Our 2007 Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We had the biggest snowfall on Christmas Eve day this year. Even bigger than the first Saturday in October when we got eight inches. We got pretty close to a foot of snow this time. It snowed all day long we are told. The evidence was here when we got back from our daughter’s on the 26th. It was snowing hard when we left here about noon. We usually don’t like to travel in that kind of weather but figured that Blackfoot wasn’t really that far and we really wanted to be there. It took us over an hour to get from our house to theirs. We couldn’t go any faster than 45 mph. It was bad. If we’d had to go any further or longer, I’m not sure we would have done it. But the snow let up about three miles north of Blackfoot. The sky didn’t clear but we could see further than a block. At one time it was almost a whiteout and we couldn’t see any further than a car length ahead of us. We are thankful it wasn’t that way very long…about a minute or two was all.

Since Grandma was going to be alone for Christmas this year we had planned on going down to get her and bring her back with us. And the take her back home on the 26th. Well, she was able to be there with us but we didn’t have to travel to her home at all. She had told the kind people who take her to church in the wintertime so she doesn’t have to drive on those slick roads that we were going down the next day to pick her up and bring her here. They told her that they were coming up here then and would be glad to bring her with them. She wasn’t sure about that because she wanted her car to go for a run to charge up the battery. I told her it would surely help us out and Grandpa agreed. So we decided that was a good way to go. Then my BIL called us a little later and told us that he would be taking wife to up here for her dialysis treatment on the 26th and if we wanted to meet them there before 1:00 pm then he would be glad to take Grandma home with them. It worked out sooo well. And she thoroughly enjoyed being there too. She didn’t say too much but I could tell she was enjoying just sitting there watching everyone, the adults as well as the children. On Christmas Eve it was just us three and our daughter. SIL and their youngest daughter. So they invited two of their neighbors to dinner who had lost their wives. The one had to leave before our program to go to pick up his daughter from work. But the other one stayed for the program. He said he so much enjoyed it. And he isn’t even LDS. For our program we took turns reading the scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Our granddaughter played a beautiful piano solo, a medley of Christmas Carols. And Grandpa sang Star of the East and O Holy Night. This year it was a little different in that our granddaughter sang the whole song of the first one. (Last year she just did the duet the first time thro’ then the second verse.) Since Grandpa’s voice still wasn’t up to par from the cold he’s been fighting, she consented to sing the second one with him too…without any rehearsal. She had been telling me that she was a good sight reader so I asked her if she wished to really show us how good she was. She said, “Sure”. It has a high G in three places. The first time she came to it she just stopped and said, “I don’t know if I can do that.” But the second and third time she hit both of them strong and right on! It was beautiful. I got chills down my spine sitting there at the piano accompanying them. And their voices blend so beautifully. I told them both, “I don’t care which ward you sing in but you need to sing together for sacrament meeting. You need to share this talent with others.” Later I was thinking that they might as well do it in both wards because they will have it prepared and it won’t be that hard to do. They both agreed. So time will tell.

The next morning we got up a little before 7:30 and had opened about ¾ of our presents when our oldest granddaughter, her husband and little girl came. They came in their PJ’s and with their gifts unopened. That was surely fun especially watching the little one open her gifts and a few others as well. We were just getting thro’ with breakfast when our second oldest granddaughter her husband and children got there. It was fun with them too. Three of the four children really warmed up to me. They each gave me a hug as they were leaving. The fourth was a little more distant so we will give him more time. Their father said that all of them are doing so much better since they are now living there with him and his wife. They now have some consistency and structure in their lives which is so good for them. Their little faces are even brighter now. His wife is doing an awesome job in loving them, teaching them and disciplining them. She is doing so well having just jumped in with those children in her life. We were all there for dinner. There were 15 of us! Our only daughter’s family is growing!

I made some family group sheets (five generations of them) with pictures for everyone for our gift this year. When you get back I give some to you or you can copy off the ones I gave your dad and mom. I was sooo excited to learn how to do that at the family history center. I also compiled some stories that I found online of some of the pioneer ancestors in both Grandpa’s and my line. I took them to Zip Print and they bound it into a little book. It turned out quite nicely too.

We are so thankful to be alive at this time when the gospel has been restored. I am so thankful for computers. I can see how they will definitely help us to get our genealogy done and find our ancestors. Our mission is showing us new things all of the time. It is very evident to me that the Lord’s hand is in all of this and that this is all part of His plan. I am so grateful for this time of year which gives us a little more time (if we take it) to reflect on the birth and life of our Savior and what He has done for us so we can return to our Heavenly Father. I love the feeling of love and giving that surrounds us this time of the year.

The Week of December 2

It has been a busy week. We still don’t have our Christmas tree up yet. I was going to do it two different days last week then other things took precedent. We should be able to do it tomorrow. I’m starting in with another cold again!! Yes I am taking Zicam. I hope it prevents it from getting too bad. It hasn’t been three weeks since my last one and it had only been four or five weeks since the one before. I sick and tired of colds! Of course I guess it could be something worse.

I have been able to index over 1200 names so far. It is actually fun. I can do a few here and a few there two or three times a day. Yesterday I did indexing of the Southeast Idaho Death records that have been digilized and after they are indexed they will be put on DVD’s and sent to SLFHC where they will eventually be put on FamilySearch.org. I also helped a man yesterday update his records….it took at least 2 ½ hours. We put his over 200 names thro’ PAF Insight then temple ready and by time we got thro’ he had only 25 ordinances that needed to be done…for only seven or eight individuals. I told him that that is why we up date and check. Because altho’ it took time to do it, it didn’t take nearly as long as duplicating all of the ordinances of all of those people. He agreed.
I was tired when I got home but it was a good kind of tired. Karl also did the indexing of the death records. We both finished the cemeteries we were working on. He was working on Challis and I was working on Driggs. He is doing very well there at the center and everyone is so kind to help us whenever we have a question about something. It is sooo good to have someone there who knows more about things that we do.

Monday I spent the day making two batches of pumpkin orange bread, one batch of fruit cake and one batch of Christmas bread. I got it all done in good time but was surely tired when I got thro’. I found out that my back does still bother me if I’m on my feet all day long. Tuesday I went for a message. My scoliosis has disappeared. I remember Shelley telling me when I first started with the massages four years ago, that my shoulders were going one way and my hips the other and my spine was shaped like an S. My spine is straight up and down now. I was as much as three inches forward four years ago. I was still an inch forward but she was able to correct that. I’m so thankful for her talent of being able to help me this way. And it feels good too! That evening we went to the family Christmas party with the children. We usually don’t go but Greg Hulet called and asked me to play the piano while the congregation sang Christmas Carols. So we went. I am glad we did. It was fun. Each of the auxiliaries did a part on the program. It was great fun. And I have found out that since I’ve had this calling as a missionary, I can play anything out of the hymn book even tho’ I haven’t practiced it that day. I did practice the songs that Greg gave me but, the young men sang one of them so instead of duplicating we changed it and I was able to play it just fine. I am so thankful for the blessings the Lord has blessed me with.

Wednesday we went to APPLE Athletic Club for my water aerobics class and Karl exercised up stairs. That afternoon and evening we were at the FHC. I found out that a film I had ordered was already there so I looked at for awhile. I was able to find my people, the Bernhards and Meiers in Switzerland. My Grandma Wendel’s mother was a Bernhard and her mother was a Meier if I remember right. I hope to be able to find many more families on there, especially siblings of my people. I did find another daughter in the first family I found. At first I found another son too but the Spirit let me know that he was in another family.

Thursday we went to the Silver Sneakers Christmas Party at APPLE that was held after class. It was fun. And that night I went to enrichment at Verna Rae John’s home where we played games and learned how to dip bite sized cheese cakes. It was much fun too.

Friday we went to APPLE again, me for my water aerobics class and Karl to exercise upstairs. That evening we went to the FHC’s Christmas Party/zone meeting. It was $9 a plate which did seem kind of steep but since we only eat one dinner between us anyway that all we ordered and we each had plenty to eat. It was very nice.

I already told you about yesterday. Today, two of the three Christmas carols we sang in sacrament meeting I had been practicing all week to do for RS. So we wouldn’t duplicate we changed our songs. I love Christmas carols but I don’t enjoy singing the same ones twice in one day. I know the Lord blesses me. If I practice I have done all I can do and when it is changed at the spur of the moment He does the rest for the ones I haven’t practiced so that I can play as if I had practiced them. Isn’t that wonderful? He does that with all of our inadequacies and shortcomings. I am so thankful to Him for that as well as the many others things He has done for me. I love this time of year and the love that is felt all around. Too bad it doesn’t last the whole year thro’.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went down to Michael & Tanya’s there in Lehi. It was so nice being there with them. We originally planned on leaving Wednesday morning but Karl started down with a bad cold Monday evening and he was still miserable Wednesday so we waited until Thursday morning to leave. He started taking Airborne that Monday evening and altho’ it still got bad it didn’t last as long. It was so nice being there with them and their children. Their little girls are so cute. Up to now Abbie hasn’t wanted anything to do with me. She would smile at me across the table but wouldn’t get any closer. This time she gave me hug after hug. She’d run at me and throw her arms around me. It was so neat. Kendra didn’t want to get very close tho’. But Abbie made up for it. We got down there about 2:45 or so. We had dinner around 4:00 so we were there in plenty of time. We played games and more games while we were there. We of course played Pinochle. Tanya even got a double pinochle dealt to her!! The first time ever! The men have gotten so many more double pinnaclesys than the women there is no comparison. I think we have had five now and they have had at least 15. It is still fun playing tho’. We also learned to play The Settlers of Catan. It is so much fun. Each game is different because of the way to place the cards which make up the board. Karl played one game with us. After that he said he had much more fun just watching us play. Six of us can play that at a time so Natasha and Collin played too. That is the first time I have seen a sullen side of Collin. After awhile he was back to his happy self tho’. We went to church with them and had some very enjoyable meetings. We had dinner Sunday with my mother. She had gone to Soda Springs to my sister, Joy’s, with my other sister Bonnie and her husband David. She got back Saturday evening. It was good to see her. Kim & Kimberly came to IF to have Thanksgiving with her parents. We saw them Sunday evening also. We left Monday morning to come home. We stopped in Far West by Ogden to pick up Karl’s mother and took her to Grace. She spent Thanksgiving at Stan & Kathy’s in Roy. They took her over to Jewel’s Saturday evening. It takes longer to come home by way of Grace but since it was in our general direction of travel it didn’t make sense for others to make the extra trip up and back. We stopped and saw Karen & Kent too. Shani and Macie were there too and of course Kylie. It was good to see all of them. It was about 7:15 pm when we got home. It was a long day. It was sooo good to be home and sleep in our own bed. It gets more and more that way as we grow older.

