30 October 2016

Time seems to be flying since we moved to the tower in Mid Manhattan. We love not having to take the subway so much and it is just a hop, skip, and jump to get to the temple or to the FHC. It has been cold and windy this last week, so we have not had a lot going on in the FHC. I, Nana, worked with a patron to show her how to make a readable copy of a document and another sister was a beginner on FamilyTree and with research, so I went through the basics to get her started and she seemed excited to go home and try it out.

On Tuesday, we usually try and go to the temple to do some of our own temple work and we were able to do an endowment session and a sealing session. On Thursday, it was President and Sister Roberts' last day for their mission. The new mission presidency took over in the afternoon. We have President and Sister Bench as the temple president with President and Sister Bean and President and Sister Nixon as counselors and assistants to the temple matron. They all seem really friendly and welcoming. It seems so nice to work directly with the presidency of the temple. They are like one of the workers with us because there are so few temple workers. Everyone does a bit of everything and we never know what we will do until our shift is over.

I took a walk in Central Park to just relax and enjoy green space. The trees and grass are beautiful and it is fun to watch everyone enjoying the park. It is so nostalgic from movies when I was a little girl. The horse drawn buggies really put a touch to the scenery and environment in the park.

 One of the Ice Skating Rinks in Central Park

Gift Shop Cottage in Central Park, NYC

By the end of the week, I was in need of groceries, laundry, and cleaning our apartment. That way, we can enjoy a clean house on Sunday. Whenever we need to get groceries, it is not hop in the car anymore. It is get your cart out and walk about a mile to get groceries. Then it is  a mile walk back home with our little cart full. When doing laundry, it isn't open your washing machine and put the clothes in, but get to the service elevator between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 and then after 2:00 p.m. in the afternoon. We have to take our cart full of laundry down 8 floors to run the washer for 40 minutes and the dryer for 60 minutes.

At least here, so far, we can leave the laundry and run up to the apartment and do some things up there until we have to shift the laundry. Then it is back to the elevator unless we miss the 11:00 a.m. time and then we must take the elevator to the 4th floor and walk down two flights of stairs to the 2nd floor so we can get off and get into the laundry. I did that once four times in one morning because the washing machine did not work and all of my clothes were soaking. The spin cycle did not work so I had to run the clothes through two cycles which put me past the 11:00 a.m time by ten minutes. That gave me the opportunity of hiking up and down two flights of stairs 4 times before I could get my laundry done. So be grateful for having your own washer and dryer in the house.

We went to our first Broadway musical on Friday night. It was "Fiddler On The Roof." It was really enjoyable and we had a fun night. We are learning that even the cheapest seats cost a lot -- $47.00 per ticket, so we try and space them out quite a bit.

We had two days of rain this week, and Friday was really cold. By the time we got about four streets away from the theatre where "Fiddler on the Roof" was playing on Broadway, our hands and face were fairly cold.  We stopped on Broadway and 57th Street at a hat vendor's street table and with Golden's bald head needing some protection, he purchased a winter fur-lined hat.  It was $15, but we only had $13.00 and the seller said we could bring the other $2 when we were back that way, in his words, "Maybe next year."

Is "13" a Lucky Number? This is the $15 hat

Diane on Broadway- Brrr, It's Cold!

Also on Friday, we voted our absentee ballots and sent the back to Utah.  Pray for our country and the morality of our people.  Next week is Fast Sunday and an opportunity to exercise our faith in behalf of our freedoms and inspiration as to make our vote really count!

King, Queen, and Princess

On Saturday, we saw lots of "Little People" who were dressed up in their Halloween Costumes for Trick-or-Treat at some of the businesses around Lincoln Center.  At the church, there were rooms being decorated for ward Halloween party and Trick-or-Treat and lots of work went into decorating the Cultural Hall for the 2-hour event.  It was interesting to see that even lots of "grown-ups" were dressed up.

"Construction Workers" and Cowboys on Lunch Break

Sunday was the "Come and See" Sacrament Meeting which is held annually at our Inwood 1st Ward.  It is the Primary Program and everyone is invited to bring their friends, investigators, etc. to "Come and See".  Then a light lunch was served.  After that, we stayed at Inwood for another hour working with Emily Davis, a ward member, on her husband Bryan's line.  Using the marriage she had already found and the 1920, 1910, 1900 and Florida State 1885 Census, most of the family (except one child who would have been born and died between census years) was identified for Bryan's great-grandmother's parents and siblings.  This provides 11 more family members that can have their temple ordinances done.

