It was good to get back to the FHC. We were told we were missed. We took some ribbing because we weren’t there. I just told them we went down where it was warm. 85 degrees on the day Emma was baptized! It was very cold here we were told. I helped a few people. I am so thankful for the knowledge I have gained since we started there. A couple of weeks ago I told Elder that our mission ends in October. He said that I’d better stay around longer than that. That he had put my name in for something and I’d just better stick around. I am already teaching the PAF classes on Saturday so can’t imagine what it is all about. Time will tell.
I’ve had a couple of insights the last little while, while working there: the one was just the other day. One of the new missionaries was asking me about putting still born instead of child in the baptism and endowment fields on the individual screen. And the spirit let me know that they didn’t need to be sealed to their parents because the Atonement had taken care of them. That was a comfort to me because I have worried about little ones who are still born who wouldn’t have been BIC. I feel that the spirit is in the body before the child is born. I have felt life inside of me five times. And I know that those babies are alive before they are born. I feel that the spirit enters the body at quickening or when the mother first feels life. That is just my feelings there is no scripture or verse to support it. I feel that if the spirit is still on God’s timetable then it is only in the womb a second or so before it is born. Like I said, I have nothing to support it I just feel that way.
The other thing happened about a month ago. I was helping a young woman trying to register for FamilySearch.org. Nothing was working. She was getting sooo discouraged. She said that she lived an hour and a half away from IF and that she had planned to leave around 10:00 that morning to get to the FHC. Everything went wrong and kept her from leaving until after noon. She didn’t get there until almost 2:00. I asked her if there was a chance she had already registered because it told us that her user name had already been used. She told me that her husband may have registered her. So I found out that she had an e-mail address that she would be able to retrieve online so we sent in the request for her user name and password to be sent to her e-mail address. After we retrieved that, we were still having problems and couldn’t get the program to accept to so we could change her password to something easier for her to remember. She was ready to throw up her hands and quit. I told here that Sister F was just in the next room and she would be able to help us get it straightened out. She said she just wanted to get home; it would take her an hour and a half anyway to get home. I told her that it would only take a minute or two and that she would have to call either SLC or us to get it straightened out anyway so she gave in. S. F typed in the exact same name and password that we did and it worked for her! So S. F changed her password right then and there for her. The young woman went back into the main room and was able to find three generations of her ancestors who needed their work done! She was soo elated. She said, “I was beginning to wonder if my ancestors wanted their work done.” (She h ad told that she was a fairly recent convert.) I replied, “I don’t think it was you ancestors that would try to throw a wrench into things because they have the choice whether to accept the work being done for them or reject it.” “But,” I said, “ I do believe Satan would try to discourage you from doing this work because he knows how important it is that it be done and he would try to thwart you by causing you to become discouraged.” I felt the Spirit witnessing to me that what I said was true as I said it. It is a neat feeling.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Installment # II
Saturday, R, T, my husband and I went into Mesa temple. It has been remodeled since we were there seven or eight years ago. It is a beautiful temple. We treated them to lunch there at the temple. It takes about an hour and 10-20 minutes to drive from their house to the temple. It made me really appreciate that we just need to drive across town. We got back about 2:00 and E’s baptism was at 4:00; they were to be there by 3:30. There were three children from the Buckeye First ward getting baptized that day. It was a very nice program. And T gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. She did a good job. She said it had been 15 years since she was baptized. She is a very spiritual person.
A couple of times I sat down at the piano and played it while C and E sang the hymns that I played. We could just find a hymn book. I’d liked to have found a Children’s Song Book. They know more of those songs. Next time we are there they should know where it is. Only the bare necessities had been unpacked. It will take them a while yet to get completely settled. C made the statement after singing We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet, that Grandma R doesn’t believe the way we do but she respects what we believe. I tho’t that was very good for both Grandma R and the children to realize that. They have a good relationship as do we.
E was radiant after her baptism. She looked so angelic in her white dress. I couldn’t hear much of the blessing that R gave her. (They don’t believe in using microphones in Arizona. I couldn’t hear D’s either.) Afterwards, friends and their children came over to the house and had refreshments…supper. They stayed until about 9:30 or so. It was very enjoyable.
Their church meetings start at 8:00!! That is early. We got there before the sacrament which I tho’t was good. We enjoyed being there at church with them. D wasn’t feeling well so he wasn’t there but the rest were. And K, T’s cousin/stepbrother went with us too. I think it would be neat if he got interested in the Church.
That evening we went to the ice cream social that the T's from their old ward holds every fast Sunday. We met many of R and T’s friends and remembered meeting others before. It was very enjoyable. We got home shortly after 10:00. T’s mom stayed home with E and A. T said that that was the first time she’d seen R able to relax when they’ve been there because he didn’t have to wonder where the two little ones were.
T had told us that the day after they moved in that they had noticed all of the covers were off the outlets. Some of the screws they were able to find, others not. It was when they found the screw driver in the refrigerator that they realized that it was Ephriam that had taken them off. He has a real fascination with the refrigerator. We are thankful that he had the muscle dexterity (which most 3 ½ years olds don’t) that he was able to do it without getting himself electrocuted.
I played Battle Ship with D on the way to the social. I played with E and C when we got back. It is much easier to play on the kitchen table than it is in the van going somewhere. The little pieces move around too easily and won’t stay put in a moving car. They need to be magnetized or something. I learned that D was doing a French catapult (I can’t remember the name, needless to say) made out of legos for the Science Fair that was supposed to be last week. I hope he did well. I asked him to send me pictures of it but he hasn’t done it yet. I read the girls a story about the Squeegy Bug. I actually read it twice to E. I had some good visits with both R and T. It was good to be there. I hope we were able to help out somewhat. Next time they will be settled and there will be more time to do things together.
The shuttle was to pick us up Monday morning at 10:05. It was right there on time or a minute or two early. We arrived at Sky Harbor with almost two hours to spare. We arrived in SLC 20 minutes early so we had an hour or a little more to wait for the shuttle to bring us back to IF. We had an uneventful ride home and arrived at the bus depot at 6:50 or so. We were home by 7:15 PM. Everything was good, except Karl had put the plug in the utility sink in the utility room to soak some screws in a golf club head he found the night before we left. (He wanted to get the brass off so he could recycle it.) And he evidently didn’t shut the water off tight. And the utility room was absolutely flooded. It also came out about a yard into the carpet in our big room. Boxes were ruined. It gave us a good excuse to clean everything out of there. He even had to move the washer and dryer and get behind them. Some of the things were on a board but most was not. We still haven’t got everything back in there. I think I’ll take much of the yarn I have and haven’t used, to DI. Someone else can use it. The patterns I may just throw away. I don’t do much sewing anymore.
A couple of times I sat down at the piano and played it while C and E sang the hymns that I played. We could just find a hymn book. I’d liked to have found a Children’s Song Book. They know more of those songs. Next time we are there they should know where it is. Only the bare necessities had been unpacked. It will take them a while yet to get completely settled. C made the statement after singing We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet, that Grandma R doesn’t believe the way we do but she respects what we believe. I tho’t that was very good for both Grandma R and the children to realize that. They have a good relationship as do we.
E was radiant after her baptism. She looked so angelic in her white dress. I couldn’t hear much of the blessing that R gave her. (They don’t believe in using microphones in Arizona. I couldn’t hear D’s either.) Afterwards, friends and their children came over to the house and had refreshments…supper. They stayed until about 9:30 or so. It was very enjoyable.
Their church meetings start at 8:00!! That is early. We got there before the sacrament which I tho’t was good. We enjoyed being there at church with them. D wasn’t feeling well so he wasn’t there but the rest were. And K, T’s cousin/stepbrother went with us too. I think it would be neat if he got interested in the Church.
That evening we went to the ice cream social that the T's from their old ward holds every fast Sunday. We met many of R and T’s friends and remembered meeting others before. It was very enjoyable. We got home shortly after 10:00. T’s mom stayed home with E and A. T said that that was the first time she’d seen R able to relax when they’ve been there because he didn’t have to wonder where the two little ones were.
T had told us that the day after they moved in that they had noticed all of the covers were off the outlets. Some of the screws they were able to find, others not. It was when they found the screw driver in the refrigerator that they realized that it was Ephriam that had taken them off. He has a real fascination with the refrigerator. We are thankful that he had the muscle dexterity (which most 3 ½ years olds don’t) that he was able to do it without getting himself electrocuted.
I played Battle Ship with D on the way to the social. I played with E and C when we got back. It is much easier to play on the kitchen table than it is in the van going somewhere. The little pieces move around too easily and won’t stay put in a moving car. They need to be magnetized or something. I learned that D was doing a French catapult (I can’t remember the name, needless to say) made out of legos for the Science Fair that was supposed to be last week. I hope he did well. I asked him to send me pictures of it but he hasn’t done it yet. I read the girls a story about the Squeegy Bug. I actually read it twice to E. I had some good visits with both R and T. It was good to be there. I hope we were able to help out somewhat. Next time they will be settled and there will be more time to do things together.
The shuttle was to pick us up Monday morning at 10:05. It was right there on time or a minute or two early. We arrived at Sky Harbor with almost two hours to spare. We arrived in SLC 20 minutes early so we had an hour or a little more to wait for the shuttle to bring us back to IF. We had an uneventful ride home and arrived at the bus depot at 6:50 or so. We were home by 7:15 PM. Everything was good, except Karl had put the plug in the utility sink in the utility room to soak some screws in a golf club head he found the night before we left. (He wanted to get the brass off so he could recycle it.) And he evidently didn’t shut the water off tight. And the utility room was absolutely flooded. It also came out about a yard into the carpet in our big room. Boxes were ruined. It gave us a good excuse to clean everything out of there. He even had to move the washer and dryer and get behind them. Some of the things were on a board but most was not. We still haven’t got everything back in there. I think I’ll take much of the yarn I have and haven’t used, to DI. Someone else can use it. The patterns I may just throw away. I don’t do much sewing anymore.
Our Trip to Buckeye Installment I
We left the house at 6:55 am Tuesday morning. We arrived at SL airport by 11:20. Our plane was to leave at 12:35. We go thro' security without any problems. Of course I had to be wanded because my knee beeped when I went thro' the gate. We had about 30 mintes to wait until they started boarding the plane. Since I had gotten online and gotten a boarding pass already, we were B- 7 & 8, we were able to get on before too long and there were plenty of seats. There were empty seats thro' out the plane. We landed in Phoenix 10 minutes early which was nice. I had made reservations with the supper shuttle the day before by phone. I've decided that is the way to do it for sure at all times because they knew where we were going and the address and the cross streets etc. We really didn't have to tell them anything. It took us about 40 minutes to go from the airport to R and T's new house. It is almost due west of the airport. R and T were at their old house doing some cleaning etc. when we got there. We were here an hour or so before T got back. It was two or three before R did because he had to load up the things they didn't want and take it to the transfer station. That is the same as our dump. They take everything that goes to the dump to the transfer station then, bulldozers with bucket lifts lift everything into big trucks and then it is trucked to the dump. We had a late supper. It was sooo good to see everyone. Their house is beautiful and sooo roomy. The children as they showed us around kept saying, "It is soo big!" The rooms are, the yard is, the garage is, etc. Their bottom floor is larger than our main floor of our house then they have six bedrooms and a loft with three bathrooms up stairs. There is also a 1/2 bath down stairs. It is very nice having a bathroom that we share with just the R's and not have to share it with the children. The first night E, who is three, kept coming to visit us after we were in bed. We finally locked the door and then he just knocked on the door a few times. He has a very distinct knock. We can always tell it is E knocking. There is a fan in the room, which makes it very nice. Altho' it was thawing when we left home, It was still supposed to be in the 30's all week in IF. It is spring here!! I have to keep reminding myself that it really is February. It is delightful. The bedroom was actually too warm that first night but the fan made it just right. Their back yard is gigantic!! The children said it was the size of at least two football fields. There is nothing but dirt and tumble weeds out there but there is plenty of room for a nice sized garden, a tennis court, a small swimming pool and still have yard left over. Since this is a dessert, I'm not sure if they will have any grass. They may, time will tell, but it won't be very much if they do. Oh, they also have a three car garage. They are by no means settled but we have been able to help some either around here or watching the children while R and T went over to the other house to finish cleaning up. My husband went with them over there three times to help. They turned the keys in today, so they will be able to spend all of the availabe time in getting settled over here. Téa has a big beautiful kitchen with granite counters. There is an island in the middle with cupboard space underneath and an outlet and a bar with stools on one side. There is a very nice family room off to the side of it. A living or front room in front and a room off to the side behind the garage that they will be using for a school room. They have four computers and T does home schooling. With six children I really don't know how she does it, but she is a very organized person. Both of the R and us have a bedroom with the bathroom in between. C and A share a room, E and E share a room and D and E share a room. That's the way it is so far anyway. We've had to watch E really closely because he loves to go outside and he can open any lock (has been able to practically since he could walk.) He will go out the front door and stand there and ring the doorbell. They have put an otoman in front of the door to slow him down or try to stop him from going out but he can move it himself when he really wants too. Today, he asked T to help him move it in front of the door. (It reminded me of J when he reminded S to lock the door after they returned from the store. And yes the lock was to specifically lock Jin.) Yesterday, M found him a block and a half away. That is the only time that I’m aware of his leaving the yard. They will have to watch him closely tho’ or he could just disappear. They live in a cul-de-sac so traffic isn't a problem right in front of their house but away from the cul-de-sac it could be.
Thursday afternoon I helped C hang up her clothes and get settled in her room. It took us 2 ½ to 3 hours. We did enjoy working together. She said she would get R4 to vacuum her room and I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. After I saw it I could tell it looks like it could have come from Star Wars or something like that.
Thursday afternoon I helped C hang up her clothes and get settled in her room. It took us 2 ½ to 3 hours. We did enjoy working together. She said she would get R4 to vacuum her room and I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. After I saw it I could tell it looks like it could have come from Star Wars or something like that.
Monday, February 09, 2009
A Testimony
This is a testimony that was sent to me last November. As one can see I am greatly behind in my e-mails. Anyway, I tho't this important and beautiful enough to include it here.
This was sent by a person who works at the LA Temple. What an incredible story! It is so relieving to hear "our side" of what has been happening the last few weeks...
My dear family, brothers and sisters, friends and leaders:
My heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His tender mercies and mighty miracles in our behalf. I just have to share this with you. As most of you know, I am a Temple ordinance worker and work the morning shift in the LA Temple every Saturday. Today, I had the priviledge of transcribing Sister Martz', the new assistant matron, message during our devotional.
She started like this "The prophet Joseph Smith said that no unhallowed hand would be able to stop this Work from progressing. These past few weeks when mobs have combined and armies have gathered against the saints, the Lord has protected His house". She went on to say that those, like her, who were inside the Temple when mobs were surrounding it, did not realize how scary and terrifying this looked on TV to the rest of us, because inside the House of the Lord all was calm and there was peace abundant. After Proposition 8 passed, the Temple began receiving threatening calls and mail from those opposing it. They were warned that more than 5000 people would come to the Temple and burn it to the ground, and stop Its work. The first Thursday when the mob came, the new LA Temple President called the Salt Lake City Temple Offices for instructions. He was instructed to call the local police and to insure the safety of those attending the Temple by closing the gates.
The assistant matron said today, that it was a tender mercy from the Lord that the mob chose that Thursday to come since they had only one person coming to receive his own endowment that day, which he received in time to leave before trouble started. The LAPD and the FBI responded quickly to the Temple Presidency's summons and patrolled the grounds and kept the mob from entering the same. Most of them had never been there before and expressed their surprise at how beautiful and peaceful all around was. They were invited to come back during the Christmas season to see the lights and they promised they would.
On Thursday, November 13th, sister Campbell, a secretary in the Temple, was opening the mail and upon opening a large manila envelope found inside a smaller one. When she opened this one, a white powder flew all around her desk. She thought this could be related to the demonstrators and feared the worst-ANTRAX. She contacted the President, who in turn called the Salt Lake City Temple office again for instructions. The FBI, the LAPD, and even the SWAT teams were once again in the grounds to investigate, and the Temple once again had to close from around 11:30 AM to 5PM. They closed the gates and were instructed to keep all the people there wherever they were found at the time. Those in the parking lot had to remain in the parking lot. Those entering the Temple had to remain in the first floor and those already upstairs were taken to the Celestial Room.
