Week of February 14, 2016

This week started with a snow storm on Valentine’s Day. We served pink pancakes to our grandchildren who had stayed with us overnight. We tried to make them heart-shaped, but it didn’t work well, so they were just plain round PINK pancakes. At church the youn

g elders sang to us in Relief Society to make the day special. They sang “Love at Home”, which reminded me of my mother. She really disliked the song because I would sing it when things went awry at home. But it was a fond memory for me. After church we invited four elders for dinner. It was an interesting meal. We fixed Taco Salad and I know they could have eaten more, but we did ok. We had a good visit with them and we learned much more about how the young elders serve in the mission.

Snow storm outside our apartment Sunday morning

Monday was Presidents’ Day so we had the day off. We took the opportunity to get some things done at home and then go out to lunch. Late in the afternoon we decided to go for a walk. We were trying to find a gelato place our kids had gone to. We must have been confused on the location, but a kind man looked up the address for us—fortunately, he knew the place since we didn’t have a name. It was really yummy. However, it was growing dark when we left, so it made me nervous to walk home on the street we were on—sort of shady. We went a different way that went by the Family History Library—better area--but we still ran into a man trying to get money.

We were teaching with our Capstone classes this week. These are classes for missionaries getting ready to go home. We had 22 students which was an amazing crowd. It was a good group to teach. Ted did a really good job with his first class, in spite of some questions that were a little off the wall. Most of the students had a really good grasp on what to do and not to do. I spent time preparing for the class I taught and doing some research. Our family records really need some work getting things straightened out. I taught a new class and felt like it went well. Our supervisor asked me to prepare to teach another new class in March so more preparation. Ted also taught the class on temples at the end of the week. This was a new one for him and he really did a great job. He relates so well to the people and has a clear understanding of what he is teaching. I feel like I am more of a technician when I teach, but he always reaches out to the class members.

We typically copy class handouts for the week onto the students’ flash drives so we don’t have to print so many things. I am usually the one who heads up the project. With such a large class, it took quite a while to get done. In the middle of the week, a trainer handed out a new handout that was not in our files. When several of the students asked for an electronic copy I had to do all the flash drives again. We realized we needed to update our handouts on file so they correspond to our revised classes. One of our trainers was also sick and we had to do a last minute substitution. Our supervisor wants us to have better backup for each other so I got assigned more new classes to prepare for the next six weeks. I am learning a lot in the process.

During one of the classes we had the missionaries and guests from the Family Search Center next door come into our training room. Apparently, there was a suspicious package they were investigating, so the Family Search Center had been vacated—it was weird. I guess our “bubble” is not very far removed from the rest of the world.

Thursday the day started out a little cloudy. We had planned to go to the library in the afternoon, but there was a full-blown blizzard going on outside. It was really crazy so we stayed at the lab in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to work. When it was time to go home the weather had completely cleared and the ground was mostly dry. Very unusual.

Saturday we went to the library to do some research. Ted spent quite a bit of time with a lady there and found his grandmother’s birth record in Sweden. He also found some Swedish household records for his family. We created a couple of sources and attached them to the family so that is at least documented. He was pretty excited about that. It seems there are quite a few records for Swedish research which is what he needs. I’m really thrilled that he’s beginning to learn how to use the records and finding family information.

Week of February 7, 2016

It seems like forever since we taught. We had two weeks without students so it felt good to be teaching again this week. We offer a help session before our classes each day. The first day, before we had even taught, we had 5 people come to get help signing up for partners accounts (Ancestry, findmypast, MyHeritage). Ted and I were the only trainers there so it was a little stressful, especially since one sister was not able to get connected. She had two FamilySearch accounts and her Ancestry account was tied to one of them, but the one it was tied to was the one that didn’t work. Other trainers arrived about 8 am and were able to help some, but it was a little stressful for a while. (The same lady came all three days to the help session and we finally got everything working the last day.)

Ted did an excellent job teaching his module. We have added “Applied Learning” modules to our schedule which is a “lab” after the class to test the learning. They went a little smoother this time, but I think there is still much room for improvement. My class was the first one the day I taught. Just before we started I had a conversation with another teacher about our schedule. I had misunderstood what I was teaching later in the day. She corrected me, and she was right—but it really threw me off kilter for some reason. After class one of the students told me she’d had trouble getting it the first week of training, but she said I had made it really clear and she felt like she got it, so I must not have totally blown it.

