March 16, 2013
Dear Family and
Friends--
I'm
starting my letter early this time because I need to take the time to do it
before tomorrow and the rest of the activities for the upcoming week.
Right
now I'm watching it snow on the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade. It's a parade like few others--there's
about 120,000 people IN the parade!
What you see are a lot of people marching from different "societies"
or educational institutions. Also,
a lot of three other things: marching policemen, firemen and more
bagpipe bands than you knew existed, looking for all the world like the
Scotch. Actually, the ancestors of
the people in Scotland were the Irish (Celtics). There were also a lot of marching bands, some from
distant parts of the country. 95% of the people that I saw were lily
white and during one break where the TV people were doing interviewing of
people in the parade, one young lady gave the web address of the redhead
convention--redheadconvention.ie--for all you redheads out there. With all the
snow coming down, there are more people in the parade than were watching from
the sidelines, at least that's true where the local TV station was
broadcasting.
Lynn
went to the parade, I declined because I needed some time to do church responsibilities
and I was tired. Friday I spent
the day fixing food--had our district over for biscuits and gravy and fruit
this morning. Always great feeding
the missionaries. We got a small
table from our Super about two weeks ago and we can get four people around it,
plus the round table which holds six--everyone was able to sit at a table. Thanks goodness for COSTCO's gray
folding chairs, they were here in abundance.
Lynn
and I have spent as much time as possible visiting people from the ward--the less
active people. We have to come
unannounced sometimes because people don't answer their phones. Getting into buildings is a problem
because of locked front entry doors, so you wait till someone comes along and
allows you to get inside. Both
Lynn and I look pretty safe. I
make enough bread so that a loaf goes to the people we visit.
This
past Tuesday was temple day for us--went quite well, no glitches, I did a few
new things and so did Lynn. Lynn
suggested that we go to the opera that night. I just didn't want to stand in line or stay up so late. But, we got out of our temple
responsibilities early and I changed my mind. So across the street we went to the Met and got in the short
line waiting for the $20 tickets which were tickets sold to fill up the
auditorium. Since Lynn could get 2
tickets, I didn't need to be in line which was a good thing because there was
no place to sit except the floor.
So,
I went back to the temple and told the men in the front foyer what I was up
to--wanting a quiet place to sit and read, and one of the men there said
"Have you seen the Ambassador Room." No, I'd never heard of it. We went next door to the 2nd floor which is the Distribution
Center, and behind it there's a large room with chairs and a piano used when
people come for special meetings, or when they have a large group of youth
doing baptisms for the dead. The
kids meet there first, get some instruction and then are taken to the temple. I grabbed the April 2012 Ensign and sat
down and read--there are some great articles in that issue, I would recommend
you re-reading the articles on the Atonement.
At
one point a Br. Jones came in wondering what I was doing there all alone. I introduced myself and told him what I
was up to. He is a PR person for
the church working exclusively with the UN. He and his wife don't spend much time actually at the UN,
but they are either invited to or set up gatherings for people involved with
the UN--most of these "parties", "open houses" involve
people from different countries that want to know about the church in their
countries. Jones said he is not
allowed to proselyte but just "make friends."
I
was back downstairs in the temple lobby and Lynn came to get me. We went a few blocks away and went to a
nice, busy, noisy restaurant and I got their Tuesday rib special and Lynn got
fish and chips. The french fries
with the fish were some of the best I have ever tasted. I had a piece of cornbread with my
dinner, but it wasn't the usual kind--it was only 3/8" high and was fried
in oil. Different, but quite
delicious.
We
went to the Met, found our seats on the main level, but off to the side and
looked around. There were lots of
empty seat, most of the place was filled, could have moved to a different
location, but choose to stay since no one was sitting in front of us. The opera we went to was called
"Francesca da Rimini".
Never heard of it? Neither had I.
Also, never heard of the composer, Riccardo Zanonai, who made up the
opera from a play by Gabriele d'Annunzio, who made up the play after being
inspired by Dante's "Inferno".
I guess you've heard of "Dante" at least. Since this is considered a minor opera
and it was a rainy night, it was a light audience.
Boy,
it was a different thing, but did end up being a tragedy--both hero and heroine
being stabbed to death by the supposed bad guy at the end. The best part of the opera was a
gorgeous cello solo done during the first act. He really should have done it during the other three
acts. The opera was "on"
for 35 minutes, then took a 30 minute break and they did this 3 times. Lynn and I did not get home from the
opera until 1:45 in the morning!! We
enjoyed the opera because that was our first experience with a big time
production--the costuming and scenery were incredible, the singing was pretty
good too but the story line was lacking.
It was received politely from the audience and I was grateful to have
the experience, but think I'd rather watch something more engaging in the
future.
We
did FHE on Monday and that turned out great. Also, had more show up for Institute than usual, which was
encouraging.
We
talked to J.D. Thursday night. He
decided on his own to go to Europe for two weeks in May. What a shock. He's going by himself, already has his airline travel
arranged for and will do the "particulars" when he has time. I don't remember all the countries but
do remember Paris, Berlin, Rome, and he still has to decide between Budapest
and Vienna. He finishes his
schooling at UVU at the end of April.
So far, he's kept his straight A average.
(Sunday)--I
kept myself busy yesterday and Lynn came home in the late afternoon. The parade lasted, gulp, 4 1/2 hours!!!
Last
night I took the two English speaking sister missionaries with me to the RS
birthday party being held at church.
It was raining so I was concerned that fewer women would show up. However, they had such a good turn out,
another table had to be set up.
Five children also came with their single mothers. Most children in our ward have a single
mom as a parent. The place was
beautifully decorated--looked like something a professional would do; I was
greatly impressed. There was nice
background music and an introductory game was handed to all sisters so they
could get to know each other. It was
terrific. We were to go around and
find all the people that met certain criteria, (i.e. same hair color, same shoe
size, born in same country etc. etc.) not just get one name. It took a while to do this and caused the
women to get out of their comfort zone and talk to others they might not
normally talk to. We had a program
where some women shared stories of how some other sisters in the gospel made a
difference in their lives. Also
had two musical numbers. Then a
chicken and rice dinner using my creamed chicken recipe. I sat next to two women who were
literally sisters and of Chinese descent.
They were both raised in the church. I could tell from their conversation that they knew what was
going on in the church. Turns out
one was the 1st councilor in the stake RS presidency and the other had another stake
RS responsibility. The oldest
looked about my age, the other a little younger. Neither had married but instead chose to take care of their
mother after their father died.
Interesting. The father
immigrated to the US about forty years ago and a year later he and his wife
joined the church. They had 7
daughters!! And this is a Chinese
family......
Had
corned beef and cabbage today but had to do the meal in a crock pot because I
don't have a pressure cooker. The
flavor was different, not as intense for the meat, but it still tasted
good. I actually put whole red
potatoes in a pot of water and boiled them. The kicker is that I had to go to the internet to find out
how to boil red potatoes! Mine
turned out perfectly. : )
Going
to my ward never ceases to amaze me.
I'm so impressed with the spirit and dedication of those that
attend. The church is true and I
love it. Grateful, so grateful, to
my Savior for his atonement and all that that entails. We're grateful for our service here.
BTW,
we are going to come to Provo at the end of April before we go to San
Diego. Lynn is being honored at a
meeting there. We'll be in Provo
2-3 days.
Happy
St. Patrick's Day!
Love to you
all--Kathy/Mom
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