Then, the miracles began to happen: A brother serving as a recorder that day is a Microbiologist by profession and used to deal with hazardous substances every day. He was the first to say the white powder in the envelope was only talc, and put every one at ease. Then the sister coordinator upstairs was impressed to call upstairs to the sealing area, and said "They said we can't go down but no one said we can't go up, and I have many people in the Celestial room with their ceremonial clothes on ready to work. Could they do some sealings?" As it happened, there were four sealers present that day and they ran four sealing sessions non stop while the Temple was closed. Downstairs, someone else thought to invite those in the Lobby to do some initiatories, which they promptly did for all those hours too, brothers and sisters alike.
Among those waiting in the parking lot there was a large group of young men and women with their leaders who had come to do Baptisms for the dead, and who waited patiently all those hours and decided when the Temple was reopened to go ahead and fulfill their assignment instead of driving back home. The Temple reopened in time for the 5:30 PM session. The next day when recording the ordinances, they discovered that they had performed 2000 sacred ordinances on Thursday, only one less than the day before when three stakes had been visiting the Temple.
Once again the assistant matron reminded us of the words of the prophet Joseph Smith, "No unhallowed hand can stop the Work from progressing...". But, this is not all, a prophecy was fulfilled also. When the new LA Temple President was set apart by President Uchdorft of the First Presidency, he received a blessing and these words were pronounced: " The time has come for the LA Temple to come out of obscurity and become an Ensign for Righteousness to the world under your presidency." The pictures of the Temple have been shown on TV, newspapers and the internet, not only in this country but worldwide. People of other faiths have called and sent letters to the Temple thanking the Church for defending marriage and protecting the family, and commenting how impressed they are by how beautiful and majestic the Temple looks .
One minister of an African American church, who by his own admission had harbored ill feelings against the mormons before said " I am impressed by your integrity and Christ like behavior, and even if I am not ready to consider you my brothers and sisters in Christ, we can be first cousins!".
I asked the assistant matron if I could share her comments and she said to go ahead. I can only add my own testimony that I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the power and authority of God on earth. God Lives and Jesus, His only Begotten Son and our Savior is coming soon to redeem His people. I am grateful to know this and I pray we stand firm, steadfast and immobile while the prophecies of the signs before His Coming are fulfilled. "Be not afraid, only believe" He has said, and also " What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." I testify that this is true and testify it in the Holy Name of Whom I strive to serve, even Jesus Christ. Be faithful and safe is my humble prayer. Your sister in Christ, Patricia H. Arnazzi
This was sent by a person who works at the LA Temple. What an incredible story! It is so relieving to hear "our side" of what has been happening the last few weeks...
My dear family, brothers and sisters, friends and leaders:
My heart is overflowing with joy and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His tender mercies and mighty miracles in our behalf. I just have to share this with you. As most of you know, I am a Temple ordinance worker and work the morning shift in the LA Temple every Saturday. Today, I had the priviledge of transcribing Sister Martz', the new assistant matron, message during our devotional.
She started like this "The prophet Joseph Smith said that no unhallowed hand would be able to stop this Work from progressing. These past few weeks when mobs have combined and armies have gathered against the saints, the Lord has protected His house". She went on to say that those, like her, who were inside the Temple when mobs were surrounding it, did not realize how scary and terrifying this looked on TV to the rest of us, because inside the House of the Lord all was calm and there was peace abundant. After Proposition 8 passed, the Temple began receiving threatening calls and mail from those opposing it. They were warned that more than 5000 people would come to the Temple and burn it to the ground, and stop Its work. The first Thursday when the mob came, the new LA Temple President called the Salt Lake City Temple Offices for instructions. He was instructed to call the local police and to insure the safety of those attending the Temple by closing the gates.
The assistant matron said today, that it was a tender mercy from the Lord that the mob chose that Thursday to come since they had only one person coming to receive his own endowment that day, which he received in time to leave before trouble started. The LAPD and the FBI responded quickly to the Temple Presidency's summons and patrolled the grounds and kept the mob from entering the same. Most of them had never been there before and expressed their surprise at how beautiful and peaceful all around was. They were invited to come back during the Christmas season to see the lights and they promised they would.
On Thursday, November 13th, sister Campbell, a secretary in the Temple, was opening the mail and upon opening a large manila envelope found inside a smaller one. When she opened this one, a white powder flew all around her desk. She thought this could be related to the demonstrators and feared the worst-ANTRAX. She contacted the President, who in turn called the Salt Lake City Temple office again for instructions. The FBI, the LAPD, and even the SWAT teams were once again in the grounds to investigate, and the Temple once again had to close from around 11:30 AM to 5PM. They closed the gates and were instructed to keep all the people there wherever they were found at the time. Those in the parking lot had to remain in the parking lot. Those entering the Temple had to remain in the first floor and those already upstairs were taken to the Celestial Room.
Then, the miracles began to happen: A brother serving as a recorder that day is a Microbiologist by profession and used to deal with hazardous substances every day. He was the first to say the white powder in the envelope was only talc, and put every one at ease. Then the sister coordinator upstairs was impressed to call upstairs to the sealing area, and said "They said we can't go down but no one said we can't go up, and I have many people in the Celestial room with their ceremonial clothes on ready to work. Could they do some sealings?" As it happened, there were four sealers present that day and they ran four sealing sessions non stop while the Temple was closed. Downstairs, someone else thought to invite those in the Lobby to do some initiatories, which they promptly did for all those hours too, brothers and sisters alike.
Among those waiting in the parking lot there was a large group of young men and women with their leaders who had come to do Baptisms for the dead, and who waited patiently all those hours and decided when the Temple was reopened to go ahead and fulfill their assignment instead of driving back home. The Temple reopened in time for the 5:30 PM session. The next day when recording the ordinances, they discovered that they had performed 2000 sacred ordinances on Thursday, only one less than the day before when three stakes had been visiting the Temple.
Once again the assistant matron reminded us of the words of the prophet Joseph Smith, "No unhallowed hand can stop the Work from progressing...". But, this is not all, a prophecy was fulfilled also. When the new LA Temple President was set apart by President Uchdorft of the First Presidency, he received a blessing and these words were pronounced: " The time has come for the LA Temple to come out of obscurity and become an Ensign for Righteousness to the world under your presidency." The pictures of the Temple have been shown on TV, newspapers and the internet, not only in this country but worldwide. People of other faiths have called and sent letters to the Temple thanking the Church for defending marriage and protecting the family, and commenting how impressed they are by how beautiful and majestic the Temple looks .
One minister of an African American church, who by his own admission had harbored ill feelings against the mormons before said " I am impressed by your integrity and Christ like behavior, and even if I am not ready to consider you my brothers and sisters in Christ, we can be first cousins!".
I asked the assistant matron if I could share her comments and she said to go ahead. I can only add my own testimony that I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the power and authority of God on earth. God Lives and Jesus, His only Begotten Son and our Savior is coming soon to redeem His people. I am grateful to know this and I pray we stand firm, steadfast and immobile while the prophecies of the signs before His Coming are fulfilled. "Be not afraid, only believe" He has said, and also " What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." I testify that this is true and testify it in the Holy Name of Whom I strive to serve, even Jesus Christ. Be faithful and safe is my humble prayer. Your sister in Christ, Patricia H. Arnazzi
Sunday, February 08, 2009
I have been corresponding with John Rufener all week now, sometimes six or eight times a day. The other man who contacted me told me he couldn’t help me so I deleted his e-mail. John has sent me the ship’s manifest with my Grandma Wendel’s name on it when she sailed from Liverpool to America. She left the year before the rest of her mother, father and siblings. She came to SLC and lived with Aunt Elise and Aunt Louise, her half sisters (same mother, different father). They all three worked and saved money so the rest of the family could join them. He let me get online to view his family tree etc. He also sent me pictures of Aunt Elise from the time she was a young woman until she was much older. I think he sent five pictures in all. After viewing the picture of Aunt Elise when she was the oldest, I decided I must have met her because she surely looked familiar. It could have been at my grandmother’s funeral because she died two years before Aunt Elise did. He also sent me some links about Aunt Elise and her life, a short biography etc. She sounds like a very interesting woman.
Elise Furer Musser (7 December 1877 - 30 August 1967) was a prominent figure in Utah political and social life from the 1930s until her death. A poor Swiss immigrant convert to Mormonism she found her place of leadership after marrying Salt Lake City attorney Burton W. Musser, a member of one of Utah's most important families. Mrs. Musser worked at Neighborhood House an establishment designed to aid the poor and the foreign-born in Salt Lake City and she led the way toward passage of child labor legislation in Utah. She served as a Utah State Senator and Democratic National Committeewoman, but her greatest political achievement, perhaps, was her appointment by President Roosevelt in the 1930s as the United States Delegate (and only woman participant) to international peace conferences in Buenos Aires and Lima.
Elise Furer was born in Les Loges, Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, the fourth of five children. Her father died when she was three and although her mother remarried when she was seven the family was very poor. Elise spent four years unhappily in the home of a childless aunt, but eventually returned to her mother. She was a bright student and although her education was sporadic she graduated from high school at a younger age than usual.
A major turning point came in 1894 when she was baptized into the Mormon Church in response to the message of missionaries. Her conversion, while no doubt sincere, had an economic component as well, for she saw in the Mormon Church an opportunity to emigrate to America to improve her condition in life. She arrived in Salt Lake City in 1897 and accepted a menial housekeeping job for a few weeks while she added English to the French and German languages which she already spoke (she eventually would become fluent in Spanish and Italian as well).
Salt Lake City, however, seemed not to contain the kind of opportunity she sought and when an opportunity came for her to move to one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico she accepted. The Mexican colonies, of course, were refuges for polygamists who had found themselves rejected by both church and state in Utah. Elise was unaware of the purpose of the colonies when she went there. She found a good home with one of the families though once again she was unable to locate work that would provide her with more than a modest income. She did manage to accumulate a certain amount of savings, and that, together with her unwillingness to enter a polygamous marriage which would be expected of her if she remained in Mexico, induced her to return to Salt Lake City.
It proved to be another fortuitous move. Shortly after she attended a party in the Second Ward and became friends with Blanche Musser, she met Blanche's brother, Burton, who was to become her husband. They were married in 1911 and moved to New York City while Burton attended law school at Columbia University. Elise also attended college in New York City and the years there were happy ones for her.
Two events of great significance occurred while the couple was in the East. They had been Republicans, but they became very impressed with Woodrow Wilson and joined the Democratic party, the party in which both were to become very influential. Also, they had a baby boy, Bernard, in 1914. Burton had typhoid part of the time she was carrying Bernard and she was worried about suffering a miscarriage if she contracted the disease. Thus the birth of her son had special significance for the couple and her letters later in life, even while engaged in the most intricate and momentous political processes, show an unfailing concern for Bernard's well-being, his travels and his education.
Mrs. Musser's entrance into politics came through her involvement with Neighborhood House where she put her linguistic skills and her social compassion to good use. It was while engaged at Neighborhood House that she attracted the attention of the wife of Governor George Dern who asked her to serve as State Chairman of Democratic Women. That first post led eventually to diplomatic missions in Latin America and service as the Utah State Senator. For the remainder of her life Mrs. Musser was a figure to be reckoned with in Utah Democratic politics.
During the last decades of her life, Mrs. Musser was active in a wide variety of social and political organizations and served as mentor to many younger women who wanted careers outside the home. For reasons that remain relatively obscure she drifted away from and she joined the Unitarian Church in 1940. It was in that church that her funeral services were held in 1967.
John is 61 years old to my 65 years…about the same age as my brother. I sent him the GEDCOM files on the Rufeners and Meiers that I have gotten the names for since we started or mission. Also a picture of the Rufener family after my Grandpa and Grandma were married. John’s grandfather, Henry, was also in the picture as well as other members of the family. I also sent him a picture of the home in Switzerland where the missionaries taught the Rufener family. It has been a very interesting and rewarding week.
Elise Furer Musser (7 December 1877 - 30 August 1967) was a prominent figure in Utah political and social life from the 1930s until her death. A poor Swiss immigrant convert to Mormonism she found her place of leadership after marrying Salt Lake City attorney Burton W. Musser, a member of one of Utah's most important families. Mrs. Musser worked at Neighborhood House an establishment designed to aid the poor and the foreign-born in Salt Lake City and she led the way toward passage of child labor legislation in Utah. She served as a Utah State Senator and Democratic National Committeewoman, but her greatest political achievement, perhaps, was her appointment by President Roosevelt in the 1930s as the United States Delegate (and only woman participant) to international peace conferences in Buenos Aires and Lima.
Elise Furer was born in Les Loges, Canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, the fourth of five children. Her father died when she was three and although her mother remarried when she was seven the family was very poor. Elise spent four years unhappily in the home of a childless aunt, but eventually returned to her mother. She was a bright student and although her education was sporadic she graduated from high school at a younger age than usual.
A major turning point came in 1894 when she was baptized into the Mormon Church in response to the message of missionaries. Her conversion, while no doubt sincere, had an economic component as well, for she saw in the Mormon Church an opportunity to emigrate to America to improve her condition in life. She arrived in Salt Lake City in 1897 and accepted a menial housekeeping job for a few weeks while she added English to the French and German languages which she already spoke (she eventually would become fluent in Spanish and Italian as well).
Salt Lake City, however, seemed not to contain the kind of opportunity she sought and when an opportunity came for her to move to one of the Mormon colonies in Mexico she accepted. The Mexican colonies, of course, were refuges for polygamists who had found themselves rejected by both church and state in Utah. Elise was unaware of the purpose of the colonies when she went there. She found a good home with one of the families though once again she was unable to locate work that would provide her with more than a modest income. She did manage to accumulate a certain amount of savings, and that, together with her unwillingness to enter a polygamous marriage which would be expected of her if she remained in Mexico, induced her to return to Salt Lake City.
It proved to be another fortuitous move. Shortly after she attended a party in the Second Ward and became friends with Blanche Musser, she met Blanche's brother, Burton, who was to become her husband. They were married in 1911 and moved to New York City while Burton attended law school at Columbia University. Elise also attended college in New York City and the years there were happy ones for her.
Two events of great significance occurred while the couple was in the East. They had been Republicans, but they became very impressed with Woodrow Wilson and joined the Democratic party, the party in which both were to become very influential. Also, they had a baby boy, Bernard, in 1914. Burton had typhoid part of the time she was carrying Bernard and she was worried about suffering a miscarriage if she contracted the disease. Thus the birth of her son had special significance for the couple and her letters later in life, even while engaged in the most intricate and momentous political processes, show an unfailing concern for Bernard's well-being, his travels and his education.
Mrs. Musser's entrance into politics came through her involvement with Neighborhood House where she put her linguistic skills and her social compassion to good use. It was while engaged at Neighborhood House that she attracted the attention of the wife of Governor George Dern who asked her to serve as State Chairman of Democratic Women. That first post led eventually to diplomatic missions in Latin America and service as the Utah State Senator. For the remainder of her life Mrs. Musser was a figure to be reckoned with in Utah Democratic politics.
During the last decades of her life, Mrs. Musser was active in a wide variety of social and political organizations and served as mentor to many younger women who wanted careers outside the home. For reasons that remain relatively obscure she drifted away from and she joined the Unitarian Church in 1940. It was in that church that her funeral services were held in 1967.
John is 61 years old to my 65 years…about the same age as my brother. I sent him the GEDCOM files on the Rufeners and Meiers that I have gotten the names for since we started or mission. Also a picture of the Rufener family after my Grandpa and Grandma were married. John’s grandfather, Henry, was also in the picture as well as other members of the family. I also sent him a picture of the home in Switzerland where the missionaries taught the Rufener family. It has been a very interesting and rewarding week.
Monday, February 02, 2009
An Interesting Experience
I just had an interesting experience. I was looking in the archives of my online blog for an entry I made since we started our mission. I couldn’t find that particular blog but I did find two things I was unaware of. The first one was in April 2007 and the other May of 2007. I guess I need to check back every once in a while a month or two and see if anyone has left me any messages. These two were from two men who does family history/genealogy. The first was from a Rufener cousin…he has the same great grandfather I do. (Frederic Rufener) And his name is Rufener too. I have no idea where he lives. The other is from a man who lives in Switzerland who offered to help me find individuals in Bern, Switzerland. And those messages had been sitting there all this time and I was unaware of it. I e-mailed both of them and asked them to please not wait so long to contact me as it did me them. J
Time will tell what happens.
Time will tell what happens.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
I can't believe it is February already!
Last Monday was our Zone meeting there at the FHC. Our director and is wife, Larry and Kathy Killian were released after serving four+ years and Elder Wayne Lyon and Sister Caroline Lyon will be our new directors. They have been at the center for five years. The Killians will be “moving” up the chain to be the Regional Family History consultants working with 12 stakes within the temple district of the IF temple. I’m thankful that I got to know them as well as I did and work with them the last 21 months.
