HALLELUJAH!! HE HAS RISEN!!!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday.  We woke to birds singing and a cloudless sunny day.  As I was walking down the hall headed to the parking garage, I passed a couple coming from their flat and I said good morning.  His reply was, "He Has Risen"!  I smiled and said, "Yes, he has!"  I walked with them down to the garage - they were also on their way to church.  As we were leaving them, he again said, "He Has Risen!" The four Lees drove an hour to attend a Pretoria Ward that met in the Stake Centre.  Our reason for choosing that ward was to finish the inventory of the Family History Centre's computers and printers.  As we settled in the chapel waiting for Sacrament meeting to begin, a sister came in and sat in front of us.  She turned to introduce herself and we visited for about 5 minutes.  I then asked her if they had a family history consultant in the ward.  She said that she thought so but didn't know who it was yet but that she (meaning the sister we were talking to) was the Stake Family History Consultant.  We told her that we were family history missionaries from the Area office and we wanted to check the computers in the family history centre to make sure they were in good working order, etc.  She told us that she had the keys to the centre and she would meet us in the foyer after church.  Okay, what are the odds that just the person we needed to find happened to sit in front of us in the chapel?  We spoke to the bishop and he told us that the ward consultant was there also and he would introduce her to us after the meeting.

Sacrament meeting was wonderful.  They had a "Primary Choir" that sang.  One of the young girls in Primary sang a solo called "He Sent His Son" and then again did the descant (I think that is the word) while the other children sang "Fairest Lord Jesus".  She was probably ten and she sang with confidence and clarity and a truly lovely voice.  I was so happy we were able to hear her sing.  I spoke to her mother afterward to tell her how wonderful her daughter's singing was.  She was holding one baby girl in her arms while the baby twin sister was in the stroller.  The daughter who sang skipped away with a brother.  A lovely family!

After Sacrament meeting, we met both consultants in the foyer and made our way to the family history centre.  Because of so much theft, all rooms that hold anything of value are behind a locked door and a locked security gate.  The computers in the family history centre are locked by cables and kept in individual locked cabinets.  We were pleased to see that only two of the four cabinet locks were broken.   Truly, these metal cabinets don't take much to break them open.  Anyway, they had four computers, a microfilm reader, a microfiche reader and a printer.  It was a nicely appointed FHC.  So far, the nicest one we have seen.  We took down the necessary inventory numbers and then for the next two hours we sat and trained these two lovely ladies.  I worked with the ward consultant and Allan worked with the stake consultant.  We had some trouble with the printer but, other than that, we spent a very productive two hours.  When we were closing everything down I asked the stake consultant if she felt our time with them had been worthwhile.  She said that she had been praying for help with her calling and with the Family Tree program in Family Search.  She told me that prayers are answered because there we were to help her. This particular ward is one that Brent and Charlene are responsible for and they set up a meeting to come again in two weeks to teach. This is what we do on Sundays - we visit and train where we are needed.  None of the family history missionaries are assigned a home ward.  We travel to all the stakes and wards and branches where we feel we will make the biggest difference.

We drove home and prepared for our Easter Dinner with some other couples.  We met at 3:00 pm for a potluck - we really had a feast!  Foods that were brought: ham, BBQ ribs, breakfast casserole, fruit salads, pork wraps, cinnamon rolls, orange rolls, chocolate cookies and bread pudding.  We gathered together after the meal and watched the Easter video the church released and also the video of the Hallelujah Chorus being sung by the largest virtual choir ever.  It started with the Tabernacle Choir and then pictures appeared from all over the world of people singing along with the choir.  Donnie Osmond was one of the faces and others looked familiar - it was AMAZING!

After we went back to our flat, we read scriptures and then settled in for the remainder of the evening.  Allan to his computer and genealogy - me to work on the blog.

HALLELUJAH!!  HE HAS RISEN!!!

Here is a picture of the group - our hosts were the couple on the back row on the right.  

Backrow L-R; Elder and Sister Beckstrand, Elder and Sister Coleman, Elder and Sister Powell

Middle Row L-R: Elder and Sister Blake, Elder and Sister Gatten

Front Row L-R: The Lees (Cindy, Allan, Brent and Charlene)