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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mother's Day 2008

Last Sunday we were in Omaha, Nebraska at Bryce’s graduation. It was soo nice to be there. I am glad we were able to go. We saw Sandy’s mom and dad again. We hadn’t seen them for two years since Chris graduated. It’s nice to be able to visit and catch up with them. Bryce’s graduation was very nice. There were about 304 graduates as close as I could figure. There were two student speakers as well as the school principal and the chairman of the school board. Sara played in the band. She plays the trombone. So it was just adults there plus Jason.

We left the Tuesday before. We left the house at 6:45 am. Our home teacher, Todd Hong, was kind enough to take us to the shuttle on his way to work. He works in Fort Hall. We had a couple of hours from the time we got to the airport till the plane left. We had a stopover in Denver with a two hour wait there. we got to Omaha about 7 pm and to Bryan & Sandy’s house by 8:00. It was a long day! I didn’t feel to bad tho’ until the next morning then I really felt like “the morning after the night before”. By the afternoon I was feeling better. Bryan wasn’t there. He had had to leave the Sunday before for Vandenberg AFB for his work. He got back about 7 pm Friday night. Jason was a joy to be around. He seemed to know us and wasn’t a bit shy around us. We hadn’t seen him since last August. Helen and Al, Sandy’s parents got there Wednesday evening. Thursday evening everyone went to bed except for Sandy, Helen and me. We stayed up until 1:00 am just visiting and catching up. No interruptions or anything. The time quickly got away from us but we all thoroughly enjoyed it. We talked a little bit about everything and nothing. Wednesday evening, Helen, Al Karl and I stayed home while Sandy went to the high school for the awards program for Bryce and Sara. Jason kept us all four going. He sneaked outside twice before we could stop him…of course out of the front door. They have put locks high up on their doors because Jason can navigate even the dead bolt locks. After the second time we were smart enough to lock the high lock. My husband and I took him for a walk around the block. He trotted all the way around…and it’s a big block! I kept hold of his hand all the way around. He was very cooperative about that for which I was very thankful. I knew if he got away from me, I wouldn’t be able to catch him. He just moves too fast.

On Sunday Bryan, Jason, Karl and I went to the Cottonwood ward to sacrament meeting. While Bryan was upstairs getting ready to go, Jason locked himself in the bathroom (Sandy had told me that he locks the door when he goes in to do things he knows he shouldn’t and that there was a small screwdriver above the doorframe of each bathroom. Bryan found Jason sitting in the sink in two inches of cold water with my tooth brush in his mouth and my toothpaste in his hand. For some reason he really likes toothbrushes. Their ward didn’t meet until 1:00 pm and we all had to leave around 11:30 to get to Omaha. Bryce requested Schnitzel, potatoes and gravy, rolls, corn and green beans, and strawberry lemonade. Sandy also surprised him with a cheese cake, which he hadn’t requested but wasn’t a bit disappointed when he found out about it. After dinner we were able to talk to Chris who is in Chile and Jessica who is in Tucson. It was wonderful to be able to talk to them. They both are doing very well and having great success on their respective missions. They sound pretty much the same but more mature and wiser. Monday night I was outside with Bryan and Jason. Karl and Helen were out there for a while also. Bryan showed us all around his yard and showed us his trees and plants. His hobby is very much plants. I think it may have started when he worked for Kim Johnson while he was still in high school and the summer before his mission. He may have also worked for him after his mission as well. In fact, I think he did. After Karl and Helen went in I started playing “I’m going to get you” with Jason. He would run and I would go after him. He went slow enough that I didn’t have much trouble keeping up with him. He some how got the idea that he was “safe” by the flower box Bryan has in the middle of his garden. He would run around then head for the flowerbox when he wanted a rest. He would run and then turn around and face me squealing; he’d place his hands over his face and then run at me and grab me around the legs. We both had great fun. I can safely say that it wore me out much more than it did Jason.


My husband and I were each able to call and talk to our mother's and wish them a Happy Mother's Day. Of course we were there with Bryan, Michael called that evening. Karen had brought me a gift the day before we left. After we got home I found out that Richard had called Monday and Kim had sent me a nice card. It was good to hear or see each one of them.

We left Bryan’s about 10:30 am Tuesday morning. We had an uneventful trip until we got to Denver. The plane was late starting to board. We all got boarded about two minutes before we were to take off, then we just sat there. After about ten minute, the captain came in front of the cabin and told us that they had found something suspicious in one of the bathrooms. We all had to deplane taking everything with us that we had brought on board. They had called the police and the fire department. We stood in the gateway for about ten minutes, then they told us to sit down in the terminal. After we had all been sitting down about a minute they told us we could reboard. We took off a full hour after we were first told too. I was told that someone had wrapped an air freshener from the toilet seat in toilet paper. My husband was told that someone had spread foot powder all over the bathroom. Maybe it was both. Anyway, buy the time we got to SLC our shuttle had left and we had to wait another hour for one to arrive. So we were two hours later getting home than we had anticipated. All in all it was a good trip and we had a wonderful time and are glad we went. Of course it is always good to get home.

