Training is over...

We have just completed our two weeks of intensive training in the Family and Church History Mission department. It was amazing!

The 34 or so of us met in 4 labs on the third floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The labs were filled with computers, and we met each day, all day long, with a trainer apiece. Each trainee and trainer shared a computer. A written manual guided the way. The trainer pointed at the screen with a soft-tipped stick. Following instructions, the trainee learned all the tricks of using PAF, Family Search, New Family Search, and Ancestry.com.

Some of us had more experience than others. Because we each had our own trainer, though, we were able to go at our own pace.

I have had a lot of experience with computers, some with the various programs - and absolutely no discipline in sourcing the results of my research. That was my biggest lesson: how to source effectively. I now have census record and World War 1 draft card images attached to the people they refer to. It is very satisfying!

One surprise is that we are using PAF (Personal Ancestral File, a free download at http://familysearch.org/) as the main location for all our records. It's easy to create sources in PAF, and an enormous family can fit all its records, including images and photos, on a memory stick. No internet connection is needed, then, to add a fact or a new photo. PAF is easy to use, and I've enjoyed getting to know it again.

Our days consisted of intense instruction, practice, snack breaks, an hour for lunch, more of the same in the afternoon, and trips at times to the Family History Library. The FHL is about 300 steps from our apartment, so it's easy to drop in there and take a look at christening records made nearly 500 years ago that have been preserved on microfilm.

But now training is over. On Friday we had our 'Go Forth' day, a beautiful event filled with inspiring talks, announcement of our assignments, and a trip to the Temple with everyone in our Training Zone.

The Family and Church History Mission is made up of 28 zones, so after training we are assigned to one where we will spend 6 months to a year, or possibly more. Some zones work on the technical side, such as digitizing or repairing books, or entering data. Others are there to help patrons visiting the FHL to find what they're looking for. John and I were assigned to the International Reference zone.

In International Reference, we help people looking for ancestors from countries other than the US, Canada, or the British Isles, which have their own zones (and their own floors of the FHL). International has its own floor, and covers every other part of the world. Some of the patrons are English-speaking, but a large number are not. We need to be able to communicate the basics in foreign languages on a regular basis. Both John and I have studied several languages, so maybe that's why we received this calling. It sounds really exciting, and of course more than a bit challenging!

We have our first meeting in the zone on Monday, when we begin more training and have a new manual to absorb, specific to that zone. I am really excited to learn more about what we'll be doing.

These are all the details of our life, but the bigger work is about finding and linking to our kindred dead. All our training was focused on our own family histories. Our hearts are fully engaged with these loved ones from the past, most of whom we don't know and haven't even heard of. We have had many touching successes during our training period. I will write about these elsewhere.

I have learned so much these past two weeks! We feel it a true blessing to be able to be here at this time. Living on Temple Square is a wonderful experience: we are able to walk to work, and come home for lunch. We have new friends. One son lives 5 minutes away by car, another less than half an hour away. We have friends in the Provo area and also just north of SLC whom we are able to visit. Senior missionaries have a lot of latitude in their after-hours activities, and can travel a radius of 60 miles. We have a small apartment, sufficient for our needs, at a very reasonable price. We walk over to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsals and performances each Sunday morning, and to church at the old and lovely Salt Lake City Stake building half a block away. It is a lovely life. No gardens, of course, and no long trips. But it suits us very well.

And since we can't come to you, why don't you come to us? Or better yet, come be part of this mission? (They need you - they are short 125 missionaries and have projects on hold for lack of faithful servants.)