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

A Musician and Computer Geek vs. a Malibu

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."

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

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.

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

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.