Sister Anderson Had a Birthday!

 It was a busy week, but as usual, when we are the busiest, we don't take pictures. We did get some pictures of some of Olivia's birthday celebrating, however. She is now only three years younger than I, 73. The Barnes have a membership at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, so they were able to arrange for us to get tickets to the Lightscape presentation. They have turned the walking path into various experiences with lights, music, and lights timed to music. It was actually very well done, and inspiring.

The fountain dancing to the music from Polar Express

One of the larger lighted archways.

The Japanese garden and pools had festive lanterns

Beautiful chandeliers overhead, along the path 

This was a cathedral effect. It was 
very cold

Elder and Sister Barnes enjoying 
the lights, as well.

These poppies were especially delightful

She got some nice gifts, as well. I ordered the new book by President Nelson, and the Barnes gave her a package with two New York City mugs, a box of Swiss Miss cocoa, and a stocking cap from the Light the World celebration. 

President Nelson is an amazing
man, the epitome of loving
kindness, and a prophet with vision.

 

When we were in Times Square last
week, the only people wearing these
were the staff members from Salt 
Lake. The Barnes found this in the
little store around the corner. No idea
how it got there.

We (mostly Olivia) worked on the annual yearbook featuring the cousins' pictures and surveys in between working on mission matters. It is no small undertaking and we wanted  it to be done quickly so it could be out to the children's families before our daughter Hannah and her family left for their European adventure. It is fun seeing how the survey answers vary from year to year. For example, one year the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" was answered by one granddaughter, "A teenager!" This year the question was answered by an older grandchild, "I'm pretty young, I really don't know."

Favorite animal:
I like all animals (except spiders)
What I loved most about 2023:
Mom got to be EVEN BETTER

Last year's and this year's copies, all done!

Wrapped and ready to deliver to the Post Office.

When meeting with the counselor in the Lynbrook Stake Presidency, we were asked to present training to the leaders in the wards of the stake. Of course, we were not going to pass up that opportunity. It ended up having about 40 PowerPoint slides that included, again at his request, Spanish and Mandarin translations. After working with it over the course of the week, I pared it down so we could get through it in an hour. We could have concluded in an hour, but there was a lot of enthusiasm expressed in the form of questions and comments. We were pleased that it went so well. The stake will have one or two classes in each of the five areas beginning in January, so having the leaders on board will be a great benefit.

Happily, there was a presentation from 2017
that I could use and manipulate, so it wasn't
entirely from scratch.

A couple of slides to show how I set them up. 
Thank you Google Translate! 

We had a packed Wednesday. We needed to go into Manhattan for the English Connect class with the El Salvador Consulate staff at 3:00pm, and then back into the City for a special concert in Carnegie Hall at 8:00pm. We didn't want to make the trip twice, so we made an appointment with the temple and went through a session in between. I am continually inspired by the explanations and other changes in the current presentation of the Endowment. The English class was the last one in English Connect 1, so next week we will start with English Connect 2. If we don't have to miss any dates, we will finish just before we have to go home in February.

Julia and Flor are reviewing all the
previous lessons.

We reviewed using a game that made
it both challenging and fun.

The concert was in the main theater of Carnegie Hall. It was sponsored by Steve and Barbara Young's Forever Young Foundation and its chosen charity, Sophie's Place which provides space in hospitals for brain injuries through music therapy. The room was packed, as was the stage. Lots of performers, an orchestra, and a huge chorus from a local high school. The senior missionaries were comped, but most tickets were over $100, so they raised a lot of money that night.

This actually came at the end. Apparently, Ben 
Rector is well known by many people. He has
over a billion streams across all platforms. 

Another performer, Adam Jacobs.

An impressive finale with all performers

 

Steve Young addressing the audience. 

Full house, including the balconies in
the back.

The main floor and balconies on both sides were
also full. We assumed they needed us to be there
because they would need to make the audience 
look full. It turns out that it was truly a nice gesture
on behalf of the organizers.

On Sunday, we went back to The Bronx for church, and had a chance to talk to several people who were very interested in seeing more self reliance in their ward. We had a nice conversation with Bishop Chiba who is very supportive. After church, we drove out to find the widow of a man who had joined the Church, but died before he could receive his endowment in the temple. A senior couple who we happen to know from the Reno area, served in this ward sometime ago and asked if we would try to get the widow to sign a permission form to allow his work to be done. She refused, but after Olivia made an appropriate plea, she agreed to allow us to come back after she discussed the matter with her children. 

We drove home in time to make final preparations for the Zoom meeting with the Lynbrook Stake leaders. Following that, we attended the Zoom devotional for all missionaries. We were happy to see Elder and Sister Engstrom give their farewell testimonies in American Sign Language with one of the ASL sisters interpreting. 

We were exceptionally pleased to hear that Elder Kearon was ordained as the new Apostle. We met him in Sweden and had a chance to visit for a few minutes. We had just heard of his being called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy. I congratulated him on the new assignment, and his response was something like, "I think the Brethren just want me close so they can keep an eye on me." I said, "I think they want more conference talks." We will hear lots of those from now on. 

Some random pictures:

Celebrating Hanukkah all around our neighborhood.
These inflatables are in front of a Jewish preschool. 

This one is in front of a home.