8/13/17

Before I start on this week's activities, I have to share a video that I forgot last week.  When we were at Cassie and John's we went to a museum.  Outside there were "trompas" to ride on.  Rachel loved them.  Then she decided to give her parents a ride.  It was a lot of work, but she kept it up for quite a


while.  I would title this "The Trooper Pushing the Trompa".  I hope videos work on a blog.  :)

Now, I will tell about this crazy week.  When we returned to the temple we discovered (rather quickly) that they hadn’t been successful in repairing the A/C unit.  Long story short—they’d fix one thing, only to discover a new problem and have to order a different part.  Unfortunately the floors affected were 5^th and 6^th:  initiatory, endowments, sealings, etc.  It was really tough during sessions.  On Wednesday one of the workers had symptoms of heat exhaustion.   They were monitoring the temperature.  When Spencer and I finished a session on Wednesday we learned that the rooms were 92 degrees—hotter than outside, but just as humid.  President Bench called SLC and told them he was closing the temple for the rest of the week.  I hope it is fixed when we return on Tuesday.  If not, they may have to replace it—but that is an enormous hassle with city permits to bring in huge cranes and shut down the street. 

 

It actually took most of the next day before we felt like we had recovered from the draining exhaustion.

Thursday afternoon we rode the subway to the tip of the island and took the ferry to Liberty Island.  It is overwhelming how large the Statue of Liberty actually is.  It was educational and

informative.  There is a free audio tour. 

From Liberty Island we rode the ferry to Ellis Island. We could have spent many, many hours there, but it was too late in the day.  I can see why this is a favorite spot for our grandchildren Daimon and Ellie.  There is history dating back to the beginnings of settlers coming to America, not just the years that Ellis Island was in operation.

Hmm, I seem to have lost Spencer's picture here.  I'll try once more.

We definitely will be returning to spend more hours there on another day. 

Neither one of us had ancestors come thru Ellis Island.  It opened in the 1890's and (sometimes centuries) before the pioneers crossed the plains.

Friday night I went with several other missionaries to visit the Morgan Library (as in Pierpont Morgan and J. P. Morgan).  I wanted to see the Gutenberg Bible on display.  I astonished at the beauty and the collections there. The library, which was part of the private home previously, has three floors of books in one room.  There are 15,000 books there and another 5,000  in other rooms--primarily the den.

 I kept thinking how much Rachelle would love to have a library like this! Many of the books are rare and very old.  There are only 150 Gutenberg Bibles and the Morgans own three of them.

There is a library vault off of the den where precious documents were  extremely protected.  The library is filled with statues and precious relics and archeological finds.  I loved the vaulted ceiling of the rotunda.  It was 3-dimensional with sculptures and paintings intermingled.

There were other exhibit areas dedicated to Henry James, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson and some that I'm not literate enough to recognize.  There were original paintings of Rembrandt and others I didn't recognize.  Original scores from Mozart, Bach, etc.  It was pretty amazing.

While I was doing that Spencer had a delightful evening doing things he enjoyed!  He worked on his lesson for priesthood and he watched a ball game on TV.  So we were both happy campers!  But it was nice to get back home and be together.

Last week I also forgot to mention that Spencer Raymond is now in Sierra Leone (out of the MTC in Ghana) and Caleb Alexander is a trainer in Taiwan.  Jacob Dike is enjoying the work in Branson and Ashley Judd is a great missionary in Oregon.  They are great examples for both of us.  We love and miss all of our family and friends.  We appreiate your prayers.  And we ESPECIALLY LOVE EMAILS OR PHONE CALLS.

August 5, 2017

We were on the road last weekend and didn't make a blog entry, but we made lots of memories!  I will blend Spencer's comments, my comments and photos so you will know what we did during the temple closure time.  Our break didn't really start until Tuesday, July 25th since the missionaries help with the cleaning on Monday.

Spencer:  During our break we had a great experience of traveling in this part of the country.  I owe it to Jeanine for master-minding the whole thing, including the rental car, the navigation and her ability to make things happen.

Jeanine: Our trip northward through Pennsylvania was amazing.  For some reason I do not understand, the GPS sent us on the byways and scenic roads for most of the trip.  We traveled on one lane roads, farm roads between corn fields and saw beautiful farmlands and scenery we would have never seen otherwise.  But it was a little nerve wracking--Spencer was asleep--I didn't really know where we were and the conditions just kept getting more primitive.  Here is a few views we encountered.

Our first stop was Susquehanna, PA (formerly known as Harmony during the time of Emma and Joseph Smith).  It is a cute little town.

