Week Ninety-five…Movies, Musicals and Concerts—Not Deprived!

We had a great week, and especially a great Pday. Here we go…

As per usual we had a mission devotional Monday morning. This one was done by the Scanning Zone. One of the speakers told about how a yearbook he was scanning caught his attention and he went and did some research about this teacher who was dearly loved at his school. As I listened I thought about the many teachers I have had in my life and which ones of them have left an impression in my mind and heart.  I am thankful for some great teachers who have taught me many wonderful things. Even as I write this my mind is thinking about even more teachers that I hadn’t thought of that morning. We finished the devotional and ran home for a bit because our

schedule had changed and we don’t have to be in until 10am now. This was our first official day as non zone leaders. I thought it might be a gradual transition, but the very first thing that happened was a meeting at 10am that I had Curtis come to with me. But there were so many people that I just “bowed out” and said I was sure he would be fine. So just like that I was just a missionary again. I wasn’t back to the floor too long before I was asked to go up to the main floor to help with Norway research. When I got there I learned that the lady just had some questions about how to write the names of her family members and the places where they lived. I explained what I had learned about patronymics and about Norwegian farms and farm names, and how many families began to be identified by their farms and took the name as their surname, and she was fascinated. As I finished I

realized that I had been fascinated with this information as well when I was first learning about it and now it is familiar. Fun stuff. When we got back from lunch I was asked to help with Norway again. This time it was with Steve, who is a regular. He was trying to determine if he should merge a couple of people in FamilySearch and I was able to help decipher everything, but then he wanted to translate a certain record and I couldn’t do it all, so I called down Tanner to help. We both sat with him for about 15 minutes answering questions and chatting with him until he needed to leave. We closed up the floor at 6pm and went home to watch a first for us, a Roku original movie, Jingle Bell Love. It was like all the Hallmark movies that come out around Christmas. I must admit it was well done and was just as good as the Hallmark movies. 

Tuesday wasn’t Pday! We now work from 12pm to 8pm, but we got a message from President Brown that there was a meeting he wanted me to attend about the AGES project. So I joined virtually. Basically I learned that the work that our AGES team has been doing for the last year or so has slowly moved away from the desired outcomes the original creators intended. They just don’t know how to tell the missionaries working on the project that the direction they have taken is not needed. Yikes. When asked for

my opinion I told them to be candid. These missionaries are adults and will understand. They might feel a little under appreciated and sad, but they will move on and would most likely continue to help if there is something they can do in the new direction they are moving. We went in at noon and learned it had been very quiet so far, so I went to work on finding the parents of Nils Finström. I had tracked him through many household records, but couldn’t find his birth record or parents. Since it was so slow I asked Forrest, one of the staff who does Nordic genealogy, to come look at what I had found and see if he could give me some ideas of where else to look.

He noticed in one record that Nils was listed as a Ryttaren, a rider or cavalry man and the man at the top of the page left that location the same year Nils came. He most likely was the replacement for him. So I started looking for Nils in the muster rolls and other military records and found him, but there was no patronymic name mentioned. Sadness! I got to be an usher and did some other little helps on the floor, but no actual research helps and we closed down at 8pm with there being nobody left on hour floor to help during the last hour. Quiet! 

Wednesday is now Pday! And we had a fantabulous Pday. We started with a workout in the COB gym. We came home and had a late breakfast and then went in to facilitate the last Wednesday Leadership Pattern Journey class. After class we came back, and since the weather was cooperating, played pickleball. It was tons of fun, but I learned that riding a bike feels different to my knees than playing pickleball. I was a bit stiff and sore after an hour of pickleball. After pickleball we got cleaned up and went to see the

movie The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It was directed by Dallas Jenkins, the guy who has written and directed The Chosen series. I remember reading this story many many years ago and always thought it was a fun story, and he did a great job of portraying it. We loved it and even cried where you are supposed to cry. One fun part is that we learned that there are a few of the cast members from The Chosen that also act in this movie. It was fun to see them in a different role. After the movie we decided to go get dinner out, since our day wasn’t over yet, we still had our musical at the Hale Center Theater to attend, and we didn’t want to drive all the way back to the apartment to just sit for an hour before heading to that. We learned on the way to the movie theater that there was a Crown Burgers right across the street from the theater, so we went there for dinner. Yum! As we have learned we were able to split a burger and a shake and it was plenty. We love their signature burger that comes with pastrami on it. Yum! We then headed down to the Hale Center theater where we were able to enjoy their production of Beauty and the Beast. It was very good as usual and of

course the set was amazing. The girl who played Belle had a great voice and played the part very well. Also the guy who played Lumiere was so funny. One thing I learned was that in this play version they portrayed the servants as still mostly human, but becoming more and more their inanimate object selves as the musical progressed. Nice touch. They also made a change with how Belle discovered her father was missing. It would be difficult to have a horse in the show so there was no Philippe that came running home without his master and Belle didn’t ride him back out to find her father. They both just walked. Still, they did a fantastic job and I wish I could show you how incredible their sets are. I did search the internet and found one shot that gives you a little hint of what they are able to do with their stage

in the round that is on hydraulic lifts that they move up and down throughout the performance. Pretty cool! We got home a bit late and hit the sack as we had to be into the library by 8:30 the next morning.

