19 February 2017

19 February 2017

This last week has been one of trying to get this microfilm project to the point where we can start sending the film back to Salt Lake. We have about 1 1/2 more cabinets to do and then we will be ready to start shipping it back. I will be glad when this is done.

I did get a reprieve on Valentines Day when we had a Sister's Conference from all of the sister missionaries serving in our mission. We went to Scarsdale New York where the mission home is located and met at a church there. They broke us up into two groups and held two classes where we rotated after a 40 minute session. One covered mission dress standards and laundry and the other class was on dealing with stress. They were both really interesting and fun.

We had guest speakers come and speak after the classes. They were a couple from Utah that were involved in a small plane crash and were severely burned. She was burned over 80% of her body and he was burned over 40% of his. It was a miracle that she lived and they came to share their story of survival and that we can make the best of all situations if we keep our focus on the Savior. It was a powerful presentation and I learned that I have nothing to complain about when I hear her story. I have included some pictures from the event that I thought you might like to see.

Picture 1 is of Sister Colton (The blonde with short hair) with our guest speakers Brother and Sister Christian Nielson. She is our neighbor in the apartment that I was asked to help with her family history to see if we could find someone to take to the temple. When I opened her Family Tree file, I noticed that her mother's name was Jolley and discovered that we were 4th cousins. It was fun breaking the news to her that I found a new cousin and introduced myself as well as finding a name that could be taken to the temple.

Picture 2: This is me sitting with some of my missionary friends.From left to right Sister Martinez, a volunteer in the FHC, myself, Sister Honeycutt, the office secretary, and Sister Larson who is over missionary housing.

Picture 3: This is Brother Christian and his wife Stephanie with me. Their accident happened in 2008 and she is still having surgeries. Her story is amazing. She has published a book and runs a blog to help anyone who is our has faced major obstacles.

Picture 4: This is a picture of all the sister missionaries in our mission. Our mission president and his wife are in the front center; she in a polka dot dress and he has a pink tie.

We have been negotiating the train and bus systems here in Manhattan with Diane's doctor appointments and inspecting missionary apartments.  We have an assignment to inspect 4 missionary apartments every transfer (each 6 weeks) and report back to the Mission Office.  From Harlem 125th Street to Mid Manhattan 54th Street on the subway, and back to our apartment by bus took planning and a NYC Transit App we traveled on Friday.

Today we took the bus to and from the Stake Center on 87th Street which also was a new experience for us.  We were asked to have a training session with three new Temple and Family History Consultants, the new title approved by the First Presidency and sent out in a letter on Feb. 9th.  All former family history callings are now officially Temple and Family History Consultants.  New training materials on LDS.org are exciting and were introduced at RootsTech last week.

Besides working our temple shift on Thursday morning at the temple, we also attended an endowment session with the Inwood First Ward where we are assigned and have been working with the T&FH Consultants over the past 8 months and that ward is now leading the stake in the key indicators according Brother Norm Merritt, our new High Counselor over Temple and Family History.

All in all, it has been a very interesting and good week.

13 February 2017

13 February 2017

This past week has been one of a lot of work trying to get the microfilm drawers all photographed so that we could sit at the computer and take a cabinet and a drawer at a time and look them up online to see if the Church had digitized the film (making it browseable) and if it was available online for viewing. We have marked the microfilm as "K" if we are keeping it; "IK" if it is indexed on line but not digitized; "B" if it has been digitized but not indexed and can be viewed online; "IB" if the microfilm has been indexed and digitized. All of the film that is labeled "B" or "IB" will be sent back to Salt Lake. As of this date, we have taken pictures of all the cabinets and cabinet l is complete and cabinet 2 is almost done so it is moving along faster than we had hoped. The collection is housed in five microfilm cabinets.

Microfilm Cabinet Collection

One of the challenges is that the room used for the nursery on Sundays is the room we use as the Microfilm Reading Room Tuesday through Saturday.  This means that the three microfilm readers, scanner, and two computers must be moved on rolling carts/tables into the reading room and stored back in the cabinet room on Saturday afternoon.  The Stake has approved this cabinet room as a regular microfilm reading room and will be remodeled once we can make room by sending back the part of the collection that is not used often, or is available online as browseable images.

