Week of October 9, 2016

Sunday was pretty much a normal day. We attended the broadcast, went home teaching, helped a friend with some family history, and went to church.

Monday our zone leaders spoke at the devotional and used an experience I had shared with them. A lady had approached me in the library one day to tell me that when we were training her she was overwhelmed and it all flew over her head. As she has been working on the floor, the training we gave has become a foundation for her and she is beginning to see more and more how everything fits together.

I worked on some family history in the evening. When I went to bed I had an unusual experience. As I was resting in the bed, after the lights were out, I was thinking about a family I have been trying to piece together and find documents for. Some of the documents have been very elusive. It has been frustrating. I seemed to see faces on the ceiling. There was only one at a time and they changed from one to another fairly rapidly. They seemed to be made of clouds—not hard edges like in a photograph but more like looking through a fuzzy mirror. I had the impression that these were the ancestors I was looking for and they were there for me.

Tuesday we had two Tree classes. We will be taking them over in November after the missionaries doing them now return home. The classes are intended to assist missionaries who don’t get the understanding they need in initial training. Some of the missionaries who have been teaching these will be released back to their zones. We will continue to use one who is an excellent teacher. I know it will take some time for the transition to smooth out, but I am looking forward to having more to teach again.

Wednesday we had two classes and also a staff meeting. We were given assignments to revise some of the handouts, and I had the impression that we would move the teaching assignments around a little but still use the same class handouts once they are fixed. My Sources enrichment class is being merged with the Tree class on sourcing. The Tree class will just cover internal sources and my enrichment class will focus on external sources. I think that is a good approach. I just hope I can make it work.

Thursday I worked a bit on a class handout. We had a class scheduled for the afternoon, but when we got there the class had been bumped due to room availability. It made me sad since this was the last class the old group would have taught. It would be frustrating to have your last class cancelled. We did a little research instead.

Friday morning I taught the Unique Searches Enrichment class. We had about 26 people in the classroom that seats 23 so it was over-full. I think it went well. We allowed some time to look for the students’ own records so it was of more interest to them. I didn’t get to do all the things I wanted to, but I think it was important to give them the time for their own records. In the afternoon nnother missionary taught Land Records. She always does an excellent job and the students love her teaching.

Saturday evening we had a pot luck dinner for the missionaries that came out with us from the MTC. There were originally 54 of us so they split us into two social groups. The last couple of months we’ve met together and it has been a lot of fun. (We don’t do a lot—just one activity a month—but it is good to be together.) It was a rather bittersweet evening. We enjoyed wonderful food—most pot lucks are like that. Tonight after eating Elder Briggs opened it up for anyone that wanted to share a thought. Most of the departing missionaries said something. Elder Miller recited a poem that was cute about some Irish men that was funny—the object was that they couldn’t count and keep names straight. He said that’s about how he is with family history—he has trouble keeping the names and numbers straight. It was a fun thing.

Another missionary told about doing family history research in the South. She said when you walk into the courthouse and they ask if they can help you say, “My granddaddy fought in the great War of Northern Aggression.” Then they throw the doors wide open and give you everything they have.

It is sad to see so many going home. It has been a real good thing for me to feel that I started out knowing (even briefly) so many missionaries so I started with friends. Our group has been scattered throughout the mission and Elder Briggs made the comment that when we came we were a real boost to the mission. The converse of that is that when we leave it will hurt a bit. Many are staying at least another six months, but there are many going and I will miss them.