Feb 4, 2018

Well, as predicted we have minimal pictures this week--only one!

This was taken today when we went to church.  It was my first time out of the apartment for anything except one grocery shopping trip and one trip to the doctor and pharmacy.

We returned home last Monday evening and as I explained we were both dealing with cold symptoms.  Per the doctor, Spencer's had then triggered some asthma and lots of coughing.  He was put on an antibiotic, prednisone, and a pill to depress the cough reflux.  I saw a different doctor at the Urgent Care.  He put on cough syrup with codeine for bedtime, tussin pearls for cough during the day.  I didn't want an antibiotic unless it was really necessary because I had just completed one for a urinary tract infection.  I think I have to use antibiotics way too often.  I had to buy an over the counter cough syrup since the pearls did nothing for my cough.  Breathing the cold air outside really made our throats and chest hurt.  But Spencer was determined to go out.  He went to the pharmacy and grocery store a couple of times and to the gym several days.  I tried to stay in and keep warm and drink lots of water.  We also bought a vaporizer to help add some humidity to the air in the bedroom.

So much for week designated to visit 9/11 Memorial, Ellis Island and museums.  Sigh.  We will have to fit them in later. 

Since this is a shorter blog, I thought I would recap some of the main points made by President Nelson during his recent broadcast.

·  President Russell M Nelson, 17 January 2018

• Keep on the covenant path
• Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.
• The end for which each of us strives is to be endowed with power in a house of the Lord, sealed as families, faithful to covenants made in a temple, that qualify us for the greatest gift of god that of eternal life
• The ordinances of the temple and the covenants you make there are key to strengthening your life, your marriage and family, and your ability to resist the attacks of the adversary.  
• Your worship in the temple and your service there for your ancestors will bless you with increased personal revelation and peace and will fortify your commitment to stay on the covenant path.

  There was a lot of focus on the temple.  Or else I noticed it more because of the mission we are serving.  I am grateful to be here.
 
Just an FYI: our temple president spoke to the missionary department and has asked us to extend our mission.  There is a real need for our language skills in the temple.  Spencer is gung ho about staying as long as possible.  I have had to really pray to try to determine when the Lord feels would be the appropriate time for us to go home.  We will be meeting with President Bench this week.  Just don't be surprised if we stay until early 2019 instead of returning in November 2018.  We will keep you in the loop.  It still makes my heart a little heavy to think of it.  But it is a privilege to serve in the temple and this one is unique because of being so international. 

We love you all.  We know some of out family members are struggling in a variety of ways.  We truly believe you will be blessed because of our willingness to serve.  It is up to you to make choices that would be pleasing to the Lord.

Love,
Jeanine/Mom

January 30, 2018

Winter maintenance closure is on the wind down.  We had a great trip and we are now back to our

apartment.  We left last Monday about 11 AM and drove to Mosley, VA to visit Jon and Marjon.  What a great little family they have.  We had a really great FHE about President Nelson and we enjoyed scripture reading with the family every night.  That first evening Spencer was too tired to go to the gym/pool, but we all went on Tuesday.  It was fun to be in the pool again.  Very fun time with grandkids--I went down the slide and everything.  Spencer then went again with Jon on Wednesday.

Tuesday Marjon, Kayson, Kavan and I went to the school and had lunch with Brynlee.  It was fun to meet some of her friends and see the school that the three big kids attend.  I also spent a lot of time helping Spencer get back onto Family Search.  As missionaries we have to change our password to the church websites every 180 days.  In trying to change them, I goofed somewhere and we were both locked out.  I was able to reach someone at Global Services and with their help, and going thru a complicated process I was able to get us both squared away--again.  We will have to go thru this one more time before this mission is over.  Sigh.  It is an ordeal.  But, hey, I can handle it!

Spencer was then able to get back to finding names to take to the temple.  We worked as a team to keep it working correctly.  Wednesday during the day, Marjon and I and the two little ones went to downtown Richmond and visited the Civil War Museum and the Confederate White House.  It was  very informative and turned into a delightful day.  That afternoon we picked the kids up from school and went to see the movie "Coco".  It was a cute movie and had a great underlying message (sort of like the Spirit of Elijah).