Wednesday morning I had a 10:00 nail appointment and then we had to be at the FHC at 12:15. I kept telling myself that I could let down and do nothing Thursday. That did help me get thro’ Wednesday. I had Thursday and Friday only to prepare for my class on Saturday. It was on the Advanced Focus filter of the PAF program. Again, I felt the Spirit helping me and guiding me as I was preparing it. I spent about 6 ½ hours total on that class. I’m glad that I understood it as well as I did. I had used it twice to help partrons to isolate some of the individuals on their programs that had things on their individual screen that needed to be changed. I also had to write up the program for me to give and also the step by step instructions of how to use it. It went very well. I have only two more classes to teach and this round will be over. I will start again on July 12. I anticipate it being easier to teach the second round. I sincerely hope so.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

I am so thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost! I have relied on it heavily since we were called as Family History Missionaries a year ago but never more than last week. Since they called me in January to teach the PAF classes there at the center and I found out it would be both the beginning and advanced PAF classes, I have worried about the one I taught yesterday. It was on Notes & Sources. This is the part that teaches how to document the data on your PAF program. Anyone involved with Family History or Genealogy will tell you that documentation is very important. Without it one would never know the correct dates and places of the events we place in our programs whether it is on paper or computer. I had attended two different classes on it taught by two different teachers. I had an inkling what it was about but as far as teaching it to someone else so they could understand it, I was very fuzzy. The first ADV PAF (as I call it) was a week ago yesterday. It was showing and understanding the Tools menu on the program, especially the preferences part where one can customize how his own program looks. I spent a few hours on it off and on during the week but was able to fairly quickly figure things out. I could feel the Spirit guiding me on some of the things that I had never been shown on.

Well, last Monday, I spent 1 ½ hours on the Notes & Sources. Tuesday morning as I got up I tho’t I would go to my 9:00 water aerobics class and then the 10:30 Silver Sneakers class and then come home and spend time trying to figure out Notes & Sources. Well, I got up about 7:30 and came in and started trying to figure things out. I had been praying for days for guidance and understanding of the program so I could teach it. Once I started except for occasional trips to the bathroom and getting a drink of water or something to eat I spent 7 hours trying to figure things out. When I first started, my mind and brain felt so muddled and foggy. I could feel the Spirit teaching me and guiding me as I tried the different ways to add things to the program and figure out just how to do it. I also wrote up the things that I would say and figured out a step by step handout to give to those who attended the class. When I finished, felt sooo enlightened and at peace! It was a wonderful experience. The rest of the week I just reviewed my materials that I had written and added some sources into my PAF. I figure I spent at least ten hours on preparation for that one class!! I thank my Heavenly Father for the Gift of the Holy Ghost for I know without it I never would have been able to do what I did.

Yesterday when it came time to teach the class I was very humble and prayerful. The class went very well. As I was going thro’ the materials, I’d hear someone say, “I didn’t know that!” or ”that’s how you do it!” They asked pertinent and important questions that if I didn’t have the answer, I replied, “Let’s see what works.” I learned things even as I taught. It was such a satisfying feeling as I finished the class. There were eight people there, two patrons and the others missionaries.

Today, we had our second historical Regional Stake conference by Satellite. There were 67 Stakes present from Pocatello to St. Anthony here in Southeast Idaho. President Uchtdorf was presiding, Elder Tingy of the Presidency of the Seventy, Sister Elaine S Dalton and Elder Russell M Nelson also talked. It was sooo inspiring. President Uchtodorf told us of three things we can do to insure our place in the Kingdom of God.
!. Have a current temple recommend. He said that CTR could also stand for that.
2. Read the scriptures daily.
3. have daily prayer.
I need to improve on my scripture reading. I have really fallen away from doing that regularly, which is too bad.

It is wonderful what we can experience now with the modern technology that we have now. I’m so thankful to be alive now with all of this technology and especially with the Priesthood restored and all of the blessings of both. It is a wonderful time indeed.

it's Been A While

We have been kind of busy lately. I enjoyed conference sooo much. The Spirit bore witness to me that Thomas S Monson is now the prophet of God. His humility is very touching. I remember thinking when he was sustained as an apostle that he would probably be someday the prophet. Your dad was two I think at that time…if that old even. I loved all of the talks and tho’t they were so timely.