The Microfilm Cabinet/Storage Room during the weekend with equipment stored.

On Sunday we had a very long day doing the Lord's work. We started by attending our ward in Inwood where we attended a wonderful sacrament meeting with the theme of getting to know our Savior. We then worked in the Inwood Family History Center helping the patrons that came in for one-on-one help. Diane worked with Karen Marie Belnap in doing descendancy research and getting the most benefits out of the sources that were attached as well as looking for new ones. Golden worked with George Mittag with a family on his father's side that had thirteen children, all of whom had record hints that he taught George how to attach. He was able to find one ancestor needing temple work but opted not to reserve it until he knew that he would be going to the temple that day as he is concerned about something happening to him if he were to reserve a name and then not able to do the work that he reserved.

After our meeting block, we hurried home to get lunch before heading off to do apartment inspections on the four missionary apartments (7 companionships) that we were assigned to check. It was a rain snow mix that made everything wet and some places slippery. The hand rails were turning to ice quickly,  similar to what it does in an ice storm but not as bad. Our umbrellas worked very well with the wind and storm to keep us dry and our boots were waterproof so our feet did not get wet. This made our experience in meeting with the missionaries pleasant as we were not wet.

We did not get a good start because the trains were delayed because of construction (which always affects weekend trains) so we started off about 30 minutes late. This made it so that we could not get to our sister missionaries before they had to leave, so we scheduled to meet with them on the 20th when we will be in the Harlem area for a medical appointment. We can use the trip and combine both needs in one trip. One other apartment has been scheduled for later in the week.

Diane decided to leave a message with each apartment that we visited and the missionaries seemed to really enjoy the message. She spoke on how their apartment could be like the temple if they kept the Spirit there and made their apartment clean and welcoming. She asked them to leave it so that if the Savior were to come unexpectedly, they would feel comfortable welcoming Him in and they could enjoy their visit. We have learned from the prophets that the closest place that we can have that is like the temple is our homes. As missionaries, the Church is paying for these apartments from sacred funds so it is our responsibility to treat the Savior's property with the greatest respect.

Our monthly meeting "Sunday Evening at Lincoln Square", sponsored by the New York Stake as a community outreach inviting any who would like to come (several Missionaries had investigators attending) was Stephanie Nielson and her husband, Christian.

"Globally celebrated blogger and New York Times best selling author, Stephanie Nielson share[ed] her inspiring story of hope in the face of challenges.  Her relentless faith and passion for life saved her from a fiery airplane crash.  With scars from life threatening injuries covering [most] of her body, she radiate[d] an outward beauty and faith that rises from within."

Her husband, Christian, testified how they were able to survive through the Lord's blessing allowed by a spiritual reservoir they had developed through daily scripture reading (especially the Book of Mormon), family and personal prayer, regular family home evenings, regular church attendance and partaking of the sacrament weekly.  He testified of the need of each of us to develop a spiritual reservoir so that we would be able to face and conquer, with the Lord's help, the challenges and times of adversity that inevitably are going to be part of our experience here in mortality.

With our service at the temple which reopened this week, the varying experiences in the Family History Center, and with the missionaries, all in all, it was a very productive week.

5 February 2017 (Continued)

Friday was a very busy day.  We started with physical therapy, a six block walk towards Columbus Circle at 59th Street (Trump Hotel and Tower is located here) - 60th Street and Broadway.  After returning with a quick stop at our apartment, we spent the day at the FHC preparing microfilms from the past month that were due to return to Salt Lake City.  It was really slow and our entire shift was spent in doing the microfilms.

