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!!

Update on our grandchildren

This will be the one and only update on our grandchildren. Since I finally posted, two months after the fact, about Søren being born, I decided I better give an update on what they all look like.
It is hard to believe they are getting as big as they are.

Here is Mr. Drew at Easter and then at 6 months. Can they really be 6 months already?

 Here is Miss Harper at Easter and then at 6 months.

Here is Søren at 2 months.

And we can't forget Malena.  She will be 8 years old the day after we are released. I can't believe she is growing up so fast.

Thanks for humoring me for one post. Just couldn't resist this one time.
We are grateful for the wonderful blessing of grandchildren.
They truly are a joy in our lives!!!!

The score is tied!

     When we left on our mission the first of August 2012, we knew that while we were serving, there would be THREE grandbabies born. It was a well known fact that our oldest daughter, Stephanie and husband, Darrell, were expecting twins around Thanksgiving. We even knew they were one of each flavor. What was not known by anyone, other than close family, was that our youngest daughter, Emily and husband, Jake were also expecting but not until the end of March. That was a hard one to keep quiet!
     Emily and Jake had decided to nickname their baby and not reveal the real name until after the baby was born. I am not quite sure where the nicknames came from but if the baby was a girl she would be called "Birdie" and if it was a boy, he would be called "Buzz". I was thirteen months old when my younger brother was born. His name was Michael or Mike but that was too hard for me to pronounce. The best I could do was say "Brother" but it came out as "Buzzer". Then as I got a little older, he became "Buzzy" and then "Buzz".  By the time we were in Junior High, he was insisting that we call him Mike. It took a long time to make the change to Mike, so the nickname "Buzz" is a happy memory.
     The end of October they found out they were having a BOY!! We were even there when they revealed the baby's gender. Yes, we were in Salt Lake City, Utah and they were in Bellevue, Washington. We did it all over Skype. Emily, Jake, Harold and Megan (Jake's parents) were gathered in their apartment around the dining room table with a white frosted cake on a cute cake plate while Len and I were gathered around our dining room table and our computer. After much fanfare and excitement, the cake was cut, revealing a bright blue interior. It was official--"Buzz" was on the way. The due date was 27 March--Emily's birthday. Here is a link to Emily's blog post about the event.
     The score was going to be tied for Ingermanson grandchildren with 2 girls and 2 boys. Now, to wait for this sweet baby boy to join our family! It is probably a good thing I was busy with missionary stuff because I was really excited.
     We got permission to go to Bellevue when "Buzz" was born. Since our time was limited we decided not to leave until after he was born. That way, I could help as much as possible when it really counted. I am not sure I was much help but it sure was fun.
     On March 21, sweet baby boy, Hawken, decided to complicate things by putting his mom through hours and hours of labor and then figured he was too comfortable where he was and would not budge. Emily ended up having a C-section. Thankfully all went well with mother and baby. We spent a delightful week with this cute new family.
    Introducing. . .Søren Frederick Hawken   7 lbs. 11 ozs.     20 inches long
     

   

It's a Small World After All!!!

    

     My great, great grandparents were Ole Olsen and Maria Eriksdotter and they were from Norway. They were tenant farmers on a farm named Petterborg. The Petterborg farm was owned or at least run by the Lutheran Church. The Olsen’s were given a part of the farm to live on and where they could raise crops and animals to sustain their family. They had 9 children, two died as infants. The majority of their time and energy was working the big property for the owner. They also gave quite a hefty percentage of what they raised for their family to the owner. Life was hard and NOT easy. Much like the rest of the world at that time.

     In 1866 much of the family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church). When the Lutheran Church minister, who was the overseer of the farm, found out that Ole and Maria’s family had joined the LDS church, he took the farm away from them. Sometime, while they were living on the farm, they took the name of Petterborg as their surname because when they joined the church they were known as Ole Olsen Petterborg and Maria Petterborg. Some of their children took the Petterborg name and some didn’t. The family moved to Oslo where they worked and saved their money so they could move to America and specifically, Idaho where Ole had a ½ brother—David Jensen. Ole, Maria, Emil (my great grandfather) and youngest daughter, Beate, came to America in 1872. Of their 7 living children all but one eventually immigrated to America.My maiden name is Petterborg.

   Fast forward—In 2010 I started a blog called “From Olsen to Petterborg” where I have been trying to tell the story of Ole and Marie and their children and what happened to them and share as much about them as possible for those of us today to read and share and learn. I have not been very good about posting for the last year but the blog is still out there. A few of the posts on the blog show pictures of the Petterborg farm as it looked about 15 years ago when a second cousin (or something like that) went to Norway and took some pictures of the farm as it was then. I went to Google Earth and found it today. I posted many of the Google Earth pictures. It really has not changed very much in years and years. The landscape is beautiful and I would love to visit.Click on the blog name above to see pictures and read those posts.