The changes in FamilySearch continue to make it easier and easier to find our deceased relatives' records and provide their temple ordinances.  It is very apparent that the Lord continues to hasten his work, and we just need to be obedient and do our best.  As we try our very best, we testify that the Lord will accept our efforts and we will be good enough to make it to the Celestial Kingdom.  We will never earn it because it has already been paid for by the Savior's Atonement. and we constantly see the challenges around us.  But the key is to follow the living prophets and we will be all right.

On our way back on the subway, we went one more stop to Columbus Circle (the south end of Central Park) and walked about three blocks hoping to find the hat vendor from Friday night, but he was not set up, we will will try again later.

23 October 2016

This past week, the big event was that we had to opportunity to go West Point United States Military Academy with the temple missionaries. Going through the history of this campus and what it represents really helped to open our eyes to just how much the hand of the Lord is in protecting us and this country. It is a beautiful campus on the Hudson River where one of the most strategic places of the Revolutionary War was located and where we could have lost the Revolutionary War and changed history as we now know it.

Temple Missionary Group - USMA, West Point

l-r: Br. Smith, Sr. Thompson, Sr. Grimley, Sr. Adams, Elder Adams, Elder Harris, Sr. Holloway, Elder Holloway, Elder Reidler (our host), Sr. Buchanan, Elder Buchanan, Sr. Huntington, Elder Huntington, Sister Mumford, Elder Mumford.  Elder Grimley is taking the photo.

West Point is so named since the bend of the Hudson River is such that this portion of land creates a point toward the West.

General Patton Statue

Baseball Field at West Point Military Academy-named for the inventor of Baseball; a cadet from USMA

Our missionary group at the Reidler home on Military Post after lunch

Diane had a sister come into the FHC this week that was from the Philippians. We got talking as she was helping her with her family history and she happened to mention she used to work for a supervisor that was from the Philippians. She asked her name and when she was told her that it was Jovy Moss, surprisely, she knew her. Diane could not believe that out of all the people that we meet in the FHC and in New York, that she would meet one that knew her old supervisor at Mountainland. They really had a good time talking about her and what a lovely person she was.

The FHC is really quieting down now that school is in so it is not so overpowering with trying to serve three people at the same time.

It is amazing to I see them light up with their family tree when we get it started. They can't figure out how we can give them something so powerful for free when there are others out there that cost hundreds of dollars and there is no one to support them or help teach them. 

Sometimes, we are so not grateful for what the Lord has put into our hands to help us with our family search. It is kind of like getting a Book Of Mormon and never reading it or studying it. What a gift they both are and how they can have an eternal affect and change on our lives.

Well, soap opera over. Life is good here in New York. Diane has grown so much and we love living in the tower. It is so quiet and convenient. It will help us open up training for our temple missionaries as we can access the FHC any time, not just during working hours.

One day this week, one of our regular patrons who is working on a family for a woman she works for, came in trying to find another generation on the family line.  After spending a couple of hours analyzing her problem, we checked a census in the United States and found the family indeed was all from England.  This was in the 1880 US census.  Working with "Find My Past", we found a family where the members fit, except for one child, James, who may have died between census enumerations.  But the ages seemed to match and the birth place of the father gave the same town of birth, but a different county than what she had been looking for.  If this pans out the next time she visits, we will have found another generation!

Rolf Francois has been working on trying to find his French ancestry since he and his brother and other family members are trying to prove the French connection so they can qualify for citizenship in France.  These grandparents were from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and after a couple of months going page by page in microfilm, he finally found the grandparent he was looking for!  It was a real "Buzz".  It has been fun working with him and seeing the excitement every time he found another piece of the puzzle!

Today we had ward conference - Inwood 1st Ward.  President Buckner and Bishop Larsen spoke on how we have all these different kinds of relationships and how all of them are very important.

In Priesthood Meeting we discussed Consecration and just what it means, as it is one of the things we covenant in the temple.  What, exactly, is a consecrated life?  How can we know when our life and our experiences are consecrated to the Lord and accepted by him?  Diane and I discussed how whenever we participate in the repentance process, we are literally accepting Christ as our Savior and Redeemer.  That is what allows the Spirit to testify of the Doctrine of Christ as the only means to return back to Father.

