Week of April 17, 2016

Sunday at church I saw a friend from the Monte Cristo Ward in the congregation and visited with her. Strange that our two families would have children in the same ward so far from Las Vegas. I spent time with Nathan showing him some things he could look at to help the Spanish branch do more family history. I also spent a few minutes showing my grandchildren the program. It rained very heavily in the evening so the ditch in front of their home was a small river. The rain gutters ran very full and all the plants got plenty of water. It was fun to watch, even with the lightning. After we went to bed there was a really strange thunder that went on for several seconds and sounded like a bowling alley at full operation the entire time. It was weird.

Monday we got to the airport and found our flight had been cancelled. Houston was flooding and most of the flights in and out had been cancelled. The airline was able to book us on a flight out through Dallas on Tuesday. Nathan came home shortly after we got there so we were able to spend time with him and had a good visit. It rained most of the day but it actually quit and got sunny in the late afternoon. We were hopeful to be able to get out on Tuesday.

Tuesday everything looked good. When we got to the airport the clerk told us the flight was overbooked and we did not have assigned seats. He said they would ask for volunteers to give up their seats and we would most likely get out. That is a sinking feeling. As it turned out, our friend from home was on the flight out heading home to Vegas. We had another good visit and heard a little about their mission in Kenya.

At the last minute the agent called our names and we got on the flight. There was actually one seat left. We sat on the very last row, but we were together and I was just grateful to be on the plane. We got to Dallas and were able to get to our next plane with a few minutes to spare. (We changed airlines so we went from one end of the airport to the other, a fair distance in Dallas.) We were able to sit together on that flight as well, on the next to last row. Again, I was just grateful to be on the plane.

I was so glad when we finally arrived in Salt Lake and were able to feel like we were home again. I found I was teaching in the morning. Fortunately, I was semi-prepared and did a quick review before going to bed.

Wednesday we met our full-time missionary class and they are a very quick bunch. They notice things that most of us never do. It was a challenge to stay ahead of them. I spent some time at the library with another missionary who showed me her technique for doing descendancy research that is very effective at finding both temple and research opportunities. Later I went for a walk with my friend and had a good visit. I did a quick review of the class I would teach on Thursday then went to bed.

Thursday I taught the Partners class and did the second half of a research exercise we are trying. We have the class research a family using just FamilySearch one day and on the second day they continue with the same family using just Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com. It went really well and they were totally engaged both times. In the evening we drove to the Draper Temple for a session. It is really a nice temple, very simple but clean lines and beautiful. After the session one of the workers pointed out a few of the special features. It was really sweet of her.

Friday I collected the Word documents for all of our class handouts for our leader. He is trying to help us get more organized. We had our inservice meeting in the afternoon. Our departing leader had made each family a “Families are Forever” wood carving—very nice. Our discussion in the meeting centered around the “Find, Take, Teach” program. This is based on a talk by Elder Cook as the goals for helping people become involved in family history. We will be changing some of our classes so we can teach this to departing missionaries. I was asked to develop a class based on descendancy view and using the hints. I’m not sure what will happen, but I am looking forward to the process.

After we finished I did some more on the Swedish lines. It was a little frustrating at some points, but I found many new records. Some of the lines just seem to disappear into nothingness. I need to scan through the records one at a time to find them again, but that is not a good prospect. I found the critical dates so I decided to move on. When I got home, we went for a walk on the West High track. It is about a block from our apartment and is very nice for walking. It was really pleasant outside so it was a nice way to prepare for sleep.

Saturday I had several things that needed catching up on at the apartment so I worked there most of the day. I really felt driven to do more Swedish research, so about 3:30 I finished everything else and hurried over. I was able to get a little bit done—not much, but enough to make it worth the trip. I think I am nearly finished documenting one of the families and I’m ready to move to the next generation. The records are quite good for at least the 1800s, so I should be able to find what I need for the family.

