The near-end of January signified many things for us; 1- We survived the coldest and longest month of the year! (or so it felt) 2-It's nearly time for Rob's birthday! (More on that next week) 3- It's now perhaps the time we should activate our international medical coverage since it can only be done at the beginning of each month. (February is surely the month we leave for India, no?!?)
Although we've been told not to bother the Travel Department, we thought item #3 merited at least an email to see how the visa applications were coming along. What we learned is they are still waiting for one last pokey Elder to submit his application so they can all be sent in the same batch. So 2 weeks later, after we went to the effort to get ours in the very next day, we learn they are still at Church Headquarters and haven't even been submitted to India. Gahhh! Their educated guess of departure was, once submitted, it can take anywhere from 25-60 days to receive the visas back with the average time being 37. Well, yippee-ki- yi-yo. And here's where it gets a little crazy-making. Remember how we put February 22nd as our day of arrival in India on the last application? Because this is no longer feasible, won't that mean we will all have to reapply again? And couldn't this same cycle just keep continuing ad nauseum? I'm afraid we've entered a wormhole that has no end! But we are maybe imagining the worst. This is where we have to take a big huge deep breath and apply our latest mantra:
Favorite Visitors This Week - a darling group of teens from a special needs school in Provo. We worked with them one on one. Their teachers had prepared them well to enter all their parents and grandparents' information into Familysearch. You can tell by their photo what fun, unique, and delightful personalities they had! I got to work with Demetrio who had an awesome mixture of Mexican and Native American heritage. It was amazing to see his Native American branch pop. As we clicked on various ancestors, Pretty Voice Woman, He Runs Away, etc. it was interesting to see that there was sparse documented sources but plenty of photos and stories which implies tons of oral history passed down from generation to generation. 
Yet ANOTHER family member came to visit us this week! Our new son-in-law Tom, who's married to Kinzi, came down for meetings all day in connection with his church employment. He wanted to get on the road back to Burley before it got too dark but we had just enough time to print out some 2'x3' fan charts for him, his parents, and a sibling before we sent him on his way with a big happy grin, knowing his gifts will be treasured by his family. We think he's the treasure!I think I may have mentioned last blog that tomorrow (Sunday) we are planning a Young Adult Indian dinner at our place after church, so yesterday (Friday)we took Sowmya shopping for all the necessities to make the meal at a great little market with "ethnically universal" groceries. She and her girlfriend are going to amaze us with their culinary skills! We can't wait!
India Central ala SLC
While there, we met a man and who we thought was his son, helping him do the shopping. We couldn't help ourselves but start up a conversation with them, found out they were from Chennai which is in our mission, only to learn this was his daughter, not his son. Oops! I am always so impressed with little Indian children. Her English was so clear and concise and she was not shy to talk to adults. When I told her I used to be a school teacher and loved Kindergartners the father wanted to take a picture of me with her. so I asked if I could take one too of them.
Well that about wraps up the highs and lows of the week but let's end on a high note with:
"GREAT MOMENTS IN FAMILY HISTORY"
This event did not happen in the library but over the phone. Rob's brother Steve, after hearing us talk about various ancestors in the Dunlap Tree in our blogs, was curious if he could gain access to all this free-for-the-taking information. But of course! So Rob called his brother in Boise and with a teleconference, helped him open up a free account and taught him how to navigate the intricacies that is Familysearch. I enjoyed just listening to the two of them banter, laugh, gasp in awe and amazement together while they shared funny and touching memories of their dad, mom, and grandparents for a good half hour. They have such a close brotherly bond that I admire and am so grateful for. Steve and his wife Penny have been so very supportive of us going on this mission and I think Rob was truly happy to share some of what we've learned to do these past couple of months with his brother. We see this same joy that Rob & Steve felt almost daily in people who come into the library from all over the world. It is real. I feel a twinge of sadness for people who are estranged from their family because I know those family relationships are eternal, that we are all born into our family and life situations by divine design and they don't need to be divided by death, shunning, or estrangement. I know firsthand that the Savior Jesus Christ has the power to heal the broken branches of our family trees. If we come unto Him with humble hearts, he can mend our hurts and misunderstandings. I also know too that because He broke the bands of death, he offers the whole human race "ethnically universal" resurrection. We will all live again and can enjoy these family relationships though Christ's Atonement and beautiful and eternal Plan of Happiness. Have a good week everyone and go hug someone in your family you love immediately! Life is short!
P.S. If any of you would like to read of happenings in India, may we recommend our friends the Neff's blog below. They are Humanitarian missionaries in the New Delhi mission and we love hearing and seeing in photos what they are experiencing.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Loved your post!!
ReplyDeleteI could definitely stand to grow in my flexibility! Y’all have the best attitudes, and also I hope things start moving along more quickly for ya!
ReplyDelete