Week of March 12, 2017

Sunday we had two young elders over for dinner and enjoyed a good visit with them. I continue to be amazed at their good spirits.

Monday I spent the day doing research at the library. I have felt a real need to get more of the Swedish research done before I go home while I can use the library resources. It was a good day and I found many records.

Tuesday we started our first Capstone class. We have 60 missionaries signed up for the classes and the room only holds 40 so we are holding two sessions. Most of the group we came with were in the class. It is a little disconcerting to think we are already in the last weeks of our mission. It is starting to really hit me how fast it’s coming. The trainers were introduced as the crew of a ship—I got the role of Cruise Director. I’m not sure if that means I’m always in everyone’s face or if I should be flattered. Ted taught and did a great job. We attended Mission Conference in the afternoon with Elder Brent Nielsen who is Executive Director of the Missionary Department.

Sister Roeth receiving Library Training Certification

Wednesday I was presented the certificate for Certification at the library. I’m glad that I did that and I learned several new things. In Capstone I taught Catalog and I think it went well. We attended the temple then I went to the library for a couple of hours. I got some help and found some good records.

Thursday after we finished teaching we took a couple of group photos in the old Discovery Center. I wanted to use an experience one of the missionaries had with teaching his granddaughter family history. He had tried to record it on Wednesday, but it wouldn’t download from his email. A little reluctantly he let me record him again. We set up a garbage container with 4 reams of paper on top to prop my phone on so it would be about eye level. He recorded his experience and did a great job.

Training Zone B

Friday we started with my class on attaching sources. I needed to push fairly hard to get finished in time because there is so much to cover. We had a class on the Family History Guide that was new and that went really well. Then I closed by playing the video we recorded Thursday and it had a really strong spirit. We concluded with a video by Elder Renlund. That has such a strong spirit and always touches me because it promises a healing of our families as we participate in the work. I pray for that blessing. I shared my testimony and we were done.

I needed to run an errand then took TRAX back to the library. While I was waiting for TRAX to arrive, Steve Rockwood walked up to me. He is President and CEO of FamilySearch International. I told him I was a missionary in family history. He asked where I was assigned and I told him we had just finished our Capstone class for the month. He asked about that and I explained our dual class curriculum. It was interesting visiting with him.

We got word today that our Swap Meet replacements have been called. That will take a large burden off our backs the last few weeks. In the evening our social group went to Anthony’s Antiques for a tour. We were given a very interesting explanation of a few items then we roamed around. Everyone really enjoyed it and all were surprised at how interesting it was. 

Week of March 5, 2017

Sunday we were asked to offer the prayers in Sacrament Meeting. On Fast Sunday they always invite missionaries going home to share their testimonies first. Since we go home next month we decided to share our testimonies while we were on the stand. It was a good experience—the first time we’ve been able to share our testimonies in Church since we got here.

Monday we spent the day going over lessons and mentoring (answering questions) the new missionaries. They spent most of the morning getting things set up and doing housekeeping stuff, so I had plenty of time to go through the lessons. I enjoy the mentoring and the missionaries are an interesting group.

Tuesday I did more mentoring. There was more involvement with the missionaries as they are getting into their lessons more. Some have gone through several lessons and been assessed already while others have not completed the Basic Computer class. There is such diversity of skills and personalities that it is an interesting situation. I went to the library after we finished to do research and was able to find some additional records. I am trying to get as much of the Swedish research done while I have such good access to the records here.

It appears that we will be able to teach some enrichment classes after all. We will use the lab in the Training Zone on the weeks of inservice and call backs when they don’t have new missionaries. I am just waiting for the next change—they seem to be coming very hard and fast.

Wednesday I finished the certification assessments. I am done. I am glad I did it and I learned several new things along the way, mostly the whys, so it was worth the time and energy. I’m not sure I think it is better, but it is a fairly good program.

