Kathy 5/5/14

May 5, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            Happy Cinco de Mayo!!  It’s a lovely day outside, but still windy and cold—windy and cold, the operative words for this spring. 

            Busy week—I’ll need to get right down to it and condense it a bit since today is, and will continue to be a very busy day.

            Last Monday, we had 30 people come to FHE.  So, three weeks ago we had thirty, two weeks ago we had 29 and last week we had 30.  This may not mean much to you, but it is huge!  We have been thrilled with the attendance.  We know it won’t happen tonight since some have already told us they wouldn’t be there.  But, we had a great activity and again, more food than we needed since Br. Soleta decided to celebrate Dyan going on a mission by bringing his contribution.

            Tuesday, per usual, was temple day.  A week earlier, I had asked Sis. Corsan (the women’s coordinator for our shift) to put Lynn and I on a regular session as patrons.  I had one last male name to get the endowment done and wanted Lynn to do it.  Much to my surprise, I was put on a session as a patron, but Lynn wasn’t!  Lynn went to Br. Corsan and asked if his schedule could be changed so he could go with me and get that last family name done.  Br. Corsan chided him a little saying Lynn should have given him some notice before hand to get the schedule changed.  Lynn told him that I had talked to Sis. Corsan about putting him on the session.  Br. Corsan then became thoughtful and said that he remembered then that she did tell him to do that.  All’s swell that ends well.  Mer—we forgot to pick up the card and will pick it up tomorrow and send you all the cards.  Yay!  The rest of the day went so nicely—another day in temple paradise.  Made two loaves of bread after getting back home.

            Wednesday—wow, now that day was spent with me in the kitchen.  I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get a few things and then came home to make a chicken/grape salad; used 10 eggs for egg salad; made a cherry bar dessert and a dessert called Éclair Cake.  Then, made sandwiches using my homemade bread and some croissants.  We took a lot of things with us to Institute that night, getting there extra early to set up tables and food.  The Tenney’s bought chips and a large relish tray so we were set for our early “last day of Institute before the break, celebration of Dyan’s mission” dinner.  Dyan has been a grand excuse for a lot of parties!!!

            We discussed Elder Hales talk “If Ye Love Me, Keep My Commandments.”  We had a new investigator in the class and talking about keeping first and second estates and eternal life and everything that implies, with her there, got me off on an uncertain start—I really didn’t have time to interview her to find out what she did or did not know about our doctrine.  I was uncomfortable and it came across that way, but Lynn came to my rescue on some critical things, plus others in the class made some outstanding comments and the lesson settled down, only to become one of the best lessons that I thought had ever been given in the class.  I ended up bearing my testimony of the truth of the gospel and the things we were talking about; also, talked about the Book of Mormon and the role of Joseph Smith.  It was a sweet experience. 

            After class, we invited the missionaries in the hall to come and finish the rest of the food and they were so very eager to do that.  We had a small group eat at seven, so there were plenty of leftovers.  I grabbed Barbara (the investigator) and gave her a big hug and apologized for my shaky beginning but she told me that she already understood a lot of what I had been talking about and really enjoyed the class a lot.  Whew.  That was a relief.

            One interesting thing that happened that Wednesday is the East coast had a lot of rain and we got 2+ inches that day in Brooklyn.  We were told that the two Elders in 5H (our old apartment) could not come to the church that night because they had water in their apartment.  Uh-Oh!  We knew all about that since we got water in through the ceiling, off the windows, when we lived there before.  So, we cleaned up as fast as we could and made our way back to the apartment.  When we got to 5H, there were four Elders mopping up water, using every towel available—it was a mess!  They had told our Super about the situation but their next door neighbor, Pat, is not afraid to mince words with anyone and the Elders told us she had yelled at Brian about what had happened in 5H.  We have decided not to deal with all that mess and bureaucracy and will take the Elders out of the apartment when we leave.  We found out Saturday that there will not be a couple to replace us when we go, so we will leave 5A for one set of the Sisters and have the mission abandon 5H.  The two Elders in that apartment got a plate of food each from us.

            Next day, Thursday.  Lynn and I knew that a production crew from the HBO sitcom, “Girls” was going to be in our building and in the front on Thursday morning.  We had a date that day with Claudette Clark, an angel lady from our ward.  She has wanted to take us out on an excursion and lunch for a long time, so Thursday was the day.  We were in our foyer at 9:45 and greeted by a lot of people and a LOT of equipment.  Actually, they were through filming and were starting to pack up.  We took a lot of pictures.  The outside/front of the building was also filled with people and equipment who were packing up.  When we got to the corner of the street there were the stars of the show getting in a van to go to the next location.  I have heard of the show “Girls” but only heard of it, never seen it.  New York is the prime location for a lot of TV shows.

            Lynn and I made it by train to the New York Transit Museum which was located at an old, abandoned subway stop.  It was a very interesting place with pictures and explanations plus artifacts and models lining the walls and corridors.  It was especially interesting to read the history of how they put the tunnels under the East River for two lines.  These subways were constructed in the late 1890’s so you can only imagine the best minds, best engineering were brought to bear to get the train underway.  Apparently Boston and New York were having a contest to see who could get their system up and going first.  Irish immigrants were the main body of workers for this project.  Down in the lower half of the museum were old subway cars, some going back to 1918, I believe.  They came complete with old advertisements that line the walls of our subways (just the upper walls).

            After that, we took a short bus ride to Juniors, the old iconic restaurant in downtown Brooklyn, famous especially for their yummy cheesecake, which I have talked about before.  I ordered a 10 ounce hamburger which came with fries and a couple of onion rings, but my goodness, they also put pickled cole slaw, pickled beets and dill pickles on the table to eat with your meal.  Also, a basket with potato rolls and corn bread.  You simply could not go away hungry, you went away stuffed.  Claudette insisted that we get a slice of chocolate mousse cheesecake for dessert and then bought us one more to take home.  Chocolate mousse cheesecake is to die for, BTW.  A lot of food went home with us that afternoon!

            Well, a huge meal deserves a big walk.  I changed my clothes, donned my Yankees hat and went off to Prospect Park.  Much to my astonishment, at the edge of the park on the streets there was a stream of water running down the edge.  I went a little further and there was a lot of water coming across the street.  A little further down and I could see what was going on.  The area I start walking at, the south end, is on the low side of the park, further north is higher ground.  When it rained the lake filled to overflowing, and so did the springs which feed the lake, so the water naturally went to the lower south side.  It really wasn’t a problem and there were hundreds and hundreds of walkers, bikers etc. to attest to that, but it was interesting to see.  There was a low spot in a meadow in the park which filled up with water and created a new lake.  A lot of flowering trees to see on the walk—it was glorious.  Lynn took a bike ride trying to hit some stores that would hopefully have information on Bermuda.  He didn’t have much luck.

