Elder & Sister Thomas aka Grampa & Annie

Elder & Sister Thomas aka Grampa & Annie
Smiles All Around!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Digital Preservation Zone

     I think I am finally getting the hang of my camera, computer and blog and I may be able to post more often now....hopefully.  I apologize to any of you who have checked to see if there is a new post only to find the same old news.  Today I want to introduce you to our new friends and co-workers in the Digital Preservation Zone; our place of service for 18 months.
    Shon Watkins is our "boss."  He is a paid employee of the Church who we all refer to as "employees."  The rest of us are missionaries, either full time or Church Service Missionaries who serve from their homes and usually only part time (CSM's).  Shon grew up in Smithfield, Utah in a family printing company, Watkins' Printing.  He decided to leave the company a couple of years ago and ended up as a full time Church employee over the digital preservation unit.  Shon is brilliant.  He started work here a couple months before we arrived and we have been able to witness the metamorphasis of the department from a jumbled mass of books and machines in back rooms and corners to the streamlined process we now have.
     "They" say that one day we will move to better and bigger quarters but for now we are in a small room on the bottom floor of the Family History Library (B2) in the south east corner, between the British Zone offices and a room called "Special Collections."  Shon used to be in an office on B1 and whenever someone had a question they would call his desk.  The problem was he was usually going between B2 and the ConsLab on floor 3, the other half of the Digital Preservation Zone, and no one could ever catch up to him.  When we moved all of our equipement into this room he had a cubicle created in our room for his office.  Now we know where he isn't at least! 
      Shon is great!  He is a computer whiz and great at making our digitizing processes simpler and more effective.  He is also an avid BYU fan and every hour on the hour the BYU "fight song" comes on to mark our stand-and-stretch time. :)  Shon will be gone on vacation with his family this week and is leaving our own Elder Thomas in charge.  That is another metamorphasis that has been amazing to see but a story for another day.
      Elder and Sister Veach have been serving with us for a couple months now.  They were serving a mission in Georgia until their mission dissolved and was assimilated by four other missions in the area.  They only had four months left to serve so rather than going home early the Veach's chose to serve in the Family and Church History Mission.  Elder Veach is 82!  He sure doesn't look it.  He was a radio broadcaster most of his life and then a motivational speaker.  Sister Veach is 13 years younger that E Veach and very quick to learn.  She has passed on a lot of computer knowledge which has helped us immensely.  E and S Veach live south of SLC and travel to the FHL every day.  We have become fast friends.
     The three young missionaries are Elder Grether, from Oregon, Elder Sy, from So California, and Sister Holt from SLC.  Elder Grether suffers from narcolepsy (sleep disorder) and falls asleep "at the wheel" often.  One day he was having trouble staying awake so Elder Jackson (not pictured) told him to go into Shon's cubicle and lay down on the floor for 15 minutes.  E Jackson would wake him up when it was time.  Sister Thomas didn't hear the conversation (I have got to get hearing aides!) and went into Shon's cubicle to leave a book on his desk.  As I was placing the book I saw some legs sticking out from under the desk top....Sure gave me a scare!  A body!!  Gave everyone else in the room a good laugh.  Elder Grether started his mission in Michigan, I think, but couldn't continue in a regular mission because of his disability.  This is such a great place for those young elders to serve... E Grether is our computer guru.
      Elder Sy says he has Something Spectrum Autism.  He is another favorite.  Elder Sy is OC about Australia and reptiles.  He has been to the Golopagos Islands and plans to go to Australia after his mission.  Friday he had a list of points about him that he thought everyone should know.  The list included what he liked to eat, listen to, watch and spend his time doing.  It said he likes to go to the pet store once a month just to hold the snakes for a while....ugh!  He is just a delight.  He is very concerned about the winter coming since he hasn't ever experienced winter weather.  His mother sent him a nice fur hat and he has a good warm overcoat that he is already wearing...and it is still over 70 degrees :)  He is meticulous about his work and we love to audit his books.
      Sister Holt (E Thomas calls her "giggles") has been in the zone longer than us.  She is local and only comes to work part time during the week.  She also has some form of autism.  Sister Holt loves to chat and is so friendly and sweet; we all just love her.  She usually works on the copi book machine (the three are working on copibooks) and we give her the most difficult books because we know she will be able to scan them accurately.  In her spare time she is singing in a choir and writing a children's book.  She is always cheerful and very loving.  I think she just turned 24.
      In the picture with Elder Thomas is Sister Escobedo.  She taught us on the copibooks when we first arrived and she is a great teacher.  She and Elder Thomas were working on the form feed machines the day of the picture and E & S Veach were auditing books (checking for missed pages, torn pages, lost text, etc).  Sister Escobedo just finished her mission but decided to extend for another couple of years.  Her husband died several years ago and her kids are all gone from home.  She owns a 4,000 sq ft house in Peoche, NV and some storage units.  They are financing her mission. 
      Hope you have enjoyed this tour of our room and the people in it.  We can't say enough how much we love what we are doing; we are grateful for the chance to serve even though it isn't anything like what we imagined before we got here; and we are having the time of our lives!
     

