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!