By late March 2020 this great, bustling city we’ve come to love was at a virtual standstill. In response to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus and the rising number of cases and deaths from Covid-19, the Governor of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo put the state of New York on PAUSE. All but essential business and services closed, school moved online, people were asked to stay home, no gatherings, no church, no meeting with others or teaching people in their homes.
The news reports out of New York were frightening. Thousands of new Covid-19 cases and rising by the day, hospitals overloaded, not enough ventilators, not enough protective equipment for the healthcare workers, people dying, portable morgues, so many questions about treatment, prevention, immunity etc., economic hardship, wide spread shortages of hygiene and cleaning supplies…the list goes on!
right: The first “hot spot” in New Rochelle, about 4 miles from the mission home
Face masks became our new accessory when we did have to go out. Hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and toilet paper were all suddenly in high demand. The same happened in many places around the world, but New York was our reality and it quickly became the epicenter of this pandemic. Our “new normal” was just trying to keep up with the rapid changes and trying (often unsuccessfully) to provide answers and reassurance to concerned missionaries, parents, family and friends. While there was an incredible amount of uncertainty about the future and how this would all work out, there was also an incredible amount of faith and trust in the Lord that this would all work out! We were touched time and time again by the thoughtful messages from our family and friends and from the families of the missionaries letting us know they were praying for us and expressing trust in the Lord, in their son or daughter and in us as mission leaders. It was just the encouragement and strength we needed on many an occasion.
This is a Facebook post I shared in response to a lot of questions and concerns from family and friends…
A lot of you are asking how we are doing in here NYC during this Covid19 pandemic. We are humbled. We are in awe of the strength and dedication and kindness of so many. We are sad. It is hard to see people suffering wether from the illness, loss of work, effects of social isolation, or any other hardship. We are aware. Aware of the difficulties and inconveniences–yes, but also aware of the unity of purpose and love for those most vulnerable that echos in the emptiness of an otherwise bustling city. We are blessed. In the midst of all of it, we are blessed to know and feel of God’s love for all of His children and to see so many of them turning to Him and choosing to let His light more fully into their lives. We are grateful. Grateful for the privilege of being in this amazing city that is so resilient and “tough, tough in a good way” as Governor Cuomo likes to say. We are grateful to be serving with some of the strongest, most dedicated, and learning-to-be-resilient young missionaries there are. We are grateful for the love and support and prayers and faith that are extended to us by all of you! We love you! We love New York! We love New Yorkers! We love being missionaries here! We love the Lord!
Arrivals: March 2020
Our “Covid Corps.” This awesome group of missionaries arrived and the next day we began self-isolation. They still haven’t met any of the people they are teaching, the members, or ward and branch leaders in person. They haven’t had the chance to knock doors or do street and train contacting that has traditionally been such a huge part of how missionary work is done in this city. They haven’t been able to get out and see much of the city other than where they can walk to during a break for exercise. They haven’t been to a district council, zone conference, church or any other traditional meeting that wasn’t held over Zoom or some other social media app. They have however completely embraced the world of online and social media missionary work. They are brilliant at it and have the best attitudes. Most of the sisters in this group had to learn Spanish by talking to people over the phone or on video chats! If you’ve ever learned a foreign language you’ll know how hard that would be. They’ve risen to the challenge and done beautifully. If you watched one of their Facebook live events–scripture study, english class etc. you’d never know the’ve only been at it for 3-4 months!
JFK-March 16, 2020
Elder Fingerle 
Elder Pak 
Sister Blanchard 
Sister Dewey 
Sister Flores 
Sister Heiner 
Sister Stubblefield 
Sister Vasas
Arriving “home” to NYC from Bermuda
It was a boomerang trip to Bermuda 🇧🇲 ✈️🌴for Sister Bradley and Elder Rindlisbacher. They were both so excited to go to Bermuda! Sadly, they were only there a few days when we learned Bermuda would be closing borders. Along with missionaries serving in many foreign countries throughout the world we were asked to bring them “home.” Luckily for us home meant to NYC and they were able to stay on their missions where many other foreign missionaries were asked to return home and wait to finish their service until a later date.