Elder Holland and Elder Gong were here this past week for banquets and addressing the United Nations and they came to look over the very inadequate Family History Center where we are serving and looking at renderings for a possible Visitor's Center-FamilySearch Discovery Center.  It is currently in the special projects division of the Church and hopefully something will become of the proposals.  Pres. Buckner told us yesterday that he would like to see a root-top garden above the temple as well as expansion of the FamilySearch Center here.

  

16 October 2016

Here is a picture that they have hung at the MTC. We have asked ourselves, would we be willing to be baptized in these waters? How much faith do we have and how bad would we want baptism? That is a good question to ponder.

Our granddaughter, Suzie Rhodes, gives us a question each week to think about and answer. This week her question was "If you only had one scripture to choose on baptism, what would it be." Here are our responses to that question:

Grandpa's answer: Mosiah 25:18 "Therefore, Alma did go forth into the water and did baptize them; yea, he did baptism them after the manner he did his brethren in the waters of Mormon; yea, and as many as he did baptize did belong to the church of God; and this because of their belief on the words of Alma."

I chose this scripture because it indicates authority is necessary, the manner of baptism is important, and it takes faith to believe on the words of both the missionaries and God. There is only one way to become a member of the church of God. 

Nana's answer: Mosiah 3: 15-17: " "And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

 16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

When I was baptized, I was terrified of going backwards in water. I was baptized by a stranger and when he put me into the water, my feet came flying up and I wanted nothing more to do with baptism. I do not remember how much pleading it took to get me to go under again, but I remember them standing on my feet so that I could not kick up.

I really never really grew to appreciate baptism until these last couple of years when I am finally starting to see the glorious blessings that come with it. When I think of the many times that the Holy Ghost has come to my aide, brought me peace when I was hurt, gave me knowledge when I had none, and bore testimony that now burns within my soul, I am so full of gratitude it brings tears. 

To think that I literally have a member of the Godhead with me to help me through anything. Several years ago, I was at a meeting with Vaughn J. Featherstone who was once an assistant to the Twelve Apostles and a friend of my nephew, Michael Waters. He made a comment that I have never forgotten. He said "If we knew the blessings that were held within the walls of the temples, we would all be crawling on our hands and knees to get there."

I have thought about that a lot and for awhile I have asked myself if I would be one that would be crawling to the temple on my knees. This year I finally know why and baptism is just the beginning. Without it, the rest of some of the greatest blessings ever given to man would be totally out of reach. That would put eternal life with my family and Heavenly Father impossible. Each time I witness a baptism, I think of the power that the ordinance holds and the doors that it opens to build a relationship with our Father In Heaven and our Savior. How lucky and blessed we are!

On Monday, I spent the day getting some more tests run to see if they can find out why I am always feeling the floors move and feeling floaty. I went to an ENT and they ran three tests on me, one watching eye movement in different positions, one having to follow a red light with my eyes, and one where they blew hot and cold air into my ears checking for balance.

On Friday, I went back to the ENT (Ears, nose, and throat doctor) for the results. The MRI and the ENT tests all came back normal so I know a lot of what it isn't but I don't know what it is yet. I guess only time will tell.

On Wednesday Golden went to the doctor to get his results from blood work ran on a physical that he had a couple of weeks before. I held down the Family History Center while he was gone. This day was also our 44th wedding anniversary so we spent the evening at a movie and dinner. It made for a good day.

On Thursday, we served at the Manhattan temple from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. While serving at the Family History Center that afternoon, Rolf Francis, who is our French friend was doing some more research in St. Thomas Virgin Islands looking for his 2nd great grandfather. He was so excited to finally find the christening record that he had overlooked when searching through microfilm previously. Most of the names had been blotted out with a large ink spill. This was the connection that he needed to establish his French ancestry to apply for French citizenship.

Golden got a phone call from the doctor's office letting him know that there was a problem with the blood draw and that he need to come in and do it again. Early on the morning of October 14th,  he went to Harlem before coming into the Family History Center at 10:00 a.m. that morning.

Ethnic Statue in Harlem, New York

On Saturday night after our shift at the FHC, we attended Maya Kit's dance company's presentation at "The Tank" on 46th near Time Square. Maya is one of our family history consultants as well as the FHC Director in the Inwood 1st Ward. This was the 5th anniversary of her dance company and we were going to give our support to her. The dances performed were those that she had choreographed and was a form of interpretive dance. It reminded us of a dance that Melanie and her friend Nichole Miles had choreorgaphed when they were in grade school. It was most interesting.

