Week of May 22, 2016

Sunday we invited the elders over for dinner. I kept waiting for the second knock on the door but it never came. After they left I picked up another missionary and drove her to her grandmother’s home, which turned out to be about two blocks from our apartment, so she could take pictures. It was a cute house I’d noticed several times on our walks. We then went to visit our friend who fell last week. She is walking with a brace on her leg and seems to be doing very well. She is in much better shape than last time we saw her.

Monday we started with a new group of three missionaries. They now do an hour of shadowing after lunch before coming to us from 2 – 4 pm. It gives us a long lunch, but I was able to pick up some things to take to my friend in rehab. We enjoyed a good visit and I got back just in time for class. I am struggling to get my handouts and presentations organized for the two enrichment classes coming in a couple of weeks. It has been difficult to get a good direction for them for them.

Tuesday I didn’t teach, but I spent the lunch hour doing a little Swedish research. I have been following the trail of a man my records showed died at the age of three months. I was able to follow him for about 28 years—obviously my source was incorrect—to to the point that he was married and had 4 children. That was the point where the Parish registers stop being available so I looked for his death record. I found someone with the same first name and birth date, but there was a different last name. I looked for his wife and found someone with the same first name and birth date but a different last name. I was a little frustrated but the thought came to me that I should look for that last name, which I realized was the same name on both people, and I got a list that included the husband, wife, and two children with the correct birth dates for the family and also a brother of the husband. It was a little odd to me that a family—or two families—would change their last name when they have already established themselves under another name.

Wednesday I taught the Historical Records class which is one of my favorites. I was asked to attend an inservice on the Find, Take, Teach program in the other part of the zone, so Ted taught the second part of the class for me. It was a good meeting and I got some ideas, but I’m not sure exactly how many of the ideas should be incorporated into the classes. I feel we may be trying to give the students everything we have instead of just what they need to get started. During the afternoon I was able to do a bit of work on one of the classes I’ll be teaching. It is a real challenge to adjust a prepared handout to meet my own approach, but I was too far into it when the frustrations set in to start over. I think it will work out.

At lunch I went to the international floor and asked one of the elders about the name change in the Swedish family I’d been working on. He said it was fairly common for families to change their names and it was an easy process. He said the name didn’t really have meaning but it was possible it was the farm the family lived on. The other possibility was that they just wanted a more Swedish name since the previous family name was Finnish. He showed me a Swedish website that listed people. We looked up their new name and found the oldest son who is still alive. It gave his address so I figured Ted could write to him. He took me to another website that listed people’s addresses and phone numbers and found the first son—still no phone number—and the second son with address and phone number. I’m really excited that Ted may be able to contact the family, connect with them, and possibly ask about the name change. I was told they probably would not speak English since they were born as early as 1931, but their children and grandchildren would be able to translate for them. Exciting!

In the evening I attended a presentation by a lady who has restored and created several quilts that are used in historical sites such as the Joseph Smith home in Palmyra. It was fascinating as she described various blocks on a quilt she called the “Joseph and Emma” quilt. She wove Church history into each block as they represented various times in the early part of the Restoration. She also displayed some of her notes and patterns and told us that we were welcome to take pictures and copy anything she had done. I didn’t particularly want to copy them, but I did enjoy seeing them and getting the ideas from them.

Thursday I taught the Guest Assistance class. It went well. This is the closing class for each group where they get to respond to actual questions asked by guests to the library. At the end I shared my testimony of the work and told them they would each do a great job. We have been able to get much closer to this group because it was so small and one lady had tears in her eyes as we closed. As we were working on something one day I noticed her user id was her name and a male name and asked if she and her husband shared an account. She got a little teary as she told me they always did the work together. I think he must have passed away fairly recently. I am amazed at the strength of some of the single sisters.

