March 17 - 23 - Sunday to Saturday

Taken at dinner celebrating the Senior's 70th Wedding Anniversary

One thing that Sister Tolman’s parents Rowland and Lois Senior had been looking forward to was having information about their 70th wedding anniversary printed in the weekly Church News.  They were disappointed when this type of information was no longer published effective several years ago.

Between Robert and Angie Griffith, they found how this could be published in the on-line version of the Church News found at https://www.thechurchnews.com/ .  The article about their anniversary is published in the on-line version dated March 22, 2019.  The text from the article is listed below. The direct link to the article is https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-03-17/these-3-couples-are-celebrating-70-years-of-marriage-49247

Rowland Clement and Lois Jeanne Vincent Senior were married 70 years ago, on March 9, 1949, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are members of the Rose Park 1st Ward, Salt Lake Rose Park Stake. They are the parents of four children and have 24 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild

Finally we have signs of spring
The weather is turning warmer with highs in the 50's and 60's.  The flowers are starting to bloom around Temple Square with April Conference around the corner.  Here are a few photos.

 

Our daughter Laura shared a picture of an Iris that she planted with a bulb she got from the Seniors.  It reminded me of all the Iris that my dad planted around my house growing up.

Sunday March 17

Attended Music and the Spoken Word.  We are normally there near 8:30am so we can hear the run through and then the actual program is broadcast from 9:30am to 10am.  Attended the branch meetings from 1 to 3pm.  Visited with the Dahlin’s after the meeting and walked home with them.  They are the Zone Leaders so we had a good visit and a little Zone strategy meeting on the way back to the apartment.

Enjoyed dinner with the Seniors.  The menu was corned beef brisket, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and pistachio salad.  After watching Relative Race Episode 2 from 7 to 8pm, we had pie and ice cream for dessert and played a game of Salad.  Elder Tolman was last.

Monday March 18

Mission devotional at 7:30am.  Sister Tolman got her hair cut and it looks good.  Hail and Farewell at 6:15pm.  Sister Tolman made her won-ton salad requested by Sister Davis who is in charge.  She ate several large helpings.  We are saying goodbye to many good friends.  Elder and Sister Hendricks, Sister Pearson, Elder Walton.  More of our friends will be leaving in April.  It was warmer and didn’t need to wear a jacket to the Hail and Farewell.

Tuesday March 19

We attended Prayer Meeting at 7:30am.  I led the training based on what I developed recently on having an effective guest experience.  I also led the 9:30am prayer meeting and led the training as well.  Several missionaries wanted copies of the presentation.

Helped Sister Pinnock continue to resolve duplicates on her tree several times today,  Helped Don Attridge who visits the library on Tuesdays.  I didn’t have much time but was able to help him get 10 sealing to parents ordinances printed for him to complete at the temple today.  I also will help him by completing an Endowment ordinance for him for a direct line grandfather.

Was the floor supervisor from 10 to 11am.  Helped several people see where to find books that they were looking for.  

Helped Brother Don Clarke as I have several times before.  He and Sister Clarke just came back from a Hawaii vacation.  He had a question from a ward member on extending a line for his ancestor.  I also helped him add five children to a family on the tree related to him and reserve their temple ordinances.  I also helped him get his own account on ancestry.com so he now knows how to help his ward members do the same.  He and his wife visit the library every Tuesday and then go to the temple.  

Attended the branch leadership meeting and then a training meeting where we discussed training strategies for the missionaries in the library,.

Wednesday March 20

Here we are the first day of spring and it feels like spring.  The temperature high was over 60 degrees.  It now feels warmer.  Maybe spring is here.

We attended the mission conference.  Elder David Brown from our floor gave a presentation on Kirtland.  It was really excellent.  He was head of the restoration project from 2001 to 2003. When we last visited Kirtland in 2001, the restoration project was just beginning.  Learn more about Kirtland at https://www.lds.org/locations/historic-kirtland-visitors-center?lang=eng

Helped with the 9:30am prayer meeting and led the training.  Helped a lot of people in the morning including the Gwinns, Sister Pennock, Sisters Godfrey and Chabrias who are all new missionaries.  Helped a former library missionary who had a difficult situation in her tree with an ancestor born in England in the early 1800’s and who died in 1846 during the Nauvoo exodus,   This ancestor was connected to the wrong parents and we found a record that might have the correct parents but this was not for sure.   I helped her for about 30 minutes be able to have all the information we had available to be able to make a decision and move forward.

After lunch I helped Janet from Boston build her tree.  We worked for about two hours and extended her tree in several different ways.  She still has work to do.  It was fun helping her find historical records which showed ancestors that she remembered.  She will be here for about another week.  I helped her print a pedigree chart and also a seven-generation fan chart.

