So we had transfers yesterday. This happens every six weeks (usually), but sometimes it is a bit crazier that others. Today we have four missionaries going home and 17 new missionaries arriving. In preparation, a lot of craziness happened yesterday. We had many of our dear people here at the same time, switching cars, getting bikes, getting TIWI cards, asking questions, moving luggage around, trying out bikes, finding helmets, inspecting cars, etc.
The challenge of note came when two sisters said that their car would not start. They have a Chevy Malibu. I have a portable power unit that can jump start a car, and as I was in the middle of TIWI training and many other interactions in the office, I sent that device out with them to get their car started.
After a long while, I wondered what had become of the stalled car, breaking away for a moment from office madness to check on the sister missionaries. It looked like they had attached things correctly, but nothing had improved. I tried and the car would not turn over for me either. Checking in my trunk for some traditional jumper cables, and finding none, I asked a couple of other elders near by and none of them had any either. Remembering having seem some in the office, I went back in and encountered many requests from missionaries waiting for me in the office, one set of elders offered to take the cables I handed them to go out and connect the cables to a mission truck to get the car started properly.
After another long while and many dizzying office interactions, I set a couple of sisters watching a training video and ran back out to check on the misbehaving Malibu. The elders were stymied, not having any success, leading us all to wonder whether there be other electrical issues at hand.
Finally, I looked at the clip where the jumper cables were attached. Not being familiar with these newer, more sophisticated, computer-controlled cars, I looked more closely at what we thought was the battery. I started moving clips and covers around to discover that we actually were trying to jump start the fuse box.
I saw what was really the battery, another nondescript black brick under the hood, moved the various clips and covers and finally discovered the battery posts. We connected the jumper cables correctly and after a little effort from the truck battery, the Malibu finally jumped to life!
It took about 8 of us (including the sisters) to get this reluctant Malibu to respond.
As I told Shauna back in the office of our Malibu misadventures, I exclaimed to her, "This is what comes of putting a musician and computer geek in charge of a fleet of mission cars."
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Eternal Nature
[This is another thought found among my writings on my computer.]
Very soon after birth we become experts in temporality
There are eternal things, affected by but not destroyed by time:
• each of us - eternal beings
• relationship - there is always a relationship between us – eternal beings
• matter - it is never destroyed, but changed over time. The condition of matter is viewed temporally
• truth - eternal concepts
• space, location - is eternal, changed by temporality
- June 16, 2018
Very soon after birth we become experts in temporality
There are eternal things, affected by but not destroyed by time:
• each of us - eternal beings
• relationship - there is always a relationship between us – eternal beings
• matter - it is never destroyed, but changed over time. The condition of matter is viewed temporally
• truth - eternal concepts
• space, location - is eternal, changed by temporality
- June 16, 2018
Non-conformity vs Individuality
[This was written many years ago and newly discovered among files on my computer. The thinking arose at the time from a reaction to a statement of one of my children, self-declared as a non-conformist.]
I see a non-conformist as being a person who overtly chooses to shape his actions to avoid conforming with society, authority, etc. This is an intentional process and could be a process of avoiding conformity merely for the sake of non-conformity.
I take the view of the individualist. I see an individualist as being a person that is not tied to conformity, but one who does not necessarily avoid it. If I choose to conform, it is a conscious choice and one taken because I see benefit in that action. I could just as well choose to not act in accordance with the norms of society. I feel that a non-conformist could easily become an abberant to society, possibly a hermit, a renegade, one who does not fit into society at all. I have strong feelings about loyalty, responsibility and service that would be very difficult, if not impossible to fulfill without some sort of conformity with society. To be able to support a family, to give service to others and to be loyal to family and friends, I must function within society. I feel that I can accept some conformity in order to be effective in using social interactions and structure to achieve my goals.
I feel that honoring my individualistic intentions is not easy. To radically reject society would be easy, as it would be to completely surrender myself to conformity. I must consciously choose when to conform and when not to. I must also be ready to accept any negative consequences of my choices, whether I consider them mistakes or not. Perhaps what I choose to do may eventually be less economical or productive in accomplishing a particular goal, but if I chose to act contrary to societal norms, I can accept myself even though I may receive ridicule from society.