Friday we didn’t have any classes so we went to the library to work. Ted was able to get some help from a different missionary than usual. I was not aware that he had been able to extend the Finnish lines out about 4 more generations. That’s amazing. I worked on my classes for a couple of hours. While I was trying to get some screen prints for one class I did a search on the husband in the family I’d been working on and found an additional birth record. I began researching one of his sisters and came upon a dead end where I couldn’t figure out where to go next. As I was searching in a third location for a marriage record for her I found the marriage record for her sister that I had not been able to find previously. The Lord works in mysterious ways. It was a real blessing to find this because the sister died young and I didn’t want to lose her records. It has been a real testimony to me of the hand of the Lord in this work. When I come to a dead end, I pray and I frequently have success finding what I was looking for or something else I needed to find. It is a real blessing to be part of this work.

Martha Ann Brockbank Hales, my Great Grandmother

In the afternoon we drove to Spanish Fork Cemetery to see the grave sites for some Hales family members. I found the graves I knew were there, but I had hoped that the headstone for one of the families would list additional children that I have been unable to find. We then went to the Payson Temple. It is beautiful. I especially love the stained glass windows. After that we went to an open house for our nephew’s son and wife. It was a fun party in their backyard and we really enjoyed it.

Payson Utah Temple, stained glass windows

Saturday we drove to Logan to the temple. It is the 2^nd oldest temple in Utah and the 2^nd oldest operating temple in the Church. As would be expected, the temple grounds were busy with people attending weddings. Afterward we went to The Bluebird, a restaurant that has been in Logan for about 100 years. The drive to and from was beautiful as we drove through the canyon. Fun day!

Logan Temple, 2nd oldest temple in Utah

Week of May 15, 2016

Sunday was an interesting day. We had signed up to have a pair of elders over for dinner. About 20 minutes before they were due they knocked on our door. The food was ready so we decided to start eating. About 5:15, the scheduled time for dinner, there was another knock on the door and there was another pair of elders. We were a little surprised, but we invited them in. (As a flashback, when I received the email telling us we would be having elders, I was in a hurry and just deleted it without reading it. Later, I had the thought that I should find out the elders’ names that were coming to eat, but I couldn’t find the email. Since I had not read the email, I wasn’t sure who was supposed to be with us and who wasn’t, or if they had assigned us 4 elders.) We had dished up our food so there were just scraps left of some of the food. Since we served Taco Salad, it was a little sketchy without all the ingredients. The second set of elders were a little put out that we had started without them. I told them we did not know they were coming, but I think they felt we were extremely rude to have started without them.

I offered to fix more food and they said that would be appreciated. I found another package of meat in the freezer—thankfully—and hurriedly thawed and cooked it. We opened another bag of chips—I was really glad we’d bought that extra bag. We only have 4 chairs, so Ted and I were standing. One elder stood with us because he had been taught to stand and offer his chair when “someone at least 20 years older than him was standing.” I insisted he sit down and eat. Anyway, we got through the meal but it was very interesting. After they had gone I looked again and found the email—only the first set of elders was assigned to us. I talked with the lady in charge later and found out her husband had made an error when he sent the emails, so we got the extra pair and another couple got none.

Monday we had a lively discussion in our staff meeting. We are changing the curriculum for the missionaries going home to teach them the Find, Take, Teach program the Church has prepared to help people become involved in family history work. I am in charge of developing a class on descendancy research which is the core of the program. I need produce a handout that will be helpful to the missionaries as we go through the presentation. I also need to help them learn how to prepare the teaching plan they present to people. We will have them prepare one for themselves after searching in their own trees to find ancestors. I think it will turn out OK, but I am feeling the pressure to make this really good. I was told several times that “this is the core to the entire process”.

In the evening we had our Hail and Farewell dinner where we welcome new missionaries and say goodbye to those going home in the next two months. There were a lot going home and only a few coming. Apparently, our mission is down 60 couples from what they need. There was a musical group that played for us and sang pioneer songs. It was really a fun evening.