Spencer: Our visit to the Susquehanna Visitors' Center was very meaningful for me.  I had recently given a talk in the Concourse Ward about the restoration of the two priesthoods and the importance of the priesthood keys.  To then have the privilege of going there and feeling the special spirit associated with that location is a highlight for our mission.  I wandered off in a grove of trees at the end of our visit and felt really moved about that event in our history.

Jeanine: We learned some new things--John the Baptist didn't visit on the banks of the river. It was in the Sugar Bush up on the hillside and the baptism occurred later that evening.

The next day we visited the Philadelphia Temple and were privileged to do a session before traveling on to Gettysburg, PA.

Spencer: Our visit to Gettysburg was a good experience.  It helped me to rekindle my understanding of the development of this great country..  It reminded me of the issues of slavery then, and now the growth of the church with the Blacks here and all over the earth.  We could have spent days there.

We associate with wonderful Blacks here in our ward whose ancestors came to the Caribbean or USA as slaves. The difference between those who have embraced the gospel and those who have not is striking (and that is not to say that most Blacks aren't good).

We had some good times at Jon and Marjon's with their family.  I guess the two events that stand out is our trip to the zoo (which is owned by a member of their ward) and the trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains where we took a hike.  It was like climbing Mt. Baldy near Big Lake in the White Mountains.  It was fun to see them.

Jeanine:  I didn't make it all the way to the top on the hike.  My knee was starting to give me problems.  I waited and had a beautiful place to meditate and pray.  I loved the pictures of those who did make it to the top.

Jeanine:  We celebrated Spencer's birthday there.  We went out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant and we had a birthday cake that honored both Spencer and Brynly.

Spencer:  The last leg of our trip was to see Cassie (Crawford) and John Kidd and their family.  They live in a beautiful place in North Carolina (Chapel Hill).  John is working on his doctorate degree.  They have a cute little family.  I was personally enamored with little David.  I'm so moved by being around him and feeling of his spirit.  I'm going to keep his name on the prayer roll at the temple for months to come.

Jeanine:  Rachel couldn't understand why we had to leave.  We assured her that we will visit her again.  We talked about working in the temple and helping people.  On the day before we left she told me "You are going to help the people get married in the temple and then you are going to come back here and live forever!"
We visited an Arboretum and another day we rode the city bus to visit a museum.  Rachel loved pulling the cord so the driver would know when we wanted to stop.

Spencer:  Somehow we made it back into this city and returned the car having new memories that will last for a long time.
I love our choice assignment here, and what we are learning about the temple, its patrons and the place called NYC.
I have had members from Utah quiz me at the front desk about the strategy of getting a mission assignment here.  They want to come here.  Sorry, its not likely to happen...

Jeanine:  Today we attended a ward BBQ in a park in the Bronx.  We rode a different train and we saw some interesting tenement housing apartments.  The subway came up out of the ground for awhile.  That was sort of interesting.

Jeanine: I agree with Spencer, this is a choice assignment.  The variety of people we see and languages we hear spoken is overwhelming--but fun.

We love you all and miss you.
Jeanine




 

7/23/2017
Hello everyone!

The best news of this week is that Elder Jacob Dike safely arrived in Arkansas to start his mission.  He is serving in Branson--now does it get any better than that?!  That is almost as good as Manhattan. :)

Last Monday night we had our monthly FHE with the other temple missionaries.  We are saying good-bye to the Grimleys.  They are wonderful missionaries,  They will be returning to Lehi, UT.  A while back he served as Mission President in Tai Pai, Taiwan.  Sister Grimley is of Japanese descent.  Brother Grimley says in Taiwan he has the perfect situation--an American house, Chinese food and a Japanese wife.  Sister Grimley made origami swans for all of the sisters.  It was a fun evening.  I made a HUGE Caesar salad for 24 people.  They licked the bowl clean.

This has been a busy week in the temple.  It was the last week before maintenance closure, so everyone rushed to get there.  Friday night our ward scheduled a session.  They requested Spencer and I as the officiator and follower.  So we stayed for a double shift.  It was great.  That day I was able to participate with three new endowment sisters, two English and one Hispanic.  What a special experience.

Some "unique" personalities are starting to surface among temple workers/missionaries.  Life is definitely a growth experience and we are all mortal with our many foibles (including us!).  But we are trying to do our best and not react negativity.  I share this, so that our four missionary grandchildren can take comfort when they face similar challenges--grandpa and grandma are going thru some of the same "stuff".  But we take comfort in knowing that our covenant is with the Lord, not other people.  We are here to serve him and do his work.  We continue to serve with joy in our hearts.