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Elder & Sister Thomas aka Grampa & Annie...

     Occasionally, for a special family function or other events, we old missionaries can submit a request to leave the mission for a time.  I guess they figure the two of us aren't likely to get into any trouble while we are away (they don't know us very well, do they??) and we are likely to return when we say we will.  So, we submitted a request to go to Alaska for five days.  As you can see in one of the pictures we've posted, Brad and Sarah had their day in court and now little Madilyn Ray Thomas is officially, legally theirs.  What a happy day.  Better than that, though, was the day they took Madilyn to the Anchorage Alaska Temple to have her sealed to them for "time and all eternity."  And that is the day we didn't want to miss.
     Our request was approved and we started to arrange for tickets, planning to use our many accrued miles on our Alaska Airlines credit card to book our tickets.  We found out that booking in September takes more miles than we had...and we thought we had plenty.  For a round trip ticket on a companion airline, Delta, it would take 50,000 miles per ticket.  Whew.  So, our vacation planner daughter-in-law, Sarah, went to work:  she found that we could get a rt ticket from SLC to Portland on Delta for $221.  From there it would only take 32,000 miles...still a stiff price but doable.  The tickets to/from Portland were available through Expedia which I have often used.  When I clicked on the "pay now" button in the Expedia program the price changed to $340 rt.  Since I had already booked the PDX to ANC leg of our journey I had to go ahead and buy at the higher price.  The next day I checked Expedia again and the price of the SLC to PDX tickets had, indeed, gone up but only a few dollars to $240 rt.  Again, when I went through the steps to ticket  and got to the "pay now" tab the price changed to $380.  Interesting marketing plan.  I will no longer use Expedia.
   That said, the trip to AK was worth every penny and more.  The kids said they were having a custody battle over us....who gets Grandpa and Annie which days, for how long, who picks them up when and who takes them to the airport.  So we just went along with the agreed upon plan.  Lisa and her kids picked us up at the airport. (for a video of our arrival go to thecardsweredealt.blogspot.com) I started holding the grandkids hands and hugging them and kissing them and touching their little faces right then and didn't quit until we left to go home!  When we go to see them again they will probably run..."Its the smothering grandma!"
     We spent two days at Lisa and Joel's house.  We went to school with Elizabeth so we could see her class and meet her new kindergarten teacher.  We went on walks with Henry and Lydia by their home and added Elizabeth on a walk to the Matanuska River Park the next day.  We read books and looked at treasures and played pretend with Elizabeth and Henry...and held Lydia as much as she would let us.  At one point I found myself up in the loft in E's bedroom scrunched between the sloping roof and the dresser as we pretended to be camping.  I was the child, E was the mother (her favorite roll) and Henry was the dad and the son and whatever else E needed him to be...:)
     On Friday evening at 8:45pm Brad and Sarah picked us up and took us to their home in Eagle River.  There we got to play with Madilyn, Lucy, Abi, and Chewy.  Lucy and Abigail are B&S's Westies.  Chewy belongs to Sarah's brother's family and is also a Westie.  Madilyn crawls around the house looking very much like she is part of a pack of dogs!  Saturday morning early Elder Thomas got up to use the bathroom and didn't shut our bedroom door good enough....suddenly the bed was rocking from the dogs all jumping up on it and then my face was covered in dog kisses!  What a way to wake up  :)
     Saturday was the day for the sealing at the temple.  Words cannot express what a beautiful, touching experience that was.  Elder Thomas was one of the witnesses for the sealing and Madilyn's birth grandfather was the other.  His son and sister were also in attendance.  The room was filled with friends and family of Brad and Sarah's with not one dry eye in the place.  The temple sealer, who has the priesthood authority to perform such sealings, explained that Madilyn would be sealed to Brad and Sarah "as if she had been born under the covenant" or in other words as if she was biologically theirs.  More tears.  Brad and Sarah kneeled at either end of the alter in the sealing room and Lisa held Madilyn on one side with Madilyn's hand on her mom and dad's in the middle.  The ordinance took only moments to perform....but will last into the eternities.  We are so grateful to those who helped to make this happen.  What a beautiful family they are.
     The next day Madilyn was blessed in church.  This usually happens when our children are new babies but couldn't be done in Madilyn's case until all of the legalities were completed. Again, friends and family were in attendance at Sacrament Meeting, where the blessings are usually done and several stood in the circle of priesthood holders during the blessing.  The father usually holds the new baby up after the blessing so the congragation can see how cute they are....Brad held Madilyn up and I was surprised she didn't wave.  She is so darling and soooo spunky...much like her mama.  What a wonderful day.  We spent the rest of the day with our kids and spouses and grandchildren and Sarah's family and my sister, Jo. 
    It was hard to leave.  I cried, of course.  Lisa cried....but Henry and Elizabeth said it was okay because "Grampa and Annie have to go back to their mission."  And we did.  Kissing and hugging the kids, grandkids and dogs one more time for good measure.  We arrived back in SLC Monday evening and Tuesday morning we hit the ground running....again....with smiles on our faces.  "Surely my cup runneth over."