I did the two Applied Learning classes that same day. The first hour I gave the assignment to the students and let them work on it then we discussed it. When we discussed the results we had a good discussion with a few of the students, but I know several didn’t get the results we’d hoped for. When we started the discussion, one lady said she wasn’t ready because she was so caught up in one of the case studies. (It was a really interesting situation. We were trying to identify married names of daughters. One of the daughters had married twice and I had thought she was widowed. One of the students pointed out that she was divorced. It really was sort of interesting because her second husband was the brother of the first husband. I’d like to know that story.) I then asked about the last two questions and discovered I had only given them the first two pages. Maybe that was just as well. It was really much too intense for most of the class. The afternoon class went much better, but it seemed better written for the things we had taught.

Brynn with Grandma and Grandpa Roeth at Ice Castles

After I got home I went walking with a missionary from France. She told me that when she was on her first mission their prayer meeting was at 8 am so she was able to go to the temple every morning before she started. She went more than 400 times while she was here. This time she can only go once or twice a week because of her schedule. After we finished walking she picked up her stuff and headed to the library to do research. She really puts me to shame in her dedication.

Leedoms at Ice Castles

After the classes were finished for the week we had a discussion about how things had gone. I felt the first Applied Learning was too intense. It really needs to be simplified. One couple had told me they were going to ask for a transfer because she just couldn’t get it. I shared my testimony with her and helped her calm down and she was doing much better on Thursday. By the time they finished they were planning to retake the classes so they could understand it better so I felt pretty sure they had changed their minds about a transfer.

The Dome at Ice Castles

Our supervisor’s wife told me her son-in-law’s last name is Hales. She told me what his lineage is, so we looked on the computer to see how we connected. He had some fun stories to tell that his father had told them when they were young. One story was that Charles Henry Hales, my great-great grandfather, was the first in his family to join the Church. When he told his parents he had been baptized they basically said, “You did WHAT?” Eventually, the rest of the family joined the Church. When we looked at Stephen and Mary Ann Hales’ story (his parents), they were friends with John Taylor and studied with him in Canada to understand the gospel as taught in the New Testament. It didn’t say anything about the order of joining the Church, but it did say they were all baptized in Canada and I believe the Pratts were involved in teaching them. I suspect John Taylor had much to do with the family’s conversion. But the Charles Henry Hales story is interesting.

Grandma Roeth and Seth making Valentine pizzas

Saturday Heather and Scott and family picked us up to drive to Midway to see the Ice Castles. They were amazing. It was melting a little due to the warm weather, but we were able to enjoy it. The man who creates it uses 10,000 icicles a day while he’s growing it. There were caverns and aisles and open roofed rooms all made of ice. After we returned to our apartment, we got the kids’ pillows and sleeping bags then Heather and Scott left to meet some friends. We had a slumber party with their kids. We made individual pizzas, mostly heart-shaped, valentines with lots of stickers, and cookies made of colored dough, some with frosting and candy hearts and some plain. After we were all done with the stuff, we got the beds ready and watched a movie. I was worn out by the time the movie ended, but it was fun being with the kids. We finally got the kids settled down and we all crashed around 10 pm.

Sleep? You've got to be kidding!

Week of January 31, 2016

It seems like forever since we’ve had students, but it has really just been two weeks. We had no new full time missionaries in January so that left us with an extra week. We have spent most of the time working on the new classes. We’re not really sure when we will have the final versions of the classes we are to teach, but we are using our current outlines as models. I had sort of a breakthrough this week, realizing that I need to focus my efforts more and prepare myself to be of greater service. I have become aware of how much we need to do to be successful as missionaries.

Because we had no students this week, we were able to attend Rootstech. It was an amazing experience. On the opening day I saw Elder Fallabella and thanked him for the video we’d seen at the Red Rock Stake Family History Conference last summer. The classes I enjoyed most emphasized taking a broad approach in research and looking at entire neighborhoods instead of just focusing on direct lines. It was a really beneficial experience.

Thursday one of the keynote speakers was Paula Madison, a lady who had found her Chinese grandfather on FamilySearch and connected with that entire branch of her family. It was a very touching and amazing story. Her message was that because of the records, she and people like her are able to find who they are. She was leaving immediately from her speaking engagement to fly to China for her great-uncle’s funeral. She said that if we ever wonder if it is worth all the effort, to her it was worth her life.

Another speaker made the following statement: “Everyone dies. Not everyone lives.” I have gleaned three things from this conference: I need to participate in indexing, either in English or in another language—they give training for the basic vocabulary necessary; I need to go further than I usually do with my research; and I need to write my stories about me, my family, my parents, before it is too late. I’m not quite sure how I am going to accomplish that, but it is the message I got from the conference.

This week especially made me really grateful we are in the Training Zone so we could attend this conference. Most of the other missionaries had to work in their various areas at least part of the time and some all of the time. We are very blessed.