 Times Square on 7th Ave in NYC

Diane at Times Square standing in the wind

At church today we could not resist taking a picture of the church foyer. Where else but New York City would you see bicycle helmets, kids' scooters, and strollers showing the means of transportation to attend church? This is looking down from the stairway above.

Church foyer "Parking Lot"

9 October 2016

Let's see, what can we share with you this week. It has been pretty calm and routine so far. We are completely settled in our apartment now except we have to get our email registered so that we get the emails sent to us when our packages come. Right now it is set to email the temple president for any that are temple missionaries or family history missionaries and not registered with their emails.

We wanted to thank those missionaries that were so helpful with our move so, we first invited Elder and Sister Lewis to our apartment for dinner. We did not ask anyone to help us because we were not in charge of anything and did not want to get help, not knowing what time the van would be coming to move us, how big it was going to be, and how much help the office was arranging for. The day that we moved, Brother Lewis just called and asked when we wanted him to come. It did not matter to him that we could not guarantee anything, he was going to help in any way he could. What an example they were to us.

We next invited Elder and Sister Hanson for dinner. They have been by our side since we arrived. They were our trainers for the family history center and have helped us find our way around New York. When we moved we let all of our food deplete so that we would not have to move much. The problem with that was that we did not have anything to eat when we got here so the Hanson's brought us over some salt and pepper, a kish, and a gallon of milk so that we would have breakfast until we could go grocery shopping the next morning. Looking at eggs without salt and pepper was more than we wanted to look at, so what they brought to us made our day. We had a lovely time with them.

Our next challenge was able to master the system for doing laundry. The laundry can only be accessed by the service elevator which is only available from 8:00 - 11:00 am and then not until in the afternoon. They have it reserved for moving tenants and receiving supplies for the apartment building. We have cards that we put money on that works the washers and dryers and the facility is really quite nice.

Diane: 

I was able to work with Alida, a patron that came into the FHC. She had never been into the center before, so I explained the differences between Family Tree and the other trees that are found online and the services that we offer. After explaining the system Alida was able to search records 24 hours a day for her to help with documentation. She like what she heard and decided to create her account. 

She had very little information to start with, but once she put her grandmother's name in, the system pulled up some potential duplicates that could be hers. To her surprise, there was her grandmother's information that she knew very little about. All she could say is, "I can't believe it. This is wonderful!" She had an account with Ancestry.com but was just frustrated because she was just spinning her wheels and getting nowhere. 

I worked with her for over an hour and then she was requiring research and analytical skills so I turned her over to Golden.  I had worked with her on her mother's side of the family.  Golden worked with her adding her father, Henry Bach and several more records were found which added three generations to her father's side of the tree.

She was so excited she was shaking and was just amazed at the information we had found.  She was embarassed because one of the crowns on her tooth kept coming off, and we just kidded that we were all losing our hair and teeth.  

Alida couldn't get over the power of the information that were coming through FamilySearch.  At shift change, Liz Hanson worked with her.

I got to work in the temple office on Saturday. It was my first time serving in the office of any temple and I had a wonderful experience. I met several new temple workers and they were all so great to teach me the ropes in the office. I also was able to work in the baptistry which was a new experience. In Utah the baptistry is pretty much it's own entity and they keep the same staff and rarely if ever use other temple workers.  

Golden: 

While Diane was serving in the office, I worked in the Initiatory, Sealings, Name Issue, and finally as baptizer down in the baptistry.  Since the Philadelphia Temple just opened, the workers that are in that temple district are not serving in Manhattan and so the temple is quite short on workers.  Especially on Saturdays when most of the patrons come (this is a big day for Spanish speakers) the temple ordinance workers, along with the temple missionaries, are quite busy and very much appreciated.

A new temple presidency will start to serve at the end of the month, so lots of challenges come with these things, and the Hartford Temple in Connecticut will soon open so more of the temple workers will be missed when those in this temple district serve there.

We are still assigned to Inwood First Ward, but now we only have the subway ride once a week, on Sunday, rather than the 5 days each week we had before we moved to Lincoln Square.  It has been a good week!

2 October 2016

When we came to the New York New York North Mission, we were told that we would be housed temporarily in Inwood (Upper Manhattan).  While we have been in Inwood First Ward (English) we have been blessed to work with the family history consultants and now with shadowing them as they work with members in the Sunday School class.