I see a non-conformist as being a person who overtly chooses to shape his actions to avoid conforming with society, authority, etc. This is an intentional process and could be a process of avoiding conformity merely for the sake of non-conformity.
I take the view of the individualist. I see an individualist as being a person that is not tied to conformity, but one who does not necessarily avoid it. If I choose to conform, it is a conscious choice and one taken because I see benefit in that action. I could just as well choose to not act in accordance with the norms of society. I feel that a non-conformist could easily become an abberant to society, possibly a hermit, a renegade, one who does not fit into society at all. I have strong feelings about loyalty, responsibility and service that would be very difficult, if not impossible to fulfill without some sort of conformity with society. To be able to support a family, to give service to others and to be loyal to family and friends, I must function within society. I feel that I can accept some conformity in order to be effective in using social interactions and structure to achieve my goals.
I feel that honoring my individualistic intentions is not easy. To radically reject society would be easy, as it would be to completely surrender myself to conformity. I must consciously choose when to conform and when not to. I must also be ready to accept any negative consequences of my choices, whether I consider them mistakes or not. Perhaps what I choose to do may eventually be less economical or productive in accomplishing a particular goal, but if I chose to act contrary to societal norms, I can accept myself even though I may receive ridicule from society.
The House Without Doors
[This is a memory, written about 3 years ago during a visit to our daughter's family in New York]
It was probably between 6 and 6:30 AM when I heard the music drift through the house. Perhaps "drift" is not the proper descriptive word. The encouraging hymn was sung with love and vigor - "Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?" I lay awake for a while and then dropped back into sleep. It had not been a particularly good rest up to this point, having begun with laying in bed, listening to the wailing of little Elijah - too tired, yet stubbornly resistant to the much needed sleep. This was the only life he knew - the house without doors.
This morning, the frantic, yet productive currents of activity swirled around me at about the same time as the music of yesterday morning. All were about everywhere looking for that book or article of clothing - a determined whirlwind of little bodies and older children grabbing and assembling what they needed for their journey to join the family activities later in the day in Pennsylvania. Other than the few plaintive cries of little Elijah, the undercurrent of conversation and connections was permeated with a love characteristic of this courageous family. The swirl of activity spoke the one message: It matters not that we live in an unfinished house - the physical circumstances that envelope us is but the current abode where we, as a family love, share, learn and grow together - feeling the hand of God shaping each precious life.
October 2016
It was probably between 6 and 6:30 AM when I heard the music drift through the house. Perhaps "drift" is not the proper descriptive word. The encouraging hymn was sung with love and vigor - "Shall the Youth of Zion Falter?" I lay awake for a while and then dropped back into sleep. It had not been a particularly good rest up to this point, having begun with laying in bed, listening to the wailing of little Elijah - too tired, yet stubbornly resistant to the much needed sleep. This was the only life he knew - the house without doors.
This morning, the frantic, yet productive currents of activity swirled around me at about the same time as the music of yesterday morning. All were about everywhere looking for that book or article of clothing - a determined whirlwind of little bodies and older children grabbing and assembling what they needed for their journey to join the family activities later in the day in Pennsylvania. Other than the few plaintive cries of little Elijah, the undercurrent of conversation and connections was permeated with a love characteristic of this courageous family. The swirl of activity spoke the one message: It matters not that we live in an unfinished house - the physical circumstances that envelope us is but the current abode where we, as a family love, share, learn and grow together - feeling the hand of God shaping each precious life.
October 2016
Friday, August 30, 2019
A different mission
So, I have had a lot keeping my mind off writing a blog. It is finally slowing down a little.