            Friday was catch-up day with writing and studying then Lynn and I went to the Botanic Gardens to see what condition they were in.  We were satisfied that the gardens were beautiful enough for the senior missionaries to enjoy the next day—only one uncertainty, the weather.

            The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather on Saturday.  It was warm enough and partly cloudy.  Lynn and I left our apartment early in the car so we could park on the streets then take the train to meet up with the senior missionary couples, at, well, Juniors again!!  We had made arrangements a month earlier to go to eat at Juniors and then take a tour of the Botanic Gardens, so when Claudette took us there to eat we were excited because then we could find out personally, beforehand, what we were getting ourselves into. 

            There were two couples waiting for us when we got there and we waited a half hour outside for the others to show up, and then went inside to order.  Need to tell you that our beloved “F” train, the one that we ride 90% of the time had been derailed in Queens causing 19 injuries.  Because of this, there were problems on many other lines and we waited an hour for the rest of the group to show up.  Juniors was good with this and were ready and waiting when the others finally showed up.  Pres. and Sis. Calderwood also came with the AP’s who were glad to get a free meal.  We had a great time socializing and getting to know some of the new couples.

            Then to the gardens by train.  The BBG was packed to the gills with people.  It was Saturday, the cherry trees were finally completely blooming, it was warm, it was beautiful—so, the people came.  Dealing with our older group was like herding turtles—they were super slow, but that’s reality so we took our time and showed them our favorite things and after an hour and a half, they were on their own. 

            Our day was not over.  We came back, got changed and went to the Park Slope Chapel for the Saturday night Conference session.  They decided to try an experiment and have the meeting at 5 pm so mothers could come with their children if they needed to.  I believe it worked—there were a lot of little kids in the chapel and overflow and apparently a lot of couples with children upstairs where the nursery area is located.  We had a great meeting, the presenters interacting with the audience a lot.  We took Claudette home and then settled in for the night.

            The next day we took the train to the Marriott Hotel by the Brooklyn Bridge (yes, that’s what it’s called) for the Sunday meeting.  The first order of business after the meeting started was to release the 1^st councilor in the stake presidency and replace him with an Hispanic man from Dyker Heights Spanish Ward, which was a needed, good move.  They had a lot of speakers, with good messages.  Dyan’s brother, Isaac stood to be sustained as an Elder.  He’ll go on a mission in about 6 months.  After the meeting was over there were a lot of people to talk to and we were among the last to leave.  Went down to the train station and waited a half hour for that train to show up—ugh!

            That night we went to Lana and Tanya Golikova’s apartment with a video in tow about temples.  One of the messages from conference was to get our converts to the temple to take out their endowments.  We had about 280 baptisms in our stake in the last four years and only 16 of those people have taken out their endowments—ouch!  Lana is one of those people, so we talked to her about going to the temple.  She said she is going to start taking temple prep classes pretty soon, so that was gratifying.  Still, having our own little lesson with her was instructive and both paid attention to what we had to say.  

            After such a busy week, I was tired last night and went to bed earlier than usual. 

            The gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the prophet Joseph Smith is true.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it oozes the Spirit of the Lord when you read its pages.  : )   It has been my blessing to teach the Institute class—as the teacher always learns more than the students and this has been a year of learning. 

            Wish you all well this week and hope it’s a good one!

            Love, Mom/Kathy

Kathy 4/21/14

April 21, 2014

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

           

           

            

Kathy 4/14/14

April 14, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            It has happened, finally.  Spring is here and it appears that it will actually stick around.  There is a slight green hue to some of the trees on Ocean Parkway, daffodils are out in force, the forsythia is yellow, there’s small green leaves on bushes, the magnolia trees are blooming and there are two “bought from the store” pink azaleas sitting on each of our living room end tables.  Sigh—it is so wonderful!  I took three walks last week to the park and joined ALL the others.  At the park the new ice skating arena has been changed to let roller skaters do their skating thing.

            Let’s see—a week ago Lynn and I were responsible for FHE.  We had a decent sized group and a few new people showed up which always makes our day.  Lynn developed 6 games with balloons, games that could be played as teams and let me tell you—they were a big hit.  It was interesting to see some of the less coordinated play the games better than the “jocks” out of our athletic missionary pool.  I served strawberry shortcake at the end using the Butter Recipe cake mix from Duncan Hines, pureed frozen strawberries, and added small chunks of fresh berries, topped off with whipped cream.  It too, was a big hit.

            The next day, at the temple, I got to be in the baptismal area to help nine young sisters do baptisms for the dead.  Just the thought of getting to be there makes me want to clap my hands and jump up and down.   I restrained myself.  : )    I had one other worker help me so things ran quite smoothly.  Seven of the girls were from Bountiful and were on a dance team, in NY for a dance competition.  They weren’t interested in winning a trophy but just the opportunity to compete to make it to NY was huge for them.  They got to dance on the Koch theatre floor which is the floor the NYC Ballet dances on—very special.  They were very sweet young ladies and it was fun to get to know them and their parents.  Our “going home Wednesday” missionaries were there with Pres. and Sis. Calderwood, but I had little interaction with them.  I was supposed to finish the day as a sealing patron but there were too many men involved at the baptistery (yep, you can tell that spring break was happening in the US) so me and a few other ladies talked for a while (I told them about my super waffle recipe) and then I went home early.

            Lynn stayed because he wanted to go to St. John the Divine, which is a huge Episcopalian church.  They were doing the Passion of St. John by Bach.  It was sung in German.  I just simply wasn’t interested—it sounded too boring.  What, Bach boring---noooo.  Well, I thought it might be.  Lynn came home that night and said he didn’t realize how “heavy” Bach could be.  He struggled to get through it.  He said it was well done but when you don’t recognize any of the music except one piece and you can’t understand the words (the translation was there but they turned down the lights so you couldn’t read), let’s just say, he didn’t enjoy the experience as much as he had hoped he would.  I’m glad I stayed home.  I did go through Central Park and enjoyed all the flowers which were out in force.