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Heroes Among Us

     Well, the problem is....the days and weeks go by soooo quickly that I just can't seem to get to the computer before the week is over.  So what you see is what you get...So much for a successful blog committment!

     I want to tell you a bit about a young man we met on our mission, Elder Allred, from Sugar City, Idaho (pictured above).  Elder Allred was born in Haiti.  His father was murdered and his mother died of an infection of some kind.  He had at least one sibling that died in his arms....I'm not sure why or when; before or after his mother died.  He was living in poverty and nobody wanted him.  He had been baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) when he was about 8 years old but we don't know the details of that event.
     When Elder Allred was about 10 years old a member of our church who worked for the US government was in Haiti working on a project of some kind.  He talked to some of the people who worked in the area where the project was taking place and asked them if there was anything else that they could do to help.  The people of the neighborhood directed him to Max...a boy that no one seemed to want. The man called some people he knew in the United States, the Allreds, to see if they would want to adopt a boy from Haiti.  The Allreds said they would and Max was sent to live with them in Idaho. 
     Young Max went to school in Sugar City, Idaho and graduated from high school there.  One of his great desires was to serve a mission for our church when he turned 19 as most active young men in our church do.  He got a job at a local grocery store, Broulim's, and began to save his money.  His father told me that one day a fellow employee noticed that Max had forgotten to bring his lunch to work with him.  The friend told Max that he could just get something there at the store and they would deduct the cost of the food from his paycheck.  But, Max wouldn't do that:  the money he was making was sacred money meant for his mission!
    Sometime after Max turned 19 he filled out the necessary papers and submitted them, and then waited anxiously for "the letter" to arrive.  Unfortunately, because Max had some learning disabilities and had graduated from high school without learning to READ, he did not qualify to serve a normal mission.  Those who processed his application suggested he serve a mission from home as a Church Service Missionary at the Deseret Industries or the Cannery or something easier for him to do.
     Max was devastated.  He so wanted to serve the Lord in a mission away from home.  His father said not long after that they learned about the Church and Family History Mission in Salt Lake City and that many young men were serving missions there even though they had some kind of disability that kept them from serving "normal" missions.  So they helped Max to fill out his application papers again and they requested that he be able to serve in SLC.  When his mission papers arrived in the mail and were opened, young Maxamillion found that not only could he serve in the C&FHMission, they WANTED him there.
     One of the many miracles in Max's life happened while he was on his mission:  a woman who specialized in teaching reading was serving in the same mission and she began to meet with Elder Allred daily to begin to teach him how to read.  After she left, our zone leader's wife, a teacher by profession, also, continued his reading lessons.  It is no wonder that there wasn't a dry eye in the room on the last day of Elder Allred's 2 year mission as he took his last turn reading the scripture reference for the day in our zone prayer meeting.
     In my short visit with Brother Allred (Elder Allred's father) he told me that he had returned to Haiti to make arrangements for the adoption of other children there and had run into Elder Allred's uncle.  The Uncle's first question was, "You aren't bringing him back are you?"  I'm sure that the poverty in the country makes it difficult to feed yet another mouth and with Elder Allred's learning disabilities he would not be seen as one who could help them support the family.  They didn't want him.  Brother Allred assured them that he wasn't bringing him back....because they WANTED him.  We all echoed that....we'd keep him with us in our mission forever, if we could.  What a fun young man.  He was usually very positive and helpful and worked hard... with a smile.
     Elder Allred planned to return to Idaho (his family recently moved to Idaho Falls) and get a job...one that would pay more than the grocery store.  We pray that the Lord's choicest blessings will be poured down upon this young man and his parents and their other adopted children. :)  He has surely enriched our lives in the short time that we got to be around him. 
     He is one of our heroes.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Blog Sucess

