A Day in the Family History Center

On Sunday, President Justice, invited people to come into the FHC during Sunday School, as a pull out. Our objective was to help them feel more comfortable working with the computer and to get a 4 generation pedigree chart for those who don't have theirs already on familysearch. We decided it would be a one on one class. During 2nd Ward Sun School I had one sister come. During 1st Ward Sister Thompson and I both worked with one sister each. Both those sisters had fun and asked if they could come back today at 10, which they did. Sister Moreno is so much fun to work with. She did not know very much about her husband's family. He passed away a few years ago. Thanks to technology, we found his parents names and information. His father was actually on family search. Sister M kept asking how did he get there? Well, I don't know, but he is there for a reason. We then found his headstone on find a grave.com and low and behold, his wife is laid to rest with him and we were able to get her information. She was listed as Addie M Moreno. We started to see if we could find an Addie born in Supher, OK. in 1908. I figured the M was for Marie. Well, Sister M is thinking and looks at me as we are scrolling through Addies born in OK and then she blurts out, her name was McDonald. I always find it interesting when people say they don't know anything, but then it is as if things are brought to their remembrance, as they start reading through the names that come up on the screen. The Holy Ghost truly does bring things to our remembrance as we go and do as the Lord commands. By then both of us are crying as we slowing enter the data. The keys were hard to see with the tears in our eyes. Sister Thompson and Sister Trujillo keep jumping up to look at what we had found. The spirit that we felt is impossible to describe. At noon I asked if she wanted to come back tomorrow. She looked at me and said what about after lunch. Oh happy day. I feel confident that we are going to continue to find these family members because they were obviously right there with us, guiding us, prompting us. blessing us to find the things we did. The plan is to have members come in one-on-one until they are more confident and have their account set up. Then they can come in during the week to continue working. We will then invite another member or two to take the Sun class. Obviously this will take time, but as people gain stronger testimonies of family history their enthusiasm will be contagious. We actually had 6 people in this morning and a CSW who helped with verifying the obituaries that we have put onto familysearch.

Stake Conference with Stake Presidency, the Millers, the Batts, and Enrique Falabella 19 April 2015

This weekend we had our Tuba City Stake Conference with Enrique Falabella of the Seventy, President Miller, the 1st Counselor from the Snowflake Temple, and President Batt, who is now serving as the New Mexico Farmington Mission President. Sister Batt and Sister Miller also were here. They all spoke at the Adult Meeting last night including our Stake President. Today President Justice spoke, along with two of our youth from the Stake, and then Elder Falabella. The spirit at all the meetings was truly amazing. I would like to share all of their talks, but then I would have to write a book and still would not be able to convey what the spirit shared as they spoke. Although I wrote a lot of notes for each speaker, I would like to share what Elder Falabella shared. He started by telling us that they are not given a topic to speak about when they are sent to the conferences. They are also told not to prepare a talk. They are told that the Spirit will tell them what they are suppose to say. Then he paused and it was as if he was waiting for the promptings of the Spirit. It was actually very interesting to watch as he waited. He started by telling us that he was born and raised in Guatamala. He told us that 60% of the people there are not native to the country. His grandfathers were immigrants and married natives, if I understood him correctly. He said when he was 11, his mother died leaving his father with 4 children to raise. Each child was given a responsibility and his was to cook. He was given 25 cents each day. With that money he bought the following: 1 lb of rice 7 cents, 1 lb of beans 6 cents, 5 cents for charcoal, 2 cents for matches, and 5 cents for tortillas. He only used part of the tortillas for the beans and rice, the rest he would break up and put with water to make a tortilla beverage, which he still loves. If they had sugar he would add a little to it. He then simply said, “I know what it means to be raised in poverty!” He then added that his family were not members of the church at that time. Seven years later,( he paused for a moment), the missionaries came. Their life started to change, a new life began. He said they started to progress, they found happiness, education and hard work, although I am sure they were well aware of working hard. He then moved on to a time he was serving as a Stake President (if I understood him right) The General authority who came for their Stake Conference stood and said he would prophesy that day. He told the people that in 6 months they would hold another Stake Conference. He thought that is true, is that the prophesy? (He has a great sense of humor) The General Authority then said at the next conference you will have 2 sessions and both of them will be full. He then turned to Bishop Falabella, at the time, and said if the prophesy doesn’t work it is your fault. This conference was held 120 miles from where he picked up the authority and drove him to the building. So he had 120 miles to drive back after taking him back to the airport and then meet with his leaders. He held a two hour meeting with his leaders and they put their heads together discussing the prophecy and how they could achieve what had been told to them. He then added while looking at them, if it doesn’t happen, it will be your fault. Six months quickly passed and they did have two sessions of conference and both were filled. He added that prophesies do come true when we do our part. He had some moments during his talk when he was busy translating in his head from Spanish to English. He said the Lord doesn’t push blessings to reach us. What are the blessings the Lord wants to give us. Blessings do not have feet, We Do Blessings are at the top of the stair case. We have to climb the stairs to reach those blessings. We have to prepare ourselves. Don’t be complacent with where you are. Start working. 1. Do the simple things that will produce great blessing. He shared the story of the children of Israel not looking at the staff after they were bitten, because the task was too simple and many died because of their lack of faith in the simplicity of what was asked. Satan is the master of complexity and God is the master of Simplicity 2. Pray every day alone and with your family 3. Read the scriptures every day. There is 1,440 mins in a day. Read with your children 4. Open your mouths, share the gospel with your family, your friends and your neighbors 5. Every day at 5 P.M. say a prayer and ask the Lord to help you find someone to share the gospel with. It can be a silent prayer, or an oral prayer, just do it. He shared several more stories about experiences he has had when he just opened his mouth. He then focused on the church’s focus to help people become more self-reliant and the programs the church has developed to help all people whatever their circumstances. We need to be self-reliant when it comes to supporting our family both physically and spiritually. We don’t often think of spiritual self-reliance. One of his closing remarks was something his father use to say. Life is made of time, if you waste your time, you waste your life. Well, that is not all he said of course, but what an amazing 40 mins of today’s time being spiritually fed by a man who knows what poverty is and what he has learned as a member of the Church. The others who spoke this weekend were also amazing. I wish I could have recorded each one like we do at General Conference and go back and listen again and again. When they start our meetings, they encourage the people there to take notes and reread them. I cannot write fast enough to get everything that touches my heart, but hopefully you will be able to feel a small part of what we felt today. We love our leaders here and pray that hearts were touched and resolutions made to follow the counsel that was given. Hope you have a great day. Sister Olson