Wednesday at the FHC I helped three patrons. I helped three other people also….other missionaries. I helped one sister with the digital microfilm copier. I had been shown how to do it a couple of times before but the last time was in July and since I hadn’t used it since I couldn’t remember anymore about it. Since no one else knew anymore than I did I got out of my comfort zone and she and I together figured out the written directions. I prayed while we were doing it and my prayer was answered. I was able, with the help of the Lord, to help her figure out how to do it. As I was looking for someone more experienced than I, I realized that there were only about three other people who had been there longer than we have. I still feel so new that I was surprised to realize that we are now veterans of the place. J A little later a sister came in who wanted to learn how to research and what you do to find someone in Scotland. He was born in Scotland and died in England. I was out of my comfort zone again. I uttered another prayer for help and felt the Spirit guide me as I led her on her search. We were unable to find him…the census records don’t go back to 1830 there in the UK. They don’t start until 1850 or so and since he died in 1833 (he was married in 1830) we could not find a record of him. But I told her about some of the patron classes that are held and got a class schedule for her. There is a class on research in Scotland within the next two weeks. I felt that I was prompted to tell her about that. It is such a neat feeling to help others. The third person was a young woman that I helped put her grandfather and uncle’s name thro’ Temple Ready to make the Temple Submission Disk. (Now that was in my comfort zone.) She was expecting her third baby in March and her oldest won’t be three until May. I told her that I had had the same situation. She seemed to be comforted to know that someone else had been in her same situation. I felt that I had had a good worthwhile shift. Saturday, altho’ I didn’t help any patrons (I did help Karl) I did some indexing online and also helped index the obituaries that need to be done by the end of the year. There are thousands and thousands that need to be done. I’m not sure how many I did but I went form the Sh’s to the end of the S’s in the Ashton Cemetery. It took two or three hours. I felt good about my accomplishment. I now have 800 names to my credit on the indexing online. I do enjoy doing it. Karl helped one of the missionaries there with PAF Insight. I thought that was neat. It didn’t seem to register with him.

Today our meetings were special. We had a good sacrament meeting filled with the Spirit and a good Sunday School lesson on God is Love and a good RS lesson too on pretty much the same thing. Oh, I forgot to mention that we tied a quilt Tuesday morning for the humanitarian effort. Our Stake (I really think it is region because other women I know in other stakes are doing the same thing.) has pledged to make hundreds of crib quilts for the humanitarian effort. Karl helped me tie it. It was fun. It didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would. We had taken it down with us so Michael, Tanya, Natasha and Collin could help us too. But we had too much fun playing games. Karen called and said that she would come up and we could all go over to Shani’s and have a quilt tying party. But by the time Karen got here, it was all done. So we didn’t go. If I had another one to do (if I’d known how easy it was I may have had another one to do.) I would have gone over. It was a relief to get it done tho’. Our ward donated 70 quilts…we led the stake we were told.

That’s about all for this time. I’m so grateful for my health and for the opportunity that I have of serving as a service missionary. I’m grateful for my family, my husband, children and their sweethearts and grandchildren and great grandchildren. I’m so very thankful to be alive at this time when the gospel has been restored and so many good things are happening. I’m thankful for the knowledge I have about the Plan of Salvation and to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who gave us the greatest gift of all, his only Begotten Son, so that we may return to Him. I’m grateful for what Jesus Christ has done for me that I may return to my Heavenly Father. I’m thankful for the guides that the church and gospel gave me in raising my children. I have so much to be grateful for.

Third Week of November, 2007

I didn’t write last week altho’ I did have a couple of things to write about. I’ve been getting things around for our children for Christmas so that has been taking up most of my spare time. I’ve just about got it completed. I want to have it done so I can take it down to Michael and Kim and our mothers when we go down to Michael & Tanya’s for Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to that. It’s been since July since we were down there.

About a month ago I ordered a micro film from SLC FHC. I’ve been looking at it periodically over the last few weeks. It is the Billiter notes that Julius Billiter compiled from the parish records in Blumenstein, Bern Switzerland. I have found all of the people that I already have on it, corrected a birthday on my second great grandmother, found two more complete generations and seven more children on another generation so far. I’ve checked them all on the IIGI and all of the work is completed except for a sealing of one son to his parents. But it is still so exciting to find other people! There are many more records to go thro’. And after Christmas I will check the FHC Library Catalog to see if he has the names of others also. I imagine he did other families besides the Rufeners. I hope so. They are all type written so are very easy to read. That makes it very nice.

Last week I had two dentist appointments and one doctor’s appointment. I had my six month checkup the week before at the dentist. He wanted to extend a filling on my one crown that he had fixed five months before…no charge. That was Monday. Then Tuesday, I had a six month check visit with the endodontist who did my root canal six months ago. He said that everything looked good. And then Wednesday, I had an appointment with Dr. Baird who did my gastric bypass surgery. He saw me six months ago and wanted me to return in six months to see if I’d lost any more weight. I did see Sandy Birch, the dietician with the New U program, and she told me that my weight was just fine and as long as I keep exercising and keeping my portions small I should be just fine. Dr. Baird agreed and said he wanted to see me again in a year. Thursday I went to Silver Sneakers, my visiting teachers came and went to our RS Book Club that night. We discussed Sheri Dew’s latest book, God wants a Powerful People. We all really enjoyed it and discussed some of her unique experiences and the lessons she pointed out from them. We won’t meet again until January. We will read Richard Paul Evans newest novel in the mean time. None of us could remember the title.

I started coming down with a cold Friday night. I started in on the Zicam. I was able to go to the FHC yesterday and didn’t feel too bad until about an hour before closing time. By the time I went to bed I was really miserable. Sometimes a good nights sleep is enough but I wondered so called Sharon Butler to ask if she could play for me in RS if I didn’t feel like going. I got up this morning and called Sharon to ask her to play for me then went back to bed where I stayed until Karl got home from church. I started reading Rachel Ann Nunes lastest book, Flying Home. It is very good. Of course I got some extra sleep to. I want to be over this so it doesn’t interfere with our going to Utah for Thanksgiving. I’m feeling a little better now so I think the Zicam is working.

We had 2nd Wednesday last Wednesday where we take potluck to the FHC. I took a modified recipe of chicken cooked in the crock pot with Ranch salad dressing powder sprinkled on it and onions cut up. After it had cooked for three hours I put in cream of mushroom soup mixed with cream cheese in and then after cooking up brown rice I stirred it in also. It’s supposed to be served over rice or noodles but I tho’t that way would work better. Everyone really liked it. We didn’t bring any home at all.

Then Saturday we had potluck again. We are the only ones who work both Wednesdays and Saturdays. Yesterday I took the cranberry, apple salad I do every year for Thanksgiving. We did bring some of it home but not too much.

We also stopped into Porter’s last week to get the materials for the baby quilt we are to donate for humanitarian puposes. I need to get it marked and sewn together in the envelope method so we can take it down with us and all of Michael’s family (except the two little ones can help with it and I can turn it in next week.

Oh, and yesterday Karl and I learned how to do indexing. Leo Mondock is one of our missionaries and he is also an arbitrator for the program and and strong advocate for it. he showed me then he helped me show Karl and we worked together and did 75 names plus our other duties while there. The second batch we did were Spanish. He helps me with the Spanish but I think I will be able to do it OK. They are begging for those who will do the Spanish indexing. With his help I’ll be able to do it. And it is fun!! I think we will really enjoy it. he will sign up himself before too long I think.

The last week of October 2007

I can’t believe it is November already! I’m not sure where this year has gone. It will be 2008 before I know it.

I believe I mentioned before that I have been “dragging”. Well, we had a doctor’s appointment last Tuesday. Karl went for an insulin resistance test at 8:00 am. Our appointment was at 3:00 pm. Dr. Liljenquist told us that his test was about the same. No better but no worse. He is to now take his two metformin twice a day instead of just once. I hope it helps. He has gained weight. As I have. About five pounds for me. I need to work hard to get it off. Our vital signs were normal. The results of the blood work that we had done will be sent to us sometime this week. I also had an iron infusion. I think I’m feeling better. Right now it is hard to tell. I had a big last three days. We didn’t go to the Family History Center last Wednesday because the center closed at noon that day because of Halloween. I was surprised to learn that. But we also found out that it will be closed from noon Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving until the next Monday and also from December 22 @ 5:00 pm until January 7 for Christmas. That sounds really good. All these closures show that it is really family oriented.