Week of April 10, 2016

Sunday my missionary companion and her sister came over to spend the day with us. We took them home teaching with us. One of the sisters has inherited her father’s many years of family history research in the form of about 30 old Book of Remembrances. She wants to verify that the information in them is in the Tree, but the only way to do that is to go through it all page by page. Fortunately, her dad’s printing is very legible and most of the records are documented. As we thumbed through one of the books we stumbled across a connection to Alfred the Great in the 900’s. My comp laughed and said that he is mostly remembered for burning cake. He had been left by a servant to tend the cake in the oven and let it burn, so everyone says, “Alfred, the Great; the one who burned the cake.” 

Monday after devotional I went to the office area to print a few things. Our leader handed me a pack of handouts for the classes that he wanted me to review to make sure all the handouts that should be there were. I added several, corrected a few, and commented on the overall collection. I am really impressed with all they are trying to do. I was really tired by the time I finished everything and totally exhausted by the end of the day.

In the evening Ted and I watched a couple of versions of the Provo City Center Temple Cultural Celebration. It was really uplifting. I was so touched by the music that had been written. The theme was “Beauty from Ashes” and there were many applications of that thought.

Tuesday we began our Capstone classes. There are a lot of missionaries going home in the next few months so the mission is concerned about having sufficient numbers. We left our phone at the library and weren’t able to find it today. It’s mostly an inconvenience, but most of our phone numbers are in it so we are a little crippled without it.

In the afternoon we went to the temple to do sealings. We had a good group and we were able to get all 24 of our ordinances done and lots of them for the other attendees we worked with. I’m so relieved to get them all done. I just have a few more and my list will be cleaned out.

Wednesday we both taught. I thought the classes went well. I spent some time at the library researching At home I was able to get packed and also go for a walk with Sister Tauzin. I really enjoy our visits even though there is a definite language barrier. I’m sure we each miss about half of what is said. It rained off and on all day but was clear enough for us to walk.

It had rained off and on through the day and I was not particularly wanting to walk to the Trax station in the rain pulling my suitcase behind. I had fervently asked the Lord to help us have dry weather on Thursday morning to walk to the Trax stop. When we woke up the weather was fairly clear and dry. We readied ourselves and walked to the train. We had planned to be there early because we were not familiar with the airport and airline. As it turned out, not much was different than any other flight and all went smoothly.

While we waited for our flight, Ted and I reviewed some files for classes being taught. As we sat there we noticed it was raining fairly hard outside. I was so grateful for the Lord’s tender mercy in allowing us to have dry weather long enough to get on the train. Just as we finished reviewing the files, it was time to board the plane. The plane was fairly small with two seats on each side of the aisle. While we waited for our second flight in Houston, I worked on adding some sources to Family Tree from several of the documents I had been finding.

Snake found on one of our evening walks

It was good to be with Nathan and Caroline and family for the weekend and for Natalie’s baptism and were grateful for the opportunity to be there with them.

Week of April 3, 2016

Sunday we attended the morning session of conference. We discovered our neice was sitting just in front of us and visited for a while. The prophet spoke and sounded so strong and well, but he looked so frail. He announced four new temples then spoke for about two minutes. It was a good message but it was over too soon. The rest of the speakers were good and it was touching that so many of the messages emphasized the love of God for each of us and the blessings available to us. It was literally a plea to be obedient and accept the Atonement.

Monday we met with our new Assistant Zone Leader at a staff meeting. We discussed our upcoming schedules and new Enrichment classes. He is a professor specializing in gerontology so I think he will have a big impact on the way we do things. There will be some changes in our teaching procedures as well. I’m excited about the direction we are headed.

We met a former missionary companion and her sister from England that are over for conference. It was so good to see them. It must have been nearly 20 years since I had seen her. We spent time working on our classes then worked on some Swedish research. I found a few more documents for one of Ted’s grandfathers. I was quite excited to find the births of two of the children, one of which was not already in the system. I also found his death record and the death record for his second wife. I feel like the mystery is getting cleared up.