Thursday, we went shopping at Walmart and the Costco.  Mid trip the phone switched us to a different Costco further away, so it was a lot longer than we were expecting.  But we were able to do some necessary shopping that was sorely needed.  After that we headed to Chapel Hill, NC to the home of Cassie and John Kidd.  We called when we were getting close and Rachel was sitting out on the front step to greet us.  Four year olds can certainly make you feel loved and appreciated.  I went with the family to their WIC appointment on Friday.  Spencer went to the YMCA both Friday and Saturday and also enjoyed just going to the store in a car.  :)  Rachel and I played lots of games of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders.  I played some games with John and Cassie also (but now I forgot the the name of it).  David was quite responsive and came to sit on my lap frequently and gave me hugs by squeezing my throat.  Courtney is getting so big.  She wants to crawl and gets up on her knees, but can't quite figure out forward locomotion.

I loved it on Saturday when one of John's friends asked if I was Cassie's mom!  When she was little we would pretend I was her mom.  She loved "tricking" people at the store.  But then there were many years, I couldn't pass it off.  So this was a deja vu for me!

We attended church in their ward.  It starts at 1 PM,  Cassie and I had a nice visit during the 3rd hour when she has to take David out of the Nursery.  We sat on the floor with David and Courtney in an empty classroom.

Early Monday morning, we headed out and returned to Manhattan.  It rained for many hours during our drive.  We stopped twice to eat and that delayed us.  Then once again we had confusion after crossing the George Washington Bridge and trying to navigate the city.  After Spencer dropped me off (with all of our "stuff"--including shopping) he headed back to return the car.  He ended up on Amsterdam instead of Broadway (very easy to do at a 6-way intersection), so he came back.  By going together, we were able to find Avis where we were expecting it to be!

Unfortunately both Spencer and I have had a cough and sore throat.  I'm praying that grandkids don't get sick from having us visit.  That may cramp our style for the things we wanted to do this week.

So as you can see, this has been a great week.  It makes my letter longer than usual, but at least I had something new to report.  We miss our family.  We pray diligently for children who are struggling.  Our hurts heart for/with them.  We know first-hand the importance of staying close to the Lord and applying the atonement in our lives.

Love,
Jeanine/Grandma

January 21, 2017

Human nature is truly interesting.  The temple has been open five days a week since the 2nd week in
August.  But suddenly we were approaching our winter maintenance closure for two weeks.  The first part of this week was slow.  But Friday and Saturday were so busy I can't begin to describe them.  Why do people suddenly think, "Oh my goodness, the temple is closing for two weeks!  I have to go before it closes!"  I think it is a guilty conscience for procrastinating.  Or maybe they don't have the faith that we will really and truly open up again in two weeks.  Who knows?!   I'm so glad they come, but by saving it to the very end it creates a ton of laundry for the missionaries that has to be done before the closure.  We went back last night and worked for about 2 1/2 hours doing preliminary stuff to get it ready for cleaning and maintenance.  It is truly a privilege to work in the Lord's House in any capacity.  I loved providing the service and the camaraderie with the other missionaries.

Last Sunday night we had a missionary fireside with President Bean as the speaker.  The brother of his great-grandfather, Willard Bean, was called on a mission to live in the Smith family home in Palmyra in 1915 when there were great hostilities still against the Mormons (traditions of their fathers and all that).  He has a fascinating story.  I borrowed the book, "A Lamb and a Lion" referring to Willard and his wife.  It is by Rand H. Packer and is very interesting if any of you have access to it and want a quick read--this would fill the bill.

The weather has been warm the last couple of days--in the 50s.  It is supposed to be in the 60s tomorrow.  But we will be on the road.   We won't enjoy it here, but will enjoy it in points south of here.  We finally know what we are doing.  We are headed back to Virginia to visit Jon and Marjon and then on to NC to visit John and Cassie. 

We called Jon this week to see if it would work for them.  He was so quick to say, "Absolutely!"  Then a few minutes later he called back.  We had the phone on speaker and so did he.  He said, "OK kids, here is the surprise I mentioned.  Grandpa and Grandma are coming to visit us next Monday night!"  The kids were cheering and yelling and so excited!  It is wonderful to feel their love coming right thru the air waves.  Then when I talked to Cassie, Rachel said she had "big plans" for when we are there.  I asked what the big plans were and she said, "Daddy is going to set your bed up and I'm going to make it.  Those are big plans!"  She is so cute and so excited.

We look forward to having the same type of response from Lucy and Charlotte sometime in the future.  Lucy always asks when she can see us, but it just hasn't worked out yet.

I don't have any pictures this week, so I will move right on to Spencer's note.

Love,
Jeanine/Grandma

Something happened the other day which I have reflected on since then (the past three weeks).  I had an appointment with a sinus specialist up in the Bronx.  He is part of a wonderful and very large facility.  They "mostly" accept Medicare for payment.  The volume of patients makes up the difference.  It can be three weeks to a month to get an appointment.

