May 12 - 18 - Sunday to Saturday

Sunday May 12

The flowers around Temple Square are mostly removed except for those right next to the temple.  I am sure a new planting will be done soon.  We did see some iris around and some other flowers but the daffodils and tulips have run their course. 

Music and the Spoken Word had a Mother’s Day theme.  The Bells at Temple Square joined the choir and the orchestra. 

After the broadcast we saw Tekehu and Henriette Munanui and her sister Simon.  We talked to them last week.  They all thanked me for the Tahiti pictures that I sent them.  I am so glad that I scanned my Tahiti slides before coming on our mission here so I was able to save these pictures.

After our church meetings, we went to dinner at Sister Tolman’s sister Marn’s home for dinner.  We picked up mom and dad senior and took them there.

Monday May 13

We attended the Monday morning devotional and learned about the Church History Library Zone.  After their presentation President Fenn shared his feedings about the Young Elders and how much he enjoys being able to lead and serve them.

We drove to Brighton in Big Cottonwood Canyon for a last look at the snow.  The skiing season just ended earlier this month.  I threw some snowballs.  It has always been a favorite activity of mine.  The mountains were pretty. 

Elder Guy Hill gave us a teaspoon with our mission information that he etched on it.  He has been doing this for a long time and said that he made a lot of these when he and his wife served a mission in Nauvoo.

We attended the Book of Mormon class led by President Fenn.  He covered 3 Nephi 17-20.  We always learn a lot from his insight and testimony.  We talked to our daughter Angie Griffith today.

Tuesday May 14

I helped several individuals with some technical issues.  An older woman who lives in Golden Valley, Arizona which is near Kingman visited the library for the past week or so.  I have helped her off and on.  I helped her select and print a part of a record that she wanted to print.  I helped another individual who was extracting images from Fold3 (a website dedicated to US Military records).  In one case we converted the images to a single PDF document and in a second case, we were able to extract the data into a document without having to copy the information image by image.

I helped Don Attridge today as usual on Tuesdays.  He had two sealings to complete plus we printed some Initiatory cards for him to complete today at the temple.  We reviewed a book that he brought last week and I need to look at it again to see if we can add some individuals to the tree from the information in the book.

Elder Don Clarke sent a text indicating that he would not be at the library today as his wife is not feeling well.  He sent a text later and I called him to answer a question that he had.  I enjoy being able to help him.

We participated in our weekly zone leadership meeting from 2 to about 3:15pm.

I spent time working on the James Loving Martin Family.  James and Permelia were born in 1812 and were added to the tree by Arlen Rowley who lives in Mesa, Arizona.  When I work on these families I want to find as many family members as possible so that some living descendants of theirs might be able to find their ancestors. I have connected some of these descendants down to the 1950’s.  

Wednesday May 15

The newly planted flowers are in front of the Family History Library and the Church History Museum.  It was quite a project and took a couple of days.  Workers brought in new soil and many flats of flowers.

I led the prayer meeting at 7:30am and helped at the desk starting at 8am. 

An older couple John McClure and his wife visited the library and had a lot of information about his ancestors that he wanted to verify.  I assigned Sister Felix to help but also felt that I should assist. While Sister Felix was helping them get a FamilySearch.org account, I started trying to find some of his ancestors on Family Tree.  I found one ancestor but part of the information on Family Tree didn’t match what he had.  Someone had connected his great-grandfather to the wrong parents.  I found his 3rd great-grandfather on the tree showing a duplicate entry for his great-grandfather.  We merged the duplicate entry and now John had his tree connected.  This was a little bit complicated so it helped that both of us worked together.  I left Sister Felix to keep assisting them and later they stopped by where I was sitting to thank me for helping them.

We went to lunch at 11am and returned at 12noon.  I was assigned to help at the desk and when we asked one of the missionaries to take over helping a couple, she asked me to help them instead and she would take over my responsibilities at the desk.  I was reluctant to do so but she insisted. 

I ended up helping Laurie and Lloyd from Pennsylvania.  I was able to find some family members as we were able to trace them back to England.  They were not familiar with English records, so I was able to help them. The one family member Mary Jane Bennett was born in 1882 and the family left England for the United States in 1890 so Mary Jane was never on an English census record.  Her father died in 1893 so she was not found on a US census with her family until she married. I found her English birth record and verified the mother’s maiden name which confirmed we had the right family.  I did some more work on Thursday on our Temple and Research day and fixed some records as someone had combined two families into one.  I also found two more children in this family who were born and died between the 1871 and 1881 census.  I found them while resolving duplicate records for the parents.  The net result was Mary Jane Bennett’s parents George and Jane and nine children showing on Family Tree.

We had a mission conference in the afternoon from 1 to 2:30pm.  Elder Steven Snow and his wife talked to us.  Elder Snow talked about the transcontinental railroad the positive effect that its completion had on Utah and the church.

We enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden in Sugarhouse with the Tolman siblings.  Byron and Peggy were planning to come in but were not able to at the last minute.  Byron did contribute to the dinner as he suggested we eat there.  We had a quiet area in the restaurant with a round table which was nice for visiting.  Sister Tolman and I shared an entrée Tour of Italy (Lasagna, Chicken Parmigiana, and Fettuccine Alfredo).  It was enough for us both of us as we had salad and breadsticks as well.  We visited for about two hours.  We will be having a cousin reunion on June 29 for descendants of my Grandparents Walter and Marion Kerr (Grandpere and Grandmere).  Below is a picture of them with my mother Adele Marion Kerr Tolman.

Thursday May 16

We attended the 8am Endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple.   On Monday we noticed some furniture trucks on North Temple right next to temple square.  We found out what was going on as the Celestial room has all new furniture.  It is really beautiful and provides more seating room without seeming crowded.  

We took some more pictures of flowers on the way back to our apartment.  Below is a collage of flowers that are attached to the wall between the North Visitors Center and the Temple.

I went to lunch with the Garden Park friends and missed having my brother Byron there.  We talked to our daughter Janny Butler.  We went shopping at Dollar Tree and Lucky and later watched a Hallmark movie.

Friday May 17

We talked to Laura this morning as we missed her phone call on Thursday.  We went to the Salt Lake Temple and completed some Initiatory ordinances between 8 and 9am.  We now have enough names for Endowments for the next several months. 

We talked to our daughter Michelle Green during our lunch break.

We attended an “All Hands Meeting” with the directors of the Family History Library before we started our shift at the library. They gave us an update of what is planned for the library.  The information was timely and it was good to be informed on library plans and directions.  They emphasized that the missionaries are the ones who are critical in providing effective guest experiences. 

One of the young Elders asked me to help him with an extended family visiting our floor as he couldn’t help all of them.  I helped one of the sisters Anita Buckley and her daughter.  She had some information from her mother which her mother used to verify membership in the DAR (Daughter of the American Revolution).  We found these individuals on Family Tree and then found more ancestors.  I printed a Family Pedigree chart for the additional ancestors and showed them the fan charts. I also showed them the power of the Memories function and showed them the mobile apps.  They left for the main floor with the rest of the family to get the large fan charts printed and experience the Discovery Floor.  I noticed some duplicates for one of their ancestors and worked on straightening that out for them.  When I finished, I went downstairs to the main floor and let them know that these were corrected.  They will be here in Salt Lake City through the weekend and are planning a lot of fun activities.  They were happy to be able to get so much done while they were here.

It rained off and on today and we managed to avoid the rain in our comings and goings.  It started raining heavy just as we got back to the apartment at just after 9pm.

The Young Elders said that they were going to the Manti Pageant as a mission. I found more information about the pageant details and we decided to go on June 20 which is a Thursday and we don’t have to work at the library that day so we can attend without impacting our work at the library. We just need to request permission as Manti is beyond our 60 mile radius from Temple Square.  This is the last year for this 50-year-old pageant and we have never been.  We plan to stay overnight and go to the Manti temple in the morning before returning to Salt Lake on Friday morning the 21st.

Saturday May 18

We did our weekly cleaning today instead of yesterday.   We talked to our daughter Julianna this morning while she was on the way taking her two dogs to the dog park and going to a farmer's market in Gilbert.

I helped two people today and both were enjoyable experiences.  I helped George from Virginia.  He spends his winters in Casa Grande and volunteers as a starter at a golf course. His family story is that he has native american blood from his mother’s line.  We were able to connect to ancestors going way back on his father’s line but got stuck on his mother’s line with his grandfather whose last name was Miller.  He plans to talk to his cousins to see if they know more about that side of the family so they can find the family on the 1900 or 1910 census since his grandfather was born in 1890.  If he can find that information, he may be able to solve the mystery.

I helped Patricia McGinty from the Los Angeles area.  She said she lives right next to a stake center. We found a family history center nearby where she can continue to get help when she goes home but it wasn’t the stake center next door.  She had been helped earlier and I stopped by to see if she needed any more help.  We found some more family members and it was interesting as we found more information about her father and his parents. She never knew much about her father and his family but we found a lot about them.  Most of them lived and died in Casa Grande, Arizona and are buried in the same cemetery.  I helped her download the mobile apps and helped her add a picture of her to the tree and she added a story about her grandfather.  She was really excited to learn more about her father’s side of her family and to also be able to add stories and photos to her family.  She will be on her way home  tomorrow so she can take care of grandchildren on Monday.

We talked to our granddaughter Rachael Griffith as this evening was her high school graduation party.   During the week we talked to our daughters Angie, Janny, Laura, Julianna and Michelle.  We enjoy talking to our family.