Journal

I’ve never been a consistent journal keeper. But alas, there’s nothing like a graded assignment that kindles the fire! This initial post will be longer to paint a picture and lay a groundwork for future weeks.

Homework Time Again

I’ve enrolled back at BYU-I through Pathways to finally get this degree. The motivation being that I was recently trying to find a new job. I had many great interviews. Time after time, it would hinge upon the fact that I did not actually have a degree though I far exceeded the skills needed. So here I am. I love learning…on my own terms. Resentment aside, I am grateful to be in a position to do it. It is requiring a major sacrifice of precious time however.

After my divorce during the pandemic, I thrust myself into many projects to keep myself distracted and to self-soothe. Family history work, The Book of Nelson, virtual book clubs, language learning and teaching, etc have kept me pretty busy.

Spinning Plates

At the moment I am the financial clerk for the Malta Ward. As soon as we get the tithing finished and mailed off, I pick up my mom and we drive to Burley to be consultants at the Burley FamilySearch Center from 2-6pm. I teach a class at 4 and 5. Fourth Sundays we set aside for Spanish speaking. We’ve only had 1 hispanic patron so far this season. Sundays are a good exhausting.

Mondays at 1pm (during my lunch break) I teach Beginning Biblical Hebrew via zoom. There’s a repeat class on Thursday evenings at 8 for those who can’t make it during the day time. Tuesdays I’ve been helping a friend with some construction projects. Wednesdays is our in-person book club which I host at my house for locals. We are currently studying Cory Jensen’s Understanding Your Endowment. It’s excellent! Saturdays I wake up just in time to host a book club for the Isaiah Institute. We are currently a quarter of the way through Avraham’s 24-part lecture series: “Dreams, Visions and Near-death Experiences Compared to the Prophecy of Isaiah.” It’s my favorite way to start off my weekend. I then serve in the Twin Falls House of the Lord from 3-9pm. It’s been so fun being apart of such a diverse group of patrons; Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Swahili, ASL. My previous Friday mid-shift was basically just English.

Genealogy Rising

This past summer has been a little underwhelming for my class attendance at the FamilySearch Center. I get it though; summers are extremely busy. Yesterday was our first day back into the swing of things and we had quite a few there that were soaking up everything about Goldie May. I was so excited. It lit the fire again to start up my fall class line up. Genealogy has had its fair share of ups and downs for me over the past couple of years. Things will be going great and super busy for a couple of months and then they flatline. I’m excited to be on the precipice of another hike.

Coupled with my new computer languages that I’m learning, the brainstorming has officially began again in regards to family history. My Genie Greenie project is just calling for me. But I’m so stretched for time. I have to find other people to help, or limit my current load, or something! My burning desire is to help bridge that gap between boomer-genealogy and millennial-genealogy. There’s such a lack of engaging and meaningful training for the upcoming generations. My vision will hopefully help fill that niche.