Mixing with the Rich and Famous

Brother Chris George, whom I have mentioned many times, who is our WSR manager, had an appointment to meet with some of the administrators and faculty of Teachers' College, which is associated with Columbia University. Others from the WSR department and from the Seventy were invited, but if they could not make it, he wanted us to join so he would have an entourage. They couldn't make it, so we were drafted in. The Teachers' College was the first to establish a graduate school of education in the country. It started as a small school that taught immigrants the arts of cooking, sewing, and home management, but quickly grew to be a highly respected school of education. Within a few years of its existence, it was incorporated into Columbia University. It is still semi-autonomous from the University, but clearly affiliated. The Church made a donation for research in the field of psychology last year and they would like the same this year, naturally. Chris was careful not to make promises, because the Church typically does not fund such things. This exception occured because it is felt that we need better tools in the area of mental health.

A couple of the areas of the college that
the funding supports, serves children with
mental/emotional challenges

Far right is Chris George, Manager Welfare and Self
Reliance Services for Boston, New Jersey, New York,
and Manchester. Far right is Holly Smith, Church 
Communications Director for this area. The women in
the middle are faculty and administrators. The men
and the woman next to Holly are PhD students.

We were given a thorough tour of the facilities including the testing centers, library, play therapy center, etc. They also had us on Zoom to meet with an administrator and two student interns of a high school that is utilizing their services.

Across 120th Street and in a few blocks is the quad of the University. It is an impressive set of 
structures. Me, Holly, Olivia, Chris

Looking like Aslan, is the university's
mascot, the Lion

A view that gives a little of the massive quad. It
was almost 50°, so several shorts, sleeveless shirts,
even men on skateboards with no shirts on campus. 

Columbia, herself.

It was lunchtime by the time we left. Holly is a labor and delivery nurse and had worked all night, so she needed to get home. We went with Chris to a lunch place recommended by some app he has on his phone. As we neared that place, he exclaimed, "Hey, that looks like the diner in Seinfeld." He looked that up, and he was right. We had no other choice. 

Now wheelchair accessible, it is the actual Tom's
Restaurant.

The Seinfeld memorabilia is starting
to fade a little, but it was New York-
reasonably priced, with good service.

  

Try this link:

https://youtu.be/AFg65_r89EU

We sat in the very booth where Jerry and George (Jason Alexander) sat to film the ad for the 2014 Super Bowl. Now, thanks to COVID, the booth is enclosed in glass. Requests for autographs are pouring in, but, really, we are busy at the moment. See us in March 2024.

Back in the day...

Much of Wednesday and Thursday we worked with candidates for Employment Services. This service is very rewarding, because they all seem so appreciative of what we do for them. We do have lots of tools in our bag for them, but much of what they come to learn is that they are capable of more and that they have the Spirit to guide them in their pursuits.

We did manage a couple of walks in the neighborhood. Other days include a lot of hoofing in the city. Nothing is close to anything, so you walk to the subway, then walk to your ultimate destination. In the neighborhood, we were blessed to see the promise of spring in a rather neglected front yard (I think that term originated in NY, because that's how big the yards are - a yard). 

Next to the sidewalk are a cluster of
snowdrops

Along the walk to the front door were
crocuses among the snowdrops. 

We have had a couple of Spring-like days, but it's still mostly chilly. Still, the trees are starting to bud and the birds are very active. Hope thrives.

We were scheduled for an activity on Saturday, so we made an appointment with the sisters whose apartment we had inspected a month ago. They had never replaced the toilet seat with the one we purchased for them, so we arranged to come over and do that before we went to the Woodside Stake Center for our activity. It turned out that we had much more to do there, so luckily, we had given ourselves an hour. The toilet seat was no easy task because it is so close to the cabinet that houses the sink, so while I was working with that, Olivia put on the shower curtain that we had bought for them. While doing that, she noticed that the area around the drain in the tub was dirty. Looking into the drain she discovered that it was loaded with hair. There are now four sisters in the apartment, all of whom sport long, flowing hair which does not flow down the drain.

