<I>Staff photo by E.J. Harris</I><BR>Lonnie and Judy Lloyd recently returned from serving a mission in New York City. Lonnie is a retired educator, who taught at several area schools, including special education and as a counselor, and Judy worked at Sunset Elementary School for 16 years as a classroom and library aid.

After a few months in New York City, Hermiston residents Lonnie and Judy Lloyd fit in like native New Yorkers.

“We were kind of scared,” Lonnie admitted about their initial plans to visit the Big Apple.

The experience included a major dose of culture shock for the couple who has lived in Eastern Oregon since 1972, when Lonnie landed his first teaching job in Burns.

However, Lonnie learned to board the subway like a local and took Judy along for the ride.

“She’d just stand there and I’d say, ‘Get in here or you’ll stand there forever’, ” Lonnie recalled.

Lonnie said his wife was “always kind of nervous” about the subway. However, Judy had a valid reason for her increased anxiety.

Unbeknownst to her, until it was too late, she got out at a stop in Harlem with the rest of the group still in the subway train.

She didn’t have her identification or any money, but started asking for directions.

Luckily they had a game plan in case anyone in the group got separated. Judy hopped back on the train and found her husband and friends peering through the windows of the subway from the platform at the next stop.

“That was scary for me,” Judy said. But when I got out, we found out I had gotten off at the right stop,” Judy said.

In short time, Judy realized she didn’t have to be fearful, but rather needed to be aware of her surroundings.

And at night, oftentimes the subway became a moving entertainment venue with people break-dancing.

“They’d jump around and on the weekends – it got wild,” Judy said.

The Hermiston couple saw the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, visited Coney Island, saw shows on Broadway and at Carnegie Hall, visited Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty and saw the Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall.

They also enjoyed people-watching in Times Square and going for walks in Central Park.

Although they experienced the sights and sounds of NYC, the real purpose for their 18-month visit was to serve a mission with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They worked at the Manhattan New York Temple and a local church branch in Brooklyn from June 2006 until December 2007.

“It was in the ‘hood,” Judy said about the small church in one of the city’s boroughs.

“It was in a rough neighborhood,” Lonnie added.

And the Lloyds made up the minority, as the church included people from Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and the West Indies.

“It was like a foreign country,” Lonnie said.

Members at the church were intrigued with Judy’s hair.

“They would run their fingers through my hair and they’d say, ‘It’s so soft,'” she said.

Lonnie said while walking down the streets of New York, he could pick out those who were from the city, based on the lack of eye contact.

“And even if they wouldn’t look you in the eye, they would hug you and give you a kiss on the cheek,” Judy said. “So when I came back home I was ready to hug and kiss everyone.”

After 16 years as a library and teacher’s aide in the Hermiston School District, Judy retired in 1999. Close on her heels, Lonnie retired from Armand Larive Middle School in 2001, where he was an assistant to the principal.

The Lloyds, who have been married for 42 years, knew eventually they wanted to serve on a mission together.

“We feel fortunate we were able to retire early enough and have the funds to go,” Judy said.

“It was an incredible 18 months,” Lonnie added.

The couple met while going to high school in Cokeville, Wyo., however they didn’t get together until several years later.

While working on a ranch after serving on a mission just out of high school, a friend encouraged Lonnie to meet up with Judy. She had recently returned from Salt Lake City, where she had been working as a beautician.

“‘She came home. You ought to go down there and check out that Judy Murdock,'” Lonnie recalled being told.