Tuesday we began teaching a new class of Church Service Missionaries. We have an interesting group this week—they are very congenial and love to talk and offer comments and thoughts. It is interesting how each group has their own personality. It makes the teaching so fun. We had an interesting challenge—we used a different room each day. It is sometimes interesting to teach in a room for the first time. Several things did not work as we expected, so there were a few hiccups.

Wednesday I taught Help Center for the first time. I also led the Applied Learning for Historical Records. We tried a new approach that I had suggested and the students seemed quite engaged. Instead of the normal worksheet, I gave them a sheet we usually use as a class exercise in another class. We never get to do much with it because of time constraints. It occurred to me that it would make an excellent exercise for searching records in FamilySearch and then continuing on the second day by searching in the Partners. It worked really well for the first part.

In the afternoon I didn’t feel very good and my legs were aching from being on them teaching, so I didn’t want to go walking. When I went by my friend’s apartment she was ready to go. She has been sick for a couple of weeks but really felt we needed to go today. She said it would be short. Hah! A few minutes later, we headed out, camera in hand, to walk to the Capitol Building. It is up some fairly steep hills, but she took me a way that wasn’t too bad and one of the streets ended in some stairs which were good to climb. Because neither of us was really energetic, we walked slowly. The capitol ground has a circular walkway with cherry trees on both sides—it is very lovely. She said they would have been nicer on Sunday but she wasn’t up to it. We sauntered and visited and took pictures. She was a little melancholy because she is planning to go home next April and this will be her last time to see the trees in bloom. (I believe she extended because she had told me she was going home in July.) It was a sweet experience.

Sister Tauzin at Utah State Capitol Building

I mentioned that my friends wanted to visit the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum next to the capitol grounds. She suggested we stop there on our way home because she wanted to see it again and it is open late on Wednesday nights. It was fascinating. We spent quite a bit of time walking around, mostly looking at pictures. She had suggested that some of my family might be there so I started looking and had a difficult time stopping. I found a few of the Farnsworth family. Also the second piano to cross the plains was there, having been owned by a Julia Farnsworth. It was really an interesting experience. It kept us out walking for over two hours so I was even more tired when we got home, but it was refreshing and I really enjoyed the visit with my good friend.

Sister Roeth at Utah State Capitol Building--Cherry Tree Walk

Thursday I had a discussion with our leader. He wants me to create a folder for our class objectives and handouts on the intranet. He wants to get the information synched up with what we give the students and he wants to be able to give them one packet of paper at the start of class instead of a little every day. This will require that we all use the same handout, which requires that we agree on the objectives and the content of the class. I am really looking forward to having all this in place.

As we were walking home we had a call from our granddaughter. She asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost at her baptism. I am really thrilled with the request and the opportunity. She is sweet and I am looking forward to our visit next week.

Friday our class required pretty much full-time help from the trainers. I am teaching the same class as an Enrichment class so it is good to watch it being taught by someone else. We finished at noon and I worked on the Swedish research until early evening. Ted was able to spend quite a bit of time with a Finnish missionary so he felt like he’d been able to make some good progress. I got a new form from a lady that does Swedish research and it makes good sense. I didn’t make a lot of progress on any one family, but I was able to find birth records for the children in the next generation so that will be ready to work on when I finish the one I am on.

Saturday afternoon I worked on my classes. I am enjoying the teaching and the expanded curriculum with having Enrichment classes. These are open to all missionaries and are fairly flexible in their content. In the evening we walked to a store on the other side of Temple Square. It was a good walk and we thoroughly enjoyed the flowers. They seem to change every day. The ones along the sidewalk of the Conference Center smell like gardenias—not sure what they are, but the smell is wonderful.

Cleaning Up Records

I have had questions asking what I mean by “cleaning up the family history records” for my family. Since most of my family lines go back to the very early days of the Church when we were first taught to do family history research, my enthusiastic family members and their posterity have collected the same information many times over. Most of it is correct but some may have inconsistencies.

