28 April 2018
Last Saturday Bob and I drove to Manti (about a two-hour drive) and
attended the Manti Utah Temple. (Since it’s outside our mission boundaries, we
got permission to go.) This temple was completed in 1888, the third temple to
be built west of the Mississippi. Though extensive renovations were completed
in 1985, they kept the character of the historic building, restoring murals and
original furniture, etc. We loved being there! Almost all of the
seats are wooden benches, but, we weren't uncomfortable. The celestial room, however,
has cushioned seating – and it’s the first time I ever sat in a platform rocker
in the temple! (There were only two of them, but, I couldn’t resist.) :-)
On Monday, I won a prize at
our bi-monthly Aloha dinner (when we welcome new missionaries and say farewell
to the ones who are leaving.) The man who serves as the MC at our dinners is
from Hawaii, and he announced that if anyone knew the state fish of Hawaii and
could tell him how many letters are in the name, they’d win a prize. Luckily, I
knew that the state fish of Hawaii is humu humu nuku nuku apua a, and that it
has 21 letters. I won a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts that I shared
with our zone the next day. It’s always fun to win a prize!
This week Bob (Elder
Crenshaw) organized a zone conference (our first one) and we had a special
speaker.
Brother Eric Diazenza is from the Republic of
Congo (or, West Congo) and is working here in the Church Office Building with
the oral genealogy program. His story is interesting. He was studying to be a
priest in the Catholic Church. (Had already completed six years of seminary.) But,
during the terrible civil war in his country in 1998, many of the priests were
targeted and killed, so it wasn’t safe for them to stay at the churches. Many
of them went home to stay temporarily with family. During that time, his family
interacted quite a bit with a neighbor family, who were LDS. Eric ended up
learning about and joining the Church. The problem for him was that along with separating
himself from his former religion, he was also giving up his expected career
path. Soon, he moved to South Africa and completed a degree in math. While
there he taught middle grades and created a best practices program for other
teachers.
He also married and began his family, and
eventually was able to come to the United States.
Because he knows the people and the cultures
of the many villages in Africa, he has been an invaluable help in guiding parts
of the oral genealogy program.
Many, many villages, all over Africa, only
have an oral tradition for keeping records. (Written records primarily exist in
the bigger cities.) There is a saying that when an old man dies, a library
burns. For these villages, that’s literally true. Starting about five
years ago, extensive efforts are being made to interview the village leaders – the
ones who have memorized all of the family history/genealogy - and, to record
the information while these people are still alive. Then, once the histories
are recorded, they’re transcribed and processed so they will be available
on-line for others to research. In each village where interviews are made, a
copy of the records are given to the village for their own future use. It’s
amazing how many thousands of records have already been recorded and how many
millions more are still to be done! We love being a small part of this great
work.
It’s been a good week!