Altho’ I didn’t go to the center on Wednesday, I went on Friday to work for Anna Jean Sweat who subbed for me in August (twice so I have one more payback for her.) when we were visiting Bryan and Sandy and family. I did help two people Friday. It took awhile with both. Afterwards on Friday I got home just before 5:30. I was very tired but couldn’t let down because of the High Priest Quorum banquet that night at 6:30. I made it OK and was very glad I went. We got home a little after 8:00 pm. I just kind of lay around until it was time to go to bed. Because I had to go back again Saturday. I was able to get up and go and got along OK but I was surely tired. I am so glad we have a couple of days in between the days we go there regularly. It is much easier to have the energy to do it. Then today being Sunday and church and all….It has been getting harder lately to get up and ready and there before 9:00. Altho’ I’ve been able to do it, it has been hard and I’m really ready for a nap Sunday afternoon. Usually it is only about 45 minutes but today it was 2 hours!! Like I said I think the iron infusion may have helped me. Also I know the Lord helped me do it. Each morning while saying my prayers I asked the Lord to bless me to make it thro’ the day and to do what I had to do. He really did bless me. Even a year ago but especially two years ago I wouldn’t have been able to have three big days in a row like that.

That is about all that happened all week. This week I need to get back into the habit of exercising five days a week as well as everything else I need to do. I’m working on Chirstmas for our children so we can take it with us to Utah when we go to Michael’s for Thanksgiving. I’ve just about got everything together that I want. Now to finish it up. That will be what I will be doing this next week also.

Another Week

This week has been a good week. Monday, I went to the Joint Efforts water exercise class. That is the class where we move more slowly. When I woke up Monday morning I didn’t feel like rushing to get to the 9:00 water aerobics so I waited until 1:00 to go. That way Karl was able to go with me too. He can’t go at 9:00 anymore because he is helping (tutoring) the first graders at Tiebreaker Elementary school in reading. He does enjoy doing that. Tuesday, I did make it to Silver Sneakers exercise class. Even tho’ we sit on chair a lot and march while doing so or lifting weights etc. it amazes me how much I need it. It is challenging enough for me while I am doing it that I know that it benefits me to go. I know a few people whom it has really helped also. One woman used to have to use a cane and no longer does. And I’ve met people that I wouldn’t know otherwise whom I really enjoy associating with. One woman, I found out grew up in El Paso and her dad used to be my Grandpa and Grandma Hurst’s bishop. It is a small world.

Wednesday of course we went to the FHC. I went to two classes that day. One was on Mary’s Genealogical Treasures which can be found online. Brother Wulf explained that anything you would want to find that has to do with genealogy or family history you can find a link to from her site. She also has links to all of the LDS scriptures temples, etc. Yes she is LDS. The other class was an advanced PAF class. Brother Larsen taught it and there was a gal there who is a professional genealogist and she helped him with it too. It w as on the importance of listing your sources of documentation for the information you put on your PAF program. I need to start doing that. When we took the class from Renae Ellis in 1988 she really stressed documentation and we got copies of all of our birth certificates and blessing certificates, baptism certificates, etc. I had wondered how those fit in with the PAF program. He also helped me straighten out some things to do with the class I was to teach on Saturday.

Thursday we went to silver Sneakers again (the first time we’ve gone both times in the week since we started back last month) and then I went visiting teaching. I go to Ethel Baron by myself because Amy Smith is my companion and she is working full time now and can’t leave until 6:00 pm. And Ethel wants to be visited in the late morning or early afternoon. We went to see Sharen Stech. We are also assigned to her mother who used to live with her but she is now at the assisted living facility, The Turtle and Crane on First Street. So it isn’t much farther to go. I also usually visit her alone too because Sharen and her daughter are usually there in the evening and I don’t think she needs four visitors at once.

I got the results back from my Feritin level. It was 40 which is still within normal limits but it had dropped from 169. I would think that much of a drop would make me drag. I’ll find out at our doctor’s appointment we have Tuesday, October 30.

Friday I went to the 9:00 water aerobics class. It was the first time to that class since the Friday before. I worked hard and didn’t do too much until it was time to get ready to go to the temple that evening. It was zone conference with the missionaries at the FHC. We were asked to be in our seats all dressed in white for the chapel session then go to the 7:00 session after that. It was very special being there with those people. There was such a special feeling there. The sister who spoke to us, Sister Myers, I had just met Wednesday evening at the center. She took Sister Sylvester’s place from 5-9. She’s a very sweet lady. She made us smile. She was referring to the wives of King Benjamin and Nephi. Since their names aren’t given in the scriptures, she called them Mrs. Queen Benjamin and Mrs. Nephi. I tho’t, “that’s a clever idea; I’m not so sure I would have tho’t of it.”

That night after we got home from the temple, I worked on my PAF file for awhile and tried to back it up to my flash drive so I could start where I left off when I worked on it at the center the next day. The light on it kept flashing off and on (it had never done that before) and it took forever for the hour glass to go away. When it finally did a sign came up that said it couldn’t find the R drive. (Kim had helped me change it to that). I tho’t what gives here? I went into my computer and it had nothing on there. I tried to back up my PAF program to it and a sign came up that said that the R drive had been corrupted. I had about seven or eight things on it—one of which was the ancestry stuff that I had gotten from Bryan last August. Don’t ask me why but I never did transfer that to my hard drive and I certainly should have. I will be able to eventually retrieve it when we go there again next May if not before. Everything else I have on my hard drive except…..I was to teach a class on updating your records thro’ temple ready. I had made a file of 32 people of Grandma Hurst’s ancestors and deleted the ordinances so I would be sure and have some to find while teaching the class. I was to show the class how to prepare the ged.com file, go into the program, retrieve the ordinances that have been done and then how to restore them to your program. I just about panicked! I tho’t what do I do about my class? How do I get my PAF program to the center? Then I remembered that we had gotten Karl a flash drive, one gig, about a month ago. I didn’t really think he needed one but he wanted one and we got it for $10 so….I was so thankful that we had that. So I made a new file for my class and backed it up to Karl’s flash drive as well as my PAF program.

The class went well. There were no patrons there but seven of the missionaries were there. Two of them told me that I had done a good job and that they had learned something. That was rewarding. However, I was glad when it was all over.

My Week

We woke up to almost snow yesterday. It did snow but didn’t stick. It is supposed to warm up this week. I hope so. I’m not ready for winter yet.

The FHC was the busiest I have seen on a Saturday yet since we started over six months ago. I myself helped with four different temple ready submission disks. I am so thankful that I have been able to learn how to do that and remember how. It is so satisfying and gives so much peace of mind to help others. The first part of the shift was kind of frustrating for me tho’. I am to teach a class to other missionaries and patrons that may come in next Saturday on updating your records with temple ready. I wanted to make a special file that I knew would have ordinances to download from the temple ready program. So I tried to make a partial file starting with my Grandma Hurst and going back 4 or 5 generations. Instead of going to export, (I had forgotten how to do it) I went right straight to the “Export for temple ready windows” and it brought up the wrong people. I tried it two or three times then went to Brother Mondock for help. As he was standing there and I was telling him what I did, it dawned on me that I was clicking on the wrong thing. He did walk me thro’ it but after I remembered what I was doing wrong it went OK. I was able to go ahead and do it and everything turned out all right. I saved it to my flash drive but I will have to redo it because when I got home the file came up as read only and I won’t be able to add to it. So I deleted it and will practice a few more times here at home. I will have time to make another file like that before my class this Saturday if I have to.

I helped Karl get started on using PAF Insight with his file. He is finding he still needs to do some editing. It is amazing how easy it is to miss some things altho’ you try so hard to get everything each time you go thro’ it. He is learning and doing well. It is so neat to work with the people we work with there at the center. The people we work with both on Wednesday and Saturday are very special.

I have been kind of dragging lately so I had a Feritin level drawn last Friday. I called a little later to find out the results and found out it is within the normal limits. So maybe I’m not getting enough exercise or not going to bed early enough. If I’m in bed before midnight, I can’t go to sleep until later. But I need to be up and gone before 9:00 every morning if I keep to my schedule of exercise and FHC. I just stayed home all day Thursday. It felt sooo good to not have to go anywhere (altho’ I should have gone to the Silver Sneakers exercise class.

Today before sacrament meeting I was sitting there in my seat with Karl and some ladies who were very friendly came in and sat down behind us. They explained that they were from the General Board of the Primary. There were six of them. One I recognized from our stake. She is on the Stake Primary Board. They have been visiting areas in Idaho all week. There were two from the Primary General Board and two from the Young Women’s General Board. After sacrament meeting as I was coming out of the restroom two of them were going in. They both commented told me what a beautiful singing voice my husband has. They said they just sat there and listened to him and thoroughly enjoyed it. I told them thank you. Then as I was walking down the hallway to the Sunday School class another one stopped me and told me the same thing. I know that the people at the FHC really enjoy his voice too. He leads the singing on both days. I really love hearing him sing too and whistle as well. It seems he is almost always whistling whether here at home, out side or even at the FHC if he’s checking the micro film or micro fische. He does have a wonderful talent in doing both. I’m thankful to be able to share it with him and listen to him often. He makes a few in our corner of the world a little happier.

It's Almost Winter!

We had our first BIG snowstorm of the season last Saturday. (It had actually snowed the Saturday before but none stayed on the ground here.) We got about five inches and it snowed for six hours or more….a very wet snow that brought down many trees and took the power out to many people. We were fortunate enough that we didn’t have to deal with either. However, I was very frustrated just before the first session of conference because we couldn’t get reception from DISH. We had not been told that snow would interfere with it. So we turned on the radio and tuned into KBYI in Rexburg but it kept going out on us. I was very frustrated to say the least. I called Kim and asked him how we could get it on the computer. He walked me thro’ that and that is how we listened to the first session. We didn’t miss any of the talks but we didn’t hear about Elder Gonzalez call until later on in the conference when others referred to it. We didn’t have any more trouble the other sessions for which we were very thankful.

It was such a good conference. I think President Eyring will do a great job in the first presidency and I was also impressed with Elder Cook. I so enjoyed listening to all of the messages. My heart within me burned many times during the conference as the Spirit witnessed to me that what was being said was the truth. I am so thankful to live in this day and age when we can sit in the comfort of our own homes whether to listen via computer, TV or radio.

