The week before Christmas brought some family issues that affected our blogging skills, so we took a week off to get our collective head screwed back on right.  Besides, I can't think of any other excuse for not posting last week.  A few days before Christmas resulted in a second round of antibiotics for Lorene to deal with an infection, and we think that maybe she is over it now and are hoping for no more recurrances.  Although she has had some minor health issues since we started serving here in Salt Lake City, they have not been debilitating and for the most part she has recovered very quickly.  We know that overall she has been blessed with good health and has been able to serve even with minor disruptions.

Christmas was rather quiet and, to our recollection, we have never had an entire Christmas morning just to ourselves.  The peace and quiet was rather nice, but a little lonely, and we able to enjoy just being together remembering why and what Christmas really means.  To top the day off we went to our Branch for a Christmas dinner with our fellow missionaries.  We were sad that several of our missionary friends were not in attendance as they spent the time with family members who live live close by, but we had no regrets about spending the time with our mission family.  We were especially sad that our adopted mom, Sister Sharon Walker, was not with us, as she has gone home and been released due to some health issues.  We love her so much and will ever be grateful for her friendship, and we call and check up on her on a regular basis.

In less than a week we will begin a new year and, with it, new opportunites as well as new challenges. The past year has gone by very fast; we are hoping that this year passes more slowly. We want to savor our new friendships as long as possible and want to be more effective at helping others find their ancestors and to continue to search and find our own family members (Steve) and clean up the records in Family Tree (Lorene).  Time passes too quickly to waste it, thus my New Years's wish is to be more effective with what time is allotted to me and to develop a more meaningful relationship to Him who we follow.  The Savior is only as far away from us as we put Him, and thus conversly is only as close to Him as we draw close to Him.

We have both recommitted ourselves to our Mission which has brought a great sense of peace and comfort to each of us.  We have been trying unsucccessfully to concentrate on our Mission as well as dealing with some family issues at the same time and it has been very hard on us emotionally as well as affecting us somewhat in our service at the Family History Library.  We have come to realize that we will likely have some of these family issues long after we are no longer serving as missionaries, but we won't always be here on a mission serving others and helping them find and become connected to their ancetors.  Although we still have love our family and care about them, their issues will no longer prevent or diminish our opportunnites to serve and help others as we put the Lord first and His work of bringing families together.  We also know that because we are here on a mission, the Lord will watch over our family and He will be there for them.

I just want to add a note about what Steve wrote in the last paragraph.  I was writing in my journal this morning about how difficult it has been to balance our time, efforts, and emotions between the family issues, health concerns, and our missionary responsibilities.  As I finished writing about my concerns in these areas, the thought came to me through the Spirit that we must "Seek . . . first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness . . ." (JST Matt. 6:38).  I didn't share this with Steve until after he wrote (and I edited) the blog. I am awed that he and I had the same inspired thought about putting the Lord first.  One blessing that has come to us as a result of our missionary service is that we are becoming more united.

May your new year be a joy to you in all the aspects of your life.

December 6, 2015

Another week of our Mission has come and gone as quick as all the rest which is rather scary.  Things continue to be rather slow on the British Services Zone.   However, that is a good thing as it has given us both time to concentrate a little more on our own research.  Lorene is becoming an expert in correcting errors on Family Search and I am becoming more confident with Ancestry.  It still is rather difficult for Lorene to find new names, and I have been able to find some new names that need to be verified,but the names, dates and places seem to be a good match.

Last night helped put some of my feelings about my grandmothers family come alive and the following is a summary of what felt and learned:

A Trail of Personal Discovery

As missionaries we have been encouraged to share Elijah moments with our zones, and as a fairly new missionary I had always thought those moments were to be about our experiences with our guests to the Family History Library.  However, I have come to realize that such moments also include our experiences with our own family research.  Last night while I was sleeping, I had a dream and a very strong impression that made me realize how pleased I will be to meet my great-grandparents and my great uncle, Gustav Janousky.  This impression was manifested to me as a banner on my FamilySearch Family Tree which simply said: "You will be pleased someday to meet Charles, Clara, and Gustave".

Many years ago when I first expressed an interest in Family History, my Grandmother Walker told me that her parents and step-brother, Gustav, immigrated to the United States from Germany before she was born.  She further told me that Clara, for whom my grandmother is named, was initially Gustave's nanny.  With only their names, dates of birth, and information as to when and where they lived in the United States, I began a search that has lasted many years.

Thanks to my wife's encouragement over the years to do my family history, perseverance, and modern technology, I have been able to piece my grandmother's story together.  I have found several U.S. census records that include my grandparents, ship passenger lists, pictures, and marriage and death records which have verified what she told me.  We all have a story to tell and now is the time to ensure that future generations will know our stories through our own family histories.

In my quest to discover my great-grandparents and great uncle, I found the passenger list that tells me that they immigrated from Prussia on the ship "Rugia," they left from Hamburg, were going to live in Washtenaw County which is in Michigan, and arrived in New York on May 2, 1892.  After being in the United States for only a few days, Charles and Clara were married in Ann Arbor, Washentaw, Michigan on May 7, 1892.  Now, seven-year-old Gustave had a mom again.