Just as we were ready to go home, the Frenchman that Diane has been working with who has now transferred his PAF files to RootsMagic came into the Center.  She is the only one who knows Roots Magic and what they have been working together, so she worked with him all afternoon.  He doesn't speak English, and so it was a very stressful and tiring afternoon.  While she was working with him, I continued what she had started in taking photos of the microfilm drawers so we can start to send back microfilm to make room for a remodel to use that small room for microfilm readers and computer and scanner.  We have been taking the equipment from that room on carts to an adjoining room used as the nursery on Sundays as the microfilm reading room.... in on Tuesdays and back on Saturdays.

As we had been invited by Susan and Mark Dransfield, Public Relations Missionaries who work with the interfaith and United Nations here in New York to BJ Synagog on 88th Street, we took off our name badges and met in the lobby of our apartment building to go together.

Elder Mumford, Sister Mumford, Elder Dransfield, Elder Adams, Sister Adams at entrance of BJ Synagog

BJ Jewish Synagog Interior - Torah is behind the Central Doors

Golden and Elder Martinez (behind me) getting ready for the Shabbat Service

Shabbat was in Hebrew with the Cantor singing. The message that action was required (take a stand). "We will Always Stand for Peace." It is really apparent everywhere we go in New York City that there is a feeling of confusion and anger as to how we our current President of the United States could have been elected. We even see a feeling of fear. In the program, the cantor acknowledged welcome to "Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in conjunction with American Jewish Committee (AJC), New York, New York.  The Altmann's who have become close friends of the Dransfields are with the AJC and invited us to their home for a reception of sorts after the service.

On entering the home, the men were given the little cap to cover the head, just as we had worn at the Shabbat service.

The Altmann's allowed us to learn how Shabbat is celebrated.  It is customary for the woman of the house to light candles which welcomes the Shabbat Queen into their homes.  The smoke of the candles are wafted toward the woman moving her hands over the flames as if to bring the light toward her three times.  She then covered her eyes as she recited the blessing. This symbolizes drawing in and embracing the holiness and spirit of Shabbat, the day of rest, into their home and lives.

Shalom Aleichem (Welcoming Shabbat) is sung.  Then the Kiddush (blessing of the wine - or grape juice) is said.  The blessing -- Kiddush or the sanctification -- sets the tone for the Shabbat meal and defines what makes the holiday special... declaration that God rested on the seventh day, sanctified it and designated it as a day of rest, telling us that this is not an ordinary day and not simply a meal; rather, it is a celebration and affirmation of this day.

In the last step, the man of the house symbolically washes his hands symbolizing religious purification and preparation to eat at a table which is tonight most holy.  Then the Ha-Motzi (blessing over the bread) and eating two challot (bread) in order to recall the double portion of manna that God gave to the Israelites during their time in the Wilderness (Exodus 16:22).  Once this is said it is time to eat.

Having blessed the wine- (grape juice for us) Mr. Altmann does the symbolic washing.  Note the candles at the back of the table.  Golden and Diane at the forefront with the grape juice in hand.

There was much food--pastries, cookies, breads, cheese, crackers, etc. and we had a very enjoyable time.  The Altmann's were amazing guests. Their apartment is certainly not the normal New York City apartment.  Theirs is actually 4 apartments (two on each floor) and quite spacious.  Apparently there are bedrooms on the floor below where we celebrated Shabbat.

This is just a sampling of the breads, crackers, cheese etc. including the braided challah (bread)

Diane in the foreground, with Sr. Mumford behind her on the right; others in the group are with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) New York City, New York

February 5, 2017

Over the past couple of weeks, we have spent quite a bit of time with physical therapy.  With Diane's back and my hip and the amount of walking required in New York City, we get around but it is not the easiest transportation.  We are always grateful for the subway and, for getting across Central Park to the East Side, the convenience of the bus that we can catch just across the street from the Family History Center and Temple (Church complex) on 65th Street and Columbus Avenue.

