14 August 2016

Well, another week has passed and life gets more interesting. This week we worked with Eagle Eye, an Indian that comes in to find his family. He is interested in getting photos but he does not have enough information to make sure that what he finds is his. So you scroll and scroll until finally I told him that my job was to teach him how to do it himself so he could enjoy the experience anywhere he chose.

The next patrons were two ladies that have started a huge project with Italian records. The only problem is that FamilySearch pulled the records from online. I wrote a case and they have escalated it up to find out why the records were pulled.  The patrons were not happy about this as they will now have to order the films individually and there are many films at a great deal of cost if FamilySearch cannot get them back.

Our little deaf friend, Shirley came back in and she was wanting to do more research. I finally let Golden work with her because it was turning into a research project. He was able to finally get her out of the living people and into the deceased where they finally found names that could be taken to the temple. She lights up like a light bulb and rubs her arms because of the chills that she get and the joy she has in finding her family. I love watching Golden as he brings light into the lives of so many patrons. I am grateful that the Lord sent him to me. He has been such a great example.

On Saturday, one of our temple workers, Elder Terrence Grimley, brought in a sister from China that spoke English but easily misunderstood what we would say. She wanted to clear her father for temple work as he had been deceased for exactly one year. She said that she did not have an account so I started to put one in for her.

Everything went well until the end. I asked her if she had an email address or a phone number that we could use as FamilySearch would send her a verification code so she could activate the account. She did not know her phone number as it was a new phone, but she said that she could get to email right then so we had the code sent to her email. When I asked her to go into her email, she said that she could not access it from America. My head dropped. The verification code was where we could not get it and that starts a nightmare. About two hours later and being on the line with Salt Lake, we were finally able to get her account set up and she was able to get her father's work done in the temple.

Since she was a recent convert, the bishop of Chinatown Ward was going to see if she could make contact with her branch president in China to clear her to take out her own endowment while she was visiting Manhattan. I have not heard if that happened or not. This mission is always filled with surprises, and that is what makes it interesting.

Sunday night Golden and I were speakers at a Family History Fireside. We decided to present the program with four short videos talking about stories, FamilyTree, and promises given by doing family history. We took turns talking about the power of stories and memories and then shared some experiences that affect the lives of our family. The Spirit was strong and I think that those that came were well fed. I love sharing my testimony of my mission, and what a wonderful gift it has been to serve in New York City.

Golden's turn: On Tuesday, Diane worked with Alesa Harmon from New Jersey before she went into the temple.  This was the first day it was open after two week shutdown for maintenance.  So we had people waiting when we got to the FHC.  I worked with Kit Wa Tang, a young lady from the Chinatown Ward who printed ordinance cards for 54 of her ancestors in preparation for a baptismal session at 10:30 am.

Traffic (Taxis) 

A Jonathan and Isabella were brought into the Center by a temple worker and said we could teach them how to index while they waited for their sealing session.  They are from Italy and will be moving to Salt Lake City soon.  Carlos Ramirez, a temple ordinance worker from Peru came in and I helped him print the sealing card for his parents.  The Spirit was strong as he realized there was temple work for his family, and he couldn't hold back the tears.

This week I also worked for about three hours each of three days with Jonathan Shapiro who is trying to prepare an interview with his last remaining uncle who lives in Denver and is 94 years old.  He apparently had interviewed him previously when the uncle was living in New Jersey.  He is Jewish and is dyslexic, so it is difficult for him to keep his mind on track and he needcd help in preparing interview questions to clarify questions he would like to have answered before this uncle dies.

It appears that his branch of the family from his grandfather has been the "black sheep" and not well accepted by the other members of the family in that generation which has created quite a few psychological problems in the generations since.  He is trying to get answers as to what caused the chasm in the family.

One of the most interesting things he did was to show the places of residence on a Brooklyn, NY Google Map from the 1890s when his cousin's Shapiro grandfather came to New York, had various jobs, moved quite a bit in the same neighborhood, and met his future wife.  He plotted where she lived in proximity to where he lived, and where the rabbi lived who married them.  His question was why they were married so far away, as it would have been quite a walking distance.  He plotted mock synagogues and the official one (mock ones being in people's homes rather than its own structure).

On Thursday, we started our shift at the temple at 6 am, which means we leave our apartment in Inwood by 5 am to get to the temple in time to dress before we serve. After we got home, I went to get Chinese food from around the corner and while in the elevator, I was asked by one of the Domincan Republic tenants who was with his wife and son if we believed in the Holy Spirit.  I answered "Absolutely".  This started a conversation that he translated for his wife, starting in the elevator and continuing in the foyer for a few minutes.

I was able to explain how we are representatives of Jesus Christ and our message is that his Church was taken from the earth when His Apostles were killed, and restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith who saw the Father and Son.  That he was the translator of the Book of Mormon, a record of the Christ's dealings with the people on this continent and offered him a copy in his own language.

I contacted the missionaries and Elders Perez and Matheson and they brought a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish, but the family in F-1 was not home.

On Friday we were talking and missed our subway stop.  By the time we realized it, we were at 39th Street (Penn Station) instead of getting off at 66th Street.  So we were 20 minutes late in opening up the Center.

I worked with a Susan Campbell who had census indexes from Liz Hanson who worked with her the other day.  She wanted to find death information.  I was prompted to search the Find A Grave Collection in FamilySearch and we found the Caspary plot with Herman Caspray and Henrietta monuments with many of the family in Glendale, Queens, New York.  An amazing photo of the monuments with the stones putting the family headstones in their order.

On Saturday, after going to Harlem for Diane's podiatry appointment with Dr. Joshi, our shift started with working with Millicent Burke-Kaaland who wanted to prepare her son's baptism card so the Elders could do it today.

We finally got her into her account and added new informatoin including 3 of her 5 children, two deceased.  We were able to add her son, Richard Burke, born 1961 to her famly and print his card for ordinances.

This was a very emotional and moving time for her and she shed tears as she told me that in 2013 her son witnessed a robbery in Jamaica (where she was from). Those involved knew he could identify them so they shot him in the neck and after being in a coma for 3 days, he passed away.

She said that she has had the distinct prompting that Richard feels like he is "outside" [In Spirit Prison?]and has asked her the question, "What about me?"  Now  she can feel more at peace with his temple ordinances begun.

The rest of the shift, I worked with Kerry Harris, a non-member who had worked with Liz yesterday.  We were able to run the census to 1880 and he added three generations on his family from Alabama and Georgia and found the burial plot of his great-grandparents in Alabama through Find A Grave.  It is nothing short of miraculous to be able to find so much in so little time with the technologies available.  I think of the early years of my research before any indexes and just having to go microfilm by microfilm and page by page to even find census records.  And now what took months can be done in a couple of hours!