There's a New Sheriff in Town

And a new posse, too. This week was transfers, so most of Tuesday was taken up attending the mission transfers conference and helping move the new elders' luggage to their apartment. They will share the apartment with the district leader and his companion. The apartment is right behind our apartment building, so we could just take their luggage to our garage and wait until they were ready to move in. Elder Young, who has been our district leader was transferred to become a zone leader in another zone. Elder Asay is our new district leader. Elder Harris, who has been serving in the Far Rockaway branch was transferred to serve with Elder Clayton, an amazing district leader who is in a completely Spanish speaking area. It's exactly what Elder Harris needed. With the two new elders and the two new companions, we only know the two who were here before the transfer, so it's like a new district, entirely. We were able to meet them at the district council meeting the next day, but we were in a hurry, so we couldn't stay to get acquainted.

Two of our new district members: Elders Huerta
and Elder Fairchild

Elder Moser and the new District Leader, Elder Asay

 

Elder Rosas is headed home after a very successful
mission.  He was in our district when we arrived, 
and stayed for several transfers. We loved serving
with him.

He never held a leadership position, but
made a lot of leaders look very good.

That afternoon, we had to get quickly back to the apartment for a Zoom training with Employment Services to discuss what is happening with the new system. Things are in flux, so it has been a challenge getting information transferred from the old system to the new one. Now the old system is unavailable for a while, so it has been hard to keep good records. That meeting was followed by a Zoom meeting with an employment candidate in Canada. We are now working with several from eastern Canada. This one, Henri, is making good progress, so we felt good seeing his continued success. He is now in line for a promotion that jumps two steps above what he thought he would qualify for, plus other opportunities are opening outside his current position.  

I finally put the video that I have been working on for the Lynbrook Stake into rough draft form, so I could get it to the stake leaders for their input. Thursday, almost none of the people we expected to come to the Union Square Employment Center, actually came, so I took the opportunity to go into an office, close the door and put it into final form (for now). I was pleasantly surprised to find that both Sister Baxter, the stake RS president, and Brother Craig, the assigned HC, were enthusiastic about it. We now have even more resources available to us, as one of the new Self Reliance Specialists in the Brooklyn Stake is a professional actor (I guess "actress" is gauche these days), and has all kinds of amazing equipment to complete it in final form. 

The opening slide.

We attended two stake conferences this weekend. One in Plainview Stake and the other in Brooklyn Stake. Both were fruitful for us. Because there were two on the same weekend, we attended the Plainview Stake on Saturday afternoon and evening, then the Brooklyn Stake on Sunday. Plainview has been exceptionally reluctant at having the courses taught, so we wanted to see if some progress could be made. It turned out to be an exceptional opportunity. We arrived about a half hour early, so we drove around the building and found, on the other side, a man opening that side of the parking lot. We rolled down our window and introduced ourselves. It turned out to be President Richards, the Stake President. He told us that he was aware of us because Sister Nulty, the Stake RS President, had sung our praises. When the leadership session began, we were invited into a section with ward and stake RS and elders' quorum presidencies, ward mission leaders, and Sunday School presidencies. With President Richards conducting, we operated as a council to discuss missionary work and retention. When the time was right we were able to recommend Self Reliance as a vital tool in the shop that needed to be implemented. The room suddenly became electric with enthusiasm about the idea of having the classes presented in the stake. Many asked if they could have classes and others told of their experiences with the classes in other stakes. President Richards assured everyone that he and Sister Nulty would be putting it together and starting classes soon.

President Richards leading the council

Sister Anderson is sitting next to Sister
Anderson, a service missionary doing
Family Search from the Riverhead Ward

The adult session was similar, but with a much larger group. We were divided into separate circles where we counseled together about working with new and returning members to keep them active and contributing. We took the theme from Elder Todd D. Christopherson's last General Conference talk, "The Doctrine of Belonging."

As the groups reported at the end, it was interesting
to hear the similarities and differences in their
recommendations and resolutions.

While the conversation was productive, it was 
hard to hear each other, as you may have deduced.

The woman who is gesturing and her husband next
to her later told us that they are beginning the 
process to serve a mission. The man next to husband
is a new convert, as were others in the room.

He has been a member about 7 weeks
and was very anxious about the 
opportunity of joining a Self Reliance
group. We assured him that they were
working on it.

Sunday we attended the English session of the Brooklyn Stake Conference. Luckily, our new neighbors are assigned to a ward in that stake, because we assumed it would be at 10 AM. In fact, they informed us that it started at 1:00 PM because the Spanish session started at 10. Neither stake had a visiting authority, so the stake leaders spoke from their hearts about what they perceived were the stakes' greatest needs. Brooklyn Stake sustained 2 more Self Reliance Specialists, bringing the total number to 5. The other stakes have one or none. The stake president's wife spoke about the difference between Church leadership and leadership as it is perceived in our society. It was so good, we asked for a copy. The president really encouraged the members to become a Zion society, which includes having no poor (in spirit, heart, or temporal matters) among them. He encouraged children and youth to be prepared to make the right decisions as they have more and more independence. We were able to talk to him afterward and thanked him for his support, and that of his counselor, President Borden.

Sister Shull, the Stake President's wife. 

This new convert saw our badges and had to meet us
and take a picture with us.

This young man came to church with
the missionaries. He told us he is 
coming next Sunday, for sure.

GPS took us on a little different road home and we
saw the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge. We
have only been on the Manhattan side before. We
need to walk it.

All in all, it has been a great week for us. We ended in a coordinating meeting with the stake representatives from each stake in the mission and were thrilled with the progress and enthusiasm that is happening. There is still much to do, but we are seeing more and more light opening for us.

We also had some fun, random things during the other hours of the week, that I thought you might like.

I'm sure you're disappointed that she
didn't get the '60s style, but she did get
her new glasses.

Someone thought it would be a good idea to go to
Rockaway Beach, since it's Spring. It is not Spring,
it is March, the deceiver. The cold wind blew right
through our coats and hats.

Our neighbors, Elder and Sister Barnes. He wore
2 hats and still froze.

A poor, deceived daffodil.

A couple of very animated Jewish
students walking through Forest Park
on the path next to ours.

These little statuettes are found all over the
long walkway in the 14th Street Metro 
station.

This man got onto the subway, made 
himself comfortable and then started
preaching of Christ from the Bible.
It is noisy, so it was hardly possible
to hear him, but he didn't seem entirely
crazy. 

Of course, NY life as a missionary is disappointing, confusing, sometimes difficult, and often exhilarating, and we are feeling especially blessed. We love what we are doing and becoming and look forward to the coming weeks and months. We send our love to you all and wish you all the best.