     It seems to me that if a person wants to write a successful blog a regular schedule of new posts is essential.  So much for being successful.  I noticed that my last post was already a month old.  Okay...I am now making a committment to write in this blog at least once a week.  Even if I have to get up in the middle of the night to do it I will post regularly.  Enough said.
     The second thing to do is to apologize for making you look at that horrible picture of Larry and I!  We were at a funeral and asked my friend, Carol's, daughter-in-law, Mandy, to take our picture before the funeral started.  She was very obliging; she carries her camera with her everywhere.  We needed the picture to submit with our mission application.  I guess they want to make sure you aren't toooo ugly!  Not sure how we passed....  I'll look for an updated picture to post next week.  Promise!
     We are no longer the deer-in-the-headlights looking newbies here on our mission.  We have been here for two and half months and two new groups of missionaries have come in after us.  The largest group came in the beginning of August:  42 couples, single sisters, and young elders have joined us.  Hooray!  I hate being the "new kid on the block."
     We are also getting so good in the book scanning business that we have been asked to train.  Now that is a miracle!  The most we ever used our computer for at home was to e-mail, play spider solitaire, and skype with the kids.  Now we can use various programs to scan books, edit the previously scanned pages, use a bulk numbering program to correct page numbering errors or to renumber in sequence....Our brain matter is quivvering from all of the new information we have stuffed in to it.  Perhaps it will stave off Alzheimer's a bit.
     It only took us a day or two to catch the vision of what we had been assigned to do for the next 18 months to 2 years.  Even though we began our training in a dark cubby in a back storage room (we've all moved into one "Scanning Center" now) we can see the value of making all of the printed matter in the Family History Libraries available to the world. 
     Part of our zone includes the "patron request" section (they are in a different room down the hall).  When a person in Russia or England or Louisiana searches on http://www.familysearch.org/ in the Library Catalog and finds a record that they would like a copy of they send a letter to the Family History Library asking for someone to make a copy and send it back to them.  It only costs the person $2 per request which is so much less than most libraries or genealogy organizations can offer. 
     Scanning books and films, then, makes all of the records at the libray available for free world wide.  I was afraid if they did that no one would ever come to the genealogy mecca of the world (SLC) again but the top guys assure us that most of the people who come to the library come for help and training.  And there is a line outside the door before 8am every morning of people waiting to get in......
      The book that caught my heart and began my devotion to what we are doing each day was about a young woman who died at an early age...in her early 20's.  She had a very rare disease that very gradually took away her ability to move, to talk, to see, and to hear.  And yet she was cheerful in her eduring.  Her siblings wrote the book about her life after she died to extend her memory.  By scanning the book and making it accessible on-line, we are extending her memory even more.  And, because of the genius of computers indexing abilities, anyone who is searching to know more about that disease, or about her, or about where she lived or went to school would be able to bring the book up and read about her and her amazing life.  Yes, our work is blessing others.  We really don't have time to even look at much less read the hundreds of books we go through each week but that book caught my eye in the first week and helped me to understand the goals of our zone. 
      More later about how those goals continue to expand...and how we are just barely hanging on to our fast changing, ever moving, computerized daily service. 
     It is cool enough now to go out for a walk but getting dark.  Gotta go!
    We send our love to you all.
     Elder and Sister Thomas.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

