Susan again. I got to pick them up from the MTC and bring them to our house, and take them shopping today. It was great to see them, and they were happy to have a normal meal that wasn't a sack lunch/dinner...but read on and see why. Dad sent his daily journal entries to me and asked me to post them. They start last Monday.

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Today we entered the MTC.

When we arrived fully loaded with all our suitcases, laptop, boxes, and bags we first went to the reception desk and explained that we were scheduled to arrive at noon, but that we had an assignment at the Family History Center for training that was to begin at 0800. They seem to have been prepared for that because they had some of the paperwork for us sitting separately from that of others. We got our keys to the room where we are to stay, our identification badges and cards, and a map of the campus, and were told they would call the shuttle to get us down to the training venue.

Jacob had brought us in Nels and Susan’s truck, and he helped me move all of the luggage and stuff to the room, while Pat went to get in line to get us bag lunches. We just dropped our load off in the room and said good-bye to Jacob, and I went to find Pat. They hadn’t had the lunches prepared yet, but there were a lot in line to get breakfasts, so she was still waiting, but she soon got two sack lunches, and we headed out to the place the shuttle was to pick us up.

When we arrived at the Utah South Family History Center we were welcomed and given a little orientation before the start of what turned out to be a week-long training program that they run every three weeks. It appears that the program was designed mainly for Family History support people such as FH Library workers. It certainly is targeted at what I need. It consists of lectures and hands-on work. Today’s training included some general computer skills followed with work with the PAF program. Almost everything I know about PAF I learned today.

After the ten-hour long day in training we were shuttled back to the MTC where we again went to the front desk to see if there was anything else we could do to complete the requirements for the day. It turned out that it was already close the end of the dinner hour, so we were told to go and eat, then come back to take care of things. By the time we got back, the fellow at the desk had been able to find the things that we were supposed to have been given, and we got answers to a few questions we had; then we came to our room.

Pat had experienced a little difficulty with the thumb-drive she used during the class today, so after spending a few minutes getting the most basic things setup in the room, I checked it out. It worked perfectly for me. We’ll have to check it out again when we get to the class tomorrow.
We’re exhausted, and will probably not get through with the study of all the papers in our packet before we have to give up for the day. But it has begun for us.

GSH&PLMH

26 August – second day

Up early, got a take-out breakfast and lunch for each of us, and got to the Family History Center for our training on time. I have received an introduction to a number of the modern, computerized aids for recording FH data, and for doing research and sharing it. For Pat it wasn’t all new, but she still learned much. Several of the training presentations yesterday and today have emphasized the importance of the Spirit in this work. I was most impressed with a presentation made at the end of the training day by Randy Bryson* in which the overall program of the Church regarding FH work was outlined. FH is one of the Lord’s tools for qualifying us so the spirit can bless us. That really made me re-think some of my past notions. I’m going to have to study the slides and the guide book that I received afterward, which is the section from the Church Handbook of Instructions entitled “Temple and Family History Work.” One of the most significant points was that the only purpose for the Church doing FH work is for the temple work to be enabled, but that along the way we can strengthen the church members and even do missionary work as we work for the temple goals, because the Spirit of the Lord is in the work.
At the end of the day we got back to the MTC just in time to get into the tail end of the cafeteria line, eat, and go as fast as we could walk over to where we could attend the devotional in which Elder Steven Snow and Sister Snow (Pres of 70) spoke. The bulk of his talk was on the Holy Ghost, and I was impressed with his description of several “levels” of experiences with the Holy Ghost: Level 1 the quiet, warming peace and feelings of love, Level 2 The Holy Ghost testifies of truth as promised in Moroni 10, Level 3 The Holy Ghost gives spiritual revelations and promptings (but the HG does not try to make himself heard above the noises of the world), and Level 4 The Holy Ghost makes us clean and changes our hearts = sanctification. Wow, what a day!

