13 February 2017

13 February 2017

This past week has been one of a lot of work trying to get the microfilm drawers all photographed so that we could sit at the computer and take a cabinet and a drawer at a time and look them up online to see if the Church had digitized the film (making it browseable) and if it was available online for viewing. We have marked the microfilm as "K" if we are keeping it; "IK" if it is indexed on line but not digitized; "B" if it has been digitized but not indexed and can be viewed online; "IB" if the microfilm has been indexed and digitized. All of the film that is labeled "B" or "IB" will be sent back to Salt Lake. As of this date, we have taken pictures of all the cabinets and cabinet l is complete and cabinet 2 is almost done so it is moving along faster than we had hoped. The collection is housed in five microfilm cabinets.

Microfilm Cabinet Collection

One of the challenges is that the room used for the nursery on Sundays is the room we use as the Microfilm Reading Room Tuesday through Saturday.  This means that the three microfilm readers, scanner, and two computers must be moved on rolling carts/tables into the reading room and stored back in the cabinet room on Saturday afternoon.  The Stake has approved this cabinet room as a regular microfilm reading room and will be remodeled once we can make room by sending back the part of the collection that is not used often, or is available online as browseable images.

The Microfilm Cabinet/Storage Room during the weekend with equipment stored.

On Sunday we had a very long day doing the Lord's work. We started by attending our ward in Inwood where we attended a wonderful sacrament meeting with the theme of getting to know our Savior. We then worked in the Inwood Family History Center helping the patrons that came in for one-on-one help. Diane worked with Karen Marie Belnap in doing descendancy research and getting the most benefits out of the sources that were attached as well as looking for new ones. Golden worked with George Mittag with a family on his father's side that had thirteen children, all of whom had record hints that he taught George how to attach. He was able to find one ancestor needing temple work but opted not to reserve it until he knew that he would be going to the temple that day as he is concerned about something happening to him if he were to reserve a name and then not able to do the work that he reserved.

After our meeting block, we hurried home to get lunch before heading off to do apartment inspections on the four missionary apartments (7 companionships) that we were assigned to check. It was a rain snow mix that made everything wet and some places slippery. The hand rails were turning to ice quickly,  similar to what it does in an ice storm but not as bad. Our umbrellas worked very well with the wind and storm to keep us dry and our boots were waterproof so our feet did not get wet. This made our experience in meeting with the missionaries pleasant as we were not wet.

We did not get a good start because the trains were delayed because of construction (which always affects weekend trains) so we started off about 30 minutes late. This made it so that we could not get to our sister missionaries before they had to leave, so we scheduled to meet with them on the 20th when we will be in the Harlem area for a medical appointment. We can use the trip and combine both needs in one trip. One other apartment has been scheduled for later in the week.

Diane decided to leave a message with each apartment that we visited and the missionaries seemed to really enjoy the message. She spoke on how their apartment could be like the temple if they kept the Spirit there and made their apartment clean and welcoming. She asked them to leave it so that if the Savior were to come unexpectedly, they would feel comfortable welcoming Him in and they could enjoy their visit. We have learned from the prophets that the closest place that we can have that is like the temple is our homes. As missionaries, the Church is paying for these apartments from sacred funds so it is our responsibility to treat the Savior's property with the greatest respect.

Our monthly meeting "Sunday Evening at Lincoln Square", sponsored by the New York Stake as a community outreach inviting any who would like to come (several Missionaries had investigators attending) was Stephanie Nielson and her husband, Christian.

"Globally celebrated blogger and New York Times best selling author, Stephanie Nielson share[ed] her inspiring story of hope in the face of challenges.  Her relentless faith and passion for life saved her from a fiery airplane crash.  With scars from life threatening injuries covering [most] of her body, she radiate[d] an outward beauty and faith that rises from within."

Her husband, Christian, testified how they were able to survive through the Lord's blessing allowed by a spiritual reservoir they had developed through daily scripture reading (especially the Book of Mormon), family and personal prayer, regular family home evenings, regular church attendance and partaking of the sacrament weekly.  He testified of the need of each of us to develop a spiritual reservoir so that we would be able to face and conquer, with the Lord's help, the challenges and times of adversity that inevitably are going to be part of our experience here in mortality.

With our service at the temple which reopened this week, the varying experiences in the Family History Center, and with the missionaries, all in all, it was a very productive week.