I have promised myself that I will blog this evening, if it kills me, and it just might. I am exhausted, but know that I have neglected posting for some time now. When I do that it is frustrating, because I have so much to report and some things I just forget.
We have just received 66 new missionaries in the last two days. We have been visiting all of those in our zone and I have been giving them tours in the Brigham Young Home. I feel a little badly, but also extremely grateful, that I am not new. I think that you can survive that experience only once. These people look scared speechless! I remember how I cried for months, thinking that I would never learn what there was to learn here. Now I am teaching new missionaries. When did that happen? We visited a couple that lives in our tiny little barn, and she looks very distraught, it really is so small. Brothers looking like they want nothing to do with the singing and dancing, but guess what, it comes with the territory! So, I have great empathy for these new missionaries, but I will do my best to make sure they are welcomed, taught, and supported.
Since I last posted, I have been released as the Site Leader of the Brigham Young Home. I have been over that home for the entire time that I have been here in Nauvoo. It is a little sad, but I will be able to continue to serve there periodically. I have been reassigned to be the assistant site leader at Land and Records! I love serving at this site. We basically compile all of the records of Nauvoo and that time period and any new information, especially from computer sources, on the people who lived here in Nauvoo. People have the opportunity to come in and burn a disc with all of the information that we have compiled.
Membership records compiled by Susan Easton Black and her interns from BYU.
Property transactions from Hancock County 1839-1859.
Biographies and research on individuals who had a significant influence here. We have marriage records, death records, Nauvoo Legion, Mormon Battalion, the Mormon Redress Petition, Endowment records, baptism records, newspaper articles, personal histories.
I’m learning how to read maps and figure out sections of property, how far it is from Nauvoo, how much individual owned. We can tell you exactly where in Nauvoo a person lived and many people have family roots here. They are always so excited to learn of their family and go to stand on the very spot. 
Each one of these file cabinets is filled with the paperwork for individuals who lived in Nauvoo. Sisters research them and go through books and books of material. We then fill out a sheet and those sheets are scanned. I have learned how to scan and put them on the computers, transferring them from the Y drive, to the C drive, and eventually to the F drive. From there they are edited again and I then make an entirely new cover sheet for each record and it is entered into the computer and that is what is pulled up when people come in. It is quite amazing. I am scared, I love the research, I love working with the people, I am learning about the computer and it does scare me. But I know the Lord will qualify me for the job. So, see you in Land and Records!
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