Last weekend we were in Utah. We left Thursday and came back Saturday. We stayed at the Kims in Orem Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We went to Alex’s baptism on Saturday and spent the day with the Kims. Friday we spent in American Fork with Grandma Wendel. Joy and Tom were there. We had home made chicken noodle soup and home made rolls for lunch. Rachel and her son, Wyatt, Rebekah and Deborah came over after lunch to visit for a while. It was very nice to see them. We went up to Roy and Cindy’s for dinner. Bonnie and David were also there and Julie, Johnny’s wife came after work. We had a lovely dinner and really enjoyed visiting with everyone. The last time we were all together was at Johnny’s funeral six years ago. We had a delicious dinner and great company. Bonnie & David had worked at the SL temple that morning. I think they have to be there by 3:45 AM, of all times! We got back to Orem close to 10:00 pm. Since both the Kims and Michael & Tanya’s church starts at 1:00 pm we decided to visit with Grandma W on the way to Michael’s. Because others were there when we were Friday, it didn’t count as a visit. We spent Sunday night at Michael’s. We were going to play Pinochle but Grandpa watched a Star Trek—Next Generation show and Natasha and Michael and I just talked. It was sooo enjoyable. Tanya wasn’t feeling well at all so she was up in bed. On the way home Monday, we stopped in SLC at a Golden Corral on 34th West and 35th South to meet with my best girlfriend in high school and her husband. We hadn’t seen each other for at least seven years. It was sooo nice to catch up with each others’ family and what we all were doing now that all of us have retired. They are ordinance workers at the SL temple. They work Fridays with Bonnie & David.

I was soo tired when we got home Monday evening. We stopped in Blackfoot at Karen & Kent’s but no one was home. I didn’t do anything Tuesday; I should say I didn’t go anywhere Tuesday, just did things around the house. They’ve asked me to teach both the Beginning and Advanced PAF classes at the FHC. I started the first Advanced PAF last Saturday. I spent 3-4 hours total preparing for it. it was on the “tools menu”. This week it is on Sources, Citations and Notes. That is the documentation and how you do it for the dates that you have on your program. I’m a little worried about it. Mainly because I haven’t done that much with it. I spent a couple of hours on it today and so far some of it is as clear as mud. Next week is “multimedia” which is putting pictures and actual documents on your computer, PAF program. That one doesn’t bother me that much. I’ve done it quite a bit. The Lord has blessed me so far in teaching these classes and I’m sure he will continue to do so.

In just two weeks we will be going to Papillion for Bryce’s graduation. We leave May 6th and come home May 13th. I’m really looking forward to being there with everyone (everyone that is except you and Chris. That will really be different.) You all have always been there when we’ve been there. Natasha will graduate on May 29 and Kylie on May 30 so we will be able to attend all three for which I am very grateful that it worked out that way. I haven’t really worried about it but I have wondered if we would have to choose and hoped we wouldn’t.

The Work is Going Well!

I can’t believe that two weeks have passed already since I wrote. We have been keeping busy what with church, FHC, exercising and just plain living. My sweetheart has been fighting a bad cold for two or more weeks now. It’s been forever since I’ve had a kiss. But I haven’t caught his cold! So that has had good results that way anyway. He has been able to keep up with the FHC but hasn’t felt well sometimes while doing it.

The work at the center is going very well. I’m able to help people without having to ask other missionaries how to finish up with something. It feels sooo good! A week ago on the same day, I was indexing and at two different times I looked up and two different people beckoned me over to them. And I knew enough to help them. Last Saturday, another missionary asked me to help him help another patron. That was very rewarding also. It had to do with importing another PAF file onto the patron’s own file. For some reason it wasn’t working. When I walked her thro’ it, it worked. Another missionary asked for Brother Sweat and he was downstairs on another assignment so I offered to see if I could help. I could! This time it was exporting a partial PAF file to add to her main file in such a way that there wouldn’t be a lot of matching and merging to do. The nice thing about that was: that was what I was teaching my PAF class on that afternoon. It was very good review for the class. Brother Jim Larsen came to my class. There were nine there in all at one time! The most ever. He teaches the Wednesday evening classes. He said he even learned something knew from me and was impressed with my handout. I got my handouts from Brother Sweat who used to teach the PAF class on Saturday. They have step by step instructions for each procedure. I don’t think he taught the Advanced PAF class tho’. So I will have to make my own handouts for the coming Advanced classes. I at least have an example to follow from the previous classes. It will just take more time to prepare each week than it has before since I already had the instructions. We have been on our mission now for 11 months. I’m thankful that we extended as long as we did. I’m really beginning to feel like I can do some good now and know what I am doing. A couple of weeks ago I taught my husband how to do indexing. He spends quite a bit of time on a computer now. It is good to see him doing it.