            Wednesday was “get ready for Institute” day.  I carefully went through Christofferson’s talk, marking up the pages and did some other things, including one of those walks I talked about.  In the evening, I had the class members share their favorite talk and we discussed some of the interesting parts of them.  Jack gave his presentation too (can’t  remember who he chose) but he did make a big point of saying that he was so impressed with how sincere each person was in presenting their talks, how committed each was to the topic they gave.  I only contributed the fact that I loved Christofferson’s talk on the resurrection and that we would talk about it next week—there was no time for me which was perfectly fine.  Lynn finished off the evening by showing the video which shows the growth of the church by stakes to the year 2007—everyone got a big kick out of that.  Because Jack was there, that also meant missionaries could come and we ended up with four elders. 

            After Institute was over and we were back at the apartment, I noticed I had forgot my jacket and Lynn offered to return (it doesn’t take long) to the church and retrieve it.  He didn’t get back for a long time though and told an interesting story when he did return.  About four short blocks from our place is a gas station.  As Lynn was turning to the side of it he noticed a man on the street with his bicycle.  He rolled down his window and asked if the man was OK.  The reply was “no.”  He had fallen on the slippery wet street onto his knees and he was in a lot of pain.  Lynn put him and his bike in the car and got him back to his apartment.  Lynn got his contact information and asked if he would allow some missionaries to visit him.  (Lynn explained that he was a missionary and told a little about the church).  Saturday afternoon Lynn and two Spanish elders went to Ricardo Rosales place to talk about the church.  The  about 45 year old man from Mexico was polite but not really interested.  However, he did agree to have the Elders return.                        

            Thursday was “get down and dirty” day.  We were having Kent and Kay Bradford for dinner Friday evening.  They are new missionaries for our mission—Kent is Lynn’s first cousin and they live in Pres. Calderwood’s stake.  Because I knew they would be curious about our apartment, I knew I had to do some serious cleaning, which I did.  I also went through my files (because I had a lot of things sitting on top of them which needed filing) and did some reorganizing.  I made a sweet little discovery about my chest of drawers:  when I was dusting them and applying some elbow grease to the job, the moldings at the top of the chest moved.  I was aghast!  When I went to supposedly put it back properly, it moved again.  Curious, I moved the molding and much to my astonishment it pulled out and revealed a narrow drawer with a fuzzy bottom.  It was a hidden jewelry drawer!!  Lynn has an identical chest and we found his hidden drawer.  I went and put my earring there and a few other small items.

            Lynn and I (between Thursday and Friday) had our place spic and span—ready for company.  I fixed a lot of my dinner for the next day on Thursday and then went for a walk.  As a side note—Lynn  got an email from one of our faithful ward members saying she couldn’t do something because she had the flu.  I got out one of our soupsicles (turkey/vegetable flavor) and cut up some bread, bagged some veggies and ice cream sandwiches and Lynn rode his bike to her place.  All she did was come to the door to get them—nothing more.  She came to church Sunday and expressed gratitude.

            Friday, shopping in the morning, got the rest of the dinner under control then we went to Methodist hospital to get two Sisters.  One had a kidney stone and went to the emergency room in the morning.  (The ASL Elders have a car and took her).   Sis. Hamblin was given pain medication and kept there for a while but then she got sent home with us.  Right now she’s doing fine (on pain meds) and doesn’t really know what’s happening with the stone.

            After we got the two sisters tucked in their apartment we then went to the Botanic Gardens to check out the flowers.  The daffodils were spectacular—naturalized all over the place.  The magnolias were looking pretty good too—they still have a little ways to go.  There were other flowering bushes to add to the beauty.  But, the best part was to go to the Japanese Bonsai  greenhouse  and see the very small leaves and tiny little seeds come out on the miniature maple trees—it was simply magic.  The other little trees had leaves coming out too, but the maple---ahhh.

            At six o’clock Kent and Kay came.  We did the obligatory pictures with the view of the Parkway etc.  They did the oohing and aahing over our nice situation and then we ate and talked till ten in the evening, getting all conservative problems solved to a certain degree of satisfaction.  Well, we solved the problem that the Demos were running our country into the ground. 

            The next morning I went shopping with a specific agenda in mind—refreshment food for Tanya Golikova’s baptism.  Got grapes, large bag of tortilla chips, hummus, and a big box of strawberries—thank you COSTCO.  Saturday was a big study day and then I walked in the beautiful Saturday afternoon warmth of the park for quite a while.

            Sunday—I got the grapes all cut, everything was assembled ready to go (Lynn had to show a video presentation after Tanya was baptized).  Then we got a phone call from Lana (Tanya’s mother) asking if we could pick her up to take cupcakes to the church.  Well, Lynn had PEC, (he rode his bike) so I did the driving.   Lana didn’t really have a good way to get those cupcakes transported, but we did the best we could, I drove carefully and dropped them off at the one driveway for the church.  We unloaded the cakes, some people came and helped her get them inside and I went to the streets to find a place to park.

            After the three hour block everyone assembled downstairs in the “rec” room for the baptism.  Boy, Tanya had a lot of people show up to support her.  Elder Joseph (who baptized her mother two years earlier) was there to have a wish of his fulfilled –he wanted to baptize Tanya before he went home.  One of our Institute students (who will soon to go on a mission to SLC) gave a terrific talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost.  Tanya was duly baptized and after Lynn’s video was welcomed “to the church and Primary.”  Then, out came the refreshments—there were no leftovers!  So, our little home teachee is now officially a member of the church—yay!

            The Church is true.  That is a beautiful fact.  Read Elder Christofferson’s talk about the Resurrection—it is amazing.  Hope all of you have a wonderful Easter this Sunday and reflect on the great gifts our Savior has given us.  I am truly grateful to Him for so much.

Love to you all,      Mom/Kathy

            

Kathy 4/7/14

April 7, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            Meriden reminded me through her letter that Mom/Grandma died exactly six years ago today.  She died on a Monday, at 12:16 am, just decided to wait for General Conference to be over—hah!  I asked Lynn how long along ago his mother died and it was 27 years ago, two weeks after he became bishop.  This happened in March of 1987.  That event seems like it happened yesterday, but 27 years?  Now that seems like an eternity.

            We’re still struggling with spring here.  It will get warmish for a day, and then go right back to cold and blustery.  I have taken advantage of the warmth when it comes and gone on some walks.

Friday afternoon Lynn and I decided to see how the flora in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens were doing since we were planning on having the senior missionaries come in two weeks for an outing.  Well, amazing things will have to happen in the next two weeks and I don’t think that’s going to occur so we will postpone the event till May 3^rd.  There was one different variety of peach tree (and only one tree) that was completely covered with blossoms at the BBG and places where some daffodils were showing their sunny faces, but the vast majority of the “dills” were still waiting to open.  It was a cold, rainy, windy day—I didn’t blame them for still snoozing.  The nice part about our experience was going to the greenhouses and seeing so many plants with their indoor spring display of flowers—made up for the rest of the gardens.