I was able to do an assessment today. I don’t understand the rotation for mentoring and assessment. Some do only one and others do only the other and some don’t seem to get into the rotation at all. I just walk into the lab and help until I’m told to do otherwise. The missionaries are definitely more into the lessons now and seem to be moving along well. Several are nearly done while others are just starting, but they all seem to be getting it. I went to the library again after work and was able to find a few more records. I have a stack of research forms with just a few things needed on each one, so I’m gradually chipping away at them.

Thursday I mentored again. I was able to do a little research during lunch, but I can’t access the Swedish records from the JSMB where we work now. In the afternoon we met some friends at the temple to do a session. She is blind so she needs to have someone with her when she attends. After dinner we went to dinner and enjoyed a good visit. It was a good evening.

Friday I did a couple more assessments. While I waited I did some Finnish research. As I researched one family I was trying to find records for a second wife of an ancestor. The marriage date did not seem to work with the births of the children of the other wife. I found a record that indicated the second wife and husband had a baby which I was totally unaware of. It didn’t seem to work out with the birth dates of the other wife either. Suddenly it hit me, this was the first wife. The marriage date was before the other marriage, the child was born and died before the other family, and both the child and the mother had died right after he was born. It made me very sad. I was able to put the information into the system with the documents for marriage, birth, and deaths.

Saturday we went to a luncheon for our Zone B. Our former Assistant Zone Leaders are leaving this month and we and another missionary are leaving next month so we had a luncheon at a missionary’s home. Some former missionaries were there—they left in January—and a new missionary came as well. It was really a good time. We had a good visit and enjoyed just being together. It will be sad to see us all go our ways.

Week of February 26, 2017

Sunday evening there was a fireside with Paul Cardall. I had always wondered if Paul was related to a friend from childhood, so before the fireside started, I asked him if he was related to her. He is her nephew. We had a fun visit for about 5 minutes before others began arriving. He spoke about Emo’s Grave in the cemetery and we spoke about his grandma who I knew. It was a wonderful fireside. I expected him to play music most of the evening. He played 4 numbers and spoke nearly the entire time. He had a heart transplant and has done a couple of concerts in Slovenia to promote treating congenital heart disorders in children. He also collaborated with Elder Bednar to write a song and shared that experience with us.

Monday our assistant zone leaders called to tell us they had got us computers we could call our own—the first we’ve had on our mission. They called back shortly to ask us to get trained on mentoring and assessing the new missionaries. We studied the first few lessons in the morning. In the afternoon I taught Descendancy Research and really enjoyed it. The class was a good size so we were able to give a lot of help.

Tuesday we started to study the lessons again, but we were needed to do assessments so we did a couple each. In the afternoon we attended another class. We finished in time to get to the temple.

Wednesday we were going to continue training on the new student modules so we could be of help to the Zone A trainers. Right off they said they would need us as assessors. I did two assessments then helped mentor a couple of students. I couldn’t help the first lady because I wasn’t familiar with the lessons and couldn’t refer her to where to look for her answer. (We don’t answer the questions—we help them get back into the lessons to find the answer for themselves.) When we went to lunch, Elder Reed said something like they had just been told we would not have the East Wing lab at all, effective immediately. We would, however, have 2S as a “permanent” home. That thrilled me since it is my favorite room. Then he dropped the bomb. There would be no more enrichment classes after today. We would only have Capstone classes to teach.

Capstone was the easy problem. Since we have 2S that only seats 23 max and we already have 50 and 60 signed up for the next two months we would be holding multiple sessions each month to accommodate the missionaries. In March we will hold one series as scheduled and two more sessions the last week of the month. (They are held 4 days, 3 ½ hours each day.) Enrichment classes being cut really made me feel sad. I was looking forward to the teaching. I have struggled with this a little, feeling the letdown. I am sure this is the correct decision for right now, at least until the new missionary training gets more settled and stabilized. I am amazed at the number of changes we have seen in our zone during our 16 months of serving here. I know the Lord is in charge and I trust this is His will and that it will be for the best. I need to get my mind wrapped around how I can best serve and contribute.

