October Mission Conference 2015

A few facts about our mission. The name is unique: The Family and Church History Headquarters Mission. Our mission choir also has a unique name, "The Elijah Choir". This whole mission is about family search, ancestral work, and genealogy. Many stories are told throughout the history and some are recorded and stored in the Family Search program. All people throughout the world are invited to participate in doing family search by finding names and stories of their ancestors. You can also build your family pedigree chart as a family tree and attach pictures, stories and documents in the Memory spot. We work in one of the areas called The Family Search Center. We help guests find their ancestor's public records from the past by searching many kinds of records: census rolls, marriage certificates, christening records, immigration records, ship passenger lists and many more types of records on Family Search. It is fun but it take time and effort. We also take souvenir pictures of our guests with our Ellis Island backdrop.

Pictured at the top is our missionary group.

The picture at the bottom has Elder Hunt working as a camera man taking an Ellis Island picture of our dear friends the Richards from Vernal, Utah.

Once again our October mission conference was great and inspiring. The speakers from the mission presidency were President Oliver (First Counselor) and Sister Oliver, and President Tate, our mission president was the concluding speaker.

Sister Oliver spoke first. She talked on how the Gospel teaches to love one another.  She told a story about herself as a young girl and how her desire was to get married and have lots of children.  She loves children.  But a few years after her marriage there were still no children.  So they adopted a one-month old boy.  Eighteen months later he was sealed to them in the temple.  Then she saw another boy three days later and then completed the adoption process for him too. After that her own children started coming the natural way.  First was a daughter and then a son.  Then they adopted a whole family of three children who had lost their parents.  By now they had 7 children.  Then child number 8 came through the natural pregnancy.  This took a lot of love and patience and caused a lot of stress but they all bonded together.

She then told the poem entitled, THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER'S HAND. It tells of an old violin that was up for auction.  It was about to be sold for just three dollars when an old violinist came forward and picked up the violin, prepared it to be played, and then played it.  As he played it brought forth the most beautiful music.  After he sat it back down the auctioneer, knowing of its increased value, then started the action a thousand dollars and it sold for three thousand dollars. What changed the value of the old violin?  It was the touch of a master's hand.

Her testimony was that her children that she and her husband adopted were given to them through the master's touch.  She recognized the worth of each soul and she wanted to give them a home where they would have a chance to return to our Heavenly Father.

Her advice to us as missionaries was that we must be aware of each other's needs and love each other, have patience, help one another and that charity never faileth like the scriptures instruct us.

President Oliver, Second Counselor to the Mission President then spoke.  He praised his wife for being an angel and that she is the product of the Master's hand.

In Doctrine and Covenants 59 the Lord tells us what we need to be doing to become a true follower of Christ and practice charity which is the pure love of Christ.  In verses 5 and 6 it says to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him" and to "love thy neighbor as thyself."  Then in John 14:15 the Lord says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

Are we willing to do what the Lord wants us to do?  Do we shine forth with the brightness of the pure love of Christ?  Look around you, is there someone needing a little encouragement, a kind word or two, or just a smile?  We can all do something to be a light for Christ. Be of service and touch the lives of others.  Be enthusiastic in your service because attitude makes a difference.

He told a story about an interview for a farm hand. The man that was hired said that he can sleep through a storm."  ?When asked about that his answer was, "I do my job and duties as if there will be a storm every night.  I tie things down that need to be tied down so I can sleep through a storm."

Our work is accomplished with the help of our Lord.  President Tate said that it has been a wonderful gift to have read the Book of Mormon three times in 90 days. Reading it has helped us prepare each day for the the storm ahead.

Picture: President Tate and his wife Sister Tate

Like always it was President Tate that gave the concluding remarks. First, he stated that the presidency is united and are one. They are all working for the good of  the Lord and the welfare of the missionaries.  Then he expressed his love for all the missionaries under his care and direction. He told the story of Jesus healing the blind man while in Jerusalem.  The blind man was born blind and Jesus put clay over his eyes and told him to wash it off in the pool of Siloam.  The blind man obeyed and his sight was restored.  The lesson in the story is that we sometimes are blinded by unrighteous things represented by the clay. The scripture tells us that Jesus is the light of the world.  Seeing brings light to our senses.  Reading the Book of Mormon has removed the blindness from our eyes.  It has helped us become more righteous.  Now we must continue to acknowledge Christ in all our doings.

