March 31 - April 6 - Sunday to Saturday

We have seen this week how beautiful the gardens become around Temple Square, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the Church Office Building as April General Conference approaches. Here are several pictures taken on Thursday April 4.

Sunday Mar 31
We attended Music and the Spoken Word and our Branch Meeting.  Took some pictures of the flower gardens by the Tabernacle which is a major contract to the way it looked on Friday.  See the contrast below.

Sunday morning March 31       Friday morning March 29

Today I completed the research for the Richardson family that is connected to the Tindall family who are descendants of Jane Affleck who is my great grandmother Jane Affleck’s aunt.  What a great experience it was putting this family together.  The 1911 English census indicates that the family had 13 children with only 5 living at that time.  I had found 11 children. The parents were married in 1865 and the first child that I had found was born in 1869. With this clue I searched and found that two sons were born to the family during the first three years of their marriage and both died as infants.  There were a lot of duplicate records for this family and I needed to do a lot of record merging to get this family all together. The family consists of five sons and eight daughters.  Some temple work is already completed for the family but most is not.  I know that this family is ready to have their temple work completed.

We enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Sister Tolman.   I so appreciate her efforts in preparing our meals.  It is my job to do the clean-up after which I do most of the time.

We went to Seniors to visit at around 6:30 and watched the end of a movie on the Hallmark channel and played several games of 7up and ate some cake and ice cream.  We plays five games and Sister Tolman won three, I won one and dad Senior won one.

Monday April 1

We attended the mission devotional from 7:30am to 8:30am.  Normally we hear from eight missionaries but this morning we heard from President and Sister Fenn.  They both testified of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his role in restoring the gospel and leading this the last great dispensation of the fullness of times.  What a great blessing this was to hear from them.  Sister Fenn’s great-great grandfather is Hyrum Smith the devoted brother of the Prophet Joseph.  President Fenn focused on the First Vision.  I hadn’t thought about this before but the first personal revelation that Joseph received was when he read James 1:5 and knew that he needed to pray and ask God which church to join because the various preachers to whom he listened interpreted the same scriptures so differently.  Quoting the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History Chapter 1 verse 12 “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine.” 

President Fenn spoke for 45 minutes but it seemed like just a short time.  He bore such a powerful personal witness of the first vision and the appearance of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to Joseph.  My personal testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith was affirmed as I listened to him.  My experience is the same as President Fenn’s and that is as I read Joseph’s personal account of this event, I know that it really did happen and as I read the Book of Mormon, I know that Joseph Smith could not have written this book himself but it was translated by him by the gift and power of God.  Our closing hymn was #27 “Praise to the Man”.  As we sang this hymn and especially the last verse, I received again a confirming witness of the Prophet Joseph Smith and could not stop the tears.  

We enjoyed lunch with Mark and Ilene Ethington and mom and dad Senior at Olive Garden.  We had the Soup and Salad and breadsticks.  We celebrated Mark’s 72nd birthday.

Enjoyed the evening with the MTC group.  We had a pot luck dinner and watched “Journey of Faith” about the journey undertaken by Lehi and his family from Jerusalem to the Americas.  It is unbelievable how they were able to traverse the Arabian Peninsula and subsequently cross the ocean.  They were only able to do this with the help of the Lord.   The full video which is over an hour long can be viewed at Journey of Faith Video

Tuesday April 2

We attended the prayer meeting at 7:30am and I led the prayer meeting at 9:30am.  Tuesday is the meeting day with our zone leadership meeting at 2pm.  We worked on a new process for guest allocation using google sheets and a tablet but I believe that it is too complicated for most of our people.  We determined to use an improved manual process that will hopefully make it easier to use than our card system.  We all agreed to the changes at the end of our zone meeting.

I helped Don Attridge for a few minutes and then Sister Tolman took over.  I had completed the  Endowment ordinance for an ancestor and he wanted to complete the sealing for the couple.  I looked at the couple and there was no information for the wife other than a daughter’s name and birthdate.  I suggested that we estimate a marriage date and place which Sister Tolman did and they were able to reserve her temple ordinances.

I also helped Elder Don R Clarke again.  His wife was skiing with grandchildren today. He had some questions about his temple names and I helped him review these and I also showed him how to sort his on-line temple list.  He didn’t have much time but we had a discussion as he was leaving and he showed me some of the fish that he has caught and wants me to go fishing with him this summer. 

We went shopping at Lowes which is closer than Home Depot to buy some light bulbs that needed replacing.  Three of four lights in one bathroom were burned out and one needed replacing in the other bathroom.

During out Zone Leadership meeting the question was asked about our purpose and what do we do on the Help Services Floor in the Family History Library.  With some thought and discussion with others including Sister Tolman.  This is what I put together.

