September 16-22 Sunday to Saturday

Sunday September 16

We attended Music and the Spoken Word as we have been for the last month or so.  We really enjoy attending.  We sat on the main floor in the middle section and the sound was better and not as intense as last week when we sat in the balcony.  The coincidences continue as after the concert, I talked to the man next to me and he and his wife are here with her parents who will be starting a mission probably on Monday. It turns out the couple is from the Tempe Ward in our stake.  I sent an email to the Tempe Ward Bishop and Elders Quorum President letting them know that we visited them.  

Picture from the lower section in the Tabernacle

Our church meetings were good.  We attended Sunday School in a smaller classroom that we have been and we enjoyed it.  The following picture is seen out the window from our classroom.

We dropped by Seniors about 6:30pm to take them some peanut butter that we picked up for them.  Last week Sister Tolman picked up a 12 jar case for 12 dollars (more than we needed and more than they needed) which we split 50-50.  When we arrived at their house, the garage door opened which was kind of surprising.  They were on their way to visit one of Lynne’s cousins.  We followed them as we wanted to hear about their recent trip to St George.

Monday September 17

We spoke at the devotional in the morning at 7:30am.  Details are in a separate post following this one.

Tuesday September 18 at the Church Office Building

Sister Tolman worked at the Missionary Department in the Church Office Building answering phones and Elder Tolman worked the 8am to 4pm session at the Family History Library. 

Here are some of her experiences from her first day.  This is not new for her as she was a long distance operator for more than four years including the two years that we were married living in Salt Lake City from 1971 to 1973.  

"For my first day Sister Vestal (who is providing training) and I walked to the Church Office Building leaving our apartments at 7am.  We had a prayer meeting at 7:30am.  When we arrived at our desks there were 21 messages and I was left to answer them.  I listened to each call and took the information from it and then deleted it.  After this she helped me to know how to answer each call.  I found out that information and then returned each call with an answer or a redirect for them to talk to someone else who could help them.

Then it was into answering real live phone calls.  It was interesting to say the least.  First of all let me explain that I am answering some of the calls that come into the missionary department of the church.

 We receive calls from Bishops and Stake Presidents who have concerns for missionaries in their wards and stakes and most are following up with something that has happened previously and they need help resolving it.

Next we receive calls from missionaries or mothers or grandmothers wanting some type of information.  Much of this information can be found by looking through their missionary packet that came with their call.  Each packet is specifically prepared to tell the information for the mission they are called to.  For example on young man called :  “I need a yellow fever vaccination and my county doesn’t have the vaccine where can I get it.”

There are many legitimate questions.  Sometimes their questions are such that if they took a little effort or relied on information that is common sense they would be able to answer their own questions.  Other questions are not as easy. 

The third category is travel agency.  People who are not missionaries call and ask for help finding some form of transportation to get to see a temple or church site.  We tell them we don't provide that type of help.

The last category is just plain scratch your head.  My child spilled spaghetti sauce all over his call can we get another one?  How many short sleeve and long sleeve white shirts does my child need for his mission?

But we are there to serve and we answer with genuine care and concern as we represent the church as we respond to many different people and situations.  It is a diversion from what I do for the other days of the week.  This is the way the mission works.  They need people to do all different kinds of things and in many different areas.  That is what keeps the church running, all of the many people who are actively involved in doing their assignments wherever they may be."

Tuesday September 18 at the Library
I was able to help an older woman several times.  She is an excellent researcher.  I showed her about how to create and save sources and also how upload and tag photos and documents on Family Tree.  

I helped a church member who is visiting from Texas. He wanted to find ancestors who needed temple work done.  I helped him get this done and showed him where to find training on how to continue adding to his tree (I showed him my family history blog and the family historyguide.  This is one of the few times that I have helped a church member with FamilySearch / FamilyTree.

After lunch I worked on some indexing and then was asked to help a man who was here on business.  He lives in Florida and wanted to learn more about his mother’s side of the family.  He thought that a relative had done some work on FamilyTree.  We set up an account and then were able to find a lot of information.  He couldn’t believe what we found and he has a lot more family to add to the tree. He also needs to talk to his grandmother who is still living to find out more about her parents.

As I was leaving, I stopped and talked to two men who were waiting for their wives to finish what they were doing.  The one man asked me if he could get a beer (he was teasing of course).  This started a conversation.  They are from Sterling Heights Michigan. We had some discussion about church and we determined that to make the world better we need to start with our friends and neighbors.

Wednesday September 19

Today at our devotional at 12:30pm, our Zone Leader Elder Randy McKnight recognized three missionaries who are leaving for home next week- one couple (Elder and Sister Aley) and Sister Brown who is returning home to Oahu, Hawaii.  We will miss them.  We had a going away social for them at 3pm in our lunch room which included visiting and snacks.  There was enough food so we didn’t need to have dinner.  This worked out well because we were busy and only had time to take a 15 minute break but that was sufficient because we took some time out for the social. 

