THIS IS THE PLACE!

Welcome to our row house! We live on the main level or second apartment. Zeina who is Greek lives downstairs and Eric and Michael from Israel live upstairs. We have a small backyard with a little patio and an Italian clothesline! We have the driveway where we park our mission Malibu sporting Idaho plates. We have a washing machine, so rare and wonderful, in our small isle kitchen. Our dining room window is above the garage and the living room window is next to it. We have two bedrooms and one bathroom. This is prime real estate in Astoria and we pay double for our rent than we ever paid for our homes in Idaho! Our new Bishop, Jason Howell and President Bennion get all the credit for finding our place.

HOW'S THIS FOR A MISSIONARY PAD?

Our apartment is spacious and clean compared to most according to the ward members that have come to visit. Yes, we do feel very at home in every meeting house lobby when we see our chairs in burgundy or blue. The sofa, dining table and coffee table are all leftovers from a Manhattan Temple apartment. My batik art quilt that Mom helped me create makes it feel like our home. We are very comfortable and grateful for our little place!

Time to Dine!

This picture of our little dining area is from our living room. We have seated 6 around this table and can add a large leaf to seat 10. I love all the light from the big window which looks out on Steinway Street. It is an amazingly busy street with a nonstop parade of dog walkers, commuters heading for trains and buses, trucks, screaming ambulances and fire trucks and taxis honking! We enjoy quiet in the back bedrooms.

Astoria Meat Market!

Each day we drive down Steinway and pass this Greek Meat Wholesale Shop with all the poor baby pigs, lambs, and goats, hanging by their hoofs. We wonder if this summer we will see our neighbors roasting them in the front yard like in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Since January meat has not been nearly as appealing to this old goat.

Farewell Sister Buss and Sister Olson.

We are so glad we had the chance to serve with these two wonderful "Senior Sisters"! They are retired school teachers who are completing their fourth individual and third missions together this week. They have shared timely tips and made our transition into the mission field much smoother than it would have been without their help. Some of you may remember Preston Buss, a former folk dancer who traveled with us to Germany. Sister Buss is his aunt! We send them back to Utah with our love and best wishes. (left to right) The Wests, Sister Buss and Sister Olson

If you FEED them, they will come!

Each month we invite the Young Single Adults (18-30) and Single Adults (31+) to a Sunday evening meal before the CES Firesides or "To Break the Fast" dinners. They have been very successful. It's a great way to socialize and feed them spiritually as well. More are attending each month and we hope as friendships grow and Chas is teaching them to dance on Friday nights, at the monthly dances, we can "waltz them to the temple!"

Welcome to the Astoria Ward Brother William Bradley

On a cold January Sabbath day we celebrated the baptism of William (Bill) Bradley. Elder Johnson and Elder Chung taught him the Gospel and Brother Hirst baptized him. We were so happy to be present and enjoy the warm, welcome Bill received from our new ward. Bill is a very humble, kind individual. Last week he was ordained as a new Priest. We are just glad to serve with all the fine missionaries serving here. Through small and simple things great things are happening here in The New York South Mission.

Our New First Presidency

Shortly after we arrived in New York, January 27, 2008, President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. He served as our beloved prophet who was such an example to us. He was "constant as the North Star that shines for you and me, anchored in the gospel with pure integrity." We loved his wonderful sense of humor and were honored to receive our mission call from him. We will miss him. We watched his funeral at the Woodside Building with a large group from our ward. We were so touched by his life of service and the tributes that were paid by his family and Church Leaders. We support and sustain President Monson, President Eyring and President Uchtdorf. The Lord has a wonderful way of keeping His Church moving forward. How thankful we are to share our testimony of this with many others.

President and Sister Bennion welcome us to LaGuardia Airport and the New York South Mission!

We were a little blurry-eyed after getting up at 4:00 am, heading to the SLC Airport and flying all day to NYC. How delighted we were to see the Bennions! We shared a fun dinner and learned more about our mission assignment and all that is going on in this incredible mission. As we have observed the Bennions in action, our respect and admiration for them has grown. President Bennion was born to be a Mission President and Sister Bennion runs a tight ship! They are working so hard and fast. How we love and appreciate them.

Elder and Sister Mills, Sri Lanka Colombo Mission

Elder Mills was our District Leader in the MTC. We really enjoyed getting to know this sweet couple. The Mills shared wonderful stories with us about life, their conversion and we will always remember listening to him read the soulful scriptures. We pray for them in Sri Lanka.

The MTC, a great place to learn many things.

We spent ten incredible days in the MTC. We were given a 4 day crash course in Preach My Gospel. We practiced teaching investigators, giving lessons, and made friends with the largest group of Senior missionaries they had ever had at the MTC. All couples should look forward to this opportunity. For another 4 days we had specialized CES training. Saturday was our preperation day. Will and Krista helped us get our 17 boxes (750 lbs.) to the Greyhound station. We shipped with Busfreighter.com. It was awesome ( all 17 boxes arrived safely in Brooklyn 4 days later). Then we shared a delicious lunch together at Carabas in Orem. It was a great day and so fun to be with the Haslers. Thanks Krista and Will for all your help.

Our Official "Missionary Picture" 2007

We thought you might like to see our official missionary picture. This was actually the first time we had a portrait taken of just the two of us, by a photographer since our engagement pictures were taken in 1973. We are thankful for Gugelman Photography and photo shop!

Where ere thou art....

After leaving our three sons at the MTC, it was such a blessing to have our Zach there to send us off. He was also with us when our dear friend and Stake President, Greg Moeller set us apart as full time missionaries. We are so thankful for the love and support we have felt from our family. We especially thank Zach for all of his help in getting us from Rexburg to Provo and all of his heroic efforts on our behalf. Chas and Zach are standing beside a historic capstone from Scotland that reads, "Where ere thou art, act well thy part." We shed a few tears together and said our good byes and our adventure began!

Going Forth to "Teach All Nations"

We were so excited when we saw the flags from all over the world that are flying outside the entrance of the MTC. We have been able to travel to many of those countries. The great thing about the New York, New York South Mission, and especially Queens, is that we have 9 million people in our mission representing 112 different nationalities. We are able to literally teach all nations here.

A New Year...Our New Life!

After packing, scrubbing, and retiring from BYU-Idaho, we left our snowy home in Rexburg on December 16th. We celebrated a most memorable Christmas with our wonderful family in sunny Fallbrook, California. We entered the MTC on Monday, December 31, 2007.