Yearly Archives: 2025

A few weeks ago, a middle-aged woman dressed in a clean, but old t-shirt and jeans visited us at the employment office. She was loud. She talked like she had…

Brian and I were able to take a quick trip to Utah last week for the baby blessing of our grand-daughter, Chloe May. Chloe is a beautiful, sweet baby and…

Two Boots pizza is just a few blocks from us but we had not tried it until Monday. It's a fun, kid-friendly pizza place with some interesting pizza names and…

Last Friday night we went to a terrific Indian restaurant in Midtown Manhattan with two other senior missionary couples; Elder Kory and Sister Carolyn Katseanes from Provo, Utah and Elder Doug and…

Last week, a job seeker named Teia come to the employment center. She recently moved to Brooklyn, NY from Moscow, Russia with her husband and daughter. She speaks no English…

Every Sunday night, we have a New York New York City Mission Devotional by zoom for all young and senior missionaries. Our mission President, Lance Taylor, is a friend and…

Last night, Brian and I went to eat Korean BQ with our missionary friends, Elder Gary and Sister Suzanne Bringhurst from Highland, Utah. They had never eaten kimchi and were…

Last Wednesday evening, Brian and I went to ChamberFest 2025 at The Juilliard School to see our Young Single Adult friend, Makenzie Hart, preform in a String Quartet. Makenzie plays…

As I was studying scriptures the other day I came across then President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "You Matter to Him" address from October 2011. He describes how we are nothing…

Yesterday Brian and I went to the Kingsbridge 2nd Ward in the Bronx. It took us an hour to get there by subway from our apartment. The Bishop asked us…

Sheila and I walked to Verdi Square (about 1/2 mile from where we live) and tried two more pizza by the slice places: "Pizza Collective" and "Made in New York…

While Sheila and I were walking to Grand Central Station in the falling snow from our missionary tour of the New York Public Library (https://brianbrandenburg.com/january-6-2025-stephen-a-schwarzman-building/), I saw my phone ring.…

Monday, January 6, the Senior Missionaries in our mission had a group activity. We took a tour of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as the Main Branch, the 42nd Street Library, or…

On Sunday, Brian and I attended two of the wards that meet at the Harlem Building. We rode the subway uptown. On the subway, we ran in to Mackenzie Hart,…

January, the month of resolutions, is a great time to do a little introspection, and then set and reset our goals for the year. Generally, our goals follow our dreams.…

We celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary with dinner at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The restaurant is a five minute walk from our apartment. The years have zipped…

Our mission president asked the young missionaries to be in their apartments at 5:00 pm on New Year's Eve, so Brian and I also followed that advice. During the day…

Brian and I went out to dinner at Rosa Mexicano with our friends, Elder and Sister Bringhurst (Gary and Suzanne) from Highland, Utah. They made the guacamole special, at our…