Week of July 18, 2016

Monday at devotional the Elijah Choir presented a musical program with several vignettes about pioneer ancestors. I came home early to help the sister that’s going home. We had a farewell dinner in the evening so Ted made some awesome cookies. We had a good visit with all the missionaries. It was a nice evening and it felt good to be outside in the shade.

Tuesday afternoon we went to the temple with the sister that’s going home. It was a touching occasion. The mission conference was also in the afternoon. Pres. Tate challenged us to read the Book of Mormon 3 times in 3 months. I’m looking forward to that. I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep up.

I did a little Swedish research, mostly organizing some sources I’d found several months ago. In the evening we went to the park for the concert. The group was a blue grass string band of five ladies from Logan and it was really enjoyable. It was so pleasant sitting in the shade and visiting.

Wednesday I came home before lunch time to say goodbye to the sister that’s leaving. It’s sad to see her go, but I know it is the best thing. I worked most of the afternoon on the Capstone book with our zone leaders. I tried to do a little Swedish research but I didn’t get far.

Thursday I spent most of the day on personal research, finding the birth, marriage, and death records for most of the children in one family. I spent quite a bit of time trying to find the marriage record and birth records of two children for a couple. It’s like they disappeared for a period of 4 years. I really would like to find the household record because I think it might hold a key to when the mother came from Finland so I could tie to her family.

In the evening we attended the wedding reception for the daughter of a missionary couple we home teach. We had met the bride when we first moved in and she knew some of our family. It was fun to meet the family of these good friends.

Friday we had a class in the morning. Before we left for lunch our zone leader told us he had received word that, beginning in September, all of our new missionary classes will be computerized and done in the zones. It was a little surprising to me because we had been told they were just going to have the first three modules ready in September. I’m not sure what this will do to our group—it is quite uncertain at this point.

After lunch I taught my class on Partners. I felt OK about it, but I don’t think it was enough for some people. I did more research after the class. I found some other good information that I need to enter so I felt good about my work, but I still could not find the information I needed on the one family.

In the evening we went to the Tabernacle Choir Pioneer day concert. It was amazing. The King Singers were the guest artists and they did well. The music was great, with a large number of folk songs. We had great seats and really were able to enjoy the evening.

Training Zone B

Saturday was our turn to work at the Swap Meet sheds. No one brought anything while we were there, but we emptied out quite a bit of stuff and reorganized things in such a way that there is much more room again. I enjoy doing it, but it is a good workout. In the afternoon we went to our former zone leader’s home in Taylorsville for a barbecue with our group. It was fun to have the group together again and we enjoyed a good visit. We were both fairly tired when we got home, but it was really fun.

Week of July 11, 2016

Monday we left for home. It seems strange that we call Salt Lake City home now. The day was slightly overcast so it was not too bad driving. We arrived home just in time for the Hail and Farewell dinner at church. Several missionaries shared stories of their pioneer ancestors. It was very touching to think of the challenges they had and the many blessings we have. One of the young elders going home was there with his parents. The branch president introduced the mother then asked one of the other senior couples if they knew her. Apparently, she had been a missionary in Canada when she was younger and had taught this couple the gospel and baptized them. It brought tears to my eyes. He pointed out there are no coincidences in life, only the hand of the Lord blessing us with tender mercies.

When it was time to welcome the new missionaries and say goodbye to those going home, the disparity became rather alarming. There are so many going home right now. When the new missionaries were welcomed they were told that they are here to contribute their special talents to the building of the kingdom and the work of the Lord. The thought came to me that this applied to me—that the Lord needs me to use my unique abilities to help the work go forth.

After the evening Pres. Oliver called us aside and asked us to be in charge of the Swap Meet. The couple now in charge is going home and needs to be replaced. I figured that made us chief garbage collectors. A friend told me later that I should upgrade to Recycling Engineer. It does sound a little more appropriate.

Tuesday we began Capstone training for departing missionaries. We had an overflow group with about 50 missionaries in a lab that has 40 computers. It is alarming the number of missionaries going home. We only had about 20 new missionaries this month. When our group and the group before us attend Capstone, presumably most of them at the same time, we will have enough for at least two classes.

While we were gone it was discovered that our group had the wrong planning calendar so we have double booked our group for the week of July 24. The new missionaries were delayed a week due to the mission presidents seminar so they won’t come to us next week when they usually do. We scheduled enrichment for the following week and now we have basic training and new missionaries at the same time. I’m sure we can survive. I am teaching my Partners class next week and there is one other class the same day in the morning, but the rest of the week we don’t have anything scheduled. We need the time to prepare for the upcoming modules that are being revised.

Wednesday we had lost a few people, but our class was still really full. I was able to grab a computer and worked on my handout for my Partners class next week. In the afternoon I printed the handouts so I am ready for the class next week.

