A Return to What Brought Me Here

Hey everyone!

     The week has been memorable, as it had included a big change for me and my zone. This is because we have finally been able to organize the time we spend in zone so that we can do what is called "Research Essentials". If you do not remember my talking about this, it is a two hour block missionaries on this mission are given every week to work on their own family history. For the past three and a half months, I have not been able to do this, partly due to the changes which have happened. I have worked myself to get this changed in the mission, but it didn't seem like any progress was getting done there. However, now I have every Tuesday evening to work on my own family history work. I have even gotten a project going, on which I am conducting further research on my great-great grandfather. Of course, this research will never get in the way of my zone work - that is still the main reason why I am out here in the first place. But, it will be good to use the resources of the family history library while I can!

     We have gotten a lot of work done at zone - more than we usually have. As a result, our staff supervisors have mentioned giving us more to do in the future. Given, this is a promise which they have been making for a while, so I'll take it with a grain of salt, but I will be happy if they do follow through this time. I am not dissatisfied with the work I am doing here - there simply comes a time where there are less things to be doing. Then again, I guess it is the nature of the beast, that there sometimes is simply no work to be done. As well as more changes, we have been informed by the building management of the family history library that a renovation to accommodate the contact center is actually in the works now. It might still take a while for things to actually get moving, but I wouldn't mind being able to have a different workspace.

    The mission's weekly leadership meeting for this last Thursday was cancelled this week. This was because a new young elder training meeting was being held instead. Me and Elder Beeson both had to go to this, as Elder Beeson was still considered a new young elder. There were a couple of notable differences with this meeting. First of all, this was not held in the church office building, but the top floor of the JSMB. Second, it was not sandwiches served for lunch - it was pizza this time! Finally, and probably the most importantly, there was a part of this meeting where the trainers split off from the trainees, and the two groups received different instruction. I am honestly quite grateful for that - despite my previous experience training, I still had much to learn. I will probably have to apply this education to training in the future as well - it stands to reason that, if I am called as a trainer twice before I am even halfway through my mission, that probably means that I will become a trainer again. I wouldn't mind such an opportunity, but then again, I will go wherever the Lord wants me to go.

    Aside from all this, the week hasn't been overly eventful. I have been able to get some more baking in though, which was pretty nice. The mission, despite a highly structured lifestyle, still allows one to have his hobbies, so long as they do not take one's focus from the gospel and from the work. Either way, the week has still been a good one - I have no complaints, and I am happy to be here. Thanks for the continued support. I will see you next week!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



     Challenge: Personally, I prefer to use the terminology "family history" rather than "genealogy". There is a major difference between the two: "genealogy" is the art of adding names and dates to a pedigree, seeing who they are related to, perhaps take these names with us to the temple - and that is it. Sometimes, it feels like we do this work simply to find more people and names. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the desire to perform temple work for the names which we find in our family lines, but to me, "family history", is more than simply adding information to a pedigree chart - it is the act of actually discovering the life stories of those who came before us. Of course, this is somewhat difficult for people who lived very long ago, but often times, we can use historical hints to give us an idea what the lives of these people were like. I believe this is part of the reason why so many people come in to visit the library - to find such documents that tell us stories as well as names and dates. Please don't misunderstand, I am not writing this story to speak out against adding more people to your family trees - taking names to the temple will always be an important work, and there will always be something to do there. Do continue to find names to take to the temple, but, as you work to learn about more of your ancestors, every now and again, take a moment to learn more about your ancestors. You will find that your family is probably more interesting than you have ever imagined, more to speak of than the dusty tomes where you first discovered who they were. You will learn a lot from those who came before you - their stories will bless your lives for the better, and you will learn how to take on today's challenges from lessons taught centuries ago.