GOING PRIVATE

The West Family
Sunday, July 19, 2009, Rexburg Idaho.

After 18 Months in the Big Apple,

we are happy to be Back in the West.

We will continue sharing our life with family and friends.
Please leave a comment or e-mail me if you'd like to view our private blog.

Thank you!

Westward Ho!

When I say, "We loaded the car," it was Idaho or bust! We prayed for a safe trip home and we had an absolutely wonderful time crossing the country together. We took our time, traveling eight days between Astoria and Rexburg. Each morning we enjoyed a leisurely walk before we climbed in the car. What a beautiful country America is. One of the highlights of our trip was traveling to see my sister, Robyn, in Virginia. Her husband, Fred was in California caring for his 90 year old father, and her BYU age son was on a tour in France. We had her all to ourselves!

Robyn is just 20 months younger than me, a talented homemaker and mother of five. She and Fred built their lovely home just prior to our mission, so this was our first visit. It was so warm, welcoming, and comfortable. We wished we could have stayed longer than just one night!

Fred and Robyn have traveled the world and lived in Saudi Arabia. They have collected treasures that mean so much to them. They are beautifully displayed through out the house and I loved her robin's-egg blue colored kitchen with large, bright, windows all around their dining room that looks out on their deck and lush green backyard.

Robyn is a avid quilter and her good works are incorporated into every room along with

beautiful birds, nests and eggs, her hallmark. All of her friends and family give her gifts around her theme!

As we enjoyed a delicious, fresh, salad from her garden for dinner we watched majestic deer grazing out just past their backyard. Robyn sprays something that smells bad and helps to discourage their wanting to graze on her grass and nibble her garden. Later the three of us relaxed in the theater room and all fell asleep during a movie! In the morning we walked along a stream and explored her friendly neighborhood before we said our goodbyes. Thanks Rob for a real leisurely stay. After moving it was such a treat, the perfect antidote to lift our spirits.

Neither of us had been to Nauvoo since the temple was rebuilt. We first saw it from across the Mississippi River sitting so magnificently on the hill. We had the opportunity to attend an afternoon session. As we thought of many of our ancestors who received their endowment and were sealed in the original temple we felt very close to them. It was a most beautiful experience for us.

Elder West in front of the Nauvoo Illinois Temple.

Hyrum and Joseph Smith, martyred in Carthage, Illinois are remembered and honored with this

incredible bronze statue with the Mississippi River in the background. Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph translated The Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. Hyrum was witness to the ancient plates of gold Joseph translated from. He was faithful, devoted to the gospel and Joseph even unto death. Hyrum was also an early leader in the Church.

Amazing flowers were blooming everywhere we looked. The temple grounds were inviting and there was a special reverence we felt as we visited with each other about our families.

We went to the Hotel Nauvoo for a buffet style dinner and it was jam packed with tourists as well as people who think it's the best place to eat in Nauvoo. It was laid back and charming.

The Nauvoo Pageant was beginning July 9th and so we knew we arrived too early. We were pleasantly surprised when we learned that we could attend a dress rehearsal being held the evening we were there. We were amazed at how many families and young people were apart of the cast. They were there donating a large part of their summer days to rehearsing and performing in the pageant. We thought of how much our children would have enjoyed that opportunity involving a lot of singing and dancing. Surely, it is a testimony building experience.

In the end the cast and temple shine, truly "a light on the hill."

Each temple is so beautiful from every side. It was glowing at dusk. This is a day we'd looked forward to during our mission and we felt so rewarded and grateful to be in such a sacred place.

The next morning we hit country roads on our way to Independence, Missouri. Don't you just love these great roadsigns? We really wanted to share the road!

We enjoyed some quiet time at the beautiful Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

It is flanked by The Grand River.

As we looked out over this pristine valley, we remembered what David O. McKay said and we knew we were on holy ground. It too was a sacred experience to be here together.

THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
SECTION 116
Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, near Wight’s Ferry, at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, May 19, 1838. HC 3: 35.

1 Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.

Sunday we visited the Independence Visitors Center and the Independence First Ward. We met wonderful missionaries and members and enjoyed hearing their testimonies.

After crossing Kansas, we arrived in scenic Colorado with the beautiful Rocky Mountains. It started to feel like home. My youngest sister Kim and our brother-in-law, Sam, made us feel so welcome after getting their youngest son off to scout camp early that morning, delivering some of their married children and baby grandson to the airport and finishing some major business obligations. We always enjoy time with them and have been to their gracious home several times. They enjoy entertaining and have welcomed their four children and all of their friends often.

