Mission Report #7 (November 1 - 17, 2011)

We woke up this morning to 2 to 4 inches of the white stuff. Right now this is almost euphoric but I know by January we will probably be sick of it. In any case it is so much fun to watch the snowflakes float with the wind. With everything white things look so clean.
In our first PPI with our zone leader we were asked what we are doing to encourage those we know to go on missions. I mentioned these little notes and our zone leader was really impressed. I hope that through these little notes we can encourage you to begin planning to serve a mission some day or at least start the preparations that will be needed to enable you to go some day in the future. I have a new hero – an Elder and Sister Taggert came into the mission this past week. They live in our building and we sometimes walk together to “work.” This is their 11th mission – yes, 11. They have been on short 6 month missions, regular 2 year missions (like this time), and they even served in Africa as the mission president and wife. The people we serve with are so incredible.
Two weeks ago I left the training zone to go back to work in Data Quality. The week started with the weekly devotional as usual except this time it was a presentation from the HR director of FamilySearch. He stressed the vital nature of our being here to supplement the work done by the employees. He stated frankly that the church is unable to keep up expanding the work force of the church in proportion to the growth of the church. As the church gets bigger and bigger the need for workers will increase proportionally but the growth is going to have to be picked up by the missionaries that are assigned here. He foresees an ever growing need for missionaries to come to Salt Lake to help with all that needs to be done here. Now his focus is on the Headquarters mission where we serve but as we heard in conference the need is worldwide.
This week found me back in the Training Zone as they needed a rent a trainer for some Church Service Missionaries coming into the mission. These are part time missionaries and they get a week of training as the Mission Presidency decides where to place them. I was assigned Sister Linda Bingham from Sandy. She and her husband are recently returned missionaries from the Washington, DC north mission. They were proselyting missionaries in DC. When they returned they felt a great void in their life and felt they needed to serve some more and they both felt they needed to learn more about Family History work. Neither had ever done much about genealogy as they felt they had relatives that had “done it all.” Well Sister Bingham had a lot of genealogy showing in nFS but much of it has issues – there are lots of records that need correcting. Also as we worked to find sources she discovered that her father’s line virtually disappears in Scotland just 2 generations back as they were Jacobites (those who fought against the government all the way back to the 13th century.) They just don’t appear in Church or government records. It was quite an eye opener to her. The spirit got to her so strongly that for two nights straight she woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this and had to go on line and read about it in the middle of the night. She was assigned the spiritual thought in Friday’s morning devotional and stated that this week had changed her life as for the first time in her life she felt really connected with her family and was beginning to actually feel them reaching out to her and compelling her to write about them so the rest of the family would know about their lives. It is sweet to watch so many who come here that are touched this way.

Mission Report #7 (November 1 - 17, 2011)

We woke up this morning to 2 to 4 inches of the white stuff. Right now this is almost euphoric but I know by January we will probably be sick of it. In any case it is so much fun to watch the snowflakes float with the wind. With everything white things look so clean.
In our first PPI with our zone leader we were asked what we are doing to encourage those we know to go on missions. I mentioned these little notes and our zone leader was really impressed. I hope that through these little notes we can encourage you to begin planning to serve a mission some day or at least start the preparations that will be needed to enable you to go some day in the future. I have a new hero – an Elder and Sister Taggert came into the mission this past week. They live in our building and we sometimes walk together to “work.” This is their 11th mission – yes, 11. They have been on short 6 month missions, regular 2 year missions (like this time), and they even served in Africa as the mission president and wife. The people we serve with are so incredible.
Two weeks ago I left the training zone to go back to work in Data Quality. The week started with the weekly devotional as usual except this time it was a presentation from the HR director of FamilySearch. He stressed the vital nature of our being here to supplement the work done by the employees. He stated frankly that the church is unable to keep up expanding the work force of the church in proportion to the growth of the church. As the church gets bigger and bigger the need for workers will increase proportionally but the growth is going to have to be picked up by the missionaries that are assigned here. He foresees an ever growing need for missionaries to come to Salt Lake to help with all that needs to be done here. Now his focus is on the Headquarters mission where we serve but as we heard in conference the need is worldwide.
This week found me back in the Training Zone as they needed a rent a trainer for some Church Service Missionaries coming into the mission. These are part time missionaries and they get a week of training as the Mission Presidency decides where to place them. I was assigned Sister Linda Bingham from Sandy. She and her husband are recently returned missionaries from the Washington, DC north mission. They were proselyting missionaries in DC. When they returned they felt a great void in their life and felt they needed to serve some more and they both felt they needed to learn more about Family History work. Neither had ever done much about genealogy as they felt they had relatives that had “done it all.” Well Sister Bingham had a lot of genealogy showing in nFS but much of it has issues – there are lots of records that need correcting. Also as we worked to find sources she discovered that her father’s line virtually disappears in Scotland just 2 generations back as they were Jacobites (those who fought against the government all the way back to the 13th century.) They just don’t appear in Church or government records. It was quite an eye opener to her. The spirit got to her so strongly that for two nights straight she woke up in the middle of the night thinking about this and had to go on line and read about it in the middle of the night. She was assigned the spiritual thought in Friday’s morning devotional and stated that this week had changed her life as for the first time in her life she felt really connected with her family and was beginning to actually feel them reaching out to her and compelling her to write about them so the rest of the family would know about their lives. It is sweet to watch so many who come here that are touched this way.

