The Challenge of Change

We're imaging documents from the 1890's now.  By our next post we'll have "turned the century."  Many more of our documents are on printed forms rather than scraps of paper.  We're starting to see more typed information with the invention of the typewriter in the 1860's and its becoming more common in business and government.  "Modernization" and a raise in standard of living are evident in every aspect of people's lives.

Our probate records show receipts for imported goods from Europe, piano lessons, and sewing machines.  We've yet to see a decline in horse shoeing and veterinary services, though, since horsepower is still quite literal in the 1890's.

Change comes, and with it come both positive and negative consequences.  The beautiful cursive handwriting by the earlier clerks is now a rare treat to find in the 1890's.  

Truly works of art--the clerks' documents of the mid 1800's

The high-quality "rag" paper that made our earlier documents easy to handle has now been replaced by cheaper wood-pulp paper that, because of the acid in it, often crumbles in our hands when we try to unfold it.

Cropped the best we could using the manual cropping templates of the "old" software

Auto-cropped by the updated software--no input from us at all.

I have had cause to reflect on change and improvement this past couple of weeks, because we have been "updated."  The software that FamilySearch develops and maintains for doing our imaging has a new feature--auto crop.  It was hinted at over a year ago--the solution to many of our challenges with probate documents of infinitely variable sizes and shapes.  Until its arrival two weeks ago, we had to determine, on the fly, how to best crop each document so that it was captured in its entirety without adding extensive unneeded "black" around the image causing it to be more pixels than necessary.  We had become quite proficient at creating and using a battery of cropping templates that we controlled with a "stick" of extra computer keys.

Our stick of extra computer keys.  Now we only need a few of them.

We prided ourselves in developing those skills and producing efficient and complete images.  Now, with the new software, the most challenging part of our day has become child's play.

One of our loyal Terre Haute missionaries, test driving the new "cropper."

Our hard-earned skills are obsolete, like the 1870 clerk's beautiful penmanship.  He was no longer praised for his art but was faced with learning to type on the newfangled QWERTY.  Don't misunderstand.  The change in our case is definitely an improvement.  We have so much more latitude in how we place the document down to be captured, and there is very little chance of an image not being perfectly cropped.  Instead of our being faced with the option of 10 to 15 cropping templates, we have only 5, and those are more for our convenience than for an actual need.  It really is a modern miracle.  We see the potential of maintaining a daily output of 1800 to 2000 images and they'll be more consistently and tightly cropped than we could ever have done before.

One change I'm grateful for--a new all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet in town.

Yet, I am mourning the passing of our "generation."  New missionaries won't even know about the skills that we, for a year, depended on.  This feeling of obsolescence is not a new feeling for me.  Do I do calculations with a slide rule even though I spent a semester in high school learning how?  Do I put pen to staff paper when I compose these days, now that computer notation software is available?  I don't have to "dial" a phone any more.  I don't have to listen for the bell to ding that signaled the end of a line of text and my need reach up and "return" the carriage.  The list goes on forever of my skills that advancements have made obsolete, the "lost arts" that used to be every-day occurrences.

We're grateful for improvements in medicine--Ann is a 7-year survivor of breast cancer.

What have I come to better understand?  That the real skill I will always need, and that I must improve at every day, is the ability to change.  I need to be resilient.  I need to be quick to adapt to my changing environment.  What worked for me yesterday may not produce the best results tomorrow.

The Lord has blessed Indiana with its own temple--a sign of growth in the church.

As a missionary I call that skill to change and improve "repentance."  Over time it is my hope and faith that it will bring about my redemption and sanctification--my being brought into a unity with God.  I am striving to acquire His skill set in every aspect of my being.  A couplet from a hymn comes to mind:

Change and decay in all around I see;

O, Thou who changest not, abide with me! 

The Secret Ingredient

Lately, I have heard references to an article printed in the New York Times dated March 15, 2013 entitled The Stories That Bind Us, by Bruce Feiler.  He started his article by sharing a memory from a family reunion a few years ago.  One crisis after another occurred, as can be expected in a large gathering of relatives.  The aging father was subdued, thinking the family was falling apart.  "No, Dad, it's not," the author suggested.  "It's stronger than ever."  But lying in bed afterward, he began to wonder: Was he right? What is the secret ingredient that holds a family together?

