July 28 - August 3 - Sunday to Saturday

Picture of the sunset on Friday Aug 2.  Notice the sliver of moon

Sunday July 28

One year ago today we left our home in Tempe and drove to Salt Lake City to stay with mom and dad Senior before going to the MTC on Monday July 30. 

We attended Music and the Spoken Word and enjoyed the broadcast as normal.  

Notice the American flag spot lighted on the left

We attended our Branch Meeting from 1 to 3pm.  The Sacrament meeting talks on gifts of the spirit and were well prepared and inspiring.  This is the last Sunday with speakers from our Help Services Zone. The special musical number was excellent.  Starting next week Elder Tolman will conduct Sacrament meeting and  Sister Tolman will lead the music as the chorister.

Since this is the fourth Sunday we had our Fifth floor dinner social.  Elder Bartholomew and his companion were at our table.  Sister Tolman has a special connection with him developed while he worked on our floor for several months.  It was good to talk to him.  His family lives in Rose Park, Utah where Sister Tolman grew up and where her parents still live.  Dinner was Hawaiian haystacks.  We provided sliced olives and tomatoes and vanilla ice cream for dessert.  We didn't have room for any more ice cream in our freezer, so we had stored it at the Seniors and picked it up just before dinner. 

Monday July 29

Attended the Monday morning devotional.  

We purchased what is called the Salt Lake City Connect Pass which has 16 separate attractions to visit and participate in over a year's time (of course we have only six months to use it).  We used the first activity by going to the Clark  Planetarium at about 11:30am.  There were a lot of different things to do there.

Here is my weight on the Sun and on Mercury.  I don't know how I would survive on the Sun to verify this fact.  

We watched an Apollo 11 Documentary at 1pm which we really enjoyed.  We had tears as we remembered the amazing accomplishments that our country made during the 1960’s to get a man to the moon and back safely.  We did not have any real computing power such as we have now to accomplish that feat.  Many major technological advances were made during those years.  

The mission arranged for the missionaries to attend a special viewing of “The Fighting Preacher” which was just released on July 24.  

It is the story of Willard and Rebecca Bean and their 25-year mission to Palmyra, New York.  They were met with hatred and prejudice when they arrived but eventually won over the people in Palmyra and left as dear friends to the people in the town.  The theater was totally filled with missionaries from our mission.  

Willard, Rebecca and daughter Palmyra

The producer of the film and the lead actress were there and answered questions at the end.  The movie will open in the Phoenix area on August 9.  Here is a quote “The Beans’ mission — which ended up lasting 24 years — was to live in the Smith farmhouse and try to reestablish a Latter-day Saint community in upstate New York. Willard was also given the assignment to negotiate the purchase of Hill Cumorah, the land where Joseph Smith found the golden plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon.“

 Sister Pennock with Cassidy Hubert who played Rebecca Bean (excellent performance)

Here are some interesting photos taken outside the theater. The first is a teeter-totter.  We haven't seen one of those in a while.  We both tried it. Next is a table with swinging seats. 

Tuesday July 30

Attended prayer meeting and gave the training on printing using the snipping tool which I had prepared to help the missionaries. 

Helped a couple here from the Seattle area.  They are at the library for the week.  Showed them the views on FamilySearch.org including the fan chart and descendancy views.  I helped them compare part of their ancestry tree to what was already on FamilySearch.  We found an ancestor on the tree and they knew a lot about one child who was a direct ancestor but that person was not complete so we merged the two records and now Family Tree is updated with better information.  I showed them how the access Memories function works and about the FamilySearch mobile apps. They appreciated the help.

Sister Tolman asked me to help a older lady recover her FamilySearch account that she only created yesterday.  She left her information back at the hotel where they are staying.  She was here at the library with several relatives so I had her access FamilySearch from the relative's account so she could look at her grandfather’s information.  I helped the family members including a husband and wife.  They are from Northville, Michigan and he is a retired dentist.  I helped the wife find information about her grandmother.  Just before her grandmother died, she told her about a short-lived marriage that occurred soon after her first husband passed away.  We did some searching in a marriage index on FamilySearch.org but didn’t find anything.  I did a final search on ancestry.com and found the marriage.  Her grandmother’s married name and given names were a little unusual and we found a marriage record that matched the name, place and timing.  With only the husband’s name we found a lot about him as well as he did not have a common name.  I was surprised that we found so much.  I visited with the husband just before we left for the day. He appreciated the help.  Since he was born in Ohio and moved to Michigan, he remained an Ohio State Buckeye fan and not a Michigan Wolverine fan.

