17 July 2016

This last couple of weeks we are starting to fall into a daily routine and life if getting pretty good. We are still trying to work out some of the bumps, but we are both enjoying our mission here and have met some wonderful people.

We serve once a week at the Manhattan temple from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. I could not figure out why they kept scheduling me up to 9:30 a.m and then I would be wandering the temple trying to find things to do for the next hour and a half. Golden seemed to be kept quite busy but I was starting to feel like they did not need help of Thursday mornings as they don't start a session until 11:00 a.m. In conversation with the temple recorder and finally Golden saying something, I figured out what was wrong and I have been able to solve the problem and work until my shift is over. I did not realize that we were serving in two different shifts so the first coordinator would only schedule me to the end of hers and then I was suppose to meet up with the 2nd shift coordinator to complete my rounds at the temple. Once that connection took place, it has been pleasant working at the temple.

The FHC for the most part is one of the busiest centers I have worked in. It is rarely that we have any time for ourselves and most of who we would with speak very limited English. Some how, it always seems to work out and most everyone leaves with a good experience. Here is one experience that will always be a memorable one. In the afternoon a family of three came in with a friend of theirs and wanted to find family. The family was from Guatamala and their friend was from Peru. Golden worked with the father and I took the mother, her daughter and son, and their friend. I was able to register both the mother and her friend and then proceeded to teach them how to work in familytree.

When I started to try and find records, it was evident that there were very few records in familytree from Peru. and the mother was not having much success with her line in Guatalama. To try and help them feel some success and that there were things they could do, I began to talk about how they could save the present for the unknown grandchildren and great grandchildren yet to be born. The mother turned and asked me "Why are you doing this for free?" I began to tell her that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints believed that the family was the most important unit in society and that it was an eternal unit. I told her that if we could strengthen families, we could strengthen a nation. The lady from Peru turned to her friend and said with such  conviction pointing to me "What she says is true." The Spirit became so strong between the three of us that it was quite amazing. The mother then began to share how her mother was once a member of the church but left it. The one thing that she remember as a child though was that they held family home evening every week. These two ladies began bearing testimony to each other about the value of families and I was just amazed.

They left to go for a walk with their son and came back about 30 minutes later. The mother asked me if she could have a Book Of Mormon and I said sure. They then went out and down the hall where we have a beautiful art exhibit of original art work from Walter Rain showing different scenes from the stories in the Book of Mormon. They were standing by the one that portrayed the Savior encircling the little children with fire and having angels teach them. They wanted their picture taken with it, so I let all three of them stand while I took their picture.  I told my two friend patrons that that was one of  my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon and that they should read it in 3 Nephi. Then the lady from Peru asked if she could have a Book of Mormon also. It was a wonderful experience and one that I will cherish.

We have taught the first two lessons in the LDS.org site under Consultants--training for my calling with consultants that have been without instruction and newly called consultants in preparation to kick off the Inwood 1st Ward Family History program beginning in September.  We were just asked by Bishop Larsen with the High Priest Group Leader, Jeff Belnap, to provide 5th Sunday training in two weeks.  We hope to energize the ward to feel the Spirit of Elijah and plan to outline the ward program, how the indexing program and FamilySearch Family tree are related, and the importance of standardizing the member's Family Tree to optimize  and facilitate record hints so the searching of information is done by FamilySearch.  We will also probably highlight the role of the family history consultant to help the members find a relative who is ready to receive the temple ordinances and help them prepare the family ordinance card to take to the temple.

We will be teaching a family history fireside the second week in August to demonstrate how to clean up the family tree, standardize dates and places, and check for duplicates. This will help them prepare  for a monthly workshop (4 people at a time) during Sunday School for the consultants to work with them one-on-one, and we will shadow for a time.

We hope to get a similar program developed in the Inwood 2nd Spanish ward that shares the building here in Upper Manhattan now that we are reactivating the Inwood Family History Center as part of the New York New York North Stake.  So far, things have gone quite well.