Until recently I had run into a brick wall with my great-uncle Gustave.  Gustave is included in a special 1894 Michigan Census and in the 1900 U.S. Census living with my great-grandparents,  his two half-brothers and half-sister, my grandmother, in Ann Arbor.  However, that's where his trail ended.  Recently I found Gustave's death certificate which brought a sad closure to my sleuthing.  Gustave died in 1909 at the age of 22 just before the 1910 Census, and had been recently been discharged from the U.S. Navy. The fact that as a recent immigrant Gustave enlisted in the U.S. Navy tells a whole lot about his allegiance to his new country and also makes me proud to be a military veteran myself.

The research of the census records helped to fill out my grandmother's family unit.  Four boys and two girls (one of which is my grandmother) were born to Charles and Clara in Ann Arbor, and all but one were buried in the same cemetery in Ann Arbor as my great-grandparents, which makes me feel that they were a very loving family.  After my grandmother married in Ann Arbor, she and my grandfather moved to California in the early 1950's and they are buried in same cemetery as my parents.  Researching the Death Certificates of Charles and Clara have provided clues about my great-great grandparents that have sparked an interest in finding the next generation.  Hopefully, I will be as successful in finding out and tell their story too. 

This journey of confirming and discovering the story of Charles, Clara, and Gustave is a personal witness to me that the scriptures are true as they tell us "the heart of the fathers will turn to the children and the heart of the children will turn to the fathers."  Further-more, I know that just as the Holy Ghost is a Being of Spirit that can come to us, Elijah has a tangible spirit that can come to us also. It is through this spirit of Elijah that I have taken this journey and will be pleased to someday meet Charles, Clara and Gustave.  

Steve and Lorene 

December 6, 2015

We certainly are not part of the milineal generation.  The previous post was supposed to have been published last week because that was almost the end of November and it didn't make show up in our blogs, so now you have two blogs to catch up with to see how things are going with the Walkers.

Things have slowed down on the British Services Floor and I think it has more to do with the time of the year rather than a lack of interest in Family History.  Most of the guests in our zone know what the are doing and who they are looking for, or they go directly to the Staff for assistance.  However, we do have some who need help and otherwise we keep ourselves busy doing our own research, or in training.  We have made friends with one of the guests who is from New Zealand and we have been able to help him with his family tree on Ancestry.com or in correcting things in FamilySearch.  He is going to be here for almost a year, so I am sure that we will get to help him many more times,

We have both been given extra assisgnments in our zone which we give new experieces and allow us to be of assistance to our zone leaders.  Our zone leaders are so very dedicated to running the zone and put in so many extra hours to ensuring that the zone runs smoothly, I am glad we help them.  It feels great to be needed and to feel like we are contributing to the zone.  However, Lorene's first love is to be able to help the guests when they come to our floor.  I am not quite there yet, but working on it.  We will be helping with weekly devotionals, music and daily thems, some reports and reviewing new training modules.

On Friday night we took Lorene's brother Wayne out for his birthday and we had a nice visit with him.   Wayne and our son Michael could almost be brothers.  They are both unmarried, live alone and its take little to satisfy them.  Saturday we went to a musical production of "A Christams Carol" at the Hale Centre Theater, and it is what the name implies, a theater in the round.  We thoroughly enjoyed and had the opportunity to spend some time with many of our fellow Missionaries. We had a nice, although very short visit with our daughter and her family last night.  They were here for a couple of family activities for LaVerl's family.  We went over to Temple Square to look at the Christmas lights and then came back to our apartment for hot chocolate to ward ourselves up.  It was nice to spend some time with them.  

We continue to have time to worry about all of our children the problems that have to face in their lives.  Some problems and issues and concerns are greater than others and some times they make good decisions and some times they don't.  However, agency gives them the right to make their own decisions and we continue to hope that when they make the now so good choices that they will learn a better way and not to repeat them.

Steve: It's hard to beleive that November is almost gone and over with.  Even harder to believe is that tomorrow will mark three months that we have been serving as full time Seasoned Missionaries. (Doesn't seasoned sound so much beter than being called Senior Missionaries.  I haven't figured out the average age of the Missionaries that are here, but I belive that we are on the younger side; however, that may be just hopeful thinking.)  This weekend was a little strange for us, we actually had a four day weekend due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, our Thanksgiving Day was great, we only had to cook one dish -- green bean casserole.  I guess as a Missionary I should be be more truthful, Lorene actually cooked the casserole, and I forgot which one was hers and didn't even get any of it.  At any rate, we had dinner with about two hundred other Missionares, played games and, most importantly, we had great company.  We ended up sitting at a table with six young elders, and it was the best part of the afternoon.  Our daughter, Katie, encouraged us to have dinner here in the Mission rather than trying to go home, and I am so glad that we did.

This week at the library was a little slow, which didn't surprise me due to the holiday.  I finished my training workbook this past week which was a relief to our Zone Leaders, and which I probably should have done before I received my certificate, but it all worked out in the end.  I am now starting to create my own cliff notes to help me learn how to find ancestors in the various countries included in our Zone which should help me.  Additionally, my mentor seems to be a little more accessible which should be helpful.  We have two new Missionary Couples starting this week in our Zone which will be of great assistance to our guests.  It will be interesting to see how many guests we have come to the library for the next month.  It was a little sad, a group came from another country this past week to primarily do research in our zone and they did not know that the library was closed on Thursday and Friday.  We continue to be happy to be serving in the British Zone and for the knowledge we are gaining.