I had my annual eye exam a week or so ago with good results. Altho’ my eyes are very dry, the doctor could tell just by looking at them that they were dry, my retinas and everything look good. The vision in my right eye is 20/50 but the left is 20/30. So I’m still good to drive. I just need to put Systane eye lubrication drops in my eyes three or four times a day. They really do feel much better. I felt like I had allergies or something because they were burning.

I also went to see my orthopedist a couple of weeks ago. The nurse measured me and said that I was 5’ ¾”. I said, “I am not! I am 5’2”!” She asked if I wanted her to prove it and I told her yes! Well, she remeasured me and proved that I am 5’ ¾”. When we went to our daughter’s place Saturday to help celebrate her middle daughter’s 22nd birthday, I stood by her and she is considerably taller than I am. She is 5’2”. I also stood (all of us were in stocking feet) by her youngest daughter who is 5’ 1 ½ “ tall and she is also noticeably taller than I am. So I am shrinking for sure!! I used to think I was almost 5’ 4” because I knew I was about ½ inch shorter than my mother who always said she was 5’ 4 ¼ “. So I figured I was between 5’ 3 ½ “ and 5’ 3 ¾ “. When I had my knee surgery, they measured me and said I was 5’ 2” then. That’s what I was the last time I was measured. I admit it has been awhile since I was measured and I can’t reach my top cupboards like I used to could (thank goodness my husband is tall) but under 5’ 1” or just over 5’! It makes me wonder what I will end up at. Oh, the crowning convincer of my shortened stature: we had a Hawiian Luau for our ward party last Friday night and I wore my muumuu and kept tripping over it! Which I had never done before.

The Last of February to the First of March

Last Monday we had zone conference there at the FHC. President and Mrs. DeMordant of the IF Temple presidency were the speakers. I got to know him at the hospital. He was one of our radiologists. He and his wife have been mission parents in the South Africa, Johannesburg Mission. Sister DeMordant stated that one way they kept their new converts coming and not falling between the cracks was they instituted a program where within one week of their baptism they were visited by members who talked to them about doing baptisms for their kindred dead. They started this by asking if they had any other relatives who were members of our church. If the answer was no then they started telling them about baptism for the dead. They started them on making some records with starting with themselves, adding their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. In essence, starting on their family history. Within two months they had them entering the temple doing baptisms for their kindred dead and after one year 80% of their converts entered the temple for their own endowments. It sounded wonderful! President DeMordant told the history of Family History. I found it very interesting. The one statement he made that really thrilled me and I sat up and took notice of was: The general authorities (I don’t remember which ones) have stated that those who work on geneoalogy, family history, whichever you wish to call it we be greatly blessed and their children and their children will also be greatly blessed. And angels will attend them. My tho’t was, our children and grandchildren will have angels attend them because of our service here as well as my husband and me being blessed. That made me feel very good.

This past Friday and Saturday was Time Out for Women. I am so thankful that I attended. I had never been to one before. I so thoroughly enjoyed it and feel so loved and so much better about myself than I did before. The presenters (that’s what they called them instead of speakers) were for Friday evening, Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sheri Dew with Jenny Oakes Baker playing many numbers on her violin. I loved all of it. Sister Nelson talked of asking pertinent and poignant questions whenever things get boring, or we are troubled. We can ask them of ourselves or of others as well. Sister Dew told us that our “Sphere of Influence” was much larger than we can ever imagine. Jenny played some popular, classical and familiar pieces and hymns. She plays beautiful and is quite a showman. I came home feeling so filled. My granddaughter picked me up and we met her mother there as well as my daughter-in-law, my daughter’s husband sister and two of her daughters, and my gradndaughter's mother-in-law. There were eight of us together. There were over 1800 women there. The place was sold out.

The next morning my granddaughter picked me up at 7:10 and we met her mother there. The others came later. The place was packed again. Both times the pre-show was done by Mercy River a trio of three young wives and mothers. They have beautiful voices that blend so well. They sang a few songs then put words up on the screen and had us sing some favorite hymns. It was very enjoyable and also set the mood very well. They first presented all of the presenters of the day after welcoming us. They were Kenneth Cope, Emily Watts, S. Michael Wilcox, Chris Stewart, Jason Wright, and Sharon G Larsen. Kenneth Cope is a song writer/singer. His songs are so poignant and right to the point. He writes many of his own songs altho’ he did a medley of other songs too. One of his songs was about God loving broken things (people). I later learned (I couldn’t see the program well enough to read the individual bios until after I got home—the lights were dim.) that he is now serving as a bishop. It made a lot of sense to me because he seemed so close to our Heavenly Father. I tho’t, “Ahh, that explains it.”