He introduced the mission's next reading challenge: Studying the October 2015 General Conference Talks with a "purpose".  All the talks will be bound in a spiral book form with all the talks in columns without pictures.  There will be blank pages in the back to make notes and impressions about the talks that we read.  This reading challenge will further disperse the darkness from our minds and will strengthen us to give heed to the words of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The books will be given out in the zones by the zone leaders and the reading will begin on the first of November 2015.

October mission conference was great and informative.  We love our mission.

We have been told that our visas have been approved but they have not yet been received.  We are learning a lot of wonderful and great things in Family Search that we can use and teach in Finland.

We will have more news and pictures next time.
Thank you for your love, prayers and support in every way.  We love you all very much.

October Happenings

The month of October is a very friendly autumn month this year. It is also a month for children when they eagerly dress up in their Halloween costumes and go on an adventure treat-collecting evening with their parents driving them around through out the neighborhood. Trick or Treat is the sweetest phrase on Halloween night when Grandmas sit by the door and hand out candy to their little goblin visitors. Happy Halloween everyone!

We might not have any tricker treaters this year but we have a very happy jack-o-lantern out on our deck to greet everyone who walks by.

Elder Hunt had a birthday on the 22nd. We were at our dear friends in Provo for a doctor's appointment and Serena cooked a delicious birthday dinner. We enjoyed it so much that we forgot to take pictures. We remembered when we got to the dessert. Then we played penny dominoes.

                            

              

On Temple Square there is much activity going on in the gardens besides people of all cultures walking around the grounds. The flower beds that were so beautifully planted with all kinds of colorful summer flowers were pulled out and replaced with pansies of all colors and flower bulbs that will bloom in the spring. Youth volunteers from different wards come out to help. It's heart warming to see the youth working with their hands and shovels in the dirt. They seem to be enjoying yard work. It's a good service project for all who help. Thousands of flowers are planted throughout the year according to their season. They come from the Church's greenhouse. We learned that not a flower is wasted after it is replaced. It is used for mulch for all the gardens on Temple Square. The place is always clean and beautified with trees, bushes, and flowers. Most of the trees are now decorated with Christmas lights but are not lighted because they are not all decorated yet. We are told that they will turn on the lights in November on Thanksgiving day. It will be beautiful.

         

This is a story about this special 68 year old tree that is planted on the east side of Temple Square.

In 1947 a young Cedar of Lebanon was brought on an airplane by a traveling lady. She had the tree wrapped up and she kept it on her lap during the flight. She brought it to Temple Square and planted it and has been nurtured all these years. It is now a beautiful tree, all most as tall as the temple, Its boughs are very soft to the touch. This is one of a few times that it has been decorated because it is very sensitive to the heat from the electrical lights. Now that LEDs are used it will be safer for it to be lighted this year. It took over two months (August to early October) to fully decorate it with red Christmas lights. It will be very Christmasy when it is lighted for Christmas. We love walking by that tree every day as it seems to greet us to have a good day.

We have had three months of wonderful experience of serving and learning here at The Family and Church History Headquarters Mission.  We love our mission and all the missionaries that we serve with. We love working in the Family Search Center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We enjoy helping guests from all over the world find their ancestors names in the Family Search program. We still hope that our visas will come, but we will continue to faithfully serve our mission for the Lord here in Salt Lake.

Thank you for your love and support in every way.  We love you and you are in our prayers daily.

September Mission Conference

Every month in our mission we have Mission Conference.  There are two sessions and we always love to go to the first session because everything the presidency talks about is for the first time and it may not be the same in the following session.  Although the talks and missionary assignments and challenges are the same.  Each month a different member of the presidency and his wife speak to us, but President Tate is always the concluding speaker.

