A Nice Refreshing Drink pt. 2

Hey guys!

So, first and foremost, I am sure you all know by now that my P-Day is no longer Friday. Saturday is probably a bit more convenient for those of you back home anyway, so that will make things easier on you. As for the rest of the changes... well, first off, I do have a new companion, Elder Argyle, who had only come in a month before me (Elder McGrew got moved to what is currently the only tri-companionship in the mission, and he is now serving in the FHL). Aside from that, I have not changed zones, but then again, I have... Technically, I have not gotten moved out of my current zone, but the zone is experiencing some major changes.

We are now going to be working on the B2 floor of the FHL while some renovations go on at the JSMB - this will likely continue for the duration of my mission. We will also be taking on a lot more work - as it had been described, the Young Elders in this zone had been what they call "under-utilized", which means we could do a lot more than our current workload - this is not the fault of the Young Elders, but rather an error in how things were organized. Allow me to clarify a bit here: we mostly dealt with account-related issues before, as well as some of the temple ordinance problems, but not much aside from that - this was the domain of other teams. Now, with the new changes, we will be helping out with anything patrons report having issues with - this includes problems with FamilySearch's Family Tree, indexing-related issues, more of the ordinance things, and more. So, we will be getting some new training to help us out with this extra workload, and the Young Elders which get assigned here will likely stay for longer than normal - our employee leadership wants Young Elders to stay there for at least a year, but I am not sure that our mission leadership wants us to stay that long. Either way, this week has mostly been training, moving, and getting things set up at the FHL.

Well, I did want a bit of a change of pace from the monotony of serving in a zone for four months straight, and, well, I guess that I have gotten it. To tell the truth, I am quite excited for the changes happening here, this will mean that I get more variety from my work. I don't know how the rest of the zone feels, but I honestly kind of look forward to it, and I am ready to take it on!

So, between orientations and training, I have been doing quite a bit of stuff last week. Then again, until we actually get settled back in to the library, we have not been able to do a lot of work. We have helped to move all of our computers from where we used to work, but unless we want our computers to become formatted like the patron computers in the FHL (spoiler alert: we don't), IT has to find a different way to hook up the computers. Until then, we have not been able to do much of anything aside from family history research, which in and of itself it not a bad thing. Still, I would like to get back to work. But, the training which I did get done felt a bit like drinking out of a water hose - kinda like the very beginning of my mission, which consisted of a bunch of training. So, that was quite interesting.

Mine and Elder Argyle's P-Day was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but as part of the big changes, we have moved the official zone P-Day to Saturday. This means that you can probably expect my E-mails to arrive on Saturday for a while, even if I do move districts in this zone. Saturday is the most common P-Day for the mission anyway. This makes certain things a bit nicer for some of us, it is easier to find a driver to take you shopping (doesn't really mean much for me though). On the other hand, there are also downsides to everyone taking their P-Day on the same day. First, it is a bit tough to get a washer and a dryer at the time you want - they are usually all full. Also, if you are a driver, then getting a key for one of the vans is not easy, unless you can get there quickly. I was barely able to get one of the final slots they had open. But, P-Day is still P-Day, and me and Elder Argyle were able to get a lot done.

Anyway, there is my week for you. Ask me about anything you want, if you would like. I am open to questions. Thanks for the support guys, I will see you next week!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: My mom has sent me a flyer detailing November as being "Family History Month". So, seeing as I am currently working in a family history-centered mission, I have decided I should challenge you to begin taking family history more seriously. You don't have to start out huge, or plan a week-long vacation to the Family History Library. This can start out with logging in to FamilySearch, checking out your family tree, and seeing what can be added - this can be another generation to your family tree, an attachment to an already added ancestor called a "memory", a source to a person who has already been added, or even your collateral lines - your ancestors' other descendants. Family history is an ongoing work, and there will always be more to do, no matter how much you think has already been done. Do not stop searching for and learning about your ancestors - you will be blessed for this work, in this life and in the next, in ways you never expected.