We entered the MTC in Provo on October 14, 2013, and spent one week learning and having great experiences with the “Preach My Gospel” manual. During our time there, we lived at our home: we commuted the 6 miles every day to the MTC and back home at night. The training was very helpful to me because I learned through doing it, that I could teach missionary lessons to the various “investigators” at the MTC. They role-play as investigators, but are really Church members from the community who volunteer to act the part. I had always been scared to approach people about the gospel unless they showed interest first, but I found out I could do just fine and my confidence level went way up!
On Tuesday nights at the MTC, a General Authority speaks at a devotional for the missionaries. While we were there, the speaker was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. At the MTC, the Spirit of the Lord is so strong and so active in everyone’s life that you can just feel it and bask in it, and learning becomes much easier and we retain the information and feelings instead of forgetting after a while.
We also had a second week of missionary training, but it was in Salt Lake City at the Church Office Building. We were taught how to digitally photograph historical records which are quite old and fragile. Before we began this training, we wondered how just learning to “punch a button on a camera” could require 4 full days of instruction, but we soon found out! The work is very technical and there is much to learn to be able to get the best image possible. We learned how to position the huge camera, focus the lens and how many pixels are needed for a clear image, how to make any needed adjustments in order to have the entire document in the frame of readability. The vocabulary alone was entirely new to us and there was much to learn. Finally on the last day of training, we were tested on being able to do the entire process without any coaching, and Larry and I did it! It felt great to realize that we really could retain the strange new things we had been taught, and then to use them correctly and quickly. Hopefully our trainers in Ohio will feel that we have learned sufficiently.
The only difficult part of the Salt Lake training was the bedtime and wake-up schedule we had to keep. We had to catch the train about 5 miles from our home, at 6:58 each morning, which means we had to get up at 5 a.m.—an unheard-of hour for either of us! The train ride took one hour, then we transferred to the TRAX (like Metro) to get into the city, then walked the 3 long Salt Lake blocks to the Church Office Building. Reverse this to go home at night. Training was from 8:30 to 4 or 4:30. We ate lunch each day in the cafeteria and it was very delicious—I am glad I do not work there every day because it was TOO delicious!
All in all, we met some wonderful people in both training weeks and had lots of fun, too! It’s the best thing we ever did! (That is also what we said about our first mission! Things just keep getting better and better!)
Friday, October 25, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Email From Brumfields about Cleveland
11 September 2013
Elder and Sister Goff,
It took a little while but here is our letter to you with information to acquaint you and give you a feel the record preservation activities that you will be involved with.
We love downtown Cleveland. Cleveland has worked hard for the past few years to make the city beautiful again. One of our volunteers, Carol, worked out a ‘gawking’ tour of downtown for us. She sent us to several buildings and said for us to go in and look at the beautiful old architecture and then go to the next. It is fun and takes only an hour or so, depending on how long you choose to gawk. Below is the courthouse where we work; you will enjoy, at times when you take a break, just walking around in the upper floors to see the beauty that exists here.
(Note added by Pat on 1/5/2014: photos of workplace and courthouse are by Larry and Pat, instead of Brumfields)
Another view of your work station, you can use the setup with the fluorescent lights or they can be removed and the flood lamps positioned for use. In this picture you can see the X-key on the desk just below the black board; the X-key has eighteen buttons that we use to delete and insert images but the main use is to select the appropriate template for the size and orientation of the document to image. To the left of the X-key is the ‘touch pad’ which is used when there is more than one document of the same size. With the large number of documents using these tools, we can image quickly and efficiently. The camera is shown on the vertical frame. After retrieving the records from the file room, they are brought into a work room for our use in preparing the documents for imaging. Each document has to be unfolded and flattened, then placed in order by date. When needed, we use a regular hot iron to help flatten documents. After a few weeks of working here we became very comfortable with document preparation and imaging. Sister Brumfield and I share time with one preparing documents and the other imaging throughout the day.