*(Randy Bryson is one of the “bitheads” working for the Church in projects to develop software that will aid us in our huge task of FH & temple work. He’s been involved with several of the major automation projects, but has spent much of his time on the Indexing that is so important a part of the work being done right now. After his presentation, I had a much, much better idea of what our assignment will entail.)

GSH&PLMH

3rd Day 27 August 2008

This is an incredible place. Again we were up early and got two sacks each – one for breakfast, and one for lunch. As our training got underway, they informed us (Pat and Grant) that they were negotiating to have us receive at least part of our training in Indexing there at the Utah South FHC, and that we would have just an hour between our long day and another hour and a half of night class. I figured we’d just miss out on supper, but they said they’d get someone to bring us something. Much to my surprise, someone from the MTC showed up about 1840 with some home-made meals for us. If I understand it right, the person who delivered them was one of the desk clerks here at the MTC. Like I said, they are extremely accommodating. We’ll do the same thing tomorrow night, only this time we’ll not have any time after our day classes end at 1800 and the evening class begins. We will have to be finished by 1900 with the class as another class begins then, but we will probably continue on with computer work.

Again we’ve been impressed with the sacred nature of this work. We missed out on any German instruction that was scheduled for us, however. I suspect that our time in the MTC will actually begin next Monday, only we will have already been here a week. The lady who brought the supper said she’d help us check in next Monday at 1000, so I guess that will be when we get to learn all of the stuff normally explained on the first day. We certainly have been having exceptional experiences so far, but no one has given even a hint that they were put out by it.

GSH&PLMH

4th Day 28 August 2008

One minute to nine pm, and we just got back home. Today we had to pick up three sacks of food each – one for our breakfast, one for lunch, and the third for supper. Our training class started at 0800, but we were there early enough to work on the computers for a while first. Last night we learned about Indexing, and we both had indexing projects to work on. We had a break for lunch and then a mini class on a variety of software that can be used to facilitate research. We did some more indexing before the afternoon classes, then it was steady class and practice on the computers until 1800 when the regular class ended. They wanted us to learn to do the “arbitrating” for the Indexing program, however, so we had an hour of that, followed by some more computer work. We both completed our first batch of arbitrating, but I’m still not finished with my batch of indexing. We didn’t leave the FHC until about 2000, and we brought our supper bags back with us and ate at one of the tables outside our MTC apartment. The cafeteria was long closed, but we got our supper anyway. While eating we had a couple of other missionary couples stop and talk. It was really neat. This is going to be a rewarding assignment.
We learned that we will not have any classes on Saturday, so we are hoping to spend some of that day with the family. We’ve considered buying another suitcase so we don’t risk breaking our others by trying to cram too much into them. We’re not getting any less stuff to carry. Anything we use up so we don’t have to take it with us has already been replaced with a new book or computer disk we need to take.

The folks we visited with gave us some information about how things are run around here. We’ll probably learn more on Monday. But in the meantime, we’ll try to not offend by breaking any rules. We found out that we are assigned to a Branch for Sunday meetings. We can go off the campus to town or even to visit family, but they can’t come here.

GSH&PLMH

Friday. Last day for our formal FHC training in the Utah South FHC. We finished all of the assignments just a little before the end of the day. (Yesterday I received my first training in “Indexing.” Last night we were given instruction in the arbitrator’s function. Today we finished our first batches of indexing and also the arbitration of a whole batch.) We’ve become acquainted with a lot of research tools and techniques, and it’s good we have a lot of notes to help us remember what is available and how to use it. We had a graduation program today, followed by a trip to the temple to participate in the culminating activity at which all FHC work is aimed. After the sealing session, that was just one hour long, we went to the temple cafeteria for dinner together with all who chose to, and it was a delightful time of sharing with those with whom we have developed friendships during the week. We got back into our room about 0830. As a result of dinner in the temple we had to eat only two sack meals today.

When we got back to the MTC we came into an area where wireless internet is available so we could try to use the telephone or somehow get into communication with the world. There are now 16 people here talking, and they are giving us information about what is going on here and what we should expect on Sunday and next week. There are a lot of wonderful people here.

GSH&PLMH