After all of the business was taken care of Brother and Sister Kazier from Rexburg spoke to us. He is a patriarch up there now, worked there at the Regional FHC four years ago and was instrumental in all of the obituaries in SE Idaho being digilized and pictures of grave stones put with them so they are accessible on the computer. He spoke of what the Lord is telling the youth today in their blessings. He had nine points. Some of them were: pay and honest and full tithing, attend your meetings, read and study the scriptures, pray daily and often…you get the idea. All of them were things we all should be doing if we want to endure to the end.
Afterwards, my husband and I went to Gangplank to eat (the meeting was 5-6 pm) and the couple ahead of us was the Kaziers. Sister Kazier asked us to come and sit with them. We spent a delightful hour and a half getting to know them and they us. He has worked at the site, taught at Ricks for 20 years, and is still working on establishing certain sites on the computer for different things. We found out we know their daughter, Janet, who lives in Kearney 2nd Ward. They have six children and 29 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. It was a very delightful evening.
I’ve been busy at the FHC. Since they have made me the trainer on both Saturdays and Wednesdays now, and we have quite a few new missionaries, that alone keeps me busy. Yesterday I helped four different patrons as well. I have discovered a way to find more ancestors. On Ancetry.com is One World Tree. When you put an ancestors name in there and click on find famous ancestors, it comes up with people you are related to. I typed in Mildred Theresa Call. She is related to 37 famous people!! Florence Nightingale, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas More, Eli Whitney, and many others. I clicked on Florence Nightingale first. They have your ancestors ancestors and the ancestors of the other person listed until they find a common ancestor. With Florence Nightingale there were seven above Grandma and only five above Florence. A week ago I tho’t of checking to see if I have all seven on my PAF file. I had all of them except the common ancestor. I put her into my file. When I clicked on her little box, I found her husband and 11 other children with dates and places for all of them. I copied and pasted all of them. The next day I went to FamilySearch.org and found that all of their work had been done. Then Saturday, a week ago I found about 40 more people. Last Wednesday, I found more. I have decided I will check out each one of those 37 people. I’m on the 5th one now. I was so busy yesterday, that I only had time to add two more people. But that’s OK. I will get to it as I get to it.
I worked with a woman, yesterday, who is here from Missouri. Because her temple district has been rolled out she is registered on the NewFamilySearch.org. She needed help understanding that. Since they told us last October or November that we will be getting the NewFamilySearch but not soon, they haven’t been teaching any more classes on them. I’m so thankful the Lord helped me learn and understand how to use it and helped to remember who to do so I could help that nice sister. She really didn’t know anything about it. I taught her how to combine duplicates, check for duplicates, that the green arrow means there is someone in that family needs work done, and if there is a check there that the whole family’s work is done. She was there four or five hours. I’m so thankful the Lord helped me remember all of that. I hadn’t done anything with it for months. I’m thankful to be a Family History Missionary. I truly believe I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. We, me and my husband, are supposed to be serving there. My husband has learned how to scan books with the new scanner. That is something I really don’t know. I had one session on it and helped someone that same day learn about it but that was months ago and since it was only one time, I would need to be shown again. Since I am busy helping the patrons and the new missionaries, I really don’t have time to spend on it anyway. It gives my husband satisfaction to be able to do it. He has mastered it well. He has also indexed more than 11,000 names! He has done all of those at the FHC also.
After all of the business was taken care of Brother and Sister Kazier from Rexburg spoke to us. He is a patriarch up there now, worked there at the Regional FHC four years ago and was instrumental in all of the obituaries in SE Idaho being digilized and pictures of grave stones put with them so they are accessible on the computer. He spoke of what the Lord is telling the youth today in their blessings. He had nine points. Some of them were: pay and honest and full tithing, attend your meetings, read and study the scriptures, pray daily and often…you get the idea. All of them were things we all should be doing if we want to endure to the end.
Afterwards, my husband and I went to Gangplank to eat (the meeting was 5-6 pm) and the couple ahead of us was the Kaziers. Sister Kazier asked us to come and sit with them. We spent a delightful hour and a half getting to know them and they us. He has worked at the site, taught at Ricks for 20 years, and is still working on establishing certain sites on the computer for different things. We found out we know their daughter, Janet, who lives in Kearney 2nd Ward. They have six children and 29 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. It was a very delightful evening.
I’ve been busy at the FHC. Since they have made me the trainer on both Saturdays and Wednesdays now, and we have quite a few new missionaries, that alone keeps me busy. Yesterday I helped four different patrons as well. I have discovered a way to find more ancestors. On Ancetry.com is One World Tree. When you put an ancestors name in there and click on find famous ancestors, it comes up with people you are related to. I typed in Mildred Theresa Call. She is related to 37 famous people!! Florence Nightingale, Rutherford B. Hayes, Thomas More, Eli Whitney, and many others. I clicked on Florence Nightingale first. They have your ancestors ancestors and the ancestors of the other person listed until they find a common ancestor. With Florence Nightingale there were seven above Grandma and only five above Florence. A week ago I tho’t of checking to see if I have all seven on my PAF file. I had all of them except the common ancestor. I put her into my file. When I clicked on her little box, I found her husband and 11 other children with dates and places for all of them. I copied and pasted all of them. The next day I went to FamilySearch.org and found that all of their work had been done. Then Saturday, a week ago I found about 40 more people. Last Wednesday, I found more. I have decided I will check out each one of those 37 people. I’m on the 5th one now. I was so busy yesterday, that I only had time to add two more people. But that’s OK. I will get to it as I get to it.
I worked with a woman, yesterday, who is here from Missouri. Because her temple district has been rolled out she is registered on the NewFamilySearch.org. She needed help understanding that. Since they told us last October or November that we will be getting the NewFamilySearch but not soon, they haven’t been teaching any more classes on them. I’m so thankful the Lord helped me learn and understand how to use it and helped to remember who to do so I could help that nice sister. She really didn’t know anything about it. I taught her how to combine duplicates, check for duplicates, that the green arrow means there is someone in that family needs work done, and if there is a check there that the whole family’s work is done. She was there four or five hours. I’m so thankful the Lord helped me remember all of that. I hadn’t done anything with it for months. I’m thankful to be a Family History Missionary. I truly believe I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. We, me and my husband, are supposed to be serving there. My husband has learned how to scan books with the new scanner. That is something I really don’t know. I had one session on it and helped someone that same day learn about it but that was months ago and since it was only one time, I would need to be shown again. Since I am busy helping the patrons and the new missionaries, I really don’t have time to spend on it anyway. It gives my husband satisfaction to be able to do it. He has mastered it well. He has also indexed more than 11,000 names! He has done all of those at the FHC also.
Monday, January 12, 2009
The second week of January 2009
This week has been so rewarding at the FHC. One of my daughters-in-law reminded me that one of the gifts of the Spirit is Knowledge, another one is being able to teach others that knowledge. I had to become a missionary at the FHC to realize that I have these gifts. I have taught Primary, Jr. Sunday School, Beehives in Young Women’s and Relief Society. I have had good success in all of these but I never tho’t of it as having those Gifts of the Spirit. But there at the FHC it is so obvious that I am so blessed. I have been able to retain most of the things I have been taught and am able to teach it to others in such a way that they can understand it. It is such a wonderful experience to be able to do this. Since the first of the year I have been so busy that the time has just flown by. Busy with teaching and helping both new missionaries and patrons to learn new things and help them find the information they are looking for. Elder Killian, the director at FHC told us that we have cleared more than 225,000 ordinances last year. The first two days we were open, January 2nd and 3rd, we cleared more than 2,000 names. They add up the numbers at the end of each month. It will be interesting to see how many we do this month. Elder Killian told me last Wednesday that when he first started there at the center as a missionary 14 years ago, that they only cleared 20,000 ordinances all year long and they were probably the majority of them duplicates. And of those over 225,000 ordinances this past year that over 200,000 were probably not duplicates. I think that is so exciting.
Last Saturday I had such a special experience. I had spent the morning helping two new missionaries (this was only their second day there at the center) get a acquainted with their PAF program and clean it up, get rid of duplicates, etc. I also helped quite a few patrons as well. As I was going back in the big room after eating lunch one sister waved me over to where she had just seated a man and a woman at at computer. She introduced me that Bill and Adrian were there and Bill was not a member and had a name to put thro’ temple ready. I asked them if they had brought their information. They hadn’t brought anything with them. However, Bill could remember all of the pertinent information. I showed them how to bring up a new PAF program (you need to use PAF to put a name thro’ temple ready) and had Adrian type in her name, address, etc. I told her to type in her husbands name first. That’s when I found out that they weren’t married. Since the Sister hadn’t told me the last names I just assumed… Anyway, Bill typed in the name of a young woman and her birth date and place. When he was typing in the death date, he got quite emotional and left for a few minutes. I said to Adrian, “you say he isn’t a member?” and she said, “That’s right.” I then asked her how it came to the point that he wanted his wife’s work done. (I had told them he obviously was very close to this young woman and Adrian told me she was his wife.) Adrian also told me that she and Bill had “been keeping company” for 17 months and that his wife had appeared to her and had asked her to get her work done for her. She said that she finally was able to approach him on it and he was agreeable to have her work done. After we put the name thro’ temple ready and got the submission disk completed, Adrian asked us the purpose of the FHC and other questions about it. I let the other sister take over and went back to helping others. But while Bill was in the other room trying to compose himself, I told Adrian that when my sons went on missions, they didn’t have to fill out the four generation family group sheets and send them in with their application like they do today. I said that this showed me why they do that now; that I can see how family history can be a very powerful missionary tool.
This morning my husband and I went into the first new missionary class of the year to teach the “computer, basic skills class”. My husband ran the computer and I did the teaching telling them different things about the computer and how we use them there at the center. We have 19 new missionaries. I found out half of them were retired educators. I found that very interesting. About 2/3 of them felt comfortable with the computer. The other third didn’t know much about them. I taught in the new computer lab for the first time. It is great. As I told them about something, my husband would show them on the main computer with the overhead projector on the wall then they were able to do the same thing on their individual computers. I also had a worksheet for them to find certain things on the computer. Sister Hendricks had allowed me a full two hours but we were all thro’ in a hour and a half. By doing this I get to meet the new missionaries that work on other days besides Wednesday and Saturday when I work. The class went well and I think almost everyone learned something new. Even those who know computers because we do a few things differently there. One of the sisters had arranged for four of the missionaries to be in there to help them if they had difficulty with the assignment. It was a rewarding experience.
On the way home we stopped at Office Max and got a new 8 GB USB drive for $20! The first one I got for me less than two years ago was a 2 GB that was selling for $80 and was on sale for $30. With everything going up technology is definitely one thing that the price is going down. It is sooo nice. I’m going to use that new USB drive for my backup for everything. My 2 GB USB drive is almost ¾ full. I have over 600 pictures on it of people and documents. It holds much more than I tho’t it would.
Last Saturday I had such a special experience. I had spent the morning helping two new missionaries (this was only their second day there at the center) get a acquainted with their PAF program and clean it up, get rid of duplicates, etc. I also helped quite a few patrons as well. As I was going back in the big room after eating lunch one sister waved me over to where she had just seated a man and a woman at at computer. She introduced me that Bill and Adrian were there and Bill was not a member and had a name to put thro’ temple ready. I asked them if they had brought their information. They hadn’t brought anything with them. However, Bill could remember all of the pertinent information. I showed them how to bring up a new PAF program (you need to use PAF to put a name thro’ temple ready) and had Adrian type in her name, address, etc. I told her to type in her husbands name first. That’s when I found out that they weren’t married. Since the Sister hadn’t told me the last names I just assumed… Anyway, Bill typed in the name of a young woman and her birth date and place. When he was typing in the death date, he got quite emotional and left for a few minutes. I said to Adrian, “you say he isn’t a member?” and she said, “That’s right.” I then asked her how it came to the point that he wanted his wife’s work done. (I had told them he obviously was very close to this young woman and Adrian told me she was his wife.) Adrian also told me that she and Bill had “been keeping company” for 17 months and that his wife had appeared to her and had asked her to get her work done for her. She said that she finally was able to approach him on it and he was agreeable to have her work done. After we put the name thro’ temple ready and got the submission disk completed, Adrian asked us the purpose of the FHC and other questions about it. I let the other sister take over and went back to helping others. But while Bill was in the other room trying to compose himself, I told Adrian that when my sons went on missions, they didn’t have to fill out the four generation family group sheets and send them in with their application like they do today. I said that this showed me why they do that now; that I can see how family history can be a very powerful missionary tool.
This morning my husband and I went into the first new missionary class of the year to teach the “computer, basic skills class”. My husband ran the computer and I did the teaching telling them different things about the computer and how we use them there at the center. We have 19 new missionaries. I found out half of them were retired educators. I found that very interesting. About 2/3 of them felt comfortable with the computer. The other third didn’t know much about them. I taught in the new computer lab for the first time. It is great. As I told them about something, my husband would show them on the main computer with the overhead projector on the wall then they were able to do the same thing on their individual computers. I also had a worksheet for them to find certain things on the computer. Sister Hendricks had allowed me a full two hours but we were all thro’ in a hour and a half. By doing this I get to meet the new missionaries that work on other days besides Wednesday and Saturday when I work. The class went well and I think almost everyone learned something new. Even those who know computers because we do a few things differently there. One of the sisters had arranged for four of the missionaries to be in there to help them if they had difficulty with the assignment. It was a rewarding experience.
On the way home we stopped at Office Max and got a new 8 GB USB drive for $20! The first one I got for me less than two years ago was a 2 GB that was selling for $80 and was on sale for $30. With everything going up technology is definitely one thing that the price is going down. It is sooo nice. I’m going to use that new USB drive for my backup for everything. My 2 GB USB drive is almost ¾ full. I have over 600 pictures on it of people and documents. It holds much more than I tho’t it would.
Monday, January 05, 2009
It’s the first of a new year. We had a lovely Christmas. We went down to Karen & Kent’s about 2:30 pm Christmas Eve Day. Shani & Jon and children as well as Kylie were already there. Jon is doing sooo good!! It is good to see him able to walk and move without difficulty. He talks well but when he’s trying to explain something you can see him thinking of how he wants to say it. I remember doing that too. Brittany & Wes came a little later. My husband’s mother was there by the time we got there too. One of her young neighbors and his family has in-laws just down the road from Karen & Kent and so he went right past their place so he dropped her off and then picked her up the day after Christmas. She really enjoyed being there and we enjoyed having her. She would have spent Christmas alone or we would have had to go get her and take her back otherwise. It worked out really well that way. We got another five generation picture on Christmas Eve; one with Porter in this time too and Macie a little older. The others weren’t to excited about getting it but were compliant especially since I was so adamant in getting it. Who knows how many more opportunities we will have to do this. It really doesn’t happen that often.
We fixed our Crème Burlée French Toast while we were waiting for others to get there.
Karen and Shani told us what Macie was doing earlier with her little play cell phone: Macie was going around handing her phone to people she handed it to me and said it is your mom she had Kylie talk to Brittany and she had shani talk to a friend than she handed the phone to Kent and said here Papa it's for you and he took the phone and said who is it and without hesitating she said it's Jesus and Kent the look on his face was priceless he wasn't so sure he was ready to talk to him. We all had a good chuckle over that.
We had prime rib for dinner that night. Kent does a really good job of cooking it. That and Dutch oven potatoes. It was all very luscious. One of their neighbors, Bob came and also Kent’s parents were there too. Bob and Kent parents left before we had our Christmas Eve program. Jon and Brittany had a thumb fight while we were waiting to start. Jon did very well. Brittany said, “I wish I could say I was letting him win, but I’m not!” We didn’t read the Christmas Story in the scriptures this year. Macie, who is three, was there and so we did things a few things differently. Karen had some figurines of the nativity so Shani put each individually in a lunch bag with a piece of paper explaining the character, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a camel, a donkey, the three wise men, shepherds, etc. it also had a Christmas Carol and the page number it is found on on it. Brittany, Shani, Kylie, Wes and I all took turns playing the piano. We’ve never had so many players before! I used to have to do all of it. It was nice to be able to sing the carols instead of just playing them.
Christmas Day Kylie knocked on our door at 7:10 am. We needed to get started because Kylie had to be back to Kimberly by Twin Falls to go to work by 2:00 pm. it was blowing and snowing. It took us a couple of hours to open all of the gifts that were there. Brittany & Wes spent the night since Julie (the children’s mother) had their children. They left about 10:00 to meet Julie in Tremonton to bring the children back to Idaho. Brittany called after going thro’ Malad Pass and told us it really should have been closed because there were so many cars on the road; but they made it thro’ and then made it back. We were thankful for that. Karen had checked on the internet and found out that the freeway between Pocatello and American Falls was closed because of blizzard conditions. We weren’t really surprised. They left about 9:30 with Kent driving Kylie and Karen following in their suburban, and drove her to Massacre Rocks beyond American Falls taking the old Highway 39 that runs right passed their house. Karen said she had never driven in such bad weather and she hoped to never again.
