Getting to the Goal Post

Tuesday was a day of meetings. We had agreed to skip this week's meeting with our WSR manager, Chris George, but because the enthusiasm of Sunday's coordinating council meeting for the video bled over to several other stakes wanting to have it, we thought it necessary, or at least advisable, to get his input. He felt that it was still fine to go ahead. If it is a solution to the challenge of in-person Self-Reliance Devotionals, he will show it to his superiors as a recommendation. It has not gone through correlation for approval, so it can't be used on a general basis. We told him that if he loses his job over it, we will put Elder and Sister Packer, the Employment Services missionaries, on the alert in case he needs to seek another career.

We raced from that meeting to our district council meeting where the missionaries were quite sure we would meet our district's goals for the month. I should have done a screen shot on Sunday, because the Zone was one of only a few that actually achieved and exceeded its goals. Most were way off. The mission had set a goal of 155 baptisms and actually achieved 136, which is a phenomenal achievement, but short of the goal. The missionaries had been looking forward to April, when they would achieve a goal of 200 new members. Hopefully, they will scale back to something more reasonable. They had been exceeding their goals, because they were so careful in what they were allowed to count in goal setting.

Each companionship discusses goals and what was
actually achieved each week. Elders Huerta and
Fairchild

Elders Moser and Asay. I didn't get Elders Larsen
and Summers photo.

Of course, Elders Asay and
Moser did, too.

But they did baptize.

One of these days (maybe tomorrow, but probably not) we will take pictures of our Employment devotional. Elder Packer has COVID, so we'll probably wait a week for pictures. We have a spiritual thought by one of the senior missionaries and a meal by another. It is called for in the handbook, but since the Packers are the only true Employment missionaries, it's really just a time to socialize. This time, Olivia made a lot of progress on her family history with her 5th cousin, Elder Hunsaker who helps in both employment and family history on Tuesday afternoons.

Tuesday ended in a call to our grandson, Ollie, to wish him a happy birthday. We then talked to his mother, Hannah, and stayed up until 11:30 PM.

These children get to decorate their
own birthday cakes. Your kids will
recognize this video game.

Wednesday we helped with Zone Conference. It is always a good time to see the other senior missionaries in the Brooklyn and Woodside zones and to see young missionaries whom we have come to know and love. President and Sister Holmes also spend a good deal of the time training and teaching the doctrine of the Kingdom. Those parts are always uplifting and helpful for us. The missionaries learn the doctrine that helps them improve their teaching and finding. This time, as we did six weeks ago, the missionaries got box lunches from Panera, so they were well fed and we didn't have to serve them. We only set up and then cleaned up after. Olivia and several of the other senior sisters set up tables and sewing machines to mend clothes the young missionaries brought; some too worn out to do much, but they figure it out and do their best. "Please make these pants last just another 6 months!"

President Holmes teaching the young
missionaries about the meaning..

...of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob 5. Then
he taught how to daily invite the people who have
committed to come to church. "Comin' to church,
Bro?" is acting "Below the badge." Teach doctrine.

Olivia with Sisters Shiley and Robertson
figuring out how to mend some things.

Setting up the cultural hall for the missionaries who
will shortly be there.

Thursday found us in the Union Square Employment Center, as usual. This time, again, we were there alone as the Packer's zone had their conference that day. We met some candidates with different needs than we had solutions. We met with Pavel, one of our Russian friends, to find that he has found a program with Brooklyn College that will accept his Russian bachelor's degree, will help him get a student visa, cover his tuition, give him a dorm room, provide him a job on campus, and that will allow him to get his master's degree. We are anxious to see if that program actually exists.

Helping Pavel complete his resume

We also met with another Russian man who is from an ethnic minority that typically lives in Siberia, near Lake Baikal. I'm guessing (based on Wikipedia) he and the woman who accompanied to interpret for him are Buryat, a type of Mongol people. He is a wounded veteran of the Russian army, but was eligible for conscription back into the army with the Ukrainian war. Russia's ethnic cleansing according to the two of them, puts these minorities to the front, so he had to make his escape along with his younger brother. He is a highly qualified plumbing and HVAC engineer who had his own company, when his family emigrated to St. Petersburg, but he had to liquidate in order to leave Russia. Unfortunately, he speaks only a few words of English and had only been the country a week or so. His escort was somehow under the impression that we have jobs on the shelf that we could just hand to him, so they left pretty disappointed.

