Finding ways to make it work

 I see twenty-five sets of missionaries on my computer screen. I can flip forward and see at least three other sets of twenty-five in the Zoom display. We are learning from each other in our twice-weekly, remotely distanced,  mission meetings. President Reeves has just explained that we are now in a level of lockdown that missionaries are not to meet with anyone in their homes for any reason, even with masks. The effect is subtle, but apparent: a head drops to the desk, other heads shake, unheard groans are almost audible. The  President continues, then a spiritual thought is given by one of the sister missionaries.

She speaks clearly and talks about the value of feeling vulnerable, of learning from discouragement. The group of sisters in her portion of the Zoom screen suddenly disappear as their little pane goes dark. She resets the dome light and a voice is heard: "ready for Log-in." They continue, unaffected by the interruption. Another of the sisters reads a scripture and the thought concludes and all are smiles and we feel hopeful.

I realize that others are also participating in the Zoom meeting from their cars. I count 17 darker mini-windows. These faithful missionaries join the regular meeting, even though they do not have sufficient wireless nor cell reception in their apartments. Our vehicles serve as a place to meet remotely, wherever they can find the proper reliable connection. With not being able to meet people in person, our cars are even more needed as the place to communicate remotely.

Always facing the unexpected, our good missionaries follow the Spirit in finding ways to adapt through current restrictions. The joy I see in their faces on the screen lets me know that the Lord works miracles when His servants are willing to be led by Him. Through this trust in Him, they conquer the adversary in these troubled times.

Goodnight TIWI (with apologies to Margaret Wise Brown)

 In a white Malibu

was a log book

In a red case

And from the mirror hook,

Masks for the face

And three smiling Elders buckled in place

soccer ball in the back

near a rattling bike rack

old PepBoys slips

and crusty nacho chips

light in the back, someone trying to read

a sweet lady voice saying "Watch your speed"

goodnight Tiwi

goodnight Malibu

goodnight masks, we won’t miss you

goodnight light

good night bike rack

good night Pep Boys, and the ball in the back

good night Elders

good night chips

good night receipts and gas card slips

good night miles log

good night everything

and good night to the voice saying "Aggressive Driving."

Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Good night missionaries everywhere 

- Elder Joseph Buchanan, California Newport Mission vehicle coordinator

(available to an illustrator)

Found a precious little boy

 My second great-grandmother, Ane Nielsen, joined the church in Denmark in 1858. Her second cousin, Peder Jensen, had a fairly large family. In the middle 1950's much of the family temple work was done for Peder Jensen's family, including their youngest child, Martin Emil Jensen. Martin was 14 when he died. His mother, Ane Kirstine Pedersen was 46 years old when he was born, and 60 when he died. Martin's next younger brother, Johannes, died  eight years before this, in 1905, as an eight year old. This certainly was a hardship for Peder and Ane Kirstine Jensen.

Upon examining this family in FamilySearch, I discovered a few of the children in the family who had not been entered into the system, or had not had their temple work completed back in the 1950's. However, I also noticed that there was a gap in the record between the birth of Johannes and his younger sister, Maren. In searching the records today, I discovered a record of another child, a boy, who was born in 1893 when his mother was 42. This infant boy lived only 17 days and died. No name was recorded. There was nothing in the FamilySearch records about this child, so I added him to the family. 

This little boy can now be sealed to his family.

It is interesting to note that this little boy died in Denmark only a few weeks before the death of Ane Nielsen's husband, Hans Sorensen, who died from the effects of imprisonment in Utah.

These relatives, who lived in different parts of the world, some with the restored Gospel in their lives, and others not, both suffered from the difficulties of this life. All will receive comfort and blessings in the life to come.

Seeing the Light in a World Suddenly Turned Upside-down

Aminadab had been proud of what he was - a dissenter. Having been a good boy once, he rebelled against his upbringing and found it cool to fight against the established way of life. He saw them all as fools, then. Now his world was suddenly scrambled. Everything was dark and shaken up. He, and his friends around him, now wondered what they needed to do to understand and see the light in the chaos in which they now found themselves.

Searching back in his memory, he remembered something...

There was a time when he felt peace and true joy, something he lost in his exuberance to rebel. Now that peace and clarity is something he desperately needed. He was also sure that is what those around him also needed: our Savior, Jesus Christ.

"And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, ...  and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you. "

See Helaman 5:35-43, The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

a day in the life ...

April 27 - We went to the office as usual. The night before I got a call from Elders X and Y saying that their tires were all slashed. Today I worked on getting it reported and arranged for the car to be taken to ZZ for replacement. I grabbed mail, etc. to take south and switched cars in San Clemente to take their car down to Oceanside for a windshield repair at ZZZ (a different car). There, I also met up with the Vista and Carlsbad zone leaders for them to get their mail. I waited at ZZZ for them to get the windshield take care of. That worked smoothly and I was out of there in less than 90 minutes (as promised). I note, and have noted to others, that I see it as a miracle (or tender mercy) that all has gone as planned today, without difficulty. After the windshield replacement (and re-attaching the Pro400 TIWI device successfully) I met with Elder H and got the license plate sticker put on his car at the Chestnut building, then returned to San Clemente to return their car, then went back to the office. All went well.