            On my walk in Prospect Park mini daffodils just 4-5 inches high were blooming where they had been naturalized.

            Well, this past Wednesday night we had Institute and talked about adversity.  I had a lot of information to share and the rest of the class contributed quite a bit.  Our Jewish investigator (Jack) came and at one point really opened up and had a lot to say.  He got excited when Lynn mentioned he had a patent on the touch tone phone from Bell Labs because he said as a kid he loved all things telephone and AT&T.  He felt that it was some kind of “sign” that this Institute teacher from the Mormon Church worked for Bell and here he was learning about the religion.  So, therefore, there must be some to this religion, right?  How could this coincidence be?  Such logic gives me the creeps.  He did come to church for both sessions of Sunday conference and really enjoyed it.   If he joins the church it better be because he has a testimony of the restoration, not because of magic.  Although we spent a lot of time talking about how adversity could cause us to turn to God and chose His path, at the end we correctly pointed out how just plain keeping the commandments has a positive effect to keeping us close to God—needed to end the class on a high note.

            Thursday was catch up and relax a lot day.   It’s a day that I spent doing a lot of writing in my journal and doing more scripture study.   Lynn went on a bike ride that included a trip across the George Washington Bridge.  It has two levels and eight lanes on each level, plus room for walkers and bikers.  It goes from the north end of Manhattan to New Jersey.  I had some thawed out turkey and turned it into soup plus that was the day I walked to Prospect Park.

            Friday afternoon we went to the BBG and then went to a place called Sophie’s in downtown Brooklyn.  Lynn had already bought a meal there doing the Groupon thing.  It has Cuban cuisine but with the exception of the rice, the food could have been from Café Rio, well, sort of.

            Then Saturday morning came—no rest here.  I went shopping to two different stores early.  Then Lynn and I went to Lana and Tanya Golikova’s apartment to pick them and their stuff up to take to Good Will.  We filled the back of the car with toys, clothes etc. and then off we went back to downtown Brooklyn where we had just been the night before.  Problem with DT Brooklyn is the driving, the one-way streets, the parking—yuck.  We finally found Good Will and a sign on the front said to go to the side of the store to drop things off.  Groan.  More drive, drive, drive on the one way streets going backwards to go forwards and then had to double park on the streets.  Lana took the things to the entry and came back with most of it.  Although someone had told her on the phone that Good Will would take toys, this Good Will would not take the toys!  Groan again.  Ah well.  We then drove to the farmer’s market at Grand Army plaza (the market is open every Saturday and right on the edge of Prospect Park) so Lana could give clothes to some people that repurpose them.  That worked out just fine. 

            We took the two of them home and then went to the church so Lynn could set up the feed for Conference for the Spanish.   They were using the chapel, the French Creole was in the RS room and the English was downstairs.  We didn’t leave till we made sure everyone was getting the proper feed and then hurried home.

            My assignment to our Institute class was to take notes on Conference talks and then come prepared this Wednesday to tell about what our favorite talk was.  Even Jack said he would do the assignment.  I told Lynn to take notes for me the first hour because I wanted to have a traditional Conference breakfast which normally means waffles, but instead I made from scratch pancakes.  Yum!  There were so many talks that morning that were outstanding, but Elder Holland’s “call to arms” so to speak, was one of my favorites.  So, there was nothing relaxing about this Conference what with all the mad writing I was doing for 8 hours. 

            Lynn went early to Priesthood meeting.  The Elders Quorum always puts on dinner for the guys an hour earlier.  Lynn went to Juden’s place to pick him up to take him.  No one answered the door.  I told Lynn I didn’t think Judens would really go, but when I heard the news that he actually didn’t I was sad.   I did not watch Priesthood meeting, but did my traditional DVD movie that had some religious theme.  I watched “The Other Side of Heaven” instead.  Lynn came home and said that Oaks gave a great talk—that it would end up being a classic.  He said there were two others that were great too.  I will look forward to seeing them on the computer.

            I spent Sunday morning getting a tuna-macaroni salad ready to go and in the frig, and then watched Conference.  We then went to church to meet up with the people who were there to watch Conference at the church and have a meal with them between sessions.  The Spanish Ward makes most of the food but Midwood I also contributes.  It was great to eat and talk with people from both wards—always an enjoyable experience.  We came home and finished Conference in our apartment.  I’ve decided that I liked Elder Christofferson’s talk about as much as anybody’s and will use that for my contribution on Wednesday night.

            Lynn and I finished off the evening by talking to Ken, Margie and family catching up on all their news.  We then talked to Sean and Julianne’s family.  The twins played their piano recital pieces on the electronic keyboard that was brought into the office.  We were so pleased with their songs.  Kyle then did two pieces that he has learned.  Kyle is actually teaching the twins piano.  Julianne pays him.  : )  We were very happy to learn that Bryson is doing really well in school and is now learning subtraction.  Ken was given a new title at work:  Senior Consultant—nice to put on your cards etc.  Margie is taking work off this week to be with the boys—it’s spring break in Lehi.

            What a magnificent Conference we had Saturday and Sunday.  One of the things Jack loves about our church is that it is not wishy-washy concerning doctrine and moral standards.  In his investigations with many different churches (remember, he is an open-minded Jew) ours is the only one that takes such a firm stand on what we believe to be right.  Well, yes, Jack.  That’s because ours is a church founded on revelation from God and is God’s church.  Period.  I am very grateful for that testimony and grateful to be here in NY to support the dear members here.

Love to you all—Kathy/Mom

Kathy 4/2/14

March 31, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            We’ve had cold, wet weather for the last few days, but we’re hoping that everything clears off this afternoon because we are scheduled to go with some temple missionaries on a Mormon History walk this afternoon, seeing places in NY that have significance to our church.  I’m glad for the extensive rain since we have needed the streets and the sidewalks to be cleaned off of winter salt and dirt.  But it is cold and the month has been so cold prompting one sister in our ward to mention right off the bat when giving her testimony yesterday that she was depressed from such a cold spring.  Everyone in the audience was nodding in agreement.  Apparently this has been the coldest March since 1940.  There are no daffodils, forsythia, or any other flowering thing, (in Brooklyn) absolutely no tiny leaves on anything.  I’ve decided that something’s got to give sometime.   