Young Elders and Mission Presidency singing "Called to Serve"

Tuesday I taught a class that is part of a series on how to get started in research. It’s a good class, but I felt a little disconnected while teaching. I’m really feeling a little overwhelmed so it was just nice to get one thing behind me. After class we went to the temple then back to the library to work for a while.

Wednesday I taught Catalog. I’m not sure why I was assigned three classes this week, but I enjoy teaching and it is a good group. In the afternoon we attended a department devotional/mission conference with Elder Renlund and his wife. It was really good. Elder Renlund spoke about the Second Coming of Christ as taught in Matthew 24. He referred us to the following chapter where it begins with a “then”, meaning “at this time”, and three parables. He taught that the three parables instruct us what we need to do to be ready when Christ comes and it was so good. I was very touched by his comments.

Gazebo by our patio door--amazing roses!

Thursday in our classes I taught Photos and Documents and I really enjoyed it. In the afternoon we had an enrichment class on FamilySearch Apps that was really good. I learn new things all the time—one of the perks of our assignment. Afterward Ted worked with Sister Aroma and made some good progress on his Finnish family. I did some administrative stuff then worked on the Swedish research for the first time in a few weeks. I really enjoyed getting back to that.

Unusual rose--touch of lavender!

Friday we’d had a power outage during the night. I awakened during the night and saw the alarm clock flashing so I looked at my watch, reset the clock, and went back to bed. When the alarm clock went off I got up and got ready. Ted said the clocks in the kitchen were flashing, so I started to set them. When I looked at my watch, I realized it was only 5:15 instead of the 6:15 I thought it was. Apparently, during the night I didn’t read the watch correctly. Ted’s response was, “Well, that’s why it’s so quiet in the building.”

We had our last day of classes. After we finished we were walking to the mall to eat and passed Elder and Sister Renlund. This was the second time I have seen a General Authority while we’ve been here. It is not a very common occurrence. After lunch I worked on the descendancy class and I think it is finally where I’d like it to be. I was asked to take over a class by one of the other teachers who will be out of town, I signed up for an enrichment class on sourcing, and I volunteered to teach a class on Ancestry.com, so I need to get busy working on those. I think my brain is about to explode.

Saturday I did some family history. I had received a message during the week from a man who had entered some information into FamilySearch asking about one of the people I was looking at. I told him some of the issues I saw and suggested he might like to take over. He told me to move ahead, so I feel a real responsibility to find more information on the birth mother of this lady in order to get the records straightened out. In the evening we went to the reception for my cousin’s daughter. It was really fun to visit with so many cousins and aunts and uncles that were there. Good day!

Week of May 8, 2016

Sunday was Mother’s Day and we had a good day. The choir sang in church and the performance went OK until we got out of sync with the organ and the director stopped us to start again in the middle. Other than that, it was nice. We had a couple of ladies over and enjoyed a good visit. After they left I visited with children which is always good.

Monday I spent the day reviewing my lesson and spiffing up a PowerPoint a bit so it wasn’t so boring. We started for home about 3:30. It was raining so we shared my umbrella—Ted had not brought his coat. As we got nearer home the rain increased and after we got inside it literally broke loose for about 10 minutes with one of the heaviest rains I’ve seen. Then it stopped. Very strange.

Tuesday I had to print a copy of my PowerPoint slides so I’d know what was coming up. I think the teaching went OK. We finished about 2:44 and thought we could make it to the temple for the 3 pm session. We walked as fast as we could and ran a little to get there. We made it but only by the skin of our teeth. I enjoyed the session, but it isn’t good to start the temple that way. Afterward I sat in the Celestial Room for quite a while.

Wednesday we heard a sister had fallen near the other apartments and broken her nose. Later in the day we heard a friend had been hurt in our parking lot. As it turned out, it was our friend that had fallen and she was hurt quite badly. She broke her nose, her knee, and a vertebra in her neck. It made me hurt just thinking about it. We wanted to visit, but we had no idea where she was. She is a good friend—one I taught to make cinnamon rolls a few weeks ago.