Jeanine and I went to the bus stop.  It was during the very frigid weather.  We waited for about 20 minutes and then when the bus came, it was crammed with people and she wouldn't stop.  We went to the next block to catch another bus and it didn't come.  It is about 1/2 mile across Central Park and I suggested that she go back home and I would try to hustle across the park to catch the right subway.  I started down the road but found it impossible to keep going because of the banks of snow from the road being plowed.  It covered the sidewalk and it was too icy to walk on.  It could have taken half a day to pass thru that.  Thinking that I could cross the road and find passage on the other side, I attempted to cross thru the traffic to get there.  It was the same on the other side.  A man in a delivery van honked at me (knowing full well what I was getting into).  He said he would take me, reminiscent of the experience in the 90s when unknown persons helped me get off the I-10 freeway.  He was headed toward Hunter College, exactly where I needed to catch the #6 subway.  He was so accommodating and pleasant in his service and would not accept money.  Because of that great favor I was able to get to the medical center in time for my appointment.  What were the chances at a given moment of real need that someone would stop in traffic and offer to take me across Central Park"?  That is what Elder Bednar called a tender mercy.  Would I be wise to say, "Boy that was good luck."?
Another learning experience happened when I had gone to the temple three hours early to work with Spanish speaking people.  I had had good experiences all day, pushing myself to facilitate the efforts of those people who were understaffed and inexperienced.  As I came back to the apartment I felt that I had gone the extra mile that day.  Then I received a phone call from my son, telling me of the extreme circumstances he was going thru.  I keep his family on the prayer roll and include them daily in our prayers.  I have faith that our work here will bless the lives of our family at home.  At that moment I asked myself how this could be.  I am still assured that in the scheme of things that the promise that our families will be blessed while we serve missions, will work for our good.

It takes more faith to continue to believe when the blessings are not immediate or obvious.  I feel strong in my witness that there are blessings, despite the challenges faced by our families while we are serving.

Spencer/Grandpa

January 14, 2018

We are well into the month and the new year now.  It hardly seems possible!

We just have one more week before the temple is closed for winter maintenance.  We are still up in the air about what we will do during the closure, but it will be nice to sleep more and have a break.

It has been another beautiful week of service in an international temple.  I helped three sisters this week who were from Brazil and spoke Portuguese, but they understood my Spanish without a problem.  :-)  It always makes you feel good inside when you can bless the lives of others in some small way.  I guess I shouldn't be so surprised with the diversity, but it continues to amaze me and touches my heart.

During this week I witnessed an ASL sealing and helped with a Mandarin Branch with baptisms.  Some of them do not speak English, so it was a little challenging giving them clothing and instructions.  But shortly a bilingual Sister appeared and helped facilitate everything.  The Lord always sends help at just the right time--after all--it is His house and His work.

The weather has been crazy!!  We went thru a 14 day stretch where we didn't get above freezing and we were mostly single digit and low teens.  That is when Chad's family was here.  Then one day the temperature jumped 30 degrees and the next day 30 degrees more.  It was 63 on Friday.  There was concern in some communities about flooding because of the melting snow.  We have had rain and now the forecast is for it to be back in the 20-30s until next weekend when it warms up again.  That said, it is cold this morning.  It is 18 degrees outside and feels like 11.  We head out to church in that in just a little while.

Last Sunday it was only 16 degrees outside when we went to church and there was no heat in the chapel!  I don't know how cold it was inside, but it was so cold that by the time sacrament meeting was over you could hardly feel your feet.  Everyone kept winter coats, scarves, etc on during the meeting.  The counselor in the bishopric kept his beanie on his bald head until the meeting officially started.  Fortunately there was limited heat in the classroom for SS and the RS had full heat; so the rest of the meetings were much better.  I hope it is better today--but just in case it isn't, I'm wearing my winter boots. Last week I took off my coat, gloves and scarf to lead the music.  I quickly bundled up again.  But after the opening song, I kept my scarf on even while leading the music.  It was just too cold on my neck and shoulders.  People were faithful and stayed for the whole block.  That wouldn't have happened everywhere.  I was touched by their fortitude.

I bore my testimony and shared my experience about my almost tragedy when my clothes caught on fire during the week before.  I know that I was protected.  Many people commented and shared similar experiences of protection--not necessarily fire, but other types of challenges as well.  It was good to share with them and visit one on one.  I can understand them one on one, but the meetings are still a little challenging when the Dominicans start talking really, really fast.

