Successful Searches Make for Happy Guests! 15 July 2016

This was another early morning start, and I was the keyboard player for devotional, so I arrived a bit early at the Library.  In fact, I was early enough to go down to B1 floor to go to my locker.  On the way I checked to see if the Eppingen book was back on the shelves.  Sadly, it was not, but as I glanced over the Townbooks, I noticed another place name I was familiar with:  Broggingen, in Emmendingen.  I was excited because I hoped to follow back Maria Elisabetha Mutschler's line after about 30 years.

I went right back on the floor after devotional--I was Greeter the first hour--and looked for Maria Elisabetha's family.  Sadly, I was disappointed.  The family name was there, and her mother's family name, Munndinger, was there, but the records were all too recent.  However, later in the day when I was looking for sealings to do next week, I found a few descendants on that line that needed to be sealed.  So maybe that was why the book caught my eye.  

My next assignment was at the German/Slavic desk, and there I kept busy until halfway through my 11:00 lunch time!  There were several guests that needed help, and first hour I worked with a guest who needed help with Hungary.  I diligently went through all of what I knew, recording on the Assessment sheet the things that would help her with further research.  She still wanted more help, and the specialists were now on call, so I had one paged.  The specialist went over briefly the same things I had already done, as she did not look at the sheet I had made out.  However, then she got into resources I was unaware of, and found that there were microfilms available that I had not picked up on.  I was more than happy to help the guest with the microfilm, and together we went through a lot of it.  When I was pretty sure she would be ok on her own, I did get my lunch and go outside for about 15 minutes to get some natural light and fresh air.  [Our floor is called B1 because it is in the first basement level.]

When I got back I was floor manager, but as we were very short-handed during the lunch hours I eventually helped a couple of guests until some of the young elders got back and I turned over the floor manager duties to one of them, and a guest who had some technical Family Tree problems to the other.  I am so grateful these young elders are willing to serve.  

An older guest came in and needed help with finding an ancestor in Germany, and she knew where the family came from.  She was so very excited when she found his birth record almost at the end of the film.  There was an entry for a child with the same family name that I was looking at when she exclaimed, "There he is!"  The entry just below the one I noticed was her ancestor!  I read the entry to her so she could verify the information [same name, same place, same birth date] and now she had another generation!

We spent the next while getting help with making a copy of the entry on the film.  One of the young elders was very helpful with that process.  I was surprised to find out she had a print card already--she told me she was 87, and I hope I am as sharp as she is when I am 87!  She lives quite a ways away, and said she no longer drove in to the library herself because her children object.  She admitted that I-15 really was too much of a challenge.  Again I translated the record for her, and this time she wrote it all out, saying, "When I am gone my children will need this information."

The guest working on the Hungarian records was still busy with the microfilm, and a little later came to me with the happy news that she had finally found her ancestor couple in the same record. She asked me to help her figure out the translation.  She already recognized some words, and I got the Hungarian word list and together we learned that this was the record of their daughter. She was very excited to have found her people, together.  We made a copy of the word list because there is yet another film to go through from the area where the mother of the couple may have come from, and she will research that one when she goes home.

There were a few short opportunities to help guests, and during my last assignment as a Rover, I was able to pick up my schedule for next week--my zone leader honored my request for my temple day to be next week, so my Sweetheart and I will get to do multiple sessions that day, as well as doing sessions two other days.  Hallelujah!

When I got home I got to Skype with my Arizona family for about half an hour. I also got a tithing blessing as one of my missionary cohort had left a box of food and told me to salvage what I could use--there were some nice vegetables and some fruit, some seasonings and a lemon and a lime.  Those last two are especially nice to have.

Today began the indexing challenge--if you are willing to help us preserve and make available the records of the world, please consider joining us in indexing one batch.  This is a simple way to serve.  I did my one batch, after finishing up an arbitration batch.  The Kentucky marriage records really are not hard to do.

Talked with my Sweetheart--a little more than two days to go!!!!