4 June 2017

31 May 2017

It was Golden's Birthday today so I put a little gift of nuts and a candy bar on the breakfast table along with a birthday card. We can't buy too much out here because it will be hard to get it home. I do have something coming that he will like so we are just waiting for it.

After working at the Family History Center, we took off and went over to visit Grant's Tomb. I had forgotten about the history of Ulysses S. Grant, other than he was a president, so I really enjoyed the history they shared while we walked around the site. He was the general working under President Abraham Lincoln that was responsible for winning the Civil War. He was quite a dynamic man of honor, integrity, and the spirit of freedom for all.

Grant's Tomb is the largest Mosoleum in the United States

Ulysses and Julia Grant's Red Marble Sarcophagi

The United States Flag under President Ulysses S. Grant - 18th President

General Grant and other murals are located on each of the four sides of the Mosoleum

Gallery of flags in the central rotunda - Grant's Tomb

Grant's Tomb Visitors Center 1

Grant's Tomb Visitors Center 2

Grant's Tomb Visitors Center 3

After Lincoln had been killed, Andrew Jackson was put in as President of the United States and later impeached. Since most people of both sides of the parties admired Ulysses S. Grant, he was voted in as the 18th President of the United States and carried on with preserving the rights of all blacks that President Lincoln had fought so hard for.

After touring Grant's Tomb, we went over to the visitor center and watched a 20 minute video of his history and the Civil War. It made us feel grateful for the sacrifice he made to help bring about the freedom for all people. In this setting, we walked back to the subway passing the Riverside Church located next to Grant's Tomb park.

Riverside Church - Upper West Manhattan near Hudson River

On June 1st, Matthew and Melissa came in from Utah to visit for a week and arrived around 10:00 a.m. in the morning. We fed them breakfast and then just visited with them for awhile and let them relax from a long flight and train ride.

After lunch, we had planned to do a Family History Personal experience for both of them. Melissa had had a strong impression that there was a missing child on a line on her mother's side of the family. Through a thorough search of the 1900 census and the 1910 census one one of these families already sourced, Golden found that it was clear that there was a missing a child in the Ewing/Baker family.

As he was talking to me and telling me about each census, he kept saying that he really could not find anything for her. I then mentioned to Golden, "Is not this the missing child that you have found on the census records?" It was one of those 'Duh moments' that we all have. As Golden was telling me about the missing child, I kept calling it a her. He said "We don't know the gender right now", but for some reason, I told Golden "I feel very strongly that they are missing a little girl", but there was no evidence.

Golden then sat with Melissa and took her through his findings and she was able to find for herself this little missing child. The circle of her faith and prayers with Golden's prayers for her brought about the miracle of this child between 1878 and 1885 in Mona, Utah being attached to her real family.  But since we don't know the gender, temple sealing can't be completed.  More research may reveal the gender.  Melissa was excited to try to locate the information at the Mona, Utah Cemetery between Santaquin and Nephi after they get home.

Golden had also found a different family for Melissa that needed temple ordinances.  She printed the family ordinance cards so that she could immediately take them to the temple.

For Matthew, he requested to get more acquainted with the Huntington Line. That is one of our heaviest worked lines and I thought, "What can I do?" I was impressed to find some of the stories of William Dresser Huntington. One told how he was raised from the dead by Joseph Smith. The other story I found was when Joseph Smith went over to the Huntington home in the night and told William Huntington (William Dresser's father) that he knew the mob was coming to kill him and asked for counsel from him on what to do. William Huntington told Joseph Smith to get into his bed, and he would go over and get into Joseph's. When the mob came, they put a gunny sack over his head and took him down to the river where they were going to kill him.

When they discovered they had the wrong person, they were angry so they beat him and tared and feathered him leaving him for dead. William Huntington made his way back to his house where Joseph Smith was kept safe. Because of his sacrifice, Joseph Smith promised him that he would never taste of death. 

That promise was fulfilled.. One day when he was laying in bed talking to his wife, he stopped answering in their conversation so his wife turned to find out why. She found that he had passed away.

These stories really brought in the Spirit of Elijah. I then took Matthew to FamilyTree where I had found a member of the Huntington descendancy that he could take to the temple to do temple work.

That afternoon, Matthew and Melissa went into the Manhattan temple and did the baptisms and confirmations for the families that they had found. We then went into an initiatory session where all of us were able to complete that work for them.

Our last experience was in the sealing room of the Manhattan temple where we were with Brother Blair Garff, our sealer, to have several of our families sealed together forever. It was a beautiful experience being together in the temple with family. There is nothing on earth that can compare to that experience.

After our temple session, Matt and Melissa found a Thai Restaurant "Hole in the Wall" on 50th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue.  We ordered Thai Puffs of various flavors: original, red pork, basil, and dessert Puffs of caramel and cheese cake.  Absolutely delicious!

Matthew and Melissa enjoying a Thai Puff

Golden and I had to work at the Family History Center on Friday from 10a.m.- 2:00 p.m. and then later that night, we went to the play "Stomp". It was really good. It was a group of about 8 or 10 individuals that play music and percussion with all types of items such as garbage can lids, buckets, dry vent pipes, brooms, etc. They were extremely good and we all had a lot of fun.

STOMP NY Bill Booklet

Getting ready to watch Stomp: Golden, Melissa, and Matthew

On Sunday we decided to take a walk through Central Park with Matthew and Melissa. It was a beautiful day for a walk and the only one that was not scheduled for rain.

Melissa having fun with Matthew

Old Carousel in Central Park: Matthew and Melissa

One of Central Park's Arches: Melissa and Matthew

Standing in Central park watching the carriages go by through the Park

I was working on an experience for Line [Lena] Berentsen's family lines. She is the Temple and  Family History director of the Family History Center in Harlem 1st ward. As I looked at her ancestral line, I was drawn to her father's side that had not been worked on and immediately found the baptism of her grandmother, Emma Emilie Berentsen. This record listed the names of her parents which extended the line another generation, as well as documenting her great grandmother's birth and baptism. I then looked and found her great grandfather's birth and baptism from Norway and that took her line back another generation.

Harlem LDS Chapel - 360 Lenox Street: Diane, Melissa, and Matthew

Line was questioning what we could teach her that she did not already know and after experiencing finding her grandparents names, birth, and baptism she was fighting tears and just sat and said, "I want to enjoy this moment." She then said, "You now have my attention" (as she had been reluctant to see us teach consultants beyond what she had already taught them) and was anxious to get involved in this life changing experience. It was a lot of fun to participate in, and see another life changed.  She had already trained YSA and Ward Temple and Family History Consultants skills in navigating in FamilySearch Family Tree, but now had experienced a spiritual "Find, Take, Teach" experience.

We will be training Temple and Family History Consultants at Harlem for the remainder of the month of June.  Golden introduced the High Priest Group Leader, Abu Conteh to the resources of his calling since this is all new added, to LDS.org since February.  Next week we plan to open a FamilySearch.org account and in the meantime he will try to put together as much information as he can.  The problem is that he had papers from his father on his ancestry, and in his country of Sierra Leone the rebels destroyed them along with many other belongings before he came to the United States.