Was the assistant floor supervisor for about 30 minutes and then an older sister from Hawaii needed help indicating she had trouble logging on to her account.  I tried to get some other missionaries to help her but I ended up helping her which is what needed to happen.  It was a wonderful experience helping her as my background as a missionary in Tahiti and understanding of the Polynesian people helped us connect and made it so I could help her more effectively than someone else. Her name is Noelani.  She was an original dancer in the Polynesian Cultural Center when it opened in 1963 and knew our friend Mahana Pulotu whom we have known for a long time.  I helped her make some corrections on her tree and also to start tagging people in the photos that she added.  I recently purchased a book about the history of the Polynesian Cultural Center and I believe that the following picture shows her on the left.

We both stayed busy the whole day and kept helping many individuals from missionaries to guests.

Since we are working on Saturday April 6th from 1 to 9pm and this is General Conference, our Zone Leaders gave us tickets to the Sunday morning session of General Conference.  We are excited to be able to attend.

Here is information from Sister Tolman from her experience on Wednesday,

This past week I was helping some of our new missionaries with some things they were trying to learn.  While I was standing there a woman that I didn’t know came up to me and said that she was impressed to have me come and help her friend when she came in.  She said that I was the best.  (Where that came from I don’t know). She said that she didn’t know how much time she had.  She also said that she was a General Authority Seventy’s wife (her husband is Elder Kevin S. Hamilton).  I thought this was very strange but agreed to do it.  The Hamiltons have served in Africa for the last five years and are acquainted with Brent and Lorraine Jameson (our good friends who are currently serving as President and Matron of the Kinshasa Temple in Africa that will be dedicated in April of this year).

When she came in we started working.  She has a brick wall on her husband’s line and that is what she wanted to work on.  The person she was trying to find the parents for was born in France and came to the United States sometime before he was 15.  She doesn’t know if he came alone or anything more about his early life.  This is what she wanted to find out.  We looked and tried to find more information but still ended up at a brick wall.  I took her information so I could become a helper and I did more searching.  I found some names for her to add on her own line that she can do the temple work for.  I don’t know if I will see her again but I can message her and let her know of these two names that she can add to her family tree and do the work for.  I will continue to follow up on any leads that may come up but this may be one of those that will only be found in the millennium.

Later this same day another lady who was searching for her family came up to me and said that the people at the desk had told her that I was the best and to come and get me to help her.  I did and it did not turn out to be the problem that she thought it was and that was great.  She thought this whole line had been entered twice and then one of them disappeared.  She had just followed down a different line earlier when she had been going through her tree.  It was definitely an interesting day.

Thursday March 21

It was raining this morning. We attended the temple from 8am to 10:15am. We participated in two sealing sessions and were able to complete about 15 ordinances for our families including sealing couples and sealing children to parents.  The Salt Lake Temple sealing sessions are very busy with many more patrons with their own ordinances to complete than time available.  We were lucky to finish as many names as we did.

We keep all our temple cards in my temple bag for those individuals still needing temple ordinances completed. We organize these cards in different envelopes depending on what ordinances are needed.  We spent time reviewing the envelopes for individuals whose endowment work is completed but are still waiting for others such as parents work to be done so that the final sealing ordinances can be completed.  We both found individuals who are now ready to complete sealing ordinances.

While reviewing these cards, I was prompted to look again at the descendants of Francis Crosby who was the husband of Jane Affleck who is my great-grandmother’s aunt.  My great-grandmother’s name is also Jane Affleck.  While doing this I found more families to add to Family Tree and was able to merge some records and made a lot of corrections and additions. 

I attended the monthly lunch with my friends I grew up with in the Garden Park Ward.  It is always interesting to visit with them.  With the weather getting better, my brother Byron will probably start driving in from Jensen beginning in April for these lunches and then we will play a round of golf afterwards.  The timing is good since the third Thursday when we have our lunch and golf is the day once a month when we have the full day off.

I went to the Family History Library at about 6:30pm and Sister Tolman went food shopping.  I thought that Ira Gentry would meet me at the library around 7pm but it turns out he will meet me next Thursday.  Since I was there, I continued work on the Crosby line.  It ended up being good as I ended up staying until 8pm.  I helped by answering a lot of questions from the library guests and missionaries who were working there.   I got back to the apartment just as Sister Tolman was returning.

We had a good phone visit with Michelle and her family.  It is alway enjoyable to visit with our family members.

Sister Tolman talked to her sister-in-law Shelly Senior and got permission from her to share the following story about the strength of the Spirit of Elijah.

When Shelly was a baby she was so sick that they thought she might die.  A decision had to be made and a special Doctor was inspired with what medication to give her and saved her life.  There were possibilities of many consequences if she did not receive the medication and others if she received the wrong medication.  This Doctor was truly lead by the hand of the Lord.

Recently Shelly’s mom handed her a picture with this Doctor holding her as a baby.  Shelly felt impressed to find the Doctor and tell him that she was alive and well and thank him for saving her and helping her have a full and happy life. 

