Old Faces and New Places

This is a week of remembering special events that shape who we are. On Friday, 9/9, President Nelson turned 99. Our admiration for him increases daily as we see what this remarkable man continues to do with his life and ministry. 

On this day, 22 years ago terrorists attacked our city, destroying the World Trade Center towers and killing thousands. On Sunday the sister who spoke in sacrament meeting wiped away tears as she remembered the day and her husband, a policeman at the time, who was there doing what those heroic first responders did.

Our friends, Lynne and Lanette Pettit, were scheduled to leave on Tuesday morning, so we wanted to be up early to get ready for the day. When we got up, we discovered that we had no water. We texted the maintenance man who told us that there was a big leak and they had to shut the water off. We have, as all the apartments in the mission are supposed to have, a couple of 3 gallon bottles of water. We were able to use them to flush toilets. Later, a trickle of water came on enough to wash faces, but not enough to shower or wash clothes until Wednesday afternoon. Luckily, the Pettits were able to board the cruise ship where they had all the water they needed. 

The water came from the broken water heater in an
apartment on the 5th floor, all the way down, through
the other floors, and into the garage near our car.

We were very happy to get a quick shower before leaving for our English Connect class on Wednesday afternoon. We have moved the class to 4:00pm, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. The Consul General informed us that the people from El Salvador who were here during and immediately after the earthquakes in December 2000 and January 2001 get special permission to remain in the country and the application for renewal was ending this past week, so there was a lot of extra work for the staff. We really want this to succeed, so we are hoping this coming week will be better.

I teach and Olivia takes pictures.

Beatriz explains something to Julia. Usually this
situation is reversed. 

We had all our typical meetings in the City this week. Employment is slow, as we hoped it would be because the professionals are taking what they can so we can fulfill our Self-Reliance mission. We still go into the centers in Woodside and Union Square, but we have time to work on our self-reliance projects when we are not working with candidates.

Just some minor adventures such as major renovations of track in the subways, so our trains are taking longer to get where we need to go. Also, I am quite careful to lock the office doors as we leave the employment centers, but twice I have been less careful about remembering to take my keys out of the office before I close the locked doors. Young missionaries have had to rescue them a couple of times. Maybe old age, but probably not. I've been doing that sort of thing since I learned to walk.

We had some more wonderful friends who served in Sweden with us, stop by. The Hales are from upstate New York and took time to see us before returning home. John grew up in what was then the Queens Ward, even though the building is in Little Neck, on Long Island. We spent Saturday with them in a couple of places we had not seen before and then went to church with them in Little Neck. Bishop Boggio was interested to know if John was related to someone whose paintings are in the building. It turned out that he is John's grandfather. 

The Smith home in Palmyra.

This one says it is the Whitmer home, but today
it is a chapel and visitors' center. The actual home
is a log cabin that has since been restored. Not much
else was there in 1958, when the picture was done.

According to John, this little section was added on
since he lived here.

At the front steps.

This is still a magnificent building that is kept up
beautifully.

I was able to share information with the Elders' Quorum President who is also the 2nd Counselor in the bishopric. They have some real needs that the self-reliance courses could help with, but they don't seem to be aware of the courses that are available, or that there is even such a thing as self reliance in the Church. He was glad to take my card.

We were able to take the entire day on Saturday to look at some special places near where John's family and grandparents had lived at one time.

These are from the opulent estate of John S. Phipps, heir to a fortune made by his father in a financial relationship with Andrew Carnegie. His wife was a heiress of her father's fortune made in the Grace Shipping Lines. She was English, so they recreated an English estate on what was once a Quaker farm on Long Island. 

This is the west porch. The glass was added later
by one of the sons. It can be retracted hydraulically. 

There are expensive paintings throughout the home.

The dining room.

Bathroom - it's not just a chair, it's the throne. Look
above it.

Lawn and gardens are well kept and manicured.

Linda on the path to another garden.

The children's playhouse.

The  pool and dressing rooms.

From the former Guggenheim estate that is now Sands Point Preserve:

The  Castle Gould. Now a kind of visitors' center
with some special rooms for certain events.

The Hempstead House is a 50,000 sq. ft. mansion
with 40 rooms. We didn't tour it because
it was being set up for a wedding reception.

A walk through the gardens led to the beach on
Long Island Sound. We found 15 to 20 dead
horseshoe crabs along the short stretch of beach
that we walked. Olivia also added to her collection 
of sea shells.

 I think our spate of visitors has ceased for about a month. We have thoroughly enjoyed every one of them and wished we could have spent more time with them. On the other hand, we had to really push ourselves to be certain we were not neglecting opportunities to promote our purpose here. Looking back, however, the conversations and experiences have helped us shape and refine our mission. At the same time we find divine intercession with leaders who want more information and new facilitators coming on each week. 

We wish you all and each of you the best of Heaven's blessings.