Week 21

I think I begin ever week’s entry amazed at how fast time has flown by. I won’t say it again, but it hasJ.

This week's highlights, beyond our usual temple opportunities, revolved around board meeting, goodbyes, family history, and a wonderful area conference we attended today.

Thursday began early for me at 4:30 am for a Trevi Towers Association board meeting—8:30 pm in Utah. I continue to serve from afar as secretary. It is a remarkable world we live in that allows me to serve as secretary and legal liason, listening and contributing in a meeting some 6,000 miles away. Our last two years have been in Germany and in China allowing me to attend just one meeting at home while we were there briefly this fall. We are gearing up for our annual meeting in March. We will see if the folks at Trevi vote to have me continue my long-distance mode of service. It all works with the inconvenience of getting up in the wee hours once a month!

Goodbye to the Wenkes with a sailing theme

The goodbyes  were for the Wenkes, who left for their home in Lübeck, near Denmark, having concluded their six months’ mission. We had a delightful send off for them Thursday evening. Then they worked all four sessions Friday and left Saturday morning. Those who have served missions understand, I’m sure, how close you get to those you work along side. Pres. Husz used the analogy we all know of how sad we are at parting from loved ones who die, but how joyous it is for those on the other side at the homecoming, relating that to how happy the Wenkes' grandchildren and children will be at their return, though we are saddened to lose them. It was a good reminder of a true principle.

John by the Wenkes

We wish them well and look forward to welcoming the new missionaries who will soon arrive from Switzerland and from Bozeman, Montana. We knew from our temple president that the Despains were coming but then received an email from John’s brother Mark, who lives in Cody, Wyoming, telling us that they had just learned that one of the couples on their shift at the Billings Montana Temple, had announced that they had been called to serve as Ordinance Workers in the Freiberg Germany Temple and would be headed this way just after conference in April. What a small world it is in the Church. We look forward to meeting them. It is lovely that they come already knowing temple work—in English. And nice that he, at least, speaks German, having served his mission in Northern Germany.

Sue with Marikka Husz--die Oberin (matron)

We have had a wonderful time doing family history research this past week. Our Christmas gift to each other of our Ancestry.com membership has been such a boon for us in fleshing out information that we had previously only had alludings to from some of the things that John’s cousin has emailed us. We love the process of connecting families and solving puzzles. The need for this important work is very clear to all of us familiar with D&C 128:15 that reminds us that “they without us cannot be made perfect, neither can we without our dead cannot be made perfect.”

Euphemia Hellen #1 and #2--Children number 9 and 10 for William and Euphemia Laing

But beyond all that, it is just plain addicting to try to unravel the mysteries. I love a good mystery book. Trying to figure out who dun it is fascinating, but that holds little real joy compared to the discovery of a lost child of a great-great-great-grandparent! Last night we had just that kind of experience when I found a reference in an email to a child who had died at six months in a family whose next child, also a girl, was named after her. Family records, as so often they do in such instances, record only one of the two, or a mixture of dates. With the help of an old entry in her brother’s ledger we got the details of her birth and death. It will be a great joy to be able to participate in having little Euphemia Hellen Laing #1 (born 10 Oct 1837 and died 15 Apr 1838) sealed to William and Euphemia Grierson Laing this week. John’s sister Rebecca Burrows, mother of 12, should enjoy learning that her third-great-grandmother, Euphemia also was month to 12, not just the11 of which we had record. The great hunt is afoot. Our greatest challenge is to stop and stand up occasionally to avoid the sititus that so easily sets in!

 

Our area conference today was a marvelous witness of the blessings of the Gospel in our lives with encouragement to move to higher ground in these dangerous times we live in in order to save our families from the threats to them and us so prevalent in our world. We were reminded of the very real blessing that is ours to have the conduit to our Father that prayer provides each of us. 

Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke eloquently of the Atonement and the sanctification that comes through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost in cleansing us as we repent daily and strive to keep ourselves on course. I loved the image he spoke of the Savior’s reaching down to our reaching out to him. Truly he is mighty to save! 

President Erying spoke of his own German/Swiss ancestry, telling the stories of the divine choreography (we have recognized repeatedly in our own lives) as the Lord guides the footsteps of those who look to him to bring about the blessing of eternity to them. We loved this opportunity to hear from our leaders in this choice meeting and felt inspired to try a little harder to be a little better.

Have a wonderful week.