Sometimes our documents are held together by brads.
They are easy to undo and don't create much damage to the documents.

Midway through the article, he states, "The single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative."  It appears the children who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges.  Mr. Feiler told of a group of psychologists who set out to test and measure what is called the “Do You Know?” scale. They asked children to answer 20 questions. For example: Do you know where your grandparents grew up? Do you know where your mom and dad went to high school? Do you know where your parents met? Do you know an illness or something really terrible that happened in your family? Do you know the story of your birth?

Earlier documents were often bundled together
and tied up with ribbon.

They asked those questions of four dozen families in the summer of 2001 and compared the children's results to a series of psychological tests the children had taken.  There was an overwhelming conclusion. "The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The “Do You Know?” scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness."

Rivets are also used to keep papers together.  If they
are positioned just right, they don't need to be removed.

Mr Feiler concludes the article.  "The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come."

Hundreds of little receipts that needed to unfolded.  They have
been kept in a nice little bundle for 140 years.

I think Pres. Boyd K. Packer said it best.  "Keep the fire of your testimony of the restored gospel and your witness of our Redeemer burning so brightly that our children can warm their hands by the fire of your faith.  That is what grandfathers and grandmothers are to do!"

Faith of Our Fathers Journal

Several years ago, our family started a project called Faith of Our Fathers.  Twice a year we gather three or four stories from our ancestors, or from current generations, that help us get to know them better and to learn from their experiences.  My sister, Ilene, writes them in wording that children can use for Primary talks or for Family Home Evening lessons.  We usually have someone in the family illustrate the story.  At Christmas and at our family reunion we distribute copies to the extended family members.  It has been a fun tradition.  I wanted to share one story with you.

My grandmother, Elva Aroline Arave Bennett

"One of the Ten Commandments tells us to honor our fathers and mothers.  To me, that means to be respectful and kind in the things I say and do, and to be obedient when they try to help me and teach me the right way to live.

"My great-great-grandmother, Elva Bennett, was a good example of that.  When she was growing up many years ago, girls dressed differently than they do now.  Mostly they wore dresses, except when they were working on the farm or doing chores.

"One day Grandma and her friend put on some of her brother's clothes and they started walking to the grocery store for an ice cream treat.  They hadn't walked very far before Grandma's dad came along on a horse.  He stopped and said, "Your mother and I think you should come home and change clothes.  You'll look more like a lady."  He then turned the horse around and went back home.

"Grandma remembered thinking that she still had a choice.  She could continue on to the store, or she could go home and change her clothes.  She decided to honor her parents and be obedient to their counsel, so she went back home and changed into her 'girl clothes'.

"I'm happy to know that my great-great-grandmother was obedient and that she showed me what it means to keep the commandments.  I know my parents love me and I want to honor them by being obedient."

The hardest documents to capture are the ones that are glued
together.  There is no way to capture them without destroying content.

We love gathering, preserving, and retelling these kinds of stories of our family.  But what if your family does not have oral or written histories of ancestors in the past?  First of all, it's not too late to start.  Begin with those who are still living.  The tradition needs to start somewhere.  Secondly, there may be information out "there" that can be pieced together to help you know Great Grandmother better.  And that's where Elder Packham and I come in.

Rubber bands were often used to group documents.  These bands
might have had elasticity in 1840, but now they look like dried earthworms.

For the past fourteen months we have been capturing images of documents from as early as 1812 up to 1935.  If papers were related to each other, they were often bundled or connected in various ways.  In order to capture the best image, the documents needed to be separated.  Depending on how they were put together, it could be a challenge to get them apart.  We have seen massive amounts of glue, pins of all shapes, rivets and brads, string and ribbon, and even sewing thread holding papers together.  Our anxiety level rises when we see forty documents glued together.  On the other hand, the very concept of keeping documents together is so appropriate for the work we are doing.  I can't help but be reminded of how we are trying to keep families together when I handle bundled documents.

Elders learning the tricks of the trade.

Just this last week we had two volunteers that found their own family records in the papers they were helping prepare.  They were so excited to get copies of the documents and do some individual research.  That's what our work is all about.  It's like proud parents-to-be announcing a new bundle of joy, only in reverse.  We love to see proud great grand children announcing a new bundle of joy when they find an ancestor.

