Family History Mission
Week 7  23 Nov 2014

Bom dia:

It has been a fun packed week here in Salt lake City, as we prepare for the Holiday season. This week we had the opportunity to attend the Tabernacle Choir practice on Thursday evening. We saw Sister Lori Bikhazi from our Cape Verde Mission. The Choir sang wonderfully and the music for the Sunday morning devotional is great.  It will be a very special broadcast.

Friday night we attended a devotional put on by the  Ensign 18th ward, they had an evening of music. We had opera singers, organ numbers and a clarinet concerto , it was great. Then topping it off we had Elder Ballard of the Twelve speak to us. His remarks were uplifting, though at times he talked of the trials we are all facing in today's society. He emphasized the need to be continually prayerful, to strengthen our foundation of faith by search the scriptures and to renew our testimony of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He spoke of the trials to come, that will test all our faith as society turns from God and His commandments. That we can have peace in our lives if we are founded on the Gospel of the Savior and His teachings.

We left the devotion uplifted only to walk by the Tabernacle and there was a concert going on, so we peeked through the window. A lady and he small daughter asked if we wanted their tickets as the daughter was to young to sit through the concert. So we got to enter and hear the Bells of Temple Square play. They were great and it was a great concert. Thanks to the thoughtful lady!

Saturday was rainy and found us working around the apartment. That evening we attended the Stage production of  " Savior of the World" at the Conference Center Theater. Wow!! Double Wow!! It was great, the cast and music did a wonderful job. I would encourage all who have the chance to see it here in SLC.

In our preparation room at the Library, people post spiritual thoughts. Here is one I found interesting. There was no Arthur given.

Eagle in a storm

"Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?  The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come.  When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.  The eagle does not escape the storm, it simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When storms of life come upon us--and all of us will experience them-- we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us.  We can allow God's power to lift us above them.  God enables us to ride the winds of the storms that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives.  We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down.  It is how we handle them."

May we all at this time of Thanksgiving, celebrate the many blessings that have been giving us. Be grateful for families, living in such a blessed nation, and  the freedoms we enjoy.  May our hearts be full of gratitude and thanksgiving to God for His bounteous blessings.

Enjoy the Season of Thanksgiving

E/S Waller, Bama & Bampa, Mom & Dad, Chuck & Sharon

Family History Mission

Week 6  16 Nov 2014

Hi everyone;

Well it has been a very busy week. We have been on days and have met many of the service missionaries, those who serve just a few day a week. While talking with one Elder, it occurred to me that I knew him. Back in the college days I worked in the chemistry department electric shop. Each day I would go across the hall to the machine shop on break to visit with Mr Pitts. He was from England and had a great many stores to tell about WW 11, and growing up during that time. We would swap war stories, I of Vietnam and he of England under the bombing of Nazi Germany.

Well as we were talking this week I found out his occupation and where he worked for a career. I then said " I know you". We had a great reunion. His hair is thinner and not black anymore and he has gained a little weight around the middle but other than that he is the same good man. We had quite the day  talking about old times.

That same day we met a couple on B 1 search for ancestry. They were from Sri Lanka and live in Negombo, Anusha Fernando and his family. Although we did not know them they knew some of the missionaries back in 2002, Elder and Sister Brimhall, Elder Gamble. We had a nice visit with them. They even invited us to dinner, for some hot curry!!!

Wednesday Sharon and I drove to Manti, Utah.  I had made contact with Lewis Garbe.  Lewis is the grand son of Ferdinand Garbe, whose family immigrated from Germany in the late 1800's. His grand father would be the brother of Augusta A Garbe our possible great grand mother. So we went down for a visit and Lewis had agreed to do a DNA test. We sent off the sample for an autosomal DNA test. If indeed the test comes back as positive for us being cousins; that will seal the deal for Augusta being our great grand mother and solve an age old question. So we will keep our fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

Thursday evening we attended a lecture by Sherry Dew. She spoke of the life of President Ezra Taft Benson.  She is a good speaker and we enjoyed reviewing the Prophets life. Both Sharon and I have read the book by President Benson's traveling companion following WW 11, I believe his name was Elder Babble. There were many small miracles that opened the doors for his 11 month visit to war tore Europe.

