Thursday we would call a miracle day when two patrons came in that do not know each other, both speaking French, there is a miracle waiting to happen.
After our shift at the temple, we came into the FHC. Rolf Francis, who has been working in records from Haiti for his great grandparents, hoping to find a French connection so he and his brother could receive French citizenship, had worked the whole morning.
Shortly after we arrived at the center, a gentleman walked in (who only spoke French) wanted to find his PAF file that he supposedly left there two years before. We couldn't understand a word that he spoke and that's when Rolf stepped in to translate. The French patron said that the person (a missionary) serving there assured him that his 10,000 names would be saved.
PAF is an obsolete program and with the computers having been thoroughly cleaned, there was no way that a PAF (Personal Ancestral File) could have survived there. The Frenchman (a member of the Church) was getting more and more frustrated. That's when Diane had the thought to ask Rolf to ask the Frenchman if he was familiar with Family Tree. And that's what broke the problem.
He logged into his account and found his tree extending back well into the early 1500s. Rolf's reaction was hilarious! Every time he went back two more generations in the tree and Rolf saw how early the dates were, he became more and more excited.
The frosting on the cake was when the Frenchman started talking to Rolf about the gospel. All we could understand occasionally were the words "Bible" and "Jesus Christ". When I asked Rolf what they were saying, he just said, "We are talking about the Church."
We told Rolf that this was no accident or coincidence that two French speaking people were at the center at the same time. We knew that the Lord had set up the miracle as we had no idea this would happen. Rolf had called the day before to see when we would be serving at the FHC and said he would come in early to search the records, which he did, and so he was there to translate.
Without him being there, the Frenchman would have gone thinking he had lost 10,000 names and Rolf would not have had the opportunity to hear what was told him regarding the gospel and the Church by the member.
This is a testimony how the Lord really knows events in advance and this is His work. He cares about people, and each of His children. He didn't want this member to leave disappointed.
Saturday we had two patrons come in together -- either friends or relatives we don't know for sure -- but their one focus was on trying to find a will and a death record in hopes of being part of an estate. The other part was to see if they could find family and learn about FamilyTree.
The patron that Diane took ended up being really paranoid about her identity and what she was putting into FamilyTree. I think that she had some mental issues because she really went out in left field. She would put her hands over the screen when people came in and then ask me if I thought they saw anything. Then she became so demanding on me and would offend the new patrons coming in by constantly asking for me to come back to her.
When Liz and Tom came in at shift change, Diane told her that she had never prayed so hard to get them there--and their reply was "Thanks" (sarcastically). She left soon afterward and Tom told Diane that Liz had had enough of that patron in the five minutes she was there.
On Saturday, the Wetzel Saga continued. The Thursday prior to our visit to Virginia, Golden had analyzed documents she had found about Rubin Wetzel, father of Howard Wetzel. His life partner, Nancee Hwa, was trying to find information on the family for his 80th birthday. She and Liz had spent the previous day and that morning researching. At the time, Howard knew nothing about his family and knew nothing of his grandparents, and little about his father, Rubin Wetzel.
Rubin had showed up only in the 1930 census as a teenager in the family of Louis and Ida Wetzel who appeared to be Russian Jews. But Louis' naturalization record gave his wife and three children's names--no mention of a Rubin Wetzler. And he was not found in other records.
After analysis, the idea came that he could have been illegitimate, born to Louis in 1911 and Louis and Ida didn't marry until about 4 years later. I suggested that Nancee see if she could find a birth record for Rubin to see if it would shed further light on the situation.
After we came back from Virginia, Liz had been working with her and Nancee had, by that time, started to make phone calls to Wetzels since it was not a common name. She found relatives that told her that Rubin was the son of Ida from a previous marriage, and that Louis had moved right in to marry Ida shortly after she was divorced.
From this information, Liz had found the marriage in "ItalianGen.org" of Ida Turner and Rubin Riwkin as well as Rubin's entry in a passenger list of 1903 with a wife Chaje. From what the cousins knew, Nancee was told that Rubin was adopted by Louis Wetzel. Rubin Riwkin is likely the father of Rubin Wexler.
That Saturday morning, She had found another cousin, Helene, who had said that Rosita Wetzler, her mother, had died 4 weeks ago but none of the family seemed to know anything about the grandparents.
Now, there are so many family members, that Nancee is ready to just get the documents from the City, visit the cemetery (Howard hasn't found where his father is buried yet) and write up the whole story. She has now put together a pedigree of Howard's parents and grandparents and they plan to visit cousins in Florida in December.
Another interesting sidelight: Howard Wexler is the inventor of the game "Connect Four" and Nancee gave an autographed game to Liz.
As we reviewed the scenario, Nancy asked if I thought this was coincidence, divine intervention, or what? This opened up the opportunity to explain how we are all Heavenly Father's children and he loves all of us. The importance of family and sharing of some similar experiences we have had that were beyond coincidence and how everything has come together in these two weeks is a miracle, and we testify that, once again, we received the blessing of knowing that this is a divine work in which we are engaged, even though it doesn't involve just LDS members.
