Thx
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3:29 PM (0 minutes ago)
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Rachel has been such a hoot.
Back at the beginning when I told Ed how funny she was in her writing he said, I don't see it. I told him to compare it to Megan's and he said I guess.
I love you chris. I think you are wonderful. Thank you for posting all the pictures and keeping this blog alive. I am all caught up and I usually clip and paste the strange and funny and touching things for me. When Megan got home I sent them all to her. At least that way she knew I was connecting to her experiences.
Rachel has been such a personality in her blogs. I was glad she enjoyed her stay with Jacobmeyer because she was so not NOT looking forward to that area. And now they will be roomates in January! So awesome.
She has had the richest experience. I never got to share your mission to Italy. But now I have been to Spanish speaking Manhattan, and England. I never knew as much about Louis' mission to Spanish speaking Iowa as I do about these. And I kept my duty to write to him every single week. I skipped most of my journal those years and asked him for all the letters back when he returned. I got them. Now I just need to bind them.
So next comes becca, as Rachel calls her.
A few people have asked me for Rebecca's blog. It's very similar to Rachel's:
www.sisterrebeccaformica.
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I can never get out of these boxes and colors once they are on my blog. Sorry. vj
Anyway, It is Wednesday, 8/26/14
I got up and took off for the Family History Center yesterday. I did some weird stuff as is usual for me.
1 I rode my bike.
2 I left my backpack home. No phone, wallet etc.
3 I took the help sheet and my green spiral notebook for recording my Italian Indexing efforts and a pen.
4 I jacked up my garments so they wouldn't show under my shorts as I rode my bike.
5 I took a pair of white socks and nice black pants, rolled up so I could put them on over my shorts when I got there and to keep me warm in the freezing air conditioning.
6 I took my genealogy glasses. I determined my old prescription works better for working on screen and writing up close than my new ones.
7 I took a can of green peas in case I stayed late and got hungry.
I celebrated, huge celebration in my mind and heart when after almost a year of trying I finally submitted my first Italian indexing birth batch. It has been the longest, humbling, frustrating experience to try to learn to do this work.
When Bro. Chenney conducted the workshop last Thurday night I was one of 5 stake members who attended. Ronda Taylor came by to check on us. Stake indexing chairman.
The workshop was so frustrating again.
-There wasn't enough room so I had to bring in my own chair and sit without a computer.
-I was late.
-It was a workshop and we did not work together.
-I asked for copies twice and Elder Hovey acted like what do you want these for?
-People seemed to shy away from me like I had bad breath and I had showered and brushed before going.
-I had put my BoM and seating chart in the car so if it was forfeited I would have someplace to go.
-I felt lost from the start even though I have figured out how to do this on my own. I downloaded 6 batches of death certificates and births without the form and didn't know how to return them and find a birth record I could complete.
When two of the helper missionaries stopped in the aisle right next to me 2 hours into the workshop and said they didn't feel needed, everyone was trucking along and doing just fine, I raised my hand and invited one of them to come sit by me! I did get help from 3 different people but it was just a nudge and I needed a guide! Finally, when Sister LuAnn Smith sat next to me and adjusted the distance so she could still breath, (was I really that stinky?) She helped me download a file to work on. No way was I going to stop with one. The helper brother next to me had said he downloaded 6 at a time when he found a good one so I downloaded 8 more! SSmith thought I was crazy but I was the one pushing the buttons so I couldn't be stopped.
I had told her I had never completed a batch before, at least I never succeeded on submitting an Italian batch and getting credit for it. For the hour before she came to help I just tried to set up the format for the indexing by making a page/line for each record on each page.
I did not get up and walk out an leave. I so wanted to. I kept telling myself, these are the people who know how to do this. A minute with them is worth an hour trying to figure it out on my own.
Back when I was first starting I thought there would be an Italian Birth record helper available somewhere in the Family History Center. There wasn't. I did get help twice but I could only stand it for an hour or two and then I would leave. I had put in my time. That was good enough for me that day.
