Autumn in the NYNYC Mission is Awesome 🍁 🍂

🍁 🍂 October Arrivals 🍂 🍁

Grace had the day off school so she was able to join us to pick up the new missionaries.

Elder Goolsby
Elder Duke
Elder Palmer
Elder Larson
Elder Farnsworth
Elder Calder
Elder Nelson
Elder Tullis
Elder Money
Elder Neilson
Elder Rasmussen
Elder Mabey
Elder Rogers
Elder Call
Elder Steele
Elder Roberson
Sister Bradley
Sister Halverson

🍁 🍂 Missionaries arriving off transfer 🍂 🍁

We stopped for Chinese food before taking them to Long Island to meet their companions

Sister Mabaya, Sister Zornes &
Sister Martial

What a fun surprise to get 4 more Chinese speaking missionaries! Sister Chase, Elder Yee, Elder Sui & Elder Heaps. They speak Cantonese but are quickly learning Mandarin too and are all such good sports to serve here with us in the NY, NYC Mission while they wait for
things to calm down in Hong Kong. 🍁 🍂 🍂 🍁

Sister Ingersoll, Sister Randall, Sister Matthews

One last pick up at JFK for Sister Randall the newest ASL missionary to arrive! We are thrilled to have her join us!

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We had a cool experience while waiting for Sister Randall to get off the plane. A guy walked up to us and said he noticed our missionary tags and wanted to let us know that he had served as a missionary in NYC years ago! It was fun to hear a bit about things back then. I noticed the jacket he was wearing had the logo for Operation Underground Railroad on it and so I mentioned how impressed I am with that organization and all the amazing work they do in their fight against human trafficking, at which point he said, Tim Ballard (the founder of OUR) is here and called out for Tim to come over and meet us! I have so much admiration for the work they do and it was an honor to thank them. We visited briefly then they thanked us for the work we are doing! At first I almost laughed, I mean to me it seems like there is really no comparison–these guys are literally heroes–sacrificing their own comfort and safety to save the lives of others. But then I thought about what our missionaries do–they sacrifice the comforts of home and of normal young-adult life and go out onto the streets of New York City (and all over the world) because they want to help others. It’s all part of the same work … it’s about doing what we can, with what gifts or abilities we have to bring more light and love and hope for salvation to others. It is about the worth of a soul.

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; “For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him
Doctrine & Covenants 18:10-11

🍁 🍂 Transfers 🍂 🍁

🍁 🍂 Departures 🍂 🍁

Wow! These were some of the “young ones” when we first arrived 16 months ago! Hard to believe they are finished and have returned home. Well done Elders and Hermana!

Elder Levy
Elder Lee
Elder Brown
Elder Clay
Elder Romriell
Elder Dalley
Hermana McMullin
Elder Fassbinder
Elder DaSilva

🍁 🍂 Zone Conference 🍂 🍁

These 5 were all in the same district in the Mexico MTC and now they are all in the same zone–they loved reconnecting and seeing how much they’d grown!

Thanks to Elder Auxier, our mission doctor, we are updating all the emergency storage in each of the missionaries’ apartments. This time we passed out water storage containers. Next is food and first aid. We hope it never needs to be used!

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Below are a few photos of one of my favorite parts of zone conference. It is called “No Effort Wasted.” We put up the names and photos of all the people who came closer to Christ through the covenant of baptism during the past transfer and ask the missionaries to stand if they had any part of helping that person in the process. It is incredible to see how often an Elder or Sister will see a name and excitedly stand because it is someone they talked to on a train months or even a year or more ago when they were in another area. They had no idea that person had continued to progress. Sometimes they stand because they remember being on an exchange with another missionary and teaching that person just one lesson. Other times they worked with the person for months. Anyhow, the point is that every effort we make to share the restored gospel, to be kind, to help one another–no matter how big or how small–all efforts are important.

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Teaching, training, discussing & practicing…I really like how they learn with and from each other. 🍁 🍂 🍁

Brooklyn Zone Sisters musical number!

🍁 🍂 Area Broadcast 🍂 🍁

We had the privilege of hearing from two of the apostles Elder Christofferson and Elder Ballard along with our Area President, Elder Bennett. We were also blessed to hear from Sister Bennett and Sister Christofferson. They were in Sharon, Vermont at the birthplace of Joseph Smith but they broadcast the devotionals to all the missionaries and members in the North America, North East Area. Our mission was asked to provide photos to the Church News of missionaries listening to the devotional at the Lincoln Square building in Manhattan. I’m not sure if a photo actually ran in any of their publications, but here are some of the ones we sent. Photo Credit to Elizabeth Green from the Morningside Heights Ward who graciously gave her time and talents to photograph the missionaries listening to the devotional.

The counsel we received from these leaders was wonderful! They encouraged us to develop the gift of teaching, which Elder Christofferson reminded us, is a spiritual gift that can be developed. He asked them to learn to teach the gospel eloquently–especially those who are called to teach in their native tongue, to set aside the jargon of teenagers and use mature language to teach and testify. Elder Ballard gave a broad history of apostasy and restoration throughout the various dispensations and detailed many of the significant historical people and events that allowed for this final great apostasy and restoration in this dispensation also known as “the fullness of times.” He explained that this was not some casual event, so many things had to take place and many people worked and struggled and made huge sacrifices which helped prepare the way for the restoration of the truth to arrive. Two notable people he mentioned were Martin Luther and William Tyndale. Likewise, he noted that this is not a casual moment in our lives as missionaries, but rather much preparation; our own, perhaps that of our family and ancestors got us here and we have been set apart as representatives of Jesus Christ to preach His gospel and the truths that have been restored–there is nothing casual about that! He encouraged missionaries to teach with power and confidence which, he said, comes from truly understanding and internalizing the message.

Some great quotes from the devotional:

“It is good to be good, but be good for something.”
Sister Christofferson quoting President Hinckley

“We’ve never lost a missionary through hard work.”
Elder Bennett quoting Elder Ballard

“When missionaries finally internalize what Gethsemane was all about, when it becomes part of you and not just a story, then you have power and confidence to teach His gospel.”
Elder Ballard

Put “oh me, poor me” away and focus on others and on the Lord, when you do this you’ll get over any hard days or challenges.
“Christ never gave up–let us not give up!”
Elder Ballard