the many tender mercies of the Lord helping us through the whole program.  I KNOW He helps His servants—especially His missionaries.

The post-program party.  This Branch is big on parties.

 

We heard from our replacements, the Palmers, this week.  They are from Louisville, Kentucky and things worked out right to move their arrival up a couple of weeks (1 week instead of 2 in the MTC, then fly home and drive to NYC on Monday).  They will get here January 22nd.  We will stay for a week to train them, then hit the road (with more than a few tears shed).

Elder Williams had his hands full all week dealing with 6 accidents - a new record for a week.  He handled them with much compassion and patience (mostly).  I was proud of him.

We are at the point now where I am counting down how many meals I have (get) to serve missionaries.  This week is the Mission Leadership council so I get to feed about 40.  Then Sister Postma and I are feeding about 25 missionaries (and Jay and Marc) for Thanksgiving.  The next morning I am flying home to meet the new granddaughter, Sydney (who had just better be here by then if she knows what’s good for her.  I will get back just in time for four Christmas mega-zones (ham, potatoes and the whole meal deal).

We can’t believe we have so little time left.  There are so many people here who have found places in our hearts and who we will never forget.

In the office.

Dinner with friends, the Congers, at 5 Guys.   Great people.

'Quiet Week'

I thought this week was going to be a pretty quiet week, but it turned out full, as usual!  Four accidents and resulting car swaps filled most of my week, even our preparation day.  You know what they say about pride!  The two most serious accidents were to cars with under 1000 miles.  A car turned across in front of one of the new RAV4s and we t-boned it.  Both cars had to be towed away.  No injuries to the missionaries, but the other driver left in an ambulance, and both vehicles were pretty badly damaged.

The other serious accident was our one 2017 Nissan Altima, 1 month old, that was rear-ended at a stoplight.  On this one, all 3 missionaries had injuries.  Whiplash, bloody nose and a concussion.  The one (and only) good thing about more serious accidents is that the police are always involved, so you get good accident reports with all the information needed.  On the other hand, injuries complicate things a lot…

Both sets of missionaries now without cars are in areas where a vehicle is absolutely necessary, so I got them loaner cars in the last couple of days.  One has to drive a minivan, and the other an old car we are selling, so both will be glad to get their new cars back!  The other accidents were simple ones: 1) A can of paint fell of a truck and burst, getting paint all over a new Subaru, 2) Backed into a pole (I don’t know how, when the companion should have been outside helping him back up…).  OK, enough bad news!

Last night we went to a baptism in the branch.  It was a 10 or 11 year old boy that got baptized, so the program was heavily Primary-influenced.  The prayers, talks and musical number (a total surprise to the Primary chorister (Diane) when she walked in) were all Primary children.  Now that we’ve become used to starting 45 minutes late and the full meal after, we love to come and spend time with the branch!!  I especially love to see Diane doing the hug and cheek-kiss with all the women! The men just shake hands, except I usually hug the missionaries (remember my goal to become a hugger on my mission – mostly met). 

We see in the system that a senior couple has been called to take our place, but they are still in “hush mode” (no names), which probably means they have not accepted their call yet.  The challenge will be the timing. Current call shows MTC on 1/15 for 2 weeks, then a week to drive out puts them getting here right at our 24 month mark, which is awkward for us. (There are some pretty severe tax implications when you reside in another state for 24 months.)  We are seeing if SLC can get them accelerated a couple of weeks, but that may not work because of the time of year.  More to come on that…

Friday night we went out to dinner with the Shapiros and President & Sister Reynolds, which was fun!  It’s amazing how much better you get to know people in small groups.  These senior missionaries are the salt of the earth - - people who are doing the best they can with the talents and resources they have to serve the Lord in NYC.  We are happy to be associated with them!  We just keep thinking over and over, “WOW, how in the world will we ever top this senior mission?!  So many wonderful and unique experiences, and so much growth, at this stage of life!!!”  We will hate to see it end, although we do get tired sometimes.  Even though we spend most of our time doing the ‘grunt work’ of keeping a mission running, I know it is the Lord’s work and this is where we should be right now, and there is nothing I’d rather be doing right now!! (Except briefly, when I see friends having fun on Facebook.)

Inside Junior's, home of one of the most famous cheesecakes

in Brooklyn and NYC

Outside Junior's

Never Say It's Going to Be a Quiet Week

It’s hard to believe we only have 2 months left!  Time will go quickly especially if it is anything like this past week.

Marc finally got his last license plate from Toyota of Manhattan and hopes to never have to darken their doorstep again.  It only took 7 months to get all our cars and registrations!

On Monday and Tuesday Elder and Sister Sitati were here for Mission Tours.  We had two separate meetings in place of our mega-zone conferences.  I only had to feed people on Monday and then helped on Tuesday.  Monday we fed 120 people and many of us senior missionaries are feeling like we could easily get jobs as caterers after our missions. On Tuesday, we drove the Flushing missionaries to Plainview for that meeting.  Marc drove the big mission van and I got to drive the brand new red minivan.  The missionaries in my van may have gotten an impromptu tour of the Bronx (outside our mission boundaries).  The thing about the bridges here is that once you miss your turn and are on the ramp to the bridge there is no turning back!

Mega-Zone Cooks.  Sister & Elder Ho, Elder Carlin, Sister Adams
Sister Carlin & Sister Postma

I was looking forward to a nice quiet Wednesday but it was not to be.  In the morning Marc went to court with a couple of elders to try to get their $588 traffic ticket reduced (illegal turn and failure to yield to pedestrians).  We think the judge was impressed with the elders’ dress and demeanor because they only ended up paying $200.

Elder Williams had his "day in court".

The President called and asked us to go to court that same afternoon with one of our Sisters who had witnessed a major crime. It was the grand jury hearing to determine if the case would be prosecuted.  I can’t say much about it but it was a very interesting experience.  We went in with her to talk with the Assistant District Attorney who just raved about what a hero she was.  The ADA was very nice to both the Sister and to Marc & me.  She treated us like we were the Sister’s parents and said that our missionary was the best witness they had ever seen and that we must be very proud of her.  (We were.)  The ADA said “you people are just amazing”. 

Everything was top secret.  President asked us not to wear our nametags so that the Church would not be connected and missionaries would not become targets.  The Sister’s name will not be known to anyone else other than the grand jury and ADA unless the case goes to trial in about a year and a half.  In that case they will fly her back here from Utah.  We hope it doesn’t come to that.  She will be transferred in a couple of weeks just to be on the safe side.

It just makes us feel so good that our young missionaries represent the Church so well.

Last night (Saturday) was our Branch Cultural Night.  There was food from all the different countries represented in our Branch—Mexico, Puerto Rico (technically US), Guatemala, El Salvador, Philippines, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.  A group from each country did a dance complete with authentic costumes.  The missionaries (minus Elder Williams) even did the Chicken Dance—representing the US. 

Cultural Night 

Dancers

I’m looking forward to a nice quiet week this week—Wait!  I didn’t say that.

Some of my favorite Puerto Ricans

Lots of food from all over the world.

Mega-zone