We have appreciated your prayers.  We have prayed mightily for those we know are facing particular challenges.  We do grow when we face and overcome hardships.  It is just especially hard when we feel like we don't have any control.  We may not have control, but we always can make choices.  There is strength in staying close and listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

I only have one picture from this week.  Last night I went with Fusako Miyashiro (who doesn't ever want to be in a picture) and Kathy Nabors to see Shen Yun--a traditional Chinese Dance program.  There was a lot about the history and the variety of cultures.  They narrated before each number, and they helped us understand it better.

I love you all!  Please write to me at jeanine.spencer@gmail.com

Love,
Jeanine/Grandma

January 7, 2018

Wow, it is a new year!  Hard to believe in some ways.  Today I will share some highlights of the visit we enjoyed with Chad, Rachel and Scott.  They arrived on December 28th in the afternoon.  It was the BIG Christmas present for Rachel and Scott.  We have a hide-a-bed queen size couch, which Scott and Chad found to be A-OK and we had a twin bed mattress for Rachel, so everyone fit into the living room area.  We only have one bathroom, but that didn't even become a problem.  Of course, Spencer generally showers and shaves when he finishes exercising at the Y, so that decreased the need in the mornings. It was an easy flow in the apartment.

They packed more into the next week than I can even begin to describe.  I was so happy that we are currently working the day shift, because I was able to join them for four different shows in the evenings.  Spencer was happy to not be obligated to go to the shows.  :-)  So it was all good.  The shows I saw with them were: Elf, Anastasia, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Dear Even Hansen.  It was a great variety and mix of amazing music, slapstick humor, emotional renewal and everything in between.  They were very different and I loved all of them.  They saw a couple of others at matinee performances.

We visited Time Square on 12/31--but prior to the craziness of the ball drop.  Dikes went ice skating in Bryant Park.  Lucy (daughter of Jason and Chandra) had sent me "Flat Stanley" to take on adventures--so he joined us/them and is in lots of pictures.  On Monday, Chad wanted to choke Stanley (even after Stanley giving him a hug--see pictures below) because Scott was so great about taking pictures of him all the time.  But Stanley survived to enjoy another day!

Chad and kids didn't let the frigid weather slow them down.  They even walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and the Highline Park walkway.  Both are on my list for warm weather--way too exposed to the wind chill for me at this time of year.

I used a gift card from Crawfords to download "Ticket to Ride" on my iPad and we played that on New Year's Eve.  We enjoyed snacks at another missionary apartment and Scott thought it was the best party he had been to--just visiting, eating, laughing and fun--and no teenage insecurities! We went up to roof of the building at midnight and watched the fireworks that were in Central Park.  Our view was perfect!

On Tuesday, January 2nd they visited the temple.  Scott was the first priest EVER to be the baptizer in the Manhattan temple.  The new policy only came into effect on January 1st and the temple was closed that day.  He baptized both Chad and Rachel for a lot of Spencer's family file names.  It was such a sacred experience.  Spencer and I were both assigned to the baptistry, so we were able to be a part of this very special day.

Scott had a couple of other good experiences.  One night while we were out, he noticed this homeless guy on the sidewalk and he went over and took the hand warmers out of his own gloves and gave them to this very cold man.  The next morning on the subway going up to the Bronx to attend church, he got in a conversation with two men on the subway and gave them a Book of Mormon.  My heart was touched by both events.

 Sorry the picture placement is so random.  Does anyone know of a good tutorial on placing pictures on blogspot?  I've tried finding one...  but as you can see, my success is very sporadic.

 Chad's family had a real adventure trying to get home when all of the flights were cancelled out of NYC.  What would have been a six hour flight took them 19 hours of traveling by train, car and plane.  They traveled all night of the 4th and arrived home the afternoon of the 5th.  The only flight they could find flew out of Philadelphia.  They got to Trenton, NJ by train and then had to take Uber to the Philly airport.  That is their story to tell--and one well worth hearing.

We had a farewell dinner for the Mumfords in President and Sister Bench's apartment.  They will be sorely missed!  He was not only a temple missionary, but also a sealer in the temple.  They were in charge of arranging all of the activities for us as well.  It is taking three of us to assume the assignments they fulfilled so proficiently.

Our apartment seems empty right now, but our hearts are full.  We have been so very blessed.  Just a side note to my burn post.  When we did laundry yesterday, we discovered that my brown pants were scorched and the fabric came apart in the wash.  No wonder I continued feeling hot on my hip.  I still had on those pants throughout the evening.  But with brown leggings under them and the brown of the scorch mark, none of us realized they had been affected by my fire experience.  But once again--no marks of burns on my garments or skin.  Wow.  I feel very humbled.

