Four Weeks, Three Times

     I have had several of the missionaries ask me for help in doing their research and in helping them to find their family. Most of those who are called on this mission have never done family history or genealogy and they have no idea how to begin.
     It is true that the first two weeks we are here we have one-on-one training but to tell you the truth--it is not enough, especially for someone who is just getting started, who has little or no experience with using a computer and who is in a new and stressful environment.They have had very little time to get settled into an apartment, buy needed groceries and just absorb what is going on! I really admire the single sisters who come out because they don't have a spouse to help with everything--it is all up to them and it really can take a toll on what they retain those first two weeks.
     Probably about 20% of the missionaries are in an area that has nothing to do with family history and they get none of the one-on-one training. The name of the mission is the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission. The Headquarters can be taken two ways--that it is the Headquarters for Family and Church History, which it is but it really means that it includes the Headquarters for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those missionaries who are assigned to work in the Church Office Building and work in places like Military Relations; Water & Natural Resources; Real Estate; Temple Construction; Translation Dept.; Mission Dept. to name a few places. These areas used to be in a separate mission but when we were here in 2007, they combined the two into one. They know when they receive their mission call what area they will be working in and they go to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo for two weeks before beginning their service in Salt Lake. When these Headquarters missionaries return to their home wards, everyone assumes that they have spent their mission doing family history and genealogy and they are immediately called to be the director of the local Family History Center or they are called to be a consultant and they are to teach and help others with their family history and genealogy. I talked to one missionary who didn't know what the Family History Library was, what it was for and where it was! These missionaries become very concerned about returning home and not knowing anything about family history and genealogy.
In March, I met with one of the counselors in the mission presidency and asked him if it would be ok to teach a basic class on getting started and using the familysearch.org website. I was really interested in being able to use one of the computer labs on Tuesday evening. The idea was to teach a few things for 45 minutes and then let them practice for 45 minutes. He thought that was a wonderful idea and wanted to be one of the first "students". He checked and was able to secure the training lab that has 15 computers for Tuesday evenings. I contacted the people I had been helping and had a great class of guinea pigs. The 4 weeks went well although I ended up teaching most of the time and they didn't get to practice like I wanted but I made pretty detailed handouts and they all said they could take them home and practice there. They asked for more information instead of the practice time.
     I decided to teach another 4 week session and we opened it up to the entire mission. I had decided that I would not even have them use the computers each week and just make sure that the handouts were detailed enough that they could use those. I was hoping for about 25 people to sign up. We sent email invites out to all the missionaries and I ended up having 90 people sign up. That was way more than one classroom could comfortably hold, so I split the class and taught about 45 in May and I am teaching another session in June. The May group went well and I totally revamped the handouts and made them much more detailed. I should now be good to go for the June classes.
     It has been a really fun experience and I sure have learned a lot. They say the teacher always learns more than the students and that is so true.
     The familysearch.org website had a complete face lift on 16 April and it has been fun teaching all about the new website. I have heard lots of grumbling and complaining about it and it really did catch us all off guard when the change took place but I can see some wonderful things happening with the website.
If you have never seen familysearch.org or if it has been awhile since you visited the website, take a little trip over there and see what I mean. Enjoy!!