Elder Laird also had a boomerang trip. He had been serving here for about 6 weeks while waiting for his Visa to Suriname. His Visa arrived and his flight was booked. He made it the first let to Florida but when his flight was supposed to leave they informed all passengers that the flight was cancelled because borders were just closed in Suriname. So he flew back to NYC and we are so grateful he gets to serve with us longer. Here he is (on the left) with his companions Elder Turley and Elder Barnes.
Departures: March-May 2020
March 11, 2020–We didn’t know this would be our last temple trip for a while. The temples around the world were closed due to the pandemic. The Manhattan temple is still closed and we assume it will not reopen for some time.
Elder Wu and Sister Rios–they left a day or so before the rest of their departing group so they could make it home to Argentina before the Argentine borders closed.
One of the “casualties” of Covid was that due to health or other concerns, many of our senior couples and a few of our young missionaries, including most of them who are from other countries were asked to return home earlier than planned. In some cases they were finished and in other cases they continued serving in a mission in their home countries. We were so sad to have them go, but glad they all made it home safely and that many of them are currently back out serving in their home countries. Because we were in self-isolation we weren’t able to all meet at the airport and instead we had to send them in individual Ubers or cabs, so I don’t have departing photos of everyone, but we sure love each of them and are so so grateful for their service–what ever length of time that was. Here are a few photos from shortly before they left or after returning.
From top left below:
Elder Robison, Elder Fosse, Sister Crow, Elder Jamison, Elder Lee, Sister Meyers, Elder Vickers
April was another Uber transfer and departing group–no photos from transfers but here are airport selfies from our departing missionaries. We are truly grateful for their service!
Zone Conference
Zone Conference went digital! I asked everyone to send in a companionship “selfie” so we could document our first fully online zone conference–the results are this slide show. During zone conference we talked about the blessing of being able to serve in this place and time and under these circumstances. God was not and is not surprised by a pandemic or anything else that comes our way. He called us to be missionaries at this time and in this place and he still needs us to “bring the world his truth!”
These screen shots below are from a training by the Assistants, Elder Sutherland and Elder Lambert. It is slightly amusing looking back now, that 2 weeks of isolation seemed like a difficult situation. But in reality, those first weeks probably were the hardest because we were all learning how to adapt, how to stay focused on our purpose as missionaries and continue to do our work even though it felt like we were constrained and unable to get out and do missionary work in the ways we knew how and had become fairly proficient at. I have been so impressed with this group of missionaries overall–with their resiliency, willingness to learn and ability to not only survive but thrive in difficult circumstances.
🤣2 going on 15 🤣
Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotionals are one of the good things to come out of being stuck inside. We started having a morning devotional with the whole mission over Zoom. It is a great way to start the day and be able to connect and see everyone on the screen at least! The devotionals are a mix of motivation and spiritual uplift, sharing information and training; sometimes from President and Sister Teuscher and sometimes from fellow missionaries. The best are days we have guest speakers join us! We have been taught and inspired by so many amazing people! I’ve been blown away by their generosity and willingness to take time to join our devotionals and support the missionaries. We’ve heard from a wide range of people including: General Authorities, local church leaders, business, marketing and social media executives, musicians, artists, therapists, professors, motivational speakers and even the Governor of New York (via a downloaded YouTube video 😉) One thing all our guests speakers have in common is they each use the gifts and talents God has given them to lift and help others. Below are just a few examples.
It was SOOO GOOD and inspiring. I absolutely love his art!
(the video flips to the right direction when you play it)
Even though we were mostly stuck inside, spring was gorgeous this year! Here’s a glimpse of what I see on walks around the neighborhood. Enjoy!
New York, New York City Mission 