IDENTITY CRISIS x 2

     My sister, Jo, and I apparently look quite a bit alike.  Neither of us agree but others seem to think so.  Often I have called Jo to tell her that I am having an identity crisis.  The usual mistaken identity experience goes something like this:  someone approaches me and starts to talk.  I smile and listen.  It doesn't take long to realize that they think I am my sister.  They are talking about things I have no knowledge of like her business or baseball or Kiwanis.  Then I quickly decide whether to say, "Oh, you must think I'm my sister," or to just go along with what they are saying and try to respond appropriately. 
     The thing is I am much taller than my sister.  People never stop her in WalMart and ask her to reach something on the top shelf for them.  She has nice teeth, perfect sized feet, a nice figure, etc.  The only thing we have in common is dark hair.  And perhaps a bit of genetics.... But she takes after our father's side of the family and I have been told that I look very much like my mother's Grandmother Erickson.  So how could anyone think we look a like?
     When we got to SLC and began to meet our neighbors and other missionaries we heard people saying often, "You look just like Sister Peterson."  It happened over and over.  A couple of ladies even called me Sister Peterson.  One day while we were stopped on the sidewalk chatting with some new friends, one of the young missionaries that serves here came running up with an excited look on his face.  When he got close enough to say something his expression changed; he looked a bit confused.  And then the confusion changed to disappointment and embarrassment.  I felt like an impostor and so sorry to have unintentionally deceived him. 
     Another day a woman walked up to me at a mission meeting and said, "I see you made it back!"  I didn't have any idea what she was talking about....back?  from where?  I told her I was taking it one day at a time, thinking she was a trainer and wondered if it was too much for me and she thought I wouldn't return.  Later I thought about it again and realized she must have thought I was Sister Peterson, too.
     Sister Peterson and her husband were serving in our mission some time before we got here.  Their daughter began having problems with her pregnancy and needed someone to help with her other children so Sister Peterson took a leave of absence.  Her husband continues to be our mission photographer and is seen around the campus when new missionaries arrive.  I ran into him in a hallway one day and asked about his wife....and told him that there had been a bit of confusion regarding our looking somewhat alike.  He smiled and said, yes, there were some similarities, but no, we didn't look so much alike to him.
     Now when someone says I look just like Sister Peterson I tell them that her husband doesn't think so....  One woman agreed that he knew best and she guessed I didn't really look like her.  She turned to leave and then turned back and said, "What do men know?  You DO look like her!"
     So for the time being, I have MPD (multiple personality disorder) and I am looking forward to meeting Sister Peterson soon.  I wonder if she looks anything like my sister, Jo?!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Going Forward