One day when hiking down Webb Hill I realized I needed constant help. I tried to figure out how I could get that constant help and decided I would take a "1 Up" Luigi baseball cap I had found at church putting away chairs last year and write ITALIANO on the brim both on the top and on the bottom. That way I could put it on when I needed help and the Italian expert could come help me.
As it turned out, I walked through the whole place trying to find someone else working on the Italian Job/Project and there wasn't a single person. The people who understood were working on their computers at home at their convenience. Fighting loneliness and needing help I did not want to work at home. If I dedicated and hour or two to the history center I could return home and not feel guilty in my safe/relaxed place. Work could be at work and home could be for play and relaxing.
Though I thought I did not make any significant progress at the workshop last Thursday I did sit down to make some notes and to pray before I left. When Brother Woodbury left I said to him, are you going to do this? BW-I'm going to try. VJ-It is so hard!
As I sat and prayed I thought even though I might not know enough yet I can make friends with the people who put it on. I had written down their names except for two. I turned around and went back in. You know how hard it is to turn around and try again when you thought you were already done? I did. I turned around and went back to get the names of 2 others I had missed. Commitment.
Sometimes we have to get our thrills from just trying and going through the motions without completion. As I sat in that overstuffed chair I told HF, look, I have come, I have tried again, even though I gave up just before the Church wide/World wide Record setting event held on July 21 and 22 from 6pm to 6pm. I wanted to be part of that record and practiced doing marriage licenses the Saturday before so I would be able to be successful.
To tell the truth the marriage licenses were boring compared to the Italian mountain I had been trying to climb.
That Thursday night I came home motivated. I practiced Italian on some Youtube videos again and was excited. I went back to the FHCenter and tried again. Finding out how to use the "paginebianche.it" for the last name was the best! First names could be checked on the help screen. [control f]. Resizing this display so I could see dozens of name possibilities at the same time was critical. And yesterday during my 8+ hours for the first time I figured out how to start and or end a name and then have the website generate possibilities.
The spots on the certificate where I look for the information became clear to me. In fact the first batch I turned in had been started by someone else and the last 5-6 names were not on the certificate or form, it was all handwritten and I had to find the right words. I admit, I cheated. I was so desperate to turn in my first batch that if I couldn't find it anywhere then I just filled it in with a name that was there as far as the father or mother was concerned. That will give the arbitrator something to compare!
I finished a batch at 7:45pm last night and decided to call it good. I have decided I will sit in the same overstuffed chair in the entry hall by the elevator and pray at the conclusion of each visit. I am forming new habits and praying and pondering and reliving needs to be a part of the spiritual rejuvenation and regular communication I need with HF. There was thunder and lightning and it was pouring outside. I had no schedule to keep so I decided to go back in and start another batch. (I had one batch yesterday that would not upload and said it was corrupted. Hours of work and it was corrupted? No Way!) I started up another computer and checked to see if it said the same thing. I couldn't reopen it. : ( Oh well. Maybe if I left it alone it would fix itself and so I started on another batch but I felt like a mother that had left its child in the bathtub before it could swim. I so wanted to be there and protect that file/batch but there was nothing I could do.
Because I so value the time I am putting into each one of these and each effort I have made so far, I stop before submitting each batch and copy down everything into my green spiral genealogy notebook. So if that batch was corrupted and I could get it back I still have all the information!
I imagine, eventually there will come a time when it feels like a waste of time to copy it all down in my notebook. But starting at the beginning of the year I needed some way to validate my efforts. I might not be making any measurable progress but I was going to give myself credit for the efforts I was putting into trying.
As it turns out that class last Thursday night gave me the last missing pieces to my puzzle. Now, finally I have all the tools I need to complete a batch. In fact I can even fake it without the copied typed certificate.
Back in the middle I considered that those handwritten births might be my best way to go anyway. Then I would have many letters to compare so I could tell which ones were in the names.
I fact yesterday I never could authenticate the name Gizzabolla even though the scribe had written it pristinely. A couple of hours/batches later I found it again. I typed Pizzaballa into the paginebiache.it and it exists!!!! I was so surprised. But I couldn't go back and change the one I had submitted. I probably spent 20+ minutes on it the first time.
