High Praise for Eric

We were very pleased to receive this letter from one of the senior missionaries who works with
Eric:

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Dear Brother and Sister Larson,

My husband, Elder Haddock, is the Zone Leader for the British Zone.  We are so pleased to have Elder Larson in our Zone.  He has faithfully been here every day and has been diligent in his efforts in the training.  He has been very quiet and polite.

I was glad to see him attend the choir practice for our Stake Conference last night with a group of young Elders.  The choir members will sit in the choir seats in the Tabernacle next Sunday and perform at the Ensign Stake Conference.

The British Zone has several requirements for full-time missionaries to learn all the sources for information in the various countries in the British Isles.  This procedure requires several hours of focused work and Elder Larson has worked well.  Today he passed the Apprentice program.  This is a major accomplishment and we are so proud of him.  He has learned how to use various websites, maps, gazetteers, read microfilm and microfische.

Now he will begin the Journeyman program which gives more in depth training in each specific country.  He will be studying England and Wales next.

Please let him know how pleased you are with his progress.

Feel free to contact us anytime.

Sincerely,

Sister Haddock
British Zone
Family History Library

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Week Seven

When Andrew doesn't send me e-mails I'm just going to send him random junk now.  And before I forget I have been informed that I'm not allowed to use the G-mail chat feature with you guys.  I'm not in trouble because I didn't know but yeah I can't do that anymore, sorry.

Also before I forget, I totally keep forgetting to tell you guys that there is a senior couple here, Elder and Sister Larson (I don't know their first names), and I found out that we are indeed related.  Elder Larson is a descendant of Mons Larson's second wife whereas we are descendants of the first.  I knew when they said that they were from Arizona that there's a chance we're probably related so I checked and we indeed are.  I asked them if they've met Theo Larson and they said they have at a family reunion.  So cool stuff.

I'm actually really beating myself up because I've been wondering for some time now why Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing was taken out of the Hymn book AND THAT WAS A LITERALLY PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO ASK AND I FORGOT (the fireside with the music chairman Brother Klopfer).  My guess though is because most of the folk like hymns like Amazing Grace and such aren't in there anymore, and I think Come Thou Fount falls under that category.  Plus I don't think they knew at the time that it would be like one of the most requested songs by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

(Brian's note: The church has never given an official reason why some hymns were left out other than to indicate that they followed the spirit and there were too many hymns to include all of them in the book.)

So I'm finally on really good terms with my roommates now.  We always got along just fine but now we're actually really good at having conversations now.  And then I got the word on Wednesday that Elder Scotto and I are moving out...I guess that's how a mission works.  At least I will still be in the same building though.  Even though I have to haul my junk up two flights of stairs.

My roommates don't really share their stuff with me, which is totally fine with me because I'm a believer in buy what you want and then eat it.  So when they were freaking out about how much candy I had and trying to steal it from me it really upset me.  They were mainly just fooling around though.

For my birthday can you get me a pocket Hymn book?  Because I really want one of those.  Or you can just send me a gift card for Deseret Book and I can buy one there.  I'd like a blue one.  I'm planning to eat at Crown Burger for my birthday and I've already got a group of Elders that are willing to go with me.

Well we're not shopping at Wal-mart again today because of another freak snowstorm bursting out of the ether from nowhere.  Looks like it's another horrid Harmon's run!  (At least I have my own bags now.)

I got a letter from Mariah on Wednesday which really cheered me up because I wasn't expecting anything since you and dad were gone.  She's going on a mission to Helsinki, Finland in April.  To quote Patrick, "FINLAND!"  Because that's pretty much how I reacted.

Another thing I've been meaning to show you guys before I forget.  President Peterson (the mission president) gave a talk in the 2001 October conference that was pretty good, so I'll share that with you:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2001/10/our-actions-determine-our-character?lang=eng&query=wayne+s.+peterson

And he had an article in the December 2003 Friend:

http://www.lds.org/friend/2003/12/friend-to-friend-live-worthy-to-return-home?lang=eng&query=wayne+s.+peterson

A lot [of] missionaries say that they can see their mission president becoming a general authority, and my mission president already was one! Yay!

They're going to start assigning me to help patrons this week so I can finally say I'm doing that.  I still have to train for Ireland, Scotland, and Australia because I still only know how to do England and Wales, but since the majority of patrons are there for that they think I'm ready to start helping.

Anyway I finally have some pictures so here you go:

(Eric's roommates - Elder Simpson, Elder Scotto, and Elder Peterson. Elder Peterson is the district leader)

(Eric with Elder Davis, who is an assistant to the president. Eric didn't say who is in the background.)

(Eric says, "Elder Simpson asked me to take a picture of him being sexy...")

(Eric says, "This is Elder Simpson taking a picture of me with my camera and not getting the hint that I'm trying to get ready to go to bed.)

(This is Elder Tabor, who usually greets people as they come into the library.)

(This is where Eric works while he is being trained.)

(This is where Eric will work to help patrons.)