The Area: We live in a very good area. The drive to work takes 20 - 25 minutes. For most of the way the speed limit is 35mph except for the last few miles when reaching downtown when it is 50mph. We enjoy looking at the beautiful homes along the way. There are shopping centers and malls within a ten mile radius of the apartment. You will enjoy checking out the various downtown areas of the villages (little towns). Another side benefit is the pier across the street from our apartment complex on Lake Erie. At sunset there are people who just come out to watch the sun go down; below is a picture of the pier and a sunset earlier this summer. Yours, Elder and Sister Brumfield
Elder and Sister Goff,
It took a little while but here is our letter to you with information to acquaint you and give you a feel the record preservation activities that you will be involved with.
We love downtown Cleveland. Cleveland has worked hard for the past few years to make the city beautiful again. One of our volunteers, Carol, worked out a ‘gawking’ tour of downtown for us. She sent us to several buildings and said for us to go in and look at the beautiful old architecture and then go to the next. It is fun and takes only an hour or so, depending on how long you choose to gawk. Below is the courthouse where we work; you will enjoy, at times when you take a break, just walking around in the upper floors to see the beauty that exists here.
(Note added by Pat on 1/5/2014: photos of workplace and courthouse are by Larry and Pat, instead of Brumfields)
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| Cuyahoga County, Ohio courthouse where we work |
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| front entrance of courthouse |
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| Intricately carved wooden doors to courtrooms |
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| Marble walls and floors, murals, gold lamp posts |
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| Lady Justice stained glass window and marble staircase |
Another view of your work station, you can use the setup with the fluorescent lights or they can be removed and the flood lamps positioned for use. In this picture you can see the X-key on the desk just below the black board; the X-key has eighteen buttons that we use to delete and insert images but the main use is to select the appropriate template for the size and orientation of the document to image. To the left of the X-key is the ‘touch pad’ which is used when there is more than one document of the same size. With the large number of documents using these tools, we can image quickly and efficiently. The camera is shown on the vertical frame. After retrieving the records from the file room, they are brought into a work room for our use in preparing the documents for imaging. Each document has to be unfolded and flattened, then placed in order by date. When needed, we use a regular hot iron to help flatten documents. After a few weeks of working here we became very comfortable with document preparation and imaging. Sister Brumfield and I share time with one preparing documents and the other imaging throughout the day.
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| Pat at preparation table |
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| Larry at preparation table |
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| Pat at digital imaging camera |
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| Larry at camera |
The Area: We live in a very good area. The drive to work takes 20 - 25 minutes. For most of the way the speed limit is 35mph except for the last few miles when reaching downtown when it is 50mph. We enjoy looking at the beautiful homes along the way. There are shopping centers and malls within a ten mile radius of the apartment. You will enjoy checking out the various downtown areas of the villages (little towns). Another side benefit is the pier across the street from our apartment complex on Lake Erie. At sunset there are people who just come out to watch the sun go down; below is a picture of the pier and a sunset earlier this summer. Yours, Elder and Sister Brumfield
Sunday, September 8, 2013
From the Elder and Sister Brumfield
Elder and Sister Goff, (an email from our trainers in the mission)
We are looking forward to your arrival and serving in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. We love our work with record preservation in the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. We know that this work is blessing those whose names are upon the records and will be a great blessing to those around the world who will use them to gather their family names.
You will love the beauty of the courthouse along with many other buildings in downtown Cleveland. When we are able to, we enjoy exploring Cleveland. We love the people at the courthouse. They have been kind and supportive; though we are not allowed to proselyte we can discuss Family Search, which in its own way can open the door for teaching the gospel later.
We will send you a letter with pictures of what we do. We will discuss our work so that you will have an idea of our daily tasks.
The Mission Staff along with several sets of missionaries live in the apartment complex we live in. They are a very good group. You will enjoy walking a few hundred yards to the shore of Lake Erie to relax and enjoy the view.
You will love President and Sister Vellinga; they are truly called to lead this mission at this time. Also, you will have many opportunities to visit the Kirtland Historical Site. This will include a very special tour in which you and other new missionaries will visit the Kirtland Temple and the Whitney Store with President Vellinga.
Elder and Sister Brumfield
We are looking forward to your arrival and serving in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. We love our work with record preservation in the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. We know that this work is blessing those whose names are upon the records and will be a great blessing to those around the world who will use them to gather their family names.