Sister Emily Watts is the author of “Take two chocolates and call me in the Morning”. She could be so funny and yet so serious and spiritual. She talked about Mother guilt and how we all have it but really shouldn’t because our children are given their agency and most things we feel so guilty about isn’t our fault. Brother Wilcox is an institute teacher at the University of Utah. He spoke on the great and wondrous world the Lord has made for us. He gave an analogy of the queen of chess. He explained that the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. And then he said, “You sisters are God’s queens.” My heart swelled with knowing the truthfulness of that statement. Notice I didn’t write and he didn’t say that the queen was the most powerful and important piece on the board. Only the most powerful. He was referring to our roles as wives and mothers, teachers, etc. It kind of goes along with our “Sphere of Influence being greater than we can imagine.” Unfortunately, Satan also knows that and has been trying to put women down since the beginning of time.

Brother Stewart is a former pilot with the Air Force and also a well renowned author. He wrote the “Great and the Terrible series. He could be funny at times but also very spiritual. Jason Wright wrote the “Christmas Jar” and “The Wednesday Letters”. He spoke of the way hand-written letters have almost become obsolete with all of today’s technology. He challenged each of us to hand write a letter that night. I chose to write to my mother. I wrote seven pages as fast as I could write. Karl told me that it looked like my nurse’s writing. J Sister Larsen is a survivor of cancer, infertility and a wayward son. She is also Ardith Kapp’s sister. She mentioned that when she was serving on the general Young women’s board she and Sheri Dew were traveling companions. Sheri has always been very popular and she found herself being ignored while everyone made a big fuss over Sheri. She told of one time Sheri stated, “I’m always a bride’smaid and never the bride.” Sharon said, “ I told her to stuff it! I am Ardith Kapp’s sister and Sheri Dew’s traveling companion!” She got a big laugh out of that. She was also very spiritual. She said her four most important things to remember were: (And she stated that we may have different ones but should have equally important ones to us)
Forgive and be Fogiven
Remember the Lord knows what will make you happy
Keep your covenents
And I can’t remember the last one. They were all very good.
Anyway, I came away feeling so loved by my Heavenly Father and so thankful that I am a woman. The next morning before church I was practicing for RS. I had chosen “My Nature is Devine” from the Young Women’s song book. The last part of that states, “You my child are mine” saying the spirit whispers it to us. And all of those wonderful feelings came back to me. I hope I can carry that feeling with me for a long time.

A Good Week

Last Sunday when we were talking to our oldest son he asked if we were willing to spend Mother’s Day with them. Their second son is graduating from high school that day. I told him of course we were. I got online the next morning to check out tickets for our flight. I had a received an e-mail from Travelocity that said we could get tickets for $172+ round trip. I signed up for it. It did not ask me how many tickets I wanted so I tho’t well, I can sign up for me and then do it for my husband on the same flight. So I tried that. I got us to Omaha OK but on the trip back all the flights were sold out. I tho’t, “Oh no! we go him there now we need to get him back.” I noticed a place that I could click on that said “same flight for more money” or something similar. I found a place on the same plane for about $40 more. I tho’t at least we can go together. But then on the return flight it had us arriving in Denver where we change planes and me leaving a hour and a half earlier than he would. I could just wait in SLC for him and schedule the shuttle for after he arrived but on our way back last year while I was using the restroom, he went on ahead and turned left instead of right and went further than three football fields before he turned around and came back. When I found out that he wasn’t at our gate, I retraced my steps and got back to the area around the restroom just as he did. We were the last to board the plane. They called our name three different times over the PAS and I felt like we just barely made it. So I was kind of concerned about that. He does have some short term memory loss which has become very evident since we started our mission at the FHC. So I called him in from outside and laid it all out for him. He said, “that sounds kind of scary to me but I guess if that’s the only way we can get back then go for it. I went to minimize that screen and hit the red X instead and was mad at myself for doing it. I had to start all over again from the beginning! Thank goodness I did. As I started over and went thro’ the process, we ended up on the same planes all the way thro’ the trip both going and coming. I didn’t think twice about booking it that’s for sure. I told my husband, “Some is watching over us!” I’m so thankful that it all worked out. It is another testimony to me that our Heavenly Father knows us and is aware of what we need.

Yesterday morning we went thro’ the temple with our third oldest granddaughter for her own endowments. Since we are supposed to be at the FHC every Saturday, when I found out she was planning on going, I called our Saturday supervisor and told him the situation. He said, “Go and have a good time. I would have been upset if you hadn’t called and had just come into the center that day.” He was sooo understanding and there were other missionaries that couldn’t be there so they were short that day but he said that it all worked out. It was so nice being there with her. There were many people there from her father’s and husband’s families. We were the only one’s from her mother’s family. I was just glad we were able to attend. We have been with the four grandchildren who have received their own endowment when they went thro’ the first time. I hope we can continue that. We have also been to all of our grandchildren’s baptisms that have been baptized. We have eight more to go. I hope we can continue with this practice.

