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.