Week Thirty-nine…Halloween With All of Mine (Ours)

Monday morning we got up early and Mom had a steroid epidural injection planned. We let the library know we would probably be in late, but they took Mom right in and she was the first procedure and everything went perfectly and we were able to get into the library to see the end of the Monday Devotional on the big screen in he computer lab. I took this shot and then learned that I got the computer screensaver in it. This is my favorite picture on screensavers for the library computers. You probably can’t read it, but it basically says there is no eating at your computers, please go to a break room for that. We learned when we got into the library that we had

two genealogical societies visiting this week. One from Minnesota and the other was the Swedish American Geneologists. It was very weird because they basically filled up about 2/3 of the computers on our floor, but they also brought with them their own specialists so we weren’t any more busy than usual. We learned that some of their specialists they flew in from Sweden just to be there for this week. They are serious genealogists! We also got to do some more interviews of other missionaries. We learned that one of our Church Service Missionaries used to be a federal judge. Another was a doctor. Lots of very accomplished professionals who are now spending part of their retirement serving in the library. We seemed to be more busy all day, but it really wasn’t more than any other day, it just seemed that way, partly because we stayed until 6pm to cover for some other missionaries on leave. As soon as we closed down we took off to get to a birthday party for Marieta.

Sister Carey, second from the right, was the organizer. She decided we needed to do something American for her birthday (Marieta’s from Armenia) so we went to a funzone kind of warehouse where they have a diner and bowling and arcade games and mini golf. We ate burgers and fries for dinner and then played glow in the dark mini golf. I asked Marieta if she had ever played mini golf before and learned that she hadn’t. So that was kind of cool that we got to be part of a first for her. Mom made her some cheesecake for her birthday cake and she asked the staff at the diner if they perhaps had a candle we could use, and they did! Fun times.

Tuesday morning we worked on our Halloween costumes. Mom got her sleeves all done and I laid out my material and traced an outline of what I thought my Luma should look like. Mom then went to work on her sewing machine putting it all together. We also figured out where to put the hole for my face to fit through so I can see. Then we folded it all up and got ready to go into the library. We got in there and it was still filled up with the Swedish group. I was able to finish my Intermediate Norway training because I wasn’t asked to help too many people and had plenty of time. But in the afternoon I was asked to go up to the main floor to help a guest. When I got there I

learned that the lady was from England, but had ancestors from Sweden. She wanted to find her grandma, but all she knew was that she had called her by a nickname, Ansa, and that her married surname was Eriksson. So we went to work looking at the records on FamilySearch as well as the ArkivDigital website and found a couple of possible clues. She saw some names that didn’t fit the correct time period, but she knew were part of her family line. From that we were able to guess at a parish location where the family may have come from and a possible maiden name for her grandmother and when we went to those parish records we found her family. What we also discovered was that her grandmother’s given name was Anna Lisa. The guest then got a little emotional and explained that her name was Lisa and she didn’t

know that she shared her name with her grandmother. Pretty cool!

We then closed up the floor at 8pm and had to wait for a few people to get packed up and out. Mom had brought a bunch of the chips that we had leftover from when Brittany and her kids had visited us and she planned to go over to Temple Square and give them away to the sister missionaries. But when we got over there we learned that they close down their tours at 8pm and we were too late. But then we looked up ahead on the sidewalk and saw two sisters walking along. We decided to run to catch them and just barely made the light and we’re bake to call to them and they stopped. Mom then opened her bag and asked if they would like some chips and candy. They both took a bag and a piece of candy and then Mom asked if they would like to have all of the chips? They said “sure”, and told us they were positive that they could find some other sisters to share them with. So we loaded them up and took a picture and sent them on their way.

Wednesday was Pday and I went into the gym to workout while Mom taught Sister Graff from our Learning Pattern Journey class how to make bread. After I got back I received an email from Pres. Faerber asking if we could take some “candid” pictures of missionaries on our floor doing their work. So I decided to just go down there in my workout clothes and take some pictures. Mom then came down as well and got this shot with me in it. Oops! We didn’t submit that one. After taking some pictures we went back to the apartment and watched You’ve Got Mail. We decided to watch that because one of the Christmas movies that we watched used that same plot and we wanted to watch it again to see how many things they stole from it.

Thursday it rained! We walked to the library with our new umbrellas that Mom bought after we got caught in the rain when Sami was here. They worked and we were able stay dry on our walk to the library. Wahoo. We had a typical day and took some more pictures for Pres. Faerber, including this one of us, and we’re able to help a few folks that needed help with ancestors from Italy and Sweden. Then we headed home and packed to head out to see you!

We got everything packed up and then watched some tv before heading to the Trax station. We learned from

our last trip that that is the easiest way tot get tot he airport. It takes about 20 minutes to get us there and it free for missionaries to ride. The only down side to our trip was that it was 39° outside. We are looking forward to the warmer weather in Murrieta.

We got to the airport and our flight was delayed. I then realized that we were going to get to the Ontario airport after the rental car place closed. Ugh! So I contacted Melissa, who we were picking up there and asked them to go out as soon as she arrived to see if there was anything she could do to make sure we could get our car. She said she would. When we landed I got a text from her saying that they were staying open later and it would be no problem. Whew! We got the car and drove to Marietta and arrive a little after 1am. We talked with Chris and Melissa for awhile and got to bed around 2am.

Now we’re here with you so no more need to tell you about the rest of the week, but here’s some pics to remember it.