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.

28 May 2017

28 May 2017

This past week, Diane and I had the opportunity to attend two different productions and to go to dinner with some of the Manhattan Temple Missionaries.

On Monday evening, May 22nd we joined with about 25 temple missionaries for dinner at Emmett O'Lunney's Bar and Grill (AKA Irish Pub) on 50th Street just off Broadway.  We enjoyed a great meal (with price tag to match) before going to the Broadway musical,  "Fantasticks", a popular play that has run for over 50 years and will close in June.

Front to back: Huntingtons, Harris, Grimley,  Brown, ?, Congers, and Mumfords.

Miyashiro, friend, Nabors, Holloway,  Bean, Dransfield

(Different view of top photo)

What Is the Story of The Fantasticks?
Beloved by theatergoers for 50 years, The Fantasticks is a musical allegory about the romance of a young couple, Matt and Luisa, who find their relationship tested by their meddling fathers and a bandit narrator known as El Gallo. There isn’t much of a plot beyond boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back—but the charm of The Fantasticks is in its poetic innocence coupled with a now-classic score by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt that includes “Try to Remember” and “Soon it’s Gonna Rain.”

On Wednesday evening, we attended "Oslo" across the street from our apartment at the Lincoln Center.  We saw this Broadway Production, but must say that the language was way too "colorful".

Oslo tells the true—albeit little known—story of Norwegian diplomat Mona Juul and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, who together coordinated top-secret peace negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat in the early 1990s. Their efforts culminated in the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

We continued our assignment inspecting the apartments of the young Elders and Sisters. While Diane was at physical therapy on Monday, I walked to 54th Street (from Columbus Circle-59th) and checked one of the apartments and made our report.  On Friday, I spent the entire day at Nicholas Avenue, Harlem "babysitting" the Sisters' apartment while a new piece of flooring was installed in the bathroom where the floor had been "soft" for at least a couple of years, from what we understood from missionaries who had been involved in previous inspections.  Sister Lee, a Korean sister from Utah, and Sister Bongolto from Philippines were very cordial and made me feel right at home before they went to their appointments.


It was pretty amazing to see how the worker had to make several trips to his truck over on 7th Avenue (about 1/2 mile) each time he needed a new material, the quick-set cement, and the grout which took from about 10 am to 5 pm.  That is how they need to work in NYC for these small jobs--taking the old stuff out and bringing the new stuff in. Quite a walk, as we do a lot of here as we use public transportation.


[Diane: While Golden was babysitting the apartment, I was trying to run the family history center. For the last several weeks, the center has been full to capacity and a couple of times we had to send some home. While Golden was gone, I had three people that came in all needing help at the same time, two beginners wanting accounts and training and one wanted constant help with research in the Dominican Republic, which for me, is difficult research. Luckily, they were all very patient and were grateful for what I could do.

A few weeks ago, I had three people all wanting constant help and none of them were willing to sit and wait so I was bouncing all over the place trying to satisfy them all while Golden was working with someone needing him. By the time the center closed, I was exhausted.One of the sisters I was working with was from Russia, but in spite of not having many records for Russia, I was able to help take her family back three generations.

The miracles we have seen while serving in the family history center and several lives changed are amazing. It is such a joy to watch the light come into their eyes and watch when all of a sudden they are crying and don't know why. The Spirit of Elijah is real and is very active in touching the hearts of all who come into the family history center.]

This week, among the other things we did at the Family History Center, like preparing microfilms to sent back to Distribution (since they have been digitized and we need the room for a remodel in a small room where the microfilms are stored), and working with patrons that come in, I had the opportunity to work with a new convert while his ward was attending an endowment session in the temple.

Reynaldo Margola shared his conversion: Just after he had been kicked out of his apartment in Yonkers last fall, he began living on the streets.  A couple of days afterwards, he met Elders who gave him a Book of Mormon.  Having a cell phone, the Elders got his number.  He said that it was really boring not having anything to do so he started reading that Book of Mormon.

The Elders began meeting with him at the public library where they taught him.  He started to attend Church regularly in December and was baptized in February.  Last Sunday at Stake Conference, he was sustained to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. 

By the time the ward was finished with their endowment session, Reynaldo had set up his FamilySearch.org account, entered in his grandparents and found records in Puerto Rico to extend one more generation, he had four female and three male family file cards printed for his parents and grandparents and some other family members.  When I escorted him over to the temple where the baptismal font was readied for him and other members, he was thrilled to be able to be the proxy for some of his family!