Since we started on our mission at the Regional Family History Center, I have come to know that computers were invented especially for family history. Last Wednesday Elder Killian, the director of the FHC taught us what we can expect with the new family search when it comes out. It will be a wonderful program. It should have all of the kinks worked out by the time you are home from your mission. It will be such a program that people can work from around the world on the same line. Elder Killian said that the one word we need to remove from our vocabulary regarding family history in order for it to work at a optimum is “my” as in “my ancestor”; we need to replace that with “our” as in “our ancestor”. He said that when you go back a few generations and count the people who have descended from one ancestor, you can see why. The descendants can be in the thousands! Also because of the computer we will be able to, thro’ the New Family Search, do (can already do some but it will get better) much research from the confines of our own homes on our own PC’s. That sounds so neat to me.

We extended our mission to Oct of 2009? We would be all thro’ (our release date was Oct 9, 2007) by now if we hadn’t. I am enjoying it so much and learning so much and get such a good feeling now that I know enough that I can help someone else and if I don’t know how I know who to turn to to get help for them. I get very tired on the days we go to the FHC but it is a good tired and I am so thankful that my health has improved enough that I can do something like this. Less than three years ago, I was wondering if I would see the age of 70! Now I am confident that I can live to be as old as my mother is now or even see 90 or older depending on the Lord's will. I just hope I will remain in good health and be able to keep on serving as I am now.

Our Special Sunday

Today is my sweetheart’s 70th birthday. That surely doesn’t seem as old as I used to think it did, even tho’ it still sounds old. I can’t believe that in just six years I will be there too. He’s had a good day.

Our week was a pretty typical week. Friday, Saturday and Sunday have been very special, however. Friday evening we had the missionaries here for supper. I admitted to my husband, Karl that I do it not only because I enjoy having them but also because it gives him an excuse to help me clean up the house and make it presentable every once in a while. Elder Arellano is from Peru and Elder McCarreher is from Pennsylvania. They were hearty eaters which we enjoyed. We had Hawaiian haystacks with rolls. And mincemeat pie for dessert. I tho’t I had taken cherry pie out of the freezer to bake. When Karl took it out of the oven for me, I tho’t my goodness that cherry pie is pale, they must have forgotten to put the food coloring into the pie cherries. When I found out it was mincemeat, I was kind of concerned because I think I know more people who don’t like mincemeat than do. But they both liked it and seemed to enjoy it. Elder Arellano had two pieces even. They were only here a little over an hour but it was a good hour.

Saturday at the FHC we had a genealogy conference with Brother Paul Smart from SLC as the presentor. He was really big on Indexing. Almost every thing he showed us he would say that was possible because of Indexing or that would be so much easier if they had indexed it. He was trying to recruit as many of us as possible for Indexing. I think I am almost converted. I was going to talk to our ward FH consultants today but didn’t get a chance too. I had Karl drop me off at the church on his way home so I could attend the luncheon and RS General Broadcast. I was a little late but got there in plenty of time to eat. The broadcast was wonderful. I really enjoyed the music too. Music can make me very emotional. The way I could feel the spirit and with the beautiful music, I wasn’t able to talk for a little while afterwards. It makes me really look forward to next weekend for General Conference.

We had a very special day today. There was a new man on the stand with the bishopric when we got there. When Bishop John started to conduct he said, “Altho’ I’m usually nervous doing this today I am more nervous. Sister Mickelson told me to just take a deep breath and carry on.” He then announced that Elder Lynn and Sister Jeanine Mickelson of the First Quorum of Seventy were here in Idaho Falls and chose our ward to attend. What a neat experience having them there with us. A new couple in our ward, Julianna and Kevin Robinson (no relation that we can ascertain) spoke to us. Then Elder Mickelson spoke to us. He said that it was a real treat to be here with us and to feel the Spirit so strongly. He said it was a real treat singing the hymns in English because they are assigned to Mexico City in the Area Presidency there. I guess they are home for conference and since they are originally from IF they came home to see family. He talked about our sacrament hymn We Sing All Hail to Jesus Name. He told of the last feast of the Passover and how the Savior introduced the sacrament. Elder Mickelson has such a neat spirit about him. Sister Mickelson was sitting directly behind me and I turned around and met her after the meeting concluded. She shook my hand and said, “I’m so happy to meet you, Sister Robinson.” That really thrilled me to have her call me by name. I then went up and shook hands with Elder Mickelson. He also called me by name. Of course I had my name tag on so that helped.

They were in Sunday School with us too. I sat beside Sister Mickelson there. The last five to seven minutes of class Elder Mickelson asked Brother Mullins if it was okay if he asked a few questions. Of course Brother Mullins turned the time over to him. He first commented that there were two types of death. He then asked what physical death was and what spiritual death was. We talked about them for awhile. He asked me, calling me by name, and I can’t remember the exact question but the answer I gave was, “Because Jesus Christ was resurrected every person who ever lived will also be resurrected. He then went onto explain justification, the world’s definition and also the Lord’s or Paul’s definition. He is a great teacher! We were struggling with understanding not sanctification but justification by the Lord, Jesus Christ. What I got out of it was sanctification and justification by the Lord, Jesus Christ are one and the same. We went a little over but the spirit was sooo strong.

We then went into the cultural hall for our joint meeting with the priesthood and relief society. The song we were going to use for the opening song Lord I Would Follow Thee they used for a closing song in sacrament meeting. Sooo we sang # 130 Be Thou Humble. It is true that I have played it before but it has been long enough ago that I can’t remember when. But I had practiced almost every day last week and the Lord blessed me and I was able to play without many mistakes if any. I am very grateful for that. Bishop John talked about a special ward service project that he would need 40 couples for on October 13. He wants 20 couples from 8-12 and another 20 couples from 1-5. It sounds like they are doing an “extreme makeover” for a house of someone in our ward. He said he couldn’t tell us too much yet because the Lord just woke him up at 2:30 just this morning told him what he was to do. I was sitting there thinking, “we are committed to the FHC on Saturdays, which is more important. When I talked to him afterwards and told him that, he said, “And that is exactly where you are supposed to be on that Saturday. Thanks for telling me.” I felt much better. I wanted to help with the ward service project but couldn’t see how we could. Bishop John then talked on the Nine B’s that President Hinckley wrote about. It was a very good meeting.

After Bishop got thro’ speaking he asked Elder Mickelson so speak again. He spoke for only a few minutes but told of his love of the Prophet and how wonderful it was to work with him. He said we are all anxiously awaiting as you are to find out who the new apostle will be and who the new counselor in the General Presidency will be. He said, “we all love the sense of humor of President Hinckley.” Then he told us how his daughters and daughters-in-law take over his supper to him every night, that he is so busy that he would probably forget to eat. He said that this one night one of them took dinner over to him and asked him if he liked spinach. He said that he did not. His daughter told him that he should eat it anyway that it was full of iron and would be good for him. He replied, “If I wanted iron, I’d eat a horseshoe!” He got a big chuckle out of that. He bore a strong testimony of President Gordon B. Hinckley being the true prophet of God on the earth at this time. My heart burned within me as he was telling us this. After I played the postlude music, I shook hands with him and Sister Mickelson again. She didn’t shake my hand but gave me a hug and said, “Sister Robinson it was such a pleasure to meet you.” I think I told her the same thing (using her name of courseJ ). It really thrilled me that she used my name. As I was thinking about it later, and wondering why it meant so much to me my tho’ts were: it made me feel as if she really knew me even tho’ we had just met for the first time….I imagine it will be much the same way when I meet the Lord again, that He will call me by name and He will know who I am and what I have done in this life.

Hearing and being there with Elder Mickelson really strengthened my testimony and made me feel so close to the spirit. I’m really looking forward next week to the spiritual feast we can experience while watching General Conference.

It was a very wonderful and sobering experience.

Blog Entry for September 23

Altho’ I was feeling better on the whole this week, I could tell I still tired easily. I heard a guy on the radio on the way to my nail appointment mention that he had had a doozy of the flu. I tho’t, “Maybe that’s what I had because it did take me longer to get over and took me down quite a ways. I did exercise three times during the week and had a nail appointment as well as an appointment for a perm Friday. We also went to the temple Friday evening. We went to the bishop’s afterwards for dessert. It was nice associating with the other couples who were there.

Wednesday, I taught my first patron class at the FHC. It was on the Family History Library Catalog. I remember the first class I had on it and it seemed to all go over my head. I practiced a few times both at home and the center. The FHLC is found at Familysearch.org. When clicked on it brings up a screen that has about seven different searches on it. I was to go thro’ each search and explain how to use each one. There were about ten people in the class. Only two were patrons; the rest were missionaries. I felt that it went very well. I had all of the keywords that I wanted to use written down and had practiced it three or four different times. When I was going thro’ it again Wednesday morning, I typed in Rufener for the Surname search and nothing happened. I knew that it had worked the other times I had tried it but tho’t I’d better have another name available if it should happen again. I typed in Call. Up came a list of things that had the name Call in. One of them was the 50 ancestors pioneers of Dallen Harris Oaks and June Dixon Oaks. I looked down thro’ the list and there was Cyril and Sally Tiffany Call. They are my third great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side. I didn’t know whether it was Elder Oaks or his wife but I was excited. When we got back that night I called my mother and told her about it. She said, “Well, of course! His first wife was a full cousin to Grandma Hurst. She was Uncle Willard’s daughter.” She may have known that but I didn’t. I tho’t then, “Even tho’ we are not related by blood to Elder Oaks, we are sealed to the same people!” I gave the others a chance to have me type in places or names. The class lasted about 35 to 40 minutes. People said that I did a good job. The patrons that had come in asked a couple of other questions and I helped them with that for a few minutes. We also had to help with microfilm inventory. We each were assigned four or five drawers that we were to go thro’ and check each box and make sure that the film in the box had the same number on it as the number on the box. Each drawer has 50 to 70 films in. it seemed to take forever! I only did two drawers on Wednesday and saved the last two for Saturday. Later that evening a woman came in and wanted to put her aunt’s and the aunt’s husband names thro’ temple ready to make a TSD (temple submission disk) so she could take them to the temple. I helped her, figured I knew what I was doing because I had done it many times. Well we went thro’ everything (she had to type the names into a new PAF program because she had just brought them in on a paper family group sheet) and as it finished it said there was one sealing to spouse but no endowments. Since they had been baptized in their youth but had never gone thro’ the temple in their lifetime, that is just exactly what they needed. I went to Sister Hendricks, our Wednesday supervisor until 5:00 pm when Brother Hall takes over. She said that she was shown how to take care of that just that morning. So she went over to the computer with us and we went thro’ what she had been shown and it didn’t work. I ended up doing it three different times on three different computers and it still didn’t come out right! By that time Brother Hall was there. He uses the old DOS program so walked her thro’ that. She had to type everything in again. It’s a good thing that there were only the two names. And she was finally able to get her TSD. Later I asked Sister Killian, the wife of the director, about it. She said that the program does have a glitch and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and when it doesn’t, you have to put each name thro’ individually, not just as individuals as we had tried to do. So now I know two ways to get around that problem if it should happen again.