Mikhail and Udval looking at some options.

Olivia worked with Elder and Sister Engstrom, who brought in Lizette. She is deaf and has never worked a day in her life. She seems to be in her early 40s, going by her resume. So it is a new game for her. It was new for us, too. We didn't have Elder and Sister Packer with us, so Olivia did what she could until we could speak with them. We found that there is an organization in NYC that can help her prepare for and get a job. It is not simple, but it can be done.

Sister Engstrom with Lizette

We were invited to the Lynbrook Stake Conference sessions on Saturday and Sunday. It was a real treat to be there. We had hoped to talk more with Sister Baxter and Brother Craig, but Brother Craig had other responsibilities, so we only saw him briefly between the leadership and adult sessions. Sister Baxter was everywhere trying to get the translation services working and supervising the meal that was served between sessions. She also gave a talk, as it seems she usually does. We did get to say hi, but not much more. We did get to meet the new counselor in the stake presidency, President De La Hoz. He is going to record his testimony and welcome on the video, so we talked with him quite a bit. We are being asked to do the video in Spanish, too, so while his first language is English, he will bear his testimony in Spanish and in English. Our daughter-in-law, Ruth has agreed to translate the script into Spanish for us. Sister Miller, a professional actor that I mentioned last week, has a friend who is a Spanish-speaking radio broadcaster whom she will recruit to record the Spanish video. Sister Wang, whom we met a few blog post back, has agreed to do the Mandarin translation.

We have several pictures of Sister Baxter, because
she is involved in everything. We just love her!

The attendees of the leadership session attended
the meal in between sessions.

Among those at our table were Olivia and me
(she is concentrating on the selfie), we don't know
the man with the purple tie, Pres. De La Hoz,
Pres. Peguero, Sister and Elder Duncan.

The conference visiting authority was Vaiangina Sikahema. Of course, we remember him as Vai Sikahema from BYU, who set a record for punt returns in the NCAA, and had the record for the longest punt return in the NFL at the time of his retirement. He was such a popular personality in Philadelphia that immediately upon his leaving football, he became a sports and news broadcaster. He was always very up front about his love for the Church and his testimony. He served as a bishop and stake president before becoming an Area Seventy for a year and in 2021 he became a General Authority Seventy. We had a couple of opportunities to talk with him after the adult session on Saturday and after the Sunday general session, because he has served his mission in Rapid City, SD and on the Pineridge Reservation, both places that Olivia knew well from when her father was the mission president in the late 1960s.

Elder and Sister Duncan Elder Sikahema and us

He is so generous with his teachings and his time. He thanked the translators and would give them a scripture reference and wait for them to look it up before continuing. He thanked everyone for singing in their own language and even invited the stake patriarch's wife to bear her testimony in Mandarin while her husband interpreted. He did the same with the Korean branch president and a woman who was interpreting for the Korean saints. He called on several to bear testimony. Earlier, he had attended a missionary discussion with a brother who was scheduled for baptism and showed pictures during the session. He has a relative (he called her a niece, but she is his 2nd cousin's daughter) who is newly called to this mission speaking Mandarin. It was a couple of very uplifting days - and fruitful for us.

Sister Lee from Korea, bearing her
testimony about finding the Church

Talking with the stake patriarch who
was only 52 when he was called, which
is an exception. The handbook states that
the patriarch must be at least 55 years of age.

I'll mention today rather than wait for next week. On Friday, we sat down with the couple next door, the Barnes, to decide when and where to go to see the best blooms of the season this year. Today, we went to Macy's, where they have an annual flower show on the ground level. It was a spectacular display of flowers from all over. I'll just share the pictures - I think you'll see why we were impressed.