Devotionals

Weekly, daily and monthly devotionals are some of my favorite parts of our mission experiences.

Monday Morning Devotional
Each Monday morning all full time missionaries and any Church Service Missionaries (CSMs) who wish to attend, meet in the chapel of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at 7:30 am. The chapel is full and so is the over flow area at the back of the chapel. The devotional lasts one hour.

 There are 3 singing groups that are made up of missionaries. There is the Sisters Chorus, the Elders Chorus and the Elijah Choir. They rotate providing the music each Monday morning. These are dedicated members because they practice at 6am twice a week!

Each missionary gives a 3 minute devotional talk about 2 months after their mission begins. It is supposed to be a time to introduce themselves to the rest of us. The talk is supposed to focus on those things that help fellow missionaries get to know them. Those in charge are very strict about the 3 minutes. The talks are to be written out and read so that the person stays on track and finishes on time.

Most Monday morning devotionals consist of missionaries giving their talks. There are usually 6 talks, a musical selection by one of the singing groups, 6 more talks and the closing song which is another musical selection by the same group. I LOVE Monday morning devotionals and learning about each missionary. The stories they share are awesome and really make a difference in my life.

About once a month there is a guest speaker from one of the many departments in and around the mission or from the mission leadership. In August we heard from Don Anderson, Managing Director of the FHL. He talked about "What is the Lord's plan and what does He have in store for us"?

In Oct. we heard from Jenny Lund who is the Director of the Historic Sites Division of the Church History Department. She was very interesting. She got her BA degree in English but realized when she was too far in to back out, that she should have majored in history. She did get her Masters degree in history. As a little girl, instead of the regular lemonade stand to make money, she would display her collections of things in the garage. There was just one problem--once people saw the display they were not interested in coming back again!

Len and I gave our talks on 7 Oct. Some people are so petrified to talk in front of the whole crowd they about die. In fact, we know one missionary who refused to give her talk at all, when she was given the assignment. I never really knew you could refuse. Below is a copy of what I said:

I was born Pamela Petterborg and am the oldest of four children who all grew up in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I attended Ricks College for one year and BYU for 1 year. That is where I met Leonard Ingermanson. We lived in the same housing complex and attended the same ward. We were married 2 weeks after Len graduated.  Three months later, he enlisted in the Air Force since he was perfect draft material for the US Army, destination Vietnam.

During the next 20 years, we lived at 7 different installations--Williams AFB, AZ; Mather AFB, CA; Little Rock AFB, Arkansas; Fort Bliss, Texas; Ramstein AFB, Germany and Davis Monthan AFB, AZ.  Len retired from the military in 1990 and we settled in Tucson, AZ. We have 5 children, 4 daughters and a son who were all born at different locations.

Three of our five children are married and we have 1 beautiful 7 year old granddaughter, Malena.  After receiving our mission call we found out that we are having 3 new babies join our family this next year. One set of twins, one of each flavor and one baby whose gender is yet to be determined.

I was not a happy camper in 1997 when I was released from being Young Women’s President and called to work at the local multi-stake FHC. I was not ready to work with all those old people. On my first Saturday morning shift, I had an incredible experience and I got hooked and have never looked back.

Five years ago, this very morning, Elder Ingermanson and I were sitting over there, brand new missionaries in the Family and Church History Mission. We served in the US/Canada zone and I claimed I was locked in the candy store! We had such a wonderful experience that we came back for more. We are now serving in World Wide Support.

I have a testimony that the Lord’s hand is directing the work we are engaged in.  Through the indexed records on the family search.org website, I have found lost relatives on both sides of my pedigree. Without these indexed records I never would have looked in the locations where they were found. One wall is now gone and there are holes beginning in the other brick wall.

I am grateful to be here and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Len was a little more inventive. The first week we were here he wrote his talk. I did not know what he had written until he got up and spoke. Below is his talk: 

In May of 1945

A child did arrive

Leonard Andrew, The second son

To Carl and Vieno Ingermanson

Although born on the Wyoming high plains

I was raised in Kansas, the center of the Great Plains.

Elders Williams and Babcock came to my parents’ home in 1957,

And introduced the Gospel to us, when I was but eleven.

Received my high school degree

In the spring of 1963

Then it was off to BYU

For a career to pursue.

In the midst of college, I was called to serve in “La Argentina”

For you Gringos, that is Argentina.

Returned to BYU and graduated in accounting in 1969,

Which for me was just fine.

I received a BS

And shortly after, I married an MRS.

Pamela Petterborg was her name

Who has become my greatest flame.

Then, as along came, Stephanie, Jennilyn, Todd, Julie and Emily

We became a grand family.

As for a career, I joined the Air Force and became a 90 day wonder

Then was trained as a pilot to fly in the wild blue yonder.

We lived in seven locations

And enjoyed many great vacations

Living in Idaho, Arizona and California,

And then on to Arkansas, Texas, Germany and Arizonia.  (Hey, I had to make it rhyme).

In 1990, retirement from the Air Force came

Then it was off to civilian life, but flying, just the same.

For the next 15 years, over the mountain’s crowns

I carried fathers, mothers and children to their favorite towns.

When Sister Ingermanson was first called to Family History work, she dug in her feet

There are still those ruts, all down the street.

Soon after, I too was called into family history

And I started my search for my own story.

At the age of two and sixty

Pam and I thought it would be nifty

To serve the Lord on a mission

And we were called to serve in the Family and Church History Mission

Upon returning home, to the nursery we were promptly assigned

And when we were released, we just sighed.

Four years passed since leaving Salt Lake

And we decided it was time for another mission to take.