Kim and Sam are the queen and king of do it yourself home projects! Sam is a talented woodworker and Kim has the gift of looking at anything, figuring it out, and recreating it, making it look better than it does in any magazine. Notice the fabulous wall sporting a harlequin paint finish on a curving staircase. To me, this exemplifies patience and endurance I've never had!

We relaxed in their twinkle lit gazebo and dined on Sam's grilled salmon, sauteed fresh veggies, rice pilaf, green salad and then roasted marshmallows over the gas fire pit (Sam built) and laughed and talked while munching s'mores...a bit of heaven in the great outdoors!

As you rest in our nephew's fantasy cabin room and look up on the wall it says, "If You're Lucky Enough to Live in the Woods, You're Lucky Enough." Love, love, that thought.

Kim is not a quilter, but our mom is. This is her version of the same quilt my sister Robyn had in her home. They made them together and it's so perfect in Kim's cozy guestroom. I liked the headboards she made. She's finishing up a couple more things and it will be perfection!

The next morning we all went out for breakfast before we headed in opposite directions.

Thanks Kim and Sam for a delightful stay. To both of you along with Robyn and Fred, it's your turn to come our way!

Caroline, Margie, Renee and Charles

So please indulge me as I share a "one in a million" experience. We spent two days in Salt Lake getting needed things done. We were in Dillard's at Fashion Place when a poised young woman asked us if we were Charles and Renee West. We answered, "Yes," and she introduced herself as Caroline, the twin sister of one of our favorite Astoria Elders. We were so surprised when she told us that she recognized us from our blog. I gave her a huge hug, which is how sisters,(especially missionary sisters) in New York greet one another before I remembered that it's not really something everyone does in the West all of the time. I'm sure she was overwhelmed and I was embarrassed. We visited for a few brief minutes and went our separate ways.

We had become friends with this elder's mom through our blog and email and wanted to meet this dear elder's family, but time and circumstances wouldn't allow for it this trip. We finished things up for the day and had just arrived at our hotel when our elder's mother called to ask if it was too late to come and meet us. We were each amazed at what a small world it is and that we'd met Caroline that day. We waited in the hotel lobby greeting Margie, (his mom) and seeing Caroline again. Chas sprang for some delish desserts and we had the best visit and had the hotel restaurant all to ourselves.

As I have thought about this experience, I remember our then stake president, President Moeller setting us apart and promising us that we would make friends we would cherish all of our lives during our mission. We were blessed to meet senior couples in the MTC and New York who are wonderful friends, young elders and sisters who changed our lives and members of the Church all over our mission we love. Our surprise is that we are friends with so many of our missionary's families that we now know. We tried to give our best to NY, but now matter how hard we try, our Heavenly Father always gives back more than we can give when we serve Him.

Lots of blue sky was looking really good to us and we were so excited. For the first time ever we stopped and took a picture of the, "Welcome to Idaho," sign!

The soft rolling mountains and farm lands were so peaceful and we were so thrilled to be back in Idaho...a great state!

This is our exit. Coming up the freeway we saw the temple facing East on the hill below our home. It was emotional for both of us.

We left just before the Open House for the Rexburg Idaho Temple began. The night before we left we had the opportunity to clean the temple and see it. It is indeed a beacon in this town and this is how it looks as you drive up the hill to our home.

Our sweet neighbor, Deby and her grandchildren made a sign, hung balloons, and she planted flowers to welcome us home. We were so surprised. She knew our children would not be here to do it for us so she did. Thanks Deby, you are so thoughtful and we so appreciated it.

A remarkable young man, Nate, who is quiet and responsible, mowed our lawn, shoveled the snow, started our cars and kept our home vacuumed and clean. We heard from our friends, "It looks like you're home!" That brought peace of mind. Nate will be a great missionary in a couple of years. His President will feel very lucky! We couldn't pay him what's he's worth...no amount of money could repay him for his service.

We thank Deby,Scott, Ross and Jean, our neighbors, who assisted Nate, his parents and Bishop Webster who helped, calling us when there was a problem. This Spring the Young Men's organization from our ward came and cleaned up all the leaves too. Thanks guys, there's a sweet treat coming your way when you least expect it!

Our neighbors hugged us and welcomed us home. We had a memorable meeting with our new stake president, President Anderson, who released us from our mission. In the next few days our children, grandchildren and my mom arrived for our homecoming and a week long reunion. We have not stopped! Life has been crazy and so much fun. We are so grateful to our family for all of their support and love.

I was worried along with our grandchildren, about leaving all these little creatures behind. When we walked into our dining room and looked out the window, look who was stretched out taking a nap in our tree. This is for you Lizzy and Shelby....it's wonderful to be back home in the West!