Today, we attended church at the Inwood 1st Ward where we are assigned.  After working with some of the temple and family history consultants there with their questions, the 3rd hour we provided a "Helping Others to Love Family History" experience with a member of the bishopric, Ryan Mangum.  It was interesting to see how the family we had found had three sons and he also has three sons so it was easy to make the connection to turn his heart and give him additional experience with Family Tree.  

In June we will be training temple and family history consultants in the Harlem 1st ward and the Harlem YSA ward along with the director of the family history center there.  It is exciting to see how the initiative Find, Take, Teach and the new tools that have been provided on LDS.org make a real difference as we teach how to do one-on-one member experiences.

21 May 2017

21 May 2017

Sunday was Mother's Day but we were so scheduled for training in several wards that it was pretty much the same as any other day. My daughter Chantel sent me some beautiful flowers that I put on our dining table with my  bamboo plant. They really made my table look pretty and colorful and after a long dead winter with no colors, it helped to brighten each day as I looked at them.

Diane Opening the "FlowersWholesale.com" package

Golden putting the flowers in the vase

A beautiful bouquet for our apartment with card from Chantel

Left side F-B: Fusako Miyashiro, Marjean and Paul Lewis, Linda and Serge Martinez, John Harris, Golden and Diane Adams. Right F-B: Melba Grimley, Kathleen Nabors, Ric and Mary Huntington, Ken and Patricia Bean, Shellie Harris, and Carol and Ronald Mumford.

 Monday, we had another temple missionary outing. This time we went down to the John's of Bleeker Street - a pizza place. It is ranked number 3 place in the United States. I must say, the service was very good and the pizza was also good but I like Papa Murphy's best. We had a lot of fun just being together and enjoying each others' company.

Sitting in the booth to the right is front Elaine Holloway, Mark Dransfield, back Sister Holloway's granddaughter, and Susan Dransfield.

Wall decorations on inside wall of John's of Bleeker Street in New York.

Corner of Bleeker Street just outside of the Pizza place. The whole street is rather nostalgic and just a fun place to walk and enjoy a whole new atmosphere in Greenwich Village, New York.

We haven't been going to physical therapy this past couple of weeks awaiting what our insurance would cover, what with Golden's total hip replacement surgery coming up in July, but we were informed that unlimited physical therapy had been approved as long as the surgeon and the orthologist indicated it was medically necessary.

Columbus Circle (59th Street, Manhattan) - view from the physical therapy place we have been attending. Trump International Hotel is located to the left of the world ball on the upper left of the photo.

At the FHC this week I had my first experience of being a proselyting missionary. The sister missionaries were bringing a gentleman into the FHC to have us help him find his ancestors.
While they were at the door, he began trying to pin them next to wall with questions they could not answer so I went over and invited him to join me in the center where I could help him with his family. He was gracious to come with me so the sisters could be on their way.

He gave me some background for his family that told me there would not be very much as he was from Poland and Russia. I was able to find his family in some census records in the United States and he was excited about that. Then he started picking up the same conversation he was having with the sister missionaries. I told him that we were not suppose to proselyte in the family history center because we did not want to frighten people from coming in for fear of being preached to. We wanted them to be comfortable to know that all we would do would be to focus on family history.

I seemed to be able to answer his questions about the church satisfactorily and the more I answered him the more questions he had. He told me at the beginning that he was a theologian and had investigated many religions.

He had a real hang-up on the Greek Orthodox Church and how they did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and how they believed in the Trinity. I suggested to him that if he did not believe them just don't worry about it. He did not have to believe them and it was ok.

He asked me questions like how did the prophet become the prophet and did he know that he was going to be the prophet. He asked how they were called. He asked if our marriages were arranged or if we could choose our own. He asked about miracles and if the prophet could perform them. I told him that they had the ability with the priesthood they held but they did not talk about them much. I did share one with him about President Monson being prompted to go to a stake meeting and led to a little girl that was dying of cancer and wanted to meet the prophet before she died and prayed that she would have that opportunity.

I also shared with him that any priesthood holder could perform miracles if needed and how my husband had healed me from leukemia. He drilled me to make sure that I could have died before he was willing to accept that I was alive even 30+ years after the experience.

