Dear Family and
Friends—
It is a nice, warm beautiful day
outside, as contrasted with a very cold week we had last week—and here I
thought spring had completely arrived.
We had snow and ice on our balcony about a week ago. The freezing temps played havoc with the
magnolia trees that had already started blooming in the Botanic gardens. So, when we went to the gardens this past
Friday, the magnolia trees were turning brown too soon and the “show” wasn’t
even as close to being pretty as we saw last year--a big disappointment. We’re supposed to have the Senior
Missionaries here on May 3 so they can see the gardens in all their glory; I’m
quite worried about “all their glory.”
Lynn and I have already been to see
(this morning) the doctor that I’ve been seeing about my sinus infection. My left ear still is plugged up despite the
medication that I’ve been using to getting it unplugged. It’s been so annoying! So, today he decided to use strong arm
tactics and gave me a prescription of heavy duty amoxicillin. I’m counting on this working.
Let’s see—a week ago we had 30
people for FHE, a very large group.
Unfortunately the family responsible for doing it was unprepared and the
only ones who could answer the charade depictions from the Book of Mormon were
missionaries. That is a big groan. We had some children there who have never
come before, which was nice except one girl (6) turned out to be a one-woman
wrecking crew so totally out of control that Lynn took her and the other kids
upstairs to the large foyer off the chapel, blew up balloons and had the kids
play games with them. One other adult
joined to help him. The rescue for the
evening was when the dad of the family had a really special refreshment to
finish off the activity. It was also the
night before transfers so there was a lot of picture taking with members and
the missionaries that were leaving. FHE,
boy, you just never know from week to week how it’s going to turn out.
The next day was transfer day, but
this was no ordinary transfer—for the first time in Pres. Calderwood’s
administration, the entire mission came to this transfer. And, we found out why—they were turning the
10 zones into 12 that day. (About 8
months ago we went from 9 to 10). And
for the first time ever, they were formally releasing missionaries from
leadership positions in front of everyone and everyone was given the chance to
sustain the new leadership. Also, over
the weekend a new stake was organized from a district which means Pres.
Calderwood doesn’t have to worry about ecclesiastical leadership for any part
of the mission except for responsibilities with the missionaries. The new stake president talked to us for
quite a while—he is Mr. Gung-Ho, I’ll tell you.
He’s been a bishop three times and been a stake president once and he
joined the church in Queens when he was 31—he’s looks like he’s in his mid-60’s
now. I had a chance to see the many
missionaries that we knew quite well and big hugs to Sis. Millett who came to
NYNYS mission just three weeks before we did and she was going home! But, the biggest and best surprise of the day
was sitting on the hallway floor going to the mission office downstairs. I looked at the two sisters sitting there,
who were comparing notes, and one looked very familiar—it was Sis. Williams who
had to go back to Spanish Fork to try and figure out why she was having such
horrible headaches! She told me that no
doctor could figure out why she was having the headaches. Then her dad (who was told to leave the
family when Sis. Williams was six because he was an alcoholic and after a
period of time just had nothing to do with the kids) died from his
drinking. So sad. But, he was always dad to her despite the
estranged relationship. The very next
day after the funeral, her headaches completely disappeared and have not
returned. Obviously, Heavenly Father
wanted her in Utah to be with her family and take time for dad and then, back
to her mission she went. She was
actually released and then re-called.
That night, Lynn went down close to
Coney Island area, to experience a Seder.
I really didn’t want to go, but do have some regrets now although, I was
very, very busy that night getting Institute ready. Lynn said it was a group of poor Jews from
the Russian, old USSR territories and he said it was a situation for those with
very little money—plastic plates etc., a Seder program (the booklet) was subsidized
from a large grocery store chain in Brooklyn, and only about 30 people came but
a group deeply grateful that Lynn would think to come to their Seder. I believe he found out about it on line. They didn’t start till after nine pm and went
to midnight. Lynn said it was not fancy
but it was still very nice. Some things
were different from our Utah experience, some things the same. Apparently a young man in his early 20’s who
spoke good English (the others had heavy accents) took Lynn under his wing and
helped him understand what was happening and some history behind the group that
showed up.