Lorene has been commenting for the last couple of weeks about how surprised she was that it hasn't snowed.  Well, yesterday Mother Nature must have been tired about hearing the inquires and blessed us with not only cold weather, but also some white, powdery covering to go with it.  I rather liked it, but Lorene would have been more than happy to let the white stuff stay up in the ski slopes.  As for me, I hope this was not the the only snow we get for the rest of winter, but please don't tell Lorene that I said that.

Lorene: I always like to say that I like snow as long as it's outside and I'm inside keeping nice and warm.  It's so pretty to look at, but it's also very cold.  I don't do well with being cold, but I think I'm doing pretty good as long as I bundle up as much as possible. 

I want to tell you about an experience I had this week.  On Thanksgiving morning, I received an email questioning something I did in Family Tree.  Both the woman who wrote and I have ancestors named William McKenzie, and when I did something on mine it somehow affected hers.  So I went on Family Tree to see if I could figure out what I did and why, but it was something I did during our first 2 weeks of training here and I don't remember.  I emailed her back and told her that, and I promised that I would do more research and figure out who belongs to whom.  I told her that as a missionary in the British Zone I have access to many records and professional consultants that can help me.  She emailed me back the following:

Sunday night and all is well here in Salt Lake City.  We have just finished another week and continue to be grateful for the opportunity to serve here and for our new friends we have made over the last couple of months.  Its refreshing to have so many friends that you can rely upon to help you out when needed and just to meet and greet them as often as you can.  Its also nice to be able to borrow things that you don't have here but need to use for a dinner such as an extra chair or a crock pot or potatoes and a roast in order to feed the young Missionaries.

We both had positive experiences on the British Floor this past week helping the guests that were here doing family research.  Its always brings a smile when you either able to help them or to hear about their successes with their own research.  We are feeling a little more confident and I am sure we will as time goes by.  It seems that each week brings a new group who have traveled from long distances to use the resources of the library.  In time we will feel more positive about our own skill levels, but in the meantime there are many other Missionaries in our zone that are willing to help us.  We also are starting to develop a relationship with our zone leaders and appreciate their patience with us, but more importantly to befriend us.  You can never have too many good friends.

In addition to going to the our assignments last week we also traveled to the Bountiful Temple and attended an Endowment Session there.  Its a very beautiful temple and we are glad to have had the means to go there.  We traveled back to Bountiful over the weekend to attend the reception of the daughter of our Financial Adviser, Mark McKell, from California.  Mark is connected to Lorene's family via two Sisters. You'll have to wait for her to get the connections correct.  We also discovered today that one of the Sister's in our Mission is as we figured out so far a third cousin to Lorene.  She has way too many relations here in the Mission.

We had a scare late last week when we heard that my adopted Mom, Sister Sharon Walker, here in the Mission was considering planning on getting released and returning home to Rigby, Idaho.  She is still recovering from here breast cancer surgery and this week marked the one year anniversary of her husband's death.  She is such a sweet lady and we all love her dearly.  We think she has made the decision to finish her Mission here in Salt Lake City. We just need to let her know of our love for her and support her as often as we can.  Its hard to watch her struggle so much.

Its almost time for the editor-in-chief to do what she does best, edit my work.  However, she does not point out my mistakes as much now days, rather she just makes the changes and sends the messages out.  Alas I have been given a reprieve.  The Editor is on her way to get her beauty rest and has ordered me to publish this post.

Steve: It's the ides of November which means that the holidays are right around the corner and that another week has gone by us at the amazing speed of light.  We continue to have more good weeks and good experiences which makes serving on this Mission so worth- while.  I hope that our fellow Missionaires also have good experiences as they serve.

Our Church meeting times have changed beginning today and that is going to be very interesting.  Our meetings will begin at 2:30 and will run until 5:30 which for us Seasoned Missionaries is either the time for a late nap time or late dinner.  The trick will be to have our main meal in the middle of the day and then see if we can stay awake during our meeting times.  The most common thing in the Church is change, and thus we are striving to work with the changes that have been given us.

During this past week my teaching experiences have been somewhat limited.  However, I have been able to shadow a couple of the Missionairies and that has helped my self confidence a little, but I need some more confidence to feel like I can assist our patrons on my own.  I have made a commitment to our zone leaders to get more involved in my own training which should be beneficial.  I also want to start doing some case studies on my own to see if that will point me in the right direction.  We have a new Church Service Missionary that has finished her training and should be joining us beginning tomorrow.  