By the time an hour had passed, we have covered the first vision, the plan of salvation, and the three degrees of glory. I explained about our belief of burning in hell but that very few would be there. He seemed very content with what I explained and I noticed that the Spirit was able to touch him a couple of times.

I challenged him to read the Book of Mormon with real intent to know the truth, having faith in Christ that he could receive an answer as to whether or not what I had told me was true and that the Book of Mormon was true. I told him that if he were a true theologian, then he would naturally want  to know more and that he would be missing out on a life changing experience if he let this challenge go by.

I do not know if I will ever see him again, but he left with a good experience with family history and a lot of questions answered about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. He also asked me why we were called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints and when I gave him the answer he said, that makes sense. At least I know that seeds were planted that maybe someday they will blossom and he will find the truth that was taught. It was a wonderful experience.

This week we have traveled to Harlem St. Nicholas Avenue and 125th Street to do apartment inspections with one set of sister missionaries, and two sets of Elders--one set assigned as ASL missionaries and the other assigned to the Harlem YSA ward where Bishop Walter Rane presides.  Bishop Rane is the artist that painted the original Book of Mormon paintings that are exhibited here in the Lincoln Square Building where the temple and Family History Center are located.

Today was a busy day.  We attended our Church meetings at Inwood and helped in the FHC there with teaching the Elders assigned to the Inwood 2nd Spanish Ward how to work with new converts and navigate their own Family Trees.  We made arrangements to do a "Helping Others to Love Family History" experience with a member of the Inwood 1st Ward Bishopric, Ryan Mangum.  In starting to prepare the lesson plan for his experience next week, we found that Diane and Ryan are 4th cousins, 2 generations removed [4c2r] with Thomas Adair and Rebecca Brown as their common ancestors.  After we prepare the lesson plan this week, we will meet next week-Memorial Day weekend.

From there we traveled by subway to the Stake Center on east 87th street and trained a couple of their temple and family history consultants by helping them start a lesson plan for members of their Manhattan 3rd Ward.  We ended the evening by attending a fireside given by Tom Hanson, one of the other FHC missionaries abuot his experience with Pres. Hinckley and other General Authorities as the Project director of the building of the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

14 May 2017

14 May 20107

This last week has been pretty much to schedule. For some reason our FHC has been really busy. After a four or five hour shift we are pretty much brain dead. I have spent some time on the new web indexing program and it seems quite simple and user friendly. I have indexed a couple of batches but usually do not have a lot of time to do it.

This week, I worked with a family from Puerto Rico and by using census records was able to take his family that consisted of one family back six generations. From coming in and not knowing even their names, he was trilled. He was an older gentleman that was being helped by a friend who did all of the computer input. They were both rather excited about their experience and it is so fun to watch the joy that they feel when they find their family.

Another couple from Australia (New South Wales), Lindsay and Margaret Allen  came in to spend a little time not knowing what he did. We were able to get them both set up on their own accounts and trained enough that they could go back to their home and work on adding their family.  They were with a tour group that will tour the USA by bus, then fly to see their daughter in London that they hadn't seen for years, and then back to Australia.  It is amazing the people that see our sign the "Find your Ancestors" and come in to check it out!

Another sister from Puerto Rico came in and I was able to extended her family out two generations and then I taught her how to search records where she was able to find a baptism record on one of her family members. She was excited to go home and start searching. When she left she gave me a $10.00 bill and told me to take my husband out for a dinner. As we cannot take gifts, I put it in the cash box where we can buy paper and FH Center supplies.

Last night I worked with a sister from Provo, Utah. Her name was Linda and she was a professional researcher. In our conversation, I ended up telling her about the "Find, Take, and Teach" program that is rolling out from the church. I showed her how to get into it from FamilyTree and explained about how the consultant and the participant were to pray for each other for the needed inspiration and revelation to be led to those waiting for temple work on the other side of the veil.  I explained that it was a Faith based approach and a conversion tool that was really powerful. She got excited and wanted to take it back to Utah and get it started out there as she could really see the spiritual effect that it could have on the people in her ward and stake. She actually lives the our old Provo Utah Sunset Stake so it was fun spending time with her.

She let me know that she was struggling her experience with cancer and having to have a double mastectomy. For some reason, it took her identity and self esteem away and wanted me to help her find it. I can't say that I was very good at counseling her, but she left very excited about having something new to focus on and how she could change lives.