You will love the beauty of the courthouse along with many other buildings in downtown Cleveland. When we are able to, we enjoy exploring Cleveland. We love the people at the courthouse. They have been kind and supportive; though we are not allowed to proselyte we can discuss Family Search, which in its own way can open the door for teaching the gospel later.
We will send you a letter with pictures of what we do. We will discuss our work so that you will have an idea of our daily tasks.
The Mission Staff along with several sets of missionaries live in the apartment complex we live in. They are a very good group. You will enjoy walking a few hundred yards to the shore of Lake Erie to relax and enjoy the view.
You will love President and Sister Vellinga; they are truly called to lead this mission at this time. Also, you will have many opportunities to visit the Kirtland Historical Site. This will include a very special tour in which you and other new missionaries will visit the Kirtland Temple and the Whitney Store with President Vellinga.
Elder and Sister Brumfield
Friday, August 2, 2013
Preparing and then receiving the mission call
Our preparation to receive the call:
We felt that it was time to go again, after being home for 2-1/2 years. In accordance with this feeling, we went to our bishop and told him we wanted to serve a mission. He opened for us the Missionary Recommendation forms on the Internet. We each had our own set of forms and similar questions. Much thought and prayer went into the answers we gave. Some of the questions were about present and former Church callings, jobs we had in the world of work, hobbies and interests and our abilities to teach others those skills, our feelings about whether we were comfortable with people of different cultures or levels of society (whether they were poor, uneducated, or affluent and well-trained).
We also had forms for physical exams by the doctor, dental exams, immunizations, etc. It took us about 2 months to complete all the medical and dental items and to finish the personal pages. When we were finished, we told the bishop and gave him our medical and dental forms, and he gave them to the stake president, whose secretary entered our medical and dental information onto the computer. The president interviewed us and then sent our computerized applications and info to the Missionary Committee in Salt Lake City on July 3, 2013, and we began the fun waiting process.
It normally takes about three weeks to a month for a mission call to be made and sent to the missionary. After 3 weeks had passed, we began in earnest to hope that each day it would arrive in our mailbox. Finally on Friday, August 2, it came, a large white envelope from the Office of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were SO EXCITED! We had just arrived home from working in the temple all day and were very tired, but soon forgot about anything else but the call!
Immediately we texted our sons and arranged to meet at our house or join us in phone call at 6:45 p.m. that night. We had a little guessing game of where we would be going, with every family member, including us, making a guess. No one guessed correctly, but at least everyone knew where Ohio is, and it was not like our first mission call to Cape Verde where no one knew its location! Matt, Dan, and Joe and Shaylee came to our house; Sherrie and the other children were in Idaho at their cabin; and Davy and family were in Mississippi (Air Force base). They joined us in the 3-way phone call.
We felt wonderful when we read the call to Cleveland, Ohio in Family History Records Preservation! We both knew immediately through the Holy Spirit that this was the right place and work for us. We feel so happy about it, and that we will be leaving on the exact date that we had said we would be available, October 14. Photos were posted on Facebook, along with news of our call.
We felt that it was time to go again, after being home for 2-1/2 years. In accordance with this feeling, we went to our bishop and told him we wanted to serve a mission. He opened for us the Missionary Recommendation forms on the Internet. We each had our own set of forms and similar questions. Much thought and prayer went into the answers we gave. Some of the questions were about present and former Church callings, jobs we had in the world of work, hobbies and interests and our abilities to teach others those skills, our feelings about whether we were comfortable with people of different cultures or levels of society (whether they were poor, uneducated, or affluent and well-trained).
We also had forms for physical exams by the doctor, dental exams, immunizations, etc. It took us about 2 months to complete all the medical and dental items and to finish the personal pages. When we were finished, we told the bishop and gave him our medical and dental forms, and he gave them to the stake president, whose secretary entered our medical and dental information onto the computer. The president interviewed us and then sent our computerized applications and info to the Missionary Committee in Salt Lake City on July 3, 2013, and we began the fun waiting process.
It normally takes about three weeks to a month for a mission call to be made and sent to the missionary. After 3 weeks had passed, we began in earnest to hope that each day it would arrive in our mailbox. Finally on Friday, August 2, it came, a large white envelope from the Office of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were SO EXCITED! We had just arrived home from working in the temple all day and were very tired, but soon forgot about anything else but the call!