Thursday was laid back and Friday after going to water aerobics and then getting my perm, as I stated above we went thro’ the temple. I had attended three different classes last week at Apple Athletic Club. Monday, I went to the Joint Efforts water class (that’s the one with joint problems and must move more slowly and not jump around so much). Tuesday we went to Silver Sneakers and then Friday the water aerobics. I’m hoping to go all five days this coming week. I can do water aerobics Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Silver Sneakers Tuesday and Thursday. That is a full week of it.

Yesterday at the FHC I finished the two drawers I need to inventory. It seemed to take forever. I started right out of prayer meeting. There was a 10:00 learning computer class that I attended. I had tho’t of attending the two previous weeks but was helping someone else or just spaced it so this was the first one I had attended. I hope they teach them again before too long. I took a chunk out of my right index finger on the drawer braces that hold the drawers in place. It was much easier to set the lower drawers on the table to go over the film instead of bending over. I was able to spend about an hour and a half on the computer is all. That isn’t much time in eight hours. I was surely tired when I got thro’ last night. It has carried over into today. I’m looking forward to January when our meeting go to 11:00 on Sunday mornings then I won’t have to hurry so fast on Sunday mornings. It has been a good day today tho’.

A Long Week

This week hasn’t been very fun. A week ago Wednesday I started out with a cold that got pretty bad. I didn’t have any Zicam left and by the time I got some it was too late to do much good. (It has helped in the past when I took it as soon as I started getting symptoms. I didn’t get anymore until Friday or Monday I can’t remember which.) Sunday, I was feeling pretty miserable. Monday I was feeling even worse so didn’t do anything but sleep a lot and lay around the house. I certainly didn’t feel like exercising. Tuesday, I felt even worse than Monday. I had a low grade fever the night before; was chilling almost all night and had a headache. Tuesday when I wore up, I still had the headache plus a face ache and my top teeth even ached especially on the left side of my face. It hurt to chew even soft foods. After being up for awhile I realized that I had an sinus infection. Because I had been into see my doctor only about six weeks before I was able to call him and he called in a prescription for me for a Z-pack. By Tuesday evening I was starting to feel better—my face didn’t ache anymore.

I went to the family history center Wednesday after fixing a chicken salad and creamy cucumbers to take with….every second Wednesday we take potluck to share with everyone….I wanted to take the chicken salad but I needed to use up the cukes so took both. This is one day I would much rather have been closer to Utah instead of clear up here in Idaho. Karen, Kent, Shani and Macie were able to meet at my mother’s place to see Jessica and Chris before they entered the MTC at 1:00 pm that day. Bonnie, Joy and Tom and my niece, Mary and her fiancé were also there. It would have been sooo neat to also be there. Then Mary went thro’ the Jordan River Temple Thursday night for her own endowments. I would have really liked to have been there for that too. Also on Friday evening her sisters gave Mary a surprise bridal shower. I would have really liked to have been there for that too. But the way I was feeling those three days, I probably couldn’t have gone even if I did live closer. Mama told me that all of Mary’s siblings were there as well as her father and stepmother were there at the temple with her. She also said that they all felt Mildred there too. It sounded like it was a very special night.

I got along OK at the center…I can still say that I learn something each time I go. (altho’ I can’t remember specifically what it was I learned new that day.) I was surely tired and miserable by the time I got home at 9:20 or so that evening. It was sooo different coming out now when it is completely dark. We went on our winter hours starting on the 4th….that means we are open until 9:00 instead of 8:00 pm. Thursday I could tell I had overdone the day before. I lay around most of the day. Altho’ my face didn’t hurt anymore I could tell I still had a bad cold. Altho’ the Lord blessed me while at the center, I didn’t even have to wipe my nose very much, I could tell I still had a cold. Friday I didn’t feel a lot better so just took it easy that day too. Saturday I was able to go to the center and got along fine. I helped one little opinionated man who doesn’t like things “zipped” and no one could change his mind that the “zipping” of a PAF file is different than the rest of the documents on a computer that are zipped. I was able to help him tho’ by showing him how to clean up his PAF file by taking out the abbreviations, adding vowels where needed and putting USA on places in the states after the date 1776. Also a few other things. I hope he was able to remember it when he got home. I had him do it instead of just showing him but sometimes you need more than one showing. I could tell that he is as old as Karl is (I saw his birthdate on his PAF file) but he was a little more computer literate. Also Brother Higgins showed me another little trick on PAF Insight that I didn’t know before. I knew that you could highlight a number of names and as the first name finished being searched it automatically went on to the next. Brother Higgins showed me that when you are doing this and you have enough info on the name you are doing but it isn’t thro’ searching, then you can click the “Stop current search” tab and then it goes on to the next search. It’s just a little thing but it surely helps the frustration.

I’m feeling much better today. I still have a runny now but I think I’m back to just allergies now. I’m ready to get back to my regular schedule next week.

A Treasure-Trove

While we were visiting Bryan and Sandy in Papillion, Nebraska, Bryan got out his Family History books and showed us the many things he has collected. He told us that we could copy anything we wanted to that he had. I told him that I tho’t that I had most of it if not all of it and I would go home and check and see what I had and then let him know what I wanted to copy. Well, we got home August 23. I finally got around to looking in the box I had that I have my genealogy stuff in last Friday. And did I find a treasure trove. (I believe that’s the right word.) I found papers that Aunt Pearl had given me in 1988 when we took our first family history class from Renae Ellis in the 38th ward. I remember going thro’ those papers but didn’t know who they were or how they were related to me. Now I know! I found family group sheets that had Johannes Rufener’s father and mother and their family as well clear back to his great grand father!! I had been looking on a film that I got from the FHC in SLC for hours trying to find them. they weren’t on there. I’ve spent I’m not sure how many hours on it and have come to the conclusion that the things I want aren’t on that particular film. But the important thing is…on the back of all these family group sheets there was a statement: from Billeten notes complied from Parish Records—Blumenstein. I had no idea what that meant….what were Billeten notes? I took the family group sheets with me to the center yesterday and copied everything into my PAF. I now know where they all fit in. I feel like I know personally who Johannes Rufener is altho’ at the time I first received these papers, I had no idea how he was related to me. I also found other things related to family history that I found very interesting and that mean much more to me than when I first received them. I’m so thankful that I kept everything there in that box.

When we took that initial family history class, Karl and I had asked each of our siblings to send us their family group sheets. All of my siblings sent their info except Roy and Mildred. I need updates on those I do have. I have all of the children for Bonnie and Joy and Johnny but not dates of all of their ordinance work. Of Karl’s family we just have Paul and Fred’s family. It would be so nice to get all of the rest of it. We can go to the IGI and get those who have died but not those who are living. Mildred’s last three daughters sent me their information. I hope the others remember to send it to me.

Anyway, yesterday, Sister Teresa Carl gave us a tour of the books, reference counter and many different things there at the center. We had had that tour before but things were so new to us then that not much registered. Anyway, I noticed just how knowledgeable Sister Carl is about all that stuff and I knew from first hand experience that she is also very knowledgeable about the computer as well as the PAF program. So I took one of the family group sheets over to her and showed her the note and asked her if she had any idea what the Billeten notes were. She said she had no idea but she immediately Googled them. And they came up….it seems a man named Julius Bitteten compiled Parish Records there in Blumenstein. After she showed me this, I googled it myself. I found out that altho’ they did have a site with info on them, they referred you to the FHC Library Catalog in SLC. I went there and found the micro film entitled Rufener family of Blumenstein, Bern Switzerland. This was filmed by the Church in 1965. I am so excited about this! It is a book but on microfilm. I will either order it tomorrow or do it Wednesday. He lived from 1869 to 1957. I’m not sure how far back those records go but I have found out that there are three different Rufener lines in my paternal grandmother’s family. I hope this will enable me to go back even further in the family along all three lines. Who knows it may even have information on the families who married into the Rufeners. I’ll have to wait and see.

Yesterday I was able to help a little man who told me he was 80 years old and knew nothing about computers and had no intention of learning but needed someone to help him get a temple submission disk ready for the youth in his ward to do baptisms for the dead. I was able to do that for him. He also had enough information about another whole family that wasn’t on his file for the disk that I was able to do another submission by making a whole new file and then putting it thro’ temple ready. There were five more people who needed their work done. By putting it thro’ temple ready we found that of the two submissions there were about six who had already had their work done for them. He ended up with a total of 53 ordinances that needed to be done. I also printed off the updates (since he didn’t have a computer to do it) and gave them to him so he could add them to his personal file. It took a little extra work to compile that but I couldn’t see the sense in his not being able to get to the information. I had a couple of questions thro’ the whole process but I just went to Brother Sweat and he was able to answer them for me. I’m so thankful that he works there on Saturdays with us.