My secondary concern is about doing the Swedish research. I know I won’t have as much opportunity to do research during the next two months, but there are some pieces I want to finish before I return home. I don’t have the access I need at my desk so I won’t be able to do the work I want to do during breaks and slow times. It will take some real diligence to get the work done I want to do.

Thursday we spent most of the day either mentoring or doing assessments. I was frustrated during the first part of the day. A missionary asked me a question and the checklist she was using didn’t make any sense to me. I helped her answer the question, which was more than I should have done, but I figured I just didn’t understand what was being asked because it was one of the lessons I had not done. I told the supervisor I would be happy to do whatever she wanted me to do, but I have to know what I’m doing. She had me go back to the desk and review the lessons. In the process I realized changes have been made since they wrote the documentation and it no longer works the way the missionaries were being told to do it. I pointed that out and also pointed out that my checklist had changed the requirements to omit the questionable section. I went back and told the missionary that the questions she was having were because of the changes and she didn’t need to do them.

I went to the library and spent time doing some Swedish research. I feel a real need to get all I can from the records while I am here since so many of them are only available at the library or a family history center. I need to hustle to finish before we go home.

Friday Ted and I decided we would attend the temple all day. We drove to Bountiful for the day. While I was waiting, I ran into a lady working there we had known for years. She was my visiting teacher when we first moved to Las Vegas and her husband was our bishop. When we finished we ran into our friend’s husband and visited with him for a few minutes.

It was a long day but one that was a real blessing. It was good to be in the temple for the day. When we got home we got a phone call from a man on the Swap Meet committee asking if we’d seen the flyer he sent. Their zone leader had sent them a flyer that had the Swap Meet time as 9 am instead of 11 am as my flyer said. Someone had done some obvious changes to the flyer that could cause confusion. I wanted to find out the source of the changed flyer. I tried to reach their zone leader but was not able to. I called the lady in charge of housing and she said they had told the new missionaries 11 am. Their tickets said 9 am due to a separate mistake, totally unrelated to the other issue, but they cleared it up so the new missionaries knew the correct time. I’m hoping the 9 am flyer only went to the one zone.

Saturday we were out early for the Swap Meet. We had put a sign on the shed posting the correct time and apologizing for any miscommunication anyone may have received. We had so much stuff! The weather was great except the wind gusted at times creating a bit of a challenge. A couple of vases blew off the table and broke and things needed to be weighted down. When it was about 5 minutes before 11 am we still did not have everything hung up because it had taken so much time to get to the clothes. We made it and the new missionaries, about 24 of them, flooded in and took tons of stuff. The other missionaries lined up outside and the line went clear to the covered parking and beyond, about thirty feet. I have never seen so many missionaries turn out. We got rid of a bundle of stuff. When it was time to close up I filled a garbage bag with bedding and linens from the shed that have been hanging around for a long time or just needed to move. It looks totally empty right now, but it will fill up and more by the end of the month. I really enjoy doing the Swap Meet—it is the social event of the month.

New missionary waiting for wife to shop!

After lunch I went to the library to do some research. I was able to find several records that were needed to finish documenting one family. I got most attached to the records. It was a good day. 

Week of February 19, 2017

Sunday appeared to be a normal day. As we were waiting for Sacrament Meeting to start, I looked up to see Elder Quentin Cook of the Quorum of Twelve walking into our meeting. He worked his way up the aisle, shaking hands and talking to a few people, then he took his place on the stand. When the meeting started Elder Colvin was obviously a little nervous. We had three speakers scheduled, but after the second speaker they announced that Elder Cook wanted to take a few minutes to talk to us so the third speaker would be held over a week.

Elder Cook had come to thank us for our participation in helping people who came to Rootstech have such a positive experience. Then he bore his testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. He ended by bearing testimony of Christ. I was deeply impacted by his words. I know he is a special witness of Christ and I assume he has had some amazing experiences in order to bear that testimony, but his was a clear statement of knowing the Savior. It really impressed me and I have spent much time reflecting on his words.

