The week before the temple closed for cleaning was very busy. Many tourists to the city found their way to the temple so the baptistery was very busy all week. Saturday was probably our biggest day with many people in the temple. The Spanish members always come and they were there with their Wards. We were also able to participate in a Spanish veil together. The baptistery clothing is always put to the test on days like this because we have a limited number of suits for them so the washers and dryers are going constantly. We are so appreciative of Sister Vargas who comes every Saturday to be sure the laundry is getting done. We also had to remember to take all our things from our lockers for the closure.
The Hartmans from Oxnard, CA came to NY and we were able to attend a temple session with them and also met Becky Snyder, friend of Katie's, who is moving here to attend Columbia.
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Larry Hartmans and us from Oxnard, CA
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After the temple we took the Hartmans to the roof where we had chicken and rice and salad from the corner stand.
Sunday in Kingsbridge was again full. I believe they said we had 125 there. Also Sandra and her son Issac were confirmed. Paul was asked to confirm Sandra and Bishop Fergeson confirmed Issac. A very sweet family of mother and two children who really want their lives blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a full class in Temple Preparation. We invited them all to prepare to come to the temple on August 13th when the Ward is planning to go. A member of the Stake Presidency was there to give interviews.
Monday morning all the missionaries met at the temple to start our cleaning assignment along with President and Sister Bennion, Carlos and Dwight, FM leaders. We were given assignments. Sister Wilson and I went to the laundry and finished up everything left from Saturday, that took all morning even though Sister Wilson had gone over early and started the wash. Others were wiping out all the clothing shelves and re stacking the clothing, cleaning out and wiping down all lockers, Paul was oiling all the hinges, and others were cleaning all the flowers and covering them, marking all spots that needed touch-up, cleaning up the top of the temple roof. It took us until 12:15 after which Sister Bennion had ordered sandwiches, grapes, chips brownies for us. We serve with a wonderful group of people. We are so very blessed.
We left quickly and headed out to Grand Central Station where we caught a train for Stamford to pick up our car. It took about an hour to get out there but a very nice train ride, Paul's Dad would have enjoyed it. After picking up the car we headed out to Susquehanna to meet up with Kimberly, Elaine, Mallorie, Brayden and Robbie who were coming down from Palmyra to meet us. We ran into a heavy thunderstorm going through the edge of the Catskill mountains and heard flood warnings on the car but we never saw any of it.
MJ, Brayden, Mallorie, Kimberly, Robbie, Paul at Priesthood Restoration Site
We both arrived in Binghamptan within 10 minutes of each other. So fun to see Kimberly, Mallorie, Brayden, Robbie and Elaine. I immediately whisked the kids off and we went to see "Life of A Pet". The next morning we headed to the Priesthood Restoration site. It was a wonderful experience and we got to see a new film just for this site. This began our wonderful trip through Church History.
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| Brayden, Grandpa, Robbie at Priesthood Restoration 2016 |
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| Our two Deacons, Robbie and Brayden |
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| Outside Isaac Hales home, Paul, Robbie, Brayden, Kimberly, Mallorie, Mar Jean, Elaine |
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| Grandma Elaine, Mallorie, Grandma Mar Jean |
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| Robbie trying to lift the box that might have contained the plates (about 50 lbs). We each got a try and it was heavy |
On our way back to Palmyra we stopped at Watkins Glen a NY State Park and hiked up the gorge. Very beautiful what nature can do in 12,000 years. It got all our wiggles out since the kids had been traveling for eight days. The kids had already seen Palmyra a couple of days before so we just took them to the Sacred Grove where we tried to find some of the wonderful trees we had been shown by Bob Perrit when we were serving there and then we had to climb the Hill Cumorah at night as Joseph did.
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| Watkins Glen |
The next day we left for Niagara Falls where we took the Maid of the Mist boat ride and got up close and personal with the Falls. So very beautiful. From there we headed off to Kent Ohio where we stayed at Don Chappelear's home for a couple of days. Don treated us so well. Thursday we went out in his boat and sea doos for the day. It was a great day. The kids learned to get up on skies and Kimberly was just like a pro, forgetting nothing from her young days. We spent most of the day on the sea doos. Early Friday morning Kimberly, Elaine and the kids headed for Winter Quarters where they had reservations for the temple. They had three very long days of driving to arrive back in Salt Lake on Sunday evening in time for Brayden's court of honor. We know they had a wonderful trip of seeing all the Church History sites, Nauvoo, Kirtland, Johnson Farm, Morley Farm, Palmyra, Susquehanna River and a few other places, Niagara Falls, Watkins Glenn. It was wonderful to be with them for a few days.