     On Tuesday of this week I opened my email and there was the most exciting message. A man, living in Norway, was surfing the Internet and stumbled onto the blog. His name is Hege Johansen and he wrote to tell me that he lives on the Petterborg farm today. He bought the farm from his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his father!!!!!!!! I asked him to tell me when his great grandfather lived on the farm. I might be able to close the gap from 1866 forward. They have farm books in Norway that list the history of the farms and who has lived on them. I am not sure how late they go but I can give it a try. Hege sent me pictures of the farm from 4-5 years ago taken from a plane. He said that he is going to takes some pictures with is camera and send them to me.

     His grammar and spelling is charming. He English is great. I wish I could use Norwegian 1/0000^th as well as he uses English. I am ecstatic that he wrote and at the possibilities because of the Internet. What a small world we live in!

    I am not posting his pictures of the farm until I ask him for permission. As soon as he says it’s ok I will post them.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!!

 Salt Lake has been experiencing a drought for the last several years, just like much of the country. If you have never been here, Salt Lake City is in the high desert. There are mountains all around can help and hinder the climate. The Rocky Mountain to the east and northeast of the state block frigid air from coming into the valley and so the temps are milder than you would think for an area that is at 4300 ft and also so far north. Really cold air that does reach the area comes from the north and western Canada. Temperatures seldom get below 0 °F.

    Temperature inversions sometimes move into the area and create a real mess. An inversion is when cool air, moisture, and pollutants are trapped in the valley by surrounding mountains. The air quality becomes very nasty. There has been an inversion for about the last ten days. When I look straight up the air is clear with beautiful skies but as I look forward all I see is thick, brownish, green smoggy air. The temps stay very cold. Lately the highs have been in the teens and in the single digits at night. The weird thing is that when an inversion happens the areas around the city that are on the sides of the mountains and also the ski areas are much warmer—in the 30’s during the day!! They can look down into the valley and see the thick gunk hanging over the city!!! Kind of weird.

    We finally got a storm strong enough to blow all the pollutants away and in the meantime dumped a massive amount of snow. I think our downtown area got about a foot of snow in 24 hours. Many of the areas around us got around 24 inches of snow and the mountains and ski resorts got several feet. It has been quite a punch but a welcome relief for the drought conditions.

     We still need lots more. I just googled to see how much snow it takes to make 1 inch of water. It depends on the temperature and kind of snow. If the temperature is really cold the snow is light and fluffy and it can take 20 inches to make an inch of water. If the temperature is warmer, the snow will be wet and it can take just 3-4 inches on snow per inch of water. The average is about 10 inches of snow for 1 inch of water. Utah is known for its “powder”, so it is going to take more snow to add more water.

     Even though I am not used to all the snow I am not hating it. It is very beautiful and we have a nice warm and dry place to live. We came prepared with coats, gloves, scarfs and even boots although my snuggly and warm Ug kind of boots has blown a hole in the side where the boot meets the sole. NOT GOOD!! We live just 2 blocks from where we work, so life is good.

    Yesterday, Friday, 11 Jan, they closed all the buildings on Temple Square at 1:30pm and sent everyone home. There weather was getting worse and worse and so were the roads. They don’t do that very often.

    The Church Office building that is on Temple Square is 28 stories high and I am sure there are hundreds and hundreds if not thousands who work there.

     Below I have posted a picture of the Salt Lake Temple as we saw it out the window of my office. Another missionary, Scarlet Holman, took the picture with her iPad. Thanks Sister Holman for an awesome picture!!! BTW, it was even more beautiful seeing it in person!!!!!!!

 They are telling us the inversion will be back this week! I am NOT fond of the gunky air.

THE BEST Thanksgiving!!

A week or so before we received our call to serve in the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission we found out that our daughter Stephanie Lund and husband, Darrell were going to have a baby!!!!!! This was a wonderful surprise--their first and long awaited by their Grandma. The day after we received our call we found out that they were having TWINS!!!!! Yes, two babies. Something I had always wanted. A couple of weeks later we found out the twins were a boy and a girl--one of each flavor!! (Sorry about all the !!!! My kids always tease me about how many I use when I write anything. Hey, this was exciting and I couldn't decide where not to put a !).

Since Stephanie was already 3 months along when she found out, the waiting time was really cut and the due date was 2 December. The doctors told Stephanie that they would induce labor at 38 weeks instead of 40 weeks which meant the new date was 20 November--the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

We were given permission by our mission president to be in Chandler, AZ the week the babies were born. Such a wonderful Thanksgiving it was going to be.