We LOVE pins.  They are the easiest to remove.
Mostly we see straight pins.  This was our one
and only safety pin from the 1880's.

Probate records are an excellent way to get to know the lifestyle of our ancestors.  By looking at medical receipts, we can understand about their health concerns.  Records for music lessons indicate talents and abilities.  Inventory lists provide an insight to their livelihood.  A listing of unpaid debts enlarges our empathy.  A court hearing to determine an ancestor's insanity creates a tender heart in us.  FamilySearch feels it is important to preserve this information for the generations to come.  When I come across a new bundle of documents, I deal with the rivets and pins as patiently as I can, and then realize I am holding in my hands, some secret ingredient that may bind a family together.

That They Might Have Joy

"That must be such fascinating work!" It's the response I almost always get when I tell people what Ann and I are doing here in Indiana. It does have its moments of fascination as we handle each of the 150-year-old documents. I've smiled at the receipts for piano lessons--80 cents, and the lessons were twice a week. And how would it be to have a doctor's "house visit" for a dollar? There are long, scroll-like documents that record the appraisal and sale of the estate, listing personal and household property like 11 forks, 3 cows, 2 cross-cut saws, 5 spools of thread, 10 bales of hay. These day-to-day bills, receipts, and inventories give such an intimate look at someone's life. I'd like to have such a window to look through into the lives of my ancestors. Such documents are rarely a help in enlarging a family tree, but they surely nourish and fortify it.

One long document!

 There are some records, though, that will help your family tree to quickly sprout more branches.  I especially appreciate the genealogical value of the guardianship documents that often list the full names and ages of the orphaned children, and of the probate record of the estate distribution giving the heirs' names and relationships to the testator.

A petition to adopt a 4-month old baby, declaring the name of the birth father, adopting father, and the little girl's adopted name.  What a goldmine of information!

But those rare moments are like an isolated wild flower along an otherwise dusty wagon trail across a barren desert.  We capture 1500 to 2000 images each day.  Our focus is on the quality of the image, not the significance of the document.  Is it focused, rotated correctly, cropped efficiently, free of shadows or extraneous objects?  Is the tagging complete and the documents labeled and stored where they belong?  It's indulging ourselves to stop long enough to actually read a document for pleasure.

Ann is enjoying the Indiana flowers

Did my pioneer ancestors feel the same way?  Were they so focused on keeping the handcart in good repair and rolling toward the Salt Lake valley that there was no time or energy left for wild flowers?  I'm glad they didn't get waylaid or distracted.  They had a destination, a reason for the arduous journey.  There would be time for flowers later, and I have benefited from their sacrifice and devotion.

We digitized his probate records this week.  He dedicated his life to many good causes here in Terre Haute.
He died with no descendants or close relatives.

A few people, perhaps those more aware of the actual process of what we do, have asked, "Don't you get bored?"  Although I usually try to give a more upbeat response, the truth is, yes.  It is tedious, repetitive work and I am often praying for heavenly strength to make it to 4:00 PM.  Yet, I am happy and finding joy in this service.  How can that be?

Definitely, this packet of documents will present challenges as we prepare them for imaging.

Faith.  In Lectures on Faith Joseph Smith teaches that our faith can increase as we develop an accurate concept of the object of our faith.  The Mormon Pioneers "sang as they walked" because they had a vision of God's purposes in their exodus. My vision is described in D&C 128:24 "Let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation."  I know that the Lord, whom I love and have covenanted to serve, is vitally interested in this work.  I have been called to this little corner of his vineyard to do my small part in his glorious objective, "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39)

He didn't call me to Indiana to punish me with boredom, although he surely knew it would be a trial for me physically and spiritually.  I am growing right along with your FamilyTree.  Little by little I am becoming more submissive, more humble, and more patient.  And because I can see the hand of the Lord in my life, I can find joy in the journey. I am a recipient of the same blessing that God extended to the missionaries heading off to preach to the Zoramites, "and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ." (Alma 31)

A little unexpected publicity.