Paul and I stayed at Don's for another day visiting family and friends and the cemetery. We went to see Mike and Susie Ricciardi, Mike's sister Rose, Virginia Mills who is 102 and wonderful friends of Paul's parents. Don took us to the cemetery where we visited the families sites. It was a wonderful day and we had a great visit with Don who just recently lost his beloved wife, Cathy, to cancer.
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| Palmyra Temple where we served in 2007-2008 |
We left Kent, OH and headed back to Palmyra. We were able to attend Church in the Palmyra Ward, where we had served in 2007-08. Here we saw many old friends. Don and Sister Taylor, we lived in their home while they served in Washington, invited us to dinner along with the Amsdens who were also wonderful friends from that time period. Our greatest highlight was attending the Palmyra Temple and seeing people we had served with long ago. Jeannette Johnson, the Colletts, President and Sister Black, Elder and Sister Christensen who we served with in Los Angeles, and the Johnsons from the Jordan River Temple.
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| Dee and Gregg Amsden, Mar Jean, Sister and Don Taylor |
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| Elder & Sister Lawton, Mar Jean & Paul |
We again visited all the Palmyra sites, enjoying the wonderful testimonies given by the missionaries. This is such a special place in our hearts. We also heard that the Lawtons were serving here so we looked them up. We followed them in the Penn 3rd Branch in Hong Kong.
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| Hill Cumorah Visitor Center |
We left Palmyra and headed for Washington DC. We came in on the belt way and there was the temple right in front of us. We attended and did a session. Upon leaving I stopped to say hello to Sister Swift, assistant to the matron. As we left the recommend desk Pres. Swift greeted us and asked for our help.
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Two Ukrainian sisters had been stranded in the states, a mother and daughter, Irina and Veronika Pedchenkos from the Kiev area. They had a flight back home on Sunday, August 7 and needed to get back to JFK airport. We brought them with us. First we stopped in Philadelphia to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Then we drove to the temple where they were giving VIP tours. It was around 5:30. We were able to join a tour. It was just beautiful. It's a beautiful complex of stake center, temple, and visitors center. Fits in perfectly with the Phili landscape. I thought the rooms were very large and the chandeliers were gorgeous especially the one in the celestial room. Then they had refreshments for us so we did not need to get dinner that night.
Friday we left early and stopped at a Costco on our way into the City. We were loaded to say the least with food tucked everywhere and a pizza sitting on my lap. We got into town without any trouble except for all the tolls. It was $15 to cross the Lincoln Bridge. Paul dropped us and all our food and luggage off at the apartment and then proceeded to drive back to Stamford where he dropped off the car and took the train back home. He got his wish, he got to drive in Manhattan. Lucky for him he missed all the congestion coming back home.
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| Liberty Bell, Irina, Veronika, Paul |
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| NY Skyline leaving South Ferry to Stanton Island |
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| Statue of Liberty from Stanton Island Ferry |
Friday night we watched some of Veronika's dancing videos. She does ballroom dancing and also with a wheelchair partner. Very talented. Saturday we went to Stanton Island on the Ferry and to ground zero. I dropped off and they went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sunday they went to Church in the Manhattan Ward and then back to the Museum of Natural History. They stayed with the Dransfields Saturday night and they invited us all to dinner. Around 8:30 we loaded them up and found our way to Penn Station, then the train to Jamaica and at that point we pout them on the train out to the airport. We went them off with their six bags, two weighing over 50 lbs with two young men we asked to help them. At this writing they should be almost home. It was a great experience and we constantly see the Lord's hand in the lives of His children.
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| Veronika and Irina and their packs |
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| Mar Jean & Sister Swindle, leaving for Jamica |
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| Zone Sisters Leavitt, Green, Swindle, Atkinson, & |
Church at Kingsbridge was very good. We had four class members, Jennifer Gonzales, KoJo Asabre, Sheila Broomfield and Gloria Oryemachi. The missionaries are doing great and the sisters have a baptism of Julia on the 27th. Sister Swindle received her visa and is leaving for Jamaica today. It has been a memorable couple of weeks. We are now very happy to get back to work at the temple tomorrow morning.
We will finish up today by doing a little shopping and trying to find 2 Bros, according to the Sisters the very best pizza in town and only $1 a slice. I think we might run across the Empire State Bldg. on our travels today.