Happy New Year to all of you.  We love you so much.  Keep the prayers coming our way!!
Jeanine

PS We just returned from church--the heat wasn't working and the chapel was freezing!  It was only 16 degrees outside.  The bishop even kept his beanie on his head.  I was leading the music and my nose started running from breathing the cold air.  I was sniffing to the music to keep it from dripping.  Such is life in the Bronx.
Dear Family and those who read our blog,
Everywhere we go we hear good wishes for a happy new year.  Let me bear my firm belief that our prospects for a happiness is dependent upon our choices.  Happiness only comes through our service to family, to church and to our fellowman.  It also comes through keeping our covenants, ie partaking of the sacrament, fulfilling moral responsibilities and preparing for and participating in the temple.  Those who cannot attend the temple can participate in FamilySearch and prepare names for the temple.  There is no work that can be as spiritually uplifting and refining as this great work.  This is how we can have a Happy New Year.

Our understanding of life and its trials will be brought into focus and we will feel impressions that will come from heaven including from our kindred dead.  Without our temple worship we can only know of them thru our limited reasoning.  Thru temple worship we come to feel of their reality.  We will experience the turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers and fathers to their children and that is happiness.  We have taken about 150 names to the temple and have seen all available ordinances completed.

Let us all commit to improving our lives in that area and be recipients of true happiness during this year.

Dad/Spencer

 

I know that Heavenly Father still has a mission for me because...

Our apartment kitchen is VERY small.  The sink and stove touch, but are perpendicular to one another.  Wednesday evening I was cooking in a large pot on the stove.  I was turned facing the sink, when apparently the flame came into contact with the apron I had on.  It was a loose apron that attached only at the neck line. 

Initially I didn't know what had happened.  I noticed there was excess smoke so I turned on the exhaust fan--but the smoke just got thicker.  Then I realized that my left side (nearest the stove was really getting warm).  My brain wasn't registering why the stove was making me that hot. 

Finally, I looked down and in shock exclaimed "I'm on FIRE!"  I tried to beat out the flame with my left hand, but it was just spreading around my hand.  There is literally only 3.5 ft of width on my kitchen floor--not enough to stop, drop and roll.  I moved to the entryway to drop.  Spencer, who was moments away from leaving to go shopping, came out of the bedroom.  I think his shock was greater than mine when he saw flames shooting up my side. 

I dropped to the floor and he started yanking the burning apron and sweater off of my body.  I have now recollection of him pulling the sweated over my head and yet the neckline is still intact. 

The flames melted some small areas on the rug in the entry way.  The apron burned from the bottom (about the level of my hips) up to the shoulder in the back.  The sweater just started melting.  The side was completely melted and the back, under arm and shoulder were all scorched prior to melting. 

 Spencer had on his coat and gloves to go shopping and would have been gone within a couple of minutes.  The heat/flames melted the synthetic outer layer of his gloves.  But without the gloves he couldn't have pulled the burning clothes off of me.

My left hand felt like it was going to blister (where I had been hitting the flames).  I kept it in water for 1-1 1/2 hours until the heat went away.  I also had a "hot line" up the side of my left hip, but no discoloration on the skin at all.

The miracle:  My hand didn't blister (it hurt for a couple of days).  My under shirt, garments and jeans weren't involved.  My body was protected from harm.  It could  have ended so much worse. 

I'm including a few pictures so you can sort of see what DID burn and in that way realized how easily my body could have also been burned.

I'm so thankful to my Father in Heaven for my protection.  I know it is from keeping covenants and being willing to serve as a missionary.  I have a strong testimony and have experienced a miracle in my behalf.

I know all the prayers for our safety and protection also played a role in this.  Thank you for that!  Keep those prayers going--and keep living the life our Father wants you to live.  There is protection in keeping covenants.

Love,
Jeanine/Mom 

Christmas and New Years in NYC

This has been a busy time for us.  Unfortunately, that didn't necessarily translate to temple attendance.  It was really quiet in the temple the week before Christmas.  It was a little better between Christmas and New Years.  Temple attendance is the greatest gift we can give the Savior at any time of the year.

I want to bear my testimony of the importance of the birth, life, death and atonement of Jesus Christ.  I owe everything to Him. I love Him more than I can begin to express.  And possibly the blog isn't the best forum.  But I want you to know what my heart has been focused on.

That being said, the last two weeks have been filled with so many activities involving family and friends.  It has replenished my soul to be surrounded with love.

On December 18th the Sister Temple Missionaries all went to a tea party/brunch hosted by Carol Mumford who will be returning home next week.  It was at a darling little place called Alice's Tea Cup (as in Alice in Wonderland).