Karl, Mom and I went down stairs and watch a DVD about Gordon B. Hinckley’s life. It was very interesting. Karen & Kent got back about 2 or 2:30. Brittany & Wes and children got there about 4:00 or so. It was good to see the kids again.
As we looked at the blowing snow I was glad that we always stay until the day after Christmas. We have done that for ten years or so since we ran into black ice and wrecked coming home after dark on Christmas Day. Staying until the day after makes it possible for us to spend the whole Christmas Day there. We play the games usually after it gets dark and that’s part of the most fun.
We left around noon the day after after Cameron Williams and his family stopped and picked up Mom to take her back home. When we got back to IF we could tell that they had had snow here but not nearly as much as there was in Blackfoot.
We had a very quiet New Years Day. We didn’t really celebrate New Years Eve either. We did put up our Christmas decorations. (The big room still looks kind of empty without the tree.) It pretty much took us all day. Karl said he thinks he made at least 16 trips down and up the stairs getting the empty boxes them taking them back down. I’d guess even more than that because we had more than eight boxes up here.
We went to the center for the first time in two weeks on the 3rd of January. I really didn’t think we would have any patrons come in but I helped at least five myself so there were many more than I tho’t there would be. We cleared over 800 ordinances that day. Counting the ones cleared the day before over 1,000 were cleared. So the work is going on and this year is starting out with a bang. We cleared many more ordinances last year than we did the year before…thousands more. We are on the down side of our mission but if things keep going well, I and I hope we will extend again.
We fixed our Crème Burlée French Toast while we were waiting for others to get there.
Karen and Shani told us what Macie was doing earlier with her little play cell phone: Macie was going around handing her phone to people she handed it to me and said it is your mom she had Kylie talk to Brittany and she had shani talk to a friend than she handed the phone to Kent and said here Papa it's for you and he took the phone and said who is it and without hesitating she said it's Jesus and Kent the look on his face was priceless he wasn't so sure he was ready to talk to him. We all had a good chuckle over that.
We had prime rib for dinner that night. Kent does a really good job of cooking it. That and Dutch oven potatoes. It was all very luscious. One of their neighbors, Bob came and also Kent’s parents were there too. Bob and Kent parents left before we had our Christmas Eve program. Jon and Brittany had a thumb fight while we were waiting to start. Jon did very well. Brittany said, “I wish I could say I was letting him win, but I’m not!” We didn’t read the Christmas Story in the scriptures this year. Macie, who is three, was there and so we did things a few things differently. Karen had some figurines of the nativity so Shani put each individually in a lunch bag with a piece of paper explaining the character, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a camel, a donkey, the three wise men, shepherds, etc. it also had a Christmas Carol and the page number it is found on on it. Brittany, Shani, Kylie, Wes and I all took turns playing the piano. We’ve never had so many players before! I used to have to do all of it. It was nice to be able to sing the carols instead of just playing them.
Christmas Day Kylie knocked on our door at 7:10 am. We needed to get started because Kylie had to be back to Kimberly by Twin Falls to go to work by 2:00 pm. it was blowing and snowing. It took us a couple of hours to open all of the gifts that were there. Brittany & Wes spent the night since Julie (the children’s mother) had their children. They left about 10:00 to meet Julie in Tremonton to bring the children back to Idaho. Brittany called after going thro’ Malad Pass and told us it really should have been closed because there were so many cars on the road; but they made it thro’ and then made it back. We were thankful for that. Karen had checked on the internet and found out that the freeway between Pocatello and American Falls was closed because of blizzard conditions. We weren’t really surprised. They left about 9:30 with Kent driving Kylie and Karen following in their suburban, and drove her to Massacre Rocks beyond American Falls taking the old Highway 39 that runs right passed their house. Karen said she had never driven in such bad weather and she hoped to never again.
Karl, Mom and I went down stairs and watch a DVD about Gordon B. Hinckley’s life. It was very interesting. Karen & Kent got back about 2 or 2:30. Brittany & Wes and children got there about 4:00 or so. It was good to see the kids again.
As we looked at the blowing snow I was glad that we always stay until the day after Christmas. We have done that for ten years or so since we ran into black ice and wrecked coming home after dark on Christmas Day. Staying until the day after makes it possible for us to spend the whole Christmas Day there. We play the games usually after it gets dark and that’s part of the most fun.
We left around noon the day after after Cameron Williams and his family stopped and picked up Mom to take her back home. When we got back to IF we could tell that they had had snow here but not nearly as much as there was in Blackfoot.
We had a very quiet New Years Day. We didn’t really celebrate New Years Eve either. We did put up our Christmas decorations. (The big room still looks kind of empty without the tree.) It pretty much took us all day. Karl said he thinks he made at least 16 trips down and up the stairs getting the empty boxes them taking them back down. I’d guess even more than that because we had more than eight boxes up here.
We went to the center for the first time in two weeks on the 3rd of January. I really didn’t think we would have any patrons come in but I helped at least five myself so there were many more than I tho’t there would be. We cleared over 800 ordinances that day. Counting the ones cleared the day before over 1,000 were cleared. So the work is going on and this year is starting out with a bang. We cleared many more ordinances last year than we did the year before…thousands more. We are on the down side of our mission but if things keep going well, I and I hope we will extend again.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Thanksgiving 1968
When we got home from the FHC Saturday night, we had been home about ten minutes, we received a phone call from our daughter, Karen. She told me that her son-in-law, Jon had had a stroke. I said, Shani’s Jon? And she said yes. I said something about my stroke that I had had just before Thanksgiving in 1968 almost three weeks after Kim was born. She said she didn’t know I had had a stroke. Anyway, we went a little later than evening down to the hospital. I just waltzed in and told Jon, “I’ve come to give you hope.” I told him about my stroke. As we were coming home I tho’t that all of my children, altho’ Bryan was 5, Michael 4, Karen 2 ½ and Kim almost three weeks and Richard not yet born for eight more years, may not really know anything about it. So I decided to write it down.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, November 25, 1968, I awoke with a slight head ache. Kim lacked two days of being three weeks old. Mondays were always busy. I had a 5 year old, Bryan, 4 year old Michael, 2 ½ year old Karen as well as Kim. Monday was wash day. I had a wringer type washer so once I started washing I had to stick right to it in order to finish. Monday was also bake day, baking bread, a cake and cookies for my family for the coming week. By the time I’d finished the wash, my head ache had gotten worse. I had a pain in my head with every heart beat. I called the doctor. I couldn’t get past the receptionist. She told me, “Well, you have four small children; maybe you have a migraine.” I told her I’d never had one before and tho’t and I hope I don’t have one now. I took a couple of asprin which dulled it for awhile and went on with my baking. After the asprin wore off it was much worse. I took some Darvon that my dad had given me that he had had left over from some surgery he had had. It didn’t help a bit. (I wasn’t an RN then so hadn’t heard you weren’t supposed to take medications prescribed for other people.) I called the doctor again. Again, I couldn’t get past the receptionist. I went back to taking care of my little ones and my baking. I called the doctor again and this time the receptionist called him to the phone. I described what I had been experiencing. He told me to come in that it might be my blood pressure. I told him I would have to wait until my husband got home from work. When Karl got home, (as far as I can remember, I got all the washing done and put away and the baking done. I didn’t iron until Tuesday.) we gathered up the children and he took me to the doctor’s office. He took my B/P and told me that my top number was over 200 and bottom number was over 100. (If I’d had my degree then I would have had him be more specific. Since I didn’t the numbers didn’t mean that much to me anyway.) He gave me a shot of Demerol and Phenergan and told me to go home and go to bed. Karl was there to take care of the children so I went to bed and slept. Altho’ Kim was our largest baby, ½ ounce shy of nine pounds, he woke up twice between 10 pm and 6 am to be fed. I can’t remember if I was aware of his waking up that night or if Karl had to feed him. I do remember waking up about 4:30 am to use the bathroom. I remember my right leg dragging as I walked. When I looked in the mirror, I noticed that the left side of my mouth drooped. 40 years ago women had to use a belt to hold their sanitary napkins. I was still flowing from the birth. I remember it seemed to take forever to put the clean napkin on because my right hand wasn’t working very well. Afterwards, I went back to bed and slept until the alarm went off. Karl asked me how I was feeling. I guess he could immediately tell something was wrong. He called the doctor as soon he was in his office and was told that he would see me but not until he had seen all of his other patients. 40 years ago there were no doctors in the emergency rooms altho’ they did have emergency rooms staffed with nurses. We didn’t think about going there, tho’. I remember Karl and Phil Ingersal, the Elders Quorum President, lying their hands on my head and giving me a blessing. I remember feeling like it wasn’t really me they were giving the blessing to. It was like I was observing their giving it to someone else. Karl had called the school and told them he couldn’t be there that day and explained why. If I remember right, they told him to take the next day off too. I can’t remember that much about those two days. I do remember going to the doctors office. I imagine Karl had to assist me as I walked. I can’t really remember. When I asked him if he did, he said he couldn’t but, “all I know is you were pretty brave, pretty brave.” I don’t remember that either. I suspect he was the brave one. He was a 31 year old father with a 5, 4 2 ½ , almost three week old children and a 25 year old wife who couldn’t function. I can only imagine how I would feel had the situation been reversed. They took me into the exam room. I was sitting there on the exam table. I guess the doctor could understand me and I was able to convey my concerns to him. He just looked at me, took my B/P and maybe listened to my heart and lungs, I’m not sure. I do know they didn’t have me undress or anything and he also didn’t have me walk or shake my hand or anything like that. I do remember asking him if it were a stroke. He said, “No, it was an allergy to Phenergan.” I asked him how he knew it wasn’t a stroke and he said, “Because you are not old enough to have had a stroke.” Now, keep in mind he was an OBGYN doctor and if he had ever studied strokes it was probably 40 years ago. (He was probably in his 50’s which seemed old to me at that time.) He didn’t even have the decency to go out into the waiting room where Karl was with our four children and speak with him or try to reassure him or anything. There were no other patients there. (We had just moved here to Idaho Falls the last of August and didn’t know that many people, none well, nor no any other doctors.) So Karl took me and the children back home. It seems like he took the children out to the car and then came and assisted me back. Karl tells me that when I was trying to tell him what the doctor said, that I was talking about a little red bike. (I remember his telling later truck but he now says bike.) I tho’t I was saying what the doctor had told me. It sounded to me like I was. I don’t remember the next day at all. I know I slept thro’ Kim’s nightly feedings. Didn’t hear a thing. That is a symptom of strokes is the sleeping a lot. We had been invited down to Grace to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. I remember being there. There was plenty of help for Karl with the children while we were there. I think Karl’s brothers, Gene and Stan and their families were there too. I remember sitting in a chair in the dining room and their serving me a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. I was in an arm chair and someone had set the pie on the arm of the chair. I was using my left hand to eat because my right wasn’t working right. As I was trying to cut a piece of pie to eat it, the pie fell upside down on the carpet. I remember feeling devastated until I looked at my mother-in-law’s face and how sad she looked and I remember her apologizing saying she should have known better. That’s really about all I remember about that visit. I know we stayed until Sunday. I think I went to church that day but can not be sure. I know we left Bryan and Michael down there for a week and came home with just Karen and Kim. Karl went back to school the next day. I remember that week feeding Karen and me lunch and feeding Kim then we would all go down for a nap, not waking until Karl got home from school around 4:00 pm. I later really felt for Karl because he was feeding Kim the two times between 10 pm and 6 am and then having to go to work then come home and take over here. I know I didn’t have any additional help other than him. The diapers Kim wore were cloth diapers using safety pins to close them. I was able to take care of him and Karen when Karl wasn’t there. I don’t remember how difficult it was. I’m sure it must have been challenging at times for me. I don’t think we even informed the bishop. We tho’t the doctor knew what he was talking about. And we figured I’d eventually get over it, given enough time. As I was talking to doctors later, two in particular, told me that it was a stroke I had had. That an allergy doesn’t act like that nor does it last that long. And when I was studying strokes in my nursing classes and as I took care of stroke patients I knew that that was what I had had also. I was also told that if and when I ever had a brain CT scan that it would show that I had had a stroke even tho’ it is many years later. Had I gone to the hospital 40 years ago, there was no CT scanner here to do one anyway. Altho’ as far as I can remember I was able to take care of my family less than a week after the stroke, it was months before I could speak spontaneously without thinking out every sentence before speaking and it took about six months for my hand writing to return to normal. I can remember it being about three weeks before I wrote to my parents. So I must not have had that much control until then. My mother said that my hand writing was quite illegible for six months. I do know that I had no medical intervention. It was thro’ the Priesthood and the tender mercies of the Lord that I had a full recovery over not so long a time….looking back on it. I’m sure that the first week or two especially was quite challenging but I can’t remember for sure. But over 40 years six months really isn’t that long. I told Jonathon Sunday night that if any good could come out of my stroke it was that my total recovery could give hope to others who have had a stroke. I also told him that I had no residual from it unless you could count when I get my tangue tongled. J All kidding aside. I am so grateful to the Lord granting the miracle of a full recovery so shortly after it happened. The other night Kim asked me about another episode. I told him that that was the only one meaning the only stroke. However, the next morning when I was still in the twilight zone before fully becoming awake, I knew that he was referring to when I had my rotator cuff repaired and had a laringial (sp?)spasm and went into respiratory arrest (quit breathing) and went very dark before I started breathing again. When they took another EKG after that it should I had had a heart attack and the x-ray of the lungs were completely white (they showed me.) they were going to put me in ICU but by the time the 2 ½ hours I was in the recovery room was up, they put me in IMC instead. (that’s were Jon is). The next morning (it was supposed to be a day surgery and I was supposed to have gone home that night) the EKG showed a right bundle branch block, no MI or heart attack, and the x-ray of my lungs were all black the way it was supposed to be. I still have the right bundle branch block (I just had an EKG last week) but Dr. Stutts told me that if I had to have a block that the RBB was the one to have. So there were two episodes that the I guess I could have been very comprimized but the Lord thro’ his priesthood has blessed me. That was the second thing I tho’t when I first woke up in recovery after the shoulder surgery, “It’s a good thing I had a blessing last night.” The first thing was, “I didn’t see the light.” J
I hope this helps you understand. I don’t think of it very often. Only when I need to tell someone to help them.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, November 25, 1968, I awoke with a slight head ache. Kim lacked two days of being three weeks old. Mondays were always busy. I had a 5 year old, Bryan, 4 year old Michael, 2 ½ year old Karen as well as Kim. Monday was wash day. I had a wringer type washer so once I started washing I had to stick right to it in order to finish. Monday was also bake day, baking bread, a cake and cookies for my family for the coming week. By the time I’d finished the wash, my head ache had gotten worse. I had a pain in my head with every heart beat. I called the doctor. I couldn’t get past the receptionist. She told me, “Well, you have four small children; maybe you have a migraine.” I told her I’d never had one before and tho’t and I hope I don’t have one now. I took a couple of asprin which dulled it for awhile and went on with my baking. After the asprin wore off it was much worse. I took some Darvon that my dad had given me that he had had left over from some surgery he had had. It didn’t help a bit. (I wasn’t an RN then so hadn’t heard you weren’t supposed to take medications prescribed for other people.) I called the doctor again. Again, I couldn’t get past the receptionist. I went back to taking care of my little ones and my baking. I called the doctor again and this time the receptionist called him to the phone. I described what I had been experiencing. He told me to come in that it might be my blood pressure. I told him I would have to wait until my husband got home from work. When Karl got home, (as far as I can remember, I got all the washing done and put away and the baking done. I didn’t iron until Tuesday.) we gathered up the children and he took me to the doctor’s office. He took my B/P and told me that my top number was over 200 and bottom number was over 100. (If I’d had my degree then I would have had him be more specific. Since I didn’t the numbers didn’t mean that much to me anyway.) He gave me a shot of Demerol and Phenergan and told me to go home and go to bed. Karl was there to take care of the children so I went to bed and slept. Altho’ Kim was our largest baby, ½ ounce shy of nine pounds, he woke up twice between 10 pm and 6 am to be fed. I can’t remember if I was aware of his waking up that night or if Karl had to feed him. I do remember waking up about 4:30 am to use the bathroom. I remember my right leg dragging as I walked. When I looked in the mirror, I noticed that the left side of my mouth drooped. 40 years ago women had to use a belt to hold their sanitary napkins. I was still flowing from the birth. I remember it seemed to take forever to put the clean napkin on because my right hand wasn’t working very well. Afterwards, I went back to bed and slept until the alarm went off. Karl asked me how I was feeling. I guess he could immediately tell something was wrong. He called the doctor as soon he was in his office and was told that he would see me but not until he had seen all of his other patients. 