Church in NYC

So I have been meaning to post about the church here. We are in the Manhattan 1st ward which would generally meet at the Temple/Lincoln Center location, but as I mentioned before, it is being remodeled- we are hoping that we will be able to meet in that building at least once before we leave here. (The deadline is set for our Stake Conference in November.) We will see!

So this is the East side building where we meet currently. It is really beautiful and the kids love the elevator. I still have to think twice about which floor to pick the kids up from primary and which floor is nursery. The Relief Society (women's organization) meets on the 5th floor, right where that cool circle window is in the picture!

Joe is really loving the fact that they want to utilize him for all of his musical talents. He has been playing the organ off and mostly on since we have been here and has accompanied several musical numbers. He is a very happy person when he can share the talents that the Lord has blessed him with.

Zac- formerly known as Zach, has been enjoying the scouting program here and has excellent leaders. He has always had wonderful leaders, which we are so grateful to! He generally meets at the Temple building for his activities; we love that it is so close. He is eager to turn twelve and be ordained a deacon, to begin in the Young Men's program, passing the sacrament, and scouts.

Kaija and Bella are glad to be involved with the Achievement Days for the girls- they had a great stake activity for them on Friday night (which is when they hold all of their youth programs). They celebrated Pres. Monson's (belated) birthday and followed his wish that for his birthday all he wanted was for everyone to do something kind for someone else. They had some fun activities to learn about him and played Monson BINGO, created service jars with ideas on how to serve someone each day, and made a bag of treats to give to someone with a hand made note. Bella gave hers to our Concierge Seth- it made him smile. Which reminds me, today as we were walking in from church our Concierge, St. John, asked us how church was today and was so thrilled to see a family attending church on Sunday-in our building and in this city it is often a rare occurrence. He was just oozing with delight that we would use our time to worship God. It makes one feel good!

Eli has done marvelously with nursery-this is the bulletin ELI ATTENDS NURSERY WITHOUT A FIGHT OR ENDLESS TEARS- yes miracles never cease.

The primary and youth programs are all relatively small- there has been no complaining though; I think the kids feel comfortable with a smaller group where they shine a little more!
All in all it has just been a wonderful experience for us, and the beauty of the church is that it is the same where ever you go- same structure, same lessons, same pure doctrine and great fellowship with the members!