There is additional joy and reward in our lives here.  We love the people in the community.  Many have been generous to come and prepare the documents for us.  We have grown close to the members in the LDS congregations here as we've had opportunities to be with them and serve them.  We enjoy serving in the temple and our work with the Addiction Recovery Program.  We even have time for our hobbies of music and family history.   And there's always ice cream.

Is there such a thing as too much?!  From my present girth it appears that there is.

In every instance, God has revealed to men his Plan of Happiness before he gave them commandments.  Often I fail to see that greater Plan, as I get bogged down in the desert ruts of my mortal journey--the trials, temptations, and weaknesses I experience.  Does the Journey Seem Long?  I try to remember the advice of these lyrics written by a prophet of God:

Let your heart be not faint

Now the journey's begun;

There is One who still beckons to you.

So look upward in joy

And take hold of his hand;

He will lead you to heights that are new.

"Men are [including me] that they might have JOY." (2 Nephi 2:25)  Ann and I are happy in the Lord's work, in our marriage, and in our lives here in Indiana.

More Than One Road to Walmart

One of the perks of being a Senior Missionary is that we are allowed visitors.  Two of my sisters flew to Terre Haute for a few days to see what their little sister was up to.  One afternoon, I was feeling proud of the fact that I knew my way around town as I showed them the sites.  I was maneuvering out of the Vigo County Courthouse on the way to Fairbanks Park and made a right hand turn onto Cherry Street.  I saw two cars heading my direction and immediately I knew.  I had turned wrong onto a one-way street.  I jerked the steering wheel to the right and got back into a parking lot before any damage was done (except heart failure for my sisters).

Which way am I supposed to go?

Several thoughts emerged from this experience.  The first is that I can testify of the influence of the Holy Ghost in our everyday lives.  I truly believe it was the Spirit that instantaneously alerted me to the danger and the error I had made.  I was able to "repent" and navigate to safety.

Secondly, there are some roads in life that need to be traveled in the right direction, at the right time, and in the right vehicle.  Jesus taught, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."  (John 14:6)  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the right way to happiness now and eternally.  We put ourselves in danger if we venture in the opposite direction.

At the open house for the Indianapolis Temple

A third thought, there are times in our lives when we encounter multiple, acceptable routes to a destination.  I could have chosen from several different options to get to Fairbanks Park: over to Ohio and south on 3rd Street; down to 1st Street and straight on; meander through several parking lots and there I am.  We could have even walked to the park.  Agency includes learning to choose between many good things as well as between right and wrong.

A few weeks into our mission, our field supervisor, Chuck Titus, reminded us that there is "more than one road to Walmart," implying that we have the freedom to choose whether we use a tight crop on our probate image or a large crop.  We can use a pointer or a weight to hold down curled paper edges.  We can limit our folder size to 103 images or expand to 947.  He didn't really care.  As long as we achieved the desired results, we could choose our "road to Walmart."

Mortality, with very few exceptions, is a one-way street.  Everyone is required to eventually leave this earth, yet, no one's journey through life is quite like another's.

One man's documents...whew, what a task.

Several weeks ago we found records...and more records...and even more records for a man named Levi G. Warren. In total we captured approximately 3,000 documents related to the guardianship of his children. We were able to learn a little about the Warren family and their personal road to Walmart.

The L. G. Warren Mausoleum in the Woodlawn Cemetery
Terre Haute, Indiana

Levi was born in New York in 1816. When he was just four years old, he and his family moved to Vigo County, Indiana. He was a bachelor until the age of 38 when he married Martha Ellen Clark in 1854. Levi had his hands in several ventures. He owned a dry goods business and engaged in pork packing. He was active in community affairs and was among the organizers of the City's first Hook and Ladder Company. He and Martha bought a large farm south of town which was called Warren Park and is now the site of the Honey Creek Mall. A director of the State Bank of Indiana, Warren was elected president of the Terre Haute branch and also the president of the First National Bank of Terre Haute.  In the 1860 United States Census, Mr. Warren's real estate holdings were valued at $58,000, with personal property valued at $79,000.  In today's dollars, he was a millionaire. Three daughters — Sallie, Jessie and Mary Alice — were born to the couple, but Martha died in 1863 at age 35, when the youngest daughter was a little over a year old. In 1865, Levi became suddenly ill and died at age 49. The children were all under 10 years old and were raised by an aunt and uncle. The oldest daughter, Sallie, married and prospered in the community. Jessie passed away in 1882 at the age of 22. Mary Alice lived 75 years but never married.

