Transition: Training for Philly

For our new assignment in records preservation in Philadelphia we found ourselves back in the MTC.  It's a great place to be, I love it!  

  There is such a wonderful spirit there and great people.  Here is a picture of those in our District the first week. The young people on each side are the instructors.  They were amazing!  There is a threesome: a Mother, Father and their down syndrome son who are going together for their mission.  They are the 8th, 9th and 10th on the back row.

The second week we started training in West Valley to learn how to scan books.  The actual scanning part is easy, but there are a lot of details in documenting, editing, sending files to the right places in the right order, etc.  The full time missionary couple, Elder and Sister Widdison, were so very nice and helpful.  They are from Oregon and are serving here for a year.

Joel was very helpful in teaching us how to use the map scanner.  He is a very interesting man.  No matter what we talked about, he seems to know something about it, and every place we talk about, he has either lived there or been there.  I enjoyed working with him.

One benefit to training "off campus" at the MTC is that we had much more flexibility about where we could go in our off times.  We got to go to Logan on the 4th of July and spend time with family.  Relaxing and waiting for the fireworks:

We got to see our granddaughter, Jaana in all her glory in the Hyrum parade!

We also got to be with Hayden on his birthday.

Erica was just a little new-born when we saw her last.  I got to hold her and marvel at how beautiful she is and how fast she is growing.

And we were there for Zachary's birthday.

Since the scanning center in West Valley was closed for the 24th, we were able to spend the day with family at the parade and fireworks.  What fun!  Love my family so much!

Zachary turned 12 on his birthday and we were happy to be with him as he was ordained a deacon.

We met with Kenny and the boys, Tyler and Zachary, at the temple for Zachary's first experience doing baptisms for the dead.  It was a very special day.

It really is all about family.  Family here and family on the other side.  That's really the reason we are doing the work we are doing.  We have used records online for searching our family tree and feel it a great opportunity to "give back" in a special way to help others do their research by scanning books for familysearch.org. in Philadelphia.  I have discovered that doing work for our family who have passed on brings great blessings, not just to them, but to all our family here too. Finding names of ancestors and doing work for them in the temple has opened to me a perspective of family relationships that gladdens my heart and given me love and strength I wouldn't have any other way.  Doing family history isn't something we 'have' to do. We 'get' to do it.