When we got home I realized I had left the cell phone at the library. I had received a call just at the end of class. After the call, I packed up my things and went home. I hurried back to the library so we wouldn’t lose it again. It was where I had left it—tender mercy.

We were told that our department was moving to the B2 level of the library (lowest basement). I went to see the new digs and was a little alarmed. There was a large reception area where we could use the computer. There were also two small cubicles that we were assigned. One of these would be the zone leader’s and the other would be for the rest of us if his wife was not using it. It seems so far out of the way that I’m not sure how much I will use it.

Thursday I had given my class to another trainer and I was glad I wasn’t teaching. In the afternoon I taught IrfanView and thought it went very well. Many of the students were on overload before the class because of everything we had poured out this week. I think it was a relief to do something that was not directly research related. We had a fun time with it.

The zone leader and his wife took care of the move today. We were given two different cubicles. One has two computers for them and the other will be for the rest of us with one computer with two monitors. They thought three people could sit in it, but I’m not at all sure how three people would fit since it really only has desk space for one chair. There are several other computers in the area that are more appealing to me.

After class Sister Barber and I worked on her descendancy work. I showed her how to get to a few people that needed work done. She took lots of notes and was quite excited, but she did not want to reserve any of the names we found. I wish I’d known that to begin with, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. She thought it went well.

Friday I spent the one on one time with one of the sisters in our class that was really frustrated. She really did not know how to search records. I showed her the searching methods and the catalog. I also showed her Ancestry and pointed out that it is just like FamilySearch. When we finished she felt much better about things and was ready to do more.

Ted had run into a couple yesterday and got more information on our friend in the hospital so we went to visit her. She is in pain but looks better than I had expected. Her eyes are open a little even though there is a lot of swelling around them. There is not too much discoloration from bruising and there are just a few scabs on her face. Her nose is swollen but not too misshapen. She even smiled a little. She had a few visitors with her when we arrived. When we got there she asked for a blessing so Ted anointed and a counselor in the mission presidency sealed the blessing. She was told she would be able to complete her mission which was a great comfort to all. There was a good spirit there. She is obviously in a great deal of pain, but it looks like she will be able to heal without too much residual damage. I was glad we had gone. We saw the mission counselor later in the library and he encouraged us to continue visiting so she doesn’t feel alone.

We returned to the library and Ted was able to get some help from Sister Aroma with some Finnish research. He found the family of his great grandmother Sophia Bomstrom, so that is a real breakthrough. It was late when we returned home so we ate dinner and went right to bed.

Saturday I was able to review the lesson I will present in our meeting Monday and also the lesson I will teach this week. We went for a walk late in the morning and enjoyed it. We were able to stop in the Brigham Young Park and see the various exhibits. In the afternoon we met up with my sister and her husband and attended her grandson’s wedding reception with them. We also went to the Church History Library which was amazing. I could have spent much more time there.

Week of May 1, 2016

Sunday was our anniversary and it was a good day. At church we discovered they were short of people for Preach My Gospel so we volunteered. The elders did a good job and Ted discovered one of them was a sort of expert on Elder Russell’s method of doing research, so they struck a good friendship. We had a quiet meal and had visits with children in the evening.

Monday we had a vigorous discussion at our inservice meeting regarding our new classes for Capstone centering around the Find, Take, Teach program. One of the teachers presented her PowerPoint which was quite good. I’m not at all sure we are headed the direction we need to be going, but it is a good start. I gave my outline for the Descendancy Research class and got some additional direction. We will plan to have a half hour at the end for the students to get into doing some descendancy research on their own lines. I hope it works.

Tuesday I worked on handouts for the classes I’ll be teaching. I stayed later than usual at the library doing some research on the Swedish lines. At the devotional in the morning I introduced myself to Elder Farnsworth, a new missionary who started this week. I always think it is exciting to run into people that may be related. We connect back several generations.

