Social Missionaries

With so many missionaries in one place we have many opportunities to socialize with each other. When we come into the mission we enter as a group.  Our group had 5 couples and 3 single sisters and a few young elders.  There are about 90 young elders in our mission and most, if not all, have difficulties of some kind (emotional, physical, mental, etc)  A great number have high functioning autism. This mission gives them an opportunity to serve.  We love our young elders!  They are smart, smart!  And funny, kind, interesting and usually very straight forward.  Also very talented.

FCHH Mission Young Elders

The Young Elders have their own activities while we Senior Missionaries (doesn't that make us sound old??) socialize in our groups, plus.  We nicknamed our group the Snow Birds because we came in at the beginning of the year; winter time.  We get together twice a month for Family Home Evening and once a month for a larger activity of some kind.  Last month the MacCabes arranged for our group to take a tour of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum.  If you come to SLC that is a MUST. This month we got together at the Brigham Apartments for a March Madness activity.  The Hutchings arranged for us to eat game day food, tour the Brigham Young Memorial Park next door along with some interesting facts about Brigham....did you know he left specific directions for his casket including that it should be a bit roomy so he could turn to the right or the left if he was so inclined?

We played a great game called Telestrations, and a couple of the guys played ping-pong, but mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed each others' company.  Here are some pics:

Elder Thomas dishing up.

Elder Thomas and I went to Deseret Industries (Good Will) to find our game day shirts.  Unfortunately no one else did and so we were slightly under dressed.  But, with Robyn's help, we had a great time choosing....lots of laughs.

Elder Thomas's Game Day Shirt!

Elder and Sister Sanderson

Elder MacCabe and Sister Hutchings

They call this the 20# Mission.  I am determined NOT to gain 20lbs while we are here!  But look at that food table....and Girl Scout Cookies were the dessert....how can I resist?

Suffice it to say, we are having a great time.

Where In the World?

 Elder and Sister Thomas at the MTC in Provo pointing to our mission a time honored tradition when you are at the Training Center.  Of course we weren't going anywhere exotic but we were excited anyway!  This photo was taken back at the end of December.

 Every month there are new missionaries coming into our mission.  The ones that come in on odd months, like us, attend the Salt Lake 2nd Branch of the Salt Lake Stake.  The building is across the street from the north side of our apartment building.  Easy walk to church.  We have a "Hail and Farewell" dinner every other month to celebrate the new missionaries coming in and to recognize those that are leaving.  This photo and the following one are of the H&F dinner when we were newbies.  There is a wonderful meal and then some kind of entertainment.  That's what's going on up front.

 Here is Elder Thomas enjoying the entertainment at the Hail & Farewell in January when we were new missionaries.  If you could see S Thomas you would see that she was listening with only one ear and enjoying the piles of desserts that were brought to the dinner....:)

 Occasionally we get company and we love it!  Here are Brian, Jess and the girls, Taycee and Myla enjoying the sights on Temple Square.  I do believe Myla was trying to climb into the fountain...

                                           Brian, Jess, Taycee, and Myla Thomas at Temple Square

 This is one of our favorite missionaries, Sister Appell.  She lives in SLC now and has been serving on the International Floor for about 5 years.  She is so much fun.  When we were talking about post-war Germany after WWII she told us of being so very, very hungry and being so excited when President Ezra Taft Benson, president and prophet of our church at the time, brought loads of food over to the displaced and starving German people.  She said she remembers getting some peanut butter, taking it to her room and eating it all.  She is a treasure!

In our last post we talked about going through training in the first two weeks of our mission here. This is Sister Litchfield, Elder Thomas's trainer.  She is one of the best trainers in our zone!  I'm sure I don't know whose finger got in the way of the pic!  This is now E Thomas's work place.

New Beginnings!

