Whoops! I forgot...7 June 2016

Today was a later starting day for me--10 a.m. It was a bit of a challenge, as I do not have projects here to work on like I do at home. My home computer was acting sluggish, so I was frustrated as I tried to merge some records. As there was still about an hour until I was due at the Library, I decided to make some phone calls. That worked out well, even though the calls were brief. It is just nice to keep in touch that way.

I had a good time in my first official library position--monitor. My downfall is that it is hard for me to just sit, so I found a lot of reasons to get up and move. I was able to connect guests with helpers which is one of the jobs of the position, allowing the floor manager, who figures out which helper will best help a guest, to be free to make those decisions. We had guests that hour from Germany and the Netherlands and Denmark. The Greeter does Scandinavian research and she was very enthusiastic in her interactions with the guests from that area. Later in the day I completed my case study for the Netherlands (very appropriate since one of the calls I made was to my Dutch friend who drove out with me to Utah) after I figured out that the very nice website with Dutch records really works best when you get the names spelled correctly! I also learned that with a good word list, I can probably help someone transcribed the beautifully written Dutch civil records, which go back a long way.

The next hour I mostly worked on more training, but the 3rd hour a guest came in with German ancestry. I am still not experienced enough to have recognized that she was really going to have to go to the US-Canada floor to find the film she needed in order to verify conflicting indexed information. Nor did I think of telling her that naturalization applications were a good resource she might want to check---hopefully someone on that floor gave her better directions, and I have to look at it as a lesson for me.

I also received a lesson in how to use a different photo editing program. I like it better than the one I previously got training on. Another lesson was in using Access Services to retrieve a film from High Density to use for a case study. It has been decades since I used microfilm!  It was rather nice, even though the digital images are very good.  But it is similar to sometimes wanting to use an actual print book instead of the online version. Someone suggested I shadow a helper who was working in Polish research. That taught me about a website that will find the German name of a Polish area and vice versa.

One of the sisters came over to ask if I was interested in going to the Pioneer Day concert, 23 July. As she was walking me through my unsuccessful attempt to reserve tickets, I noticed the time--4:15. Whoops!  I was supposed to go to prayer meeting and training at 3:30!!! It will be a challenge for me to remember all these things in a timely manner!

I was excited to see an email from the young French woman that my Cuban friend and I had hosted for lunch a few Sundays ago.  She is back home, and does plan to continue to read The Book of Mormon, but realizes that for her it will likely be a long process before she can make the commitment that conversion would require. One of the calls I made today had a similar theme.  I am so grateful for the trials which brought me to my own fairly rapid conversion. Once I was willing to listen, I loved what I heard.  And now I get to do a Family History mission!  Quite awesome!

I want to mention an ongoing difficulty at home.  My daughter and I switched cars when I drove out--and now the 2005 Honda has needed lots of service. I am so grateful that she is taking care of this and that I do not have to try to deal with it.  I pray it will not give her any more trouble until I can get back and deal with it.

I hope you are all well and happy. Tomorrow is my very late day, followed by an early day.  I will still try to make a brief post.  Thanks to all of you for your friendship.