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.