During this week I did have some positive experiences including the finding of four death certificates of individuals on my family tree, including my great-grandmother, her parents on my mother's side, and a half-brother to my grandmother on my father's side.  In one of the certificates on my mother side I was able to find the name of my great-great grandfather which I did not have before, now I just to find more information about dates and places for him.  I knew about the half brother before, but I only had a name for him.  I previously had his name from the passenger list when he came to the United States from Prussia in 1892 and his name on the 1900 U.S. Census.  However, during this week I found him living with my great-grandparents in 1894 during a Special Michigan Census in 1894 but after 1900 he disappeared from my radar.  Then this week I found his death certificate showing that he died in 1909 thus answering why I could not find him in the 1910 U.S. Census.  Gustav was only 22 when he died and may have have been married according to the certificate which also indicated that he had recently been discharged from the Navy and included his mother's name.  My great-grandmother was originally Gustav's nanny and came to the U.S. with my great grandfather and married him shortly after their arrival in the U.S.

May your coming week be as good to you as our past one has been to us.  

Lorene:  I don't have much to add this week except to say that I have felt the Spirit of the Lord much this week.  I especially have been filled with gratitude for my many blessings and for the Atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful to be here on this mission and know that the sacrifices we're making to do so are minimal compared to the blessings.  We love you all!
 

Steve:
Another week has left us and it has again been one with both good things as well as things that make us sad.  We both continue to learn and feel that we are moving forward, even though it may be at a snail's pace at times.  We also had a new missionary join our zone and she is from Glendora, California which is near where my family lived after I was discharged from the Air Force.  She knows one of Lorene's cousins who is in her home stake.

We both had good experiences at the Family History Library including the following "Elijah Moment" that I shared with our Zone Leaders:

"Earlier this week I was helping a guest find her 3^rd Great Grandmother and her family.   The guest had information on the 2^nd Great-grandmother and we began a search for number 3.  As a result of our search, we discovered that the information was incorrect as it related to both the formal birth date and name of her 2^nd Grandmother.  We researched FamilySearch to no avail and then moved onto Ancestry to try and find information on her 2^nd Great-grandmother where we discovered the correct name, the marriage date with a copy of the banns record (formal announcement of intent to marry), and her birth year.  The following day I continued, on my own, researching information for this family and was able to locate information from both the 1901 and 1911 England/Wales Census which provided information on her 3^rd Great-grandparents and their children.  To put closure to my research I sent by email copies and images of the information that I discovered to the family in Australia to help them grow their family tree.  I have since found that the associated information has now been added to their FamilyTree. 

As Missionaries we don’t necessarily have huge spiritual experiences as we conduct our own research or help guests with their research on a daily basis.  However, through the Spirit of Elijah we are able to find our hidden ancestors and provide names for temple work to continue our family circles.  Our research efforts are enhanced as we not only let the Holy Ghost guide our efforts, but also as we utilize the efforts of our fellow Missionaries to assist us in our research.  I am grateful also for the assistance of other missionaries for their patience with me and their encouragement to not give up.  Truly line upon and line and precept by precept we are able to help the Lord as He hastens His work."

 
Towards the end of the week came some very sad news.  While checking the local San Bernardino news on line, I came across an article about how the death of local police officer had hit the faculty "hard" at San Bernardino High School.  Upon reading the actual article, I discovered that the police officer was a friend of our family, and he was killed on duty after his car was broadsided at an intersection by a driver who may have driven through a red light.  Bryce Hanes leaves a widow and three children under the age of thirteen.  I have been very touched by this incident not only because of the sorrow I feel for the family, but the remembrance of our own mortality and especially that of our children.  Bryce was only a little older than our oldest son and they were good friends.

To end my portion of this post before turning it over to the Editor in Chief, I would like to report about the Music and Spoken Word broadcast that we attended this morning which was a touching salute to Veterans.  It was very meaningful to me as a Veteran and made me proud and grateful for the opportunity to serve in the U.S. Air Force as well as serving in the Vietnam War.  I am proud to be an American, although at times I am very saddened by the actions and beliefs of many of our citizens.

Lorene:
I don't have much to add this time, but I did find a missing son in a family on one of my collateral lines this week.  He showed up in a census as having the same first name as a son born 2 years after this census was taken.  At first I thought that it was the same son, but then I realized that the differing middle initial was not an error but was indeed a different child.  Through this and another experience with a census record, I have learned not to be hasty with my assumptions.  This other record (of a different family) had the names of two of the three children spelled wrong, so at first I thought it wasn't the family I was looking for but on closer examination I realized it was.

This is a great work we are doing and we are glad to have a small part in it.  We are grateful to be here and grateful to all of those who support us with love and prayers. 

This post did not get sent.  It is from a couple of weeks ago.

Sorry for the lapse in postings, our time has started to get away from me and I have let too much time pass since I last posted.  Apparently we have a follower of our blog by one of Lorene's college room- mates who sent an email encouraging us to post more regularly.  I will try to be more diligent in the future.

We are still in training, but I think as I have said before, it is something we will probably be doing as long as we are serving here.  We have done some training on research in England, Scotland, and Ireland and have much more to learn.  We take turns in getting stressed over our training, but thank goodness it doesn't happen on the same day.  We now have separate trainers and that has been more helpful to Lorene than me.  I am relying a little too much on Lorene and another missionary who has only been here a few more weeks than we have, so I need to repent and work harder on my own. Lorene has been able to shadow with other missionaries often and has provided some excellent help in addition to the help that they have given the guests.  I have had some limited success.  We are also going to start taking some classes regarding our assigned countries and that should be fun.