Here is a FB post I did on July 10. More after that so keep reading:
I have not said much lately. Life has been very busy. It is like having been retired for 7 years and then suddenly being back to full time work in an office, including many overtime hours. Oh wait, that is really what it is... It has been exactly 7 years since I officially retired and now I am working in a very busy office, putting in many more than 40 hours each week. It is really quite interesting. From the photos in this collage, you see palm trees by the temple (the wonderful place that it is); managing a fleet of cars - having been last week expanded from about 55 to 87 - mainly driven by 18-19 year olds (see the damaged Corolla in the picture - miraculously no one was injured); attending many baptisms, including (as a sample shown) three in Chinese, two in Spanish, a number in English, one in a language of an Arabic speaking country (where the church is definitely not looked upon with fondness), a family from Portugal, etc.; running on at least 8 different programs and web sites to manage cars, drivers, driver safety, incidents (accidents), daily/monthly miles driven, keeping track of countless Pep Boys service receipts, gas credit cards for each of 87 cars (also used by 18 and 19 year olds), and a few other tasks that I cannot think of at the moment; visiting people in our ward here (and loving that); AND trying to keep track of our own finances, family issues at home and in New York, and the pace of life in Southern California . . . . . . . . . Wow, what an experience!
Two weeks ago, we had the blessing of returning home to Utah for the wedding ceremony for our grandson. It was a glorious experience.
Back in the mission, we have been busy with a lot of planned functions, but especially with those unplanned concerns. Last week we had our mission zone conferences and associated vehicle inspections. I was a crazy time. On Thursday we were in Escondido.
Now we are settling in to the routine, which includes the normal vehicle maintenance work, attending baptisms and now Shauna getting into gear for being the head secretary in the office. I am trying to see how we can get by with fewer cars — we are told that we need to scale back our fleet by 9 cars (already having sold 5) — some of those were either office or extra cars due to the mission combination, but now we are getting to where we need to have more missionaries use bicycles instead of cars, or to share cars. We will make it work.
One of our office couples is going home next Tuesday (hence Shauna's move to the main office).
The last couple of days, I actually was caught up enough to not have pressing issues and had some spare time on my hands, so I did some Danish research (which I really love). We just do not get to the temple enough to do the work for all the people I keep finding!
Well, life is good. We love it here and enjoy the people especially.
Here is a FB post I did on July 10. More after that so keep reading:
Two weeks ago, we had the blessing of returning home to Utah for the wedding ceremony for our grandson. It was a glorious experience.
Back in the mission, we have been busy with a lot of planned functions, but especially with those unplanned concerns. Last week we had our mission zone conferences and associated vehicle inspections. I was a crazy time. On Thursday we were in Escondido.
Now we are settling in to the routine, which includes the normal vehicle maintenance work, attending baptisms and now Shauna getting into gear for being the head secretary in the office. I am trying to see how we can get by with fewer cars — we are told that we need to scale back our fleet by 9 cars (already having sold 5) — some of those were either office or extra cars due to the mission combination, but now we are getting to where we need to have more missionaries use bicycles instead of cars, or to share cars. We will make it work.
One of our office couples is going home next Tuesday (hence Shauna's move to the main office).
The last couple of days, I actually was caught up enough to not have pressing issues and had some spare time on my hands, so I did some Danish research (which I really love). We just do not get to the temple enough to do the work for all the people I keep finding!
Well, life is good. We love it here and enjoy the people especially.
Friday, May 31, 2019
Serving in Southern California
Hello everyone,
We are now officially serving in our mission. We are called to the California Carlsbad Mission and began (at the MTC) on the 6th of May and are now in our place in Irvine, California. The Carlsbad and the Irvine missions are being combined on July 1st and they put us in an apartment near the Irvine mission home. As of July 1st, our missions (all of Irvine and a large portion of Carlsbad) will become the Newport Beach mission, named after the temple in our mission.
This is a picture Shauna took of the temple in one of our recent visits there (only about 10 minutes from our apartment).
We arrived in Carlsbad on the 19th.
This is a picture of the office door in Carlsbad (with my reflection in it).
A day or so later, we made it to the beach (in Oceanside).
This is a picture of us on the beach.
So far, we have been visiting both mission offices and learning from the office missionaries there. It appears that our main function, at least for now, is to get acquainted with the process of each office to be able to help our new mission president, President Reeves, and the offices get going as a combined concern as soon as possible in early July.
So far, we have been to lots of office processes, apartment visits (Shauna with Sister Van Aarle) and car inspections (me with Elder Van Aarle), etc. including me helping Elder Okine here in Irvine take in and pick up cars for maintenance issues.