            We had a pretty good FHE last Monday.  Two Elders were responsible and assigned four groups to act out a story from the Book of Mormon, each group getting a different story.  It took us awhile to read through all our material, but our group was given the story in Alma 47 about Amalickiah gaining kingship and all that that entails.  I believe our group of four did the best job—no prejudice here. ; )  Normally we would have simple refreshments, but one family in our ward said they would be responsible for refreshments and they brought a big pot of chicken broth with rice, ginger strips and a small amount of chicken, a recipe from their native Philippines.  Because it took so long to dish up the hot soup we didn’t get finished till much later in the evening.  Normally that’s not a problem but I had planned to spend some time getting some food ready for Wednesday.  So, that didn’t happen—we had to be up early for temple work the next day.

            Temple work was lovely—two stints in initiatory and being a child(ren) in the sealing room were part of the service.  There was no walking through the park that day as we tried to get home as fast as possible.  When we got back it was food prep time for Wednesday.  Also I tried to collect as many things as I could from my kitchen to take with me.  The church kitchens in NY are so poorly stocked, if you want something, you had better take your own.  Lynn and I grabbed our blue painters tape and put some on everything that was ours—wanted to make sure everything came back too.  Lynn took a large amount of items down to the car that night so we wouldn’t have to waste morning time to do that.  Before we went to bed we cut up a number of items for a relish tray and I made a cream of chicken soup, sour cream sauce for the chicken.

            I woke up at 5:30 and got the partially frozen chicken covered with the sauce into the oven to bake at a low temp, and then back to bed.  When I got up for reals, it was time for all hands on deck.  We loaded up the car and made it to the Bensonhurst chapel earlier than expected, so that was nice.  We set the round tables which the Elders had put up, made up the relish tray and put that in the middle along with a plate of rolls.  I took a large pot and put water in it to boil for Minute Rice, enough for 37 servings.  I had three 1 gallon pots that had boiling water for broccoli.  There was butter for the tables and cold water in the frig for the cups on the table and cut brownies on the serving table.  Finally at noon, the broccoli went in and we were ready to go right at 12:15.  The sad part was that making up one large box of Minute Rice was a bad idea because too much rice ended up being mushy.  Well, if you like Japanese sticky rice, this stuff was for you!  As it turned out the missionaries loved the creamed chicken over rice and came back for seconds and thirds.  Whew.  We also had ice cream sandwiches to go with the brownies.  We ended up feeding 25 people.

            Lynn brought the binder with the mission history for the missionaries to see.  Pres. Calderwood was extremely pleased and impressed with the work we had done and said he wanted his own copy.  No problem (well, sort of no problem).  We intend to have our own copy to bring back to Utah.  The church also requires a copy so they are getting an electronic copy which they can convert to hard copy if they wish.  Lynn has worked very, very, very, very, VERY long and hard on getting pictures etc. converted to PDF so he could send it to the church.  He’s been frustrated because something, somehow has kept him from getting some things to PDF.  However, by this morning, all problems have been ironed out and he just barely got back from the mission office after taking the mission history binder there for Pres. Calderwood.  The church requires all histories for 2013 to be turned in TODAY.

April 2, 2014

            Ran out of time before we went to Manhattan (Monday afternoon) to meet with a knowledgeable, cheerful Br. Nelson who happens to be a ghost writer for non-fiction writers.  Someone said he’s written 4 best sellers but we will never know what the books are.  We went to the place where Martin Harris met with Prof. Anthon in his home (home no longer there); went to the launching point of the Brooklyn (small plaque there); went to a place where Joseph Smith stayed with Newel K. Whitney (while Whitney shopped for supplies, Joseph did sightseeing) and three other places, all very interesting.  It was just a great walking tour.  The rest of the group was temple missionaries/workers.  We got home and had a bite to eat then off to FHE.

            Back to March:  After coming home from missionary lunch we cleaned up as much as possible and both of us took naps—very unusual for Lynn. 

            In the evening we were off for Institute.  We had a pretty good group because we had two full-time missionaries with their investigator, a supposed orthodox Jew named Jack that did not look orthodox and said he had an “open mind.”    I really felt good about the lesson which was on Elder Vinson’s talk “Drawing Closer to God.”  At one point Vinson talks about returning Christ’s love for us by us giving him our heart.  That reminded me of the Christmas song “In the Bleak Midwinter” a song sung in the Anglican/Episcopalian church.  So, I had Lynn show a YouTube rendition of the song by the Gloucester Cathedral Choir.  Much to my happy surprise Jack was the only one who recognized the song—happy because it gave him an opportunity to contribute to the class.  He is planning on coming to tonight’s class.

            Thursday was a day of restoration for both of us.  Lynn took two bike rides, one short, one long.  I wrote a lot in my neglected journal, and did my neglected finances.  In the evening Lynn and I took advantage of a feature of our new cable service—pay for view of relatively new movies so we watched “Frozen.”  Enjoyed it a lot, especially loved the music, but we thought the story line was not all that wonderful.  Anyone else feel the same?  Well, I feel better now that I can be included in all those who have seen the movie.  : )

            On Friday I did my usual shopping.  In the afternoon Lynn and I went back to Dr. Orkin’s office.  My left ear still felt plugged up, like there was water in the middle ear.  I also had a lot of discharge from my nose—I just wasn’t feeling completely better from the time I got the antibiotic a month earlier.  One thing he did was irrigate my left ear and out popped two globs of ear wax.  When he relooked at the ear drum it was reddish and the ear canal look irritated (his words).  So, I have been putting special drops in the ear and using a steroid nose spray.  My ear still feels plugged up sometimes—very annoying.

            Saturday Lynn and I joined some other senior missionary couples and went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.  It was a cold, rainy day but the orchid show we saw was indoors.  We met at the mission office and this was the first chance to see Kay and Kent Bradford, the newest senior missionary couple.  Of course Kent is Lynn’s cousin and when we had them stand side by side it was obvious to all that these two peas in a pod were related.  We enjoyed the orchid show and by coincidence happened to listen to a lady giving an explanation about the orchids to a few people so we just tagged along most of the way.  The displays of the many, many varieties of orchids were just beautiful; it’s always the best in NYC!   We were there for several hours and then went back to the mission office for not so great pizza, but really great cheesecake and apple pie for dessert.  We were supposed to go to a very nice popular restaurant but the day before the restaurant called and said they couldn’t handle our group at the time we wanted to come.  Big disappointment, but that’s the way it is. 

            On Sunday it was church as usual, the 3^rd hour was used to give some information on the church’s website for the neophytes in the group.  It really was an excellent presentation.  Then we went downstairs to be part of the baptismal services for Victoria Washington, a 27 year old woman with a ten year old daughter.  She bore a beautiful and sincere testimony after her baptism and it appears that her daughter will join the church sometime and maybe a cousin.  It helps to have family join since they support each other.