In the photo: President Larson, Second Counselor on the right and Sister Larson with long hair on the left.

For September it was the Second Counselor, President Larson and his wife, Sister Larson.  Sister Larson spoke first.  She talked about her calling as an ordinance worker at the Gilbert, Arizona Temple.  She went in early in the morning with her husband, who had an earlier assignment than hers. It was so peaceful there.  There was plenty of time for personal prayer and meditation.  She just found a quiet place in the basement floor before the temple opened.  One day she thought, there is nothing keeping me in the basement until I report for work, I might as well meditate and pray on the main floor. Before long she used the same reasoning and moved up to the upper floor and into the celestial room.  This was the most beautiful place to enjoy the quiet and glorious atmosphere of the temple.  This became her permanent location for her morning routine.

Her question to us to think about was: Do we realize our potential to climb out of the basement of our lives and into the celestial level of our lives?  Are we stuck in the basement?  It is up to us to climb out of the basement and find happiness and joy in serving the Lord on our missions.

A story of her ancestor in the third generation that she found while researching names in the 1860 US census and found an 8 year old girl she had not added to her family tree.  She told us that 8 year old ancestor was stuck in basement anxious to be found.  She described her as tired and patiently waiting. And that she helped her get to the celestial room. She said that her joy of finding her was a indescribable.

She encouraged us all to make time to research the names of our ancestors.  To recognize where we are in our study and research and not to get stuck in the basement of it all.  Your hearts will swell with love in finding your ancestors.

President Larson's talk was based on the song he sang for us before his talk, "Lead Kindly Light". Some of the points he made were: 1) To pray always and over everything, even frustrations. 2) Without the Spirit there is no guidance to the things we do and we are not edified. 3) There is essential spiritual nutrients in gazing into the tomb and knowing that "He Lives"! 4) Jesus Christ is our supreme advocate. 5) We must see ourselves as God sees us. 6) We must love ourselves as God loves us. 7) We must learn that the best answers are found in the scriptures and at the temple.  8) We must study the scriptures to understand the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.  9) Go to the temple. It is the most sacred place on earth.  It is there that the words of Christ becomes engraved  in our hearts. 10) With His power we can overcome all challenges.

In the photo: Mission President Tate on the right and President Larson on the left.

President Tate expressed his love and appreciation for all the missionaries who are serving under his care.  He told us about the time in April 2009 when he was called as an Area Seventy and was seated with the First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles at their meeting. He was overwhelmed with the love of Christ that each expressed in their character and being as they welcomed him. He remembers the 12 bearing their fervent testimonies of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Elder Holland said that there are millions waiting for our help.  Elder Uchtdorf said that when the Lord needs a job to be done He calls on capable men and women to get it done.

Everywhere in the world the Family Search History is being used to find ancestors.  The spirit of Elijah is bringing families together into the light.  The gospel is the point of light in a time when there is so little light the darkness seems normal.  Now the Family Search program is part of that light. We are here to learn all we can about Family Search so we can help others in the world.

We had our October mission conference already and our next mission conference is in November. We will report on the October mission conference in our next blog.

General Conference Weekend

We have enjoyed our involvement with October 2015 General Conference.  We walked around taking pictures of people from different walks of life and countries who have come to conference. Sister Hunt translated for the two days.  She hung out with the Navajo translation team while Elder Hunt stayed at the apartment and watched conference on the laptop. At the end of each session he picked her up at the same place where he delivered her before conference.

We were counseled by our local church leaders to be prepared for answers to our questions and dilemmas in the talks given by the prophets and general authorities.  They spoke on Saturday and Sunday sessions. We listened intently.  We learned these points in their talks as follows:  The Lord qualifies those whom he calls.  He helps us focus on what we can do, not on what we can't do.  We must have faith and not doubt our abilities.  That faith and doubt can not exist at the same time in the same mind.  We must trust and have faith in God and in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.  To remember Him and obey His commandments.  To keep the Sabbath Day holy.  As we progress and learn our purpose on earth we have trials and adversities to strengthen our faith.  In the midst of it all we are helped and led by our faith and trust in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.