Bishop John announced today that Brother Conley and Sister Beverly Stucki had received a call to serve 30 months in the FHC. So we will have two couples from our ward serving there. There is only one other woman from our Stake that I know of who works there. It will be good to have more there.

For my birthday, Karl took me to eat lunch at Perkins and then to Pirates of the Caribbean III movie. We found it very fast paced and with a few surprises but very good. I couldn’t help but notice that they left it wide open for a number IV if they wish to do it. I also talked to each of our children for my birthday, except Richard and he called the next evening. It was good to talk to each one of them. On our anniversary on Thursday he took me to Olive Garden for lunch (we’ve found out there is much less waiting at lunch than in the evening.) The rest of the day I took it easy because I started coming down with a bad cold. I had run out of Zicam so it has got a pretty good hold on me.

That is about all of the excitement for this week.

September Already!

I can’t believe it is September already. This year has gone sooo fast. It has been a busy week. I went to the FHC three times this past week….Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. I usually work Wednesday and Saturday. I worked Thursday for Dorothy Clements because she worked for me the 18th while we were in Papillion. I was able to do it OK but I am glad that I usually do it only two days a week. As I’ve said before, I learn something new every single time I am there. It is so rewarding. And being able to know enough to help others is also very rewarding.

Wednesday, I was working at the computer and Karl came up to me and said that we were called on the carpet….that Brother Killian, the director of the FHC wanted to speak with us in his office. He asked how we were doing and how we were liking our mission. I told him that I was loving it and was learning so much. Karl mentioned that he was OK with it but he didn’t think he was learning very much. Brother Killian told him that he would be surprised just how much he had learned. (When you stop to consider that he didn’t know anything at all about a personal computer nor the Personal Ancestral File, I think he has come a long way . I still like to have him on the computer next to me, when he is on tho; because he still does have many questions.) Anyway, Brother Killian told us that since we were called for only six months that our time would be up October 9, 2007. I told him that that was too soon. I told him that I was willing to extend 24 months but I couldn’t speak for my husband. Karl said that if I would do it, he would too. I appreciate so much his support and willingness to do this with me. So our official release date is now October 9, 2009. Brother Killian said when that time came and if we wanted to extend again, we could but we would have to fill out the paper work again. As long as my health holds up, I’ll keep doing it. I think Karl feels the same way.

We are both excited about getting in on the bottom floor of the new program. Brother Lyon told us Thursday that there were now five temple districts on the new program….St. Louis, Reno, Billings, Orlando and one of the temples in Mexico. Three came on board all the same a week ago. It sounds like it will be spreading fast.

Bryan called and left a message Thursday evening that he got accepted at Northrup Grumann, one of the contractors that he’s worked with while in the Air Force. He knows the man he who will be his supervisor and has worked with him before. He will just be on the other side of the table now. He will start October 1. That will be very nice. He may have had to wait until Dec 1 due to red tape, etc. It is good that he can start then. He will have three weeks of not working as it is. During that time he will take Jess and Chris to the MTC. We are very happy for him.

That are the highlights of this past week.

Our Tirp to Papillion

Our Trip to Papillion and Back

We got back Thursday evening just before 6:00 pm. It was a wonderful trip but so good to get home. We left Wednesday, August 15 just before 7:00 am to catch the shuttle to the SLC Airport. Our neighbor, Michele Hatch took us over then came and got us too. We let them harvest some of our tomatoes while we were gone. Just before we got to Blackfoot I discovered that I had forgotten my wallet with my photo ID in it. I was sick to my stomach. I didn’t know if I would be in Papillion or Idaho Falls that night. I told Karl that he might have to go on without me. He said, “That’s not going to happen.” He suggested at one of our stops on the way down maybe we could call the Idaho MVD and ask them to send a copy of my driver’s license. We later learned that that wasn’t an option because if they could do it others could too and that could lead to ID theft. Anyway, I felt better afterwards and felt like things would work out. When we got to the airport, I told them that I didn’t have in photo ID and we were from Idaho Falls, Idaho. They asked me if I had any ID at all. I had my temple recommend with me (thank goodness) but didn’t feel it was right to use that. And it didn’t have a photo of me on it. When I told them no, they said that’s OK; you’ll just have to go thro’ some extra screening. Since I’m always “wanded” because my total knee always sets off the alarms, that part wasn’t any different. Then they just checked what was in my purse. The digital camera, my pills, my flash drive, beef jerky, string cheese etc. And that was all there was to it. I actually got thro’ security faster than Karl did because they took me one way with fewer people and he went the other way with everyone else. I tho’t that interesting. We had an about two hour wait for the plane to board. We took off about 1:30 pm. We arrived in Phoenix at 2:00 pm. That’s PST instead of MDT when we left. We had 54 minutes to change planes. Since it was the same airline that we had gotten off of (US Airways) I figured the gates would be close together. Boy was I wrong! We deplaned at B12 and had to go around a corner then on four moving sidewalks and around another corner and down a ways to gate A 22. I had to make a pit stop. Karl decided to go on and not wait for me. I couldn’t see him anywhere when I got out. I waited around for a few minutes then headed for gate A 22. I got there and couldn’t see him anywhere. I walked down the middle all the way back to the restroom. There he was! He had gone to B 22 instead of A 22! And had just gotten back from there. I told him that we had 10 minutes to get to our gate. I felt like he was going really slowly which was very frustrating to me. As we turned the last corner, I heard them announce our flight and naming two passengers then Robinson, party of 2. I was walking as fast as I could go pulling Karl’s carry on bag on wheels (his is smaller than mine). I heard them announce again the same thing as before plus this was the last announcement before take off. I got there in time. Karl was two or three minutes behind me. We were the last ones on the plane. My shins ached almost all the way to Omaha. I told Karl that next time he was to wait for me. I had told him before a couple of times what our next gate was but I guess it didn’t register.
We got to Omaha Airport about 7:40 pm. Bryan and Jason were waiting for us at the head of the ramp before you go downstairs after your luggage. We had both made a pit stop. We got down to the carrousel and waited and waited for our luggage. When they stopped the carrousel and we hadn’t gotten our luggage I wondered if it were even on the plane with us. (We had had the experience eleven years ago where our luggage didn’t change planes as we did so had to wait until the next day to get it.) We went to the US Airways office and she scanned the stickers we had and went into the back room and was pulling our two large bags as she came out. She crossly said, “Well, you weren’t there to pick them up so we collected them.” I tho’t she wasn’t very nice but was very glad to have them. We got to Papillion and Bryan & Sandy’s house about 9 30. I was sooo tired. It had been a very long day. The next day we just kind of rested and visited. We didn’t see Chris because he was still in Iowa installing Dish networks. (We didn’t see him until Tuesday morning.) Jason of course was in bed so we didn’t see him until Thursday morning. Boy, he is a big boy. He could easily pass for a 3 to 3 1/2 year old. He is 34 inches tall and weighs 32 #. He is only 16 months old. I had to constantly remind myself that he is still a baby. He doesn’t walk anywhere. He runs everywhere and never seems to hold still. (I was impressed how well he did in church because of that trait. He was very good.) He goes from one thing to the next with “lightening” speed. He in the cupboards, then trying to turn on the DVD player then goes after the dog, then goes back to opening the drawers or cupboard doors in the kitchen. It wore me out to watch him. He does give hugs and kisses but you have to be ready for them or you miss out. They last about two seconds is all then he’s on his way somewhere else. While we were there,

Bryan took us to see the Dead Sea scrolls which were there on exhibit at the Trailways Visitor’s Center there by the temple. We found it very interesting. They have them here at the museum too (they are both duplicates not the real thing) but we would have had to pay $8 a piece to see them and with them there, we didn’t have to pay anything. He also took us Monday to go to the Durham Union Western History Museum. But they were closed on Monday. So he took us over to the mill that the Mormons built while there at winter quarters. But it was closed on Mondays too. It is tho’t to have been built by Karl’s great- great grandfather, Frederick Kesler, Jr. who was a milner. We did get to see the out side and read the plaque. It is now a sort of museum. We went back to the DUWHM on Wednesday. Jessica and Jason were there with us. We found it very interesting. It is the “new” Union Pacific Railroad Station finished in 1937. It has a BIG lobby with people sized statues in it that when you sit down by them or stand by them they tell you their story. That station move over 10,000 people and troops a day during World War II. When it was no longer the mode of travel of choice it closed down in 1971 and was given to the city of Omaha I think in 1976 for a museum. They have actual train cars in there that you can go thro’. They have the history of the city of Omaha. The Mormons were the first white people to go there, except for maybe some explorers (Lewis & Clark etc.) Of course the Indians were there before then. They had the story on Chief Standing Bear who was of a native tribe there who was relocated by the US Government to Oklahoma. He and some others decided they didn’t like it there nor the idleness that was imposed upon them so they walked back to Nebraska, the Omaha area. When they got back they were put in jail. An influential lawyer from the East was there visiting or on business and heard of their plight and decided to represent them against the US Government. And they won!! That was about 1869 if I remember correctly. That was the first time that an Indian or Native American was recognized as a person. I hadn’t tho’t about that before. I wondered why since we have heard so much of Chief Crazy Horse of the Sioux and other famous Indian chiefs why we hadn’t heard Chief Standing Bear’s story. As far as I’m concerned that is more important history than Chief Crazy Horse’s story.