Both Sister Tolman and I helped a man who was here with his wife.  I started helping him just before the social started and then Sister Tolman took over for me so I could join the social.  We helped him add his family to FamilyTree and then just before he and his wife left, I spent some time showing them how they could also add photos and stories to their family.  They were both pleased with what they had been able to find out about their families.

A Chinese couple and two sister missionaries from Temple Square arrived after 8pm. Sister Tolman was the Floor Manager and asked me to help them.  The husband remembered that he might have set up an account several years earlier.  It turns out that he had and was able to add his parents.  He will need to do some more work at home and return to the library another day and go to the International Floor for help.

I helped Sister Aley (a full-time missionary who is leaving next week) with adding sources and documents to family members. I also helped Sister Hendricks work on finding more people to add to her tree.  She found a family previously with six living children and we need to find the two who were born and died between when census records were taken.  We found one of them and possibly the second child.

Thursday September 20

Today is our normal day when we start work at the library at 6pm instead of 12:30pm except for the 3rd Thursdays when we have the full day off.   We went shopping in the morning to two of the regular stores – Luckys and Smiths.  The third store is Rancho Market.  Occasionally we go to Costco (I believe that is on the Monday schedule). 

My Garden Park Ward group gets together for lunch each third Thursday so I met them for lunch.  This group consists of men who were young men in the Garden Park Ward in the 1960’s (most graduated from East High School between 1963 and 1968).  My brother Byron drove in from Jensen (Vernal area).  To make the drive worthwhile we played golf at the Mountain Dell Golf course in Parley’s Canyon just east of Salt Lake City.  Lunch was 12noon to 1pm and golf from 2pm to 6pm.

Byron and Glen at Mountain Dell Golf Course

Looking up Parley's Canyon from Mountain Dell Golf Course

I returned in time for Sister Tolman and I to enjoy a quick dinner at Wendy’s and finished with Frostys. I prefer chocolate Frostys and Sister Tolman prefers vanilla. 

Friday September 21

Today is our cleaning day but more important it is our daughter Angie’s birthday and also her daughter Sarah’s birthday as well.  We had an enjoyable phone visit with her.  We called and talked to Sarah on our dinner break.  I arranged with my sister Gerri Coombs to see her family at the Kerr Cabin in Millcreek Canyon on Saturday the 22nd after we get off our shift at 5pm.

I helped several individuals connect to their families.  One man indicated that he wanted to find out more about his ancestors from Slovakia. We got started on his tree and found his parents and grandparents on census records and added them to his tree.  We found out that in addition to ancestors from Slovakia he had ancestors who immigrated from Russia in the late 1800’s.  He didn’t know that and said that recently someone asked him if he had Russian ancestors.  He said that he didn’t but now he knows differently.  His wife was also helped by another missionary.  Before they left, I showed them what they can do with adding memories to FamilyTree and they were excited to do that.  I helped a man from Vancouver Canada to get started and made sure he knew how to continue at home since he didn’t have much time. 

From 6pm to 8pm, I spent most of the time as a greeter and Floor Supervisor.  In addition to getting guests connected with missionaries for help, I talk to those leaving to make sure they had a good experience.  There have been some people who have been in the library all week, so I made sure to check up with them and make sure they are finding what they need.

We enjoyed a short video phone call with our daughters as they were at Angie's and we were able to see all of them.  It is fun to be able to make video calls from time to time.

Saturday September 22

At the beginning of our shift, Sister Tolman and I completed a training module by finding the actual locations of some films and fiche located on the British, International and US/Canada floors. 

I spent the morning working on an updated training document to help individuals know how to find areas on their family tree to research and add members to their tree.  l will add this my family history lesson blog as “research” when completed.

I helped two individuals today and both were after our lunch break.  The first had about 40 minutes to spend because he and his wife had a tour they were going on.  I was able to get him an account and connect his parents and one set on grandparents and showed him how to continue when he gets home.  The other man I helped had already been helped get his account set up. We were able to connect several generations and then I showed both him and his wife what they could do with adding memories.

Sister Tolman and I talked to a couple who had just finished with one of the missionaries.  We talked to them briefly and were able to explain how they could connect to both step and biological parents and also how to use the Memories feature on FamilySearch.

We enjoyed spending the evening with my sister Gerri Coombs and her family at the Kerr family cabin in Millcreek Canyon.  We enjoyed roasted hot dogs over the fire, potato salad, fruit and smores.  It was really good to be at the cabin where we have so many wonderful memories.  The food was great and we really enjoyed visiting with Dave and Gerri and their children, grandchildren and at least one great grandchild.