It has taken us a while to get used to the addresses in New York City; the avenues go north/south and the streets go east/west here in Manhattan.  Lincoln Center, across the street from the Lincoln Square building, is on the west along Broadway and along Columbus Avenue.  Julliard is just across the street to the west and Lincoln Center is just south of that.  At 65th street, Broadway and Columbus Avenue come to a point on 65th Street and the blocks east and west are long (along the streets) and short along the avenues.  Storefronts are accessible on the sidewalk level with apartments above and lots of "skyscrapers" abound.

On January 30th, we celebrated Diane's 66th birthday since we will be involved with an engagement on Friday evening.  This was our P-day and I had a meeting with Johanna Kreutz, our Ortholopedist PA.  She explained that the x-rays from last week showed that my left hip was full of arthritis and that is why I am having such a hard time walking and getting around with pain.  She suggested again that a consult with a hip replacement surgeon may still be recommended but for now we would do physical therapy for 4-6 weeks to see if we could get muscles strengthened and free from pain in walking six blocks or so.

Diane did the laundry while I was at PT and then we cleaned the apartment and then went Downtown to Applebees at 51st and Broadway.  The train from Lincoln Center to 50t Street made it easy to navigate.  After our meal (typical New York prices--$50 for lunch), we came back to Broadway and 68th Street and took in a movie, "LaLa Land" showcasing old time entertainment in this musical.  It LaLa ed Diane and I right to sleep in parts. :-)  But we enjoyed it all.

LaLa Land at Lincoln Square Theatre - cost only half the price of lunch!

As people walk by the Church building (referred to in the stake as the Lincoln Square Building) when the Family History Center is open, they can view this sandwich sign out front of the door.

Sandwich sign inviting passers-by to come to the Family History Center

On Tuesday, a patron Tracy Littey was searching her "black" ancestors.  Liz Hanson had helped
her for about 4 hours and had just found a marriage that appeared to be her grandparents.  When we came for our shift, I was able to help her in the next 4 hours prove the marriage and extend her ancestral line a couple more generations.  It is miraculous that so much can be found in such a short time due to the tool FamilySearch!  (To Be Continued - new blog post)

22 January 2017

22 January 2017

For this week's adventures, I would say, was working in and attending the temple. On Thursday, they had me be a patron to ensure that we had enough sisters in the session so I got to take one of my 4th great aunts through the temple. A new volunteer that they are training was also asked to attend as a patron so she took my other 4th great aunt through. It was fun to just know that they were there. 

After the session, we went up and did some sealings. I had about fifteen cards of sealing of children to parents and a couple of them were as a whole family, so we were able to kneel around the altar with all of the children at once. Everyone loves doing this because it feels so much more like a family.

On Saturday, I wanted to finish up what I had left before the temple closed for two weeks, so we went in and did another endowment session and then went to do sealings. Doing that on Saturday is not very good. It is Spanish Day, number one, which brings a lot of confusion and extra work with changing the language.Then we had an unexpected living endowment come in which took our sealer, President Bean, so he came in about 30-40 minutes late before we started the sealing session. We just got in the sealing session for about 10 minutes before someone came with another problem.  He got pulled out of our sealing session three or four times so what should have taken a hour went on for almost two hours.

My miracle through all of this was that because he was gone for so long the first time, half of our patrons left so we did not have enough to do all that was there. We needed one more man. I was discouraged because of my goal, so I said a silent prayer and asked if it would be possible for him to send me just one man so that I could finish up my male sealings. Just as we were getting down to where we could not do any more family file cards, in walked two men excited to help with our family file names along with several sisters. I love it when the Lord answers my prayers so quickly. It was a wonderful experience.

We had a great sacrament meeting today. They spoke on standing in Holy places which could be you within yourself right where you are, in the temple, and in your home. They asked the question as to what our activities were in the home and were they ones that would make our homes worthy of the Spirit to dwell there. They had some wonderful ideas on how to create more Holy places of refuge where we can connect with our Savior, feel his love, and hear his promptings. I love having the Spirit; it brings such peace and joy. When I read my scriptures, I can hear the prophets of the past talking to me and I love how I feel. I am reading the Doctrine & Covenants right now and almost half way through it. I have not read it for so many years and never just to read it. It has given me such a different perspective. There is so much to learn, but what a wonderful time to do it while serving a mission.