It is interesting that we are in the church directory (CDOL) in the Irvine mission, but in the computer system (IMOS) in the Carlsbad mission, so we are pretty much dependent on accessing our tools through the two couples we are replacing. Even at that, it is not certain how we will end up in our duties. We are flexible and willing to do anything that comes up.
Also a great blessing is to get to know so many of the wonderful missionaries serving here in these two missions. One of the new sister missionaries is from Tahiti, so French is her native language and she misses hearing it. Shauna spoke briefly to her in French and the missionary was so excited to hear it (It also turns our the our president here, President Clark is fluent in French as well). Also, we have a Farsi Group of members (from Iran) and a very vibrant Chinese ward. We attended our first baptism here the night before last and it was all in Chinese, with an interpreter. It was wonderful.
This is a great work and we feel the hand of the Lord in everything.
We are now officially serving in our mission. We are called to the California Carlsbad Mission and began (at the MTC) on the 6th of May and are now in our place in Irvine, California. The Carlsbad and the Irvine missions are being combined on July 1st and they put us in an apartment near the Irvine mission home. As of July 1st, our missions (all of Irvine and a large portion of Carlsbad) will become the Newport Beach mission, named after the temple in our mission.
This is a picture Shauna took of the temple in one of our recent visits there (only about 10 minutes from our apartment).
We arrived in Carlsbad on the 19th.
This is a picture of the office door in Carlsbad (with my reflection in it).
A day or so later, we made it to the beach (in Oceanside).
This is a picture of us on the beach.
So far, we have been visiting both mission offices and learning from the office missionaries there. It appears that our main function, at least for now, is to get acquainted with the process of each office to be able to help our new mission president, President Reeves, and the offices get going as a combined concern as soon as possible in early July.
So far, we have been to lots of office processes, apartment visits (Shauna with Sister Van Aarle) and car inspections (me with Elder Van Aarle), etc. including me helping Elder Okine here in Irvine take in and pick up cars for maintenance issues.
It is interesting that we are in the church directory (CDOL) in the Irvine mission, but in the computer system (IMOS) in the Carlsbad mission, so we are pretty much dependent on accessing our tools through the two couples we are replacing. Even at that, it is not certain how we will end up in our duties. We are flexible and willing to do anything that comes up.
Also a great blessing is to get to know so many of the wonderful missionaries serving here in these two missions. One of the new sister missionaries is from Tahiti, so French is her native language and she misses hearing it. Shauna spoke briefly to her in French and the missionary was so excited to hear it (It also turns our the our president here, President Clark is fluent in French as well). Also, we have a Farsi Group of members (from Iran) and a very vibrant Chinese ward. We attended our first baptism here the night before last and it was all in Chinese, with an interpreter. It was wonderful.
This is a great work and we feel the hand of the Lord in everything.
Thursday, April 11, 2019
A Fun (and blessed) Meeting
My wife and I were in downtown Salt Lake City the other day, meeting with a young man, Andrew, from our mission in New York, along with his mother, who attended the Salt Lake Temple with us. That in itself was a wonderful experience and we loved being with them once more. Andrew is now in the MTC in preparation for his mission service (to the Utah Salt Lake City mission!).
As the proceedings began, one of the officiators in the session looked somewhat familiar to me and as I finally could see his name tag, it was confirmed that he was my high school German teacher, Mr. Vreeken. What a blessed "tender mercy"! I wondered, with the sacred nature of the whole experience, whether I would actually be able to speak with him. As we approached that final step in the process, I was overjoyed to have him be my guide through the last step. Still, it was a sacred experience and the solemn nature precluded my speaking with him, so I just smiled as he finished and I said a quiet, "danke schön" as I moved on.
In the next gathering area, I wondered whether he would be coming through that place as well. After visiting with our New York people for a time, I was excited to see my dear old teacher come through and I made my way to greet him. He was very happy to see me and wished to see my wife as well. We had a wonderful, yet brief, reunion (still in quiet tones befitting the sacred place). What wonderful "tender mercy" blessing!
I had not seen him since graduating from high school almost exactly fifty years ago. I loved seeing him again, especially in that wonderful place.
The Lord blesses us when we least expect it.
