Some Progress and General Conference

 As I write it is April. Of course, most of the week was March, but it is starting to look more like spring in the City. I know where many of you are, it still looks and feels like winter, and we feel for you. We hear stories of unprecedented snowfall, roofs collapsing from the weight of the snow, and more on its way, but in our world, we see temperatures warming, more blossoms on branches and in gardens and trees threatening to bring leaves.

We have had more COVID among our senior missionaries. Happily, they have been light cases, but it caused us to cancel our Tuesday meeting for which Olivia had prepared a meal. We took a good part of the meal to the Packers, our employment missionary supervisors who were quarantined, did a little shopping in their neighborhood on Long Island, and had some yummy leftovers for a couple of days.

Some of our employment candidates are seeing progress, which is a blessing because we are being assigned new people all the time. On Thursday, all of our appointments canceled due to illness or penury, except one. Brenda has no computer at home. She was able to use our computer to send her resume off to a couple of potential employers, which made her very happy. Close to the end of our meeting, I took a phone call from a supervisor in SLC, while Olivia finished with her. They want to use one of the offices for another Church entity, so he had me take pictures of the facility.

It is a nice facility with four offices and a large
room that is a class room on Sundays.

Olivia finishing with Brenda

Brenda feeling great about completing
an application

Trying to help her figure out the unfriendly 
application process and sending off her resume

We actually made an early day of the Lower East Side of Manhattan by visiting with Ned Gardner first thing in the morning at the Henry Street Settlement. I have mentioned this area before, but we had not been able to actually go there to see what it is like. We have needed to know about the services offered there, what the criteria are for the services offered and who we should recommend to receive their services. Not only did we get our questions answered, but we discovered that Ned and Olivia are related. Say, "Gardner" and she knows you're probably related. He had a few minutes at the end of our interview, so he took us to a couple of the buildings in the Settlement. 

We forgot to take pictures. This scene is from a
short film about the history of Henry Street. 

The original building and the recently converted
fire station that is now classrooms. There are now
several buildings, some not even on Henry Street.

 

The video of the Self Reliance devotional still occupies my time. This week I completed the work on the Spanish version and put the slides with text into Mandarin, so one of our Chinese friends can translate the script. We hope to wrap up at least the English and Spanish versions this week. Then we will need to meet to decide how we should get it out to the wards and when that should happen.

April 1 almost went by without a practical joke. I did exchange the bags in the cereal boxes so when Olivia thought she was pouring out Cheerios, she got bran flakes. Yawn. The best part of that day was General Conference. The next day, too. 

I think I have mentioned in earlier posts that Elder and Sister Barnes, our neighbors, are MLS missionaries assigned to the Brooklyn 5th Ward. We asked if we could go with them on Saturday to assist however we could. Elder Barnes had purchased a small projector that works with his phone on Bluetooth, so we were able to watch the Saturday morning and afternoon sessions projected on the wall of the Relief Society room. We had some nonmembers present who seemed to enjoy it. Between sessions we had a baptism; the first for which we were able to actually be present. Faissou Amadou from Benin was baptised by our friend Stanley Delamond, the new convert who facilitated the Get a Better Job course when we first arrived. It was nice getting to visit with him a little afterward. He works nights, so he needed to get home for some sleep, but he asked for a blessing first because he was not feeling well. We got another member from his ward to anoint and I sealed. We were happy to hear that he was there again on Sunday and feeling well.

Faissou had to get to the airport immediately after baptism and confirmation, to fly back to Benin and renew his visa. Elder and Sister Barnes gave him a ride and got back just in time to start the projector, again. Because he was going home to Benin, Olivia texted a picture and information to her nephew, Lincoln Dahl. He was with the USAIA in Benin many years ago, and was able to assist in getting the country to recognize the Church, officially. Today, the country has a stake and Lincoln is trying to get Faissou and the stake patriarch in touch with each other. That way this new member will have continuous contact with the Church until he can return.

Sisters Fuller and Bishop just prior to
Faissou's baptism

Me, Faissou, Olivia and Stanley

Stanley and Faissou with the baptism
handout

Elder Barnes preparing to coach. Stanley was new
and anxious to do it right. Elder Barnes was a
good mentor.