Today for Mother's Day, we spent the whole day at the Stake Center training several people. Hailey Roark, the lead Temple and Family History Consultant in Manhattan YSA had her first experience teaching Alex Wood, another member of her ward with the lesson plan she had prepared.  In the process, several family names were able to be added to Alex's Family Tree and print family ordinance cards to take to the temple for baptisms.  We had consultants from the Manhattan 3rd ward with members they were helping along with a consultant from the Manhattan 2nd ward.  We attended sacrament meeting in the YSA  ward and then we attended all of the meetings in the Manhattan 3rd ward. During Relief Society, they had made a lovely buffet for all of the sisters and we shared stories from the Bible and from individual members of women that affected their lives. It all made for a wonderful day.

7 May 2017

[Golden]: On Tuesday morning, April 25th, we had the opportunity to work with temple and family history consultant training at the New York, New York Stake Center on 87th Street.  A demonstration of the "Helping Others to Love Family History" experience was presented with Carolyn Dillard, a member of the Manhattan 3rd ward and recently called Temple and Family History Consultant.  Much of our P-day on Monday was spent preparing the lesson plan for her.  In fact, two formal lesson plans were prepared using the new Consultant Planner on FamilySearch.org.  Material for about three more lessons was also prepared in rough draft for follow-up.

When the participant and the presenter are praying for each other and being directed by the Spirit, it takes very little time to be directed to the person or family that is prepared on the other side of the veil for temple ordinances.  Such was the case with Carolyn.

In the process, she was concerned that her grandmother wasn't sealed.  I found that this grandmother was living with her mother and sisters in the household of her grandmother's grandfather. According to the census, Carolyn's great grandmother had given birth to three children, all living in 1900.  They were listed with in the census entry.  However, all had the same surname which was one of the things Carolyn wanted to determine--the maiden name of her great grandmother.

The miracle Carolyn experienced was that we could list her grandmother with her biological mother and her grandfather (as a foster parent), which allowed her to be sealed to them.  In this same process we were able to do the same for her grandmother's sisters.  In all, six people were identified and reserved for temple work!  It was a great experience for all of us, including the two consultants that were at this training.

As we prepare the experience to help people become converted to this great work and the spiritual nature of it, we are humbled to share them with the members.  Our mission president has taught that the prayers and the planning that we do are creating spiritually before the actual physical experience, as we are taught in the temple that all things are created spiritually before they are created physically or temporally.

We enjoy walking in Central Park, just a block away.  Here are some photos, now that the weather had turned warm between the rain storms we have experienced in the past couple of weeks.

Diane near Shepherd's Meadow-NYC Central Park

Flowers near the Tavern on the Green adjacent to Central Park

Shepherd's Meadow - Central Park with the skyline south of the Park.

[Diane]: The 27 April 2017 was our temple day where we take the early morning shift from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Most of the time the shift is really show, so the missionaries are asked to be patrons along with taking the various posts. It works really well, because if we have a preference based on what temple cards we have with us, they are very willing to accommodate us. I have been able to do several family file names because of being so close to the temple and they allow missionaries to leave up to ten temple file names for the temple to work through so it has been really helpful with my male names and baptisms that I have a really hard time doing.

At 12:00 noon, we start our shift at the family history center. Today, I had the opportunity of working with our director's unofficially adopted daughter the whole shift. Her name is Debbie and she is a little disabled so so she needs quite a bit of help. She has the cutest smile and English accent. She is from England and comes out to New York to stay with Lyn Wilcox for a month a couple of times a year.

I gave Debbie a choice of what she would like to do and she wanted me to guide her. I suggested that we clean up her line so that when we began to research it, she would know that what she had was correct. I noticed that she had to have me spell everything out for her, so I decided to create her a cheat sheet. I wrote all of the months out for her and then I wrote "Standardized date and place." This is a sentence you use a lot when cleaning up the records.

I showed her the cheat sheet and then I put it where she could use it when she needed to. She was so excited because she was able to do some of the work on her own with the cheat sheet. When I would go and help the other patron she would try and work on her own. When I came back she would show me what she had accomplished and I would cheer her on and congratulate her on being able to do it on her own. She would grin from ear to ear and was so proud. She was always so grateful for the little things that she could accomplish and for what I did for her that it was just a joy.