In the evening we attended a presentation at the Brigham Young Park titled “An Evening of Disney”.  The high temperature for the day was about 100 degrees so it was a little warm until the sun was blocked by a tree.  We enjoyed the music.  Here are a couple of pictures.

Right after this picture, they let the balloons go and up and away they went

Wednesday July 31

I read an article in the on-line Meridian magazine about Joseph Smith, Alma and Paul and their various accounts of their remarkable visions.  The article is titled “How Paul’s conversion can strengthen your faith in Joseph Smith’s accounts of the First Vision”.  Here is a quote “Paul, Alma, and Joseph Smith drew strength from their foundational spiritual experiences, and shared them multiple times over the course of their lives. Hundreds of years later, their remarkable testimonies are continuing to build faith in Jesus Christ and help draw millions unto Him.”  Read the full article at this link.

I led the 7:30 am prayer meeting presented the printer training that I developed for the missionaries.

Helped a man find a book.  He was doing this search for someone from out of state who had asked him for help. We found what was wanted but it was only available on the second floor using the microfilm reader. Helped another man find a book as well.  What I do is train then how to use the Catalog option with the "Keyword" and "Place" search which are the most common search unless a person has the call number for a book for a microfilm number.  See a the Catalog search below.  

Helped Martha from Palm Springs find some ancestors on Family Tree.  She uses FamilyTree Maker and ancestry.com and is here with her sister. We found an ancestor and did some merges and additions to correct and update her ancestors. We spent over an hour working on her part of FamilyTree.  I continued after lunch to help resolve some more duplicates.  She will be here the rest of the week so I may help her again which I did on Friday.

Helped Sisters Godfrey and Chabries with Memories and helped them with practicing the printer training that I developed to help the missionaries.

I finished creating the second training document which shows how to print information or documents found on ancestry.com.  We will present this training during the prayer meetings next week.

We talked to Julianna and Becky.  We enjoyed hearing more about Julianna’s puzzle contest last Saturday and hearing about Becky’s progress on her new job.

Thursday August 1

We talked to Laura in the morning.  We enjoy hearing from her on Thursday mornings.  We attended the 8am Endowment session at the Salt Lake Temple followed by a sealing session where we completed 4 couple sealings. 

Went food shopping at Lucky’s and Rancho Market and stopped at Burger King for two for one Whopper Jr meals.  It has been a while since we ate a meal there.

Helped at the desk for the first hour which consists of greeting guests, finding out what they need and assigning missionaries to help them.

I helped Jordan who was looking for his father’s biological father.  His grandmother never told his father who his biological father was.  He has some clues since completing his DNA on ancestry.com.  We found a birth index for his father showing where his birth certificate can likely be found. With that information he can try to get his father’s birth certificate which might have the biological father’s name. His DNA shows ancestry in Africa so he is pretty sure his grandfather contributed that part of his DNA since the grandmother’s side doesn’t have that DNA.  I helped him find some ancestors on his grandmother’s side and with some effort we connected to family going back into the 1600’s.  I took him to the second floor where they had a missionary who could help him with DNA analysis.

Friday August 2

We went to the Salt Lake Temple this morning leaving the apartment at about 7am.  We completed Initiatory ordinances (11 for Elder Tolman and 7 for Sister Tolman).  So far yesterday and today we completed 2 Endowments, 4 couple sealings and 18 Initiatory for a total of 2  ordinances completed.  Next week we plan an attending the Mount Timpanogos Temple on Thursday morning in Utah Valley and then going to Thanksgiving Point.

I helped Don Attridge as a I do most weeks on Friday.  I brought back a family book that he had given to  me so I could understand how the family members described in the book are related to him.  I had added some of these possible relatives to FamilyTree and showed him how to find them so he can complete temple work for these possible cousins.  Don’s ancestors with the Eresmann or Ehresman name stayed in the Alsace-Lorraine area (Soultz Sous Forets, Bas-Rhin, France) and the relatives in the book left Alsace-Lorraine in the early 1800’s and went to Odessa in what is now Ukraine.  This family left the Ukraine in 1910 due to the Russian revolution and then settled in Canada.

I helped Martha from Palm Springs again.  I helped her extend her line and resolve some duplicates. We now have her ancestors to the point where she wants to print her large color fan chart that can be printed for free on the Discovery Floor. 

This week I have continued research on the Smith Family.  I found spouses and have now finished research on this family.   Last week I updated information about Mary Handford that made her eligible for temple work and then found Fanny Ellen Eaton’s husband William James Smith and added their nine children.  This week I found four spouses and some of their children and determined which three of the nine children were deceased as indicated on the 1911 English census.  At this point I have completed the research for now.  The first chart below shows what I completed showed on last week's blog and the second shows what I completed this week with additional family members added to William James Smith and Fanny Ellen Eaton including spouses and children.