                             ( L-R) Elder & Sister Thomas, Sister & President Workman

    Here we are, brand new missionaries entering our mission, the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission.  This is our mission President and his wife, President and Sister Workman. He is a great speaker and scriptorian; I love to hear him speak.  She is a gem.  We are very blessed to have them leading our mission.
     In our mission you spend the first two weeks getting oriented and learning all about computers (if you don't already know) and about FamilySearch, the Tree program and all other things genealogy. We would meet every morning at 7:30 for a devotional and then work with our individual trainers on our own family history between other informative presentations about the mission.  At the end of the two weeks we have what they call our "Go Forth Day" where we are given our assigned zone to serve in for the duration of our mission and then go to the temple.
    When we decided to serve another mission we both knew that we wanted to go back to Salt Lake to our previous mission field...and we knew we were needed there because the numbers of missionaries was so low.  So it wasn't a surprise when we got our call in the mail:  FCHH Mission in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We also wanted to serve with friends that we had served with before, specifically, Shon Watkins, a Church employee, and Sister Nancy Escobedo, a full time Church Service Missionary (she lives at home and serves).  They are in the Data Quality Zone which is one of about 23 zones in our mission.  There is a lot of research, working with patrons on the phone, sorting out FamilySearch problems, etc that goes on in that zone.  We were excited.  So when our names were read on our Go Forth Day and we stood expecting President Workman to say, "Elder and Sister Thomas, you will be serving in the Data Quality Zone," we were quite surprised to hear him say instead, "Elder and Sister Thomas, you will be serving in the Training Zone."  My mouth dropped to the floor.  Not only was it not what we'd asked for, it was where we had been for two weeks and it was a frightening place to serve for us.  
     Learning to recognize the Lord's will for each of us and then doing it is one of the most important things we do in this life.  Learning to trust the Lord is another.  We knew then that what we wanted was not what the Lord had in mind for us and we immediately decided to go forth determined to do our best (with shaking knees) and just trust that the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves and He will help us every step of the way.  
     

Living in Salt Lake City

                                                         West Temple Apartments

This is where we live.  There aren't any leaves on the trees right now but in the summer it will look like this.  Our address is:  185 N West Temple #503, Salt Lake City, UT  84103.  We are on the left side of the entrance, five floors up, behind that tree.....We have a wonderful view of Temple Sqare from our deck...

                                                          Conference Center
                                            The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

You can see our apartment building on the far left center of this picture.  This is where our General Conferences are held but also many other programs that are both Church sponsored and community based.  Last night we attended a performance of the BYU singers in the small theater that is on the side of our apartments.  It was wonderful.  In the summer months when there are a lot more visitors to SLC the Tabernacle Choir performs in the Center every Sunday....everyone is welcome and there is no charge.  There is a garden on the top of the Center and tours of the building every day between 9am and 9pm or something like that.  You can google Conference Center, SLC to see more pics of the building.

                                                      Joseph Smith Memorial Building
                                                                       (JSMB)
This is where we work each day.  Can you see me waving to you from our break room?  It is in the left wing 1st window above the middle part....I think.  I can see our apartment building from that window...it is a bit over a quarter of a mile from the JSMB.  The walk to and from takes us past this reflection pool, gardens, the SL Temple, etc.  It is lovely; no weeding, mowing, shoveling....we just get to enjoy it all w/out the work.  This is actually the back of the building that was once called the Hotel Utah.  Right after we arrived they started putting scaffolding up in front of the building and word is it will be there for two years as they work on cleaning, refurbishing, and whatever else.                                                
                                      
                                                                 Salt Lake Temple
                                           The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

We walk past the SL Temple every day.  It is so beautiful and so peaceful...There are a lot of weddings that take place in this temple so we see brides and their families on Temple Square many, many times.  Both before the wedding day getting "bridal photos" taken and after the wedding with family and friends.  It is so fun to see. You can see pictures of other LDS temples by going to www.ldschurchtemples.com.  The SL Temple has been closed for cleaning and remodeling so we have gone to other temples in the meantime:  the Bountiful Temple, the Jordan River Temple, and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  All just as beautiful.

We go to church on Sunday in the chapel right across the street north of our apartment building.  That is where I am headed now.  Have a great Sunday!