Wednesday in the devotional the man giving the spiritual thought put a penny on each of our chairs. He has some real challenges in his life. At some point he began collecting pennies. Someone pointed out to him that each penny says, “In God we trust,” so he felt that each time he found a penny it was God’s way of letting him know He was looking out for him and blessing his life. I really appreciated his insights and it was a profound experience.

We have another change coming to our teaching. The new missionaries will be doing shadowing one hour every day, so our schedule will be adjusted to accommodate that. It will mean we end an hour later each day.

We had an enrichment class on Photos, Documents, and Stories. After the two hours of lecture we offer the students an hour to practice with our help. Several stayed after and I helped a few. One was in tears after we finished what she was doing. She had been able to identify her recently deceased brother in a photo and was thrilled to be able to link it up on FamilySearch. Another lady wanted to write down specific instructions to get photos off her “stick” and into FamilySearch. We went through one step at a time and got it down. She was so excited to forge ahead. She had just found out her father had another family after he left them and she had connected with some step-siblings who had given her tons of pictures. (As it turned out, when she tried to follow the instructions she got lost somewhere and still needs help.)

Thursday I spent quite a bit of time working on the lessons I’ll be teaching. I did a bit of personal research while Ted worked with a missionary on some Finnish lines. He found a book with lots of information about Finnish people in Michigan, Minnesota, and the surrounding area. We were able to get to the temple for a session in the evening.

Friday was our temple and research day. We got to the library shortly after 9 am. I did a few things to get caught up on paperwork then worked on some personal research most of the morning. I overheard a man telling someone about the Farnsworth Memorial book that he was in so I introduced myself. Elder Wheatley is descended from Reuben III through Moses Farnsworth. I come through Philo Taylor. The new missionary I met this week comes through Stephen Martindale. We all connect at the same place. Very small world!

In the afternoon I worked on Swedish research and found several records for one of the families. Ted worked on his Finnish family and was able to find what he thinks is the family of his great grandmother Sophia Bernstrom. He was so excited. It was a long day but we both felt like we had accomplished something of real value. We grabbed a bite to eat then attended a concert of the Rocky Mountain Strings, a group of very young violinists who were amazing. It was a wonderful concert and we felt grateful to have been there. They are young people between the ages of about 4 to 16 playing violin and they are incredible. Well worth the time at the end of an exhausting day.

Saturday we started early helping to set up for the swap meet. I was amazed at how much work it took to get it all ready. There was a ton of stuff. I was also amazed at the amount of stuff that was gone at the end of the hour. I found a few blouses for a missionary that has been losing weight and picked up some bowls for one of the trainers. I also got a couple of blouses for me, but I really wasn’t looking for anything. It was a fun experience and I’d like to be part of it down the road. (We have since been asked to be on the committee for the duration.)

Note: Each month the mission holds the swap meet. Missionaries going home donate things they can’t take with them and missionaries here pick up what they need. New missionaries get a 20-minute head start the first month they are here so they can get stocked. We are not provided everything we are used to—just basic essentials, so the swap meet is a fun opportunity to visit and pick up things that may be useful. It is really more of a social event than anything, but it is a good way to recycle useful things within the mission.

Week of April 24, 2016

Sunday I worked on organizing my research. I feel much more on top of what I am doing and where I need to go. We had young elders over for dinner. After they left I helped a sister with a family history question. We got everything together then sent the email. It was fun.

Monday we had a good devotional. One of the newer elders spoke, telling us his story. He was born with spina bifida. He had been told he would never walk—he does with some difficulty and with a cane. He had always wanted to serve a mission and had held out his hopes until his bishop told him it wasn’t going to be possible. Then he received his patriarchal blessing and was told he would serve a full-time mission and that confused him. As he began to seek an answer to reconcile the two things, he heard about our mission and is now serving. It was a very touching story. I believe many of the elders serving here have been excused from missionary service for health reasons of one sort or another and yet they serve because they really want to. It is an inspiration.

