Great variety of activities

As missionaries here in New York, we have a great variety of activities. In the course of a week or a month, we wear many hats.

For our P Day earlier in the week, we were able to visit the old Stone House. 

Our tour guide was brother Terry Alexander of the Park Slope family ward.

You can see the number 1699 on the front of the building. That was the year this historic building was constructed. 

This building marks the site of an important battle in the battle of Brooklyn, which occurred in August 1776.

Due to a marvelous foggy weather event, Gen. George Washington was able to ferry his soldiers by small boats over the East River to Manhattan in the dead of night, thus preserving the army so they could fight another day. 

We love visiting these historical sites. 

Brother Alexander also showed us his home nearby which the family acquired about 40 years ago for about $80,000. Is now worth about $3 million, which is typical of real estate in Brooklyn.

We have received a recent assignment to inspect all of the 12 apartments in our zone by the middle of September. We have now completed four inspections.

Some apartments are nice, while others leave something to be desired.

We are there to help the missionaries have a nice living experience and to get them the supplies and furniture they need. They seem to enjoy our visits and our help, and especially the donuts we bring! 

The sister missionaries we visited on my birthday sang happy birthday to me in three different languages. That was fun. 

We enjoy working with these young missionaries. They are the cream of the crop.

We also really enjoy our Fridays in the temple. Yesterday was no exception.

It still amazes us to see a beautiful temple right in the middle of Manhattan, surrounded by many tall buildings.

This building was acquired by the church in the 1970s and used as a chapel for approximate 30 years before it was remodeled to the house the temple.

For the past 10 years it has served as a temple site as well as a site for a full-scale chapel, a public affairs office, family history center, a visitors area and a distribution center.

The temple is accessed by a special elevator serving floors four, five and six.  The baptistry is on the ground floor, however.  The chapel is accessed by special elevator to floors number two and three.

When you're in the temple, you cannot hear any of the street noise from outside. It is a beautiful special place.

On Friday we had a wedding of a Chinese couple and a Hispanic couple. Sr. Tenney was able to babysit a beautiful four-year-old Chinese girl as she waited to be sealed to her parents. I was able to officiate in a session, which is always special. 

This past week was also my birthday. Sr. Tenney provided a cake for our Midwood institute class. We had a little party after class. 

It's been another wonderful missionary week.