15 January 2017

15 January 2017

I learn a lot from my companion's prayers and her ability to exercise faith. This is a blessing to us both as well as to those we serve.

To begin my adventures over the last couple of weeks, I will start with an interesting experience with a patron that came into the center a few weeks ago. Eric came in to the Family History Center for the first time and wanted help with his family history. As I worked with him, he began talking about himself and describing how he had been in prison or jail, I can’t remember which, and that he was completely innocent of the charge of assault on his wife. He said that he was a member of the Church but his knowledge did not seem to match a member’s knowledge so I just shrugged it off. He was really loud spoken and made it difficult for others to work.

A couple of weeks later, he came in and spent the whole time with me telling his story again. I finally got him to try and do some research but he did not have enough information to find anything. He tried calling his grandmother and she just hung up on him. He asked me "why would she do that?" I did not want to answer that question so I just stated that I really did not know. I told him that there was not much I could do until he got more information and then I began working on another project and he just sat and watched for awhile. 

He then left for awhile and I learned that he had gone up into the chapel and was looking around and taking books. The security guard told me that she had to go upstairs that there was a problem so I watched the front for her while she was checking things out. Apparently he had taken some books from the center and taken them upstairs to the chapel. The security guarde asked him to leave so he came back down to the family history center and put a stack of books on top of the shelf.

When it came time to close down, we mentioned that we were closing the center and that he would have to leave. He started to scavenger around and was looking at the list of people that had made copies and left money. He asked if it was tithing and I just explained that it was money for copies.

Grandpa did not dare put the money away until he left, so we started walking out. He went outside and then we were able to lock the money up. When we went to go out the front door, he came in and asked us if we had any money that we could give him. I told him that I did not carry money with me and then we started walking to our apartment. I noticed that he was following us to our apartment. When we turned the corner I saw that he had stopped walking and stood on the corner.

When I went to our apartment, I was concerned that he was going to come in and claim that we were friends and ask for our apartment so I went back down to the front desk. I asked the doorman if he saw the gentleman following us and he had. I told him that if he came in and claimed we were friends, tell him to leave because we were not. He had read our name tags and we did not want him up there. The doorman stated that he was from New York and he knew how to recognize these guys and was very much aware of him following us and had already taken care of it.

I have since then spoken with the security guards at the front desk by the Family History Center, and they are all prepared to escort him out the door or they will call the police. I hope that he does not come back in but I guess time will tell.

Our cold weather is finally hear. We have been in the high of 15 with the wind chill so I am wearing my leggings and triple layers of clothing. We only got about 2" of snow off this last storm but it looks like from Wednesday on this next week we are in for freezing rain and snow all week. I am already homesick for spring. I guess I can't complain when I see the pictures that your mother is sending us on the 15 to 20" of snow that they have and are getting more. I don't miss that at all.

Our mission is going well. We will be meeting with our missionaries at the district meeting on Tuesday and the Elders have asked us to present how to approach people using family history. We have been putting together some door approaches and street approaches that we can use to have them practice and they are going to get some consultants going so that we can teach them and prepare them to work with the families in their area.

This last week has been one of challenge and also great reward. Since our FHC director travels a lot, she will not be around too much so most of the assignments are falling on us. We have been assigned to manage the microfilm orders and returns and all of the maintenance on the microfilm readers and to maintain the patron scheduling system for reserving a scanner. By scheduling the scanners, it assures them of being able to work on one when they come.

When Emily, an assistant director, was training me on the program that they had been using for the past three years, I found it very cumbersome and decided that I would try and set up the new year with a more simplified way to do it. I spent several hours trying to make the form look like the one they were used to but where I would only have to update it once a year instead of every month. I moved it into Google Docs and had it working well for the first week and then trouble set in. Someone or something deleted the first week from January which took out my code and destroyed the rest of the year. When I caught it, we had three patrons all scheduled at the same time to use the same scanner.