Immediately we texted our sons and arranged to meet at our house or join us in phone call at 6:45 p.m. that night. We had a little guessing game of where we would be going, with every family member, including us, making a guess. No one guessed correctly, but at least everyone knew where Ohio is, and it was not like our first mission call to Cape Verde where no one knew its location! Matt, Dan, and Joe and Shaylee came to our house; Sherrie and the other children were in Idaho at their cabin; and Davy and family were in Mississippi (Air Force base). They joined us in the 3-way phone call.
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| This is it! |
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
We Are Coming Home Today!!
Well, we are coming home today...well at least it is today for us, but right now it is tomorrow for you. We will be home in just over 12 hours!
Our plane lands at the Salt Lake Airport at 10:15am. Feel free to come visit us at the airport, but if you can't make it, we will definitely have a gathering and invite you all over.
We love you and miss you and are so excited to see all of you again.
Our plane lands at the Salt Lake Airport at 10:15am. Feel free to come visit us at the airport, but if you can't make it, we will definitely have a gathering and invite you all over.
We love you and miss you and are so excited to see all of you again.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Our Last Weekend in Cabo Verde
Hello--we got our internet restored Monday night--a technician ACTUALLY CAME to help us! So now you can all write your last email to us!
We are very excited to see you in less than a week! We are able to finish things up here and still have time for memory-making friendships and activities.
The Young Adults have been on Santo Antao island the past four days (Mon-Thurs) painting a school, so we have not had Outreach activities, but tomorrow we will have the quarterly birthday party for those born Jan-Mar. They want me to make brownies, their favorite treat, and to play the keyboard while one of the young men plays his guitar and wooden flute--we have been practicing and are pretty good sounding together. He plays guitar very well and sings the traditional CaboVerdian music called "Morna"--it is beautiful, nostalgic, real soul music--he made me a CD of it with professional artists.
Our visitor from Germany (really from England but works for the Church in Germany where he and his family have moved)--it was pure delight to meet with him! And not just because he speaks British English-- we received from him lots of good ideas to leave with the people here. He was only here for two days, but it was fun. Our other visitors are from Salt Lake, and have Church business interests in these islands. They are good friends who have come before, and are here for a week in our city. Tonight we will all go out to dinner and have a good talk. You wonder if we really have time to be social with all the work left to do, but actually things are going so smoothly that we do have chunks of time to spend enjoying our friends.
The water project for our city has been put on hold until the new couple arrives (who or when is still the question--we are only assured that there will be one). The government did their part just fine, but the other company we are working with for the project is not ready for contracts yet, so we just have to leave it for a while. 'Tis sad.
The cement playing field at the school has been poured and looks very nice, great work--we are happy about it. The prison leaders are giving us an official send-off party on Saturday after our gospel class. We will surely miss the men and women there that we have become friends with--guards and prisoners alike. It is a minimum security prison, not like a penitentiary. We have always felt safe there, and it has been true joy to serve them and see the light of hope come to their eyes when they feel our caring and love and the light of the gospel. The head doctor at Red Cross is a young man, very sharp, and a good friend to us--we are invited to lunch with him today for his birthday. The missionaries in both districts here gave us a party on Monday, their P-Day, at our house. It was supposed to be a potluck lunch, but nobody had time to cook that morning since they had to do all the other P-Day activities first, so everyone brought a treat--cookies, cake, brownies, pop--we watched the movie "Mountain of the Lord". We attended the weekly district missionary meeting on Wed., it was called our "funeral" which means the last meeting with the group. We bore our testimonies and we each gave a little talk, then had lunch--all treats again!! It's just funny, and they are all dear to us, so we have fun with them no matter what.
Tomorrow we pack, and give away to the missionaries any food that will not keep for months. We also want to visit the beach once more and listen to the soothing sound of the waves--we will miss that.
We will see you Wednesday!
Love, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Elder and Sister
Friday, February 25, 2011
18 Days and Counting
I would like to thank Bubbles for standing in here and being our Countdown Model to welcome the Pat and Larry home.
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