Saying goodbye and learning to spin

Saying good byes are so hard. Elder Scoffield served here for a quite a while and then was transferred to Page. AZ. It was hard to say good bye then and even more hard to say good bye when they came through on his way to Ganado. That will be his last area to serve in before going home in 6 weeks. You grow to love the young Elders and just like your own kids they are all different. They bring such a variety of personalities and skills. The majority of them are hard workers and love the work. Occasionally one is discouraged and it is challenging to get them motivated and back on task. This group of Elders have been great. They are fired up and ready to get going. It is so great to work with them, but also so hard to let them go. Elders Dunn, Scoffield, Beus, and Anderson. Elder Anderson came down from Page with Elder Scoffield. He has not served here, so we don’t really know him. Elder Beus was transferred to Durango, CO., and Elder Yengling transferred into Tuba. He is not Asian, in fact he is German. He explained a little about his name, but I did not write it down. Will try to do that. The other picture is not the best but it shows me learning how to spin the yarn that I will use when I do the lacing on my rugs. I sorta of got the hang of it, but the hard part is next and I will have to practice that a lot. I have decided weaving is the easy part. Putting the warp on and getting the loom set up is the hard part and takes quite a bit of time, but watching your rug take shape is really fun. I have been doing more crocheting for the last little while, so my rug is just sitting for a while. We will have Stake Conference next weekend. We have had some really great ones in the past and I expect this one will be just as wonderful. We now have 42 new gardeners up and going. That means we have slots for 8 more. It is fun to see the first time gardeners get started. The young Elders have been given permission to help till. Serving in that way provides lots of opportunities to share the gospel. If we are lucky we may have 4 Elders back here for a while, but if not the two we have are willing and able to help. The Blacks are back in Polacca, but he spent a few days here in the FHC and helping package seeds. I forgot how much fun it was to have them here. Sister Black is amazing with computer skills. I am going to sign up for a Microsoft 2013 class that is being offered here by BYU I It will last 4 weeks and I am looking forward to learning more about my computer and how to use it better. The class is free to members and when they complete it they will receive a certificate. Sister Olson

8 Million pennies in 65 years

Mar. 10, 1995 8:38 AM ET DILLONVALE, OHIO DILLONVALE, Ohio (AP) _ Louis Staffilino's savings filled 40 garbage cans, weighed thousands of pounds and took four days to truck to the bank. The 70-year-old bar owner had been saving pennies for 65 years. By the time he decided to cash them in, he had 8 million of them, or $80,000 worth. He also had something he didn't particularly care for: publicity. ``I just wanted to turn in my pennies and this just got too big,'' Staffilino told The Intelligencer of Wheeling, W.Va. ``Now the whole world knows about it. I just want to be done with it.'' Staffilino spent four days in early December hauling the pennies in a pickup truck to the Steel Valley Bank, where they were tallied and deposited. The bank finally finished counting them last week. He asked the bank not to disclose his name but later agreed to be interviewed on a television program. Bank collection manager Ray Amoroso says he has received hundreds of calls from ``Canada to Australia to Tokyo, Japan'' from people who wanted to know more about Staffilino and his penny stash. The picture was taken at our Zone Conference in Chinle, AZ last Friday 3 April 2015. That is President and Sister Batt who will be leaving at the end of June when the new Mission President comes in. We have grown to love them very much. The new President will be the third President that we will serve under, at least for a few months. President and Sister Batt are wonderful to listen to, they are always encouraging and uplifting in their their talks. Sister Batt related the above story and told how she thought of the pennies as the acts of kindness we do each day and never really think about. Each act adds up just like the pennies did. He apparently started by putting them into something small inside his house, but as the collection grew, so did his need to find something bigger to hold the pennies he gathered. He ended up with 8 million in 65 years. I doubt he ever really thought about how much he was accumulating, just like we don't think about how our little acts of kindness may be adding up. Have you ever had anyone thank you for a hug, or a smile? Our acts need not be big or seem to amount to much, but just like the pennies they add up. Some people feel like their lives have not added up to much because they don't have worldly possessions, but I am confident that the true treasures we accumulate aren't sitting in the bank, or can they be tallied up by a calculator. Our true treasures are in the acts of kindness we share along the way. Conference was just another testament to this truth. I hope we are sharing small acts of kindness every day in the words we speak and in the minds and hearts of those we come in contact with. I am grateful for this time of year when we celebrate not His death, but in knowing that He lives and so shall we. Sister Olson