In the process, progress is being made to get the Inwood Family History Center up and running again as it has not had a director for almost two years.

We received word that we would be moving to Lincoln Square - 60 West 66th Street, Apt. 10J, in the  tower next to the temple and Family History Center.  This move occurred on September 22nd.  Two sets of young Elders, Elder and Sister Larsen from the Mission Office, and Elder and Sister Lewis, Temple Missionaries from Utah who came the same weekend we did were all there to help.

It is exciting to not have to ride the subway (One Train) the 35 minute commute each way daily.  Now we only need to go outside and a round the corner to Columbus Street to get to the Temple and FHC.

Here are pictures of our new "digs".

10th Floor Hall from outside the Elevator

Apartment Entrance - 10 J

 Living Room from entrance

Dining Room looking from the Living Room

Bedroom

The view from our apartment living room window

View from Roof Garden - Above 37th Floor

View toward Central Park to the East

View to Southwest toward Lower Manhattan

On Sunday, September 25th, we were invited to the Open House for President and Sister Steve Bennion who will be leaving as Temple President and Matron the end of October.  President and Sister Roberts will be returning to New Zealand.  President and Sister Bench were hosting the event, and they have been called as the new Temple President and Matron.  They will be leaving for Salt Lake City to attend New Temple President training.

When we first arrived at our new apartment, we didn't have food since we had been working on getting our supply down for the move.  We began to explore around the area to see if we could find a grocery store.  Walking toward the Hudson River to West End, we only found small stores that were of the 7-11 type (European style).  Returning to Broadway, we walked toward 72nd Street where we knew Trader Joe's was located.  We missed it, but on the corner of about 75th street, we encountered Fairway and decided to give it a try.

We loaded up on groceries -- 8 bags worth.  But Diane had left her purse with the subway card at home, and we were trying to figure out how we would be able to get the food back to the apartment, some 8 blocks away.  As we were checking out, the clerk asked if we would like it delivered.  Diane immediately said "yes" and then we asked what it would cost.  We were informed that since we were over $125 (actually it was close to $200) delivery was free.  It would be about two hours before we could expect it.  When the delivery man brought it up to the apartment, he even placed it in the kitchen!

Monday evening, we attended a Hebrew discussion group at Mark and Susan Dransfield's apartment here in the building.  They serve as Public Affairs Missionaries with Interfaith and United Nations, etc.  They are really into studying Hebrew and Jewish culture.  We enjoyed the evening and took photos of blowing the "rams horn", symbolic of Abraham and Isaac and the ram being caught by its horn so it could become the sacrifice instead of Isaac!

Elder Mumford & Sister Dransfield

On Friday evening, we were scheduled to go with Dransfield's to Rosh Hoshanah at the Jewish synagog Temple nearby.  In the afternoon after our shift at the FHC, we walked through the rainstorm looking for a store that we thought had agave that Diane wanted to buy.  Our walk from 63rd Street to 42nd Street took us to Times Square but we didn't find the agave.  

Diane had a great time walking in the rain and enjoying the new experience, but the distance with the cold and rain and a knee that was trying to dislocate made it more miserable for me.  But we found that this was the section of the City where the Broadway productions were all around.  Diane was excited to find familiar restaurant names like Applebee's, Olive Garden, Kentucky Fried Chicken and it made her feel right at home. So there is always good and bad in all experiences and New York City has it all to offer. It makes for a great adventure.

11 September 2016 (15 year anniversary of the 9-11 Disaster with Twin Towers here in NYC)

Thursday we would call a miracle day when two patrons came in that do not know each other, both speaking French, there is a miracle waiting to happen.

After our shift at the temple, we came into the FHC.  Rolf Francis, who has been working in records from Haiti for his great grandparents, hoping to find a French connection so he and his brother could receive French citizenship, had worked the whole morning.

Shortly after we arrived at the center, a gentleman walked in (who only spoke French) wanted to find his PAF file that he supposedly left there two years before. We couldn't understand a word that he spoke and that's when Rolf stepped in to translate.  The French patron said that the person (a missionary) serving there assured him that his 10,000 names would be saved.

