Family History Mission Week 36 & 37

Hi everyone;

The last couple of weeks have been filled with fun, aches, pain and a good dose of spiritual uplift. We have received a new Mission President to replace President Workman.  President Tate and his wife have served as Mission Presidents in the Las Vegas Mission and he a Area Authority Seventy. He has chosen to keep President Oliver as a counselor and added Elder Larsen from the US Canada zone as his other counselor.  They will bring new life and a different fell to the mission, as all new mission Presidents do.  We are sad to see President Workman and Johns leave us but time marches on.

Last week one of our good missionary friends Sister Kohla suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.  She has further needs for surgery and will be released from her mission assignment.  She has served for 5 years in the hosting zone and was an inspiration to us all.  She brought happiness and hard work to the zone.  She would rise each more and go to curves to exercise then fill a full day at the Library, all this at age 80!! We will miss her and her sweet spirit.  Also leaving us, tho under much better circumstances is Sister Dearinger. She has served as a CSM and now leaves the mission to help her 6 daughters and daughters in law with their pregnancy, wow full time work.  One is over in Italy, so Sister Dearinger will be traveling, but we hope to see her back in the mission field at a later date.

We have received some new missionaries to the Hosting Zone; E/S Ruggles from Texas and Sister Isaacson from Ohio.  We are happy to have some more help and look forward to getting to know them.

We have also had some losses to our mission family ; Elder Henrie's son was killed on the way home from work down in Cedar City.  His grandson was driving and fell asleep.  The grandson suffered a punctured lung but will be okay. Elder Henrie stated that the whole town of Cedar City came out to support the family.  He called it a miracle that his grandson survived after he saw the truck.  They are all dealing with the loss, but the support of friends family, neighbors and community has made the process easier.

Sister Calaway of our zone was injured this week and had to have surgery on a fractured ankle.  She will be out for at least 3 months.  Elder Calaway reports that he needs to come the Library as she is getting bossy!

We continue to have little miracles happen each day as we assist the guest at the library.  Sharon is now helping people on the main floor and finding out she can do this.  Yesterday we had a bus tour come to the library and I was able to get this couple logged in and research out 3 generation of ancestors in a few minutes. They are so grateful and always appreciative of the Library staff. One big question they ask is " How can you afford to do this"?  It is amazing what you can do with volunteers ( missionaries) tithing dollars and the help of the Lord in this most important work!

Well, we wish you all a good week.  Please enjoy the celebration of the 4th and be safe.

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

Family History Mission Week 35

Bom dia!
Well I am trying to get back in the habit of blogging Sunday or Monday of each week.  It is hard sometimes to come up with new things to talk about, but I will keep trying.  Sharon and I had the opportunity to go to the movie last week and saw “Cokeville Miracle”: it was very good and a real tear jerker. The story line is about the 1986 hostage taking of an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming.  It was interesting to following and had a good spiritual message.  I would give it 4 stars!

On Thursday we took 3 missionaries from our zone up to Logan, to attend a temple session. It is a beautiful temple.  Sisters Rawlins, Christensen, and Phillips were excited to get to go; we enjoyed  lunch, at Chuck A Rama there in Logan.  The waitress was name Aleesha and she is the niece of Sister Slattery here in the FHL, small world.
Sunday E/S Young spoke in Sacrament meeting and they did a good job.  Sharon and I are counting our blessings for not having to speak, maybe we will make to the end.

We had sad news this week; Earl Palmer of Wenatchee, Washington died in his home in Orem.  The Palmers had become proxy grandparents to our children when they were growing up.  Earl was the help I needed to get my practice started in Moses Lake.  We will miss him dearly but he is now with his sweet heart Shirley.

We received word today that President Workman and President John’s of our mission presidency are being released in the next week or so.  President Workman has been a great example and wonderful leader.  He has served as a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy, Mission President in Hawaii and now the President of the Family and Church Headquarters Mission.  We will have a special Monday Morning devotional on the 22nd with Elders Cook and Anderson of Quorum of the Twelve.  It should be a great meeting!!