The highlight of the trip was going to the temple Tuesday night with Jessica and Chris for their first time. The Winter Quarters Temple is a beautiful little temple. Where the IF temple can hold 150 per session, the Winter Quarters Temple can only hold about 50 and that’s including the officiators. It was a very special experience for Jess and Chris, Bryan & Sandy and us. I told them that the first time Bryan went thro’ the temple for his own endowments that after we reached the Celestial Room I was standing there thinking, “This is what true joy is all about!” Altho’ it just the beginning of “adult hood” for your child, a parent gets a certain feeling of satisfaction and awe that they have been able to teach that young person from birth to be righteous and follow the path of the Lord. I’ve had that feeling with all five of my children and now three of our grandchildren. It is truly a wonderful feeling.

We left the house about 7:10 Thursday morning. Bryan dropped us off at the airport then went into Omaha for a job interview. As we left last Thursday, he had eight more days to work in the Air Force before he retires. It is now down to six. Three days this week and three days the next. His retirement ceremony will be on September 7. It would have been so nice to have been there for that too. But I’m think we were there at the right time. They will be leaving the next Monday after that to take Jess and Chris to the MTC in Provo. And I’m sure things will be hectic enough and go more smoothly without our being there. Jess and Chris are ready for their missions and are excited to go. I’m so happy for them that they have the opportunity to go. I tho’t it was so nice and tho’tful of the Brethren to let them enter the MTC the same day (September 12) since they have to come from Nebraska. But Sandy told me that it was probably just a coincidence because they had friends that had a son and daughter leaving about the same time only they entered the MTC two weeks apart. They also were from Nebraska. So they visited family and friends in Utah for two weeks.

We flew from Omaha to Denver then on to SLC. We took off from Omaha about 9:40. Again I had to go thro’ the “special” screening but no big deal. We arrived in Denver about 10:15 and left at 11:20 and arrived in SLC at 12:45. We caught the shuttle at 1:30 and arrived in IF at 5:15 or so. We got home about 5:45 or so. It was sooo good to be home. We found everything just fine. My wallet was right where I had left it. I got unpacked and called Michael and Kim to see if they would be able to come to the Robinson family reunion Saturday. I tried to call both Karen and my mother but neither answered. I talked to both of them Friday afternoon.

Friday, we went to the temple sealing of April George and daughter of a good friend of mine. It was very nice. It was about 20-30 minutes late starting because the groom and forgotten the wedding license and his recommend. But everything turned out all right. I’m sure he’ll be razed about that the rest of his life.

Friday afternoon after eating at Olive Garden after the wedding and having a rest….I was still very tired from our trip….I baked a cake, made my mother’s baked beans with sausage, and a chicken salad for the reunion the next day. It was in Grace, Idaho at the park and Karl and I were in charge of it. We left bout 9:00 Saturday morning. I was sooo glad that I had all of the food I was going to take prepared the evening before. We got to Grace about 11:15, stopped at Mom’s house to let her know we were there then headed over to the park to put covers on the tables and get things set up. At first it didn’t look like there would be very many there but there was a good turnout. Mom’s two youngest sons weren’t there but the other four and her daughter was. All of Stan’s family was there except his youngest son who had to work. Karen, Kent, Kylie, Shani and Macie were there from our family. It was so good to see everyone and get to visit with them and find out what they are now doing in life. We got home about 7:15, stopped at a wedding reception for a young man in our ward, Blaine & Kimberly Larsen Ward’s oldest son. They are the same age as our Bryan and Kimberly went all the way thro’ school from first grade on and primary and everything (as she stated) with him. It was very nice. But again it was very good to get home.

We have missed two full weeks at the FHC. We start back Wednesday. It will good to get back. I'd like to be able to put some pictures on this but can't remember how. I will send them out with the e-mails instead.

An addition

I forgot to say that I booked tickets last Tuesday to fly to Omaha on the 15th of this month. Jess & Chris are going thro’ the temple for the first time on the 21st and since we aren’t coming back until the 23rd we will be able to be there with them. The other times we have flown out we have been able to take a direct flight from SLC to Omaha. This time there wasn’t one airway that went direct. We stop at Phoenix for 54 minutes and change planes there on the way there and stop in Denver for an hour on the way back. Since we catch the shuttle here at 7:15 am and get there at 7:34 or something like that, it will be a very long day. We leave Omaha about 9:15 or so and arrive back here in IF before 5:30. it surely makes a difference when you gain an hour instead of losing an hour. We are really looking forward to the trip.

Another week in the life of Renée Robinson

This past week has been a very busy week. We were at the FHC for four out of the seven days. Monday was a regular Monday with water aerobics (the only time I went all week). Tuesday, was a laid back day. Wednesday, we started our class on Danish Research at the FHC. We both found it very interesting. It lasted till about 12:10 or so. We then had a special missionary teaching meeting that they have every day but Saturday at 12:15 it only lasts 15 or 20 minutes. Then we had our regular shift from 1-8. Starting with prayer meeting at 12:45.

Thursday, we also went to another Danish Research class. Afterwards we went thro’ a session at the temple. We had meant to take the check book with us since we always eat after a session but we had forgotten it. We had taken our clothes, suitcases etc….Anyway, we went back home and got it and got there for the 2:00 session. We were surely tired by the time we got back.

Friday, we had our third class on Danish Research. We were supposed to tell what we had learned the day before on Danish census. I told them that we had found Karl’s grandmother’s grandmother and her father who was living with them. Then we found her daughter with a man about her age living with them. On a later census it showed that they were husband and wife and showed their four children also. I went home and checked at FamilySearch.com and found out that all of their work had already been done. It turned out that my mother-in-law had done the research and had had the work done. Karl had even done the work for some of the men. The baptisms all had been done in Medford Temple by Fred and his children. The sealings were all done in Ogden. The endowments had been done in Idaho Falls, Logan, Ogden and Jordan River Temples. Anyway, I shared that with the people in the class then I told them that altho’ the work had been done, that I was glad that we had found it because I had just sent some of their names down to Natasha and Collin to do baptisms for them and not I was able to prevent their being duplicated. Someone there asked me if I had taken the duplicates back to the temple to be canceled. I hadn’t heard of that before. I did that the next day. After the class Friday we went to Office Max and got some note books, folders, envelopes and a 1 Gig flash drive for Karl for $10. We tho’t that a very good buy. It is a Toshibeshi (sp?) He wanted his own and tho’t we couldn’t lose with that. We got home about 2:30 and saw the pole along the front of the house that they brought at 2:00 to put in our new blinds. We had forgotten all about it. So I called them and they were there in about 15 minutes to put them up. We had ordered them the 9th of July. We had been talking about getting vertical blinds for over a year and finally took the plunge. The sheers we had were just thread bare and hanging so raggedly. The blinds are kind of an almond color with a pattern on them. They look very nice. Much better than if they were plain white. The Harpers, James and Mandy and their three children were there to install them. Barissa will be in the fourth grade like Grace will be; Mason will be in second grade like Alex will and Morgan was 2 ½ months old. He was born the day before Anya was. We had a nice visit with them while they were putting them up. The rest of Friday was just kind of laid back and catching our breaths. I did fix supper that night.

Saturday we went to the FHC and were late…we are supposed to be there so Karl could lead the singing and I got on the computer and forgot to curl my hair until the last minute so we got there just as they were finishing prayer meeting. I had time to run some names thro’ temple ready for windows from my PAF file. When I tried to to run them thro’ temple ready to make the TSD (temple submission disk) it only took two families instead of the 17 individuals that my PAF said I had. So I went thro’ PAF again then the Temple Ready again. This time I had three families. I enlisted the help of Brother Anderson. He is working with the “new” program that the church is getting ready to get out. (Already two temple districts are using it….the St. Louis and the Las Vegas Temple districts). He had me erase everything and mark all the names I wanted to do again and as I was marking them, he noticed that I had marked individuals and told me that it now had to be marked family in order for it to take it. So for the fourth time I went thro’ everything again and it worked. By the time I put it thro’ the temple ready program, I ended up with six more male baptisms and five more female. Since I had e-mailed Tanya and asked her to not do the duplicates I was glad that I could replace them and maybe one or two more. It took me about 2 ½ hours in all but I did it and learned something in the process too. I was sooo tired by the time I got home. It had been a BIG week. I just kind of lay around until it was time to go to bed. I am going thro’ my PAF again and trying to estimate dates on marriages or births. If one date is given and it is the full date, you can estimate when the other date was. That is sooo good that they let you do that now. So I worked on that for a while last night too. It doesn’t take too much energy to do that. I was soo tired last night tho’.

I didn’t wake up until 8:05 this morning so I really had to hurry to get showered and ready for church and there by 9:00. I’m glad I went tho’. We had a very spiritual testimony meeting. We had two babies blessed and that always adds. One of the babies great-great grandmothers was there. We had a special fast this week for more moisture. We haven’t had any more than 1 ½ inches of rain since the first of the year. As church had just let out there was a very loud clap of thunder and it started to rain. It rained for only about 20 to 30 minutes but we are hoping and praying that there will be more. Tonight is the family chat. It will be nice to touch base with everyone. We forgot it last month. (Michael didn’t); we had gotten back from Utah about midnight the night before and I just spaced it.

Well there’s another week in my life.

A Few Surprises This Week

This week has been quite a busy one. Monday was kind of laid back except for going to water aerobics at 9:00 am. Oh, then I met with Elena Lambert for some strength training. After wards she asked me if I felt all right. I told her I felt like I’d had a workout but other than that I was fine. She told me that my eyes and skin look kind of yellow….not healthy. I told her, “And here I tho’t it was my golden tan.” She told me I should call someone and be checked that day. I told her we had an appointment with Dr. Liljenquist the next day. Then I forgot about her comment until the next day.