Sister Barnes giving the talk about the
baptism as an ordinance.

Chris Thompson is the Ward Mission
Leader - another friend of ours

  The Ward Mission Leader was a little new at this, as well. Unfortunately, no member of the bishopric was present, but Elder Barnes was available to help out as much as he could. Sister Barnes was worried that Faissou would hit his head on the back edge of the font, so she kept encouraging him to move forward. It made him nervous, so he went down a little too reluctantly and didn't go completely under the first time. Eventually, it all worked out and he was official. 

Elder Barnes was asked to confirm, and invited the members present who held the Melchizedek Priesthood to come into the circle and we did. Then one young man decided to do so, as well. The sisters asked if he was an elder. He said he didn't think so. Elder Barnes tried to clarify and asked if he held the Melchizedek Priesthood. "Oh, yeah," he said, "the bishop did it." So he also joined. Elder Barnes is an assistant ward clerk, so he checked later and found that he held only the Aaronic Priesthood, but we agreed that the confirmation was valid. 

I should have mentioned that when we arrived at the building we peeked into the room where the baptism would take place in a couple of hours. This room is the chapel on Sunday. The elders and sisters were in there with brooms and snow shovels scooping up water and putting it into buckets. It seems that they wanted to fill the font before the conference started so the noise wouldn't bother those in the chapel who would be watching the Spanish translation. They got busy doing something else and let the font run over. This font has a plug rather than an overflow pipe, like most fonts. By the time we had the baptism, the FM crew had arrived with vacuums and blowers, but waited until after the baptism, so we were sloshing a bit during the service.

There will be blowers for the next 
few days.

Most of the heavy work was done
before I thought to get a picture. Sister
Fuller is doing some mop up around 
the kitchen

Faissou might be wondering if this is the way all baptisms are held. The sisters, however, will never forget this experience.

We did enjoy both sessions on Saturday at the church with the young missionaries and their friends. Elder and Sister Barnes were so relieved after returning from the airport. After that, they could actually pay attention to the conference and not have so many balls in the air. The young missionaries were especially happy to see Elder Allen Haynie speak. He is the North America Northeast Area President and had spoken to them at Christmas time, via Zoom. They also know that he will be doing a mission tour next week and President and Sister Holmes have really clarified how important this visit will be.

The friends left after the baptism, so only 
the missionaries remained. Walter Rane's paintings
adorn every building in the mission, I think. I 
especially like the one at the back. It is Joseph,
Mary and Jesus fleeing into Egypt.

Missionaries on the side. Friends
they are teaching watching and
taking notes.

The lady in the white hoodie is 
scheduled for baptism on Easter Sunday

We were not needed on Sunday, so we chose to watch the sessions at home. We also chose to fast on Sunday, because the day most stakes fasted we were in a stake conference. It made the Palm Sunday sessions that much more meaningful, it seemed to me. I was especially impressed with President Nelson's talk on being a peacemaker. It was so in depth and filled with insight. I think it will be a classic like President Benson's talk on pride. I immediately thought of Olivia's brother, Joe, who is a natural peacemaker, in my experience. I realized I had never told him, so I sent an email expressing my appreciation. I know he has ruffled feathers, a time or two in his attempts, like most of us imperfect beings, but my personal experiences and observations from the first day I met him, have made me think of him when I think of a peacemaker.

We finished our Sunday with a meal to which Olivia invited the Barnes, knowing that they would be busy with the Brooklyn 5th Ward building and not have time to make dinner for themselves. It was one of the best meals in recent memory. Happily, they didn't eat as much as she thought they would and we have some amazing leftovers.

I think the great take away from this week is that we are living amid prophets, seers and revelators. Inspiring messages have renewed and bolstered my faith in and gratitude for the Atonement of Christ. I feel blessed to be in this place at this time. There is a reason the NYNYC Mission is performing as it is. Much of it has to do with the leadership of our mission leaders, but greater, is that these leaders are called to this mission for a reason. We are seeing miracles. We have a truly heavenly Heavenly Father. Hoping your week is full of blessings.

Our district repeating D&C 4 and their
Missionary Purpose