February Report

Things are still about the same.  Go to the library and come home to rejuvenate so we can go back the next day.  Last night for Family Home Evening we went to the Library to work with a Singles Ward on getting names to take to the temple.  The Los Angeles Stake is having a temple day on Saturday and has encouraged people to go to the  Library to find an ancestor to take through the temple on that day. 

Well, working with these young adults was amazing.  We usually work with older people whose hands and minds don’t work really fast.  You would suggest one thing to these young adults and they would catch on immediately,  just whip through the computer and, Whamo!, they were doing what you just hinted at.  It was wonderful.  I love the newer generation. 

One of the gals I was working with had a family like mine where there was a lot of work already done and we couldn’t find anyone that she could take to the temple, but there were a lot of errors in New Family Search that need to be investigated and corrected.  At the end of the night I was afraid that she would be disappointed and not want to work on it anymore, but she said “I’m hooked”.  Wow, what a fine feeling.  The spirit of Elijah is really at work. 

I had a call at the library where someone had joined the Jewish Genealogical society just because she wanted to do her genealogy and didn’t know where to go.  In reading their information they indicated our library so she called.  She was just full of enthusiasm and signed up for the foundation courses.  It is fun working in this field.  I am working on a power point to present concerning Ancestry.com.  I am hoping that we can learn enough here that we can take it back to Utah with us and help people there become confident in working on their genealogy.

Picture sets are of:

1-      Destruction work on the old Mission Center. 4 pics

2-      The movie star cemetery just next to the LA Branch Public Library we walk to each week.  To the Library….  2 pics.  The second one is … you read it, Marilyn Monroe.  Notice how pink it is.  Any guesses as to why so pink?  The answer is in the picture.

3-      4 shots of our trip with Earl and Jennifer Carter to the Farmers’ Market.  We even found our old car prototype for electric power when we return from our mission.  Yeah, Right!

4-      Forrest Lawn Cemetary in Glendale, to locate and photograph my mother’s second husband’s grave, Scotty’s grave.  8 pics.  We didn’t find the grave.  Had the map and grave number, but no grave marker.  A security guy saw us wandering all over to graves so he stopped to see what was going on, then understanding our problem, helped, traipsing back as we had then back again as we had, identifying the 3 places you see me pointing as possibilities.  No grave stone.  I left a request at main office to replace it and let me know about it.  Nothing in the 3 weeks since then.  I’ll call ‘em soon.

5-      Lunch after the cemetery and Earl’s and my 45 minute walk in the heat.  The heat, you read that right.

6-      Mother has been watching the budding of a tree at our apartment.  You see it in the 7 pics, with attention to one branch end that is close to us.  I’ll continue to take development pics of it and post to this blog.

7-      Finally our Tomato Plant, an Early Girl.  It better produce, we have about $30 in it.   LOL.

We love the work and all of you family. 

Warren and Phyllis

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Last Two Months

We haven’t written on the blog for a while.  It is funny how busy we are.  We are spending most of our time at the library and then even on Sunday’s we have special groups come and we have to be there for that.  But that is what we are here for. 

Warren and I have been given our assignments at the library.  Warren is going to work with the money and he and I will be available for Sunday groups when required. I will work with keeping the books in order.  But, the main purpose of the mission is to help people work on their family history.  It amazes me how many non LDS people come into the library and how few LDS come.

I know the feeling of having pioneer heritage and it feels like it is all done, but it is not.  That is what New Family Search is for – to clean up the problems, what’s not done.  NFS has combined all that has been added by different members of the family and some of it is incorrect.  The people in the past were great in getting what they did, but we need to clean it up.  This way during the millennium there will be correct records to work from to get the work back to Adam.  Many of my lines go way back, but the director here informs me that I need to start with my immediate family and go back family by family and make sure each person is accounted  for.  If the work isn’t done, do it.  If the work is done, make sure that the dates are correct by getting primary sources for the birth, marriage and death dates.  It is fascinating work because you find stories along with dates and places. 

Since we live just a short distance from the library we walk to work every day.  They are tearing down the old mission office building  to build new housing for the mission president and the temple president.  It has been fun watching the building being torn down.  Now we will get to watch it being built.