We and others here in the mission have been having some struggles.  Our adopted mom (we adopted her at the MTC) has recently discovered that she has breast cancer, but she does not plan on letting it get her down for too much time.  She may have surgery, but does not want chemo or radiation.  As determined as she is, she will be fine.  Also, President Larson, the Second Counselor in the Mission Presidency, has been out of commission trying to pass a kidney stone.  The Mission President accused him of waiting to deliver a baby named Stone Larson. We understand that he has now passed it and is doing fine.  Our neighbor's father passed away recently and we went to the funeral as a sign of our concern and our friendship for Elder and Sister Reed. Also, my half brother died a week ago as a result of dementia. One thing we have learned is that life does not stop even for Missionaries, and we so love being Missionaries.

As we continue to serve we understand more and more the need to keep our commitment to study the scriptures on a daily basis, to support one another and to set a good example.  With two granddaughters wanting to go on missions, we also know and feel the obligation to set a good example.  I need to remember the example part more often, especially when I am ready to pull my hair out (kind of an irony wouldn't you say) or when I am ready to ask to work in a different zone or go hide in a corner somewhere.

Well it's almost time for Church, and then in a few more hours time to start another week in the British Zone.  TTFN

I can't believe that I let another week go by without a post.  Shame, shame on me.  I am frustrated that I haven't been more faithful in posting to our blog when I consider how busy our girls are and they still have time to submit their own posts.  Don't give up on us yet, we will try harder in the future.

Wish that there there was some earth shattering news to share but there isn't, so you'll have to be content with what we put together.   Not being formally trained in our zone is a bit of a two edged sword.  We missed out on a lot of one-on-one training and there is so much more to learn and to practice.  I was hoping to be a lot more confident by now, but I fear I'm just not there yet.  We are following the training in our "get started" guide and it is helping.  Lorene continues to work with guests on a limited basis and has been doing a lot of shadowing.  However, on a formal basis it appears that our required shadowing days are over, but we will still do it on an informal basis.  A couple of groups from Genealogical Societies have been on on our floor this past week, and while many of the participants are accomplished researchers and have not needed any assistance, a fair number have requested assistance and the missionionaries in our zone have been very helpful.  We never know from day to day what to expect, so each day is kind of its own adventure.

Our adopted Mom here in the Mission had surgery last week and had a small cancerous spot removed from her breast.  Her daughter from Idaho was her several days last week and was a great help to her. At any rate, "Mom" is going to start working again beginning tomorrow.  She really doesn't let much get her down and is anxious to be up and doing again.  She is so sweet and is a delight to be around.

We have heard that the First Presidency of the Church is encouraging us to find ways either financially or otherwise to assist the vast number of refugees across the earth.  We have been talking to some of the missionaires that came here with us in September and we are going to try and find a group of refugees here in the local areas to serve.  We think with the holidays coming up it would be a great time to help others who are far from home, family, and friends and bring them some joy during this season.

Well, time to turn the keyboard over to the editor-in-chief for her corrections and additions.   Thanks to all of you for your support and good thoughts, we can feel them here in Salt Lake.

The past couple of blogs got sent out without my input, so I have a few things I'd like to say.  First of all, I'd like to thank those who have sent cards and messages  We really appreciate your love and concern.  It's nice to hear from you!  Also, as some of you know, I have been singing in our mission choir which is called "The Elijah Choir."  It is a sacrifice to participate (especially practicing at 6:20 on Monday mornings before our Mission Devotionals), but it is well worth it.  I have felt the Spirit strongly as we've practiced and performed.  

I also wanted to tell you how much I feel the blessings of Heavenly Father as we've served here.  My health has been good (other than a mild sinus infection this week), I am not as fatigued as I have been, and my muscle pain has not been severe.  We have met and work with some wonderful people and the Spirit here is so strong.  We had a wonderful stake conference last Sunday, and we have enjoyed the strength and testimonies of those with whom we are serving. 

We hope you are all doing well.  You are in our thoughts and prayers. 

We did it, we finished our last week of full Family Tree training.  Much of the training including things we already knew, but we also received a lot of new information.  The real test will be if we can remember the new items and as well as helping the guest use some of these helps.   We learned the importance of including family stories in our Family Tree as well as some great hints on recording research in Census Records.  In addition, we also learned how to navigate more effectively record hints that now include the main genealogical partner sites.  Our Zone Leaders over this past week are going back home to South Carolina with a new assignment in Church History which will be quite a change for them.Elder Bass is so soft spoken and is a southern gentleman through and through.  Sister Bass is passionate about what she teaches and what she wants us to learn and put into action.  She lost one eye to cancer a few years ago and jokes about keeping an eye on all her students.  The Basses will be sorely missed.

After being here in Salt Lake City for about a month, we were at last able to see Lorene's younger brother Wayne.  Wayne lives here in the City also and works for the Church in Food Services.  For all of his problems and loneliness he continues to have a very positive outlook on his own circumstances as well as life in general.  Like our son Michael, his bike is one of his main forms of transportation.  Bad health is an issue for Wayne and he still struggles with major headaches which affect him unfortunately too regularly.  I am so grateful that our health issues are generally easy to manage with good diet, exercise and adequate sleep.  By the way, Lorene's older sister and brother-in-law are suppose to be here in Salt Lake this week for some training before they report to the MTC on October 5th and we are planning on going out to eat with them sometime this week.