We enjoyed the stories and lessons taught through by the speakers.  We have been inspired and edified by their talks.  We look forward to listening to them or reading them again and again on lds.org and in the church magazine, the Ensign.

We love you and you are in our prayers.  We are enjoying and loving our mission.  Thank you for your love, prayers and support in every way.  Our visa could come any day and we will be surprised and happy.

We want to share some photos with you from the general conference.

Sister Hunt on her way to the Conference Center.

Sister Hunt at the translation floor security entrance.

The Navajo translation team L-R bottom row: Shirley C., Rosie J., Tammy B., Susie P., & Sister H.

Top row L-R: Leo P., Paul B., Justin B., Thomas B., & Jerome W.

People crossing the street going to the Conference Center from Temple Square.

It is a sight to see so many people crossing the street in their Sunday best.

An LDS Chaplain in the service of his country.  

There were many others in uniform.

We are truly thankful for their service to our Nation.

Faithful elderly Hispanic couple resting in the shade.

Faithful family among the thousands who attended General Conference.

Faithful and beautiful families like this South American family come

from all over the world to attend General Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Latest

Sister Hunt has been discovered again for Navajo translation.  She will be helping in translating and interpreting for upcoming General Conference.  She helped with the Women's Conference where she reconnected with other Navajo translators: Shirley Clarke, Rosemary Jakubs, Susie Preston and Leo Platero.  Sister Hunt said that it was very exciting and wonderful to have renewed her kinship with them.  She loves translating.

We are still waiting for our visas.  The good news is that we received email from the Finnish Consulate that they received our visa application, payment, have confirmed our identities, and is being processed.  We believe that is good news.

We are enjoying our mission at the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Thank you all for your love, prayers and support in every way.  Also thank you to all who have visited us here.  We love you all and pray for you.

We have been very busy with Women's Conference and weekend with our family.  Here are some pictures of those events.

Here we are with Tara & her kids and Margo & her kids & us at Tara's house.

Just the grandkids and us no dog.

         Gathering of beautiful sisters for Women's Conference at the Conference Center 

not far from the temple.

Sister Hunt at the entrance to the translation stairway with fallen autumn leaves all around.

Visitors

We had some dear friends visit us: Norman & Marge Lyman from Blanding, UT.

It was so good to see Norman & Marge.  

We took our souvenir photo with them at our work site.

Our report on this blog is to tell you about our activities on Labor Day and after.  We were visited by our dear friends and family at our work.  Norman and Marge Lyman came and visited us on Tuesday. Our other visitors since coming to Salt Lake City are Jon and Jackie, Jeanie, Idonna, Billy and Karen, Margo and Dan, and Jay Redd, Jeanne's son who is a dentist is St. George.  We are very grateful for their visits it helps us stay closely connected to our family. 

We worked all day Saturday from nine to five at the Family Search Center.  It was slow in the morning, but from noon on it was very busy til closing.  There were some guests who wanted to stay and keep working on finding their ancestors.  There were also others wanting to get in at closing time. We just invited them back next week after the Labor Day holiday.  We were closed on Labor Day.  

Sunday morning we left for Heber City, Utah  to visit Margo and her family.  We attended church with them.  Their ward is very friendly.  They are enjoying their new ward.  They moved from St. George about two months ago.  Margo invited us for the holiday to teach her about the FamilySearch program.  We worked on it for a few hours on Sunday after church.  Monday we dedicated the whole day to work on FamilySearch.  Margo was blessed abundantly in her husband's line with a lot of names of ancestors that built their family tree .  Our granddaughters, Brynn and Sadee are also very interested in doing genealogy along with their Mom.  We were very successful in working on genealogy with Margo's family.  She plans on working on it regularly.

It was so exciting to help Margo with what we have been learning in FamilySearch on our mission.   We are very grateful for the hours of practice she has given us.  It is fun and exciting to read the stories and see pictures of our ancestors.  We get to know who they are through their stories.  They had hardships and challenges of their time that we can learn from.  

