Teach All Nations

 I have observed almost since arriving in New York, that this place is a fulfillment of the Lord's injunction to go to all nations, teaching and baptizing. This week we saw more evidence of that. I will discuss the context for the meetings we were in later, but these are so fascinating, I put them in first.

We were invited to participate and assist in an employment workshop in Brooklyn. As we entered the church, we were greeted by several people. One of them was a man who was quite hard to understand, but said his name was George. 

Sister Austin, one of the stake Self
Reliance specialists, helping George

George was anxious to show us his temple recommend. He was baptized less than a month ago and had been to the temple for the first time. Olivia sat with him for a few minutes and got his conversion story. George is from Pakistan where he was a college professor. Of course, here he has no credentials, so he came for help in his job search. Because his English is not good, when he met with the missionaries, he called his brother in Pakistan who teaches English, to interpret for him. While Christianity is tolerated in that country, conversion to a different religion can be dangerous. Still, as George received the lessons, his brother became more and more interested. When George was baptized in Brooklyn, his brother had found a small unit of the Church and was baptized in Pakistan, a country where missionaries are not allowed. 

Sister Olive Wang is a dermatologist practicing in Queens, but living on Long Island. She is the 2nd Counselor in the stake Relief Society and attended the sacrament meeting where we went to church on Sunday. We have had a lot of interaction with her in the past, but never had the opportunity to hear her story. You may remember that she translated for us when we presented at the Chinese ward in Flushing.

Sister Wang took several minutes to
share her conversion story with us
after Sacrament Meeting

After completing her studies in China, Olive came to this country to complete her medical studies. She was at a very low point in her life with little money, no scholarship, rent coming due and separated from her family. She had known the man who was now her husband for much of her life, but they didn't become romantically involved until both were in university, which is when they married. Now they were apart, she in America, he in Norway completing his education. They had a baby who was in China with her mother. 

It was at this low point that missionaries approached her on the street and started a conversation. She said that the missionary who was talking to her glowed and what he said touched a part of her that she had never felt before. Something she could not describe, but gave a distinct impression that what the elder was saying was true. He then asked for her contact information, but immediately the feeling left because she was reluctant to share that information.

Later, she happened to see the missionaries again, and they recognized her, but she didn't recognize them because they had "glowed" the first time. This time they offered to teach her and she accepted. What she heard touched her deeply and she joined the Church.

Her husband was not a fan and tried to convince her not to join. He sent her anti-Mormon literature that he found on the internet, but she was not fazed. She wrote back to him that she could not deny what she now recognizes as the Holy Ghost verifying the truth of the message. A friend helped her find a Church building in the city where he lived in Norway, and he found that it was only a 10 minute walk, so he made the trek. He found that the people and the message were very appealing. He continued to learn and when he had to go to Umeå, Sweden, to complete an internship, he joined the Church there. Of course, we had been to Umeå many times, so that interested us very much.

"My family is all in China," she told us. "I'm the only one who lives outside of China...oh, except my niece! She just joined the Church and is coming here to go to BYU Idaho." 

"Who introduced your niece to the Church?" we asked, rather surprised. 

"Well, I did...and my mother. Also, my aunt, her mother." 

It turned out that her mother was interested in this new religion her daughter had embraced. She read the material Olive sent to her and somehow found that there was a small unit of the Church in their city. She was baptized. Later, her aunt was baptized, and then her niece. She described how they have to meet and how someone can be baptized. A person may only be baptized if an immediate family member is a member of the religion. She was at home visiting at the time, so it was allowed. Because the aunt was her mother's sister, she was allowed, then, of course, the niece.

To hold church, they go to an apartment one or two at a time. They pray and study together, but don't sing or do anything that would draw unwanted attention to them to avoid scrutiny. They have a couple of men who hold the priesthood, so baptisms and sacrament can take place. They are looking forward to the new temple in Shanghai.  

Olive and her husband now live on Long Island with their 2 beautiful daughters, ages 13 and 6. Brother Wang serves on the high council, and she is in the stake Relief Society. 

Stories like this are repeated over and over again in this blessed area. It fills our hearts to hear them.