Starting tomorrow we will begin our service in the British Services Zone.  We are anxious to learn as much in as little time as possible.  Our mentor is Sister Rusk and thisis  at least her second time serving in the British Zone.  I am sure will be a great help to us.  For the next several weeks we will be dividing our time between skill development, training from our mentor, shadowing our mentor and the all important lunch hour.  This should be a very interesting week and hopefully will set a positive tone for our service in this zone.

This past week we had our planning meeting with our social group (the 30 of us missionaries that came here together from the MTC.  It surprises me how close this group really is and how much they want to support and be with each other.  What makes it remarkable is when you think we all come from such varied backgrounds, but in the end we all have the same goal of service.  We all volunteered as couples or small groups to be responsible to plan for an activity each month.

Last week was busy, as we assume all of our weeks will be here.  We finished our last week of training in the Training Zone where all Missionaries in our Mission begin their service.  The training itself is not too hard, and we get plenty of breaks, but it can be tedious.  Nevertheless, it's important in order to keep up with the changes that keep happening in familysearch.org and Family Tree.  By the way, we have another week of Family Tree training starting Monday.  It's been said that we'll never be through training while on this mission. We also had a Mission Conference this past week as well as our weekly devotional.  It can't be said that we aren't spiritually fed on this mission; almost every time we turn around, there is something of a spiritual nature happening. 

I have found a good friend in the First Counselor in the Mission Presidency, he not only looks like, but talks like and acts like President Faust.  We continue to watch over our adopted Mom and she is doing good, although working on the computer does not come easily to her. During the week we had lunch one day with one of Lorene's friends from Hacienda Heights.  Her name is Content, and she and her husband are Service Missionaries here in this mission.  I assume we will see them quite frequently over the next several months.  Also,we are heading down to Provo today for a baby blessing for my Sister-in-Law's first grandchild.  Lyla has three more grandbabies (all first babies for each of her children) expected to come over the next 6-7 months.

Friday was a memorable day for us.  At the conclusion of our two weeks of training, we were treated to a morning snack of bread and homemade honey butter with the entire Training Zone and all of the missionaries that came here with us.  At the conclusion of our little snack, we adjourned to our "Go Forth" meeting where we were given our actual assignments which would identify what zones each of us would be working in the remainder of our missions.  The Mission Presidency takes the process of assigning missionaries very seriously, having the Lord decide where we should serve based on impressions and inspiration from Him through the Holy Spirit.  At this meeting each Missionary is asked to stand up, and then the President tells them where they are being assigned and introduces to them to their new Zone Leaders.  Watching this process and speaking with the other missionaries after they received their assignments was a testimony that each of us were assigned to our various zones by inspiration, Each of us are in fact assigned where we are needed, where we can serve to the best of our ability, and where we can grow and progress.  We have been assigned to the British Services Zone where we will help others who are looking for ancestors that lived in the British Isles, New Zealand, and Australia.  Both Lorene and I have ancestors who lived in the British Isles and we may be able to find some of these elusive family members.  We are pleased with our assignment and look forward to learning what we need to learn quickly so that we can be of assistance to the patrons who will visit our floor.  At the conclusion of our meeting we went to the Temple with the other missionaries, many of our instructors from the training, and the Mission Presidency and their wives.

Two other spiritual experiences rounded out the week.  While working with her trainer, Lorene was able to find the second and third wives of one her 5th great-uncles.  Until last week, she did not know that this man had more than one wife.  Our ancestors are waiting to be found and are anxious for us to see that their temple work gets done.  The other thing happened yesterday.  For her birthday I ordered a painting for Lorene with the intention of having it delivered to our home in Arizona.  Having checked with our tenants in our Arizona home, and them indicating that they had not received it, I contacted Deseret Book to tell them that my credit card had been charged but we had not received the painting. After some research, they informed me that the painting was delivered by Fed Ex on the 27th of August and left outside in our side yard behind a gate.  I figured that of course if the painting was left outside for over three weeks it certainly would be ruined.  Telling our tenants where the painting had been left, they found it in its shipping box next to several other boxes they had broken down after they moved in. In one of the tender mercies of the Lord, the box was in perfect condition and the painting was unaffected  by the elements although the other boxes were damaged as a result of being left outside.  Our painting now hangs in our home for all to enjoy its beauty and message. (It's a painting by Simon Dewey entitled "Men of Galilee.")

We thank our Heavenly Father every day for the opportunity to serve here in this Mission. We love our work here and we love the Gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  We send our love and hope you are all doing well.