I taught my first PAF class yesterday. There were only five people there including myself, my husband and one missionary we work with on Wednesday. So that means there were two patrons who came in. When there are plenty of missionaries there, many of them attend the class so you actually have someone to teach. But I just sat down and made eye contact with them. They were sitting on the row right by the computer, so I was able to just sit there and work the computer and they could hear me OK. If the class ever gets any larger, I will have my husband work the computer and I will probably have to use the mike because I have such a soft voice that even when I use my diaphragm people often say they can’t hear me. The two patrons were a mother who lives here and her son from Arco. They neither one have internet. I think the son will have it by the time he comes next week. His mother may hold off for awhile. The missionary from Wednesday even said he learned something that he didn’t know. That made me feel really good because he is the one who taught me about the program since we started at the FHC. The class was a short one. It only last about 30 minutes. So I took them out on the computer and helped them get on FamilySearch.org. I helped them register so they can obtain LDS ordinance data. They both just happened to have their temple recommends with them that has their membership number on it. In order to register you need your membership number and your confirmation date. Both can be obtained from the ward clerk of the ward. They found 13 generations of people with the LDS ordinances on some of them anyway. The son had a flash drive so it was tricky to download it onto the hard drive then onto his flash drive. There is an extra step in there that isn’t explained (everything else had step by step directions.) So I cornered another missionary who I knew would probably know how to do it, which he did, and he showed them what to do. As I watched, I tho’t, “well, that’s my thing I learned new today and I was only here for four hours today.” The mother and son stayed until closing. I felt like I just kind of played all day. It is fun teaching!

An Eventful Three Weeks

It has been three weeks since I wrote. In that time our beloved prophet Gordon B. Hinckley died. We were able to watch his funeral while at the FHC....not one single patron came in during that time. We have a new prophet, Thomas S. Monson with Henry B.Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorph as his counselors. I have expected President Monson to be our prophet since I can remember the day he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve at age 36 44 years ago. I can very well remember that day. He was my brother-in-law’s mission president in Canada and he married my sister and her husband in the Salt Lake Temple. My husband and I weren’t able to attend because we forgot our temple recommends. We were picked up by my aunt and uncle and had our two babies along because we had just moved to Roy, Utah and didn’t know anyone to baby sit. We were able to see the bride and groom and everyone else who attended except we didn’t get to meet Elder Monson. That was really sad. Two days later we attended the same temple (my aunt watched the two little ones for us) when my husband’s brother was married by Elder Spenser W. Kimball. As I showed my recommend, I tho’t of a popular song that was being sung at that time, Happiness Is…. Happiness is having your temple recommend with you when you need it. I felt so much more secure that day. It was terrible before to not have it with me and know I was worthy to be there but didn’t have the proof.

Last Sunday was the dedication of the Rexburg temple. There were four different dedicatory services held that day. Ours was the last one at 4:30 pm. We got to the church about 3 :45 and the chapel was all but full. A woman was saving a place for her husband but moved down and there was room for all three of us. It was very special. At first I was very disappointed and surprised that President Monson wasn’t there. Elder Russell M. Nelson conducted and gave the dedicatory prayer. Also Elder David R Bednar and he wife, Susan were there and they both spoke. Elder Bednar was president of Ricks/BYUI when the transition from the one to the other was made. They both gave very good talks. Elder Eyring was supposed to have been there (he also was a former President of Ricks) but he had broken his ankle and since he is 72 years old, his doctors told him to stay home. The first counselor in the temple presidency and his wife both spoke. And they called on three others who were involved in the temple planning. They were all good speakers. There was also a choir there too of 18 people. There wasn’t room for a larger choir. Elder Bednar explained and led the Hosanna shout. I’m so glad I was able to attend. We were home before 6:00. It is so wonderful that they could “pipe” thro’ satellite those proceedings to the area chapels so everyone who wanted to could witness the proceedings.

We have been busy at the FHC. The last few times I’ve been so busy helping people I haven’t gotten much done on the obituary indexing. My husband has spent all of his time doing them, however. Wednesday, I helped a woman with temple ready. She wanted to seal two husbands to each wife of the people she was doing the work for. So there were six people involved. I had to really think to get all of the names on the same file. But the Spirit helped me and I was able to do it. A new missionary was sitting there close by and after we got thro’ with it she said, “I know who I want to help me when I’m ready” while looking at me. I told her I would be glad to help her anytime.

