CHANGE IS GOOD

On Tuesday the 16th, we got to attend the Manhattan temple with President and Sister Reynolds and all the missionaries leaving for home on 2/6.  It was wonderful to be with them in the temple!  Then after the session, President Reynolds had arranged for us all to do some sealing work, for people who the sealer (President Fox, I believe, from the temple presidency) said were his ancestors.  It was a choice experience, and one we will remember forever!  Upon returning to the Mission office, we had the traditional meal (catered by ‘Pio Pio Restaurant’) for missionaries returning home. It was fun and nostalgic! (I’ll see if I get any photos in…the lack of internet at home and the fact that I left my phone at home today are impediments.)

Last Wednesday we went to ‘Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic Theater on Broadway.  It was great!!  We had box seats in the closest box on stage left.  We really enjoyed being able to see the actors’ faces, and I really enjoyed looking down into the orchestra pit and seeing them do their work.  (It was interesting that several would play like crazy for a few minutes, then put their instrument down and read a book until they were up again.) Once again, I was just so impressed at HOW GOOD everyone was!!  The pinnacle of success is Broadway, so they get the best!  What made it even more fun was being able to go with several of our senior missionary friends, Sister Conger and Sister Postma.  (I thought sometimes that I probably looked like a fine Mormon man with his three wives…)

Diane spearheaded a primary activity on Friday night, which turned out to be wonderful!  Pretty much all the kids that are active, plus a few (and a number of parents and other adults) were there.  She had the American Sign Language sisters come and teach the kids more ASL words and phrases, then had some activities that required them to use their new ASL skills.  We have a little deaf girl that was baptized recently, and Diane said she was just glowing!  I’m proud of Diane for going out of her way to teach ASL songs to the kids in Primary over the past year, and I don’t doubt that was one of the main reasons Arianna made the decision to be baptized.  (Diane was even the ASL interpreter in her baptism interview…in the interview there was Arianna (speaks only ASL), Arianna’s mother (speaks only Spanish), Diane (speaks a little ASL and a little Spanish), Brother Lopez (BP1C, speaks English & Spanish) and President Garcia (Branch President, speaks only English and Tagalog))  AMAZING, but so Queens!

I begged off going to the Primary activity so I could keep cleaning the apartment, getting ready to move out Monday.  It’s amazing how long it takes to pack and clean a 750 sf apartment after you’ve been there 2 years!!  I think the results speak for themselves and it’s something we are proud to turn over to our replacements, the Palmers!  We moved to a newly rented apartment in Jamaica (NY) last night, which we will camp out in until we leave in a week.  The Palmers are driving to NYC today from their home in Lexington, Kentucky, and will be here at 9PM or so tonight.  We remember our hazy memories of doing the same thing 2 years ago.  Everything was just so strange, and you are in a fog the first several days! 

The apartment we are staying in this week was just rented and furnished by the mission for the Zimmermans (records preservation) who will arrive on the 2^nd.  The apartment is larger than ours, and will be great once it’s upgraded by some senior couples.  Our old apartment had had couples in it for 6 or 8 years, so the quality and quantity of provisions was pretty nice.  We old people are used to a standard that is a little higher than the young missionaries, so we tend to replace things as needed.  (We replaced the bathroom light fixtures, the kitchen faucet, the TV, the microwave, and the vertical blinds, along with towels and linen and a few other things.)  It will be an interesting week camping out in a strange apartment, and roughing it with no internet!  The Congers, one of our favorite couples, lives in the same building and dropped by last night, which was fun!  I’m sure the week will fly by!

It’s sad to think of our time here ending, and we will sure miss a whole bunch of people we’ve grown to love!  One of them for me is Jay.  In SS class a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about something Jay said or did, and Nicole (15) said, “Is Jay your best friend?!” And I said, “Certainly one of the top two!”  It’s kind of amazing that in 2 years you can get to know someone and love them so much (which we don’t talk about because we are men…).  It will be sad to leave because I know what kind of long-distance communicator I am, and it’s not good.  I’ll try to tempt Jay to come out west and visit, and hope he will give me a good reason to visit here, too!  The relationships are the thing you miss when you leave somewhere, and luckily we know that they are eternal.