Sunday, September 30, 2007

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.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

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’.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

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.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

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.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

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.