A long-awaited goal........

We have belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for just over 32 years and have always waited for the day when we could serve a mission for the Lord. That time has come - we are serving for 18 months in the Mesa Regional Family History Center - or as it is now called the Mesa Large Multi-stake Family History Center. We are serving as Church-service Missionaries which means we can live at home and serve. Other missionaries leave their homes for 18-24 months to go anywhere in the world to serve their missions.

As senior missionaries we were able to select the mission we wanted to serve and if there were openings we would be called to that mission. After Larry & I got home from our six-week trip to the West Coast we decided to check out the various missions available in our area. We first called the Church Employment Center and spoke to someone there who informed us there would be a leadership meeting the following night and invited us to come. There we could get an overview of the work done there. The first area we learned about was the Bishop's Storehouse. Next we learned about the Employment Center. A few days later we investigated the Family Services Center and then the Family History Center. The last area contacted was the Tempe Mission Office where we learned they were looking for Church-service Missionaries for the San Tan Branch which is where we served before we left Maricopa. Larry made phone calls to several people we knew from San Tan regarding the work needed there and then we went to the temple to get a confirmation that this was the mission for us. When we left the temple we both knew that was not the answer. We then called our bishop and set an appointment to turn in our papers for the Mesa Family History Center.

Bishop Watson interviewed us and assured Larry that if he had faith and desire the confidence would come with this new calling. (Larry has not had a lot of experience with doing genealogy and he was a little intimidated by the thought of helping others research their ancestors so this assurance really helped him.) After his interview we then were interviewed by our Stake President.

I, on the other hand, felt as if this is the work I was born to do. I have loved genealogy since I was a little girl listening to the grownups talking about the "olden days"! When I was 16 years old my grandmother gave me all of her genealogy. I mean ALL of it. She didn't even keep a copy for herself! Somehow she knew I was the one who needed to have it! Six months ago I was talking to a patient at the dental office about doing genealogy research and after she left I remember thinking that if I could have any job in the whole wide world it would be doing genealogy!

We spent four weeks in training learning as one missionary said, "just how much we don't know!" The first week we shadowed our mentors and learned the various areas of the library and what they were used for. We had hands-on experiences scanning books, greeting patrons, serving at the help desk, taking money for copies and miscellaneous items, finding books on the stacks (shelves), indexing documents online, reading microfilm and miscrofische and helping with the computers. The next three weeks we went to class from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. We usually had 1-3 classes in the morning and 1-2 in the afternoon. We learned so much! Some of the areas I was afraid to search in are now not quite so scary - land & probate records to name a couple! I also learned the difference between Immigration and Emigration! One interesting class was Paleography which is the study of old handwriting! That comes in so handy in deciphering old documents! Did you know that spelling in the United States was not standardized until about the 20th century??? Add to that the little quirks they did with writing - for example - Rofs and Rop both are really Ross!! They had a funny way of doing double "s" in those days! So if you didn't know this you would transcribe it wrong!

The two young men in our class (Jordan and Donovan Horton) are waiting to go on their full-time, two-year missions. Jordan already had his call to Utica, New York and Donovan just received his to Eugene, Oregon. Their father felt impressed to call the Family History Center to see if they might be able to go through training and serve there until they leave on their missions. The FHC thought it was a wonderful idea so these two young men came to join us for the last three weeks. Jordan leaves on November 30th and Donovan leaves December 21st. They are fine young men who will make excellent missionaries and will take with them the knowledge to help others search out their ancestors.

The other couple (Frank and Marsha Webster) actually live about four hours from the FHC but stayed with Frank's aunt during the week so they could train. They will be serving at the FHC on Mondays and Tuesdays each week. They also serve in the Gila Valley Temple and Friday and Saturdays. They are wonderful people!

Speaking of wonderful people - I cannot say enough about the others serving in the FHC! They are beyond wonderful!!! So helpful, loving, giving and even knowledgeable!!! We are blessed to be able to serve with them!

All missionaries at the FHC are asked to join a committee to help others learn more about that topic. The committee we are on is the German committee. Both Larry & I have ancestors from that part of the world and we would like to learn more about it. This seemed like a good committee to be on as we will learn a lot and then be expected to teach what we learn to others!

We look forward to this new chapter in our lives and hope to be able to bless the lives of many others as we go forward with faith and desire!


Donovan, Jordan, Frank, Marsha, Kathy, Larry


The Mesa Regional Family History Center




The Mesa Temple is across the street from the Family History Center.