Mission Report #6 (Oct 10 - 29)

My career as a hired gun (or more properly a Rent-a-trainer) began the afternoon of the 10th. The mission presidency asked that a few of us spend a couple of weeks back in the training zone as Trainers. That Friday afternoon I began working in the training zone with my new missionary, Sister Lillian Shepherd. She is a very nice lady, just a couple of years older than I am. She didn’t have much of an education and worked as a care giver with handicapped youth. Her computer skills are limited and her typing is very weak.
We had a CSM (Church Service Missionary) devotional that all missionaries were invited to attend. At the beginning of the meeting Pres. Pinon, who was conducting stated how many missionaries we have currently (it is about 415 full time and some 700 part time). He also stated that we had just surpassed the 1,000,000 hour mark in service for the year. That is truly remarkable. You can put an hourly rate on that number to get an idea of the money the church saves by utilizing us rather than employees.
After a week of helping Sister Shepherd work on family history we went out to a concert on Saturday night at the Assembly Hall (free of course.) It was put on by a concert soprano who is Bob and Heidimarie Morris’s daughter-in-law, Rachel Morris. We were contacted by Bob during the week so we made sure to go. It was absolutely outstanding plus it was fun to visit for a while with Bob and Heidimarie. They are doing fine and loving Idaho – unfortunately they live outside our mission boundary so no visiting there.
This last week was eventful as on Thursday, on our way to the Church Office Building for lunch we happened upon the general authorities returning to the Church Administrative Building. The first presidency and Quorum of the 12 travel around underground on oversized golf carts. They have security people all over to stop us from getting in the way when they pass. We saw one of the carts and on it was Quinton Cook, Boyd K. Packer and L. Tom Perry. There was actually one more on the cart but they pass by so quickly it was hard to remember. I had to return to the training zone before Barbara went back to work so I missed seeing President Dieter F. Uchtdorf as he was getting in a car to leave the Administrative building like she did. This is not an everyday occurrence as we have been here 3 months and this is the first time that has happened.
Friday was graduation day for my trainee and a trip to the beautiful Salt Lake temple with the trainees and the mission presidency. I took the name of the non-member genealogist who was the first to research my early LDS Carter family. I didn’t have any special experience but did feel great satisfaction at helping this man who had the spirit of Elijah on his eternal journey. Saturday evening evening we were invited to Roger and SueAnn Lamberts for dinner. They also invited Velda Welton, Helmet and Lark Bambl and Lark’s parents to dinner with us. It was a great evening with old friends from Fresno talking over our families, genealogy and having a great dinner. Sister Welton’s husband, the late Oliver K Welton, was our stake president when we got married. Brother Lambert was our bishop in West Stake several years ago. Henry and Nancy Bowen live in the same development as the Lamberts but they were off in Turkey visiting one of their kids. I should also note that April Lundquist Jolly lives 3 floors below us in our building. It is fun to run into her and her two cute boys every once in a while. They will be blessed with a third child In a few months. Well it is time to close. It is such a blessing to be surrounded by all these dedicated people in our mission. It can’t help but encourage you to raise the bar and try harder to live a better life.