We have been on our Mission for almost two weeks now, and it has been everything that they say a Mission can be for Seasoned Missionaries.  The first week we were spiritually fed daily as were taught how to utilize Preach My Gospel (PMG).  In our group of Missionaries, we met some of the most wonderful people who will be serving throughout the world, from other locations in the continental U.S. to places such as Albania, England, Hawaii, Africa, and South America.  Out of the approximate 100 Missionaries, thirty (including us) are assigned to the Family and Church History Headquarter Mission (FCHHM) in Salt Lake City.  During our week at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) we were fed as if we were on a cruise and studied every day.  While participating in one of our training exercises where Lorene and I had to give a lesson from PMG to a person acting as an inestigator.  Not knowing his name we kept referring to him as "Brother Smith." Near the end of our role play he said his name was McKell.  After probing a little bit we discovered that he is the father our Financial Adviser!  We had met Brother McKell about two years ago in St. George, but we did not remember each other.  Lorene, as usual, was able to find someone in our group of Missionaries to whom she is related (Elder Warner, a second cousin.) There was also a young missionary, Elder Jex, to whom she is probably related, but we were unable to determine the exact relationship.  (I can't take her anywhere without her finding a relative!)

The highlight of our stay in the MTC was on Tuesday night when Elder and Sister Dallin H. Oaks. spoke at the weekly devotional on the importance of Preach My Gospel, with the counsel to use it where- and whenever we teach.  Lorene was blessed with the opportunity to sing with the MTC choir at this devotional.  One other sweet experience came when we met Sister Sharon Walker who was in our group at the MTC and is now among the 30 missionaries sent to the FCHHM. Sister Walker is a sweet sister from Rigby, Idaho who has been widowed about ten months, and the first time we met her at the MTC she was scared to death.  We adopted her immediately and will be friends the rest of our lives. We continue to look after and care for her as time allows.  In addition, we were able to help another "seasoned" missionary couple.  This sister had packed her husband's shoes and neglected to pack any shoes for herself.  We were able to provide some financial assistance to them with the direction that they are to, rather than pay us back, pay it forward.  We truly enjoyed our time at the MTC.  We were fed well, spiritually and physically.

We arrived safely to Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon (Sept. 4th).  After getting settled in our apartment (which is very nice, by the way), we started on our training early Tuesday morning.  The schedule has been rigorous, but we are enjoying it and learning much.  We will write more about that next week.  We will get our assignments as to which zone we will serve in, so we'll let you know when we write again.

Love you all!

One of my favorite Disney movies is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  It might be that way 'cause in many ways I am like or can be like the Dwarf named Grumpy.  Just ask my kids or my wife if I can be Grumpy at times, but like the Dwarf Grumpy I am trying to be not so grumpy.  However, I'm diverting from my real thoughts.  In the movie the Dwarfs sings a song entitled "Heigh Ho: as to they head off to and from work each day.  Part of lyrics are as follows:

"We dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig dig dig.

Heigh-ho, Heigh ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh ho
Heigh-ho
Its off to work we go."

My version goes something like this:

"We pack, pack, pack, pack, pack, pack from early morn till night
We  pack, pack, pack, pack, pack, pack everything in sight
We pack up clothes by the score
A thousand shoes,  sometimes more
But we don't know what we pack 'em for
We pack, pack, pack, pack, pack.

Heigh-ho, Heigh ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh ho
Heigh-ho
Its off to moving we go."

And so it has been every six months for the last four years as we move back and forth between Cedar City, Utah and Surprise, Arizona.  We pack up in time to unpack, get to know our grandchildren a little better and spend time with them and each of our children, then it is time to pack up and move again to start the cycle all over again.  Once again we are in the packing up cycle, but this time when we unpack it will be for eighteen months.  It is going to seem so strange to be in the same house (apartment) for more than six months, we may have to ask to move into a different apartment each six months so that we don't get out of the habit.

As I go from room to room each day I have to be careful to not trip over packed boxes, packed suit cases, and piles of this and piles of that.  At last I can see the end of the tunnel, the end of the month is not that far away and then we will be on our way to a great adventure and hopefully my "snow white" named Lorene won't discover that grumpy dwarf is her companion for the next eighteen months.

Well, it's time to go and think about what needs to be packed next.


 

This past week has been another roller coaster week.  However, I have learned as we exercise patience and wait for Him who can solve all our problems as He sees best.

Thursday started out great as we traveled to the Temple in St. George.  Before heading home we discovered that Lorene lost her pearl necklace.  After a couple of trips to the Security Office we left not knowing whether it would show up.  Calls on Friday were fruitless.  However, a call to St George on Saturday boosted Lorene's spirits as it has been found and is currently waiting in a safe.

Friday we headed up to Cove Fort about 75 miles from here with three of our grandchildren in tow.  Arriving about 60 minutes later to discover we were a week too early.  To take advantage of our trip up north we stopped in Beaver to visit a friend from San Bernardino that we have not seen in over a year.  While visiting we received a text from our daughter with a picture of a car remote with the key missing from the case.  Seems the key had fallen out of the case and would cost $175 to replace.  We hurried back to Cedar City to join the search for the lost key, and lo and behold I discovered behind the tire of a car in the parking lot where it had fallen.  Rushing to the locksmith I was able to get it fixed for $30.

Earlier we discovered one of our children was having major issues that seemed to be unsolvable.  It seems the harder we try to prepare ourselves for our mission, the more problems keep popping up.  This problem has taken some time to be addressed by those directly involved and at least for this moment there seems to be a path that can lessen the friction.

As we strive to be more patient we find that our problems are in deed solvable and are reminded that there is someone who loves us to help us see that there are always better days ahead.