As the proceedings began, one of the officiators in the session looked somewhat familiar to me and as I finally could see his name tag, it was confirmed that he was my high school German teacher, Mr. Vreeken. What a blessed "tender mercy"! I wondered, with the sacred nature of the whole experience, whether I would actually be able to speak with him. As we approached that final step in the process, I was overjoyed to have him be my guide through the last step. Still, it was a sacred experience and the solemn nature precluded my speaking with him, so I just smiled as he finished and I said a quiet, "danke schön" as I moved on.
In the next gathering area, I wondered whether he would be coming through that place as well. After visiting with our New York people for a time, I was excited to see my dear old teacher come through and I made my way to greet him. He was very happy to see me and wished to see my wife as well. We had a wonderful, yet brief, reunion (still in quiet tones befitting the sacred place). What wonderful "tender mercy" blessing!
I had not seen him since graduating from high school almost exactly fifty years ago. I loved seeing him again, especially in that wonderful place.
The Lord blesses us when we least expect it.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Touch
Touch
I touch,
yet ripples move
beyond my grasp.
They are,
yet none
precede the flow.
Ere long
the sheen's
restored to glass.
Yet still
I rest
and think I know.
All changes:
Others come and go
and touch
and grow —
together on
we flow
and touch each other.
Until the end
when One
who can and loves,
will touch
to make a sea of glass.
- Joseph F. Buchanan, August 2008
[ up to this point unpublished ]
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Random thoughts found in my old Journal entries
I am in the process of going through old hand-written daily planner pages, which eventually became the place where I wrote journal entries. I am typing these into the computer. Sometimes I wrote thoughts that occurred to me at the time. Here are two that I recently found in my 1990 transcription process.
Thought:
"As society and its economy becomes more refined, the more brittle it becomes. It is less tolerant to problems. Things that used to be commonplace irritations or setbacks now become tragic catastrophes. We become more and more dependent on artificial supports. [In other words, ] Life goes on, don't expect it to be perfect." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 23 Feb. 1990, while on ice fishing camp at Deer Creek , Utah.
Observation:
"All people have the same basic life characteristics. They just put a lot of appearances in the way. Accept a person — let them be without judging rapidly." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 24 Oct. 1990, West Jordan, Utah.
The last one shows a common theme I had in my writings. I was quite guilty of judging people and things quickly, especially my own family. It has been a struggle most of my life. I hope I have made some progress, though I still suffer from this practice of unfair judgement and the ensuing feelings of frustration and anger. I am trusting more and more (at least trying to) in my Savior to make me a better person and to be meek, understanding and loving to all around me. It is only through Him that I can be who I should be.
Thought:
"As society and its economy becomes more refined, the more brittle it becomes. It is less tolerant to problems. Things that used to be commonplace irritations or setbacks now become tragic catastrophes. We become more and more dependent on artificial supports. [In other words, ] Life goes on, don't expect it to be perfect." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 23 Feb. 1990, while on ice fishing camp at Deer Creek , Utah.
Observation:
"All people have the same basic life characteristics. They just put a lot of appearances in the way. Accept a person — let them be without judging rapidly." - Joseph F. Buchanan, journal entry for 24 Oct. 1990, West Jordan, Utah.
The last one shows a common theme I had in my writings. I was quite guilty of judging people and things quickly, especially my own family. It has been a struggle most of my life. I hope I have made some progress, though I still suffer from this practice of unfair judgement and the ensuing feelings of frustration and anger. I am trusting more and more (at least trying to) in my Savior to make me a better person and to be meek, understanding and loving to all around me. It is only through Him that I can be who I should be.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Interesting Family History research experience - Jens Andersen Pind
Anders Jensen Pind is one of our ancestors. I remember my father spending a lot of time sorting out this Pind line. In my recent efforts, I am going through my father's research notes from way back in the 1970s. Most of the work was completed at the time and the temple work done.
