Another NYC Souvenir - COVID!

 I know you were disappointed not to see the installment from last week, but we had an excuse. Olivia came down with what she described as a cold on Thursday the 18th, but refused to stay home on the 19th, because she and Sister Taylor had planned our trip to the Frick museum and she was determined to go. She felt awful and got worse during the visit, even though she found much with which to be amazed. By the time we left and were supposed to get the subway to the El Salvador Consulate, she had decided to just go home. The Taylors wanted to visit the consulate, so the three of us went, only to discover that it was closed due to expected bad weather (which never happened). A wasted trip. I was glad she had decided to go home, because she was quite sick.

The museum has a huge variety of paintings

Small collections in groupings like this
to large masterpieces.

The website said photography was allowed
but the security guards and signs everywhere
disagreed. We took a few before realizing it.

No only typical art and sculpture, but
rooms of china and porcelain. Other
rooms of furniture and clocks.

Olivia spreading her joy with the rest
of us. 😷 Actually, only Sister Barnes
and I came down with her cold that
turned out to be COVID.

Henry Clay Frick was one of the successful industrialists of the early 20th century. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and so many others, he toured Europe and Asia collecting the most expensive pieces of art he could find and shipping them to his mansion on 5th Ave. His was an eclectic collection, which has since been refined and grouped as pieces have been added and expansions have been made to the facilities. We were in the Madison Ave. temporary building which will close in February so everything can be returned to the updated mansion on 5th Avenue. It really is a wonderful collection. I wish we could have moved some pictures from the website, but it is restricted. You will just have to go to frick.org for yourselves.

We attended our last zone conference. As usual, it was combined with Brooklyn Zone, so we were able to see some of the missionaries we have come to love and respect in both zones. We helped set up for the lunch and serve it. Olivia and most of the sisters also mended clothing for the young missionaries. It is always a challenge when missionaries approach them with, "I know the seat looks blown out, but if you could just fix it enough to last another X weeks, I'll buy some new ones when I get back home." To their credit, they usually find a way to make it last. I think they enjoy the challenge.

Sister Holmes chatting with some of
the elders.

President and Sister Holmes sat at our table this
time. President was very interested in the work being
accomplished in the Brooklyn 5th Ward as a result of
the Barnes' efforts, there.

Missionaries take copious notes and
take pictures of the screen while Pres.
Holmes talks about the restoration of the
Gospel.

Here he is citing writings of President
Joseph Fielding Smith, Bruce R.
McConkie, as well as President Nelson.
He points out fulfillment of prophecy 
and continuing revelation and miracles.

By Sunday, it was pretty obvious that I had come down with whatever Olivia had. I didn't feel terrible, but I knew I was likely to infect others, so we both stayed home. On Monday or Tuesday, Elder Barnes told us that Sister B tested positive for COVID. We had some tests in our medicine cabinet, so we tested, too. We were both clearly  positive. By the next Sunday (yesterday) we were feeling pretty good except for kind of runny noses and fatigue, but we tested again and Olivia tested negative, but I still tested positive. We missed two Sundays, so we are not going to test any more. Just kidding, we will test again before we go to the consulate on Wednesday, but we are so much better, we are confident we won't need to worry by then.

We were not restricted from Zoom, so we held our 3rd Sunday reporting session on Sunday the 21st and our facilitator training yesterday. It was heartening to see so many making such strides to make things happen. We feel that our replacements will have a good foundation to build upon when they arrive.

Elder and Sister Hansen, our replacements, joined
us with 7 of the 8 stakes in the mission represented.

Most of the week between Sundays, COVID made sure we knew it was serious. We were both very ill. The joint and muscle aches were horrible and just the general malaise. Usually, when Olivia was worse, I was able to put something together for a meal. The reverse was also true. I didn't write in my journal for five days, not only was there little to write about, but my hands were spastic whenever I tried. We were able to venture out for groceries on Friday and a long walk on Saturday, so this infection is not endless, but we are both sick of being sick.

Not the most motivating couple of weeks, I know, but we are happy, we are doing well and looking forward to a much more productive week to report on next Monday.