Week of September 18, 2016

Sunday we met a lady at church that said she wanted to join the Church. She had just arrived in town and had met the sisters at the visitors’ center. Ted and I walked back with her to reconnect with some sisters after Sacrament Meeting so she could be taught more. She was going to stay at the homeless shelter and she really needed sleep, but they didn’t open until later.

Monday we had an inservice class on doing research in Scotland. It was really informative. There is just not enough time in the day to do everything it would be nice to do. We attended a Tree class on adding and editing. We will be taking over the teaching of Tree classes in November so we want to attend all we can before then. Tree classes are somewhat of a review of the initial training we received when we arrived. Some missionaries like to take the classes to better understand what they were overwhelmed with the first time.

Stained Glass Window in Process

 Tuesday after an inservice class our zone went to visit the art institute at Thanksgiving Point where they make windows for many of the temples. They are also making a series of around 56 windows for a Roots of Knowledge display at UVU in Orem. They were working hard to finish the windows because they have an open house in November. It was really fascinating to see the process that they’ve gone through and the making of the windows. We were not able to get pictures of any temple windows, but we saw several for Paris and Rome.

Roots of Knowledge - Signing of Declaration of Independence

Wednesday we had an inservice class on research in England. My sister Cathy who is visiting for a family reunion wanted to attend classes while she’s here, so we did. After the class on England there was a discussion with Mike Sandberg who does Find, Take, Teach. He had us share experiences then discussed what they are putting together to “certify” family history consultants. It is a list of activities that consultants will do in order to become qualified to help others. It was really interesting and did not come close to being completed. They scheduled another time next week to meet again so his group could move forward with their initiative.

In the afternoon there was a Tree class on Memories. Afterward we looked at a few records but we really didn’t find anything. We met my sister Sue and her husband Roger for dinner in the evening. We enjoyed a good meal and a visit. We stayed way too long so we were late getting home, but it was fun.

Thursday we had the thought and scripture and prayer for devotional. Ted wasn’t feeling well so he came home after that. At the library my sister found a death certificate for one of her husband’s aunts that gave her correct parents’ names. She was really excited. We then went to a meeting with some of the FamilySearch engineers. They work in the Record Hints and Historical Records searching area. They told us how searches work and why different pieces of the tree work differently. They gave us insights into what’s coming and what they are hoping to accomplish. It was really fascinating.In the afternoon we attended the Historical Records class for Tree. It was quite good. When it was over Cathy made the comment that this was exactly what she needed. I’m so glad.

Friday we attended a class on Record Seek, a program that creates sources from other websites and puts them into FamilySearch. It was really interesting and looked like it would be a good idea to use it for some things. We went to The Lion House for lunch and enjoyed it. We sat next to two of my cousins and had a brief visit with them. After lunch we went on a tour to the top of the COB, 26 floors up with an amazing view of Salt Lake City. It was fun. We spent a little time in the library then went to visit my uncle and aunt in town. There were cousins at both houses so the visits were even more fun than expected. We got home just in time to grab a bite to eat then headed over to a concert in the Assembly Hall. It was a couple playing duets on the piano. I enjoyed it, but I was really tired. The weather had turned cold and rainy so it was good to get back indoors after returning home. It was a fun day.

Temple Square from 26th Floor of Church Office Building (COB)

Saturday we had thought we’d have to work at the sheds, but the couple that was scheduled changed plans to do it. Cathy and I went out to help anyway and hung clothes while an elder cleared up some bags of dishes. (Cathy wanted to experience the mission life for a few days.) I was amazed at the number of people that came during the specified time—it hardly ever happens when we are there.

After we changed our clothes we drove to a luncheon with the Hales cousins to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma Hales’ 100^th wedding anniversary. It was really fun. My aunt set it up and had prepared several vignettes from Grandpa’s journal for people to read during lunch. It was so good to visit with those who came. All of the cousins weren’t there, but there were some from each family and many I hadn’t seen in a long time.

Hales Cousins Celebrating Grandpa and Grandma Hales' 100th Wedding Anniversary

My aunt had got tickets for us to Women’s Conference. We got back to Salt Lake just in time for me to pick up my notebook and go to the Conference Center. I went to the closest row to the front that I could. The seats were amazing. They were in the second section from the right, just where all the General Authorities come when they enter the room. We (my sister-in-law Jaada and two of her daughters) saw several of the leaders as they came in. At the start of the conference, the entire First Presidency came in. They could not have been 30 feet away. It was amazing. When the prophet left, he paused to wave to everyone. It was very touching. He looks very weak, but he was able to walk in and out on his own.

As I was entering the row we sat on I was behind a family with two women and two young girls. When one of the women turned around I recognized her as Sister Julie B. Beck, former General Relief Society President. We saw several wives of General Authorities. Sister Beck’s secretary came by a couple of times trying to set up a golf date. She explained that after she was released her son-in-law bought her a set of clubs so she could learn to golf. She said she does well with her grandchildren because they don’t know any better. At the end she bumped my shoulder slightly and immediately put her hands on my shoulders to apologize. She left them there for several moments while she visited with someone. It was touching to me. She visited briefly and wished us well. I realized she was a very normal person. On the way out we ran into Maryellen Smoot, another former president who my sister-in-law had been working with on a recent RS meeting so she stopped to introduce herself to Sister Smoot. It was an exciting evening.