July 30, 2011

Time is just flying.  I can't believe it is the end of July.  We keep going to the library and working with the people and also doing our own family history.  Both of which are productive and enjoyable.  We have begun going to the Gospel Essentials class and helping the sister missionaries with their contacts.  This has been fun.  I have been asked to lead the music in Relief Society until I am finished with the mission which is a great joy to me.  I love to lead music.

We went to Grauman's Chinese theatre and looked over the hand and footprints of the stars.

This summer has been fun because Megan came with Melissa and Emma (our two oldest grandchildren 12 & 11) on a Tuesday

And then Mark, Angie, and our new little grandchild, Ethan, came on Thursday.
















With the girls we got to go see Les Miserables at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles.  During the day they went to see the sites of LA while Warren and I worked at the library.  When Mark and his family came, we, along with the girls, went to Mormon Night at Dodger stadium and got to see another Dodger game (Brett and Heather had come a few weeks earlier and we saw a Dodger game with them too).  Being on a senior mission at the family history library is fun in that when we are not at the library or needed for something else,  we can go with our family.  We also saw an old car museum while they were here that was just fascinating.  It was great being able to see our new little grandson who is only four months old!!!!!

This Model A is the same one I had as my first car in 1958. Mine was not this nice looking, but I had one and it ran!









We are enjoying being able to serve the Lord here in LA.  We are so close to the temple that we get to find our ancestors in the library and then do their ordinance work at the temple - a great plan. 

Well, it's been fun talking.  Warren added the pictures.

(yes I did add them, terrible arrangement but have been trying for an hour and am leaving it for now so the blog is posted. By the way family, more are in the link I sent you a month ago if you want to seem them all)

We walk at least 3 time a week for a half hour.  This is our main route.   Click on a pic to enlarge it.  Click it second time to see it as we do on the walk.

We start our walk by cutting through the church parking lot at 6:45 am. The Missionaries are out, exercising.














This is the exit from the parking lot. The buildings are 5 blocks up on Wilshire Blvd.













Looking back at the parking lot from the West













Ok, turning around and continuing, Phyllis is across the street from where the last picture
was taken. We will turn right at the corner onto Selby and walk towards Wilshire Blvd.














Up Selby we look at all the trees and houses and see how they are changing.














See the violet flowers on the trees. We took the pictures late. They are losing
their deep color as the petals fall. 4 violet pics with the princess of violet in this next one.

















Continuing on our walk we cross the street.




















Nice white house to set of the tree during Spring















Oh, and yes, you walk your dog, you pick up his poop. See next picture for details.















"Hey, get that car outa there!" "Waddaya mean buddy, we're walkin."
















Nice house but .... do you really want this as your back yard view? Mom says, "Yes."














I liked this picture better.














Here's what the view is from across the street.














Quaint. One of several around here.














Nice flowers for May, don't you think?
             uh... lost the pic.

This one is homeless.  In a small park next to the Library we go to.

CVS Pharmacy, our pit stop if needed.

Turned left after the Pharmacy onto Westwood Blvd.........

We are in the Arabic section of town. now...

They only put the jewelry out after 11:00 am and take it in by 4:00 pm.  We seldom see it.  I don't know how they pay the rent.

Wonderful Urns don't you think. Ought to hold Isaac in one and Austin in the other and Slade in the middle with the key.

Buy a little history of Iran here.

 Now down to a corner and across the street.  If we continue without stopping we hit all green lights. It be a sign, ya think, all ye swabdecks?  (I be in a Pirate mood, if ya just taste it in the writin, mates)

Ooh, La La, the French pastry shop.  Same window dressing display since we first laid eyes on it.  Must be from Napoleon's time.  Har, Har.

 There the Misses be, on the left walkin, walkin, walkin down down down the sidewalk.

Finally at Ohio across from the Coffee Bean restaurant.
We turn left and head home up and down the hilly roads.  Friendly like, wavy ya might say. 

                                

....MORE TO COME .....



It is now May 22, 2011.  We just  keep doing the same thing every day which is exciting because new people come in every day with new problems and information.  I am getting the hang of New Family Search so I am able to help people get their family ordinance forms printed up.  I am even helping Warren learn NFS.   We have just started being able to print the cards off at the library so they can take them directly to the temple and just walk in to do the ordinances, which is great.  Since I come from pioneer families from all four grandparents, I find a lot of errors on my New Family Search lines.  Since I am working to fix my problems, I am also able to help fix some of the problems that occur with our patrons.  People are so excited to find family members that they can take to the temple. We are continuing to get people coming into the library who are just starting to do their work and they are the ones I like to work with. 

Since we arrived I have found four people that are on my collateral lines that were not on New Family Search so their work has not been done.  I couldn’t believe it.  But these are the people that were born in the late 1800s and early 1900s whose families have fallen away from the church and no one in their direct line is doing the work; so I get to at least get them on New Family Search. I am unable to do the temple work because they were born less than 95 years ago.  But, someone some day (even me if I live that long) will get to do it. 

Warren seems to be the go-to person when no one can answer a question.  He is amazing in that he picks up on things really quickly –he also has an ability to bluff his way through!!!  I am now the official Ancestry.com teacher.  This is great because I really get to learn the ins and outs of the site.  It is a great site, but has its flaws and does not have everything, but it sure has a lot of information with more than 30,000 databases and each database having thousands and hundreds of thousands of records.

We started going back to the grocery store right across the street from UCLA.  We stopped going because it was so busy, but it is a bigger store than the one we had been going to.  It also has the advantage of the excitement of college life.  We could just walk there, but it would be too hard to bring the groceries home.  We go for walks at least three times a week and get to walk through the beautiful greenery and beautiful blooming flowers of California. . . oh, and also, an occasional homeless person sleeping on the city sidewalk.  There are trees on our walking route that have purple flowers that are just beautiful.  We also have more than 35 tomatoes on our tomato plant on our 3 sq. foot patio.  We have already eaten two of them and five of them are turning red right now. 

On the home front, Lindsay Daniel (David’s wife) will have her sixth child in July, and Katie (our daughter) will have her sixth child in November; so we left with 14 grandchildren and will come home to 17.  At church I just love to watch all the babies and just think about how my grandchildren are growing. 

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

 

Well, it has been a while since we have posted on the blog. We do about the same thing every day. Work with the patrons to help them search out their families and help keep the library running. It is interesting working with the people and learning how to answer their questions. The biggest thing that is needed is a little prayer before talking with the people. I still feel inadequate in my abilities, but with the Lord’s help, it seems that I am able to help people find things and work on New Family Search.

Just to let you know since our last posting we have had a new grandchild, Ethan, by Mark and Angie Daniel, he was born on Saturday, March 19. He was a week and two days early – nice for Mom. He was very small but a beautiful baby as you will see in the picture we post. Also, David and Lindsay will have a baby boy in June and will name him Benjamin Warren Daniel. We just found out this week that Katie and Jason are expecting in November. Wow, we will have three new grandbabies while we are on our mission. I will miss not being there with them, but at the same time am grateful that we are able to serve the Lord knowing that he will take care of them in their need.

It is wonderful being so close to the temple that we can just walk there. We make sure we get there at least once a week. We are beginning to know the workers. Also, we live in the temple patron apartments where the workers live for a week while they serve in the temple. It is fun to meet them.

Ethan Mark Daniel

John Morgan and Ann Gillett Family- Phyllis' GGGrandparents found on Ancestry.com. (Joseph Edward Morgan is GGrandpa0

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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