40 years ago there were no doctors in the emergency rooms altho’ they did have emergency rooms staffed with nurses. We didn’t think about going there, tho’. I remember Karl and Phil Ingersal, the Elders Quorum President, lying their hands on my head and giving me a blessing. I remember feeling like it wasn’t really me they were giving the blessing to. It was like I was observing their giving it to someone else. Karl had called the school and told them he couldn’t be there that day and explained why. If I remember right, they told him to take the next day off too. I can’t remember that much about those two days. I do remember going to the doctors office. I imagine Karl had to assist me as I walked. I can’t really remember. When I asked him if he did, he said he couldn’t but, “all I know is you were pretty brave, pretty brave.” I don’t remember that either. I suspect he was the brave one. He was a 31 year old father with a 5, 4 2 ½ , almost three week old children and a 25 year old wife who couldn’t function. I can only imagine how I would feel had the situation been reversed. They took me into the exam room. I was sitting there on the exam table. I guess the doctor could understand me and I was able to convey my concerns to him. He just looked at me, took my B/P and maybe listened to my heart and lungs, I’m not sure. I do know they didn’t have me undress or anything and he also didn’t have me walk or shake my hand or anything like that. I do remember asking him if it were a stroke. He said, “No, it was an allergy to Phenergan.” I asked him how he knew it wasn’t a stroke and he said, “Because you are not old enough to have had a stroke.” Now, keep in mind he was an OBGYN doctor and if he had ever studied strokes it was probably 40 years ago. (He was probably in his 50’s which seemed old to me at that time.) He didn’t even have the decency to go out into the waiting room where Karl was with our four children and speak with him or try to reassure him or anything. There were no other patients there. (We had just moved here to Idaho Falls the last of August and didn’t know that many people, none well, nor no any other doctors.) So Karl took me and the children back home. It seems like he took the children out to the car and then came and assisted me back. Karl tells me that when I was trying to tell him what the doctor said, that I was talking about a little red bike. (I remember his telling later truck but he now says bike.) I tho’t I was saying what the doctor had told me. It sounded to me like I was. I don’t remember the next day at all. I know I slept thro’ Kim’s nightly feedings. Didn’t hear a thing. That is a symptom of strokes is the sleeping a lot. We had been invited down to Grace to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. I remember being there. There was plenty of help for Karl with the children while we were there. I think Karl’s brothers, Gene and Stan and their families were there too. I remember sitting in a chair in the dining room and their serving me a piece of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. I was in an arm chair and someone had set the pie on the arm of the chair. I was using my left hand to eat because my right wasn’t working right. As I was trying to cut a piece of pie to eat it, the pie fell upside down on the carpet. I remember feeling devastated until I looked at my mother-in-law’s face and how sad she looked and I remember her apologizing saying she should have known better. That’s really about all I remember about that visit. I know we stayed until Sunday. I think I went to church that day but can not be sure. I know we left Bryan and Michael down there for a week and came home with just Karen and Kim. Karl went back to school the next day. I remember that week feeding Karen and me lunch and feeding Kim then we would all go down for a nap, not waking until Karl got home from school around 4:00 pm. I later really felt for Karl because he was feeding Kim the two times between 10 pm and 6 am and then having to go to work then come home and take over here. I know I didn’t have any additional help other than him. The diapers Kim wore were cloth diapers using safety pins to close them. I was able to take care of him and Karen when Karl wasn’t there. I don’t remember how difficult it was. I’m sure it must have been challenging at times for me. I don’t think we even informed the bishop. We tho’t the doctor knew what he was talking about. And we figured I’d eventually get over it, given enough time. As I was talking to doctors later, two in particular, told me that it was a stroke I had had. That an allergy doesn’t act like that nor does it last that long. And when I was studying strokes in my nursing classes and as I took care of stroke patients I knew that that was what I had had also. I was also told that if and when I ever had a brain CT scan that it would show that I had had a stroke even tho’ it is many years later. Had I gone to the hospital 40 years ago, there was no CT scanner here to do one anyway. Altho’ as far as I can remember I was able to take care of my family less than a week after the stroke, it was months before I could speak spontaneously without thinking out every sentence before speaking and it took about six months for my hand writing to return to normal. I can remember it being about three weeks before I wrote to my parents. So I must not have had that much control until then. My mother said that my hand writing was quite illegible for six months. I do know that I had no medical intervention. It was thro’ the Priesthood and the tender mercies of the Lord that I had a full recovery over not so long a time….looking back on it. I’m sure that the first week or two especially was quite challenging but I can’t remember for sure. But over 40 years six months really isn’t that long. I told Jonathon Sunday night that if any good could come out of my stroke it was that my total recovery could give hope to others who have had a stroke. I also told him that I had no residual from it unless you could count when I get my tangue tongled. J All kidding aside. I am so grateful to the Lord granting the miracle of a full recovery so shortly after it happened. The other night Kim asked me about another episode. I told him that that was the only one meaning the only stroke. However, the next morning when I was still in the twilight zone before fully becoming awake, I knew that he was referring to when I had my rotator cuff repaired and had a laringial (sp?)spasm and went into respiratory arrest (quit breathing) and went very dark before I started breathing again. When they took another EKG after that it should I had had a heart attack and the x-ray of the lungs were completely white (they showed me.) they were going to put me in ICU but by the time the 2 ½ hours I was in the recovery room was up, they put me in IMC instead. (that’s were Jon is). The next morning (it was supposed to be a day surgery and I was supposed to have gone home that night) the EKG showed a right bundle branch block, no MI or heart attack, and the x-ray of my lungs were all black the way it was supposed to be. I still have the right bundle branch block (I just had an EKG last week) but Dr. Stutts told me that if I had to have a block that the RBB was the one to have. So there were two episodes that the I guess I could have been very comprimized but the Lord thro’ his priesthood has blessed me. That was the second thing I tho’t when I first woke up in recovery after the shoulder surgery, “It’s a good thing I had a blessing last night.” The first thing was, “I didn’t see the light.” J
I hope this helps you understand. I don’t think of it very often. Only when I need to tell someone to help them.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Thanksgiving 2008
. We had a lovely Thanksgiving. We went to Karen & Kent’s. Shani and Jon were there with Macie and Porter. Macie is talking quite plainly now. She is so cute. Porter is six months old now and also very cute. I enjoyed being around them both so much. We also enjoyed having Bryce there. He came down here the Sunday evening before and stayed with us until Tuesday evening after Michael McLean’s The Forgotten Carols. I think he really enjoyed them. I know I did. He went home with Karen that night so he could spend some time with Kylie because after that time they may not see each other until after his mission.
While Bryce was here he helped me do some straightening and cleaning in the big room. He also brought in a cabinet that Karen had given my husband to put some of his stuff in by his chair. He also brought all of the Christmas boxes upstairs for my husband. It took my husband a couple of days to get them upstairs last year. Bryce’s young legs did it in less than 30 minutes. And there were quite a few boxes too. He put the Christmas tree together for me and put the star on. We didn’t have time to decorate it that evening with going to Forgotten Carols. And on Wednesday I was cooking and getting things ready to take to Karen’s for Thanksgiving etc. Wednesday evening the Kims and children stopped by on their way to Kimberly’s brother Rex’s place in Rigby where they stayed and had Thanksgiving. Since I hadn’t decorated the tree yet and had told them their children could stay there while they spent the day together, I decided to wait until Friday and let Nathaniel, Grace and Alex help me with it. We had a good day together. Then the Kims and children spent most of Saturday with us too. It was very pleasant to visit with them and have them here. We also really enjoyed having Bryce here too.
I am so blessed. I’m blessed to be a missionary at the Family History Center. The Lord has blessed me with a good mind that I can remember things. I have learned so much since we started there almost 20 months ago. I enjoy teaching what I’ve learned to others. I’m now a trainer on the Saturday shift and that means I teach the new missionaries and help them with some of the programs we have and with their own PAF program to get them cleaned up, etc. It is so rewarding.
At a zone conference last Friday both Elder Killian, the FHC director and Brother Rawson, who spoke to us, told us that we were where we were supposed to be in our lives, working there at the Family History Center. The Spirit bore witness to me as they each said it.
Last Wednesday I was helping a patron who had ancestors from Switzerland and told him about the Billiter Notes that Julius Billiter microfilmed most if not all of the Parish records in Switzerland. After he left and I ate supper I looked at my pedigree chart and was looking at my Grandma Wendel’s line and saw the names Hofer and Dreier. I looked in the FHLibrary Catalog and found films with both of their names. I felt like I needed to check out the Dreiers. I looked up there at the FHC to see if we had the film on the Dreiers and we did! I found six generations with children, back to my 11th great grandparents!! That is 13th great grand parents for you. Some of the work has been done but not all. I definitely feel like the Spirit was guiding me on this. I took the submission disk after preparing it Saturday to the temple so I’m sending the cards down to Michael so Collin and Natasha can do the baptisms next week when the youth in their ward go to the temple.
At a zone conference last Friday both Elder Killian, the FHC director and Brother Rawson, who spoke to us, told us that we were where we were supposed to be in our lives, working there at the Family History Center. The Spirit bore witness to me as they each said it.
While Bryce was here he helped me do some straightening and cleaning in the big room. He also brought in a cabinet that Karen had given my husband to put some of his stuff in by his chair. He also brought all of the Christmas boxes upstairs for my husband. It took my husband a couple of days to get them upstairs last year. Bryce’s young legs did it in less than 30 minutes. And there were quite a few boxes too. He put the Christmas tree together for me and put the star on. We didn’t have time to decorate it that evening with going to Forgotten Carols. And on Wednesday I was cooking and getting things ready to take to Karen’s for Thanksgiving etc. Wednesday evening the Kims and children stopped by on their way to Kimberly’s brother Rex’s place in Rigby where they stayed and had Thanksgiving. Since I hadn’t decorated the tree yet and had told them their children could stay there while they spent the day together, I decided to wait until Friday and let Nathaniel, Grace and Alex help me with it. We had a good day together. Then the Kims and children spent most of Saturday with us too. It was very pleasant to visit with them and have them here. We also really enjoyed having Bryce here too.
I am so blessed. I’m blessed to be a missionary at the Family History Center. The Lord has blessed me with a good mind that I can remember things. I have learned so much since we started there almost 20 months ago. I enjoy teaching what I’ve learned to others. I’m now a trainer on the Saturday shift and that means I teach the new missionaries and help them with some of the programs we have and with their own PAF program to get them cleaned up, etc. It is so rewarding.
At a zone conference last Friday both Elder Killian, the FHC director and Brother Rawson, who spoke to us, told us that we were where we were supposed to be in our lives, working there at the Family History Center. The Spirit bore witness to me as they each said it.
Last Wednesday I was helping a patron who had ancestors from Switzerland and told him about the Billiter Notes that Julius Billiter microfilmed most if not all of the Parish records in Switzerland. After he left and I ate supper I looked at my pedigree chart and was looking at my Grandma Wendel’s line and saw the names Hofer and Dreier. I looked in the FHLibrary Catalog and found films with both of their names. I felt like I needed to check out the Dreiers. I looked up there at the FHC to see if we had the film on the Dreiers and we did! I found six generations with children, back to my 11th great grandparents!! That is 13th great grand parents for you. Some of the work has been done but not all. I definitely feel like the Spirit was guiding me on this. I took the submission disk after preparing it Saturday to the temple so I’m sending the cards down to Michael so Collin and Natasha can do the baptisms next week when the youth in their ward go to the temple.
At a zone conference last Friday both Elder Killian, the FHC director and Brother Rawson, who spoke to us, told us that we were where we were supposed to be in our lives, working there at the Family History Center. The Spirit bore witness to me as they each said it.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
It's November Already!
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It has been four weeks since I have written. Things have been happening but I just haven’t taken the time to write. We’ve been going to the FHC two days a week. I have been helping many people each day. Most of my time is spent helping either new missionaries or the patrons. I really enjoy doing that and am so thankful for the knowledge I have gained since I started there and for my memory so I can remember it and pass it on. And I am still learning new skills too. I learned yesterday how to enlarge pictures on the copy machine and how to lighten them. You just have to push certain buttons but you have to know what buttons to push.
Last Thursday, our bishop had asked us as a ward service project to have 60 people at the cannery to do applesauce and clean up so they can do some extended repairs. The unofficial count was 72 which I think was just wonderful. Since I couldn’t tolerate that kind of work for four hours, I volunteered to take care of Hatchs’ four children while both of them went. I had tho’t about it for about a week before talking to them. I was kind of apprehensive about it because it would be at least 4 ½ to 5 hours I’d be with them and it had been a long time since I had taken care of any children not to mention four at once. Colleen is 8, Keeton 6, Kevin 4 and Logan 3. I took some DVD’s that I didn’t think they had seen (which they hadn’t) and a VCR tape and some books and our colored dominoes so we could play chicken foot. Logan knew his colors very well and was my partner. Kevin ended up winning! They were so well behaved and we all had a great time.
Our country is in a real turmoil right now. We are truly living in perilous times. National elections are this coming Tuesday. It seems to be again, we are “voting for the lesser of two evils” type thing. The one candidate appears to be a warm good person but the ideas he is presenting are too radical and too close to socialism. He wants to give everyone everything without their having to work or account for it. And that just isn’t right! The other one wants to improve things and has some aggressive ideas that may or may not work, and he is 72 years old! Now, I know are prophets are and have been much older than that and work very hard every day. But I think this is different. I’m fasting today (and my sweetheart, too) at least until after church at 2:00 pm (I usually don’t fast because I need to take my medication with food.) I decided that this is an important enough issue and we need the Lord’s help so much that I will do it this time. I’m already thirsty just thinking about it now. The easiest part was when I was asleep. J I told my mother in March or April that if the Democrats get in this time, maybe it will speed up the Second Coming. She said that was a new one on her; she hadn’t heard that one before. There is expected to be a record turnout at this election.
Today is the first day off of daylight savings time. It is nice and light this morning, early. But it will get dark very early tonight. That will take more getting used to. It already was getting dark so much earlier. We have had unseasonably warm weather, in the high sixties but I have so enjoyed it. We do definitely need the rain and moisture that we usually get in the fall and winter time.
That pretty much covers the month of October. I haven’t exercised as I should have done. And my blood sugars are a little higher. I know how to fix that and commit to going to Apple Athletic Club more often. I’m thankful that my sweetheart has kept up with his own exercising. Oh, and our bathroom is completely finished. It only took seven weeks. It is beautiful! I enjoy it so much. Having it in disrepair for so long, I really do appreciate it more. If I had know the last of August when they started that it would be October before they finished it, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do it. But I am thankful that we did.
It has been four weeks since I have written. Things have been happening but I just haven’t taken the time to write. We’ve been going to the FHC two days a week. I have been helping many people each day. Most of my time is spent helping either new missionaries or the patrons. I really enjoy doing that and am so thankful for the knowledge I have gained since I started there and for my memory so I can remember it and pass it on. And I am still learning new skills too. I learned yesterday how to enlarge pictures on the copy machine and how to lighten them. You just have to push certain buttons but you have to know what buttons to push.
Last Thursday, our bishop had asked us as a ward service project to have 60 people at the cannery to do applesauce and clean up so they can do some extended repairs. The unofficial count was 72 which I think was just wonderful. Since I couldn’t tolerate that kind of work for four hours, I volunteered to take care of Hatchs’ four children while both of them went. I had tho’t about it for about a week before talking to them. I was kind of apprehensive about it because it would be at least 4 ½ to 5 hours I’d be with them and it had been a long time since I had taken care of any children not to mention four at once. Colleen is 8, Keeton 6, Kevin 4 and Logan 3. I took some DVD’s that I didn’t think they had seen (which they hadn’t) and a VCR tape and some books and our colored dominoes so we could play chicken foot. Logan knew his colors very well and was my partner. Kevin ended up winning! They were so well behaved and we all had a great time.
Our country is in a real turmoil right now. We are truly living in perilous times. National elections are this coming Tuesday. It seems to be again, we are “voting for the lesser of two evils” type thing. The one candidate appears to be a warm good person but the ideas he is presenting are too radical and too close to socialism. He wants to give everyone everything without their having to work or account for it. And that just isn’t right! The other one wants to improve things and has some aggressive ideas that may or may not work, and he is 72 years old! Now, I know are prophets are and have been much older than that and work very hard every day. But I think this is different. I’m fasting today (and my sweetheart, too) at least until after church at 2:00 pm (I usually don’t fast because I need to take my medication with food.) I decided that this is an important enough issue and we need the Lord’s help so much that I will do it this time. I’m already thirsty just thinking about it now. The easiest part was when I was asleep. J I told my mother in March or April that if the Democrats get in this time, maybe it will speed up the Second Coming. She said that was a new one on her; she hadn’t heard that one before. There is expected to be a record turnout at this election.