My first testimony of how the Lord is always there to help out, two of the patrons that were scheduled at the same time discovered that they were relatives so they were happy working together. When the third patron came in, he was really patient in understanding the problem and worked on another computer until the other two were finished which was about a half an hour.

I called Jane, our old director, and asked her to break the link in the website until I could get it fixed. I rewrote the whole excel file and made it easier to follow the lines and see the times for scheduling. I hope that this was the problem and that they will leave it alone as I cannot secure an excel file in Google Docs. I have said a few prayers in hopes that I can have it work for everyone’s benefit. I will hopefully be putting it back up in this next week as soon as Jane gets back from working with her daughter in the hospital.

We have a ward clerk in the China Town Ward that came in and was really frustrated. He was trying to get some backing on getting some supplies for their little family history center but he wanted us to do it all. I am not sure why as we really have nothing to do with how the wards budget their supplies to their centers and where and what support they can get. He asked us to quit our calling as missionaries at the Manhattan Family History center and come and work for theirs. I knew that we could not do that but he really did not care about rules. He was willing to do anything to try and get things for his ward.

Pedro seems to be so happy when he comes in to work with us. He still has very little confidence in himself but his attitude is slowly changing. I guess he tried to work with a patron when we were not there but Elder and Sister Hansen were and they would not let me. I told them that we were working on training him to be a volunteer but they said that it would never work. He would not change. I hope that we have success with him. He would be such an asset to the center with his skills and Spanish abilities.

Another sister came in that was one of those choice experiences that won’t be forgotten. She said that she only had an hour and wanted to find the brothers and sisters of her grandfather’s family. With the short period of time that I had, we set up her account so she could see people and then I took her right into searching. As her family started to come together, her excitement began to grow and she could see the miracle of the database and the opportunity of working with family members. She expressed what a joy it had been for her and even though we did not get exactly what she thought she came in for, she was overjoyed with what she had and she wanted more. She was excited about the possibility of going to a family history center near her but also asked if she could come back and work with me.

I expressed to her that one of the things that she should focus on was stories and photos. I told her how we could help her and how important it was that she preserve the now. I told her to tell stories that would make her family come alive. The spirit began to grow and the light came on with her and she was excited.

Each time I experience this type of reaction with our patrons where they are so grateful for the wonder of familytree and the tools and support that we offer everyone, my heart fills with gratitude for what the Lord has given us. I find it interesting how the non-members come in and see familytree as a marvelous miracle and get teary eyed when they see family names appear but our members could care less about it. Over 80% of all people using familytree our non-members and the spirit they have brought into the family history center has been a joy to be a part of.

On Saturday night our new Family History Center Director, Lyn Wilcox and her husband Bill,invited us out to dinner and to go and watch the New York Philharmonic Orchestra perform. It was a wonderful experience and we enjoyed their gift and thoughtfulness towards us. We went to Restaurant Roberts on Columbus Circle and had a delicious dinner that was quite ritzy before going to the David Giffen Hall at Lincoln Square which is the home of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. We had box seats. I could not believe it!

Lynn and Bill Wilcox

Chandler in the foyer of their apartment.

We went to Restaurant Roberts on Columbus Ciricle and had a delicious dinner that was quite ritzy before going to the David Giffen Hall at Lincoln Square which is the home of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. We had box seats. I could not believe it!

Looking at the back of the David Giffen Hall at Lincoln Square

New York Philharmonic Orchestra

The featured pianist was Stephen Hough, a distinguished polymath, as a pianist, writer, and composer. He played for a hour through the Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, Emperor by Ludwig van Beethoven without any music and his fingers were like mice running through the rafters; so fast that you could not see them go. The music was amazing. The second half, the conductor, Alan Gilbert, led the orchestra without any music in front of him for 45 minutes while they performed Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90. I don't know how he could effectively lead an orchestra without music,  but he did, and it was wonderful. This was my first time going to a professional orchestra and it will be an experience I will always cherish. 