Later in that week, we had the wonderful Christmas treat of a visit from Ben (Spencer's oldest son), Kelly and their two children, Daimon and Ellie.  They attended the Concourse Ward with us in the Bronx.  We went out to delicious and wonderful dinners twice with them.  But mostly we just soaked up the visiting and enjoyment of being with family.  I'm having trouble uploading the picture from the Christmas night dinner.  Hopefully I can add it in later.

Late on Christmas Eve we went down the street to the Church of St. Paul the Apostle with a lot of missionaries.  The architecture and art  was amazing.  We enjoyed their Christmas Concert and readings.  We didn't stay for the midnight mass.  😏

In the meantime I'll move forward.  Christmas morning was pretty low key as you can tell from this photo of Spencer.  :-)  .  We loved FaceTiming and talking with our children and grandchildren throughout the day.  We reached everyone except Adam's family.  It was such a bonus seeing faces and hearing voices.  We love our family so very much!!

Spencer received tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters for Christmas (from me!).  We went on Tuesday night.  We had not been to Brooklyn.  We still haven't really seen it since the subway took us right to the Barclay Center.  They were a lot of fun and very entertaining.  We remembered some of the slapstick humor from our youth.  New players, old tricks.  But lots of fun!

 

At Chad and Ann Marie's home the big Christmas present for Rachel and Scott was a trip to NYC.  The arrived the night of the 28th.  I've enjoyed going to plays with them.  I've seen Elf and Anastasia and loved both of them.  We will also see Dear Evan Hansen before they go home.   They have done several other fun things while we have been serving in the temple.  Yesterday after church, we went down to see Times Square before the craziness began.  We went to Bryant Park and they went ice skating.  We wanted to visit more of the park, but they shut everything down at 6 PM.  I came home because I was cold, but they braved it longer and came back later in the evening. Last night for New Year's Eve we played Ticket to Ride on the iPad and went up on the roof to watch the fireworks in Central Park.  It was fun.  [Spencer slept thru it--which is HIS favorite way to welcome in the New Year!]  It has been really wonderful to have them here.  It is nice to host them, in return for all of the times we have crashed at their home.  They are always so warm and hospitable!!

Jason and Chandra's daughter Lucy sent Flat Stanley for a visit with us.  Many of you are familiar with that story.  He has gone with us for several of our adventures.  The timing was good, because soon it will be back to our normal routine and it is so darn cold, that we have decreased outside activities A LOT!

Please keep in touch with us.  We love you all.

Merry Christmas from Spencer:

I wanted to write about one of my memories of Christmas. I was watching a rerun of the 2017 Christmas first Presidency Devotional.  Elder Duncan of the Seventy was giving a talk about Christmas season after being widowed.  It reminded me of my lonely Christmas—but this was before I was ever married.  I had just returned from my 30 month mission.  I came home that summer and realized that my parents were in an economic crisis.  They sent me off to school at ASU with an old, old travel trailer and I was able to park it in a trailer court about a mile from the campus.  I had a job on a dairy farm out near where Grandpa and Grandma Vance used to live.  I didn’t know them at that time.  

I had to work enough to support myself for my tuition, books and living expenses.  The hours I worked were close to full time.  The lack of academic preparation and the work load was almost too much for me. I had difficulty with attention deficit and couldn’t concentrate on my studies very well.

My Christmas memory is this:

I went to the Institute singles’ ward that Christmas morning (it was a Sunday) after working from 2 AM to 8 AM. 8 AM. What seemed so difficult was that my peers all came to church in new sweaters and sports jackets and other new apparel.  That included the two adult bishopric members with their new Christmas clothes.  To me it seemed like a “show and tell” and who had the best.  The good thing was that I stayed at church that Christmas Sunday morning.  I had my one and only old short sleeve shirt and my old pants from my missions.  That is what I wore every week.  I sat alone and endured the Sacrament meeting.  Even though it was difficult, I stuck it out.

Three years went by with loneliness and some failures at school.  I was blessed to just get by.  I was shabbily dressed and struggling in so many ways.  I think I went for three years without a date.  In looking back I received some attention, but not from the right quality of girls.  Looking back on that group of kids, I think I have a better life than any of them.  I wouldn’t trade places with any one of them.

One saving grace, so to speak, was I did make it to the temple almost every week.  No, I wasn’t perfect, nor exemplary by any means, but I tried hard to make good choices.  The fourth year I met Susan and we had a good courtship, I thought.  That brought hope but even that courtship dissolved.  Shortly thereafter, I was drafted and after a year in the army the blessings came. 