We found out we had missed our 4-out interview for missionaries going home in 4 months. After class we visited with Pres. and Sister Larson and had a good discussion. In the afternoon I worked on preparing to help three people find places to work in their family trees. I enjoy doing the finding, but I’m not sure I do the best job of explaining my findings. In the evening I visited with a couple and we had a good time.

Thursday I taught the class on Partner websites the entire morning. We always have a few people that can’t get into the websites so we plan to avoid the problem by using the library versions of the websites. It becomes a major disruption when we teach and a little frustrating for the people who are prepared and need to wait.

I worked some more on preparing a couple coming tomorrow. In the afternoon we met with the previous Swap Meet chairmen to find out the ins and outs of the operation. There is a lot to making it happen. There is a need to organize the bedding so it would be more useful and people wouldn’t have to sort through it on the day of the swap meet. I know this is a big help to missionaries in furnishing their apartments. We have been able to benefit from it on several occasions.

After a quick dinner I went back to the library for a few hours to do Swedish research until closing time. It felt good to get back into it and I was able to find records for at least one additional family. There is still much to do but I think my organization will reap benefits if I can keep it up. At least I can see what needs to be done and what has been done.

Friday I tried indexing during the Sourcing class. (The Church held a worldwide Indexing event to encourage the work.) The sourcing class is fairly complex and got gummed up by people going ahead. The teacher got a little flustered teaching because so many had challenges. I thought everyone did OK, but we did have to work around a few kinks. In the afternoon a couple came for me to help. We spent some time talking to a missionary that specializes in Danish research and she gave them some good guidance. I helped them both find several names in their families and I think they got a good start. They were excited about what we’d found. Afterward they took Ted and me to dinner to say thanks. It was fun to visit with them.

In the evening we went to the concert in the park. We met with a friend from California and her husband and had a brief but fun visit with them. It was nice to be in the night air and go for the walk home.

Sunday we went home teaching to a new lady. We invited a sister over for dinner that is going home for medical reasons. She has a good attitude about it and has accomplished some major things in her stay here.

Week of June 26, 2016

Sunday we had dinner with a single sister missionary so she could have the young elders for dinner. There have to be at least three people besides the elders if a single sister has the elders to dinner. We enjoyed a good visit with the elders. They are Zone Leaders and gave us quite the education on the reporting system that takes place. I didn’t realize it, but one of the elders that has quite a tough time walking—I think he has cerebral palsy—is one of the Assistants to the President. Transfers took place this week, so the elders are all in new places. We enjoyed the meal and the visit.

Our home teachers came over. They have been on six missions and currently process applications for senior missionaries. They have such a wide variety of experiences in their lives that it is always interesting to visit with them.

Monday at devotional one of the directors at FamilySearch spoke. He shared some of the experiences that have turned his heart to his grandparents. He talked about the mission of the Church according to the Handbook and how it had evolved from the 3-fold mission to what it is today. He said our mission fulfills all 4 of the aspects of the Church mission and discussed the fact that our “converts” number much higher than other missions because we serve both sides of the veil. He touched briefly on a new program that is being rolled out to the mission and said we would hear more in the coming months. It was really a good meeting and I was touched by it.

We had a meeting to evaluate how our teaching program had gone last week. It was a good discussion with good ideas. We then tackled the second set of classes for Capstone and the thought was that it should be overhauled to provide more meat. I am amazed at the way things have evolved and are evolving into a much stronger program.

Tuesday I taught Beginning Irfanview as an Enrichment class. It went well, but there were a couple of glitches along the way. I felt like most of the students did well and caught on. After lunch we went to the temple. I then returned to the library and did a couple of things before getting back to the Swedish research. I was able to collect most of the information for one family. I still need to get the birth records, but I got the dates and the death records.

In the evening we went to the park for a concert. I really enjoy sitting in the outside air in the shade for a while and just relaxing. The performers were called the Relic Band. They were an acoustical band group that sang songs from the 60s and 70s. Ted knew almost all the songs and sang along with them, really enjoying himself. I knew 3 or 4 but I enjoyed it as well. It was fun to see him having such a good time.

Wednesday we didn’t have any classes. In the afternoon I went to the library to do some Swedish research for a couple of hours. I was able to put together another family and find most of the documents for them. I got home in time to walk with my friend from France. We just got started on the track when the wind began really blowing hard. We turned around on the second half of the track because it was hard to walk against the wind. I wasn’t sure what we would do on the other side when we faced it again. As it turned out, by the time we reached the other side it had started to rain. We decided to go home so we hurried back and only got a few drops on us.

Instead of going home I went to visit my friend who broke her neck. She had her interview with the mission today and they have decided to send her home. She had some others there, so we really didn’t talk much. When it was time for me to leave she gave me a big hug and told me she was afraid she would never see Ted and me again. She has a doctor’s appointment on the 19^th of July and hopes to go after that. I’m sad to see her go.

Thursday we drove to Las Vegas to help with a new grandbaby.