Goodbye New York City

Maria, our favorite "Mama," was proud to be a strong Italian, Catholic, mother of three, and a full-time grandmother. She loved to yell at everyone in Italian, and kept an eye on all of us! She smiled for me after a torrential downpour flooded our backyards. Soaking wet, she swept her water down a drain and didn't want help from anyone. She was quite a character!

It's fair to say we left a big chunk of our hearts in NYC. It's the craziest place we will probably ever live! We could write a book about all of the people who lived around us during our 18 month stay on Steinway Street. Here's our condensed version.

We started out with Zeina, a Greek girl and her boyfriend downstairs. She had a great set of pipes and would sing at all hours. They also liked to smoke and it smelled awful in our house. We would keep the windows open for "fresh air" and when Jimmy and Eva came one evening they told us it was POT. We were literally tripping for the first six months of our mission. Thank heavens she was accepted to a graduate program at Cornell!

Upstairs we had two Israeli brothers, Eric and Michael, nice students who had to return to Israel late Spring. They sub lent their apartment to two college coeds who invited ten of their friends to join them! After about 5 weeks, our landlord, who lived in New Jersey, got reports from his son-in-law, (who took care of the garbage) that there were loads of beer bottles in the cans each week. When Sal heard how many were living on the third floor, he quickly evicted them! Two nice young men from Turkey moved in. They told us they were here to learn English. We told them about free English classes being taught at our church. We couldn't imagine how they could live in a place, paying $1650.00 a month for rent plus utilities and not have jobs. We soon found out they were working upstairs all night and won't share details, but they were also evicted.

Downstairs a young couple from Albania joined us. Ariola worked in a cosmetic factory and Gentian was a plumber. They left their home and families in Albania to pursue their own mission of obtaining infertility help in New York. We had lots of opportunities to help them as they had very little monetarily and struggled with great language barriers. Amazingly we had no missionaries in our mission who spoke Albanian. (We used our computer to do a lot of translation work with this couple and our students on our mission). We gave them Albanian Book of Mormons along with our testimonies. By the time we left they had learned enough English that we were able to communicate fairly well and the Astoria Elders were planning to teach them the gospel.

Last Fall, Tod from Utah, and Claudia from Mexico moved in. Tod was finishing medical school and Claudia also was working to learn English and obtain papers so she could work. We were able to teach Claudia and she helped with a Zone Conference dinner and enjoyed visiting with so many young elders who spoke Spanish. They were planning to move to Texas just a few weeks after we left.

We will keep in touch with both of these couples and we will miss them. We were so thankful we had the opportunity to share the gospel with these neighbors. Most all who lived around us were not interested. When we asked if we could visit them in their homes we were told we were "overstepping our bounds."


There are just a few more things about NY we never want to forget. Our apartment was spacious we were told and amazingly clean, although the carpet was awful. If we forgot to close the door to our bathroom, our toilet greeted our guests, all for $2,000.00 a month! (This was my final photo on Steinway Street!)

At 4:00 AM on a Sunday morning a drunk ran into a car parked in front of our house. He was not hurt, but he passed out and had to be hauled to jail in this ambulance. A woman was also hit in front of our house. There was always something going on out there! We got used to a continual scream of sirens, firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars on Steinway, a major street in Astoria. No question, it is "the city that never sleeps!"

Non-stop double parking goes on everywhere in the city. These two guys were doing business in the street for about 30 minutes...typical and picture worthy, but don't ever turn right on a red light or block a box. You'll get zapped...oh no, not a little, a lot! Just ask Elder Hess from Malad.

U-turns in the middle of the street, all in a days work! We would often see a driver pull out from a parking place and block all lanes of traffic, backing up two or three times U-turning. My companion was heroic as he got around the city each day. I can't count the number of accidents he avoided keeping us alive and our Malibu dent free. The Lord blesses His missionaries who serve through out the world, but we experienced it and heard about it over and over from NYNYS missionaries. On our last day while the mission van was parked in our driveway for one last load, someone did a u-turn, (always to nab a parking place) and dented our door. We were almost unscathed...and paid $200.00 a month to park our car off the street.

Birds, flowers, squirrels and the adorable cat that thought he was ours in our cozy backyard that was a haven for us.

It was time! We cleaned and packed and pulled away from 21-52 Steinway Street #2, June 30th, glad to be heading back to our home and family. We also were so sad to leave so many people we loved. We will always cherish the experiences we had and will be grateful that we were able to serve the Lord here. We wouldn't trade it all for the world.

We will always love New York!

