Preparation Week

Monday we returned to the temple for training.  We were there for two hours and it felt so good to be back.  In the evening we went to a Violin concert by the Dodds Daughter.  She was amazing.Tuesday we had the day off to go to West Point.  One of the temple workers teaches there and gave us a tour.  It was very moving.  The day was overcast and the clouds hung down over the mountains and the surrounding town looked like a New England Christmas card.  I felt a strong spirit as we looked out over the West Point where Washington used a huge chain to stop the British.  Such a lovely experience.  Jeffery Holland once spoke at the Cadet Chapel to a packed house.  Wednesday and Thursday were back to the temple for two hours and Then Thursday night we went to Irving NY for The Sleepy Hollow experience where they acted out Washington Irvings “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at Irving’s Sunnyside Home.  Some of the group missed the stop and consequently missed the experience.  I felt bad for them.  Friday we met as missionaries at the Ambassador Room below the church in front of the temple.  There we learned that President Jeff Holt is a docent at Grand Central Station.  We convinced him to take us on a tour Saturday.  The history and historical monument status were amazing.  Finally, today was a primary program.  It was an interesting experience.  Not a lot of discipline.  However, one of our primary children “Jerry”, about 9 years old played the piano and he is amazing.

Countdown Complete

tomorrow we start back at the temple two hours a day for training and then full time the next week.  The time has gone so fast and I am anxious to return.  I feel like I have been changing, becoming softer I hope and I am really ready to return to the temple.  This, however, will be a very busy week.  We have an area meeting tonight and a choir practice, tomorrow the temple and a concert, Tuesday we go to West Point and Wednesday the temple for two hours and then to the north Bronx to help a sister struggling with Pathways, Thursday the temple for two hours and then a trip to Sleepy Hollow, then Friday to the temple for two hours.  Saturday could be at the temple or at our ward in the Bronx. I am already tired.

This week we really slowed down.  Monday we went to the One World Observatory,  To see the flatiron building, to Bryant Park Library that was closed and then for a tour of Rockefeller Center.  Tuesday we went to the Natural History Museum and then Wednesday I got my hair permed and we went for a tour of  the United Nations Building.  It poured rain on us on our trip home.  We stayed home the rest of the week.

Grant, Hamilton, and Poe

Friday was a fun day as we went to General Grant National Memorial.  Here Ulysses S Grant and his Wife are entombed.  It was a solemn and reverent feeling here.  We both enjoyed the visit.  Then we left to go to the Hamilton Grange National Memorial, their was Hamilton’s home and refuge.  It was beautiful but I found it a little unsettling that school children were using the grounds for a playground.  We then went to the Bronx to see Edgar Allen Poe’s final home.  He moved here for his wife’s health and lived there when she died and the remainder of his life.  This was fascinating because it is across the street from our church and we have walked by it many times without knowing  it was there.   We then stopped at the Apollo theater in Harlem.