New York

The day after we got back from Oregon, we booked a flight to New York for early the next morning. A church there asked us to candidate with them for a week.

We got to JFK airport around 11pm and were picked up by an elder in the church.

While getting off the turnpike, we had a tire blowout on the freeway. Thankfully, we were able to pull over on the last bit of shoulder. The courageous elder spent over an hour trying to get his spare tire dislodged from the vehicle.

Once on the road again, we drove around two hours north of the city. A perfect time for answering candidating questions ;)

We arrived at the hotel around three in the morning.

It was a beautiful hotel, and we were ready for some sleep. Just as we got tucked into bed around four in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Thinking it may be a drill, we called the front desk only to find out that there was smoke in the lobby. So we got dressed and headed outside.

They had everyone file into the tent which was set up on the hotel grounds. We found that we were the only Caucasians there among Indians, Asians and Jewish people. It was fun to see the different cultures. At long last, we were able to head back into our rooms as the dawn was rising just before six in the morning.

The church people were very kind, and we enjoyed getting to know them.

We were there on the fourth of July and were able to celebrate Independence Day in New York.

The church took us to see a festive parade.

After the parade, William was able to try his hand at the grill at a cookout.

That night, William and I were able to see some fireworks while eating ice cream—yum!

While we were there, we had many opportunities to get to know several people from the church.

Once the elders found out that William’s family was only an hour south of the church, they invited the family out to hear William preach. It was wonderful to have some time with them.

After spending a week with the church, the elders asked us if we would be willing to spend an additional week in New York by staying with William’s parents and preaching again the following Sunday. We accepted.

It was a blessing to be able to spend some additional time in William’s childhood home as his parents were moving to Pennsylvania the next month.

The Costello ladies.

The Costello men.

William spent many hours studying for his sermon.

It was great to spend a couple of evenings with the family.

We even got a little comedy in with Bryan Regan.

Before we left, William was able to trim the hedges one last time.