PAF is an obsolete program and with the computers having been thoroughly cleaned, there was no way that a PAF (Personal Ancestral File) could have survived there.  The Frenchman (a member of the Church) was getting more and more frustrated.  That's when Diane had the thought to ask Rolf to ask the Frenchman if he was familiar with Family Tree.  And that's what broke the problem.

He logged into his account and found his tree extending back well into the early 1500s.  Rolf's reaction was hilarious!  Every time he went back two more generations in the tree and Rolf saw how early the dates were, he became more and more excited.

The frosting on the cake was when the Frenchman started talking to Rolf about the gospel.  All we could understand occasionally were the words "Bible" and "Jesus Christ".  When I asked Rolf what they were saying, he just said, "We are talking about the Church."

We told Rolf that this was no accident or coincidence that two French speaking people were at the center at the same time.  We knew that the Lord had set up the miracle as we had no idea this would happen.  Rolf had called the day before to see when we would be serving at the FHC and said he would come in early to search the records, which he did, and so he was there to translate.

Without him being there, the Frenchman would have gone thinking he had lost 10,000 names and Rolf would not have had the opportunity to hear what was told him regarding the gospel and the Church by the member.

This is a testimony how the Lord really knows events in advance and this is His work.  He cares about people, and each of His children.  He didn't want this member to leave disappointed.

Saturday we had two patrons come in together -- either friends or relatives we don't know for sure -- but their one focus was on trying to find a will and a death record in hopes of being part of an estate. The other part was to see if they could find family and learn about FamilyTree.

The patron that Diane took ended up being really paranoid about her identity and what she was putting into FamilyTree. I think that she had some mental issues because she really went out in left field. She would put her hands over the screen when people came in and then ask me if I thought they saw anything. Then she became so demanding on me and would offend the new patrons coming in by constantly asking for me to come back to her.

When Liz and Tom came in at shift change, Diane told her that she had never prayed so hard to get them there--and their reply was "Thanks" (sarcastically).  She left soon afterward and Tom told Diane that Liz had had enough of that patron in the five minutes she was there.

On Saturday, the Wetzel Saga continued.  The Thursday prior to our visit to Virginia, Golden had analyzed documents she had found about Rubin Wetzel, father of Howard Wetzel.  His life partner, Nancee Hwa, was trying to find information on the family for his 80th birthday.  She and Liz had spent the previous day and that morning researching.  At the time, Howard knew nothing about his family and knew nothing of his grandparents, and little about his father, Rubin Wetzel.

Rubin had showed up only in the 1930 census as a teenager in the family of Louis and Ida Wetzel who appeared to be Russian Jews.  But Louis' naturalization record gave his wife and three children's names--no mention of a Rubin Wetzler.  And he was not found in other records.

After analysis, the idea came that he could have been illegitimate, born to Louis in 1911 and Louis and Ida didn't marry until about 4 years later.  I suggested that Nancee see if she could find a birth record for Rubin to see if it would shed further light on the situation.

After we came back from Virginia, Liz had been working with her and Nancee had, by that time, started to make phone calls to Wetzels since it was not a common name.  She found relatives that told her that Rubin was the son of Ida from a previous marriage, and that Louis had moved right in to marry Ida shortly after she was divorced.

From this information, Liz had found the marriage in "ItalianGen.org"  of Ida Turner and Rubin Riwkin as well as Rubin's entry in a passenger list of 1903 with a wife Chaje.  From what the cousins knew, Nancee was told that Rubin was adopted by Louis Wetzel.  Rubin Riwkin is likely the father of Rubin Wexler.

That Saturday morning,  She had found another cousin, Helene,  who had said that Rosita Wetzler, her mother, had died 4 weeks ago but none of the family seemed to know anything about the grandparents.  

Now, there are so many family members, that Nancee is ready to just get the documents from the City, visit the cemetery (Howard hasn't found where his father is buried yet) and write up the whole story.  She has now put together a pedigree of Howard's parents and grandparents and they plan to visit cousins in Florida in December.

Another interesting sidelight:  Howard Wexler is the inventor of the game "Connect Four" and Nancee gave an autographed game to Liz.

As we reviewed the scenario, Nancy asked if I thought this was coincidence, divine intervention, or what?  This opened up the opportunity to explain how we are all Heavenly Father's children and he loves all of us.  The importance of family and sharing of some similar experiences we have had that were beyond coincidence and how everything has come together in these two weeks is a miracle, and we testify that, once again, we received the blessing of knowing that this is a divine work in which we are engaged, even though it doesn't involve just LDS members.