We decided to drive, since flying standby at Thanksgiving is a pretty risky proposition. We spent the first night in St. George, UT with my Mom. We had an extra special blessing because our second daughter, Jennilyn Ball, and her family were also visiting "Nana". We were able to see our only grandchild, Malena, that night and for a few hours the next morning. That was a wonderful time. Here is a picture of the 4 generations!!!

It is hard to believe that Malena is growing up so fast! She will be eight (27 July) the day after our release. We planned it that way so that we would be able to attend her baptism, although the mission does allow missionaries to leave and attend special family events. We were not quite sure when we put in our papers to serve if that was still possible.

The babies were born 20 November right before 10 pm. The 20 November is very special because that was Len's dad's 108th birthday--Carl Frederick Gunner Ingermanson.

Drew Robert Lund came first and weighed 6 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19 inches long. Three minutes later, Harper Kayla Lund made her entrance at 5 lbs. 11 ozs. and was 18.5 inches long. They were very healthy and had all their important parts!! Mom didn't even have a c-section which was a wonderful blessing!

They came home on Thanksgiving Day which really made the day even more "thankful". Len left a couple of days later, on Saturday and I stayed until the next Thursday.

Twins are a lot more than twice as much work. They have got to be 50 times more work. I can only imagine the next few years. Good luck to Stephanie and Darrell. They are not having these kids when they are in their 20s. They are in their 40s!!!!! They are doing an incredible job. These sweet babies are really blessed to have such awesome parents.

The day before I left, our youngest daughter, Emily Hawken, flew in from Bellevue, WA to help for a week. This was a double blessing because she was a great help with 2 more hands but she is expecting her first baby in March 2013 and this was the best prenatal class she could ever take---she got to learn first hand with TWO babies. She did say that things were not as hectic as she had envisioned and that one would surely be easier than two. She is a photographer and took over 370 pictures while she was there.

Our daughter, Julie, flew in from St. Louis, MO while Emily was there to also help. That's right--FOUR adults and TWO babies. Julie was able to do a 10 day transfer with her company, so she did work during the day at the Tempe, AZ office. That was an awesome thing her company did since she had no vacation to use.

Here are some of my favorite photos of THE BABIES as they are known in the family. There are several posted on Emily's blog--NOT 370+! Take a look, you will not be disappointed. Just click on the colored link and it will take you to the pictures.

This is a pretty new Drew.

Here is new little Harper.

Here are some of Aunt Emily's pictures.

Here are the ones Stephanie sent showing how their going home outfits now fit--almost don't fit in Drew's case. He has really filled out.

I can hardly believe they will be 8 months old the next time we see them.
Yup, I think you can see why it was THE BEST Thanksgiving!

Slacker!!!

Sorry I have been such a slacker in posting things on the blog. I have kind of hit a spot I never thought I would be in--not wanting to be on the computer. No, that is not quite correct. I just don't want to write or create on the computer.

My duties on our mission have me training new Family History Center directors over the phone, one-on-one. I absolutely love that part. The hard part is writing and sending the follow-up email after the training. That is the part that is burning me out to wanting to post to the blog. My follow-up emails tend to be lengthy and in much detail so they take a lot of time to write. . . so when I get home at night, the last thing I want to do is type long posts.

I have never been really good at letter writing, as many of you can vouch, because I tend to be really long winded and write way too much and in too much detail--just like right now. When I was 15, I had a really good friend who moved back to Pittsburgh where her family was from. I vowed to keep her informed of all that was going on in Idaho Falls. I would send her 50, yes 50, page letters. I guess that is where it all began.

I have never been really good at keeping a journal because again, I get too long winded and it takes too much time to write in such great detail. On our last mission I was really faithful in keeping a journal for the first 6-7 months and then things started to falling apart the last 5 months. We also had a family blog that fell apart because I didn't keep it up like I should have!

This time I was going to be better. Blogs are so popular and I read lots of them, so surely I could keep up like all those other bloggers. I thought that this blog could serve two purposes: 1. Keep everyone informed about what was going on with us, thus eliminating writing letters and 2. It could serve as a journal of sorts. I just forgot one thing--blogging is just another name for writing letters that reach lots of people at one time AND journaling. So. . .my long windedness has not gone away and I have fallen again into the trap of getting behind.

Since it is 30 Dec and there are just 1.5 days left in this year 2012, I am again reflecting on the past and projecting for the New Year. I will try better to post more often because I really do have a lot to share with you. This is an amazing experience and I do want everyone to know what is going on. I will be posting about things that have happened over the last several months and they may be late and a little out of date but I hope you still enjoy them!

May your New Year--2013--be the best ever!!!! May you enjoy good health, happiness and joy in life around you.