In the evening we attended a fireside presented by the daughter of a couple in the mission. She spoke several months ago about prayer and had a profound effect on me then. Tonight she spoke about “Sleeping through Gethsemane”. She talked about the Atonement and making it a real part of our lives. One point she made was that at baptism we entered into a covenant with the Lord that gave us the option to repent and change and lay our burdens on Him. I was very touched by her message. I know the Savior has already paid the price for my sins, so I need to give them up to Him to carry instead of insisting on keeping them to myself.

Monday we had off work because of President’s Day. I got a lot done. I was able to review the lessons I’ll teach this week. I was also able to complete three more lessons toward certification. I have learned some interesting things and I’m glad I did it. I also reviewed the “How to” guide I did and had Ted test it for me. We found a couple of things that weren’t clear. Sister Barber will also test it this week then I can submit it and have it finished.

Tuesday we had inservice. We got the teaching schedule for April and I was a little disappointed. I had hoped I could teach one of the classes again before going home and it was assigned to someone else. For some reason, it really hit me. I really enjoy teaching that class and it was such a disappointment to not be able to do it again. Ironically, that was the same class I was teaching in the afternoon. As it happened, I felt quite distracted. I’m sure the students didn’t realize there was an issue, but I felt like I let myself and the process down by my feelings.

Wednesday we had inservice again. The speaker didn’t show up for the class, so we played a game about family history. We had some beads with letters on them and we were supposed to make a crossword out of the beads using family history words. It was quite fun and it was a good group activity. On the way out I spoke to one of the nurses who is going home this week, called me over. She had been in the Capstone class and tried to find a family member who needed temple work. She only had her grandparents’ names and nothing beyond that. During Capstone when she went into Family Tree, there were parents for her grandmother, but she didn’t know anything about them and wasn’t even sure who had put the names in. One of the missionaries in the class helped her look at it and she sent a message to the person who had put in the names asking about it. She had received a reply from the lady who turned out to be descended from her grandmother’s brother. She had found a death certificate for her grandpa and it named his parents. She was so excited to be able to have a family name to do work for. This was the only time on her mission she had been able to find a name in her family to do work for in the temple and she would never have even looked if it weren’t for Capstone.

Thursday the engineers didn’t show again so I did some personal research. I was able to find some household records for one of Ted’s ancestors that tell me where he was for about 20 more years. I lose the trail again at that point but I’m still looking. It will just take more work to find him again.  We then went to a rare books store where the owner spent an hour talking with us. It was really interesting. He said his goal is to get one of the original Book of Commandments. Only 29 have surfaced to date, but he’s sure there are more out there.

In the evening we had three couples we’d known in New Mexico for dinner at our apartment. It was fun to catch up and hear the story of the one sister meeting her husband. It was a good evening and we were actually able to swing the seating so everyone could eat comfortably. (We only have 7 plates so that was an issue.) I really enjoy the group.

Friday we had another class in the morning and I taught in the afternoon. Before I taught I went through the entire lesson at a computer to make sure everything was working correctly. In class the computer made me sign in every time I changed screens so it was a little frustrating. It went well though and I think the class stayed with me and most of them got something out of it.

Elder and Sister Roeth - Night out for dinner!

After class we stayed at the library for a while but I didn’t find any more information. In the evening we went to dinner at a nice restaurant and really enjoyed it. As we were getting ready to leave a couple at a nearby table asked about our mission. They had just returned from a mission to Hungary and are traveling around. It was fun to visit for a few minutes.

Salt Lake Temple - View from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Saturday we did our week at the Swap Meet sheds getting them organized. We had a lot of missionaries go home this week and the main shed was really full. I had to move several bags outside to get some things better organized and the get close enough to hang up clothes. It was quite cold but it was dry most of the time. About 11 am it started snowing so it became more difficult to work and stay dry. We finally quit around noon. I had hung up most of the clothes, but there were still 3-4 bags of things to be hung up.