“We are set-apart missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assigned to serve in the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters mission under the direction of our mission president.  We support the goals and purposes of the Utah Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission, the Family History Department, and the Family History Library.  We create inspiring experiences that bring joy to our library guests as we help them discover, gather and connect their family.  We assist guests find known family members on historical records, discover additional family members using the on-line resources and other resources available on the US and Canada floors of the Family History Library, copy and save family memorabilia, and help them determine how to best store the information found to share with others including current and future family members.“  Note that most of the time the vehicle we use to record and store the information is FamilySearch/FamilyTree and FamilySearch/Memories.

We watched episode four of Relative Race which is shown weekly on BYUTV.   It is shown on TV Sunday night but we are able to stream it.  This week one of the contestants met her biological father.  Last week she met her biological mother.  Below is a picture of the three of them.

Wednesday April 3

I led the prayer meeting at 7:30am including the collections training.  I helped Sister Tolman learn how to work the logistics that are needed to use the computer and overhead project lead a prayer meeting as she is going to start handling the Tuesday 9:30am prayer meeting.  She will do a good job.  I normally Don Attridge during that time and she would rather have me help him.

I reviewed the purpose statement from April 2 with several others and shared it with Elder Dahlin. He is using this as a place to start with our continued efforts to develop a better support model for our guests who visit the library.

I helped several missionaries (Sister Pennock, Godfrey and Chabries) in the morning with resolving some duplicate records and find homes for children who did not belong to an ancestor’s family. We have merged two records for the mother of the family and then realized the child with causing the duplicate mother was actually not part of the family since she was born in Pennsylvania and all the other children were born in Texas.  Sister Gwinn shared with me how happy she was that her son noticed some of the pictures and I helped he learn to add to her ancestors.

I also helped Janice whom I helped last Wednesday.  I was helping one of our missionaries when the floor supervisor indicated there was someone who wanted my help and had asked for me specifically.  I answered several questions and then helped her look at what was on her flash drive.  She had a PAF file from 2014 which is reviewed on RootsMagic.  She wanted to backup her family tree on FamilySearch and indicated that she had Ancestral Quest at home so we ran a download of 10 generations from FamilyTree to Ancestral Quest. 

I also helped John and Jan, a couple in their 60's from Florida.  Two of the newer missionaries were helping them and I was there to assist.  We ended up having them share the same FamilySearch account.  John’s parents were already on FamilyTree so we connected him to them and updated some information on his parents that was missing  We helped the wife get several generations added.  She was having a hard time seeing her deceased ancestors on FamilyTree as she had a son who had died. I told her that I understood as we had a daughter who passed away.  Hopefully they will be able to continue their efforts when they return home.

I found time between helping guests and missionaries to make some updates to the Help Services Web page and reviewed the updates with our zone leader Elder Dallin.

Thursday April 5 Update from Sister Tolman

On Thursday night things looked pretty calm when we walked in at five to six and I talked with a couple of people briefly and put my purse away.  Then I walked toward the desk and elder Benton asked me to take one of the people that came in and he took the other and Glen took over as floor supervisor.  The person I helped was named Theresa and she and her friend were here to see if they could find anything.  As we got started we found that her grandparents were born in Mexico and Arizona.  Because of the information we put in we were able to find a few hints and she was able to add more information.  We found a WWII Draft Registration Card which had his signature and a Death Certificate.  This was really neat for her.  I showed her the memories and she was excited to be able to add more information and more pictures and stories.

After about two hours I left her and went to get a drink of water.  I was heading to the drinking fountain and elder Park said he needed some helpers and so Glen and I who had just freed up were asked to help these two people.  They were here on a nursing convention and had come into the library.  I helped Kristina.  She was from Florida.  Her mom was from Puerto Rico and her dad was from Texas but his birth father was not his biological father and he did have an adoptive father.  So we didn’t get much information.  I was able to show her things and give her a couple of things to do when she was able to talk to her parents and get more information.  She wanted to hear the choir but they are singing at general conference this weekend so I told her how to stream them live and then I gave her the information where she could stream general conference as well.  She was excited about both of these.  We ended about 9:05 after the computers shut down.  It was kind of a crazy evening.  It was so much fun.  Everyone on the floor was busy right to the very end and it was neat.  None of us cared that we were a little late.

We walked outside and there were kids everywhere.  It is conference time and spring break and the weather is nice so hey it was like a party.  I saw that April had joined Marco Polo so I sent her a message.  It will be fun if we can go back and forth once in a while.

Thursday April 4

We attended the 8am Endowment session in the Salt Lake Temple.  After we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Discovery Center where Sister Tolman stayed while I went to the Credit Union to deposit the monthly check we receive from the young couple and withdraw some cash for the month.

The flowers are looking beautiful on Temple Square and between the Church Office Building and JSMB.  I took pictures and some are posted at the front of this week’s blog entry.  Here is an additional picture shown below

We went to Rubio’s for a late lunch.  I had a two for one coupon for my half-birthday.  We enjoyed burritos which were delicious and plenty filling for our main meal of the day.