            Right after that, Lynn and I went unannounced to the Claude family, which always makes me nervous.  But, they let us in and surprise!! it turned out that 15 year old Judens actually came to church but we didn’t see him.  (Also turns out he didn’t come into the chapel but stayed in the hall till SS and priesthood.  Well, at least he was there).  But, the next surprise was that Sis. Claude’s non-member father happened to be with the family when we came.  He came and sat on the couch across from us and said he was raised in the Catholic Church and had questions about some of the doctrine about the Catholic Church that he disagreed with.  Well, we answered his questions spending most of our time talking about the false doctrine of original sin and baptizing babies.  He liked what we had to say.  Hopefully we can get together with him another time.

            After that we went to the Bien-Amis but they were not home.  We left a note in a bag of books that we had for the girls mentioning that we had stopped by. 

            Monday the church history tour and FHE in the evening.  The two missionaries had a great game  and everyone got into it—lots of fun. 

            Yesterday we decided to walk through the park in the morning to go to the temple.  It was pretty chill and we noticed daffodils with swollen heads, and tiny, tiny buds on some of the bushes, plus the snowdrops.  It was a very nice day, ending especially nice since at the 2 pm session Lynn was the officiator and I was the first follower for a group of four men and four women who knew what they were doing.  One of the men is in our ward and is part of our Institute class.  He was doing his great-grandfather’s work that day.  When Lynn and I walked back through Central Park on the way home the temps were warm, the “baby” (that’s what we called them) daffodils burst open, the tiny buds on the bushes came out into tuffs of fuzz, the crocus were blooming—what a total contrast from the morning.  We took an especially long walk through the park ending up at a re-gilded General Sherman statue—he looked rather grand in gold.

            Well, got to get going on finishing up Institute prep for tonight.  Can you smell the bread in my kitchen?

            I am really looking forward to Conference this Sunday, as I am sure you are too.  The Church is true, that I know.  Pres. Monson is God’s prophet.  As we have served this mission, this critical fact becomes more and more critical.  We are very fortunate to be here on a mission and grateful for the opportunity. 

            Love to you all—Kathy/Mom

Kathy 3/24/14

March 24, 2014

Dear Family and Friends—

            First things first:  Happy Birthday Muffin!  You are our favorite (and only) grand-dog.  We love you Muffie!

            Next—it was so cold out there this morning when I went to COSTCO.   I am ready for spring to actually come and stay.  At five pm this past Saturday, I went walking for the first time since last fall to Prospect Park.  It was a windy, yet warm day, so going this morning with temps in the low 20’s was a downer.  I loved my Saturday walk, and so did all the others that joined me—there were a lot of people out there as well as a lot of geese, ducks and three swans.             

            Last Monday when it was time to start FHE I think we had most of the missionaries and five members.  The two missionaries that did the activity were quite disappointed.  However in the next few minutes people kept trickling in until we ended up with 30 people, which tied our record for attendance if I remember correctly.  It was so great to have a crowd and a good time was had by all.

            The next day was warm enough that we went through Central Park both going to and coming back from the temple.  On our way over I was noticing patches of green and white under stands of large trees.  Upon closer examination we discovered the white was flowers—they were obviously naturalized bulbs.  I told Lynn I thought they were snowdrops and when we got back to the apartment in the evening I looked them up and indeed they were, snowdrops.  So, Google snowdrops, y’all.  Another surprise waited till just before we left the park—a large flock of robins were in the grass, the first we have seen since fall.  Had a nice quiet day in the temple—Lynn made sure that the family file cards that Meriden had sent had the initiatory done for the male cards so that meant we were all set to go with the endowment part on Friday—will write about that in a bit. But, the best part of the day was seeing three of our ward members and one former ward member at the temple doing endowment work.  Considering all the members in the NY area, to have four people I knew well in one day was nothing short of remarkable.

            Wednesday was a red-letter day:  Two men from our local cable company came and installed cable in our apartment.  Yay!!  I told Lynn it should have happened a long time ago, but I have enjoyed having more TV options now.  After all, I appreciate it more now.  ; )  One glorious side benefit from the cable is an extremely fast computer—it is so fast, love it!!  For me, the rest of the day was working on some mission history and a lot of housekeeping chores.

            We only had four show up for Institute in the evening, but they are the best four of our group and we had a great lesson and a great time together.  The lesson was taken from Elder Hamilton’s talk called “Continually Holding Fast” which is about staying strong in the church and particularly about coming to church every Sunday.  I read the article “On Sunday We Attend Church” (in the Jan. 2014 Ensign) to the class and then tearfully told the very true story of what it took for me and Cher (then later, Nancy) to get to church every Sunday.  It was a story of difficult persistence on the part of mom to get us to church every Sunday.  Ask me about the story sometime.

            Thursday morning bright and early, I went to my dermatologist for a final check.  The eczema is now gone, the “mole” that was biopsied turned out to be a spot of Lichen Planus-like Keratosis.  Hah!  So what is that?  It’s an autoimmune thing that your body produces which is harmless.  I was there for a short time and will not be going back.  The rest of the day was getting ready for Institute for this Wednesday and rethinking and re-doing the mission history binder.  Lynn, true to his nature, has been constantly thinking of changes that he thinks ought to be made.  Actually, we are very close to being done.  Let’s see, I think I said that last week.  : )

            Lynn has bought tickets so we can go to Bermuda on May 7 and return on the 11^th.  Yay!

            Friday was a busy day.  We started off in plenty of time to get to the mission office so we could accompany missionaries to the temple.  But, when we were going on the road by the park it was terribly congested; eventually we saw large numbers of flashing lights, evidence of a major car accident, traffic being rerouted—ugh.  We turned around, and went backwards to find a different route to go forwards.  When I got to the Primary room for the pre-temple meeting, I was surprised to find a very large group of missionaries there, way too many for a temple trip, and asked where the pre-temple meeting was being held.  I was told it was across the hall.  Checked it out, no one there and was completely confused till an Elder came and told me they were just kiddin’ that indeed the group was in the Primary room.  I took it in stride, but was irritated.  Anyway, there were twenty missionaries going with us, quite likely the largest group going to the temple. 