In the afternoon I spend time with a missionary learning a method of research she claims has 100% success. It is a form of descendancy research and she has used it to help many people in her ward to find names and begin doing family history. It was amazing to me to see it work. I found about 9 names in my own family lines. After dinner I did some more searching on my family line and found about 20 more names. My ultimate goal is to use this method to track where I’ve looked and where I’ve done work. That has been part of the problem with other methods—knowing where I am and what I have done. She uses a screen shot to remember where she is when she leaves the process and it could just as easily be used to show which people have been checked for spouses and/or children. I am excited about it.

Tuesday after devotional we had an enrichment class—the first since the remodeling of the library. It was totally full and went well.

Wednesday I taught the Beginning IrfanView Enrichment class. We had 26 students for 23 computers and we turned several away. I had a very positive response to the handout I had prepared. It had much more detail than I would have put for some subjects, but for this one I felt the students needed to walk away with a basic manual of how to do things. In the afternoon I worked on the Descendancy Research class I have been asked to teach and got it to the point where I felt I could at least present the outline to the trainers.

Thursday I worked with another trainer at length to merge our teaching handouts for the classes we both teach so there will be a standard handout in the packet we give the missionaries. I updated the documents we agreed to use to show the changes and sent to her for review. It took most of the afternoon. Later I worked on some personal research for a while. I stayed way too late, but I found several new records I’d had trouble finding before and have nearly finished documenting one family.

Friday I worked on updating the handouts again. I gave them to our leader to include in the handout package. I thought I was done, but I discovered we were still missing a form for one of the classes so I found that and sent it in.

I am feeling very overwhelmed right now. I need to get the class handouts organized and saved in folders for both trainers and students (different formats). I need to do the same for Capstone classes and for Enrichment classes. Besides these administrative things, I am supposed to be developing a class on Descendancy Research using the descendancy view in FamilySearch, even though I believe there is a better way to do it. I also need to prepare to teach Research Process 2 and 3 that I will be teaching in the next couple of weeks for the first time. And above and beyond all this, I have reserved, through the new method the missionary showed me, about 150 new people temple work and I need to go into each one and add sources, verify no duplicates, and contact family to do the work since it is too much for me to do. And the Swedish research is calling to me. I need to add the names I have found and add sources to those names. I am buried.

After the enrichment class ended Ted and I left to go to the Ogden Temple. We walked to the Front Runner station to take the train to Ogden. We enjoyed a very relaxing ride and a short walk to the temple and downtown. We stopped in town to eat then went to see the movie “Saturday’s Warrior”. It was a treat. The temple was only a very short walk from the theater, but we were late for the next session so I stayed outside for a while.

The Ogden Temple was just rededicated after a long period of total reconstruction and it is beautiful. We didn’t stay long after the session because I thought we could catch the train quickly. When we got outside we realized we were not going to make it to the station in the 2 minutes until the train left for Salt Lake. As we got closer we saw two trains at the station and figured one was going to Salt Lake. Assuming the train was late leaving we took our time walking only to watch the Salt Lake train pull out just as we got to the parking lot. It left about 15 minutes late. I’m sure the Lord was telling me to put first things first and it would be OK. It was a fun trip. It was very smooth and relaxing. We were the only ones upstairs in the car we were on. It was nearly dark when we got back to Salt Lake but we had enjoyed a good day. It felt so good to leave everything behind for a few hours.

Saturday afternoon I went to the library and did research all afternoon. I feel like I accomplished something. I was able to find records for most of a second family, finding birth and death records for the children. The next step will be to follow the children’s families like I did for the first family. This will be easier since some of the children did not marry and one married one of the children in the first family so they are done. I really need to attach the sources to all the children and that will be a huge task. In the evening we had a quiet dinner and watched a movie at home. It was a nice relaxing evening.