I was at church with the chaplain and I received a distinct prompting that I should go home and write a letter of proposal to Susan.  She accepted!!  On my next furlough, I went back to Arizona and we were married. 

Then came the blessings of having children every two years.  Each one was a new blessing in our lives. The way was opened for me to make a living and we had a wonderful family.   

I will end this Christmas memory by saying that now I have an even bigger and more wonderful family.  God bless each of you at this time of the year. 

As time marches by my desire is that you will live in such a manner that you will be blessed at critical times in your lives.  To quote Elder Rasband, “The Lord… is in the small details of your life as well as in the major milestones.”

12/17/17

The big news this week is that we saw the doctor about Spencer's MRI.  Good news--no abnormalities found.  He thinks the vertigo has been caused by the headaches.  Spencer's dietary changes have helped decrease both the headaches and vertigo.  He says to keep it up and he gave him a list of other trigger foods that he might consider eliminating.  In the meantime, he was referred to a rhinologist to check out his sinuses since they were inflammed in the MRI.  We will follow up in January with that.
It was a long subway ride.  For part of the ride, we had a pigeon ride with us in the car.  It seemed to be accustomed to it.  It stayed calm and when the door opened, it flew off.

Saga of the Ward Choir

A while back, they decided to have a Concourse Ward Choir (or in Baro Conco if you are a Dominican).  Spencer and I were asked to participate.  It meant giving up my 9 AM Sacrament Mtg in English.  Sigh.  The first week the choir director mostly talked and I only got the gist of it -- "music is a prayer to God"  etc.  People were just sitting randomly so when he asked the sister missionary to start playing and for us to start singing, I asked if we were going to sing parts.  I realized I didn't know the word for alto in Spanish.  Now I know that it is contralto.  He brushed me off and said "Later on".  He never did arrange us like a choir.  I tried to ask the sisters if anyone was singing "armonia".
Bottom line:  Only about two people know how to read music.  The sisters' idea of harmony is the melody sung in two different octaves.
Those who know my music skills know that I am the least talented of my siblings.  I always try to jockey myself to stand by strong altos and I don't sight read like the rest of you do!  To make matters worse, the bishop pulled me aside and requested that I help Brother Patino with the music for the sisters to make it a better choir!  I don't know what he really was visualizing.  But it almost sounding like I was supposed to critique the choir director.  I wasn't comfortable with that at all.  He must have talked to the choir director also, because the next Sunday Brother Patino kept asking where I thought the sisters should stand.  He already had a group designated to sing a verse together.  Then four sisters didn't know how to sing "armonia".  So that left me and another sister missionary to sing alto.  I couldn't see any changes that could be made.  A random woman came in off the street to sing with us, but she left before the meeting started.  It was weird.
There are six missionaries (elders) in our ward in addition to the sisters.  They were great at singing, so with them, and Spencer, the brothers had people to follow and they sounded great.  We were prepared to sing "Joy to the World" but at the last minute he changed it to "Silent Night".  Fortunately I've sung alto on most of the Christmas hymns in the past, so I could really stretch out of my comfort zone and sing alto and carry the part off OK.  We were to sing Friday at the Ward party as well (more about that later).  Today, the attendance at practice was minimal, so he suddenly assigned the sister missionary and I to sing with a Dominicano sister for the first half of the first verse of "Joy to the World".  I had to say yes--but it starts on a D which is the top note of my range.  And the sister in the middle was sort of off-key much of the time.  It was nuts!  But I did it and sang soprano for the first verse and then sang alto after that.   
Now about the party.  It was supposed to start at 6 PM.  We finished our shift at the temple at 6 PM.  We rushed and arrived about 7:30--and we were some of the first ones there.  The food wasn't out yet except for one container.  I didn't see any action in the kitchen.  Mostly just sitting around visiting.  The tables were set up and decorated beautifully.  Gradually people arrived and food was set out.  Spencer gave the opening prayer at 8:20 PM.  The missionaries did a presentation on "Light the World".  They told the bishop they were supposed to be home by 9 PM.  So about 8:45 they had the priesthood come up to serve the food and invited only the missionaries to get their food.  We went up with them.  Then they announced the choir to sing--however most of the missionaries were gone by then--including our pianist.  We sang a Capella--and sang two songs we had never sung before!  Crazy!  We ate and left about 9:15.  I felt bad because there was a stable and decor and a couch for Santa in curtained off part of the cultural hall.  So there was going to be a nativity with the Primary kids.  But the members hadn't even eaten yet, so I have no idea how late the party went.  We had to work Saturday morning, so we had to get home.
So this is the saga of the choir and the party in the Bronx--a third world country...  ;)

Last Monday night, all of the temple missionaries and other types of missionaries sang carols in the lobby of our building.  It was beautiful.  We sang around the piano and some residents joined us.  Others stood and watched.  It was fun.