Friday night we had tickets to the symphony.  We gave them up to Chrissy and Nick so they could celebrate their 12th anniversary. We got to baby sit the kids for a few hours. They did great!  We played a Disney board game with a question video. They sure know their Disney characters and movies.

We capped off the week with a visit to the Salt Lake Temple last night. We had a very good session that was well attended. Today I have to teach the Priesthood lesson , it is a challenge when you have 50 men in the class! We will be out at Erika's house for dinner, and to visit with the grand children this evening.

This week I had the opportunity to sing with the Elders choir 3 times. We did a special devotional last Sunday. On Monday morning we sang at the morning devotional and then we sang for the Mission Zone Conference. we sang two wonderful songs " Come and Behold Him" by Nathan Howe and  " Come, Drink of the Water" by Linda Chapman and Bonnie Heidenreich. I am suppose to get and video of the performance and will forward that later.

Genealogy tip of the week. Check out the Family tree WIKI. There are many articles and links to genealogical sites. It is found under the Search tab in Family Tree home page.

Our scripture for this month is found in Doctrine and Covenants  64: 10

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

May you all have a great week and for those in Meridian, may the snow shoveling slow a little, and the sun come out to brighten your day.

Love to all

E/S Waller, Bama & Bampa, Mom &Dad, Chuck & Sharon

Reese with Sister Yo and Site Wu (one from Hong Kong the other Taiwan)

Sharon with Reese and Charley in front of the Christmas Box home

Family History Library Week 5
9 Nov 2014

We have had a busy week on the evening shift. We work from 12:30 to 9 pm. The Library has been host to a number of genealogical societies from around the country. They come for a week and take classes and do research.  Many make it an annual trip. They have lucked out this year and had gorgeous weather.

We continue to serve in hosting, smiling a lot and trying in general to make every ones visit memorable. It is interesting to talk to 1st time visitor. The other day a young couple from India  came into the library. You can tell they are new, because as you look out the front doors, new people go to the wrong door at 1st. Any way they came in and I greeted them and asked if they wanted a tour. They nodded their heads back and forth. Would you like to see a short video, their heads go side to side.  It totally took us back to memories of Sri Lanka. Everyone answers question with nodding their heads side to side., is that a yes or a no!

On Monday our devotional meeting keynote speaker was Elder Hamula of the Seventy. He spoke of learning how to be in tune with our Father in Heaven. 1st we must be willing to ASK! Then we have to listen to his servants, for their voice is the voice of the Lord. We have to take time away from the world distractions to mediate and listen for answers. Because they always come as a still small voice, which can only be heard when the noise of the world is silenced. We need to turn to the scriptures  where we can find examples and inspiration as well as revelations as to our own needs. It was a great talk. Need to apply those principles more often!

This week I started in the Men's choir. We will be singing a number of times over the last week. The choir is made up of about 30 missionaries, mostly young men. Many of them have had choir in High School and have great voices.

 They each have their own challenges, whether, emotional, physical or mental. They serve with enthusiastic energy. They in general are great at computer work. They work long hours and are a tremendous asset to the mission.

"When an old man dies, a library burns" African Proverb

Dennis B Neuenschwander (CR, Apr 1999)  " A life that is not documented is a life that within a generation or two will largely be lost to memory.  What a tragedy this can be in the history of a family. Knowledge of our ancestor shapes us and instills within us values that give direction and meaning to our lives. Knowledge of their traditions and family history welds generations together. A family which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, or what it is trying to do.  We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know who we came from or what we have been about".