On Sunday May 30th, we were asked to teach the combined Priesthood/Relief Society time and teach them about family history. For the last two months the ward had been focusing on family history and temple work in sacrament meeting, so this was the culmination for this theme. One of our options was "Call to Action" so we played a four minute video of President Nelson calling all members to sacrifice something, preferably time, to temple and family history work. Golden then presented the priesthood responsibility and the impact that it would have if the priesthood did not fulfill their responsibility in family history.

After his presentation, I spoke about my personal family history experience and born testimony of the power of the "Find, Take, and Teach" program that was rolling out throughout the stake. I explained how it worked and that the stake goal was to have at least all of the youth have this experience before Youth Conference." When we got through the bishop came up and said "I had no idea of the "Find, Take and Teach program." All he could say was that it was a miracle the experience I shared, which I had to agree. We offered to work in their ward and train, and he was excited for the offer and has scheduled us for the month of May to work with their ward.

Manhattan 3rd Ward Birthday Photo - Celebrating their 4th birthday as a ward.

Word is starting to spread throughout the stake and we are getting calls from several of the wards wanting to schedule us to come and train. I think that we are going to be pretty busy for the next few months until youth conference. I am really excited to see the impact that this program will have on the stake. It is an amazing program and one that can create a conversion experience for both the consultant and the ward member.

Today was Regional Conference. The first half hour we had our stake business of sustainings and listening to our new second counselor in the Stake Presidency, and then a few words from Elder Buckner, the new area 70th for our area. After he spoke we sat and listened to a member of our stake play the piano while we waited for the televised session from Salt Lake to start.

We heard from Elder Gerrit Gong, one of the Seven Presidents of the Quorum of the 70 who spoke on the power of service and how to provide opportunities for our families to serve. He quoted the scripture that says "....When you are in the service of your fellow men, you are only in the service of your God." He spoke of how service can turn hearts and bind us to others. Service strengthens not only the one we serve but it also changes our heart and creates a new friendship.

Sister Bonnie Cordon, General President of the Primary, spoke on the "Light of Christ". She talked about how she loved to watch the fireflies in the evening and that they reminded her that we all have to have our own light to survive mortality. Sharing your light with someone else is good to strengthen them, but all of us at some time in our life must carry our own light of Christ.

Elder Anthony B. Perkins, a member of the Quorum of the 70, spoke of the power and blessing of the atonement and repentance. He spoke on how repentance brings joy, not sorrow, and gives us an opportunity to become more than we can become on our own. He shared four examples from the scriptures of Nephi, Alma the Younger, and Zeezrom who all came through their own experiences of repentance and became wonderful servants to our Father in Heaven. Even as bad as Alma the Younger was, he was later told that he would have eternal life. All of us can make it back home if we keep our focus on the Savior and his atoning sacrifice.

Our last speaker was Elder Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles and he spoke on the power of faith.

It was a wonderful meeting and the Spirit was strong. We have learned so much while serving our mission and have been able to be witnesses of miracles far beyond what we thought we could have ever experienced. We both come home very tired but full of gratitude for the opportunity we have had to serve.

We have had our health challenges, but we have always been blessed with just enough good health to keep going. This is the Lord's work and he is hastening the gathering of Israel in a miraculous way and it is a great privilege to be a part of this work.

23 April 2017

On the 13th Diane had the opportunity of attending a panel discussion at the UN entitled "Focus On Faith. They had five or six representatives from various faiths give presentations on what they were doing to help the refuge problems. Sister Jean Bingham, Relief Society General President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints was asked to be one of the members of the panel and so we were all asked to go and support her so that we would have enough attend that it would tell the UN they it would be good to have more discussions on this subject.

Entrance to the United Nations Building

Sister and Dr. Martinez. They took Diane so she would not be alone.

Diane and Sister Martinez just inside the United Nations entrance.

Sister Bingham represented the Church very well and several people mentioned just how much they were impressed on the amount of refugee relief the church had done. They indicated how the church was always one of the first responders in most disasters throughout the world and how well organized and efficient they were.

Sister Jean Bingham giving her presentation on the Church Refugee Activities

 Inside Room 4 where the Panel Discussion took place.

Here are some pictures taken at Grand Central Station on the way home from the UN.