Our Final Sunday in Astoria

We taught Kat for the last time, Sunday, June 28th. We congratulate her on her graduation from Temple Preparation. The last lesson is a follow up after one attends the temple for the first time. She went to The Manhattan Temple with her step-mother and Amelia the day we taught a dance activity in Westchester. We are so happy for her and know she will return to the Lord's house often as she has a testimony of this most Christ-like service. We have three other students who are preparing for this blessing in their lives soon. We so enjoyed this part of our assignment during our mission.

We said sad goodbyes and shed some tears as we hugged our "NY kids." We loved having the Astoria Young Single Adults in our home for Family Home Evenings, Sunday dinners, and on special occasions. We will always consider them our NY family during our mission and will miss them a lot. Their strength and examples of faithfulness through challenging times in their lives strengthened our testimonies. We thank them for their generosity and love. They presented us with a large framed picture so we could always remember our good times together and a card we'll treasure always from "our kids." We love each of you (and are missing several in this picture, although they are pictured through out our entire blog). You will be in our hearts forever.

This photo represents a few of the Queens Stake Young Single Adults and our Institute classes. We will miss all of the CES dinners and firesides together and our weekly classes. Also many Sunday FHEs, and weekend activities that were apart of our work with this group. They have started a wonderful group and are meeting regularly for FHE and YSA activities...way to go. Thanks for making our calling so rewarding for us.

We grew to love the amazing Astoria Ward members too and thank all of the Relief Society sisters for the special thank you notes they wrote to us along with their families. They mean so much to us and all of you always will too. We searched for a family to teach and baptize to strengthen the Astoria Ward. We are hopeful that a family that had attended church meetings for three weeks and Elders Norman and Nielsen were teaching, will follow through with their committment to be baptized this month. We felt the strength of this special ward and they worked together to meet inspired goals.

When we arrived home from our church meetings, this marvelous couple was waiting for us. They look so relaxed and kick-back. The truth is that they were so exhausted and it was their last Sunday in the mission as well. We got a few things ready to send home together and they hurried off to attend several baptisms and President Bennion had to set 3 new missionaries apart. We will miss seeing President and Sister Bennion often and so appreciated all that they did to serve the saints of NYC, all of the missionaries, and for teaching us so many good things. We will always cherish the opportunity we had to serve together with them again.

Our Heros

Not enough good can be said about Elder Roberts and Elder Douglas, the current NYNY South office elders. They were so accommodating, kind and helpful during our move from NYC. We are surprised at what we gathered during our 18 month stay. We sent out 750 pounds to New York, using Busfreighter.com to get all we needed here. We were told we would be using what we had at home to cook for large groups, plus sound equipment and music for activities. We sent twice that home, again using busfreighter. All of our boxes arrived both ways without anything broken or missing. It's a great way to go if you have over two hundred pounds to send.

Our thanks to Elders Duce and Wiggins, the office elders who helped us when we arrived, and Elders Roberts and Douglas on our departure. These elders assist the mission in so many ways. They help with mission cars, mail, driving elders and sisters when they arrive and depart, and move senior missionaries, just to name a few of their extra responsibilities along with regular missionary work. Imagine driving a huge van around New York City...then add a black box! I've done it and it's not easy. They are just the greatest...and they serve in our Queensboro Zone too!

Several people have asked us what we used and needed the most in addition to what missionaries are asked to bring. Our answer is simple; three insulated Sam's Club bags. We hauled prepared food, groceries, teaching aids, etc with these good size bags. They kept everything hot and cold and we were so glad we had them. Surprisingly they are still in good shape and may even someday survive a second mission!

Major Mission Moving

Elders Salazar and Flores found a patch of carpet where they could revive.

Our office elders and Woodside district along with the APs came Thursday, June 25th to move the contents of our apartment. All of the furniture and contents that belonged to the mission were moved to a storage facility in Manhattan. The elders drove it just over the Queensboro Bridge where it will stay until another senior couple move into the mission. Midway through all of our missionaries were tired and hungry. We served a make-shift picnic and they had a brief rest from their service project. We had a lot of food and as always it disappeared fast.

We had sisters and elders hauling boxes and furniture down our traitorous staircase. We could have never done it on our own. We gave away food and wood furniture we had collected from the street to the Young Single Adults. The Astoria Elders inherited our $25.00 tabletop grill and they were absolutely thrilled. It was like Christmas in New York all over again!

Elder Norman came ready to work. He greeted us and slipped a T-shirt over his white shirt and tie. He's always looking for ways to serve.

Creative Elder Sanford used the back of the sofa as a table top! We appreciated his positive attitude the entire time we served together. We will always remember the love and happiness manifested by these incredible missionaries as they found ways to serve all, especially us.