We love the setting of the sun here.  Instead of mountains to watch the sun set on we have tall buildings all around.  Just a majestic place.

Well, until next time, be happy.

Elder and Sister Daniel (Mom and Dad Daniel)

Mission work...

           We meet together before going out on the floor...

     
           Patrons in the library...       

        We take classes to learn more, and more, ..... and more...

          Phyllis helps people...

Phyllis helps a lot of people...

San Pedro visit to get info on my grandpa Warren and the harbor, with my Sister Marion...

Remember the Sears light I saw from my bedroom.  Here's how close it was.   We lived forward into the second  picture, right, around the corner.  No trees to block it when I was there.

Our morning view, week-days from our kitchen table.  The school next door.  We hear the national anthem every morning. 

Our morning view as we walk out our door walking to work... (tearing down mission office)

We try to walk a half hour every day...

Our December 2010 Activites

Temple Square Christmas lights

 We had a Library Missionary Staff  Christmas Eve dinner.   We made a lot of Lutie's rolls and set up the room, decorations and all .

Christmas Day

We got a call from Warren's sister, Marion and her husband Raden last Thursday and left 4 hours later for Arizona to see them

 The mountains behind the motor home park in Arizona

We went for a walk the next morning around the Motor Home park.  6:30am, 28 degrees outside.  Brrrrrr!




I have others of the partial giggle, laugh, guffaw set below, in the crocheting lesson for large stuff:

December 7, 2010

Pictures are coming!

Finished a nice day of cleaning, shopping, cooking, making store.lds.org work for buying some wheat.  10% tax now that we are in California.  An eye-popper when you see it, even if it is as high as 6+% in Utah.

We are spending more for food than we do at home.  I don’t know if prices are just rising or food costs more here.  Sister Daniel says we ate more out of food storage at home than we do here, cutting our costs till we re-up supplies during the year.  But, we have shrunk our cooking habits.  Here's the smallest crock pot in the world and we are using it:

Compare the size of the top in my hand with yours. 

Speaking of that, all of you, how’s your food storage coming?  

We stopped at 3 places to get a transfer cable to copy the cell phone pics  you send to us.  I would show you one of the pics of Livia and Tyler that Heather sent today, if I could download it.  Next time, maybe.  One of the stores we went to is ordering one for us.

Last week we spent 3 days from 8 am to 5 pm in class learning how to do Surname searches, finding birth, death, marriage records, probate, non-LDS Church records, the online Family Search’s Library Catalog and a  little on New Family Search.  After each lesson we had an hour to practice and use the training.  I believe I found David and Rachel Smith’s indexed Marriage record and will work at getting a photo of it.  If it is theirs, then I have Rachel’s maiden name, Ware.  Whoopee!  MANY THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN DOING FAMILY HISTORY FROM JUST 10 YEARS AGO.  One of our lesson books, below.  Enlarge the pic to read the headings.  We have another class in January.

Sister Daniel uses the steamer we bought to ‘iron’ our clothes.  It seems to work for items that need it.  A lot of our clothes do not, being cotton and polyester Wash N Wear.

See the Christmas setting on top of our couch?  Phyllis did that!

Brother Daniel

I have been reading the biography of President Monson and really enjoy learning of his life.  He has a whole chapter on there are “no coincidences”.  At prayer meetings there has been a lot of talk of being grateful for things.  In my own study I have been focusing on the fact that everything we do has a purpose and there is no reason to get upset if things don’t go your way.  Well, today as we were looking for the transfer cable and some yarn so I could knit, we were not having any luck and I was becoming frustrated.  Then I remembered that things don’t happen for nothing, just enjoy the driving and just let things happen.  Well, one of the things I wanted to get was something to hold my scriptures in that will hold the RS & Sunday School manual also.  I went to the distribution center downstairs and couldn’t find anything, I couldn’t even think of anyplace other than the distribution center that would carry such a thing.  Well, in our travels, we came across Marshalls (never seen it before).  We went inside and I thought – a bag – a women’s bag would hold everything.  Well, we found one.  I couldn’t believe how great it would work and also it was only $15.  Got home and everything fits great-even room for my hankie!!!  

Send us phone or emails with pictures.  We love to see what is happening.

Love, Sister Daniel