The next day was prep for Institute
and a lot of worry since we were discussing Elder Christofferson’s talk on the
Resurrection and I was anticipating our Jewish friend, Jack, to come. Since its Passover week he did not come and
so we had a great discussion with an enhanced group (the Elder’s Quorum
presidency meets together at the same time we do, but some in the group were
late and the others joined us toward the end of the class). Lynn showed a short video of Elder Holland
speaking about the Atonement to finish off the class. A nice surprise was when Dyan Banana came to
class all dressed up. Why? Well, she had just come back from the temple
to take out her endowments as part of her preparation to go on her
mission. We were all very excited for
her. With part of my preparation for
this class on the Resurrection I was fit to be tied about the scattered details
in the Gospels about the events that happened around the Resurrection. I was grateful to Elder Christofferson’s
scripture references, but I just really wanted to put it all together with a
people/line and a time/line and just get down to the nitty-gritty details. I think I did a darn good job and will send
the results, but I want to put the references down on the paper that I handed
out, which were not typed up.
Thursday and Friday were quiet days,
days of catching up on many things including a lot of laundry. Lynn and I watched “Saving Mr. Banks” on
Friday night. Such an interesting movie.
Went shopping Saturday and came home
and did a lot of food prep for Easter, but also got some nice ribs in the oven
for dinner that night, and tried a baked French toast recipe of my own
making—didn’t like it but its tasted better after the fact. Then I tackled Elder Hales talk on
obedience. I really wanted to do this
talk for my last time as Institute teacher (will teach it next week) but it is
a bear to get through and understand.
And, you’ve got to get through the litany of absolutes in the talk while
addressing all of us imperfect people. Still,
the message “tells it like it is” in our need to be obedient.
Lynn and I went to visit three
families that night for home teaching; two were home, and one wasn’t. We had a super visit with the two we went
to. We saw the inactive Claude’s. Her dad, Joe, was there again and he had
questions about the church which we were happy to answer. We asked him if he was interested in getting
a Book of Mormon and he said “yes” so we will get him one.
Had a nice Easter at Church which
included ward council ahead of time, and talking to a number of new people
after all the meetings were over with.
Then Lynn and I went to Carline and Zebb Pierre’s place for a Haitian
style Easter dinner. She’s wanted to
have us over for quite a while to sample her Haitian food and we were very
grateful for the invitation. It was
quite good—the interesting thing was all the starches—potato salad, macaroni
and cheese and rice and beans were the big part of the menu. We also had rooster which had been cooked for
a very long time to make it tender.
Rooster, by the way, is extremely boney.
We did have a large lettuce salad and roasted carrots and beets, so the veg’s
were there. Her kitchen is so small, she
cut anything that needed to be cut by putting it in her hand and using the
knife to slice and dice. She was quite
skilled at it. After dinner, Carline’s brother showed
up. He’s the oldest living child in her
family and can’t quite seem to figure out that you are supposed to work and
earn a living. He expressed an interest
in the Church and wanted to have discussions from the missionaries, so we got
that all set up. Personally, he makes me
suspicious…..
It was great to talk to Ken’s family
last night; the boys were eager to show what they got in their Easter baskets—a
bunch of Bay Blades. Also talked to Sean’s
family and caught up with their activities.
I appreciate Bob getting us information about Bryant’s skills playing
baseball, and other family information—thanks Bob and Moira!
The Church is true. Grateful for this season of Easter to reflect
on the great gift of the Atonement and the restoration of the Church and
especially grateful for the truths we know and can share with others. Lynn is working on to give a presentation
about the church to the Jews he visits with on Thursday night. I will go to this meeting which ought to have
more attending than usual because the group is eager to learn about the Church
from Lynn.
Love to you all—Kathy/Mom
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