As I was going through one file, labeled "PIND," I saw that most of the records were from the 1600's. In reconciling my father's notes and charts with the current state of things in FamilySearch™ my experience is mainly to leave things alone in FamilySearch™for such older records (before the early 1700s). One reason is that there have been many others work on this line and the second reason is that a lot of the current state of things is a bit confused by the many people who unknowingly have combined a number of these people out of existence. It is a battle I do not want to get mixed up in. Since there are so many similar names in these old records, people have mistakenly combined people where they should not have merged. Rather than try to get things back in the correct state, I am resolved to know that they have once been correct and their temple work done, so leave it be.
I hesitated on one particular sheet, however, and felt I needed to give it a little attention rather than throw out the entire file. Jens Andersen (sometimes referred to by the last name Pind) is in the system and some of his temple work is being done again. On my father's research notes sheet, he lists a wife and her parentage. This is not listed in familySearch™. I started working to get her connected to him and look for children. I researched his military records and am reasonably sure I have the correct information for him now, and the children attached to the couple. They already existed and were elsewhere in the system, but I was able to bring them together. They have four children I have found: Karen, who died in her twenties, apparently not having been married; Anders, who lived to adulthood; Magrethe (or Margrethe) who also lived to adulthood; and Kirstine who died as an infant. A couple of years after the passing of their youngest child, their father, Jens Andersen died, and then Ane Jørgensen died soon after that, but got married again shortly after Jens died, but (obviously) before she died. She ended up with a child from this second marriage, but the little girl died soon after birth. At the time, I searched quite extensively and could not find any information concerning marriages for Anders and Margrethe.
They did not leave me alone, however. I finally tried my last resort method: do a general Google™ search. As it occasionally happens, I found a hit! There is a web site where a person in Denmark has published his family information and he is related to Anders. I went through his information and verified the names and places there with published church records in the Danish State Archives and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogical images scanned from the original microfilms. When I was finished, I ended up with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for Jens Andersen and spouses of his posterity numbering about 46 people, most of who were previously not known in the FamilySearch™ records. I am attaching a scan that shows the original research sheet of my father's. The posterity can be found on FamilySearch™.
I must mention that I decided to not reserve these names for temple work (for the most part). I have found that I can come up with many, many names for the temple, but do not have the time to do them myself, and I do not have more than a few of my family who are able or willing to help, so I tend to get swamped in the work. I decided to instead just get them entered (along with source info) and leave them to see who might pick them up. So far a a handful of people have taken a few of these names, I assume they are cousins of some sort, most likely descended from Ane Pedersen Anderson Lovell, my great-great grandmother with a huge posterity (Jens Andersen Pind is her great-uncle).
I am monitoring the list to make sure no one gets lost in the end. I feel the influence from the spirit and from the spirits of these people driving me to find them and get them in the position to have their work done.
I love this work. It is so rewarding. I really love these Danish ancestors and their families. I hope to meet them in the next life.
As I was going through one file, labeled "PIND," I saw that most of the records were from the 1600's. In reconciling my father's notes and charts with the current state of things in FamilySearch™ my experience is mainly to leave things alone in FamilySearch™for such older records (before the early 1700s). One reason is that there have been many others work on this line and the second reason is that a lot of the current state of things is a bit confused by the many people who unknowingly have combined a number of these people out of existence. It is a battle I do not want to get mixed up in. Since there are so many similar names in these old records, people have mistakenly combined people where they should not have merged. Rather than try to get things back in the correct state, I am resolved to know that they have once been correct and their temple work done, so leave it be.
I hesitated on one particular sheet, however, and felt I needed to give it a little attention rather than throw out the entire file. Jens Andersen (sometimes referred to by the last name Pind) is in the system and some of his temple work is being done again. On my father's research notes sheet, he lists a wife and her parentage. This is not listed in familySearch™. I started working to get her connected to him and look for children. I researched his military records and am reasonably sure I have the correct information for him now, and the children attached to the couple. They already existed and were elsewhere in the system, but I was able to bring them together. They have four children I have found: Karen, who died in her twenties, apparently not having been married; Anders, who lived to adulthood; Magrethe (or Margrethe) who also lived to adulthood; and Kirstine who died as an infant. A couple of years after the passing of their youngest child, their father, Jens Andersen died, and then Ane Jørgensen died soon after that, but got married again shortly after Jens died, but (obviously) before she died. She ended up with a child from this second marriage, but the little girl died soon after birth. At the time, I searched quite extensively and could not find any information concerning marriages for Anders and Margrethe.