When I look at a person’s record in FamilySearch Family Tree, I check to make sure there are no duplicate records for the person and I check to make sure all of the ordinances have been completed. I look at all the dates and try to make sure they are consistent—the birth before the death, parents born before children, and so forth. I also make sure the dates and place names are in the standardized form FamilySearch uses. I try to organize the sources into groups so it is easy to see what evidence has been found—Vital Records, Census Records, Records for other family members that list a relationship to this person, and other records, such as immigration, military, etc.

I then check FamilySearch and Ancestry.com to make sure I have attached all the records I can find, at least the ones easily available. So far there have been enough sources on the records I have looked at that I feel the information on the records is properly documented. If I were to find someone who had only a few sources or information that is not documented, I would search other websites to determine if I can find sufficient evidence to make a good case for the information on the record or provide missing information.

This is an imperfect attempt to make the records more acceptable and is by no means intended to set the standard for others.

Week of March 27, 2016

This was a rather unusual week. We didn’t have a class this week, so we spent much of the time doing research. I spent time getting some administrative things done like printing calendars, emailing our schedule for April to the zone leaders in the mission, preparing handouts for the upcoming classes, and fixing things that needed changing. Our new assistant zone leader was getting his orientation from the old one, so I thought it best not to stick around the office area too long.

I spent some time with one of the Swedish consultants and got some direction for researching Ted’s Swedish family. The records for Sweden are good and should be fairly clear to follow. The go back to the late 1700s in most area and were updated every year by law. When people moved from one parish to the next, they made a note of where they were going and when. The new parish would make a note of when they came and from where. It does not always work out quite as nicely as it should, but it is pretty good at creating a trail for a family. Ted is trying to work more on the Finnish lines so he is working with a Finnish missionary. It was a productive week. We are still pretty green and need lots of help, but it was nice to have the extra time to do the research. The cool thing is that I have been able to find a couple of dates that were incorrect before and I found a missing daughter in one of the families.

After I had gathered several records for three generations of one family, I spent putting the records onto Research Logs so I could see what I had and what I was still missing. At the end of the week I transferred my notes to timelines for the three generations. There are a few missing records that I have not been able to find, but it is a little confusing without the organization. Ted is getting some clarity about the Finnish records—some have three or more generations on one page, all mixed together.

While I was working earlier on cleaning up my grandma’s siblings’ records, I did some entries on the record of one of her younger sisters. A couple of days later I received a message in FamilySearch saying, “I am the youngest daughter of [one of the siblings], who are you?” I told her who I was, that I was Mabel’s granddaughter, serving a mission in Salt Lake, and if she lived in the area I would love to meet her. Wednesday we met her and her husband for lunch and had a delightful visit. I was a little uncertain that we would be able to recognize each other, but when we walked into the restaurant, I knew immediately it was her because she looks so much like her mom. It was really fun to have the opportunity to visit with her and hear some of the stories she told about her mom and the aunts and uncles. We will do it again sometime.

Sister Roeth and new-found cousin

Friday evening we attended a reunion for the Farmington New Mexico Mission. It was good to see the missionaries we knew there. There were so many I did not recognize because the only ones we really got to know were the ones in our small area surrounding Gallup. There were several from our group there and it was good to see them and have a chance to visit.

My favorite part of the reunion was when Pres. Batt bore his testimony. He’d had hip replacement surgery and had read the Book of Mormon twice in three months. He bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, telling the missionaries he knew the Lord could see each of them doing their best on their missions to serve the people, seeing them not as a group but individually. He is a great man.

One of the real pleasures we have living and serving here is the opportunity to walk across Temple Square at least a couple of times each week and often more. It has been such a wonderful experience to see the temple in so many different lights and seasons. And it has been a joy to watch the gardens coming to life as the flowers bloom in all the many color combinations. It has really been fun to see the changes from day to day and week to week,even with the unpredictable changes in the weather.

 Another fun thing is the display of the “Helping Hands” sent in by children all over the world in response to Pres. Monson’s admonition to be Christ’s hands in service. There are thousands of hand prints displayed in the Church Office Building with small excerpts of individual acts performed by children. It is very impressive and a real testimony of their desire to serve the Lord and follow the prophet.