Thursday night some of us went to a Mexican restaurant to eat (it was only OK) down in Greenwich Village.  Then we went to an off-off-Broadway show of "A Christmas Carol".  It was fun.  It was worth the $15 we each spent.  The studio reminded me of the Studio Theater in Prescott in the 50's.  The seats were really small and attached to each other.  The floor was slanted.  It had a fun atmosphere.  The actors were fun--not super talented, but very enthusiastic.  The script was amazing to condense Dicken's work into an hour long musical.  Fun songs.  Interesting evening.

We love all of you.  Have a beautiful Christmas.
Jeanine/Mom/Grandma

Christmas time in NYC

Last Monday it finally happened!  For two months I have worked on spreadsheets with tickets to the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.  We were in charge of making arrangements for all of the missionaries who wanted to go.  Plus we had to get orders for the meal we had afterwards at Ted's Montana Grill.  I can tell you that a lot of money changed hands.  I had to keep track of it.  I came up short, but President Bench made up the difference.  I made more than one trip to the box office to pick up the tickets--then I had to get them to the right people.  Even then there was a crisis at the end.  But I was able to fix it. Some who went didn't live in our building, so that was another obstacle--but it all worked out just fine in the end.

The show was amazing!  I love the 3-D, the special effects, the hundreds of Santas, the toy soldiers who fell down like dominoes and everything else!!  Of course the dancing and choreography was superb!



The orchestra was lifted right out of the orchestra pit at the beginning and end.




They enacted scenes from the Nutcracker Suite and it was delightful to see the characters come to life as the presents opened.

 There was a "bus tour" of NYC that involved lots of special effects.  Actually, almost every number was filled with special effects. 
 One of my favorite scenes was the tin soldiers falling down.  You have to see it to believe it.

 I was very touched that the grand finale of something as famous as the Rockettes was to memorialize the Nativity and the birth of our Savior.  I don't know of any other show that does that. 

They have been doing it for many decades.  It was so tasteful.

 As I said, after the show we went to lunch.  More people joined us for lunch than at the show.  So our 24 people had grown to 33.  Lots of people to keep track of.

Spencer left to do some shopping.  But I stayed to the end.  I walked home with the Beans and the Heidemans.  We visited Rockefeller Center and saw the tree lit up. We watched the ice skaters.  Then we walked a block and saw a beautiful light show on the outside wall of Saks 5th Ave.  It was gorgeous.  Then we went to St. Patricks Cathedral.  There is a nativity inside.  A great story that is online tells about the cardinal that was in charge of the cathedral.  He had a Golden Retriever that all of the neighborhood kids loved.  Eventually the dog died and the neighborhood was in mourning.  The cardinal had a stature made of the dog--same size and color.  It is in the nativity.  That way the kids could see the dog watching over baby Jesus.  It was very tender.  I'm glad I was with someone who knew about it. 


There was probably actually a dog at the stable--at least once the shepherds arrived--but I doubt if it was a Golden Retriever.  :)

The other fun thing about this week was my birthday.  Spencer surprised me with several fun and nice gifts.  I wasn't expecting that because the show and dinner on Monday was supposed to have covered my birthday.
I received some fun cards and a gift from my friend Alona.  Rachelle remembered me with gifts as well.  I heard from four of my sibling over the course of four days.  I had delightful visits with all six of my kids--one right after another.  It was so-o-o-o cool.  I talked to Vicki Jo, Judy and Marsha.  Does life get any better than that.  Then on Thursday I had a great visit with Avery.  So much fun.  Sigh.  It was a wonderful few days.

The sad part of the week was my telephone visit with Kathy Palmer.  John died suddenly on Tuesday from a massive heart attack.  My heart hurts so very much for her loss and all of the heart ache she is going thru. John was a good man.  I enjoyed being around him.  His loss will deeply impact many lives.  All seven of her kids and all ten of his kids will be there for the funeral, so I know she is overwhelmed and busy right now.

It was a sobering reminder of the importance of the choices we make in life.  Life is very fragile.  We must always be holding tightly to the Iron Rod.  None of us know when something unexpected could happen that would call us home across the veil.  I am so very grateful that our Father in Heaven loves us and knows our needs.  He won't interfere with our agency, but He has prepared a plan that will enable us to return to Him.  I have a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I pray for those who are struggling and sometimes wavering.  At this season I hope that each one of you will develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ in your lives.

Jeanine