Good ole multitool. This is one of 
several globs I pulled out of the drain.
The sisters promised to buy a drain trap.
They won't, but they intend to. They are
unbelievably busy. They had baptisms again
yesterday. They will again this week.

Once per month there is a senior couples' activity that is hosted by one couple for the benefit of the rest of us. This month was a Valentine theme. We got to meet the Aagards who just arrived and the Littles who left this morning (Monday). The Aagards were in the MTC at the same time as Olivia's sister, Jennifer. She met them and sent us a picture. The Littles have been serving in the office and will be sorely missed.

This is what fogies look like when having fun.

Sister Packer teaching one of her dances. 

White Elephant exchange. The couple at the end
are talking to each other using ASL. She is partially
hearing, he is deaf. On the previous photo, he dances
anyway. Good people.

At a previous activity, Sister Little claimed to have
been hiking and actually found a human toe. Some-
one asked her what she did and she said she called
a toe truck. Here she is giving each of us a parting
gift: a toe she had fashioned from a marshmallow
peanut with an almond for a toenail.

Elder Little being greeted by Elder
Packer

As is required, all senior activities conclude with a
meal. This activity had a light lunch at the beginning
and a full dinner at the end. Sister Little talking to
Elder and Sister Easton.

Sunday, we got out of the apartment early to catch the subway to 53rd St. where we walked 2 blocks underground to catch another train to the building that serves as the New York YSA Stake Center, where the Manhattan 2nd Ward meets. We were able to meet with Josh Porter, the stake high councilor responsible for Self Reliance who was there to give a talk about what it means to be a disciple of Christ. We went primarily to meet with Hillary Woodward who is a ward self-reliance specialist and who has been giving mini lessons to the newly baptized members of the ward every Wednesday this month. We had a nice, long talk about how we can be of service and the advantage of her getting together with the stake self-reliance specialist to meet needs that are obvious in the ward. When Hillary went to class, we happened to meet the Relief Society President, so we were able to plant some ideas that she will take back to her presidency to implement. We also met with an employment candidate for whom we had prepared a resume to get her approval.

It is a beautiful building on the upper east side of
Manhattan. Looking through the branches, you
can see the steeple.

The windows from the inside are 
especially interesting. I set up the
computer here for a Zoom meeting
after church.

Olivia liked this window because it
is not only beautiful, but because
someone is taking care of a nice plant.

On the outside, this window is a full circle. We really
enjoyed the care that went into making this building
stand out as something special in the neighborhood.

That evening we had our monthly Zoom meeting with the specialists and other officers from each stake in the mission. We are seeing a lot of movement among more and more of the stakes. We encouraged more courses that can go onto QuickReg where members of other stakes can join, so that when a bishop, RS president, EQ president or others see the need, there could be a course starting in just a couple of weeks. We got a lot of positive comments and acknowledgements from the ideas floated that evening.

At 9:30 PM every Sunday is a mission devotional and I finally got a screenshot of the gathering. Of course there are several pages of participants, but this is what we see. What we hear is always a spiritually uplifting evening. Last night was the parting testimonies from Elder and Sister Little and three companionships sharing miracles they had witnessed during the week.

Top middle are Pres. and Sister Holmes. To their
left are Olivia and me. In the highlighted tile are
sisters who had been asked to share the miracles
they have witnessed.

That's it for this week. Today, we met the Eastons (he is the housing missionary) in the apartment next door, where the Sturgills lived about 5 months ago. A new couple are moving in this week, so we will dust and clean so they have a nice place to come to live when they arrive. The care our apartment got before we came was amazing. The Sturgills left this one very clean, so not a lot more is needed.

All our best wishes to each and all of you. We know you are doing your best and we love the comments we receive. Until next week...