7 September 2016

The Family History Center was closed this last week so we took a little vacation and spent a week with Melanie and Daniel in Virginia. This was our first combination of subway and train and we left at 10:30 am from New York and arrived in Lynchburg, Virginia about nine hours later. But we saw a lot of beautiful country. We traveled through Trenton, NJ; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC; Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland; Aberdeen; MD, Culpepper, VA; Manassas, VA; Charlottesville, VA, and in to Lynchburg, VA where Melanie picked us up.

On Tuesday we just took it easy around the house and played with  Enoch and Jocie and tried to keep Enoch from hitting his sister. They are at the handful stage. To expel some energy, we blew up the air mattress and let them jump and roll to their hearts content and they had a wonderful time.

Melanie, Enoch and Jocie

Jocie on "trampoline" mattress

Melanie bouncing Jocie and Enoch

On Wednesday, we loaded up the kids in the car and went to the Bedford City Library. They have a wonderful facility where the kids can play with toys, do art, participate in hands-on activities with tools, play games, and read books. Both Enoch and Jocie really enjoyed the library.

That afternoon, Melanie and Enoch went to the store to buy Enoch a Hot Wheel to learn to ride. He is really scary and the first day about all we could do was to get him to sit on it and push it with his legs. He was afraid to put his feet on the pedals.

Enoch trying to get his feet to reach the pedals on his new "Tricycle"

On Thursday morning we went to the Falling Creek Park with Melanie and the kids. Daniel bought Enoch a remote control car that the two of them could do together. Grandpa and Enoch played with the car while Melanie would swing Jocie in the swings and just let you walk around. We all had a wonderful time at the park before heading home for lunch and bedtime.

Jocie with ball and bat, "Papa", and Enoch with remote car in background

Melanie and Enoch controlling the Police Car

Papa finds that it is hard to control the car!

Melanie pushing Jocie on swing; both LOVE it!

Caterpillar Nest at Falling Creek Park

Enoch on the hiking trail with Papa.  "Which way Papa?"

Friday was another casual day where we just enjoyed each other and tried to help Enoch get used to his Hot Wheel. He made some big improvement as he learned that he could lift his legs and glide down the hill and land in the grass. This is where he learned how to stop the Big Wheel and he gained more confidence.

Friday evening Daniel and Melanie asked if we would watch Enoch and Jocie while they went out on a date. It has been over a year or longer since they have had a date, so we said ok. The kids were great and we really enjoyed them. Bedtime always becomes a challenge with little ones, especially when they have never gone to bed without their mother. After fighting Jocie for over a half a hour, Grandpa volunteered to try his turn and she settled right down for him and both children were asleep in about half an hour.

Saturday we left around 8:30 in the morning to go to the mountains to a place called Onion Mountain Outlook. It was really a beautiful place and it felt so good to be in nature instead of what they refer to as the "blacktop jungle" of New York City. There is just something about nature that is relaxing.

 Daniel, Melanie, and Papa at Onion Mountain Outlook - Otter Peaks, Virginia

Left: Enoch, Daniel, Melanie and Jocie; Center: Daniel and Melanie; Right: Papa and Nana

After the mountains, we worked our way to Roanoke, Virginia where we had dinner at a Cuban restaurant before going to the Train Museum. This is one of Enoch's favorite places to go even though he is afraid of the large engines. They had everything from old cars, carriages, miniature trains, and full-sized trains. We all really enjoyed ourselves before heading home. 

Vintage "Engine 611" was on exhibit for the Labor Day Holiday.

 Daniel and Jocie

Enoch and Melanie

Melanie and I stopped off at McDonalds for some ice cream before heading home. It was a wonderful day and we all had a great time.

Sunday was fast Sunday so we had testimonies and the Spirit was very strong and we all really enjoyed the meetings. Daniel and Melanie invited their neighbor, Thelma, who is just starting to look into the church and she seemed to have a wonderful time. The missionaries came over and gave her a Book of Mormon at her request and made an appointment to come and visit her. She is a wonderful lady and a good friend for Melanie. She is like having a Brother and Sister Allen for a neighbor and friend. You can't beat them.

On Monday morning, Daniel and Enoch drove us from Bedford, Virginia to Lynchburg, about 25 miles away to board the Amtrak back to New York Penn Station and then the subway home to Inwood, NYC.

Lynchburg Virginia Railway Station