Final resting place for Levi, Martha,
Jessie and Mary Alice

Compare the road the Warrens traveled to that of Florence M. Doll, daughter of J. & V. Doll, who was 3 years old in 1866 when she died.  She is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery just a few feet away from the resting place of the Warren family.

"Though hard to you, this journey may appear..."

Our journey through life is unique to each of us.  Sometimes we get detoured, take a wrong turn, or get stalled.  We may reach that eternal destination quickly, or it may take us many decades to arrive.  We do not judge another's road, but teach, encourage, serve and love each other along our way.

The temple has given us a clearer vision of our ultimate destination.

"...You have a responsibility to remain firmly focused on your eternal destination. Yes, life's journey can have many ups and downs. Yes, there will be days when you will feel the going is tough. But as you stay on the right path, the reward at the end of life's journey is well worth the moments of adversity you experience along the way."

                                                                      Elder Ben Banks 

                                                                      General Conference April 2002

To This End Was I Called

Many of us pause on New Years Day to make an assessment of the old year and to set resolutions for the next.  Birthdays and anniversaries of any kind prompt the same reflection for me.  Ann and I have now been on our mission for a full year, and I'm doing an internal audit.  What have been the results of that year of service?  Am I "filling the measure of [my] creation"?  Am I magnifying my calling?

A week's worth of work ready to go back to the stacks

First I looked at the hard data regarding our "primary assignment" as "records preservation specialists":

• Work Ethic--We've been at our post to the extent that the counties' hours allowed us, taking minimal breaks for lunch or rest, and only a handful of days off for mission conferences or gatherings.
• Productivity--We have sent 447,529 images to FamilySearch to be added to its online resources
• Quality Management--Just one of those images has been sent back to us for "rework," and that was because we failed to rotate it 90 degrees to make it "right reading."
• Team Involvement--Volunteers have supported the projects.  In Crawfordsville, the documents were all prepared for us to image before we ever arrived--3 weeks of 8-hour days by dozens of church and community members.  Here in Terre Haute, Ann has organized a pool of fifty-eight individuals to come a few at a time to help at the warehouse.  These fine folks have clocked 442 hours of service, with a few of them coming regularly each week to do a shift.
• Developing New Procedures--Volunteers across the globe, friends and family members, have been extracting the data from the large index book of the probate records to make our work of identifying the images easier.  That project is 70% complete, with 10,881 names so far in the database.

The missionaries always bring the Spirit to the warehouse when they drop in for a minute.

Hard data, though, is not a totally accurate measure of success.  We pray each day that the Spirit of the Lord will be there to guide us and to touch the hearts of those coming to help us.  How can that spiritual influence be quantified, other than to say that it is real.  There is a peace there, a reassurance that the work is meaningful and needful to building up the Kingdom of God.

I learned to love this book a few years ago.  Now I can share it with others.

Our call included an additional open-ended phrase, "Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president."  He as approved our being "group leaders" in the Addiction Recovery Program sponsored by LDS Family Services.  Since April we have met every Thursday night with folks seeking that support here in Terre Haute.  Attendance has ranged from 4 to 10, with 8 being pretty regular.  There again, numbers may not reflect the value of that program, for if just one soul is aided in his or her recovery from addiction, then it is a success.

We've learned to Pull Together with the members of our Indiana wards

We've enjoyed being members of three different wards during the past year.  "We'd be glad to serve in any way you would need us, Bishop," and they put us to work.  How our lives have been enriched by the good saints with whom we've labored.  We are grateful that they've given us opportunities to share our love of music, to teach, and to fellowship.

There is a paragraph in our call that puzzled me at the time, and causes me now to ponder on its meaning and if I am measuring up:  "Your purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."  That's straight from Preach My Gospel's introduction.  Ann sees our imaging as making that conversion and ordinance work possible for those in the Spirit World, and I agree.  But we have also been blessed to help in the teaching and fellowshipping of wonderful folks here in Indiana.  I'm sure that there is MUCH more I could do to magnify this part of our calling.