Tuesday, we had our walking class on 49th South and 45th East. That is the mile long hill….I figure I walked at least three miles that day. After the class, the instructor, Diane Thompson, asked me if I was feeling OK. I told her that aside just walking three miles I felt fine. She told me that my eyes looked yellow and that my skin on my face looked yellowish green. Now if that doesn’t sound sickening, I don’t know what does. I wasn’t too concerned because I’m not feeling overly tired. People I’ve known with jaundice, hepatitis etc. don’t have any energy to do anything…let alone walk three miles. That afternoon we went to see Dr. Liljenquist. He told me that he didn’t think I or my eyes looked that bad…maybe a little cast of yellow. But he ordered a liver panel and gave me his cell phone # so I could call him that evening and find out the results. When I called him, he told me that the liver panel was fine and that my bilirubin was within normal limits. He said there was one liver function that was a little above normal but that could have something to do with bones too. ?? He told me I did not have jaundice. I felt better about that.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to Apple for water aerobics again and some women there told me my skin and eyes were yellow or yellowish green. I told them again about the liver panel and what the doctor said and that I felt fine and I wouldn’t have the energy to even go to Apple not to mention jumping up and down in the water for an hour. So they let up. We went to the FHC that afternoon. I worked on cleaning up my PAF some more. I have found another couple of duplicates and some corrections that needed to be done. After I got thro’ eating my supper, Sister Slyvester came in and told Brother Larsen that the lady he was helping needed some more help. I told Brother Larsen to stay and finish his supper that since I was thro’ with mine I would see if I could help her. By the time I got out there Brother Hall was helping her. I just stood behind and watched…thinking I might could learn something. She was trying to make a STD or submit to temple disk to take to the temple to have the cards made up so she could do the work for a young man and have him and his little sister, who had died as a child sealed to their parents. It kept not working. All of the boxes were checked for baptism, endowment and sealing to parents for both of them. The Sister said, “But the child doesn’t need the baptism nor endowment. I just want her sealed to her parents. So Brother Hall told her to uncheck the boxes. She did and all of them unchecked. So he told her to check the one just for sealing to parents. When she did that, all three boxes were checked again. After he had had her do that two or three more times I could tell he was getting frustrated. (He’s the one who is 81 years old and has worked there at FHC for almost 13 years.) The tho’t just popped into my head and I asked her: Did you type in Child on the date line for baptism and endowment on her PAF? She told me she didn’t think so. When she went back and did that, then only the sealing to parents was checked. As I tho’t about that later, I tho’t that I had never come across that before. I know it was the Spirit who put it into my mind. I felt very fulfilled after that. It was a good day.

Thursday, we went to our walking class at Community Park and learned how to do Nordic walking with special poles. It was a little different to get used to but fun. That afternoon I went to get my nails done. I usually get them done Wednesday morning but since we had the German Research Class that morning I had to change my appointment. I didn’t say anything to Stacey about what others have said about my skin color. But she noticed it and made a really big deal of it. I told her about the liver panel and how I wasn’t lagging in energy which is a definite symptom of liver problems. She told me to get another opinion, to not settle for Dr. Liljenquist’s answer. She suggested that I Google “ yellow eyes” After I came home I called Dr. Zimmerman’s office. He’s my opthamaligist. He wasn’t in but his receptionist gave me the number for another opthamaligist. I called his office. The person who answered the phone put me on hold, went and asked someone about my problem. When she came back she first told me I should see my family doctor. Then she told me that some medications can cause a yellow cast to skin and eyes. I hadn’t heard that before. When I Googled “yellow eyes”, the literature there said the same thing. That with liver problems, the bilirubin is elevated and that some medications can cause a yellow cast to the skin. Since I knew my bilirubin was OK, and I have energy, I quite worrying about it.

The next day I went to water aerobics and on the way home we stopped at Hastings for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book…the seventh and last book of the series. We couldn’t find anyone to wait on us. So we put the book back and went to Wal-Mart to look for one. They were sold out. So since we had time before my appointment to get my hair cut and highlighted, we stopped at Hastings again and this time got the book. We then went to Creations where Wyatt highlighted my hair, then cut it and styled it. It looks very nice even if I do say so myself. It definitely hides the gray. I don’t look quite so blah now.

The next day we went to FHC again. This time I worked with a man going thro’ his file thro’ PAF Insight. Sister Steel asked me if I could help him. So I spent about 2 ½ hours or so helping him. During the course of the conversation, he mentioned that he was fluent in both German and French. I told him that I had this microfilm form SLC FHC and it was in German, I tho’t, and if not in French and maybe he could help me with it if he had time. After we finished his stuff…he had 269 names to go thro’ and check for ordinances done. He did find a few that would have been duplicated if he hadn’t run his program thro’ PAF Insight. Brother Higgins was there too but said that he had forgotten too much to be able to help much. But he did show me that when you have many names to do like that, you can highlight a certain number and then click search and it will go from one to the next one and the next one. I am so glad he showed me that! I went thro’ everyone of my names one at a time when I put it thro’ the PAF Insight! So it went much faster. After that, he went over and helped me look at the microfilm. He at first said it was in French then stated it was in German. He looked at it for about 15 or 20 minutes then asked when we would be back to the center. I told him Wednesday afternoon from 1-8 pm then next Saturday, 9-5. He told me he had some books that he would bring in next Wednesday which would help me. I really appreciate that. I may find something on that film yet with someone who knows the language. After going to the center we went to Olive Garden for supper. There was a line clear out down the sidewalk. We didn’t feel like waiting so we went across the way to Wendy’s. We ordered a chicken BLT salad and the baked potato with sour cream and chives and a frosty. Since the salad was $4.49 by itself we were really surprised when she told us it would be $3. 74. We told her that couldn’t be right because the salad alone was $4.49. She looked at me then said, “Oh, but we give a 50% discount to missionaries.” Boy, were we surprised! We decided that we would go there more often after serving there at the FHC when we have our name tags on. The other Wendy’s we went to once while we were dressed up and had our name tags on only gave us a 10% senior citizens discount!

Well that takes care of last week and it’s time to start another week.

Highlights of the week July 15 thor' the 21st.

We had a very interesting day yesterday. Thursday Bryan had e-mailed me and asked if we would be home at 9:00 Saturday morning our time. That Jessica and Chris had gotten their mission calls that day and since Chris was working in Iowa and would come home Friday night, then they would open them then. He said that he would make a conference call with us and Helen & Al Bonneau who live in Texas and put it on speaker phone so we all can hear it. Jessica will be going to the Arizona, Tucson Mission, English speaking. Her letter said that her assignment may be changed due to the discretion of the mission president. (Chris’s didn’t say that.) Since she took Spanish in Jr. High, High School and College, even if she stays in the English part that it will definitely help her to know Spanish in that area. Chris is going to the Chile, Conception Mission. He will be speaking Spanish. I’ve been told there are many Germans down there too so he may have occasion to use the German he learned in High School. They both enter the MTC September 12, 2007. I tho’t it was so thoughtful of the brethren to have them enter the MTC on the same day since they will all be coming from Nebraska. They were very excited about their callings. We are very excited for them too. We will plan on flying to Omaha next month to see them all. It would be so nice if we could be there for when they went thro’ the temple for the first time. Bryan said even if we couldn’t be here for that we could certainly attend a session with them while we were there. When we were to the temple last Tuesday, I saw two missionaries come thro’ the veil for the first time and with their families and friends to greet them. I tho’t then it would be sooo neat if we could be there when Jess and Chris went thro’.

Yesterday at the FHC Karl and I finished putting his PAF program thro’ PAF Insight. From both my program and Karl’s we obtained 15 male names and 20 female names for Natasha & Collin to do baptisms for when their stake goes to do baptisms for the dead the first part of next month. Their were supposed to be 20 each but even with our two programs that is all there were, that was all we could find after putting everything thro’ PAF Insight.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday we took classes on doing German Research. I found it very interesting. Cindy Pack had so many neat suggestions and guides to help us in doing German research. She had word lists, and examples of both the German alphabet today as well as the Gothic alphabet, as well as other things.

Wednesday afternoon Sister Quigley told me that my microfilm was in from Blumenstein, Bern, Switzerland. It is the parish records from 1505 to 1785. I had really hoped to find Johannes Rufener’s birth record so I could find out who his parents are. I still was working on updating Karl’s PAF so I decided I would wait until Friday night when they had a missionary night to look at it. When I got there Friday night, I pulled the wrong card out of the file and didn’t think it was there. So I worked on updating Karl’s PAF. I guess it was a good thing tho’ because we were able to finish it yesterday and make the Temple Submission Disk to take to the temple to have the cards made up. We did that on the way home yesterday. I was able to do the STD my self. Brother Sweat had told us before how to check and make sure it was on the disk. It turned out that that disk wasn’t any good. I’m so glad that I checked it or we would have gotten nothing at the temple. I had to have Brother Sweat show me how to use the backup disk, (thank goodness that one was good) so I was able to make a new TSD. I really had a feeling of accomplishment after that. After I finished that, I went to look at my microfilm. I checked in the file again and found out I had looked at the wrong slip Friday night. I put it on the microfilm reader (I was able to do it myself) and tried to find 1780. I tho’t that I was at the end of the film and it only went to 1735. So I went back to the card catalogue from the SLC FHC and found the film that I had ordered and it said it went to 1785. So I asked Karl to go take a look at it. He found 1780. But we couldn’t find Dec of that year. Johannes Rufener was born 22 Dec 1780. It seemed to go from June 1780 right to 1781. I would think at that time most of the people there would be Lutheran and that that would be the only parish record. I was sooo disappointed. We found a Johann Rufener born in June and there were three witness listed there all with the last name of Rufener. I was so disappointed that we weren’t able to find anything. I’m not sure what to do now to find him and his parents. If I had found his birth record his parents would have been listed then I could go look for their records and his siblings. We have been told there at the FHC that if we are having trouble finding someone, we should put the child’s name on the prayer roll at the temple. They said that it really works! So I will do that next week when we go to the temple.

I think that covers the highlights of last week.