I spent some time with a mother and her son.  Their family is just completing a three week trip around the country visiting temples and completing temple work at each location.  They are from Toronto, Canada and are acquainted with Michael Finnigan who served as a missionary in Tahiti with me.

Saturday August 3

We talked to our daughter Julianna first thing in the morning.  She on the way to the dog park and a farmer's market in Gilbert, Arizona.

This week’s Church News (August 4) has a six page article about French Polynesia and a one page article about the tragedy in Maupiti in 1963 where 15 people drowned in a accident when a small inter-island vessel overturned trying to enter the dangerous pass from the ocean to the lagoon.  My first assignment as a missionary in French Polynesia was in Maupiti in 1967.  

Here is the link to the article about French Polynesia.  Here is a quote from the article.  "We're blessed with abundance from nature both on land and in the ocean," said Manea Tuahu, a Tahitian member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "But more than the beauty of nature, it is the kindness, warmth and generosity of the people who live here that visitors remember the most."  Much like other Pacific Islanders from Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand, the people of French Polynesia are a peaceful and believing people, Tuahu said. "They are a people of faith," he said, adding, "I believe it is not coincidence that we were blessed to receive the message of the restored gospel very early on in the history of the Church."In a simple yet powerful way, members in French Polynesia act on faith, Tuahu said. "They need little to be happy. They are humble and generous, and they love the Lord and the leaders of the Church." 

 A boat is anchored as the sun sets in Bora Bora on May 28

The Papeete Temple dedicated in 1983 and redicated in 2006

Helped Beverly from east Texas.  She is here with her husband and has done a lot of work on her family.  She wanted to make sure that FamilySearch was updated with what she knew from her ancestry.com tree.  We did some comparisons and were able to connect to people already on the tree and added some ancestors to fill in some gaps.  She was really happy with what we were able to accomplish working together.  After we completed the FamilyTree work, I showed her how Memories work on FamilySearch.  She added both mobiles apps and I showed her haw to add a photo from her phone and then tag the people in the photo.  She has a lot of photos on her computer at home and she will work with that when she gets home.  I showed her the help resources on FamilySearch plus the Family History Guide and the FamilySearch Catalog. 

I helped Martha from Palm Springs with a few minor problems that she was having with FamilyTree.  She will be leaving tomorrow morning.

Helped Beverly from east Texas.  She is here with her husband and has done a lot of work on her family.  She wanted to make sure that FamilySearch was updated with what she knew from her ancestry.com tree.  We did some comparisons and were able to connect to people already on the tree and added some ancestors to fill in some gaps.  She was really happy with what we were able to accomplish working together.  After we completed the FamilyTree work, I showed her how Memories work on FamilySearch.  She added both mobile apps and I showed her haw to add a photo from her phone and then tag the people in the photo.  She has a lot of photos on her computer at home and she will work with that when she gets home.  I showed her the help resources and the FamilySearch Catalog.

I had two interesting people to help after our lunch.  With the first, I couldn’t get a straight answer from her.  She has been to our library and local libraries before and since she was her two years ago, I suspected that she had an account on FamilySearch.  Her laptop was out of power so we couldn’t access her email.  I was able to find her parents on FamilyTree so I wrote down their ID’s on FamilyTree so she can connect to them when she gets her account.  I found a marriage record on ancestry.com for her grandparents and printed that out for her.  I showed her how to search on FamilySearch and ancestry.com and called it good.

The second person was Dixie Crosby from the San Diego area.  She is here visiting Salt Lake City for at least a few weeks and wanted to print out a large fan chart on the main floor but didn’t know where to start.  I was assigned to help her.  I found out quickly that she had the FamilySearch Tree app on her iPhone.  She had a full tree but in order to print the fan chart on the main floor we needed to know her username and password.  I found her username from the app but she didn’t know her password.  We tried unsuccessfully to recover her password so I had to figure out something else.  With the information on her phone, I was able to connect to her tree using the Helper feature from my account and with the information I found out,  I set up access to her family from my account so we could print the fan chart starting with her deceased son.   She was happy to get this done.  

After our shift we went to my sister Glenna's.  She asked for a priesthood blessing prior to going in for knee replacement surgery on Monday.  My sister Gerri and Dave met us there and Dave participated with me in giving the blessing to Glenna.  After we went to dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ.  Here is a picture taken at the restaurant.