They did not leave me alone, however. I finally tried my last resort method: do a general Google™ search. As it occasionally happens, I found a hit! There is a web site where a person in Denmark has published his family information and he is related to Anders. I went through his information and verified the names and places there with published church records in the Danish State Archives and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogical images scanned from the original microfilms. When I was finished, I ended up with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for Jens Andersen and spouses of his posterity numbering about 46 people, most of who were previously not known in the FamilySearch™ records. I am attaching a scan that shows the original research sheet of my father's. The posterity can be found on FamilySearch™.
I must mention that I decided to not reserve these names for temple work (for the most part). I have found that I can come up with many, many names for the temple, but do not have the time to do them myself, and I do not have more than a few of my family who are able or willing to help, so I tend to get swamped in the work. I decided to instead just get them entered (along with source info) and leave them to see who might pick them up. So far a a handful of people have taken a few of these names, I assume they are cousins of some sort, most likely descended from Ane Pedersen Anderson Lovell, my great-great grandmother with a huge posterity (Jens Andersen Pind is her great-uncle).
I am monitoring the list to make sure no one gets lost in the end. I feel the influence from the spirit and from the spirits of these people driving me to find them and get them in the position to have their work done.
I love this work. It is so rewarding. I really love these Danish ancestors and their families. I hope to meet them in the next life.
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
An update about everything, including mission
I really haven't written anything for a long time. I guess it is time to put everything together for you (if any of you are still reading this blog)...
We finished our mission in the New York Rochester mission in the last part of September 2018 and then took a long trip getting home. We stayed for a few days with Mary's family in Medina (Mary, Quinn, Tova and the baby gone to Argentina at the time), then visited Montreal (the temple there), the Adirondacks, then the Boston and Hartford temples, a visit to family in Maryland, then to Virginia rto see Beth and Ray, on to Ohio, Chicago, a weekend in Sioux Falls to see Jonathan and family, then home.
We got settled in at home, then visited family in the Boise, Idaho area. After a few more weeks, we did a temple trip to southern Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. In the process of time, we prepared for and then submitted applications for our next mission.
Over the New Year's holiday weekend, we visited sunny Sioux Falls, South Dakota to see Jonathan and his family for a while. It was sunny, but below zero at times.
Through all this, we have also attended temple sessions fairly often here at home.
(deep breath)
Now we are looking for our next service opportunity.
Yesterday we received our mission call to serve in the California Carlsbad Mission, to work in the office there. We will head out on May 20th (MTC and then drive to Vista, California) for an 18 month mission there.
We miss our dear friends in New York. We hope to go see them before heading to California (just on the way, right?) and also to visit with Mary and Aaron's families there.
We love being involved in family, friends and in serving the Lord. His blessings are beyond comprehension at times.
We finished our mission in the New York Rochester mission in the last part of September 2018 and then took a long trip getting home. We stayed for a few days with Mary's family in Medina (Mary, Quinn, Tova and the baby gone to Argentina at the time), then visited Montreal (the temple there), the Adirondacks, then the Boston and Hartford temples, a visit to family in Maryland, then to Virginia rto see Beth and Ray, on to Ohio, Chicago, a weekend in Sioux Falls to see Jonathan and family, then home.
We got settled in at home, then visited family in the Boise, Idaho area. After a few more weeks, we did a temple trip to southern Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. In the process of time, we prepared for and then submitted applications for our next mission.
Over the New Year's holiday weekend, we visited sunny Sioux Falls, South Dakota to see Jonathan and his family for a while. It was sunny, but below zero at times.
Through all this, we have also attended temple sessions fairly often here at home.
(deep breath)
Now we are looking for our next service opportunity.
Yesterday we received our mission call to serve in the California Carlsbad Mission, to work in the office there. We will head out on May 20th (MTC and then drive to Vista, California) for an 18 month mission there.
We miss our dear friends in New York. We hope to go see them before heading to California (just on the way, right?) and also to visit with Mary and Aaron's families there.
We love being involved in family, friends and in serving the Lord. His blessings are beyond comprehension at times.
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