We are also grateful to those who have called us with their family search questions.  We may not know all the answers but we do our best to find the answers.  We hope we can still go to Finland where we can teach the things we've learned in FamilySearch.  We love the things we have learned and continue to learn many more things.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  We are all God's children and He wants us all to return to live with Him again.  We love attending the temple.  

We love our mission.  Thank you for your interest in our welfare.  Thank you for your love and prayers.  May the Lord bless you in all you do.

Still in SLC

This is the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we work on the main floor.

     

This is where we work.  It is a FamilySearch computer lab available for any visitors who come by and would like to find an ancestor they may have an interest in .  Ellis Island pictures are taken from the souvenir photo sign.  Then it is emailed to you.  We do our best helping our guests.

The day after Labor Day holiday we are back at work in the Family History Center helping guests find their ancestors.  It is fun to go into the FamilySearch program on the computer and find an ancestor. Just today Elder Hunt has helped a couple from Canada and Sister Hunt helped two brothers from Massachusetts.

The couple from Canada had less than 30 minutes before they were headed to the airport to catch their flight.  They wanted to find her great-grandmother.  They had her name and a death date and wanted to find what her birth date was.  They clicked on the search menu and then from the global they clicked on the country of Canada and it brought a pull down-menu with all the names of the provinces.  They knew which one she lived in and we clicked on it.  They put her great-grandmother's info in and clicked "Search".  Her name came up near  the top of the list.  They clicked on her name and it showed a death record from the indexed record with her date of birth and the country she migrated from.  She said this is so exciting I think I am going to cry and she did.  They wanted a copy of the record so they printed it.  They were so excited and happy about their find and how quickly they found her great-grandmother that they said they are going to sign up on the free account in FamilySearch as soon as they get home.  Elder Hunt was very happy for them because now the couple will continue their search for ancestors as they build their family tree.

The FamilySearch program also has a menu under Get Help where there are tutorials on how to build your tree and add information and other things like photos and stories.  It is a very helpful place to go to learn more about the program.

Now the story about the two brothers from Massachusetts.  They two did not have very much time to spend on finding their ancestor.  They were on a tour and the bus was leaving in a few minutes. They only had their great-great grandmother's last name and an estimated death year.  They clicked on the FamilySearch and then clicked on the Search menu and clicked on the title "all records and collections" below the global map.  They typed in her last name and approximate death year with a ten year range and clicked the search button.  There were over 12,243 records so they narrowed their search by typing in Massachusetts under residence and clicked on Search.  This time 101 names came up and they narrowed that down by typing in Massachusetts for the death place.  This time five names came up and they remembered that their mother called her by name and that name was the third one on the list and they clicked on it and it was full of valuable information like when and what country she migrated from which was her birth place.  It also gave her birth date.  They literally jumped up and down and couldn't stop shaking Sister Hunt's hand.  They also got a print out of their great-great grandmother's information.  They too said they will set up an account to continue to build their tree while their 95 year old Mom is still alive and can give names of their ancestors.

We wanted you all to know that it is so rewarding to help individuals (guests) find their ancestors at the Family Search Center where we have been assigned to work.  We are still learning a lot about FamilySearch program and we will continue to improve our skills.  We are happy to know that some of our family and friends are getting involved in doing their genealogy.  They are finding that it is fun and interesting to find stories, facts, and photos of their ancestors.  There are so many records recorded and digitized where we can find information.  It does take time and dedication to do genealogy research.  One hour a week without interruption will help in getting started.  It is frustrating at times when we can't find information we are searching for.  That is when the Get Help menu is very handy and helpful.

We are still waiting for our visas since we have reapplied.  The Lord knows where we are needed the most and that is where He will allow us to be His missionaries.  We love our mission and we love our Savior Jesus Christ.  This is His work.  Thank you for your prayers and support in every way.  We love you all very much.

                           
 To the left is the Cristus Statue at the Visitor's Center on Temple Square west of where we work.  To the right is the picture of the Salt Lake Temple.  The trees at Temple Square are being wired with Christmas lights in preparation for the Christmas festivities.  They are a sight to see and celebrate at Christmas time.