Front entrance to Grand Central Station

One of the main hallways located inside Grand Central Station

 
Grand Central Terminal is a commuter, rapid transit railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan., New York City.

Grand Central Terminal has remained the busiest train station in the country.
People from all over come to visit, shop and take a public tour.

Grand Central Station New York Terminal  has some of the constel-lations in lights on the ceiling (left).  On the right, the grand hall at mid-day when very little activity was taking place

Grand Central Station escalators just inside the front entrance

Hallway next to the escalators (on the right)

Easter Sunday Brunch after meetings at Manhattan YSA

On Easter Sunday, we attended meetings at the 87th street chapel with the Manhattan YSA ward. On Easter, the YSA ward had a wonderful musical program with talks focused on the resurrection. We had planned to train temple and family history consultants on that day, but the family history center was closed as the Manhattan 2nd and 3rd wards had a shortened schedule so Susie Yamada, who normally opens it for us, didn't think we would be there due to Easter.  One of the ward Temple and Family History Consultants that we have been training is shown below.  Diane prepared and gave her a "Helping Others to Love Family History" experience.

Jocelyn Shaver (right) with one of her YSA friends

On Monday the 17th, we had the opportunity of visiting the Cloister Museum located near our old ward building in Inwood. Diane chose to walk up the path and Golden rode the bus up because of his bad hip. The tour was over an hour but very interesting. Most of the artifacts were from the 1100's and the museum was built with materials and in the style of a monastery or cloisters used by the monks many years ago.

The Cloisters is part of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

Our tour guide was very informative.

Some of our temple missionaries just before the garden area

After the tour, Brother and Sister Harris, President and Sister Bench and ourselves went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was delicious and the service was wonderful. We had not been able to find a Mexican restaurant that was like those in Utah so it really filled our longing for Cafe Rio or Costa Vida in Utah. To make it even more of a wonderful experience, President and Sister Bench paid for the whole meal without us knowing it.

Sister Dorothy Bench and President Mark Bench, Manhattan Temple President and Matron

Rockefeller Center Plaza

During the week, on the way home from Diane's getting an MRI, we stopped by the Rockefeller Center were Golden posed above the ice rink and in front of the golden globe.  We also took a bit of time this week to stroll through Central Park and walked around Shepherd's meadow where many people were enjoying the day.  Our apartment is only a block from Central Park on the West Side. It is really enjoyable to be able to get out after not doing so for most of the winter.

9 April 2017

The last couple of weeks have been somewhat of a blur.  Our regular work at the Family History Center has kept us quite busy, as this has been a couple of weeks when various parts of the country have had spring break like Idaho, and with the weather warming at times, we have had increased activity with walk-ins during the week.  And Saturday mornings have been very busy with mostly Spanish speaking members wanting to print family file cards.

During the last week of March, we had the opportunity to make apartment inspections with some of the full time Elders and Sisters.  After Diane got her hair cut up in Harlem, we met with the Sisters on St. Nicholas Avenue on Monday.

On Tuesday, we took the bus from across the street from the temple down Columbus and 9th Avenues to the Elders at the 54th Street apartment.  Last time we inspected, a large hole in the sheetrock had been made, apparently by an angry elder with a bit too much energy.  But that had now been repaired and we find that these apartments usually need some small maintenance like replacement of lights, etc.

This was early in the morning, and from there we came back to the apartment just in time to grab a bite, and then catch the crosstown bus to the East Side where we travelled to the stake center building on east 87th Street.  Here we spent about five hours training five sisters from the Manhattan 2nd and 3rd wards who had been called as Temple and Family History Consultants to help them become more familiar with FamilySearch.org. Rather than take a return bus, we opted to take the Q train back to Times Square and then the 1 Train to Lincoln Square - 65-66th Street Station across from our apartment.

Sister Adams at the new Q train station on East 85th Street and 3rd Avenue

On Thursday morning we served at the Manhattan Temple, and later in the afternoon we worked with patrons at the Family History Center.  We have been preparing lesson plans for the "Helping Others to Love Family History" (HOLFH) experience as part of the Find, Take, Teach principle taught by the Brethren. Wanting to also share this with family, Diane was in contact with our son Paul and his wife, Jenny to help them have such an experience.