Today is the first day off of daylight savings time. It is nice and light this morning, early. But it will get dark very early tonight. That will take more getting used to. It already was getting dark so much earlier. We have had unseasonably warm weather, in the high sixties but I have so enjoyed it. We do definitely need the rain and moisture that we usually get in the fall and winter time.
That pretty much covers the month of October. I haven’t exercised as I should have done. And my blood sugars are a little higher. I know how to fix that and commit to going to Apple Athletic Club more often. I’m thankful that my sweetheart has kept up with his own exercising. Oh, and our bathroom is completely finished. It only took seven weeks. It is beautiful! I enjoy it so much. Having it in disrepair for so long, I really do appreciate it more. If I had know the last of August when they started that it would be October before they finished it, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to do it. But I am thankful that we did.
Monday, October 06, 2008
It's October already!
It’s October already! The year is going so quickly. I loved General Conference yesterday and the day before. It is neat being close to the Spirit or having it close to me for those two days almost all day long. It bore witness to me many times that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet and mouthpiece of our Lord and Savio, Jesus Christ. And also that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our Savior and Redeemer and without Him there is no way we could return Home again.
It has been a busy three weeks since I wrote. Our bathroom is all but completed. Evan and Norm are coming today to fix the goof they did last week when laying the floor. Evan forgot about the toe-kick drawer in the bottom of the cabinet and laid the underflooring beside it instead of also under it then Norm laid the vinyl on top of that and coved it up under the drawer. So it can’t be opened at all. They will come today and lift the vanity and place the underflooring and I guess vinyl underneath it so I can use my drawer. It is a beautiful deep drawer. Bryce came Friday and put on the mirror and the door to the vanity and cabinet above. He does beautiful work. It just takes him forever and a day. Last week we got 43” high cabinet, white with a drawer and two shelves. It is 20” wide and 11” so it is just the right size to be there where that triangular shelf was. It will be much more serviceable than that triangular shelf. My sweetheart put it together during the afternoon session of conference, Saturday. We also got a wood over the toilet space saver with doors on it. My sweetheart has started to put it together. We may get it put together and in the bathroom today after they finish in there. It really is looking beautiful. We have shower doors on the tub. The vinyl is shades of brown and gold with some dark streaks thro’ it. It looks like it is in squares but is all one piece. The walls are called Hayseed white. It is an off-white with a golden hue to it. We are going back to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a shorter mirror. I had originally gotten a full length mirror but with the taller cabinet (the white one) it won’t fit there. I remember seeing one with a tarnished silver frame that is a 2 ½ or 3 foot mirror that will look very nice. It is more expensive but it will go well with the room. I need it so I can see the back of my hair.
The work at the FHC is going well. We didn’t go Saturday because of conference. I found the passenger list and passport application for Johann Wendel, my great grandfather, when he came from Germany and then went back to Germany for his mission. It is now linked to my PAF program. I found it on Ancestry.com. I’ve been able to help a few of the patrons that have come in and also many of the new missionaries. I’m so thankful that the Lord has given me the gift of knowledge and remembering and teaching and so I can do that. I attribute my being able to do so entirely to Him.
We are truly blessed.
It has been a busy three weeks since I wrote. Our bathroom is all but completed. Evan and Norm are coming today to fix the goof they did last week when laying the floor. Evan forgot about the toe-kick drawer in the bottom of the cabinet and laid the underflooring beside it instead of also under it then Norm laid the vinyl on top of that and coved it up under the drawer. So it can’t be opened at all. They will come today and lift the vanity and place the underflooring and I guess vinyl underneath it so I can use my drawer. It is a beautiful deep drawer. Bryce came Friday and put on the mirror and the door to the vanity and cabinet above. He does beautiful work. It just takes him forever and a day. Last week we got 43” high cabinet, white with a drawer and two shelves. It is 20” wide and 11” so it is just the right size to be there where that triangular shelf was. It will be much more serviceable than that triangular shelf. My sweetheart put it together during the afternoon session of conference, Saturday. We also got a wood over the toilet space saver with doors on it. My sweetheart has started to put it together. We may get it put together and in the bathroom today after they finish in there. It really is looking beautiful. We have shower doors on the tub. The vinyl is shades of brown and gold with some dark streaks thro’ it. It looks like it is in squares but is all one piece. The walls are called Hayseed white. It is an off-white with a golden hue to it. We are going back to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a shorter mirror. I had originally gotten a full length mirror but with the taller cabinet (the white one) it won’t fit there. I remember seeing one with a tarnished silver frame that is a 2 ½ or 3 foot mirror that will look very nice. It is more expensive but it will go well with the room. I need it so I can see the back of my hair.
The work at the FHC is going well. We didn’t go Saturday because of conference. I found the passenger list and passport application for Johann Wendel, my great grandfather, when he came from Germany and then went back to Germany for his mission. It is now linked to my PAF program. I found it on Ancestry.com. I’ve been able to help a few of the patrons that have come in and also many of the new missionaries. I’m so thankful that the Lord has given me the gift of knowledge and remembering and teaching and so I can do that. I attribute my being able to do so entirely to Him.
We are truly blessed.
Monday, September 15, 2008
The second week of September 2008
It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote. Since then I have had a birthday, anniversary and worked at the FHC five times and taught three classes. I also taught the new missionaries the basic computer class last Monday as well as my two PAF classes. We also went to the temple both Fridays so we’ve been being good.
Our bathroom isn’t much further than it was two weeks ago. It has all of the “mud” on the walls now, three coats, but other than that no changes. Still a hole in the wall behind the toilet, and just the base flooring on the floor. They are supposed to come with the new vanity and medicine cabinet today so I’m hoping in a day or two it will be completely finished. I keep telling myself, “Be patient. They will eventually get it all done.” That will be sooo nice.
I talked to my mother last night and she told me about the Regional Conference they had down there last week. I told her about the first one we had here in our chapel, the one piped to over 80 Stakes in SE Idaho and Wyoming. Elder Oakes spoke, and President Faust presided and spoke. I commented on how relaxed Elder Oakes was and how he smiled as he spoke of living in SE Idaho until he was nine or ten. I think he said it was the Twin Falls area. My mother told me that she had taught with his mother at the Vernal High School when he wasn’t much older than that. She commented that it must have been her first assignment after her husband had died. That is where my mother and father met. They were both teaching there. My mother commented that she was teaching a homeliving class and a little three year old girl wondered into her classroom. It seems that sister Oakes had a baby sitter for her youngest daughter, Evelyn, while she taught and her two older boys after they finished their elementary school classes would go there to the high school and do their homework etc. until their mother was ready to leave for the day. It seems that one day the babysitter had to go somewhere so left the little girl with her mother and she wandered off and into my mother’s classroom. She said that altho’ the girl was quite young she had “a beautiful head of hair”. And she used the little girl to demonstrate how to French braid hair. That is something I had never heard before. I knew that is where my father and mother met but I didn’t know any of the rest of it.
I taught “note & sources” again last Saturday. It is the most challenging of all of the classes I have taught. As I went over it last week to review so I would be prepared I learned even more about it. There was one patron there and six missionaries plus myself. So eight all together. We had potluck that day. We just say potluck and it is amazing the variety there is there with no making of assignments. It is fun. I took a fruit cocktail pudding that I remember making for my children for many years on Sunday afternoons. I hadn’t made it for years. They all really liked it and wanted the recipe. I was able to remember it and type it and copy it off for them. I also took some chicken rolls. They all really liked them too.
I’m going to have to find a new hairdresser. The fellow who has been doing my hair for the last 24-25 years decided he needed to get a job with benefits. He’s in his mid 40’s so I guess it is about time he started thinking about when he could no longer work. I told him “what am I supposed to do? I’ve got you trained now!” He just chuckled. I wish him well. I have talked around. There are some women in my ward who go to a Mikol (a woman) (pronounced the same as Michael) down here at the salon at Cardon’s gas station and car wash and deli and salon. It’s less than a mile from here so I’ll probably go there. They said that they really like the way she does their hair. I wish Wyatt well in his endeavors. I’ve had many compliments after he has done my hair.
Our bathroom isn’t much further than it was two weeks ago. It has all of the “mud” on the walls now, three coats, but other than that no changes. Still a hole in the wall behind the toilet, and just the base flooring on the floor. They are supposed to come with the new vanity and medicine cabinet today so I’m hoping in a day or two it will be completely finished. I keep telling myself, “Be patient. They will eventually get it all done.” That will be sooo nice.
I talked to my mother last night and she told me about the Regional Conference they had down there last week. I told her about the first one we had here in our chapel, the one piped to over 80 Stakes in SE Idaho and Wyoming. Elder Oakes spoke, and President Faust presided and spoke. I commented on how relaxed Elder Oakes was and how he smiled as he spoke of living in SE Idaho until he was nine or ten. I think he said it was the Twin Falls area. My mother told me that she had taught with his mother at the Vernal High School when he wasn’t much older than that. She commented that it must have been her first assignment after her husband had died. That is where my mother and father met. They were both teaching there. My mother commented that she was teaching a homeliving class and a little three year old girl wondered into her classroom. It seems that sister Oakes had a baby sitter for her youngest daughter, Evelyn, while she taught and her two older boys after they finished their elementary school classes would go there to the high school and do their homework etc. until their mother was ready to leave for the day. It seems that one day the babysitter had to go somewhere so left the little girl with her mother and she wandered off and into my mother’s classroom. She said that altho’ the girl was quite young she had “a beautiful head of hair”. And she used the little girl to demonstrate how to French braid hair. That is something I had never heard before. I knew that is where my father and mother met but I didn’t know any of the rest of it.
I taught “note & sources” again last Saturday. It is the most challenging of all of the classes I have taught. As I went over it last week to review so I would be prepared I learned even more about it. There was one patron there and six missionaries plus myself. So eight all together. We had potluck that day. We just say potluck and it is amazing the variety there is there with no making of assignments. It is fun. I took a fruit cocktail pudding that I remember making for my children for many years on Sunday afternoons. I hadn’t made it for years. They all really liked it and wanted the recipe. I was able to remember it and type it and copy it off for them. I also took some chicken rolls. They all really liked them too.
I’m going to have to find a new hairdresser. The fellow who has been doing my hair for the last 24-25 years decided he needed to get a job with benefits. He’s in his mid 40’s so I guess it is about time he started thinking about when he could no longer work. I told him “what am I supposed to do? I’ve got you trained now!” He just chuckled. I wish him well. I have talked around. There are some women in my ward who go to a Mikol (a woman) (pronounced the same as Michael) down here at the salon at Cardon’s gas station and car wash and deli and salon. It’s less than a mile from here so I’ll probably go there. They said that they really like the way she does their hair. I wish Wyatt well in his endeavors. I’ve had many compliments after he has done my hair.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Another two weeks have passed
Last week we attended the Twin Falls Temple Dedication. It was wonderful. That is the fifth temple dedication we have been able to attend. First the Palmyra Temple, then the Nauvoo Temple, then the Winter Quarter’s Temple, then the Rexburg Temple last January and now the Twin Falls Temple. The first three were dedicated by President Hinckley; the last two by President Monson. Altho’ Elder Quinton Cook read the dedicatory prayer (it was the fourth dedicatory service that day) President Monson was there and did speak. His daughter, Sister Dibb was there also. She is the 2nd counselor in the General Young Women’s Presidency. Elder Costas also spoke and President Eyring conducted. It was very special. They showed pictures of the temple and its rooms before the dedication started. I remember thinking, “I’m so glad that we saw it in person because altho’ it looked beautiful in the pictures it was so much more beautiful in real life.
Today is our #2 son’s birthday. It was 44 years ago he was born. He was born the first day of school for the teachers at Manti High School. We were living in an upstairs apartment at that time. And even being 7 months pregnant when we moved in the stairs didn’t bother me half as much as they would now. J We had lived in Ephraim for ten months then moved to Manti the first of June. The main thing we noticed there was that Ephraim was very friendly and accepting. Manti gave you the feeling that if you weren’t born there, you didn’t belong. We lived there just barely a year. Our oldest son and I were sooo close before Michael was born. My husband worked in the turkeys that summer, feeding them etc. So Bryan and I were together just the two of us most of the time. My parents went and got Bryan and he stayed with them about ten days or so while I was in the hospital and recuperating from the birth. I missed Bryan sooo much. When Mama and Daddy first brought him home, he wouldn’t have a thing to do with me for days. He seemed to hold me responsible for the presence of that intruder. We have a picture of my husband holding both babies (Bryan was only 13 months old) and Bryan is looking at his brother with such an ambivalent look on his face. He soon grew to love his brother tho’ but it took a year or two or 14 or 15 for him to learn to respect him.
Last Tuesday Henderson Cleaning and Restoring came and started tearing up our upstairs bathroom. The bathtub leaked down into the basement, the toilet leaked down into the basement, and we have lived here 14 years with no major changes so we went for it! The floor is still torn up, there is a big hole in the wall where Evan is going to put in a new outlet. We have to wait a week or two for our vanity since it is smaller than any we could find and it has to be custom built. But the tub and shower are in and workable which they weren’t for two days! Evan first told us that they would tear things out the first day and have everything put back together by the end of the second day. It’s going to be a “little” longer than that. But it will be soo nice when we get it finished. I guess I should say when they get it finished.
I finally got into see Dr. Brooke who is a dermatologist. I had an infection in my left index finger around the nail. It still looks really bad. He said it was fungus and that the acrylic nails must come off. So after 15 years with beautiful nails, I’ll have to go back to ugly nails. He said if I didn’t bet rid of them I could lose all of my nails. I’m not willing to risk that. This is the first time I’ve had really any problem with anything like this in the 15 years. I can keep track because I first had them done for Kim and Kimberly’s wedding.
We have had a two week vacation from the FHC because they are doing some much needed construction; they are building a computer lab room which will be very nice to be able to teach our classes in there and have people doing the same thing you are teaching them while you are teaching them instead of just showing them how. It is so easy to forget what you learned by the time you try to do it yourself. We also got to go to Heather’s (Joy’s Heather) wedding last Saturday. That was the first tho’t I had when they told us it would be closed. “I get to go to Heather’s wedding after all!” it was very nice. Heather and Blaine plan to go thro’ the temple in a year. I’m really glad we were able to be there. We got to see my mother and two sisters and their husbands and my brother and his wife and many nieces and a nephew and their sweethearts that we hadn’t seen for awhile.
Today is our #2 son’s birthday. It was 44 years ago he was born. He was born the first day of school for the teachers at Manti High School. We were living in an upstairs apartment at that time. And even being 7 months pregnant when we moved in the stairs didn’t bother me half as much as they would now. J We had lived in Ephraim for ten months then moved to Manti the first of June. The main thing we noticed there was that Ephraim was very friendly and accepting. Manti gave you the feeling that if you weren’t born there, you didn’t belong. We lived there just barely a year. Our oldest son and I were sooo close before Michael was born. My husband worked in the turkeys that summer, feeding them etc. So Bryan and I were together just the two of us most of the time. My parents went and got Bryan and he stayed with them about ten days or so while I was in the hospital and recuperating from the birth. I missed Bryan sooo much. When Mama and Daddy first brought him home, he wouldn’t have a thing to do with me for days. He seemed to hold me responsible for the presence of that intruder. We have a picture of my husband holding both babies (Bryan was only 13 months old) and Bryan is looking at his brother with such an ambivalent look on his face. He soon grew to love his brother tho’ but it took a year or two or 14 or 15 for him to learn to respect him.
Last Tuesday Henderson Cleaning and Restoring came and started tearing up our upstairs bathroom. The bathtub leaked down into the basement, the toilet leaked down into the basement, and we have lived here 14 years with no major changes so we went for it! The floor is still torn up, there is a big hole in the wall where Evan is going to put in a new outlet. We have to wait a week or two for our vanity since it is smaller than any we could find and it has to be custom built. But the tub and shower are in and workable which they weren’t for two days! Evan first told us that they would tear things out the first day and have everything put back together by the end of the second day. It’s going to be a “little” longer than that. But it will be soo nice when we get it finished. I guess I should say when they get it finished.