So, here we are, grasping the rod

Ready and willing to serve our God.

Now I knew why he wrote it so early--he remembered a missionary from our first mission who had also given his talk in rhyme. Quite clever don't you think?

Monthly CSM Devotional

Once a month there is a CSM Devotional at noon the Tuesday, Wednesday OR Thursday of usually the second week. They do it one of those days because most Church Service Missionaries work in the middle of the week. They have a guest speaker at each devotional. I have also loved attending these special meetings.

Daily Zone Devotional

Tuesday-Friday we have daily zone devotionals.  In our zone, the devotional begins at 7:45 am and last 15 minutes. All the missionaries take turns giving the thought and prayer. We always sing a song accompanied on an electric keyboard. I love this time because there are over 70 missionaries working throughout the week and it is hard to get to know each other. The few minutes before each devotional, when everyone is gathering in the conference room, we really get to know each other.

Can you think of a better way to start your day or week--with good friends, singing great hymns, hearing an uplifting message and saying a prayer to our Heavenly Father? That's why I LOVE all the devotionals!!!!!

 

Mission Make-up

By the title you might think we are talking about lipstick, eyeliner, mascara and foundation. Nope, I am going to explain a little bit about the elements of the mission.

The official name of our mission is The Family and Church History Headquarters Mission. There are approximately 1200 missionaries in the mission. A proselyting mission has approximately 200! There are about 400 full time missionaries and 800 church service missionaries (CSM). The full time missionaries are senior couples and single senior sisters who serve 12, 18, 23 months. Almost all are from outside the Salt Lake City area and move to Salt Lake and donate their time exclusively to the mission and pay their own expenses. There are, however, 70 young male missionaries. I talked a little about them in an earlier post. They have a medical condition that prevents them from serving a full time proselyting mission (those are the young Elders you see on bikes riding or walking around your city). The CSMs live in their own home within about 100 miles or less and volunteer approximately 20 hours a week. They serve in all areas of the mission here in Salt Lake. Some of them have been serving for many, many years. In many ways, they are the backbone of the mission because they don't leave after 12, 18 or 23 months but stay for many years and bring stability into an environment that is ever changing.

The mission provides missionaries who work in cooperation with the full-time professional staff in the Family History Library (FHL), the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB), the Church Office Building (COB), the Church History Library (CHL) and the Church History Museum (CHM). The Family History Library, the Church History Museum and the Church History Library create kind of a triangle of confusion. Their names are similar but their collections are quite separate and unique from each other. I might do a later post about each one because they are all incredible places to work and visit.

Here is a list and tiny description of the zones or areas within each building listed above:

Family History Library:

International Services--ALL non-English countries. On the basement 1 level (B1).
British Services--British Isles, Australia, New Zealand and any other English speaking country other than the United States and Canada. On the basement 2 level (B2).
US/Canada--self explanatory. On the main floor, 2nd & 3rd floors.
Access Services--these are the REAL librarians. They help the patrons with digital and paper copies, clean the film readers, shelf the books, keep film and microfiche in their drawers, make change, etc. They are on every floor of the library.
Patron & Product Services--they are the greeters, they host groups and they teach new FHL missionaries in their library classes.
Deaf Services--they have a special booth with the video phone for helping hearing impaired patrons who are not at the library but call in for help. They also help any deaf patrons who visit the FHL. There are not many missionaries in their zone but they have been serving for MANY years.
Digital Preservation--this group is digitizing all the family history books that are in the FHL and putting them up on this website, so they are available as every word searchable to anyone with Internet connection!!

Church History Museum:

 

Most, if not all of the museum docents are missionaries. I am not sure if there are full time missionaries there or not. I know that most of them are CSMs. When we were here on our last mission, there were full time missionaries assigned but I do not see it in the zone list.

 Church History Library:

Church History Collections--these missionaries help with digitizing and making available all of the different resources for patrons. The library is only 3 years old and before it was opened most of what is now available to the public was in storage. Making this information accessible is a huge project now that there is a place for it to be used. 

Church History Library Services--these missionaries are the greeters at the front desk of the CHL and serve as guides for public tours. 

Church History Special Projects--these missionaries work on special projects, things like the Joseph Smith Papers!

Joseph Smith Memorial Building:

FamilySearch Services--right through this door is the Family Search Center. It is an appendage of the FHL. A place where tourists on Temple Square can get a quick taste of researching their family.
Technical Support--missionaries help those who call, email and instant message problems they are having with equipment in LDS Church buildings or LDS created software.
World Wide Support--this is the zone where Len and I work. There are several groups in the zone. The goal of this zone is to answer questions from anyone with a question about family history and familysearch.org. These questions come as emails, phone calls and chats. Len answers questions about new.familysearch and the new Family Tree. I mostly train new family history center directors one-on-one over the phone.
Data Quality--these missionaries make sure that the information found online through familysearch.org is accurate and if not, they try and make the corrections, when possible.

Church Headquarters:

There are 3 zones because there are sooo many different areas where missionaries are needed. None of these are related to family history. A few we are aware of from missionaries we have known who serve in Church Headquarters. There are those who work in the real estate area, natural resources area, temple construction, medical fields, translation department, missionary department, public relations, you name it and there is an office for it and a need for a missionary to help!

The young sister missionaries who serve as guides on Temple Square are in a totally separate mission. So are the senior couples who are guides on Temple Square and at the Conference Center. Before we came on our first mission we had no idea how many people are needed to fill the positions and how organized it all is.

Records of hours worked by missionaries were kept last year (2011) and they estimate that if each missionary was paid $10 an hour that the savings to the Church in just salaries alone was over $10.5 million!!!! Pretty amazing.