AND we got to do some missionary work tied with our Self Reliance responsibilities. We are not assigned to a ward, so we try to attend a sacrament meeting in a place where we need to make contact with someone. We had not intended to meet Olive at this meeting. We wanted, instead, to meet with the Relief Society president, Sister Baxter, who also lives in the Lynbrook Ward. It turned out that Sister Baxter had just returned from a lengthy trip and brought back a COVID infection with her, so she was quarantined. That aside, as we entered the building, we were met by a couple of missionaries who immediately told us that they had a friend (in fact they had more than one investigator) who was sitting on the back pew with her 2 year-old son. They asked if we would introduce ourselves.

The Lynbrook chapel. Walk through the doors and
go upstairs for the chapel and downstairs to the 
classrooms, offices and the Employment Center.
It is a beautiful, functional building with parking!

Olivia made her way into the chapel and immediately sat down by her. This was Andrea's first time in church (she was raised Roman Catholic), as they visited Olivia told her why we were missionaries. She told the young woman about the courses offered and when she mentioned Starting and Growing My Business, there was immediate interest. On Monday, Olivia contacted her by text and got her in touch with the facilitator. Several times, Olivia bore testimony to her, both at sacrament meeting and by SMS. After sacrament meeting she took her little boy home for a snack, but came back because a member invited her return for the ward's monthly Linger Longer meal. She enjoyed the camaraderie and had a long talk with another woman whom the missionaries had invited to church.  

I mentioned our involvement in the Employment Workshop set up by the Brooklyn Stake. It was exciting to be actually in the thick of things, helping people with their "me in 30 seconds" statements, power statements and discussing how to make them stand out from the other applicants for a job. Elder and Sister Packer have been doing this for 18 months and are quite expert at it, so it was good to see them in action.

This young woman had to drop out of college prior
to graduating, but found that she has talent working
with people from toddlers to senior citizens. She
is a certified life coach, but is unsure what to do. I
talked to her about the upcoming Start and Grow My
Business class. She is very interested. She will be
receiving her own endowment this month, as well.

President Borden is a counselor in the
Brooklyn Stake Presidency. He is so
committed to all aspects of Self 
Reliance that he organized this event.

President Borden and his wife are the
facilitators for the Start and Grow My
Business that will start this month.

Sister Baez is one of three Self 
Reliance stake specialists. Her
responsibility is organizing classes
for Spanish-speaking members. She
interpreted for the afternoon.

Olivia is helping this young man with
his "me in 30 seconds" project. His 
goal is to play for the NFL. He hasn't
played football in college or for a 
significant high school, so she helped
him with a couple other goals, as well.

Half of those attending were Spanish-speaking
members, including this table. The woman standing
is a professional with a lot of experience. 

Sister Packer is teaching. Olivia and I watched for
opportunities to assist wherever we could.

Juel needs a job, but is only interested in writing 
and performing Rap music. A lot of effort has gone
into helping him find other interests until that 
happens.

Marie Jean-Baptiste is from Haiti and will be 
facilitating Finding a Better Job class in Haitian 
Creole. She is a highly educated woman looking
for specialized employment, as well.

Elder and Sister Packer keeping the momentum 
and excitement moving.

I wanted to also share some pictures from a walk we took this week. We had seen this church once before, but couldn't remember exactly how to find it again. The first time we were in a hurry and couldn't stop, but we took some time to find it and see what it was about, this week. The Church of the Resurrection is an Episcopal denomination. We had only seen the back of the place, which looks like it is in some disrepair. This time we also walked around the block to the front for a whole different aspect.

The plaque on the wall of the 
Parish house

The back of the Parish House. You can see why we
thought it was in some disrepair.

The path to the back of the chapel.

Apparently the NY Landmark 
Conservancy is funding the rejuvenation
of this building.

It is also designated as a National
Historic Site, which helps with funding
to keep it up.

The front of this old building is quite
beautiful. It is still in use, apparently.

She is a super woman, but does not
have X-ray vision. The sign says the
same thing on both sides. It is the first
church built in Richmond Hill, which is
where we live. Some very interesting
history is on the sign.

Well, if you made it all the way to this point, good for you. I know it is a long post, but I did not want anyone to miss the significance of the mission to all parts of the world. That is the mission in which you and we are involved, no matter where you are. It is the mission that guides us to guide our children and to prepare us all for an increasingly global church, for Christ is a global deity. Our loyalty to Him is guided by our love for Him and for that we make and keep sacred covenants. 

We hope you have a wonderful week.