In trying to find him she found that he had passed away about two years after this event.  She felt impressed that if possible she wanted to find his family and let them know what he had done for her and how grateful she was.  After going through many different types of records and doing many searches she found what might be his family and sent them a message.  After several days she heard back and it was his daughter.  She was a small child when he passed away and didn’t know much about him or his side of the family because her family moved to the other side of the country.  She said that she had always had a hole in her heart because she didn’t know much.  Shelly then shared with her the picture of him holding her as a baby and a couple of others.  When she received these pictures, she messaged Shelly to tell her that the hole in her heart had been made better.  She said that she had been able to contact some of her dad’s sisters and they were building a connection.  Shelly told her she was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and shared with her the familysearch.org information.  We never know where the Lord will guide us in our lives to help touch the lives of others and bring them closer to him.  The Spirit of Elijah is alive and real and we are blessed to be a part of this great and important work.

Friday March 22

This morning I read an interesting article about a man who was called to be a stake president in Italy.  Here is a quote from the article.  ”Though Giovanni Dicarolo had been serving as a counselor in the mission presidency, in 1997, he was surprised and overwhelmed to be called to be the first stake president in Puglia, Italy. Yet, there was something more than a sense of inadequacy that troubled Giovanni when he first was called. He didn’t have a permanent job and things were not going well financially. How would he serve with the resources he had?”.  Read the full article which is titled “He was called to be Stake President when he had no car”.  

To read even more about the events surrounding the Rome Temple open house and dedication see https://ldsmag.com/rome/    

I helped Robert Sussman from New Jersey.  Sister Tolman helped his daughter and another missionary helped his wife. We were both successful in adding family members to the tree.  I worked with Robert on one line and Sister Tolman worked with the daughter on another line.  We found family members on the 1940 census and back to the 1920 census and then found one on a passenger list arriving from Germany.  He talked to his mother on the phone to verify some of the information that we found.  The family was very pleased to find out as much as we did about their ancestors.  

Sister Tolman showed the daughter about memories.  They were here on a skiing vacation and wanted to spend some time at the library.  They went home happy with what they were able to find which was way more than they expected to find.  We love helping people find more about their families.

Just as a couple was leaving the library, I asked them if the had installed the FamilySearch mobile apps and they said no.  I helped them get the apps installed and then told them about the features that allow them to add documents and pictures.  The husband said they had just received a lot of information from a parent who just passed away.  I showed them how the apps work and took their picture with the wife’s phone so she could see how Memories work on Family Tree.  We uploaded to photo to Family Tree using the app and then went back to the desktop computer so they could tag the two of them in the photo.  They were very happy to have learned this additional information.  They plan to add more photos and also add some audio recordings.

I helped a lot of people with questions that didn’t take too long to answer and as soon as I helped one person another person nearby asked me to help them.  One person asked if it was ok to print out her boarding pass for her Southwest Airlines flight in the morning and I said that was not a problem. 

I helped Pat Williams from Orange County California.  She had several questions which I was able to answer and then I worked with her updating Family Tree with some good information that she had on the ancestry tree.  We were able to combine a lot of records and make some corrections.  When I help in this way, we normally make Family Tree much more accurate and complete.

Saturday March 23

Sister Tolman fixed a wonderful breakfast with Eggs Benedict and hash browns.  Instead of ham, she layered artificial crab meat. It was delicious.  This was a real treat for me.  We normally take care of our own breakfasts.  My normal breakfast is cereal and juice.  Sister Tolman’s favorite breakfast is mashed potatoes and juice.

We have both been busy since we arrived at the library at 1pm.  I helped a couple from California, the Gardner’s. Their temple is the Oakland Temple so they have the family history center near the temple available to them.  I helped them find books and then we talked about the Family Tree apps.  The husband is better at technology and they have a lot of pictures and documents to scan and upload.

There has been a group here all week from Ventura, California.  I helped one of this group make some corrections on the tree where his ancestor was connected to the wrong generation.  Today was the last day for this group so they are on their way back home.

I helped a member who is here from Twin Falls with her daughter and a newly baptized friend.  One of the missionaries was helping the friend and I helped the mother and daughter.  We tried to recover the daughter’s account but were not able to so I started helping the mother.  We found temple ordinances that needed to be done for her grandparents and some other ancestors.  I helped her reserve temple ordinances and print out temple cards.

As three individuals were leaving the library, they noticed my name and said they were all descendants of Tolman’s. They showed me a pedigree chart and they descend from Benjamin Tolman who is the brother of Judson and Cyrus.  Benjamin only had one son and two daughters. This is only the third time that I have met cousins from this line.  We did relatives around me on the phone and it showed we are 4th cousins.  One of them is Bryan Sage.  See their picture below.

Helped two individuals, Ian and Patrice.  Helped both get information added to the tree.  They plan to visit the library again.  I helped them until about 8:45pm.  We got Ian's tree back to the ancestor that he originally was looking for.  Unfortunately he may not be related to that person.  Ian worked at Sprouts at McClintock and South up until about a year ago.  So Sister Tolman probably saw him more than once.