Manhattan Chapel at 217 East 87th Street

Manhattan Chapel at 217 East 87th Street

Today, we road the Long Island Rail Road from Bay Shore to Penn station, the subway to 86th street west, walked through Central Park (I'm sure it was 5 miles!) on a snowy path through the barren trees and around a gorgeous lake, then scurried several more blocks to reach this majestic structure! There it stands, this peaceful sanctuary, amidst the hustle of Manhattan's upper east side.

This was the site today of a Church Education System "retreat" for Institute council members and CES teachers from both the New York New York North and South Missions. It was a day of learning and teaching by all of us in general sessions and break-out sessions as well.

We met some outstanding young people, who will undoubtedly be tomorrow's leaders in the church. Their faith, leadership and committment are strong and inspiring!

New Convert Baptism in Bay Shore Ward

Just fifteen minutes after our Book of Mormon class ended in the Relief Society Room Thursday evening, February 21, David Severe was baptized and became the newest convert member of the Bay Shore Ward. As we finished teaching and the closing song and prayer took place, we didn't know what was happening in the room.

Suddenly everyone stood up, turned their chairs around to face the font, and the prelude music began and more people started coming in the room. It was then that we learned of David's baptism.

Elder Walsh, one of the full-time missionaires in our ward performed the baptism, Elder Williams, left, gave a talk on baptism, and a ward member Jack Ampudia spoke on the Holy Ghost. The work is moving forward!

We were blessed to have our mission president - President Steven and Sister Majorie Bennion - in attendance for this beautiful event, as well as 35-40 ward members. Following the baptism, everyone gathered in the multi-purpose room for mingling and food...of course!

Now a Moment For Family...

Our youngest daughter, Tiffany, is a lovely mother and a much-in-demand piano teacher. She is very artistic, keeps a beautiful, organized home and spends many hours of service in her children's school, in her extended family and in her church callings. Her most time-consuming activity is "mother" and she does it willingly and beautifully!

Paige, 11 is an avid reader, enjoys 4-H activities, is an very fine pianist, and an exceptional student. Hunter, 9 is a good friend at home and at school and a great student, loves karate, plays softball and is loving scouts. Alexa 4, is pretty much in charge of everyone else in the family. She has a sense of what's going on in everyone's life and where and when everyone should be doing what it is that should be done. Alexa also enjoys pre-school two days a week. Trust me... so does her mother:-)

Matt & Rachelle have a wonderful blog! Take a look around: http://rachelleandmatt.blogspot.com/

Come on, the rest of you de Paula children... get me your family pictures so I can get you up here on the blog!

Meeting the Wonderful Young Single Adults

Young Single Adult Activity
Uniondale, Long Island, NY

On Friday, 16 February we found our way back to Long Island from a day in Manhattan to attend a meeting/party of Young Single Adults. Our purpose was to get to know these young people and hopefully spark an interest in attending an Old Testament CES class.

We're not sure if a class will materialize, but we surely had a great time with these darling young people. They range from non-member, to less active members to active returned missionaries. It was so great to see them mingle and have fun.

The Uniondale Meetinghouse in a quaint wooden structure nestled in a residential neighborhood just a few miles from Hofstra University, the largest private university on Long Island. One of the fine young men we met last night, Caleb Wilkes (top row left) is from Cedar Hill, Utah and is finishing up law school at Hofstra in May. Elder de Paula happens to know his father from a Church Office carpool several years ago. Small world.

The meeting was to begin at 6:30pm, so of course we were there at 6:20pm. Seeing lights on inside, we pounded on the locked door for about five minutes in the freezing cold before returning to our car and pondered what to do. Now it was 6:32 pm. There was one lone car in the parking lot behind the church when Elder de Paula spotted a back door to the church. He rang a bell and asked if they could unlock the front door for the meeting. Their surprised reply told the whole story, "But the meeting doesn't start until until 6:30!"

We're learning a whole new modus operandi here in the mission field.

PS: Take a moment...post a comment...it makes us smile:-)

De Paulas Loving Second Mission

Updates from "The Island"

This is our second mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our first call was a two-year assignment at the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo Brazil. Our mission here in New York is for 12 months - December 2007 to Dec 2008. All of our classes aren't set up and running as we would have liked by now, but that's the way things are in the mission field - especially working with the 18-30 year-old age group. Especially true, considering that distances and circumstances are so vast. We are grateful to have extra time now to study, in depth, for the CES lessons that we teach and will be teaching. At present, that turns out to be a minimum of 4-6 hours a day.

Back in Utah, we left our five children, their spouses, soon-to-be twelve stunningly beautiful and highly intelligent grandchildren, and an 85-year-old mother (who has served two missions) and a wonderful, supportive extended family. Also included in the list of those we left behind are mourning piano students, dear friends and loving ward members.

We look forward to visits from our family members and friends while we are here. New York is a marvelous place to visit, with much to see and do in every venue of entertainment.

Take a look around Long Island:

http://www.longislandtourism.com/default.asp
http://hot-links.ws/
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2858140-cat-Tourist+Attractions+&+Sightseeing-long_island_city_things_to_do-i

The Happy Sound of the Long Island Rail Road!

Oooooh It's just wonderful and it runs east and west, day and night the full breadth of Long Island crossing our street - Penataquit Avenue - a block and a half north. It is about the only sound we hear at night - a far cry from the non-stop night sounds in Queens or Manhattan. Most temple-goers from the Island use the LIRR (plus one subway stop) to get to the Manhattan Temple. Parking is impossible or very expensive in Manhattan.

Long Island, New York is located just east of Manhattan on the southeastern tip of New York State. It is comprised of four counties; Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk. In reality, the heart of Long Island is Nassau and Suffolk, while Brooklyn and Queens are considered part of the five boroughs of New York City.

Long Island offers diversity - excitement or solitude - all within 125 miles. The quiet waters of Long Island Sound to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south are a great combination for vacationers. The "reward" for living through a winter on Long Island is the spectacular spring with trees, wildlife, flowering bushes and shrubs, and flowers of many varieties. We can hardly wait for the colorful array!

Long Island Facts:
NASSAU COUNTY - Population 1.3 million Area 287 sq.miles
SUFFOLK COUNTY - Population 1.4 million Area 911 sq. miles