Tomorrow we spend half of the day cleaning in the temple before we are "turned loose".  Missionaries are scattering in all directions--UT, AZ, ID, Germany and locations on the east coast.  We are going to the priesthood restoration site, Philadelphia temple, Gettysburg, and then the BEST PART.  We will spend a few days with the family of Jon and Marjon Brown in Virginia and then with the little family of Cassie (Crawford) and John Kidd.  I'm not sure if we will blog next Sunday.

I have mentioned that I am attending the Manhattan 1st Ward prior to going to Concourse Ward with Spencer.  I really enjoy it.  Those who have visited NYC understand that most everyone uses mass transportation.  It is interesting to see tourists arrive with the carry on luggage in tow.  Today one little boy obviously forgot his Sunday pants.  He had on a white shirt, bow tie and suit coat with summer play shorts and tennis shoes.  Very cute.  People arrive wearing every standard of clothing you can possible imagine.  Well, back to transportation.  We don't have street parking or an affordable parking garage.  BUT, we have very wide hallways for the strollers.  Last week I counted 22 strollers--most of them double so that two or more children could be transported.  Here is glance at the hallway.  The stroller parking continues around the corner and down another hallway.

You wouldn't see that in the Bradshaw Ward in Prescott where we have almost no little children.

Some of you are old to remember the original movie Ghost Busters.  It was filmed using some buildings right next to Central Park.  Do you recognize these buildings?

Now I will close out my part of this blog post with two more pieces of Walter Rane's beautiful artwork.

I hope you have been able to recognize the scripture sources for this artwork.

Love,
Jeanine

Now, from Spencer:

I have just a few thoughts to share this afternoon.  One is—I love to be a part of this great work called temple work.  Even though the 7+ hour shifts and getting changed at the temple and at home makes the day long and fatiguing, there are rewards.  We shouldn’t talk too much about the workings of the temple, but there are a couple of things I feel that I can say.  There is a closeness we feel to the Lord and towards our kindred dead.  We will always have a closeness with our kindred on the other side of the veil.  Another point is we see people who come with great needs and they are so blessed by being here.   A sister came by the recommend desk.  I asked her how she was and she said “So-so” and started crying.  I responded by telling her she was in the right place.  I then facilitated getting a wheel chair to help her.

There are a couple of highlights for me lately.   I continue to run into Brother Mortenson who is Adam in the “B” film.  He looks a little older and has lost weight.  He always gives me eye contact and smiles when we pass.  Yesterday I caught a glimpse of his wife.  She still looks as young as ever.  Only now she appears to be pregnant. In our previous conversation, Brother Mortenson mentioned about being a father.  Also, I was privileged to officiate a session with our ward of mostly Dominicans.  There was lots of good affirmation afterwards.

The Dominicans that I know are mostly very dark black people.  They speak Spanish like anyone, but they are loud and dramatic and chop off words.  You have to be gifted to follow them.  There are two Dominican sealers in our temple on Saturdays.  They are so fun.  One man looks like he could play for the Saints football team.  He pronounces sealings with a roar.  When makes a check mark, he bounces the pencil on the table and starts again with authority.  One little sister went up to his desk and with her finger in front of her lips she tried to “shush” him.  He smiled and increased his volume!  Isn’t it wonderful that those people can be leaders like multi-generational people in the church?! 

Our lives here in mortality are short and time goes by fast.  I daily see the importance of our daily acts.

Spencer

July 16, 2017

The special thing about today is that Spencer and I have been married for 18 years.  We are getting to be old timers at this marriage thing.  :)

Last Monday we spent a day away from each other.  I went to the Mantuak Lighthouse with several other missionaries.  Spencer wasn't really interested so he stayed home, worked on his talk for Sacrament Meeting and did grocery shopping.

The train trip out to the tip of Long Island took about three hours.  But it was comfortable and fun.  The view from the top was beautiful and you could see forever.  The lighthouses have saved many lives.

This week there were less patrons in the temple on some of the days.  But we have a lot of our visitors from out of state stop by for baptisms.

Last evening I broke out in hives while we were shopping.  I hadn't eaten anything different, so I have no idea why.  But I had to head for home and left Spencer to deal with the groceries.  I took Benadryl, hopped in a cool shower to slow down the itch and the welts and applies a Rx Cortisone cream.  I was still itchy this morning, but the welts were gone.  I stayed home a slept all morning.

I felt bad to miss church because Spencer was speaking in Sacrament Meeting.  He says his talk was well received.  I'm glad.

Here is my gift to you for the week.  More scripture pictures.

I hope you are enjoying this pictures.  I wish you could see them in person.

Love,
Jeanine