It's Up to Us, New York, New York

  I thought it worth noting that the young missionaries did it again this month. In almost every Key Indicator for Conversion, they met or exceeded their goals. Of course, everyone looks at the number of convert baptisms, last month with 5 Sundays it was 200, this month with 4 Sundays it was 175 with a goal of 161. President Holmes has been emphasizing the retention of new converts and now the missionaries are focused on that as well. New converts attending church was missed by only 0.2 people on average. More and more, wards and stakes are starting to see the value of self reliance as a means for retention. Wherever we attend church or conference, we get the same message from the rank and file, but leaders are less convinced because it is not as proximate as the immediate needs of their units. That is changing and will continue to evolve. The chapel in Terryville (actually Port Jefferson) We visited the Terryville Ward and in the Plainview YSA Branch on Sunday. During priesthood m...

 Weekends with stake conferences are always very busy. This weekend was no exception. I thought it ironic that Westchester is east of us. Olivia would tell you it's north, but it certainly seemed east as I drove. I noticed on Sunday as we traveled home, that going through some challenging, then smooth, then back to challenging traffic, my jaws are sore and my back teeth hurt from clenching them. I need to learn to relax in this crazy traffic.  This stake has never called a Self Reliance Specialist, and it really needs one. They have 2 high councilors who are assigned to the area, one for English-speaking wards and one for Spanish. Neither is doing much to bring the work around, though the English-speaking HC attends our meetings each month. We were able to meet Sister Yuki Tano, the stake RS president, who is exceptionally anxious to see things progress in self reliance, so that was positive. She will now attend our monthly meetings as soon as she returns from being with her a...

 We have established a facilitator training twice per month on the 2nd Tuesday and the 4th Sunday, so Monday was the day to put the final touches on the PowerPoint presentation. Olivia insisted that we practice and time it again, so that identified some hiccups, but we got it done. That evening our Region Manager, Chris George, and his wife came for a meal and a visit. They are a delightful couple, so we really enjoyed our time with them.  During our evening, their missionary son called.  It was uplifting to hear how well he is doing after not being sure he could overcome some roadblocks before he made the decision to serve.  Tuesday we had a very full day. We started with a ENT appointment for Olivia to see what caused the ear to bleed on Sunday. We have another this week, so hopefully, the issue will be resolved. Following that we hurried to the district council meeting, but only stayed until role plays, because all the poking and prodding caused some ear pain. We ...