18 Months in the Big Apple: Year Anniversary Celebration

Friday, June 12, 2009

Year Anniversary Celebration

Last Friday, June 5th, we were given the opportunity to accompany the missionaries for their anniversary trip to the Manhattan Temple. I was so disappointed that I couldn't go with them because of my eye injury, but Elder West was honored to represent us with this unusually small, but wonderful group of elders. Elder Hutchings, Elder Law, Elder Norman and Elder West were all so happy to be together at the best place in all of New York City!

Elder Norman has actually been serving for more than a year, but at his one year anniversary of service he was serving on the Island of Bermuda. Elder Norman is an outstanding missionary, our district leader, and what really sets him apart is that he is an Astoria missionary currently.

Elder Hutchings, who has served in Flushing, and speaks Mandarin Chinese, is completing his mission in New York and was not able to attend the departing temple trip with President and Sister Bennion, lucky for us. Elder Law has served for one year and is currently serving in the East New York area of Brooklyn.

Generally, after attending the temple, we spring for a "NY dawg" out on the street because we have 12 or more missionaries with us. It was a rainy, windy day and so Chas decided to take them to one of our favorite little Italian restaurants on the West Side, Il Violino, for a lovely meal with linens and fresh flowers. They all had a wonderful time and celebrated an anniversary we hope they will always remember.

1 comment:

Sharon said...: Temple trips with the missionaries- one of our favorite mission memories to be sure! How nice of Elder West to treat the Elders to "real" food - they rarely get that. I'm sure they missed you with them!; June 13, 2009 at 5:44 PM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

“Service is the virtue that has distinguished the great of all times and which they will be remembered by. It places a mark of nobility upon its disciples. It is the dividing line which separates the two great groups of the world–those who lift and those who lean, those who contribute and those who only consume. How much better it is to give than to receive. Service in any form is comely and beautiful. To give encouragement, to impart sympathy, to show interest, to banish fear, to build self-confidence and awaken hope in the heart of others, in short–to love them and to show it –is to render the most precious service.”

Bryant S. Hinckley

January 10, 2008 we arrived in Queens, New York. We are currently serving as full-time missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were called to serve in the New York, New York South Mission. It is a special and unique assignment. Serving here is like teaching all nations, with missionaries who teach in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Russian and American Sign Language. Nearly 10 million people live within our mission, representing 112 nationalities. We are blessed to be serving along side the most incredible missionaries in the world! We love President and Sister Bennion who have been cherished friends since he was the president of Ricks College. We are happy to be serving the Lord and living on Steinway Street in Astoria.
Thank you for visiting our blog! Please feel free to leave comments or questions. It makes our day:-)

History of the New York, New York South Mission

Long before our mission was organized, Elder Parley P. Pratt was the first missionary in this dispensation to preach the Gospel in New York City and Long Island.
This mission has significant historic roots. It is the heart of the former Eastern States Mission which was established in 1839.
That mission, headquartered in Brooklyn, enjoys the distinction of being the second oldest mission of the Church, behind the British Mission.
The Eastern States Mission consisted of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and West Virginia in 1948. Since that time, many changes have been made in the boundries of the mission.
The name of the mission was changed from the Eastern States Mission to the New York New York Mission in 1974. At that time the mission included the following areas: New York State as far as Poughkeepsie, the entire state of Connecticut, a small part of Massachusetts, as well as part of New Jersey and the island of Bermuda. The mission boundaries were once again changed in 1976 excluding Massachusetts and all of the state of Connecticut, with the exception of Fairfield County.
In 1987, after another boundary change was made, the New York New York Mission consisted of the five boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island), Long Island, New York State north to Poughkeepsie, a portion of Connecticut and the island of Bermuda.
The mission was divided once again in 1993. The New York New York South Mission encompasses the New York City boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, as well as the New York counties of Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island. It also includes the small British Island of Bermuda in the Atlantic.