            After we got everyone dressed, I passed out family name cards to my little sisters and Lynn got all but one of the male name cards passed out, then we came close to filling up the room.  Afterwards I took the sisters to 6^th level to see the Grand Hallway then went outside to take pictures.  There was a couple in our session that helped take the pictures.  The wife was obviously pregnant and she said her due date is this Wednesday—I thought that was a bit risky, but she made it through the session.  We went through the park, let the missionaries see Times Square from a distance, hopped on a train and got back to Rego Park by 4.  Took Lynn and me twice as long to get home as it did to go in the morning, even with the detour!!

            As soon as we got back we went into “let’s get ready for the missionaries to come to our place for breakfast” mode.  Lynn vacuumed, dusted, set the tables and other eating spots; I created the wet and the dry parts for the pancakes (to be made in the morning) and got the cookie sheet prepared with the bacon so I could start those early in the morning.  I was very ready to crash and burn that night.  Lynn informed me that he was coming down with a cold, so he was also feeling the effect of that.

            I got up bright and early and by nine, we were pretty much ready for company.  There were 16 of us, and three of the missionaries were completely new to me.  (They were in the Spanish Ward).  We had the pancakes, fixed 5 recipes of buttermilk syrup, had two pans of baked bacon, scrambled and cooked 46 eggs, and had Tropicana OJ and milk.  A good time was had by all.  Some of the most responsible missionaries took it upon themselves to help clean up including hand washing a lot of pans—so I appreciated their good work and work ethic.  After everyone left I went and slept for an hour and a half.  Lynn, the one who wasn’t feeling so good slept three hours in the afternoon—an unheard of thing for him.

            He got up and we went to Staples to buy binder dividers and a brand new binder with a plastic cover that would let us put a cover sheet in for our mission history.  Then we came home—Lynn went on a bike ride.   It was a beautiful, warm yet windy day, and I was antsy to walk, so I grabbed a light jacket, my Yankees baseball hat and marched to the park.  So much fun to be out with the mobs and hoards also enjoying the lovely evening.  What was so much fun to see was all the little kids with their scooters, helmets on heads, and parents in tow going around the paths in the park; don’t recall that I’ve seen that many before.

            Lynn was actually late getting off on his bike ride.  He was talking to his cousin’s wife, Kay Bradford, that lives in Vienna, VA (Sean, Bob and Ken remember living close to there).  Kay and Kent are arriving here in NY today, to begin their mission service in Freeport, Long Island.   The Bradford’s and the Calderwood’s were good friends when the Calderwood’s lived in Virginia so the Bradford’s were persuaded to be part of the senior missionaries.  We are very glad to have them aboard.

            Yesterday was church as usual.  But I came home, fixed some fruit I had bought for dinner and sliced up some of my homemade bread and we went off to Lana and Tanya’s place for dinner and a lesson on baptism for Tanya.  Lynn had spent a long time preparing an outstanding baptism lesson for this eight year old putting it all on his computer, a master piece of PowerPoint work.  Lana had some borsch waiting for us so we sat down to a most delicious meal.  I asked Lana if there were as many recipes for borsch as there were Russian women who made it and she said “yes.”  What we had came from a local Russian food market.  After dinner we had the lesson for Tanya.  With a little encouragement we helped her understand what she was doing when she got baptized which ought to be within two weeks. 

            After that, we went to the Nielson’s and Lynn re-showed his presentation to Robert (10, and baptized, and Aaron, 6).   These are two smart young men and obviously knew about most everything they saw and learned—just love that family! 

            Lynn and I came home and got a bite to eat.  Then the phone rang.  Lynn picked it up and started talking, then I watched him as he just listened, and listened and listened—quite un-Lynny like.  He was on the phone for close to a half hour, said a few things to finish up the conversation, asked the person if he could tell me what was going on and immediately peaked my interest.  It was Doug Lee telling Lynn that the lady in the ward he was hoping to be married to had told him the whole thing was off.  Doug had spent a lot of time doing the legal work so the woman he wanted to marry could be divorced from her husband who happened to be in a mental facility for alcoholics.  She told him she wasn’t going to get divorced and wasn’t going to marry Doug.  Obviously she does not want to stay married to an alcoholic but it turns out he’s a convenient excuse not to be married at all.  I think this woman FINALLY, FINALLY figured out that Doug is no great marriage partner either.  Doug is angry and hurt.  He keeps experiencing big reality checks now—he was sure he was going to get married.  He was also sure that he would be hired on by a big law firm in Manhattan.  He was sure he would be off parole in February. All things have fizzled.  He now has no wife, job and won’t get off parole for three years.

            Oh, BTW, it is officially official—we will be officially released from our mission on June 16.  But, we’ll be doing some traveling before getting back to Utah.  Don’t have a Utah arrival date yet, but that info will be coming.

            I have gone through about 10 Kleenex’s as I’ve been doing this letter—it’s for real that I now have Lynn’s cold.  Grrr. 

            But, I also love the guy—we do share and share alike!  This has been a busy and great week.  What an opportunity to serve the Lord by serving others.  Oh, forgot to mention—when I was on the train with the young missionaries going to the temple, I talked to the lady next to me that was speaking a foreign language with another woman.  Turns out she was from Nepal.  I was so glad to tell her I had been to Nepal and we got into a conversation about the church.  She promised that her son would help her go to LDS.Org that was on the pass-a-long card I gave her.  Even if that doesn’t happen, I was glad I had the courage to talk with her.  Nice feeling.

            Hope all is well with you.  Of course we are so excited for Brett getting married this week.  What a great day that will be.   Congrats! to Brett and Vibeke.

Love, Kathy/Mom

            

Kathy 3/17/14

Dear Family and Friends—

            Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  It’s very cold in NY today, with enough wind to make it not nice at all to be outside.  NYC has a four hour parade in Manhattan today—I wouldn’t want to march in that parade, let alone watch it.  The nice part is that if you happen to be in the area, you can watch for just a little bit, and then go back inside.  I have been out this morning—normally, I get my hair done on Thursday but had to have it done today since my hair dresser will be in Chicago Thursday.  Just walking from the train to her salon was enough to put the kibosh on any tiny thought of parade watching.  Strange thing is that last Tuesday we walked from the temple through Central Park (after we were finished) and it was 65 and smelled heavily of spring.  Every person and their dog (literally) were out in force, like ants at a picnic.

            Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day—can you smell my corned beef cooking—don’t you wish you were here to have some?  : )

            Last Monday we had a really great FHE, lots of support and an excellent activity.  Hope the weather doesn’t hold people back for tonight

            Had a wonderful, wonderful day at the temple last Tuesday.  It was warm enough in the morning to walk through the park to get there, and I already mentioned the walk back.  Lynn and I were the officiators in a session and that hasn’t happened in a while so it was nice to be with my man.  I also did some initiatory with one patron, a young lady from Korea who did graduate from the Accounting Dept. at BYU, but she didn’t recognize Lynn’s name. 