I finally got into see Dr. Brooke who is a dermatologist. I had an infection in my left index finger around the nail. It still looks really bad. He said it was fungus and that the acrylic nails must come off. So after 15 years with beautiful nails, I’ll have to go back to ugly nails. He said if I didn’t bet rid of them I could lose all of my nails. I’m not willing to risk that. This is the first time I’ve had really any problem with anything like this in the 15 years. I can keep track because I first had them done for Kim and Kimberly’s wedding.
We have had a two week vacation from the FHC because they are doing some much needed construction; they are building a computer lab room which will be very nice to be able to teach our classes in there and have people doing the same thing you are teaching them while you are teaching them instead of just showing them how. It is so easy to forget what you learned by the time you try to do it yourself. We also got to go to Heather’s (Joy’s Heather) wedding last Saturday. That was the first tho’t I had when they told us it would be closed. “I get to go to Heather’s wedding after all!” it was very nice. Heather and Blaine plan to go thro’ the temple in a year. I’m really glad we were able to be there. We got to see my mother and two sisters and their husbands and my brother and his wife and many nieces and a nephew and their sweethearts that we hadn’t seen for awhile.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
A Busy Two Weeks
Last week we went to the Twin Falls Temple Open House. We left on Thursday about 11:00 am and went via way of the I 15, I 86 and I 84. We stopped at a rest stop about half way there. It had signs and posters about Massacre Rocks and the story about it. We tho’t maybe that was where we were but…Massacre Rocks is a State Park and this turned out to be just a “rest stop” We ate lunch there and used the facilities and then decided to check out a trail head. The sign said that at the end of the trail were the authentic ruts from the Oregon Trail. We tho’t we’d go a little ways. We had no idea how long it would be. It turned out to be on the other side of the freeway. We went in two tunnels to go under the freeway. I’m sure it was at least a mile one way. I was a little disappointed because the trail was covered with vegetation and we could only see one “rut” so we weren’t sure we were there on the Oregon Trail. But there were signs that said we were. We had seen the wagon ruts at the supper club at Soda Springs where you could see two ruts in stone and the same above Cheyenne toward Fort Laramie. So it wasn’t quite what we expected. I was thrilled to learn that I could still walk that far and that my back didn’t bother me at all. My hip ached but my back didn’t. I haven’t done as much walking this summer as I have the last two. They changed the walking class to Monday and Wednesday at 8:30 am. It wore me out the last two years and with my big weekends on Saturday at the FHC and then Sundays it’s hard to get moving early on Mondays. And with working at the center on Wednesday afternoon, I haven’t felt like I could do both. At the beginning of the summer, I had good intentions of walking on Tuesday and Thursdays like I did last summer but…..
We got to Twin Falls and the motel about 5:00pm or so. We walked a little way to a steak and seafood restaurant. We split a steak and shrimp dinner. Oh, that shrimp was succulent. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted shrimp so good. We saw Jean and Scott Jenkins there who used to live in our ward before they moved to Washington. It was quite a coincidence and very pleasant.
We went to the extended complimentary breakfast the motel had. That meant they had scrambled eggs and waffles along with the juices, drinks and fruit. It was very good and filling. We met an older couple from Bounitful, Utah who had come up for the open house. My husband asked the man’s name just as they were leaving. He was a Call. I told him that my grandmother was a Call. It turns out that his ancestor was a brother to my great great grandfather. I glad that my husband asked his name. We also met his daughter.
We left for the open house about 11:00 am. I had on a dress and also my missionary name tag. We have been told we are supposed to wear them whenever we are in Sunday dress. One of the sisters there greeting people as they entered the chapel, asked me “Are you reporting for duty?” I told her we were from Idaho Falls. She looked closer and saw that we were not proselyting missionaries. We waited in the chapel about 20 minutes then we went to watch the video talking about temples in general and their purpose and the Twin Falls temple in particular. After watching the video we walked next door to the temple. It is definitely a small temple but also a very beautiful one. It reminds of the Rexburg temple but is much smaller. It has only one ordinance room and Rexburg has two. The TF temple has a mural by Leon Parsons of the Shoshone Falls. It is gorgeous. Our host told us that Leon Parson went down there and precisely measured the room then built one of the exact same size in his studio in Rexburg. He painted the mural there and then rolled up the canvas and took it to TF. He does such beautiful work. The temple has the syringe, the Idaho State Flower thro’out it. In the stained glass windows and in some of the carpets. It is indeed a beautiful building. The dedication will be next Sunday. We received our recommend/tickets today to be able to go.
The last two weeks at the center have been busy. I’ve been able to help quite a few people, both patrons and new missionaries. Yesterday, a family of six came in to use PAF Insight to update records they had received from a man in Canada on who sent them over 16,000 names. We discovered that most of the people had died too late to be able to do their work. If it has been within 95 years one should obtain permission from the direct descendants if they are not of the immediate family themselves. So we had to take the check marks out of many of the boxes as we were doing the temple ready part to take the names to the temple. They still had between 50 and 75 names to take thro’ tho’. They were getting them ready for a family reunion. I was on my feet a lot going back and forth among them helping them and giving them advice when asked. I also taught a PAF class (which went well with two patrons and two missionaries in it) on the Print menu and helped a few other people too. One patron had finally found proof of a marriage of one ancestor that her mother had told her about for years. It was in the third column on a page. When she printed it out, only the first two printed out. One of the missionaries came to me to see if I knew what to do. I right clicked a few times and tried a few things (I was led by the Spirit) and we were able to get to a page to be printed that printed off all three columns. I felt good about that too. I know the Spirit led me because I don’t do trouble shooting when it comes to the computer. I just don’t have enough knowledge in that area.
I was very tired when I got home. I enjoyed watching some of the Olympics. I had recorded the basketball game between the USA and Spain and slept thro’ the whole third quarter. But that’s OK. The USA was so far ahead by then that I knew they would win. It was neat to watch Michael Phelps and the USA 4 X 100 medley swim race. Michael Phelps earned, with the help of his team mates, his 8th Gold Medal. In his interviews afterwards and again today he is so humble and gives his mom much of the credit. He’s a neat young man. He was diagnosed with ADHD as a young boy and that was how his mother helped him channel his energy was thro’ swimming. He does have long arms and long fingers which definitely helped. He won one race by .01 of a second. It is something to me that they can have that precise of a measurement.
Oh, and I saw Karen Huffacker who last month told me she and her husband were leaving in September for the MTC for a mission in Chile. I asked her again which mission it was and it is the Chile Concepcion, South mission, the same one that Chris is in. I was ecstatic to learn that. I was afraid that it was just Concepcion. They will be working in the office. She is taking care of the books and he taking care of the fleet of cars. So they should see Chris. They won’t get to Chile until just before Christmas but Chris will see them as he leaves if at no other time. I think it is very exciting.
We got to Twin Falls and the motel about 5:00pm or so. We walked a little way to a steak and seafood restaurant. We split a steak and shrimp dinner. Oh, that shrimp was succulent. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted shrimp so good. We saw Jean and Scott Jenkins there who used to live in our ward before they moved to Washington. It was quite a coincidence and very pleasant.
We went to the extended complimentary breakfast the motel had. That meant they had scrambled eggs and waffles along with the juices, drinks and fruit. It was very good and filling. We met an older couple from Bounitful, Utah who had come up for the open house. My husband asked the man’s name just as they were leaving. He was a Call. I told him that my grandmother was a Call. It turns out that his ancestor was a brother to my great great grandfather. I glad that my husband asked his name. We also met his daughter.
We left for the open house about 11:00 am. I had on a dress and also my missionary name tag. We have been told we are supposed to wear them whenever we are in Sunday dress. One of the sisters there greeting people as they entered the chapel, asked me “Are you reporting for duty?” I told her we were from Idaho Falls. She looked closer and saw that we were not proselyting missionaries. We waited in the chapel about 20 minutes then we went to watch the video talking about temples in general and their purpose and the Twin Falls temple in particular. After watching the video we walked next door to the temple. It is definitely a small temple but also a very beautiful one. It reminds of the Rexburg temple but is much smaller. It has only one ordinance room and Rexburg has two. The TF temple has a mural by Leon Parsons of the Shoshone Falls. It is gorgeous. Our host told us that Leon Parson went down there and precisely measured the room then built one of the exact same size in his studio in Rexburg. He painted the mural there and then rolled up the canvas and took it to TF. He does such beautiful work. The temple has the syringe, the Idaho State Flower thro’out it. In the stained glass windows and in some of the carpets. It is indeed a beautiful building. The dedication will be next Sunday. We received our recommend/tickets today to be able to go.
The last two weeks at the center have been busy. I’ve been able to help quite a few people, both patrons and new missionaries. Yesterday, a family of six came in to use PAF Insight to update records they had received from a man in Canada on who sent them over 16,000 names. We discovered that most of the people had died too late to be able to do their work. If it has been within 95 years one should obtain permission from the direct descendants if they are not of the immediate family themselves. So we had to take the check marks out of many of the boxes as we were doing the temple ready part to take the names to the temple. They still had between 50 and 75 names to take thro’ tho’. They were getting them ready for a family reunion. I was on my feet a lot going back and forth among them helping them and giving them advice when asked. I also taught a PAF class (which went well with two patrons and two missionaries in it) on the Print menu and helped a few other people too. One patron had finally found proof of a marriage of one ancestor that her mother had told her about for years. It was in the third column on a page. When she printed it out, only the first two printed out. One of the missionaries came to me to see if I knew what to do. I right clicked a few times and tried a few things (I was led by the Spirit) and we were able to get to a page to be printed that printed off all three columns. I felt good about that too. I know the Spirit led me because I don’t do trouble shooting when it comes to the computer. I just don’t have enough knowledge in that area.
I was very tired when I got home. I enjoyed watching some of the Olympics. I had recorded the basketball game between the USA and Spain and slept thro’ the whole third quarter. But that’s OK. The USA was so far ahead by then that I knew they would win. It was neat to watch Michael Phelps and the USA 4 X 100 medley swim race. Michael Phelps earned, with the help of his team mates, his 8th Gold Medal. In his interviews afterwards and again today he is so humble and gives his mom much of the credit. He’s a neat young man. He was diagnosed with ADHD as a young boy and that was how his mother helped him channel his energy was thro’ swimming. He does have long arms and long fingers which definitely helped. He won one race by .01 of a second. It is something to me that they can have that precise of a measurement.
Oh, and I saw Karen Huffacker who last month told me she and her husband were leaving in September for the MTC for a mission in Chile. I asked her again which mission it was and it is the Chile Concepcion, South mission, the same one that Chris is in. I was ecstatic to learn that. I was afraid that it was just Concepcion. They will be working in the office. She is taking care of the books and he taking care of the fleet of cars. So they should see Chris. They won’t get to Chile until just before Christmas but Chris will see them as he leaves if at no other time. I think it is very exciting.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
The NewFamilySearch
I had typed a whole page about my classes that I taught at the Family History Center Wednesday and Saturday. I hit control and aimed for C and hit V so everything was erased “Family History Center” was in it’s place that I have been putting on top of each of my lessons. So I will try to summarize and get everything in just not so long. It’s not earth shattering but almost….. J
I taught two classes last week. The one on Wednesday was on World Vital Records, a website of database links to various websites that can aid patrons in looking up and finding information on their ancestors. Since I didn’t know anything about it I spent a lot of time preparing. In the summer not very many patrons come in to do research. So we missionaries spend the time teaching each other about different websites so we can be knowledgeable enough to help the patrons this fall and winter when they start coming in again. There are different missionaries who work different days. e.g. Grandpa and I work on Wednesday and Saturday only. Others work other days. So there was a different teacher each day to teach the missionaries that day. I went to the class on both Monday and Tuesday which really helped. I woke up at 5:00 am Wednesday morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so got up and started working more on my class. It went well. I was able to find pictures of Grandpa Wendel and Johnny’s headstones that are down in the Spanish Fork Cemetery that someone had photographed and put on the site. I had never seen Johnny’s so I was very excited to see it and was so pleased with it mainly I guess because of the manner in which he died. I’m sending them to you so you can see them too. The class went very well.
We had to be at the center by noon because they are starting to teach us about the NewFamilySearch that we hope to get by the end of this year or the first of next year at the latest. The Winter Quarter’s Temple District and the Mesa Temple District are already rolled out and using the program. We will be teaching the Stake and ward consultants in South East Idaho so they are now letting us have hands on on working on the NewFamilySearch site. We can’t type in anything new but can combine duplicates and search and add people that way so if they are already in the system we can add them to our profile. It is so exciting. Anyway at noon they go thro’ the e-learning lessons with us and then at 1:00 we have a class taught by Sister Freeman who is part of the Support group that answers questions about the NewFamilySearch from all over the United States and maybe even the world. By the end of August there will be 104 temples out of the 128 working temples that have rolled out. So we should be fairly soon we are hoping. The temples in Idaho and Utah are the last to be rolled out. That way hopefully all of the bugs will be rolled out.
On Saturday I taught the Beginning PAF class on GEDCOM files and Exporting and Importing files. It went very well. I was glad that I have taught this before and have used it often so I am familiar with it. There are some new missionaries that come to it. There were 8 there counting me which is a good size. I passed off all the questions on the sheet for the e-learning lessons for the NewFamilySearch that I found the answers to by going thro’ the lessons. I then got online with the NewFamilySearch and worked on my file. They told us last Wednesday that we can combine and search and add new people to our file but we can’t type in anything new because we are working under someone’s number. There is a lot that has to be done with it to make it right. I have been able to correct some of the things with combining and searching but there will be lots to do when I can get registered which won’t be until we are in the 90 day window of when our temple district will start using it. It is sooo exciting tho’. Both Bryan and Richard’s temple district has it. In a way I envy them. But it is getting closer.
I taught two classes last week. The one on Wednesday was on World Vital Records, a website of database links to various websites that can aid patrons in looking up and finding information on their ancestors. Since I didn’t know anything about it I spent a lot of time preparing. In the summer not very many patrons come in to do research. So we missionaries spend the time teaching each other about different websites so we can be knowledgeable enough to help the patrons this fall and winter when they start coming in again. There are different missionaries who work different days. e.g. Grandpa and I work on Wednesday and Saturday only. Others work other days. So there was a different teacher each day to teach the missionaries that day. I went to the class on both Monday and Tuesday which really helped. I woke up at 5:00 am Wednesday morning and couldn’t go back to sleep so got up and started working more on my class. It went well. I was able to find pictures of Grandpa Wendel and Johnny’s headstones that are down in the Spanish Fork Cemetery that someone had photographed and put on the site. I had never seen Johnny’s so I was very excited to see it and was so pleased with it mainly I guess because of the manner in which he died. I’m sending them to you so you can see them too. The class went very well.
We had to be at the center by noon because they are starting to teach us about the NewFamilySearch that we hope to get by the end of this year or the first of next year at the latest. The Winter Quarter’s Temple District and the Mesa Temple District are already rolled out and using the program. We will be teaching the Stake and ward consultants in South East Idaho so they are now letting us have hands on on working on the NewFamilySearch site. We can’t type in anything new but can combine duplicates and search and add people that way so if they are already in the system we can add them to our profile. It is so exciting. Anyway at noon they go thro’ the e-learning lessons with us and then at 1:00 we have a class taught by Sister Freeman who is part of the Support group that answers questions about the NewFamilySearch from all over the United States and maybe even the world. By the end of August there will be 104 temples out of the 128 working temples that have rolled out. So we should be fairly soon we are hoping. The temples in Idaho and Utah are the last to be rolled out. That way hopefully all of the bugs will be rolled out.
On Saturday I taught the Beginning PAF class on GEDCOM files and Exporting and Importing files. It went very well. I was glad that I have taught this before and have used it often so I am familiar with it. There are some new missionaries that come to it. There were 8 there counting me which is a good size. I passed off all the questions on the sheet for the e-learning lessons for the NewFamilySearch that I found the answers to by going thro’ the lessons. I then got online with the NewFamilySearch and worked on my file. They told us last Wednesday that we can combine and search and add new people to our file but we can’t type in anything new because we are working under someone’s number. There is a lot that has to be done with it to make it right. I have been able to correct some of the things with combining and searching but there will be lots to do when I can get registered which won’t be until we are in the 90 day window of when our temple district will start using it. It is sooo exciting tho’. Both Bryan and Richard’s temple district has it. In a way I envy them. But it is getting closer.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Two Good Books
Last week I finished reading a book called “America’s Hope” by Douglas E Brinely. He is a religion professor at BYU. He had isolated or catalogued the 10 steps from arriving in this Promised Land to the destruction of whole civilizations e.g. the antediluvians (the people who inhabited this hemisphere before the flood), the Jaredites and the Nephites. They all had things in common. Their ancestors had made covenants with the Lord at the b beginning of their sorgein here. And as time went on they forgot them and became very wicked and were eventually totally destroyed. At first it sounded like we as a nation were doomed; but it did end on a hopeful note. Altho’ the supreme court has done its best to destroy the constitution by the way it is interpreting it, the righteous people of our faith as well as other faiths who believe in Jesus Christ will be able to save it. Brother Brinley pointed out that because this is the cradle of the Lord’s church and kingdom, it will be preserved as long as we do our part. He also pointed out that the Civil War or War Between the States was a direct result of the people of Illinois killing the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum and then casting or driving the Saints out of the country. Once they got across the Mississippi River they were out of the boundaries of the United States of America. I knew that the Prophet Joseph had prophesied before his death of the great war, but I hadn’t realized that it was a direct result of his death and driving the Saints from the country. A friend pointed out that “and that was their children that suffered the war not them themselves because the war was a good 20 years after the prophet was killed…almost anyway. It started before 20 but it last longer than 20 years after. I tho’t that very interesting. My friend went on to say, “We can chose our actions but we can not chose the consequences.”