Thursday morning we went in at 8:30am and were a bit tired, but happy to be there. At 10am I had a practice for the guys that are singing with me for our International Zone Christmas social. We are going to sing The Twelve Days After Christmas. Of course I plan to post a video of our performance after we do it on December 17th, but in getting some ideas of how this should sound I learned that it was done by the Tabernacle Choir with their visiting soloist, Deborah Voigt. Here’s the link if you’d like a preview.  https://youtu.be/KLYQ1OsKeH8?si=eHbswTmCSUG5QR-_

Afterwards I was asked by Jason Harrison, the FamilySearch Library’s director of VIP hosting to be part of an instagram video that the VisitSaltLake group was doing. They wanted to highlight what you can do at the library for visitors to the Salt Lake area. So now I’m a movie star as well, but you’ll have to pay attention because all of their videos are very quick and jump from shot to shot, but I am in a few of them.  Let me know if you want my

autograph. After that I did a quick dash to the COB cafeteria to get lunch for Mom and I so that we could eat during our last Thursday LPJ class. That went well and then it was back to a quiet floor. So I went to work on Nils Finström again. Since I hadn’t been able to have any luck with his military records I decided to try more index searching in ArkivDigital. I learned when I did the Sweden training that you should try multiple name variations and different record searches. Well this time I decided to see what might come up if I put Nils and Anna Pärsdotter, his wife, in the marriage index search with their parish and it popped up. Wahoo! From that record I was able to find where they had been living when they were married and did a household search there and found them with their original families. Nils was originally an Olofsson before he went into the military and took on the Finström surname. From that I found his birth record. 

That’s him at the top of this page. His parents are Olof Sundbom and Kierstin Nildotter. Wow, long search, but found them! I was just able to save all of the sources and enter the info before we needed to leave to go to the temple. This week we had Sharon Pruner and Celine Rol with us. We went to the Taylorsville Temple and did a sealing session and an endowment session. Afterwards Sister Rol wanted to do a Costco run. She is mostly vegetarian and loves the assortment and prices of Costco’s produce. Mom and I and Sharon didn’t buy much as we will be leaving next month and are trying to empty our cupboards and refrigerators of as much food as possible. We did get more bread flour however, because Mom plans to continue making sourdough bread at least two or three times a week until we go. 

Friday morning I went early to get my haircut. The barber I used last time wasn’t there so I had to take my chances with a new one. This one did it shorter and a little different than the last one, but I think it looks ok. I have learned, as my dad used to say, the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut is about two weeks. I will survive. After my haircut I read more in The Chamber of Secrets, volume two of the Harry Potter series. I started to get a bit tired and just closed my eyes and took a nap. Wahoo, a nap! It was nice. We have our T/R day on Friday morning now so we didn’t need to be in until 2pm. We found it as quiet as it had been all week. I was usher for a bit and didn’t get to help anyone for the four hours I was in the library. It was so quiet that even Ambika, the guest who comes in every day, left 10 minutes early. Unheard of! When I checked the computer I learned that we had a total of only 26 guests that we served. Wow. We then ran home to get a quick dinner and then headed over to the Tabernacle to see The Bell on Temple Square concert. We learned that we should have left about 10 minutes

earlier to get a better seat, but really it was about what we heard rather than what we saw. Our favorite number was this one. I didn’t video the whole thing, but it was great! The file size is too large to imbed here, but here is a link if you want to watch. https://photos.app.goo.gl/CMwWJR2i7yMHuSEm7

The concert lasted just over an hour and was pretty cool. I was impressed at how well they are able to keep their rhythm. They played runs and everything with different people playing each bell in the run. I am sure it takes a lot of practice to get it so well timed. We walked home and Mom made hot chocolate and we watched some tv, Mom Bones on her iPad and me the last episode of Amazing Race Season 34. I was surprised to learn that they have had that many seasons. 

Saturday morning the weather was nice again so we decided to play pickleball, but Mom didn’t want to play just singles, so she texted Sister Kunz and invited her to come play. So it was her and Mom against me. They made me do some running, but it was fun, except that I learned that I need to stretch before I play. I think I slightly pulled a muscle in my bum. Ouch. My knees also took another hit, but they weren’t as bad as the first time. We went to the library at 10am and found it quiet again. Mom was asked to help a guest with Netherlands research up on the main floor for about an hour. It was so slow that I pulled up the BYU football game on my phone and watched it while I searched for the parents of Eric Holmberg and Lena Andersdotter. I was frustrated with both endeavors. BYU played stinky the first half and I

wasn’t able to find anything for Eric or Lena. I already have their marriage record, but when I look for them in the places where it said they were born I can’t find them. Ugh! We finished the night and closed the floor and headed home. It was really windy and cold outside. A storm is blowing in. We had some tickets to the symphony but decided to just stay home. I watched some football and then got bored and switched to watch a couple of episodes of Elementary. Hmmm Elementary over football. Didn’t think that would ever happen. 

Today we woke up to snow, but much less than I thought there would be. With the way the wind was blowing and how cold it was getting last night I was sure there would be a few inches on the ground this morning, but nope, just a slight dusting on the grass and roofs and none sticking to the pavement. Mom decided she didn’t want to walk in the cold though, so we drove to church. It was a typical “Sunday before Thanksgiving” sacrament meeting and the speaker challenged us to write down 100 things we are grateful for. I decided to just do it in my head. I didn’t keep a good enough count though, but I’m sure I went over a hundred. I know all of you made the list. Now the weather outside is all calm and clear. Looks like it might be Christmas before they get any major snow in the valley.

Happy Thanksgiving for this upcoming Thursday. 

BE GOOD!

Love Dad and Mom