New Friends at the Missionary Training Center

Part of the December 29, 2014 Missionary Group @ the Missionary Training Center

Perhaps you will recognize the missionary with the red tie and the lady in front of him with the purple sweater...That's us; officially Elder and Sister Thomas at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.  There were about 80 of us senior missionaries entering the mission field that week.  The couple to the left of us, E & S Evans, the two ladies in the middle, Sister Baird and Sister Dean, and the couple third in from the right, E & S Conlin, were going to our mission.  The others were going out to other "serving grounds."  The couple to the right of Sister Dean were going to serve as humanitarian missionaries in Beijing, China!  The couple third in from the left were going to serve as mission office missionaries in New Mexico, I think.  The first couple on the left are serving here in Salt Lake City at the Bishop's Storehouse with their 35 year old daughter who has Down's Syndrome.  

Here is the rest of our group:  The first couple on the left in the upper photo went to Sweden.  He had served there as a young missionary many years ago and was excited to be going back.  She was trying to learn the language from him as he remembered various words and phrases and was giving it a very valiant effort.The fourth couple in from the left are serving with us in our mission.  They are the Sandersons.  They are "live at home" full time missionaries who live south of SLC and ride the TRAX to serve each day.

In the lower photo, the fifth couple from the right are the MacCabes and they are also serving in our mission.  They are from Colorado.  In the Center of the photo, Sister Zohrabyan, is from Armenia. She is the greatest!  And what a story she has.  I will try to tell you about her later on.  Suffice to say, we, here in the United States, are very blessed to have the freedoms, working conditions and ease of life that we do.

The couple to the left of her...I can't remember their names but they were called to be "live at home" missionaries in their stake here by SLC somewhere.  It is a new program the Church is trying; calling senior couples to serve full time missions in their own stakes.  While we were in the MTC we learned about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ more effectively; in a way that those who are seeking will recognize the truths of the gospel.  We often had to practice what we were learning and so were paired with other senior missionaries where one couple acted as missionaries while the other were either investigators or members who were no longer active.  This couple played the part of a couple they knew that were the latter.  We did our best to get to know them, assess their concerns or the reason they left activity in the Church, and share a message with them.  It was perhaps one of the most spiritual experiences of my life....even though it was "play-acting."  I will always wonder about the people they were portraying and pray that they will come to realize what they have left behind and return.

Elder Thomas was assigned to be a District Leader while we were in the MTC which meant he was to watch over a group of four other couples during our time there.  We all worked each day in a group so it was easy to keep track of them and how they were doing but now, interestingly enough, we are still concerned with how they are doing in their new mission experiences.

We stayed in an apartment that was about a mile from the MTC campus, the YView Apts (BYU fans can appreciate the name...that campus was close by also).  We got up early, met as a large group, divided into our smaller district groups, were taught and roll played, broke for lunch and then finally for supper and to go back to our apartment.  I should have practiced getting up early before we entered the mission field!!  I was exhausted.  I had to stay home on Wednesday because I had come down with E Thomas's flu bug and couldn't get out of bed.  We were only at the MTC for five days and we hated to leave when it was time.

Note;  the food in the cafeteria, which was huge as there are hundreds of young missionaries there, too, was fine.  Our dentist told us it was horrible so I was worried.  It was definitely cafeteria food but it was good and we had plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables to go along with the main dishes and desserts.

We left the MTC on Friday, January 2nd, at about noon, bound for our 2nd mission in the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission.

MISSION #2 BEGINS!

Our second mission has begun!  I nearly cried when they handed us our tags and we could put them on again.  There is something very special about representing the Lord while serving a mission, regardless of where you serve or what you are assigned to do.  The hardest part about going home was taking off the tags and losing that aura, that special spirit that goes with it.  Hooray!  We are missionaries again.

The second most important thing they gave us was our meal tickets to get into the cafeteria at the MTC or Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah.  I am, after all, all about food.  I want to tell you all about the MTC and the friends we met there and the things we learned.  Now that I have a start on this blog and how to upload the photos and make new entries again I will be able to come back to it often.  No sharing a computer like last time....I should do better this go round.  Stay tuned.

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!