            Wednesday was spent shopping in the morning for food for Institute.  I decided since I was prepared and we were going to show Pres. Monson speaking at the last Women’s Meeting I could afford to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time—have a light supper for those that would come.  We had Institute start a half hour early so the class members would have time to eat first, and that is what happened.  We had eleven students which was really terrific—if you feed them, they will come.  It was also a dinner to celebrate Dyan Banana’s mission call to the Salt Lake City Mission.  Apparently there will be no Temple Square experience for her, but she’ll have a great experience nevertheless.

            It was what happened after our meeting was over that threw me for a loop:  One of the class members came just in time for the class.  We invited her to get something to eat, she declined, we renewed the invitation when we were finished with the hour and she went to get something to eat while I went downstairs to the kitchen to handle some clean up.  When I got back to the RS room, the three Caribbean ladies had stacks of plates of food in their hands and were busily putting every last leftover on the plates, putting more plates on top and then took them home!  Since I found them in the finishing up processes I knew I couldn’t tell them I had told the missionaries they could have the left-overs; there was plenty for the missionaries.  I was really upset.  I asked Lynn if the women had gotten permission to do that.  He said he told the one lady who didn’t eat before class that she could have something to eat—how she and the others interpreted that to mean literally take everything home is beyond me.  It is a different culture, but it’s taken me a long time to let all the steam out of my ears.

            Thursday Lynn and I worked all day long on getting the mission history almost finished and the pages in the plastic sleeves.  Lynn keeps changing things, making them better—he’s always thinking of ways to do it better.  Then, in the evening he went into Manhattan to listen to a Catholic boy’s choir from Spain but he went to listen to this choir in an Episcopalian church called St. Thomas.  The Catholic Church, St. Thomas and one other church from somewhere are the only three institutions (sponsored by a church) with in-residence boy’s choirs which give them a school experience.  The choir from Spain comes to NY on a regular basis.  I’m not into boy choir music so I wished Lynn well.  He came back and said he was disappointed because the Catholic boys sang Catholic music—well, duh!  He wanted to hear Episcopalian boy choir music!  But, he said the boys were excellent, he just didn’t like the style of music.  I had bought the last Hunger Games DVD and watched that at the apartment, thoroughly enjoyed what I experienced.

            Friday was shopping, preparing Institute lessons and just getting chores done. 

            Saturday Lynn and I took our mostly completed mission history binder with us to the Tenny’s apartment.  They are the new CES teachers in the Brooklyn area.  They were given the responsibility to do the mission history for 2014 and wanted to know what to do, so they had us over to lunch at their place so we could eat and explain.  We got a lot of discussion in on just teaching Institute in this area.  They are no longer teaching on Staten Island and want to take over our Institute when we leave, coming to our class in May to see how it goes.  I am very nervous about this, I’m not impressed with either one, they just are too quiet, but we will be leaving in June so it doesn’t make any difference.

            In the afternoon I went to church for a rehearsal of a reader’s theater for our RS birthday party.  When I got to church, the downstairs rec room was decorated to the nines.  Marianna Szabo, our Hungarian member and her young daughter did quite a lot with crepe paper and balloons.  I know it sounds cheesy, but Marianna did a lovely job and made the ugly room look quite pretty.  I was reading the part of Elizabeth Ann Whitney, Emma Smith’s 2^nd councilor.  We had a nice salad bar dinner first (boy, was I glad after having a heavy lunch) and then the program.  We have a lady in our ward who does directing for a living so she had a nice script made up, two missionaries to do the parts of Joseph Smith and John Taylor, and five ladies part—went quite well.  (It was about the 1^st meeting of the Relief Society).  I didn’t have a lot to say, but enjoyed the experience.  We have another lady who is a musician by trade and she said she composes music too, so she made up a song for the RS to sing and we had a grand time trying to do that—just words, no music so we had to follow along with Tina as best we could—it was an easy song.  I’ll have to send it along after she writes notes to it!

            Sunday we had a child baptism.  The oldest son of one of the new members turned eight and he wanted to be baptized.  We haven’t seen the mother or her two boys for over six weeks so I was surprised with this new development.  There were a lot of people there to support the family and give Kenneth a good experience.  He got to be baptized twice.  : )   Kenneth’s brother had a birthday so we celebrated the baptism and birthday with a very nice cake.

            After that, Lynn and I went to Marianna Szabo’s place for dinner.  She invited us the previous week and promised us Hungarian food.  She has a five year old daughter (soon to be six) whose name is Csenge and it is pronounced chang-gah.  Strange name, drop-dead gorgeous little girl.  We had a delightful time with them.  The Hungarian food was sauerkraut cooked in a chicken broth with large pieces of chicken.  You put sour cream on top, eat it with slices of bread and oh my, it was SO good.  She also had a pizza cut into small pieces in case Lynn and I didn’t like the sauerkraut dish.  She showed us a video of Hungarian inventors, we showed her the Joseph Millet video and everyone was happy.

            Lynn and I came back, changed our clothes, got in the car and then went to the hotbed of Hasidic Jewry to see people dressed in costumes for Purim.  It was dark by the time we got to the right neighborhood so there were not many people on the streets; rather they were gathering in the homes of the wealthy Jews and having Purim parties.  The homes threw open the curtains, lit the rooms up and virtually every large room we saw had a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  People were dancing (well, the men were dancing) in a few places that we could see.  Purim is party time for the Jews.  Since we didn’t get to see much, Lynn brought me back and then decided to go to the local synagogue to see the evening celebration there.  He came back to report that the place was packed, some heavy drinking was going on, but he and many others just had soft drinks.  His Jewish friends were there, welcomed him and told him in no uncertain terms how grateful they were that he showed up.  Well, there you go.  Apparently Purim is a day of flip-flops—the Jews do something’s they would not normally do, and drinking heavily is one of those things.  He was really glad he went.  He came home at 11:30 but he said the party was going to go to 4 am!!

            Grateful for the gospel in my life and the safety it is.  When I see members who try their very hardest to live the gospel and keep the commandments, I see so much good happening to them.  And, those that “taste of the fruit, then walk into different paths” well, it’s a sad thing to see.  Sure am glad to have the opportunity to teach Institute, as I always say, the teacher learns the most and is the biggest winner.  Hope you enjoy the rest of your St. Patrick’s Day.

Love to all—Kathy/Mom