We received bad news this weekend as Elder Henrie called and told us his son was killed in an accident down in Cedar City.  Elder Henrie is a CSM who works with the Young elders.  Also this past weekend Sister Kohla had a stroke and probably will have to end her mission early, although this is her 5th year as a FH missionary.  She is 84 and a great example to us all.

Last week I had an Elijah moment while working as a host.  A gentleman came in and I welcomed him to the library; I asked him what he would like to do and he stated that he had been here about a year ago but wasn’t very successful in finding any information.  I told him we would get a helper for him in his research and directed him to a computer on the main floor.  I then went looking for someone to help him.  We were not very busy and there were a number of people that were available to help, but I looked across the room and had a feeling I needed to ask Elder Dominguez.  Elder Dominguez is a young missionary in our zone who is serving as a zone leader and a great young man.  So I went over and asked if he would be available to help a guest. He replied “no problem”.  So I introduced him to the man and then went back to my assigned area.  Later the man came out and was walking on cloud nine!! “I found my great grandfather and more” he stated.  “And that Elder Dominguez is great” he said.  He then related that Elder Dominguez had tried to help him last year without success, but this year a miracle occurred. We have these things happening all the time.

Saturday I was working as a guest helper with this Jewish gentleman.  He assured me we would probably not find anything as he had very little information about his family.  So we began and soon had his father in the 1940 census.  He assured me the family name was spelled only one way “Beerstein”, but I kept telling him that is not always the case.  Sure enough we found his great grandparents with a spell of ‘Beirstien”.  I even found a marriage record for him, he was elated and words were hard for him to express. He finally asked my name and said, “I want to remember you!”
So you see small miracles occur here every day; what a joy to be a part of this great work!

Well that is about it for this week, hope everyone is doing well and finding time to search a little in Family Search.

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

                                                                 Elder Domingues and Ottensen

Family History Week 33 and 34

Hi Everyone;
Well I seem to be getting later and later on my blog posting.  Sometimes it is difficult to think of things to say and news to report.  This past week was no exception; it was just a busy week.  The Library is a major draw for the tourist coming to Salt Lake City.  Each day the tour buses line up for visits to Temple Square and the Library.  We have been especially busy getting people personal accounts on Family Search.

I had the opportunity of working with Elder James Martino of the Seventy for a few hours; we were trying to find family names, so his granddaughter could do some baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple.  We found one on his side and his wife found 6; so she will have enough to do. Elder Martino was pleasant and I showed him some new tools on Family Search.

I was helping this couple from Michigan the other day, and they got so excited on finding grandparents and other relatives. They left the library extremely happy with lots of praise for all the workers; that is what makes it fun each day!

Of course as with everyone, we were saddened with the loss of Elder Perry.  He was indeed a great example of a true disciple of Christ.  His last conference address on the family was terrific. He will truly be missed.

 The other evening I started to get a head ache and had a difficult time sleeping, actually I didn’t sleep; as my jaw began to hurt.  So yesterday it was off to the dentist.  I called Jerry Black (our old friends here in SLC) and he referred me to his son Brian. Jerry told me of his and Debbie's recent accident.  They were down in San Diego and were involved in a 5 car freeway accident.  Our prayers go out to them for a speedy recovery, I wonder if chocolate would help.  We might have to pay them a visit to help in the recovery.  As we get older it seems we just don’t mend as quickly; Sharon is still having problems from her fall.

We have received a number of new couples to our zone; Elder and Sister Price, and Elder and Sister Sorensen.  They will be fun to work with and get to know.  Well that is about all the news for this week.  Oh yeah, we did go to Rich Farnsworth’s ward on Sunday.  Rich is the Bishop and asked if we would take the 3rd hour combined meeting.  He wanted us to talk about our mission and Family Search.  It went well and Sharon did a great job recalling Elijah moments here in the Library.  She went around collecting stories of special moments others have had, as they work with guest and do their own research.  As she writes some of them down I will share them.

We also had at the Library the Global Family Reunion, it was well attended and the rain stayed away till after the party. They had bounce house and rock climbing walls, dancers and speakers.  They had closed off West Temple in front of the Library for the festivities.

Tchau!