We are so happy that Elder Rossell and his companions have found another wonderful family in the Bronx. They were baptized last Sunday and he reports they are a very choice group! Amazingly, we returned from our mission a year ago last Saturday. We can't believe it's been a year, but we are so happy our nephew is there serving the Lord, and teaching wonderful new members.
Here's a great slide show from our mission. How it makes us homesick for New York City, especially The Queens Stake, The Astoria Ward, and all of the Young Single Adults! We love and miss these great missionaries and the inspired work that continues day to day and year to year.
After returning from our mission last summer, we thought we were all through with 18 Months in the Big Apple...Now a new chapter is beginning!
For those of you who remember us and our time in New York City, we are so excited that our nephew, Elder Rossell will enter the Mission Training Center next Tuesday, March 24th. He is the third generation from our family to be called to serve in New York City. My parents served in the New York, New York Mission in 1992-93. The mission was divided shortly after their return to their home. We served (18 Months in the Big Apple), New York, New York South Mission, January 2008-June 2009. Now our nephew from Arizona, will serve in the New York, New York North Mission for the next 24 months.
We wish him the very best and have a feeling he will love the people and work in his mission as much as we did. After serving with many young missionaries, we know he will serve with all his heart. He has every quality that a faithful missionary needs and New York City will love him too! Watch for highlights of his service along the way!
“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
New York South Mission Blog
New Astoria Ward Members
WEST'S NEW YORK, NEW YORK SOUTH MISSION
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:-)
After almost 37 years of teaching dance at BYU-Idaho, Charles retired December 31, 2007. All of our children danced with the BYU-I Folk Dancers, so as a family we donned costumes for one last memory together.
Below, all of the West Family, pictured below the glorious, new Rexburg Temple.
(Michael Lewis Photography, Thanksgiving 2007)
Be grateful Be smart Be involved Be clean Be true Be positive Be humble Be still Be prayerful
by President Gordon B. Hinckley
Parley P. Pratt
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.
This beautiful stone building, center, located at 973 5th Avenue, across from Central Park, served as headquarters of the Eastern States Mission in 1963.
New York New York South Mission Home
The current Mission Home is located in a lovely neighborhood in Port Washington, New York.
Live in such a way that those who know you, but don't know Christ will want to know Christ because they know you.
Those who love Christ the most, are the most Christlike.
Welcome Spring
"All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar."
Helen Hayes
Newsroom - LDS Church 3
A Passion for Primroses
"I promise that when you get your release, if you have forgotten yourself these years, all will have come to you, the things that you might have wished for yourself, and you shall have them all, even though you did not anticipate and wait for them. You shall have obtained knowledge and the spirit of the gospel, and your testimony shall have increased. You shall be polished; you shall have a sublime and beautiful life."
President Spencer W. Kimball (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 589)