Then yesterday, this other woman came in. She wanted to find out more on David Smith Park, one of her ancestors. As we got to looking around in the IGI and Ancestral File, we found a David Smith Park but the same information was on a David Alfred Park. The same parents, spouse and birth ate and death date. He was born in Provo. So someone suggested that we look at the old ward records that we have there on microfilm. So I looked for the film online at the Family History Catalog. We found the film number. We got it out and hooked it up. It was stake records and not what we wanted at all. It was supposed to have been from 1842 to 1890. It didn’t even start until 1907. So we went back to the drawer and were looking at the films that were by the other one. I said, why don’t we try this one and picked the one just below the other one. We hooked it up and it only took five minutes or so and we found that whole family. His father, mother and all of their children. And his name is David Alfred. I asked where she got the Smith from. She said that it was from an aunt who was a descendant of his. His mother’s maiden name was Smith so it did make sense. Anyway, she said she wanted a copy of it. So we marked the spot and took it over to the digital copier. (I’m sooo glad that I’ve used it enough that I knew what I was doing!) But it wouldn’t turn on. It turned out that the plug was loose or the power strip was turned off. (The patron is the one who checked that out so I not sure which). And it turned out that the computer hadn’t even been booted up. And just as we were finding that out they announced that the library would be closing in 12 minutes! We were finally able to get her copies. It was a wonderful feeling. Just as I was thinking about how we actually found it, I told the patron,”I think we were led to this.” And she agreed. We were a few minutes late leaving, but no one seemed to mind and realized that what we were getting was very important. It was a good day!

This is this weeks entry!

I didn’t go exercise this week either. The temperatures were so cold Monday and Tuesday that I didn’t go anywhere. They didn’t even have school Tuesday (Monday was a school holiday anyway or they wouldn’t have had school anyway.) It was a -34 with wind chill. Now that is cold!

I had my nails done Wednesday and didn’t go anywhere Thursday or Friday. I did get my book and video/DVD shelves cleared off and organized Friday tho’. It really was an all day job. I gathered up all of the VHS’s and put them in plastic bags to take to DI. They are still good and can be used again so I don’t just want to throw them away. Many of the movies that were recorded on them we now have the DVD for. And the others I didn’t want to watch them anymore. One time was enough.

Wednesday at the FHC I typed on obituaries for most of the day. I did check two drawers of micro film and then looked at the one micro film and found some more Bernard’s. They have all had their work done. But I at least have them added to my line now. Yesterday tho’ was very different. We had five missionaries not there for various reasons so we were short. And we got very busy. I helped eight or nine people my self! The most ever in one day. I was able to show some people how to do the digital copier that enables one to make a copy of information from a micro film. It has taken me a while to learn it but I have used it four or five times myself now so am quite proficient at it. I’m glad I have learned how to use this tool. I was the only one there yesterday who knew how to use it. It gives me such a good feeling when I help or teach someone. One couple came in to put her stepmother’s name on a temple submission disk so she could do her work and have her sealed to the husband. They had me do the typing. Usually I just sit beside them and tell them what to do. But the wife said she didn’t know anything about computers and her husband did but didn’t have the right glasses with him so he couldn’t see the screen that well. After I go thro’ I asked them if they had a PAF program on their computer. The husband relied, “Yes, but I don’t know anything about it so it doesn’t do me any good.” I told him that if he would bring his information on his children, parents, grandparents etc. (and the right glasses [this with a smile and he smiled back]) that one of us would sit down with him and walk him thro’ it and by the time he had all of that information on he would know enough about the program that he would be able to do it himself. The wife asked when I worked. I told her Wednesdays 1-9 and Saturdays 9-5. That made me feel really good that she asked. I will look for them next week.

Last evening and today was Stake Conference. We had planned on going but we were both so tired by the time we got home from the FHC that we didn’t get there last night. My husband sang in the choir today and we both went. I was glad I did. It was a very good meeting and the music was just wonderful. They did such a good job both the singers and the accompanists.

I am determined to do more exercising this coming week. Time will tell.

The week of January 20, 2008

This was written last week but the blogger site wouldn't accept it last week and I forgot about it until now so it is posted a week late.

This past week has been kind of laid back. I haven’t exercised nearly as much as I should have done but when the temperatures are below zero it is so hard to go out when you don’t absolutely have to. I’ve kept busy at home. I’ve working on an I’m a Child of God plague for our youngest grandchild. I accomplished quite a bit on that last week. At the FHC we have both been working on indexing Obituaries for South East Idaho. We type in the name of the images that were digilized last summer so then can be sent into the Family Search Program in SLC and will be able to be obtained online from anywhere in the world. That is so remarkable. I’ve also been working on a micro film that after I ordered it from SLC I found out that it was already at the library. I have found 72 people some I have found after checking the IGI have their work done but some don’t. They are on the Meier line which takes off from the Bernhard line which takes off from the Rufener line which takes off from the Wendel line. So it is back aways. I have to go back over the Bernhards who are on the same film and I may be able to add more to my line.

