A Young Mission

 We had our zone conference this week and President Holmes informed the missionaries that almost 60 of the 200 missionaries in this mission have been here a full transfer, or less. The next transfer will have more coming in than those returning home, so it will become even younger. The result was emphasizing the basics in the meetings. It turns out that doing so has been a great blessing to the more seasoned missionaries, as well. In our Sunday night devotional, he reiterated the need to go back to the basics, especially in goal setting. The missionaries are exceptionally loyal to him and to their purpose. They are already talking about ways to implement his recommendations.

Sister Lloyd just arrived as a transfer
from a Church historical site mission.
She is best friends with Breanna Hill,
whose mother, Suzanne, is my niece.
She also works with a senior couple 
who are friends with Elder and Sister
Barnes.

The neighbors to our church building are
not getting all their squash. As it comes
over the fence, it is harvested by members
who attend church here.

Olivia and the other sisters had lots of mending
as is the case every zone conference. That allowed
me to sneak off to hear the presentations in the
chapel. (This is a file photo. Sr. Preece is home, now)

We had fewer employment candidates this past week, so it allowed me to work on the lessons for our English Connect classes. Everyone was excited on Wednesday, because on Friday they would celebrate El Salvador's independence from Spain. The Consul General told us that one or maybe two of our students would not be there, so Olivia asked if we should just skip Friday. He insisted that he would like us to come. We prepared and went to the offices on Friday to find that the door was locked and the cleaning lady told us that everyone had gone to Yonkers for the celebration. Well, at least we are very prepared for this Wednesday.

Also, there was excitement because the consulate has added a special lactation center for nursing mothers and the First Lady will actually be there to dedicate it. President Nayib Bukele and his wife are a handsome couple with a little girl. Julia, one of our students, informed us with some pride that Mrs. Bukele is pregnant with their second child. 

These pictures hang prominently just inside the
consulate's front door. Nayib Bukele and Gabriela Rodreguez
de Bukele.

We were responsible for the senior missionaries' activity this month. 10 of the 16 couples were able to attend. Olivia took care of all the arrangements with a little help from me with the computer and a neck massage. We arranged for Panera to do a group order that we just needed to pickup from their store and take to the picnic tables at Sagamore Hill, the farm and summer White House for Theodore Roosevelt and his family. There was a little glitch because we had failed to actually finalize the order, but when we arrived, the manager was patient and got her people on fast track, so we were still able to get to the pavilion ahead of the agreed time to spread table cloths, set out the chips and water, and sandwiches. In their haste to get everything ready for us the restaurant failed to label the sandwiches, but no one seemed to mind. Olivia made four batches of cookies for the occasion and everyone was impressed with Teddy Roosevelt.

Dittmans, Barnes, and Wynes

Driggs across from each other, Engstroms on left
(a deaf couple serving in the ASL branch), Elder
Humphries

Sister Humphries on left, the Hunsakers on right,
Baers at the end. We couldn't have bought a
more perfect day!

Olivia asked Elder Hunsaker to take a picture of our
table. He ended up taking a selfie before realizing
he needed to change the direction of the phone.

Us, the Robertsons, and the Driggs again.

We stayed long enough to do a little touring, stop at the gift shop and visit with everyone before we had to leave and get to the Saturday sessions of the stake conference in Plainview. We were invited to attend the leadership and evening sessions, which we always appreciate. It is those sessions when we get to talk more informally with leaders and friends we have seen before. Even though there was a visiting authority, the stake president took a few minutes to talk to us. He told us that there was some major reorganization happening in the stake that involves Self Reliance. We told him how happy we were with the one Self-reliance course that had just started when his eyes widened and he said, "You have just sparked some revelation. Excuse me, I need to tell my counselor, so I don't forget it." We hope that means we will see a SR specialist sustained soon. The stake RS president has been acting as such for a couple of years.

I tried to capture as much of the building as possible
from the front. Originally, this was the main part
of the Church's pavilion at the 1964-65 New York 
World's Fair.

After the fair, the building was moved
in parts to this beautiful location on
Long Island and is the Plainview 
Stake Center

Classrooms extend past the trees.

An artist's rendition of the pavilion. The 
original location is in Queens, very close
to where we live.

A photo with the crowds walking past.

A side view of the pavilion in 1964-65.
Today there is a museum that has a lot
of memorabilia from that fair.

Going off on a tangent, here. My family set a goal to attend the Seattle Worlds Fair in 1961, so being the next worlds fair, this was kind of fun for me. The museum is near where the original Church pavilion was located. It was nostalgic for me to visit, because of our trip to Seattle and because I graduated high school in 1964-65 and it was fun to see the displays and pictures in the museum. Especially to see how we dressed in those days - ironed shirts, slacks, or jeans that we took pains to keep from fading. 

We had an inspiring Sunday. The visiting authority was Elder T. Michael Price, a kind, humble and observant leader. He is an Area Seventy, so he still keeps his day job as the CEO of First Commonwealth Financial Corp. He is a convert of 30 years, so many of the new members could relate. We were able to talk to him long enough to give our elevator speech, which he seemed to appreciate.

We hope your Sabbath was as wonderful and edifying as ours. We hope you have a blessed week. Ours looks quite full - a blessing. Nothing worse than being idle.