Tuesday, 9-6-2011
Moimers and Family!
That's so exciting to think of Sarah and Jon and the house renovation! Good job kids! And Naters graduating and going who knows where, eek!
I'm actually living in Pompton Lakes, not Pompton Plains. We are in a two story apartment above another family who live on the main floor and basement. We have a separate entrance though, so we aren't connected to their living quarters. They are soooo awesome. They're a Muslim family and they just finished celebrating Ramadan. They fast for a month except for a few hours a day, and at the end they feast and visit family for 4 days. They made us tasty cookies. And their kids (Aya, Hussein, and Abdullah) are constantly helping us with groceries or talking to us about bikes or trampolines. Kids!
Two huge things happened this week. I'll start with the more depressing.
The hurricane really wasn't bad. But the flood aftermath was terrible. Most bridges weren't accessible for 2 weeks. And thousands of homes were flooded. Nearly every street in many cities around us has tons of debris. People have to get everything out of their homes, then clear out the carpets and walls, and put it in their front yards. So there are mountains of furniture, drywall, stuff, fridges, washing machines, etc. on most lawns. This week we haven't done a lot of proselyting because we've been helping with clean up. The insulation comes out in long strips, with brown goo all over it, and it looks like the worms from Tremors. The worst part of the clean up is that, in New Jersey, they have septic tanks instead of regular sewer lines. So when the flood came, it brought up a lot of you know what into people's homes. Going into cellars, basements, and garages that are full of that is awful. Not just the smell, but picking up piles of stuff covered in it. Out stake president cancelled church besides a 30 minute Sacrament meeting, and the entire stake, plus some others, and a lot of missionaries spent all of Sunday and Labor Day helping the community. I think there were 700 people helping out. It was tiring, but really great. We helped a lady, Debra, and her husband Felix clear out their home. When we got there she was still in shock. She had no idea where to start, or if she even wanted to. To us, it was just stuff to be moved, but for her, it was all memories. Even though it was covered in muck, it was still hard for her to say goodbye. She picked up a whale stuffed animal and told me her husband had won it for her on their second date at a carnival. It was really sad. Sister Cope and I were so grateful when we got home to a non-flooded apartment with food, and a washer, and warmth. We are very blessed.
On a less sad note, I went to Ellis Island this week! We drove in through the Korea Town of Jersey City and left through Little India. When we rounded a corner I saw...The City!!! We were allowed to cross a secret bridge to get to Ellis Island instead of taking the ferry. I got to go through the back rooms to the Family History Center. Once in, we strolled around computers and asked people if they needed help with anything. You look up a name and then act like a detective to figure out which in the millions is your family name. You can search their ethnicity or where they were going. You can see their ship and ship manifest, which lists their occupation and people they were visiting in the U.S. It was cool. We ate lunch in their cafeteria, and had to hover over our food since there were many, many pigeons and seagulls around. It was neat sitting on the large patio, listening to all sorts of languages, and seeing the Statue of Liberty, and the Manhattan skyline. Look at this one--all corporate! Then we went back in, but because it was slow, they let us sit in on a 20 minute play. I guess it's the 150th anniversary or something, and so they were commemorating it with a stage production about Emma Lazarus, the woman who wrote "The New Colossus." (And thanks to Popsy, I have that one memorized!) It was very interesting. I was sad to leave at the end of the day, but I'm excited to go again at the end of September.
Well, I love you all. Keep safe, and enjoy Utah because it's the best place on earth!
I love you,
Sister Mistifer