     When we arrived in SLC on Thursday, June 2nd, I thought we might look like the Beverly Hillbillies coming to town.  If we had  been coming from North Carolina or Maine or England like our new neighbor, we would have brought only what we could fit in a suitcase.  But, since we live only two and a half hours north of here and we have a pick up we kept adding to our stack...First, all of our family history boxes (well, I had boxes, Larry had a book of remembrance and a folder).  Then bedding, some food storage, clothes, a couple of appliances that would cost a bit to buy new, etc.  The more we brought the less we would have to buy to get started in our new apartment.  Larry was going to put a rocking chair on top and put me into it long before we got done adding to the pile.
     So we arrived, moved in and started life as missionaries in the Family and Church History Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
     There were about 35 in the group coming in with us the first of June.  Because the training zone is running at half-staff (lack of missionaries) they divided our group into two segments.  Our portion received our zone assignments immediately and we followed Elder and Sister Harwood over to the Family History Library to tour our new area.
     The other half of the group headed into two weeks of intense training in genealogy methods and sources.  At the end of their training we all had what they call a "Go Forth" day.  On this day, usually, the new group gets their zone assignments, we all go to the temple and eat dinner together and then go forth wherever they have sent us.
     Because we were assigned first we had two weeks of training in our zone and then went to the other training classes.  We were hoping that we wouldn't forget all that we had already learned....age shrinks your capability to recall as much I am afraid.  Maybe recalling things learned is just slower after 50.  At any rate, it is not as easy to learn, remember, recall, perform, learn more, etc...
     After our genealogy training we really were ready to "go forth"  and we needed a large amount of faith that we could remember and do what was needed.  We are assigned to the Digital Preservation Zone.  Interesting enough our zone leader, Elder Harwood, was born and raised in Grace, Idaho, too.  We know some people in common but he is a bit older than Larry.
     The only thing I remember from that first tour of the zone was that we went from one area to another by way of back elevators and hallways I never dreamed existed after my few trips to the FHL.  On B1 clear in the back between some rolling shelving and a wall were three copibook scanners set up on two long tables.  There were two people intent on their work, one of which was Sister Escabado, who has become a favorite friend.  The lighting was dim...very dim....almost dark because of the machines.  And, they said, this is where you are going to be working.  I looked at that small dungeon-like cubby hole and thought, "I am going to need all the faith I have to spend the next two years here..."
    We began to learn that day.  And it was so interesting that by the end of that day I was hooked.  By the end of the next day I had caught the spirit of the goals of our zone:  to make all of the books accessible on-line for anyone who wanted to search through them.  For free. What a huge undertaking!
     We've learned how to scan using the copibook machines and the form feeders and how to audit the books that have been scanned looking for mistakes like bent pages, missing pages and misfed pages.  When they are fixed we put the scans into a file that goes to Orem.  I'm not sure what Orem does but basically they make the pages nice and neat and get them ready to go on-line. 
     So we work with books.  Those who know me know how much I love books.  I love the smell of books, the feel of the pages, the look of the type.  I love the covers, the bindings, the words... The only thing I don't like is that we go through each book so quickly we don't get to read them!
     And what about Elder Thomas (aka Larry) you ask?  Do you know how much he likes to work in an office?  Almost as much as he loves to work in tractors.  One of his favorite places to shop is the office supply stores.  He loves pens and pencils.  He loves putting things in order.  He likes to work on computers after he learns how.  And he likes being needed, appreciated, and feeling like he is accomplishing something.
     We are truly having the time of our lives.
     Remind me to tell you about how I caught the vision of what we are doing on the second day of our "going forth with faith."

Sunday, July 3, 2011

JUST BEGINNING

Last October during the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints of which we are members, our prophet, President Thomas S Monson, put forth a call for more senior missionaries.  When we moved back to Idaho from Alaska we had fully intended to go on a mission but life just seemed to take over and our mission plans got put on a back burner.  Larry and I were remodeling the house we had purchased from the Young family. Larry went to work on a local farm and once he got back in a tractor I thought he would never leave again.  I had gotten involved in working in the Family History Center; quilting on Tuesdays with a group of women; going to our new book club once a month and spending time reading the monthly choices; and other wonderful activities.  However, once President Monson put out the call for more senior missionaries we knew it was time to start planning to go.  We decided we would work hard to get enough money into our bank account to cover our expenses for 18 months to 2 years and made a goal to have our papers turned in by October of 2011.  We were talking to our daughter, Robyn, soon after our decision.  She was excited for us but wondered why not start immediately.  We explained our plan and our need for money to pay our way.
     Soon after we had made our decision and come up with the plan we told our Bishop who quickly led us into his office, got us a password to access our online mission forms and had us filling them out that evening!  That wasn't in the plan!  Before we knew it we were going through our medical, dental, and vision exams; writing out our physical life history as well as our church and service history; checking boxes about what we did well and what we didn't know at all; and meeting with the bishop and stake president in our area for interviews.  The speed with which all of the above happened probably seemed slow to our friends and family but to us, as we watched our bank account fluctuate as usual, the time went by way too fast.  
    The miracle of our entering the mission field so much sooner than planned nearly took our breath away.  Our children began to offer to make donations to our mission.  Our paychecks seemed to grow; our expenses seemed to shrink and the difference began to show in our check ledger.  Even when it was time to go, there wasn't enough but when I went to balance the checkbook after we got here it seemed that there was enough and more.  
     It is in the high 90's at almost 10pm.  Larry is out on the deck and has turned off the air conditioning so I am going to have to go join him.  I will explain our title:  GO FORTH with FAITH in my next post....
     Since this whole blogging thing is new to me, I guess I can only hope that I can push the right button and get this onto the internet.
     Here goes....