Mission Report #5 (Sept 27 - Oct 9)

It doesn’t seem possible we have been gone for two months already. As far as our service goes, we are finally getting to the point that the service we render (in the Data Quality) zone isn’t so overwhelmingly difficult and some days are actually enjoyable. It is so important to realize we are a team in this zone and as we work together to solve these cases we work on, the burden is lightened.
This past week we got a little taste of what is to come, weather wise. Our first cold storm came through and brought snow down to within 800 feet of Salt Lake proper. We learned the value of Deseret Industries as a result as we made a fast trip there and picked up excellent long rain coats for $8 each. It is interesting how many of our fellow missionaries do all their clothes shopping there. So trust me, those donations to DI are put to more uses than you might imagine.
In reference to General Conference, I just want to mention the fact that we had the pleasure of having one of our children and family with us for conference. Our Laura and her family arrived late on Thursday night. On Friday we had arranged to get off “work” at noon so we could spend the afternoon with them. They came to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to meet us so the kids could see where Grandma and Grandpa “work.” We then took them up on the 10th floor so they could see the temple from that great view. As we were leaving to go down and get some lunch we just missed an elevator – which was the best thing that could have happened. When the next elevator arrived, out stepped the Prophet. (He was meeting family in one of the big rooms on the 10th floor.) He started away from us to join them, but when he saw our three grandsons he made an about face and went straight to them. He shook each one’s hand and talked to them for a few seconds. Of course each conversation ended with – “Are you going to serve a mission one of these days?” What a tender mercy for my little grandkids to have this experience.

Mission Report 4 (Sept. 12 - 26, 2011)

We are in the 3rd Branch of the Ensign Stake. They have a second branch which is dedicated to the LDS Hospital, which is a few blocks from where we live. They have a branch of Church Service Missionaries who tend to the needs of the patients in the hospital. They like to say the doctors tend to the bodies of the patients and they tend to the spirit of the patients. They hold services at the hospital on Sundays for the patients and for staff who want to attend. They bring the sacrament to those who can’t attend the services. They also go, two by two, to the patients during the week.

Our stake had stake conference two weekends ago. Now the following could only happen in Utah. The Saturday night adult session was scheduled at 5:30 PM. The stake president showed up in a red tie and the 1st counselor in a blue tie. The counselor, who conducted, said they appreciated everyone in the stake being flexible with the time of the meeting and that the ties had nothing to do with it. (We got out in time to see the BYU – Utah game on TV right after the meeting.) The Sunday meeting was in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Our stake house is right up the street on our block but there just isn’t much parking and the stake is full of old members who need transportation. So we are the only stake to get to use the Tabernacle and the stake members can park underground in the conference center parking. Game or no game, both sessions of conference were very spiritual and enjoyable. Barbara has always wanted to sing just one song with the Tab Choir. Well she didn’t get to sing with them, but she did sing in their seats.
Home teaching / visiting teaching – now that is different here. Husbands and wives are paired up in our branch. We were assigned another couple and a single sister. When we go it counts for both visiting and home teaching. It is crazy to go down the elevator two floors and visit the other couple and to walk 10 minutes from where we work and meet the sister. That is so different back home. Our branch constantly has missionaries coming in and out. We are losing a dozen or so missionaries this week and will gain probably 30 next week. As of last week there were 183 full-time missionaries in our branch. Next month it should be more like 200.

Mission Report #3 (Mid-September, 2011)

It is so interesting how small this world is. My trainer in the training zone, Elder Lewis is my cousin two different ways. Also one of the employees in our zone is an acquaintance of our daughter Aimee. That brings up an interesting thing. As missionaries we must call each other Elder and Sister. No biggie there, but the employees we work with we call by their first names. So the boss over our whole department Tom Carter isn’t Brother Carter – just Tom. My other bosses are Kylene, Kristi, and Marissa – and don’t you dare call them Sister – since that is reserved for missionaries. That is just a strange little quirk.
There are many little luxuries we enjoy in this mission that you don’t usually have in a normal mission. Because of the size of the mission – over 400 full-time senior missionaries and twice as many Church Service Missionaries (part time missionaries), and almost 100 young missionaries, we have our own medical office staffed by a missionary nurse and a different doctor each day – GP, cardiologist, dermatologist, orthopedist, and someone else. You can go to them and they will treat you and even prescribe medicine for routine things. If they treat you there isn’t a need to pay. You only have to use your insurance if they refer you out to a specialist.
We spent half of this two weeks in the training zone. My goal was to learn to make sources in PAF and in Roots Magic as I have never done that - I have always used notes. This is one of my goals while here - to source my genealogy properly.