Salvador Ponce, our newest brother in the Family of Christ

Looking at the past year in a broader sense, I see that there have been some outcomes promised by the closing paragraph of our call:  "Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord."  Being here has been a growth experience for me.  I've learned humility doing the imaging because it is often so routine and repetitive.  My faith in the Lord has been reaffirmed.  My testimony of the divinity of this work and of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been strengthened.  All of this has brought the blessings and happiness that were promised.

Four years and holding

Ann and I are still married!  We actually celebrated our 4th anniversary just a couple of days ago.  She had serious concerns about the prospects of being together 24/7.  Despite the curves I continually pitch her, she chooses to stay in the game.  I'm so blessed for that faith she has in our marriage and in the inspiration we received to make such serious and eternal covenants with each other and before the Lord.  This mission experience is proving to be the refining fire to weld us together.  I love her more each day.

Celebrating a year of blessings

I have six months left to accomplish the purposes of my call.  The imaging will go on--that much I can do.  It's "between the lines" that I need to focus on now, bringing myself and others closer to the Lord.

Do-It-Yourself Time Machine

The year was 1875.  Ulysses S. Grant was the president of the United States.  Thomas A. Hendricks was the governor of Indiana and Utah was still a territory.  The United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act (later invalidated by the Supreme Court in 1883), which prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty.  Ten sophomores from Rutgers College stole a one-ton cannon from the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton)  and started the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.  Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.  Brigham Young University was founded in Provo, Utah.  The electric dental drill was patented by George F. Green.  The first baseball shutout was recorded, Chicago 1, St Louis 0.  Jesse James robbed a train in Otterville, Missouri.  The first newspaper cartoon strip appeared.

Life is much different in 2015 than it was 140 years ago.  Elder Packham and I have imagined what it would be like to engage a time machine to transport us back to the streets of Terre Haute in 1875. Thanks to the documents we are now preserving from that era, we don't need H. G. Wells.  Receipts, advertisements, and letterhead have been a fun way of getting a glimpse of what life was like so many years ago.  We thought you might enjoy a journey back in time, as well.

Isaac Ball was the best known undertaker in Terre Haute.
This decent "burial box" was $53.

An advertisement like this would be
censored in the Deseret News today.

Federal Express and UPS

No logos or embroidered stitching...just plain black.

Mr. Mac's for missionaries

Help Wanted ads

Jiffy Lube

Xerox, Kinkos or your
PC Printer

Gucci's for women

Mass Transit

Nike and Adidas

Home Depot

Ferrari

In another 140 years it will be June, 2155.  We will be faces on a pedigree sheet.  The little children in our lives today will be someone's great great grandparents.  What will future generations know about us?

"One hundred or two hundred years from now, your descendants can know who you are. And they may find their lives forever changed for the better because of the legacy of uplifting, faith-promoting strength you left them. You should record your life history and experiences for your children and grandchildren, and beyond. In this way, they can benefit and learn from your life. Even if they have never met you, they can come to love you and “turn their hearts” to you. Through keeping journals and writing personal and family histories, you can give your posterity the opportunity to turn their hearts toward you.

"Include news events that were happening at that time in your life which not only help set it against the circumstances of the times, but also make your story more interesting. You may also find that by remembering historical events, you will be stimulating more of your personal memories. Memorabilia can also help bring back memories, such as: music, photos, letters, talking with family or friends, even familiar smells and sounds.

"Have fun creating your memoirs and most likely others will enjoy reading it. You can include interesting things like photos, maps, news articles, receipts, favorite quotations and jokes, cards, etc.  Your journals and records will be a great source of inspiration to your children, your grandchildren, and others through many generations." (https://www.easyfamilyhistory.com/learning-center/leaving-your-enduring-legacy)

I love to write in my journals during my morning study time.

Elder Packham has different journals for different purposes.

We were called to be Record Preservation Specialists.  We believe in making and preserving records of our lives.  Through our journals, books, histories, photographs, and recordings, some day, Elder Packham's descendants will read his testimony, try his favorite recipe, appreciate his humor, and learn from his challenges.  Quite possible, they may also look at the ads in the newspaper from June 14, 2015 and exclaim, "what old fashioned cars they had...they didn't even fly!"