I helped Ira Gentry tonight at the library.  For the first 30 minutes, I was Floor Supervisor so we just visited.  We then worked together on his family history for over an hour.  We extended the family of his aunt’s husband’s family.  We were interested in that part of the family because was far as we can tell his uncle is still living and would be almost 100 years old.  We researched this part of the family and added a lot of information to the tree.  We found an unusual situation where someone had duplicated a husband and wife but had reversed the sex on the duplicates.  We managed to get this one resolved but it took us a minute to figure out how.  We also looked at his maternal line and figured out that he can extend his line at least one generation which we will do next week.

Until close at 9pm I helped Alan from Florida.  We were only able to add his parents to the tree but he will be able to find out more when he talks to his father when he gets back home.  His mother is Korean and passed away.  He lived in Korea when he was younger and based on where he lived, his father must have been in the military there.  I spoke a few Korean phrases with him and he said he was amazed that I could pronounce these so well.  I helped him get the FamilySearch mobile apps installed and showed him what he could do with Memories.  He will continue working on his tree when he gets home.  I showed him where a local library is located.

Friday April 5
First thing this morning I read an article in the on-line Meridian Magazine titled “Why Policy Reversals Should Strengthen Your Testimony”.  It is important to understand the difference between Doctrine and church policy.  Church Doctrine does not change but policies do.  

One example of a policy change is the change related to the length of time that young men missionaries serve.  I served for 30 months in Tahiti from 1967 to 1969.  Soon after that with language training in place, the length for missionaries serving was reduced to 2 years and 2 months and subsequently reduced to 2 years.   In 1982 the length of time was reduced to 18 months and two years later changed back to 2 years. 

You can read the full article at Why-policy-reversals-should-strengthen-your-testimony

The basic doctrines of the church are summarized on the church website https://www.lds.org/manual/basic-doctrines/basic-doctrines?lang=eng

Here is a list of the basic doctrines discussed in the above reference: 

• Godhead
• Plan of Salvation
• Atonement of Jesus Christ
• Dispensation, apostasy, and restoration
• Prophets and revelation
• Priesthood and priesthood keys
• Ordinances and covenants
• Marriage and family
• Commandments

I went to Smith's this morning to fill up the car with gas and also bought some flowers for Sister Tolman just because.

We only worked at the library from 12:30pm to 5pm as we are attending the Tahitian Missionary Reunion today.  Sister Tolman led the prayer meeting for the first time and did a good job.  She will start leading the Tuesday 9:30 am prayer meetings each week.  They have been talking in zone meeting about some of the women running the prayer meetings.  Here is her input on what happened at the prayer meeting.  "I decided to practice leading the prayer meeting and got the notebook and flash drive for the meeting.  I got a little flustered because I had never done it before and because they had a couple of new things that I was not aware of and I had to find them after the meeting started.  But overall it went well so I will be doing it on Tuesday.  They will have some new training but I will be able to see that on Tuesday morning so all is well."

Keith and Linda Morgan showed up at the library.  They are here for a missionary reunion and General Conference and will be attending the Sunday morning session as we will be.  They had some family history questions.  I helped Keith and Sister Tolman helped Linda.  Keith had some questions about records hints and Ordinances Ready.  It was very enjoyable to visit with them and catch up with what is going on back in the Tempe Stake.

We visited with Elder and Sister Baker for a while.  They have been with us at the library waiting for visa to Vietnam for three months.  They finally have their visas and will be leaving on Wednesday.  We will miss them. 

     

      We enjoyed the Tahitian Missionary Reunion.  My first companion, Rodney Morse, was there and we visited with him.  He drove down from Meridian, Idaho.  I also visited with Russell Bench and his wife (both served missions in Tahiti).  We talked to Tekehu Munanui and his wife Henriette.  We met them when we lived in Salt Lake City and he and his wife were mission president when we visited Tahiti in 1998.  I met Hinano Mahuru Martinson who was an eight-year old girl when I served in the Paea Branch on the island of Tahiti.  I knew her father Nata’i Mahuru and her two older sisters, Roti and Nadia.  She works in the Salt Lake Temple and will drop by the library to see us on a Tuesday afternoon. The dinner was good with salad russe (Tahitian style potato salad), poisson cru (marinate fish), Tahitian poe, and baked chicken.

Elder Tolman with Rodney Morse

      Saturday April 6

      We enjoyed watching the Saturday morning session of General Conference at our apartment streaming the session from the church website. We started work at the library at 1pm and I ended up helping with various people which visited the library and wasn’t able to watch the afternoon session of conference but Sister Tolman was.  I will watch it tomorrow.  

      

      I helped a couple who were visiting from West Bloomfield, Michigan.  His family was from Austria and Russia.  We were able identify those who came to the United States on various census records so we added these family members back to the ancestors who immigrated.  He plans to continue research when he returns home and visit the family history center at the Bloomfield Stake Center which was our stake center when we lived in Michigan.

      I was able to watch the Priesthood session while Sister Tolman helped on the library floor.  We will  watch these sessions on Sunday or Monday.  We will comment about General Conference on next week's blog.