The other day I was wondering where I had put the cards that had the baptisms and confirmations of the people Natasha and Collin were baptized for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I was thinking that I had put them in my temple suit case so my sweetheart and I could do the initiatory work the next time we went thro’ the temple again. They weren’t in there. I couldn’t imagine where I had put them and felt some urgency to find them. These were people who were waiting to have their work done and I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find them. My tho’t was: the Lord will help me find them. Yesterday morning while I was saying my morning prayers, I was asking for His help. The tho’t came to me: they may be in that desk drawer with the tracker sheets. I knew that I had entered the baptisms on my PAF file. I had also taken all the duplicate cards and put them together and in my temple suitcase so I could take them back to the temple. I then tho’t: Maybe I got them mixed up with them. Then my tho’t immediately went back to look in that desk drawer. So I did. And there were three different tracking sheets. Each had a pink sticky on it. One had 13 females, another had 10 males and another had Sealings. I looked inside them and sure enough there they were! I am so thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and that I am worthy of His promptings and can recognize them. That experience made me feel warm and fuzzy all over and was a good beginning to a good day.

It's 2008!

I actually wrote this in Word them forgot to post it on here on January 6th. So I'll post it now. Sorry about that.

I can’t believe it is now 2008! I don’t know where 2007 went. And I don’t feel as old as I tho’t I would if I lived this long (most of the time anyway). 2008 arrived very quietly at our house. My husband was doing one of his SUDOKUs and I was playing Mah Jong on the computer and it just sneaked in. The moment was here before we knew it.

New Year’s day we went to the Rexburg Temple open house. It is such a beautiful building! It sits there on top of the east hills so majestically. We went to the Stake Center next door first. They ushered us into the chapel to wait for our turn to start the tour. We waited about 20 minutes. They then took us to a classroom and showed us a video about the history of temples. Many of the temple rooms they showed us were of the Rexburg temple I realized as I went thro’ them. After that they guided thro’ a covered walkway over to the temple. It was about a block long and had three sets of steps (kind steps) on the way. Then we were there. The first floor has the baptistery and the locker/dressing rooms for both men and women.

We went up two flights of stairs. They did give us a choice of using the stairs or the elevator. The stairs also looked just like the ones at Winter Quarter’s Temple. I knew I had done those so I chose the stairs. Little did I know?? On the second level were the main dressing rooms for the patrons. The other dressing rooms were for the people doing baptisms for the dead. . They had so many people there to show us the way it wasn’t possible to get lost. But as my group was to turn left, I turned right and went thro’ the women’s dressing room. It’s a lot like the dressing room at the Winter Quarter’s temple. All the way thro’ I was wondering if those people ahead of me were the same ones that were ahead of me before. As I left the dressing room I was still thinking that. One of the ushers came up to me saying “Ma’m Ma’m”. When I finally realized that he was talking to me he told me that he tho’t I had lost my group. I had. My husband had noticed that I was no longer with them and had told him I may have gone the wrong way. So I went thro’ the women’s dressing room twice. Then I was sure it was set up like the one at the Winter Quarter’s Temple.

The next flight of steps had at least 25 steps in. (what more is there to do than count the steps as you are going up them?) On this floor are the ordinance rooms. There were two of them but we only got to see one of them. They each have murals in painted by Leon Parsons who grew up in or around Rexburg. The one we saw was a mountain scene with deer and elk etc. and lots of trees. It was beautiful. The room had rich brown wood and beautiful chandeliers. We also saw the Celestial room on that floor. It is sooo beautiful. It had mirrors on either side and such beautiful crystal chandeliers. It had such a feeling of peace there also. The pamphlet they put out explained that many of the materials were imported from other countries, wood from Africa and stone and tile from Israel. There are stained glass windows throughout the building that depict a wheat stalk. The last and final floor had the sealing rooms on it. The last steps we went up had 35 steps in it! The sealing rooms are very spacious and beautiful. They all are at least as big as the largest one in the IF temple. They had a smaller version of the chandelier in the celestial room. And small crystal lamps on the walls like the sealing rooms at the Winter Quarter’s temple. And the Mt. Timpanogos also. Then we walked all the way down all of those steps without stopping. There was another flight of stairs that I wondered where they led to but I wasn’t disappointed that they didn’t take us up there. I counted 89 steps on the way down! I’m not sure if I lost count or not when my husband spoke to me. but there were at least 89. My husband asked me if I wanted to take the elevator down. I told him no that going down wasn’t nearly has hard on my knees as going up was. He says that going down is harder. But it doesn’t hurt as much. But my knees were surely wobbley by the time we got down. Even going down the kind steps in the walkway I could feel the weakness in them. It was good to sit down while we had refreshments. The weather was cold but no wind and the sky was a beautiful blue with the bright sunshine. It was a beautiful day all in all.

Our 2007 Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

The Week of December 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our Thanksgiving

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

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

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

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