2 January 2017 - Happy New Year

2 January 2017

We have been pretty busy this last week. Because of the holidays, there were several people missing from the temple so they asked for volunteers. Sister Buchanan sent out an email letting anyone of the shift coordinators know that we were willing to sub if they needed help. We ended up serving on three shifts between Thursday and Saturday. By the end of Saturday, I was exhausted and decided that I would not work only one shift a day from then on. Temple work is physically exhausting and family history work in spiritually exhausting so I must say that when they say it is missionary work, they speak the truth, but missionary work is very fulfilling and rewarding when you see the joy that comes into the lives of those we have been serving.

While I was serving on the Friday shift, they asked me to be an guide for a sister coming for the first time. Her son was a member and sent her a Book of Mormon to read. When he called her and asked if she had read it and what she thought, she said "I know that it is true and I want to be baptized." It was a great experience to work with her and her daughter who was her escort and I will always cherish that time with them.

Saturday night after our shift at the temple, we met with several of the missionaries for a New Years even social at President and Sister Bench's apartment. There were 27 of us that came together with a potluck dinner and then games. Brother and Sister Mumford made up a game where we had to answers about 30 questions. We got a point for each answer that we got correct. After the questions, we used our points for an auction on some Christmas bags that we had no idea what was in them other than by the description that they gave that created a lot of questions. It was really fun and I got a pair of slippers from the bag that I purchased.

From left around the outside is Sister Grimley, Sister Martinez, Sister Dansfield, Brother Dansfield, Sister Bench, President Nixon, Sister Nixon, Brother Adams (Grandpa), Sister Adams (Nana), President Bench (standing), Sister Nahbors, Elder Mumford's daughter, Sister Mumford, Brother Mumford, Sister Bean. Front table to the right Sister Buchanan, Brother Buchanan, President Bean, Elder Jensen, Sister Jensen, Elder Holloway, Sister Holloway, Sister Thompson, Elder Martinez, Elder Harris, and Sister Harris. Elder and Sister Hansen, our relief missionaries came in after the picture was taken.

This picture was taken when Bro. Grimley told Brother Buchanan to cover his head so the glow of his bald head would not affect the camera. We all got a laugh off that one.

We had our curfew at 9:00 p.m. as President Bench was up at 3:00 a.m. to open the temple and at our age, that was pushing our energy levels not only for him but for most of us.

On Sunday, our ward switched to the 9:00 a.m. shift. We thought that we would make it easier and less of a walk if we transferred from the "1" train to the "A" train that would drop us off right across the street from the church. Only one problem, we forgot that there were two trains on the same track, a "B" and an "A'. We happen to get on the "B" and ended up in the Broynx. We thought of going to church down there, but it was about a 20 minute walk to the nearest church and we would have missed sacrament meeting. So, we opted to take the "B" train back to 66th street and go to a ward in the Manhattan building. 

Sunday night, we met with our Hebrew group to discuss what we had learned about Hebrew during the week. I have not had time to try and learn Hebrew but I love listening to the discussions. They are so enlightening and the Spirit gets pretty strong sometimes. It is amazing that the Jews, who can read Hebrew and translate it, have no idea what it means in reference to the divinity of the Savior and that he has already come. There are so many evidences in the Hebrew language that confirms this and they do not know it.

Last night, Elder Mumford, who is a sealer at the Manhattan Temple, explained what the Sealing really meant. He explained how it is not only for the sealing of families, but it encompasses all of the ordinances involved throughout the temple. He said that once the sealing ordinances are performed, it is then sanctioned by the Holy Spirit Of Promise and based on our worthiness, all will be valid throughout eternity. He compared it to the old wax sealings used to secure letters from royalty indicating that it was official and what was inside was assured to be from the King. It really opened my eyes to wonders that are held within the temples and I gained a greater appreciation for the work that we are involved with.

I love the Lord and I know that His words are sure. He knows me and loves me personally and I can call on him any time and my prayers are answered. This is His work and it is moving forward in a way that is mind boggling and exciting and it is a privilege to be a part of it.