Mission Report #2 (End of August 2011)

The past two weeks have been an interesting couple of weeks. We began these two weeks by continuing our training for working cases in the Data Quality Zone. You are so intent on what you are doing in this zone that you don’t realize how fast the time flies. I have been doing about 8 or 9 cases a day. That isn’t really that many as the old-timers and the young men missionaries can really do them a lot faster. Still I am staying fully busy. There is a huge learning curve so I figure it will take time to fully understand what to do on all of these cases.
On Friday we attended the training graduation activity for the half of us that went through training in PAF and new FamilySearch. At that meeting they were introduced to their new zone leaders. We have people serving in the Family History Library, Church History Library, Security, the Granite Mountain Vault, and various zones in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, like us. Some work with the papers of the Prophet, receive acquisitions to the church, preserve records, and index diaries.
This past week we were assigned to the Training Zone to get our introduction to PAF and nFS - which I kind of know. But I have never created sources the right way or attached digital images of the sources so I spent the first week just working on that. There was one really spiritual activity this past week. On Tuesday we went over to the Church History Library for a presentation on what goes on there. For me the spirit was especially strong. I have been having many spiritual feelings the past week or two but today at the History Library they were especially strong. One of the employees came in and brought some “show and tell” items to show us what kinds of things they have there. The first thing he brought out was one of the 72 original leafs of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon in Oliver Cowdery’s hand. What a thrill. He also had a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon worth like $50,000 to $400,000. Also he had a copy of the Book of Commandments (the precursor of the Doctrine and Covenants.) There are only 27 in existence and it is worth over a million dollars. The copy had the last part written by hand by Wilford Woodruff. In all it was a wonderful experience and the spirit just whispered – you know these things are true and these objects helped make the history you believe.

Mission Report #1

We love where we live overlooking downtown. We can see the from the mountains in the east, across downtown and to the Church Office Building and part of Temple Square from our balcony. We live just a block west of the Church Office Building so it takes us about 10 minutes to walk to our assignment.
We have been on our mission for 10 days now. It is such a blessing to be serving in this mission as you are around your mission presidency virtually every day. I don't think we have had a day go by that we haven't seen at least one of them. They are all great men. We have had several training meetings where they have been instructing us. In fact Mike Thomas asked for something from me that I took from some of their training.
Our mission is different from many others. We don't go to the MTC but have our own MTC in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB). They normally train you for two weeks on PAF and new FamilySearch and then send you out to your mission zone. Our group was almost 40 strong so they broke us into two groups. One group got the training and the rest of us got zone assignments last Monday and were put to work. When they announced our assignment Monday we just looked at each other and said, "You've got to be kidding." We were assigned the most challenging zone in the mission. It is called Data Quality. I know that means nothing to any of you. Let me explain by starting with the fact that we work behind locked security doors that require a security badge to get past. We are working in new FamilySearch helping members fix many of the problems that are in the data of that program - which includes the actual temple files of the Church. There are 12 employees and there are about 54 missionaries in this zone. I am being trained to work on missing and incorrect ordinance data.
We are in the Largest and Smallest mission of the Church. Also it's name was just changed to the Church and Family History and Church Headquarters Mission. Our mission takes in approximately 2 blocks of land (smallest in size) but has the most missionaries of any mission. (435 seniors - couples and sisters, 800 Church Service Missionaries - part time missionaries, 80 young elders with health/emotional issues and 3 young sisters.) So that makes us the largest in size of any mission missionary-wise. Our zones cover all the Church and Family History things but also all the missionaries in the Church Office Building - so our missionaries work in security, the mission department, nursing/doctors on the mission campus, real estate, furniture, etc. You name it and we probably have a missionary or two doing it.

What I Plan to Do:

I haven't blogged in about a half year. We are on a full-time mission for our church in Salt Lake City. I have been sending out a bi-weekly news letter and it has been suggested that I post at least parts of them here. I think that is a good idea and will try this out. Enjoy.