Actually, this was a much busier day than usual. Mostly, we are in our office (in quarantine status) with little to do. Then, I do my Danish family history research. Still, we are ready when the need arises (as described above).

The pictures illustrate the real activity that happens here, nature continues as normal, probably enjoying having fewer people about.

Found Christiane Jørgensdatter

The Story of Missing Christiane Jørgensdatter

After spending time working on a family group sheet of my father's, a handwritten record showing his research on my mother's maternal Danish line, I stopped, thinking that I need to take a look at my father's own Danish line for some reason.

I pulled out the fan chart I printed recently for the ancestry pedigree of Dad's grandmother, Caroline Sophia Sorensen. One name seemed to pull my attention, Niels Pedersen, so I looked him up and started looking at some of his children's lines. I ended up looking at the family of Niels Pedersen's granddaughter, named Maren Andersdatter and her husband, Jørgen Jensen. In the process I noticed that there was a gap in the existing recorded records (in FamilySearch) between some of her children (after correcting a few errors in what was there for the family). Before the gap, the family lived in Ruds Vedby (see picture below of Ruds Vebdy taken on a trip we took to Denmark in 2016). 

After the gap, the family lived in Ørslev. What everyone missed in previous research work was that the family, in between this move, lived a few years in Skellebjerg. As I looked there, I found the correct birth information for one of the children already in the system (Frederikke), but decided to look a little further to see whether another child was born in that gap. It was here I that I discovered Christiane.

To put this in context, Christiane is a second cousin to our ancestor Hans Sørensen. He joined the church in the county of Holbæk, where this whole family lived. Christiane was 22 when Hans was baptized.

Because of poor economical conditions, children in these families moved out of their families in their teen-age years to work and earn money for themselves or the family. Because of this, the census records did not help a lot in completing family records. I felt an excitement about finding this lost child of the family and I added her name to my reserved names in FamilySearch.

From here, I did some more research to find out about where Christiane went as an adult, hoping to find a marriage and family. I found nothing. I started working on one of her sisters, Ane, and ended up  putting together a family for her comprising of 11 children and reserving their names for temple work.

Still, I felt the need to keep working at Christiane. I found nothing for a while but finally took a look at the Tilgangs/Afgangs list (arrivals and departures) in a record that was fairly hard to read. These records often do not help, but after searching in vain for her in death records and marriage records after the date of her confirmation in 1849, and not finding her in any census records after 1845, I decided the best I could do was to try to find her in these records of moving in and out. It was hard to read, but it worked. I found the record showing her departure from Ørslev to Årslev, Sønderup (see below) in the neighboring county. Looking in that parish's records, I found the record of her arrival, which also included her vaccination date, another remarkable blessing, because it matched the one listed in her confirmation record. I found her and am sure of it.

But then, I could find nothing more. She just simply disappeared again.

After a few days. she seemed to urge me on, so I tried once again to find her in census records on FamilySearch. This time, I found a Christiane Jørgensen in the 1860 census, this time in Niløse, another town in the area, back in Holbæk. Here she was listed with a few people who were hired help in a farm. Both she and another person there, Niels Hansen, were listed as being born in Skellebjerg and she was of the proper age.

After searching Niløse for a while, I found a marriage record: of Niels Hansen and Christiane Jørgensen. He was listed as being from Skellebjerg, but the marriage record did not show her birth place. Being fairly certain that this is really her, I moved on, with the feeling that I was headed correctly in these records.

I then found Niels Hansen listed in the 1880 census, but with a different wife, and several children more. I searched and found that Christiane died in 1876.

Through it all, I found eight children born to this couple in Niløse. Two of the children did not live past infancy. The last child was Niels Peder Hansen, the second by that name, the first dying two years prior. I noted with sadness that this second Niels Peder Hansen was christened on 8 June 1876, the same day that his mother, Christiane, was buried.

Six of her eight children were alive when she died. Niels Hansen remarried within a few months of his wife's death, which often happens when there are small children left when the mother dies. He needed a new mother for their children.

This is but one of the families I found recently for the Maren Andersdatter/Jørgen Jensen family and descendants. As of the date of this writing, I have reserved ten ordinance reservations for Christiane’s family and an additional 73 for other children of the Maren Andersdatter family and descendants. I am still finding and attaching more family members. The process of discovery has been an adventure. Some family members and attachments were fairly easy to find, but many of these required going back and forth through the original parish records and comparing information. Occasionally I found some people who had been erroneously attached to other families, and fixed those.

I feel that through this time of lockdown, I have been moved by the Spirit to find these close relatives on the other side of the veil. - Joseph