Genealogy tip of the week: Take a moment and go to the LEARNING CENTER in family tree. There are multiple videos on how to in family tree, good stuff!

Last week I posted a photo  of the mural in the  lobby of the family history library. I have attached to your email a copy of the artist interpretation of the painting. Enjoy!

Have a great week.

E/S Waller, Bama & Bampa, Mom& Dad, Chuck & Sharon

SLC Temple from State Street looking down the plaza

Tree of Life Stain Glass in Conference Center

Conference Center roof top fountain

Bama, Charley and Reese  by the Council Hall and Chapel, Capitol hill SLC

Family History Week 4

Week 4

Hi everyone;

This as has been an exciting week as we have finished our training and started serving. I think Sharon is getting a little less apprehensive what we will be doing. Tuesday evening we shadowed one of the workers around and learned what we will be doing (a lot of smiling and directing people). We were trained on the scanning area, which is cool. You can scan 10 photos in about 30 seconds. So we definitely will be bring our photos in to scan and put on a flash drive. Speaking of flash drives here is the tip of the week.

The trainers recommend that you use a flash drive as your master file. Your desktop or laptop as a backup for your family files. They even recommend a second flash drive as a 2nd backup. The other thing is how you name your photo files. This is the recommended format: example,  WALLER Charles (b 19..) .......  (the .... being a description of the photo).  All photos up loading to Family Tree have to be in jpg or png format.

Monday evening we went to a special FHE with President and Sister Klopfer. He serves as the Branch President of the Ensign 3rd Branch and she is the Relief Society President. He also serves on the Churches Music committee and has for the last 40 years. They are the authors of Hymn 298 " Home Can Be A Heaven On Earth".  They are both very talented. President Klopfer has a request, which he has brought up President Packer who gave only a minor suggestion. President Packer thinks it will take at least 3 generations to make the change. President Klopfer wants everyone to stop calling the person who leads the music a chorister. They should be called "Music Director" as recommended in the handbook.  We asked what is a chorister?  The name comes from the Vienna Boys choir over 400 years ago, the boy that set the pitch was called the chorister.  So Bishop Hessing start a new trend and call Brother Gammett the music director not the chorister, change the bulletin also. President Klopfer will appreciate it. You then will be the start of a generational change!

This week has marked our 1st week of service, training is over although it is ongoing.  We have been assigned to different areas of the library, rotating every hour.  Our main concern is welcoming and assisting the guest in getting start on their genealogy. We also service the scanning area and assist guest in storing photos and journals. During the day we generally have time to do some indexing and maybe work on our own family lines. This past week and the next we are on the late shift.

We did have the opportunity to be around for "Trick or Treat" with the grand children, their costumes were great!! Erika and Chrissy went all out on the costumes. But I think after seeing the pictures from Alisha, that she gets the prize this year, for best costumes.

This is the mural in the lobby of the Family History Library. Take a moment to look at the mural and see if you can determine the artist thoughts. I will post next week her thought pattern while developing the mural.

This is our family library new missionary group: left to right, Sister Chrsitensen, Elder Stoddar, E/S Sissell, Elder Firniss, Sister Hansen (infront) E/S Rentz, Sister Rawlins, and Siter McFaddin. I missed one Elder can't remember his name. Others in our new missionary group but not assisgned to the FHL are: E/S Bang, E/S Brunt, E/S LeBaron, E/S McGill, E/S Shaltes, E/S Thomas & Sister Flake.

Joseph Smith  (HC, vol. 6, p.313) stated: "The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead."

As host at the FHL we have to continually be aware of those watching us. In other words, we need to always have a smile on our face. Mother Teresa stated  "Every time you smile at someone it is an act of love, a gift to the person, a beautiful thing." May we each have a smile on our face each day, for indeed we have much to smile about; The restored "Gospel of Jesus Christ"!

Have a great week!
E/S Waller, Bama & Bampa, Mom & Dad, Chuck & Sharon