Diane  worked with Jenny to find a name to take to the temple on one of her paternal lines, and not finding a female name (male names had been found), she kept searching.  With Paul and Jenny's prayers coupled with ours, she was guided to a family.  In speaking with Paul on the phone, Paul told her that he andJenny had been praying all week for a family to be found that needed to have temple ordinances completed.

When Diane heard this, she broke into tears because she did not know that Jenny wanted a family, she had just requested a name. Paul said, "Mom, did you find a family?"  Her answer was, "I did."

On Saturday we viewed both sessions and Priesthood Meeting of General Conference.  At the afternoon session with sustaining of officers, when the new Seventies to be called were sustained, David T. Buckner (Stake President here in the New York New York Stake) was one of the names read.  Now we knew why our Stake Conference had been postponed from March until the week after General Conference, since this would necessitate a reorganization of the stake presidency here.

On Sunday evening, via telephone, we gave Jenny her HOLFH experience and she printed the family cards for members of the family Diane had shared in the experience.  Paul reported the next day that Jenny was so excited, and he explained to her that it was the Spirit of Elijah that was responsible for her feelings.

Monday, our P-day, we cleaned, did laundry and did grocery shopping for much of the month.  This time, we walked up Columbus Avenue to between 73rd and 74th Streets with our shopping cart to Pioneer.  On the way back, Diane picked up her new glasses, as she has not been able to read anything outside of the 16 inch range, so she changed from bifocals to progressive lenses.

Grocery checkout at Pioneer on Columbus Avenue, NYC

To get an idea of NYC prices, this can of vegetable beef soup is marked $2.29

On Tuesday after General Conference, Diane served at the temple as a substitute for Elaine Holloway who is serving with her husband, Richard as Temple Missionaries.  They are from Rexburg Idaho.  Since some of their family members were in the City, they were spending time with them.  We have been working with them in their family history endeavors, and in the preceding weeks, they have prepared many family file cards for members of their families who needed ordinances, and these were completed while their family was here.

While Diane was at the temple, Golden worked on another lesson plan for Hailey Roark, and was guided to make a real sketchy search in FamilySearch for a great grandfather's marriage in Iowa since she had learned from her first experience as we demonstrated how to have a HOLFH experience in stake training that the wife of this grandfather was born in Iowa and they would have been married about 1900 (whereabouts unknown as the had settled in Oklahoma where they raised their family). In the time between 1899 and 1901 when searching "Ritter", only one marriage came up with Herman Ritter and Lena Krall.  Not only did this give the maiden name Hailey didn't have, but the marriage also listed the names of both their parents!

We both testify that the power that comes from faith put into action is illustrated in this inspired "Find, Take, Teach" strategy for helping others to love family history.  We have experienced this multiple times now. It is as miraculous to us now as it was the first time we experienced it.  We are in the process of preparing several lesson plans for Temple and Family History Consultants here in the New York New York Stake.

This past week, we also talked with our son Matthew and Melissa, our daughter-in-law and are excited to be praying with them as we prepare to give them a similar experience as Jenny and Paul experienced when they come to visit us the first week in June.

Stake Conference this weekend was presided over by Elder Kevin W. Pierson, assisted by Elder Paul H. Sinclair of the Seventy.  Saturday evening adult session was one of great power and learning. Sister Pelo, Stake Relief Society President who lost her mother just two days before, Arie Ball, a YSA from India, shared her conversion story we first heard as we attend the Manhattan YSA ward in March's fast and testimony meeting when she announced that after three years waiting for her parents' ok she would be getting baptized (which will happen this coming weekend). President and Sr. Smith of NYNYN Mission, Pres. Mark and Sr. Dorothy Bench (temple president and matron) addressed the congregation prior to Elder Sinclair's message that we need to be slow to judge but very quick to help, and Elder Pierson's message on relationships of faith, action, power and light [Holy Ghost].

Today, Presidents Buckner, Cropper, and Gonzalez were released and they spoke; new stake presidency was sustained - President Cropper, Norm Merritt (who has been our temple and family history high counselor under whom this work has moved forward so quickly in the past couple of months, and another brother (who name was not known by Bro. Merritt until the meeting today) will now exercise the keys that have been transferred to them under direction of Pres. Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Music by the stake primary children and choir and the talks today were also very upbuilding, especially regarding the promises of Elohim and our heavenly mother were made regarding the eternal family and how Satan seeks to keep us distracted from the promise.