The last week has found me on line doing some research.  Most of the research has been reading blogs from others who either are serving, or have served, full time Senior Couple Missions.  It has been very rewarding in reading of their experiences and helps increase my desire and excitement about going.   Reading about others' experiences is a great way to figure out what we might expect and how we can best serve.

We have now received our instructions from our actual Mission and have been assigned a local Branch (congregation) to attend.  It is across the street from where we will be living and is made up of other missionaries who will be serving in the same Mission.  One interesting side note is that also within this particular Branch are several young elders who are also serving in our Mission.  We have already been given the name of one of these young elders who is  a friend of a couple we know in our Ward in Arizona.  Once we get to the Mission we will also receive two weeks of training before we receive our assigned work place.  I try not to get my hopes up too high as to what area I would like to be assigned so that I don't jinx the assignment. 

Five weeks from now we will begin our training at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT for five days.  It seems like it is so far away before we start and I fear once we start that our eighteen months will go by so fast and we won't be ready to go home.  Time is precious and I think as we get older we can either find ways to use our time in a productive and meaningful way, or we can waste it and be sorry that we haven't made the world a little better place.   Hopefully, through this mission and other endeavors, we will be in the former group.

Preparing to go on a full time Senior Couples Mission is like getting ready to get baptized, or getting married, or a hundred other major events in your life resulting in a myriad of problems, or setbacks or other feelings of doubt or other issues.  Now that we have made the major decision to serve a Mission and our making our preparations to go for an extended period of time.  We have had our share of these problems ranging from packing and moving out of one home mostly by ourselves so that it could be rented, to having to work diligently at being more patient with one another, to children who continue to struggle with their own problems which recently have increased, to spending a week with about 25 family members for a long anticipated vacation, to having a two year old jump off a table and break his elbow.

Lest you think that we are complaining about all these things, in actuality they become a testament we are doing the right thing by going to serve a Mission.  These problems are best described as minor and for our learning.  We expect to have a great time serving, but we know that all of our problems won't magically go away.  However, we also know that our family and friends and new friends and those whom we will be serving will be blessed because we have made the decision to serve.  Like only gets better when we find joy in serving others.

It seems when you are committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you have a tendency to view the ways you are serving in the Church to be so wonderful that you want others to feel the same way.  A few years ago after I retired from City Government I went and spoke to our Stake President and told him I wanted to volunteer at our local LDS Employment Services Center, but instead of just having me voluteer, he called me as a Service Missionary to labor there.  After serving for a short time, I tried to invite other retirees to do the same.  Subsequently, after Lorene retired we moved away and she and I were called as Service Missionaries at Deseret Industries.  Now, instead of just me being a recruiter, both of us began to tell our friends that a Service Mission is the best kept secret in the Church.  After that, we began to volunteer at our local Family History Center and again tried to tell our friends that they should join us there.

After some discussion, we have moved to the next phase of our lives.  We were recently called as full time Missionaries and are anxious to begin serving in the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission at the end of August.  We have not even started our Mission yet and we already feel that a full time Senior Couples Mission is the best kept secret in the Church.   At every opportunity we get, we tell everyone about our calling.  We also strongly encourage you as you read this to begin now to plan to serve at least one full time Senior Couples Mission.  We know of a surety that the Lord qualifies those whom He calls as we feel that we have much to learn as we will serve, but we also know that we have much to offer.  Now is the time to go, or the time to prepare.

As mentioned before, this past weekend was spent at a family reunion for the Joseph Smith Eggleston family.  At the conclusion of the reunion we went to Lorene's cousin's for dinner and then drove over four hours to get back home to Cedar City.   When we left, we both commented that our Mission Call would probably come while we were up north in Ogden.  It was with great anticipation that I opened our mail box late Sunday night and to my delight there was a large white envelop from the First Presidency addressed to Elder and Sister Walker.  Not to let the cat out of the bag, I threw the rest of the mail on the counter and told Lorene our call wasn't there. (It wasn't a lie, as I had left the envelope in the truck hidden in some towels which were a wedding gift for our granddaughter and her husband.).  We drove over to Cyndie's house and when Lorene unfolded the towels to show Cyndie the embroidered names, the envelope feel out.

After getting hit for withholding the Mission Call and getting our youngest daughter on the phone, Lorene and I opened our call.  Upon reading that we had been called to the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission, Lorene was overcome with tears of joy.  I might have preferred a call somewhere across the Country, but when you are called to serve you go where the Lord wants you to go, to do what He would have you do, and say what He would have you say.  Therefore, at the end of August we leave the comforts of home for an apartment in Salt Lake City for the next eighteen months.

Lorene and I have recently returned from a family reunion of the Joseph Smith Eggleston and Talitha Cuma Cheney Eggleston descendants held in Ogden Canyon.  It was the first major Eggleston reunion in over fifty years.  Eighteen out of the twenty-four surviving grandchildren were in attendance.  It was a great time for Lorene to get reacquainted with her cousins and their families.  We were fed to the point of being stuffed, had an opportunity to view the graves of Joe and Talitha and to see the town of Eden Utah memorial to those who served during World War Two.  It was a great time and there is talk about holding the next reunion in two years. After two nights sleeping on a hard mattress in a cramped van, it was good to get back home and sleep in our own bed.