I also read a book last week called “The Message” by Lance Richardson. He was a young man who had been comatose for a month or so and during that time he literally went to Paradise and was allowed to remember and record (actually was told to record) his experiences. He made it all sound so wonderful. I am looking forward to experiencing it myself. Altho’ I am no hurry to get there, I certainly don’t fear leaving this life. He pointed out that his ancestors whom he met there told him that they spent much “time” watching out for and literally helping their descendants get thro’ their struggles and happenings in this life. I found great comfort in that. Altho’ Lance returned to this life and was able to recover much, much faster than anyone every expected he could, he died about five years later. I remember taking care of him as a patient in the hospital. That was before his after death experience. He was two years older than our oldest son.
Both of these books has influenced and strengthened my testimony. I liked to think that my father who died 38 ½ years ago met and conversed with our youngest son as well as our grandchildren before they were born. I now think that he and others are helping all of us thro’ our trials and experiences in this life. This idea is not new with me nor for me, this book just strengthened it.
I also read a book last week called “The Message” by Lance Richardson. He was a young man who had been comatose for a month or so and during that time he literally went to Paradise and was allowed to remember and record (actually was told to record) his experiences. He made it all sound so wonderful. I am looking forward to experiencing it myself. Altho’ I am no hurry to get there, I certainly don’t fear leaving this life. He pointed out that his ancestors whom he met there told him that they spent much “time” watching out for and literally helping their descendants get thro’ their struggles and happenings in this life. I found great comfort in that. Altho’ Lance returned to this life and was able to recover much, much faster than anyone every expected he could, he died about five years later. I remember taking care of him as a patient in the hospital. That was before his after death experience. He was two years older than our oldest son.
Both of these books has influenced and strengthened my testimony. I liked to think that my father who died 38 ½ years ago met and conversed with our youngest son as well as our grandchildren before they were born. I now think that he and others are helping all of us thro’ our trials and experiences in this life. This idea is not new with me nor for me, this book just strengthened it.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Our Fourth of July
We had a wonderful Fourth of July. We went up to Rexburg to get Bryce, our grandson who is going to BYUI up there. Since he said he tho’t it would be nice to go to the parade, we went. We hadn’t been probably for about ten years. It was a nice parade and I enjoyed it. someone had roped off an area that they weren’t using and since the parade had already started we set up our chairs there. No one asked us to leave so I guess it was OK. It didn’t last too long and didn’t start to get hot until just before it ended. Bryce had asked if we could go to the Ammon Deseret Book Store and meet his friend Mike. Since we were on 16th street and DB is on about 31st we decided we were halfway there so we went. It turned out that Mike is my favorite person who worked at the DB across from the temple. It also turned out that he was transferred to the one in Ammon only about a month before and he would start as the manager of the on in Rexburg the next Monday. So I will miss him but it was very unique and neat that we had dealt with each other before. He gave us each a free piece of pie. It was delicious. Bryce and I got coconut cream and my husband got banana cream. We stopped at Albertson’s and got some cherries. We watched Little Women then I fixed a Mexican Casserole with hamburger, refried beans, onions, taco seasoning and lots of cheese on top. Oh and Frietos. We were ready to leave by 4:30 to go over to a friend’s house who lives across from the boat dock where they shoot off the fireworks. We had to leave early because they close the road and don’t allow traffic thro’ after about 5:30 or so. Bryce and I were all ready to go and had everything in the car and we couldn’t find my husband. We looked outside, upstairs, down stairs, everywhere we could think of close by. Then we got in the car and drove around a couple of blocks looking ofr him. Since we couldn’t see him anywhere we just went back into the house and sat and waited for him. He finally sauntered back. We live 730 North and he had gone to 500 South to get a piece of carpet that he saw on the way home earlier that day. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy. I have told him before that when he leaves he needs to tell me where he is going. Had he done so we could have met him down there and picked him up. Yes, he was walking! Well, we finally got there about 5:30. My friend had told me that we should probably be there by 5:00 because she didn’t know what time they closed the road. Anyway, we had supper with them. American, Korean and Mexican fare it turned out. All very delicious. We met people who knew people we knew, people we had worked with and others. My friend had told me that they found out the first year they were there that their yard filled up early in the evening with people they didn’t know who invaded their house, some without asking, to use their facilities and they decided they wanted to fill up their yard with people they knew. And the fireworks were fantastic!! They are choreographed with music and they had set up speakers so we could hear the music above the noise of the fireworks. We had debris raining down on us but nothing big or burned us. It took us 40-45 minutes to get home instead of 10-15 it would have otherwise. My husband wasn’t very patient but I talked to people who took an hour and a half or more. So it could have been worse.
On Saturday we took Bryce to see Penny Promise, a clean movie that was a wonderful story. We all really enjoyed it. Later that day we took Bryce back to Rexburg. It had been in the high 90’s both days. I’m thankful that our house stays fairly cool.
We hadn’t been to the center since the 23th of June. We didn’t do a lot with our time off. I did get a tooth pulled and we did a little extra cleaning. It was nice to have some leisure time.
We went back this last Wednesday. I helped a young woman who had gone on her mission to Finland. She said the temple there was in the process of being built while she was there and last summer she and some others went back there and went thro’ the temple. She told me that the Saints there prayed so hard that President Hinckley would live long enough to dedicate it. It was the last temple he dedicated. She stated, I think that is what kept him alive so long, was the prayers of the Saints there. On Saturday, I helped a woman who had come into do a temple ready for her son-in-law’s family. It was really neat talking to her. I showed her some of the things I had on my PAF because she had told me she was looking for pictures of her great-grandparents. I showed her how you could have pictures and documents linked to the PAF program. I taught my first PAF class of the 2nd round of teaching them yesterday. There was even one patron there as well as some of the new missionaries. I was happy about that. Summer is a slow time there at the center. People have too many other things they want to do. I had a good day tho’ and could feel the spirit was with me as I helped a few of the people there. And I learned something new again. There have been very few times I have been there at the FHC that I haven’t learned something new. It is a wonderful feeling to learn. And also to be able to teach others what one has learned.
On Saturday we took Bryce to see Penny Promise, a clean movie that was a wonderful story. We all really enjoyed it. Later that day we took Bryce back to Rexburg. It had been in the high 90’s both days. I’m thankful that our house stays fairly cool.
We hadn’t been to the center since the 23th of June. We didn’t do a lot with our time off. I did get a tooth pulled and we did a little extra cleaning. It was nice to have some leisure time.
We went back this last Wednesday. I helped a young woman who had gone on her mission to Finland. She said the temple there was in the process of being built while she was there and last summer she and some others went back there and went thro’ the temple. She told me that the Saints there prayed so hard that President Hinckley would live long enough to dedicate it. It was the last temple he dedicated. She stated, I think that is what kept him alive so long, was the prayers of the Saints there. On Saturday, I helped a woman who had come into do a temple ready for her son-in-law’s family. It was really neat talking to her. I showed her some of the things I had on my PAF because she had told me she was looking for pictures of her great-grandparents. I showed her how you could have pictures and documents linked to the PAF program. I taught my first PAF class of the 2nd round of teaching them yesterday. There was even one patron there as well as some of the new missionaries. I was happy about that. Summer is a slow time there at the center. People have too many other things they want to do. I had a good day tho’ and could feel the spirit was with me as I helped a few of the people there. And I learned something new again. There have been very few times I have been there at the FHC that I haven’t learned something new. It is a wonderful feeling to learn. And also to be able to teach others what one has learned.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Busy Times
We have been quite busy since I last wrote. I don’t think I have written at all this month (shame shameJ). We went to Grace to spend Memorial Day with Grandma Robinson. We left Sunday afternoon to go down. We stayed until Tuesday morning then headed for Utah. We spent some time with Grandma Wendel and got many family history things with our digital camera. I’m very glad about that. We did that on Wednesday. Thursday we went to Natasha’s graduation, then left Friday morning and left for Blackfoot for Kylie’s graduation Friday night. Karen told me as soon as we got there that Brittany and Shani were celebrating her birthday (which was the Wednesday before) Saturday evening at Brittany & Wes’s new house in Rockford or Rockland, I never can remember which. Their house is sooo nice and so big. It is probably twice as big as ours is. We had a very nice time there. Shani, Jon, Macie and Porter were there as well as Grandma & Grandpa Gray, Bryan and Bryce and us. It was close to a kitchen full. J
We had the Family History Center to do Saturday (I had to teach my last PAF class). So we drove back home Friday night then went to the FHC Saturday (We were there exactly 10 ½ hours and that included sleeping); having packed before we left we then drove down to Karen’s. We stayed there that night and went to Sacrament meeting the next day then went back to Karen’s to visit with your dad before he left to go back home after bringing Bryce out here. They got to Karen’s shortly after we did Friday evening. We stayed for Kylie’s Seminary graduation Sunday night, took Bryce home, met his one roommate and finally got back home at 9:00 that night. It was a big week!!!
I had had a sore that wouldn’t heal cut out off my left forearm the Thursday before we left and I could tell before we got home that there was infection in it. It was very red and spreading, tender wherever the red was, hot and it didn’t look good and felt just as bad as it looked. I went into the doctor Monday and had the sutures removed. I also had an IV antibiotic that day and the next two days then took it by mouth for 10 more days. I went to the doctor every day that week except for Friday. I did go to the FHC as well.
This is the fourth week of June and I don’t know where the time has gone. Richard and Téa got here on the 4th of June. They stayed with Téa’s mother. We saw them at least six different times. It was so good to see them. Duncan is now 10 ½. He will be a deacon before we know it. Cheanna turned 9 the Saturday after they got here. We went over to the Rydalchs’ and helped them celebrate. That was after spending 6 ½ hours at the center. (Our supervisor let us leave 1 1/2 hours early.) It was fun but Sunday after church I was surely tired. Monday too. Emma is 7 and Elena turned 6 day before yesterday. They were back in Phoenix by then. Ephraim is 2 1/2 , he’ll be 3 in August and is a real live wire. I really think he’s even more active than Jason if you can imagine. Richard said that he has uninstalled many programs on their computer many times and Téa said that if they had about six locks on their doors way up high they would be able to hear him unlocking them and get to him before he got away! J Anya turned a year old last month. Richard brought all six of them to church with him (Tea’s wasn’t feeling well.) and they were all so well behaved. (Even Ephraim. He didn’t hold still the rest of the day tho’ except when he took a nap at our place after dinner.) I don’t think the people in front of us knew that there were six children behind them. We picked up Macie and took her to the Arctic Circle and met Richard, Téa and their children there one Thursday afternoon. It was fun. Macie ate some lunch then went to play on the toys. She started following around two little blond girls. One a couple of years older than she and one about the same age. I had just got thro’ telling Richard, “she has all these cousins here and she’s following those little blond girls around.” About five minutes later Joy and Gerald Gray (Kent’s parents) walked in with Kylie. The two little blond girls were their daughter, Kelly’s grandchildren and their great grandchildren like Macie is our great granddaughter (and theirs too). It couldn’t have worked out better if we’d planned it.
Yesterday, we blessed Porter Dan Chugg. Jon gave him a lovely blessing. We then had a lunch out on Shani & Jon’s back lawn. It was very nice. They live in a very young ward. Their bishop doesn’t look old enough to be a bishop. (Needless to say he looks very young.) They have at least five nurseries in their ward. And noisy?!! You could hardly hear the speakers and you had to really concentrate to be able to understand them. The subject was one that has become close to my heart….Family History….They talked about the New Family Search program that we hope will be rolled out in our area by the end of the year. At the first of the year, they told us at the center that it would be within the next few months. Then they had many changes that the ones who already had it had suggested and so they pulled it back. Last Saturday someone said it may be next February or April before we get it. I sincerely hope not. But as our director said, “By the time we get it (we will be among the last to get it) all the bugs should be worked out.” That part is good. Last Wednesday I was able to start reading thro’ the special e-lessons they have online for the consultants. I worked on it Saturday also. I’m so excited about it. It will be neat learning it and be able to teach it to others.
We had the Family History Center to do Saturday (I had to teach my last PAF class). So we drove back home Friday night then went to the FHC Saturday (We were there exactly 10 ½ hours and that included sleeping); having packed before we left we then drove down to Karen’s. We stayed there that night and went to Sacrament meeting the next day then went back to Karen’s to visit with your dad before he left to go back home after bringing Bryce out here. They got to Karen’s shortly after we did Friday evening. We stayed for Kylie’s Seminary graduation Sunday night, took Bryce home, met his one roommate and finally got back home at 9:00 that night. It was a big week!!!
I had had a sore that wouldn’t heal cut out off my left forearm the Thursday before we left and I could tell before we got home that there was infection in it. It was very red and spreading, tender wherever the red was, hot and it didn’t look good and felt just as bad as it looked. I went into the doctor Monday and had the sutures removed. I also had an IV antibiotic that day and the next two days then took it by mouth for 10 more days. I went to the doctor every day that week except for Friday. I did go to the FHC as well.
This is the fourth week of June and I don’t know where the time has gone. Richard and Téa got here on the 4th of June. They stayed with Téa’s mother. We saw them at least six different times. It was so good to see them. Duncan is now 10 ½. He will be a deacon before we know it. Cheanna turned 9 the Saturday after they got here. We went over to the Rydalchs’ and helped them celebrate. That was after spending 6 ½ hours at the center. (Our supervisor let us leave 1 1/2 hours early.) It was fun but Sunday after church I was surely tired. Monday too. Emma is 7 and Elena turned 6 day before yesterday. They were back in Phoenix by then. Ephraim is 2 1/2 , he’ll be 3 in August and is a real live wire. I really think he’s even more active than Jason if you can imagine. Richard said that he has uninstalled many programs on their computer many times and Téa said that if they had about six locks on their doors way up high they would be able to hear him unlocking them and get to him before he got away! J Anya turned a year old last month. Richard brought all six of them to church with him (Tea’s wasn’t feeling well.) and they were all so well behaved. (Even Ephraim. He didn’t hold still the rest of the day tho’ except when he took a nap at our place after dinner.) I don’t think the people in front of us knew that there were six children behind them. We picked up Macie and took her to the Arctic Circle and met Richard, Téa and their children there one Thursday afternoon. It was fun. Macie ate some lunch then went to play on the toys. She started following around two little blond girls. One a couple of years older than she and one about the same age. I had just got thro’ telling Richard, “she has all these cousins here and she’s following those little blond girls around.” About five minutes later Joy and Gerald Gray (Kent’s parents) walked in with Kylie. The two little blond girls were their daughter, Kelly’s grandchildren and their great grandchildren like Macie is our great granddaughter (and theirs too). It couldn’t have worked out better if we’d planned it.
Yesterday, we blessed Porter Dan Chugg. Jon gave him a lovely blessing. We then had a lunch out on Shani & Jon’s back lawn. It was very nice. They live in a very young ward. Their bishop doesn’t look old enough to be a bishop. (Needless to say he looks very young.) They have at least five nurseries in their ward. And noisy?!! You could hardly hear the speakers and you had to really concentrate to be able to understand them. The subject was one that has become close to my heart….Family History….They talked about the New Family Search program that we hope will be rolled out in our area by the end of the year. At the first of the year, they told us at the center that it would be within the next few months. Then they had many changes that the ones who already had it had suggested and so they pulled it back. Last Saturday someone said it may be next February or April before we get it. I sincerely hope not. But as our director said, “By the time we get it (we will be among the last to get it) all the bugs should be worked out.” That part is good. Last Wednesday I was able to start reading thro’ the special e-lessons they have online for the consultants. I worked on it Saturday also. I’m so excited about it. It will be neat learning it and be able to teach it to others.
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