(Eric says, "The break room in the British Staff area.  There's usually about 1 or 2 Seniors asleep in here.")

(Eric says, "Another part of the break room.  This is where I blow my nose all day.")

(Eric says, "We have many shelves that contain what I believe to be the most boring books you will ever find. They have lots of useful information, but you'd have to be nuts to pick one up for leisure reading.")

(Eric says, "My side of the room.  Since I have two calenders the year will go by twice as fast!  That's how math works right?")

(Elder Scotto's side of the room.)

(Elder Davis petting an inflatable cat.)

Week Six

Poor Eric. No animals, no laughing, no beautiful weather, and his mother lets him down again. Sigh. AND, I guess I never taught him to share.
-----------------------------------------
Last week you told me you would tell me why Becca was getting acupuncture in a letter, only to get a list of fiber cereals.  Then I thought it would be in this e-mail, nope just another list of fiber cereals.  Oh well thanks for doing the research for me.

I chose Raisin Bran because after studying several of the cereal boxes mentioned in this list I decided that Raisin Bran was the perfect balance of price, fiber, taste, and size.  FiberOne cereals are ridiculously expensive and their boxes are like half the size of Raisin Bran so I just don't think it's worth it in the long run.

I got the package two days before Valentine's Day and was pretty surprised.  I haven't even finished eating the Skittles you gave me from January.  I have to eat in secret which is kind of hard but if I eat candy and my roomates see me they get really beggy and annoying.  And when I firmly tell them no they sass me all day about how rude and selfish I am.  It's pretty annoying.

I'm really jealous of Hawaii (yes I'm jealous of the state) because the only things I get to see anymore are crusty black month old snow and a roommate chewing with his mouth open.  I haven't seen an animal in forever let alone the ones you are seeing.  When walking home from a fireside at the JSMB chapel I saw a fluffy black kitten that looked exactly like Shadow as a kitten running around Temple Square but he wouldn't let me get near him.  I hope he's okay or has an owner or something.

Even though I'm not far from home Salt Lake City is still a very diverse city and I'm not used to it.  Last Sunday when I was walking to church there was a guy standing by the church door smoking.  It really confused me and I thought about alerting the Branch Presidency in case we needed to ask him to leave or something.  About 5 minutes later when I was sitting in the chapel the man came him, kneeled and crossed himself in the aisle, and then sat right next to me.  He said a short little prayer, got up and crossed himself in the aisle again, and left.  I then turned to the Elder sitting next to me and said "Well I guess no one can say that he didn't come to church today."  And he didn't laugh because still no one has a sense of humor over here.

The other night when "How Firm a Foundation" started playing I started singing "How Found a Firmdation!" and everyone looked at me weird and corrected me.  I said "I know...it's a joke...MY FAMILY WOULD HAVE LAUGHED!" 

I'm still only about 1/4 of my way through the training in British Services but I'm nearly done with the England & Wales portion of it.  Once I complete that I'll be able to help patrons out on the floor, I'll still have to continue my training of Ireland, Scotland, and Australia though when I'm not scheduled to help patrons.  I should start doing that sometime this week.  People still occasionally ask me for help (because like I said, they usually want someone young and computer savy to help them) and I'm able to help them with simple problems but I usually just have to say "I can try to help but let me get someone that knows what they're doing as well."  And then we both help.  Then I find out that the someone I grabbed knows just about as much as me even though they supposedly went through all the training.  So as far as I'm concerned I'm ready as I'll ever be to help.

Going back to the fireside I mentioned earlier, it was a fireside by Brother and Sister Klopfer.  Brother Klopfer is the head music director of the church, and both of them were the ones that wrote the Hymn "Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth."  And when the 80's Hymn book was being compiled Brother Klopfer was one of the ones working on that.  He told a story about how Called to Serve got in the Hymn book.  He said at a fireside with the presidency addressing all the mission president that at the end of the fireside many missionaries both Elders and Sisters came into the Assembly Hall singing Called to Serve.  At that time it was a relativity unknown song from the old Primary Song Book.  They said that the spirit was so strong that Elder Packer just demanded that song be a Hymn.  The Hymn book was completed and was ready to be put into circulation that year when they were all told that they needed to add another Hymn.  It all turned out to be okay though because can you imagine what our Church would be like if we didn't all know Called To Serve?

Speaking of the Assembly Hall, I had another fireside their too.  There are four famous and historical pipe organs in Temple Square.  One in the JSMB chapel, one in the Assembly Hall, one in the Conference Center, and the biggest one in the Tabernacle.  Once I go to conference I will have heard them all.  Pretty cool.

My stomach and bum are back to their relative health but I still have a painful bathroom visit every now and again.  I would have said that earlier but this seems like a pretty funny way to end an e-mail.

Week Five

Man all I've only shopped at Harmon's once, every time since has been at Wal-mart.  The Wal-mart there is very interesting.  It's incredibly diverse.  I think the area it's in must be around a muslim neighborhood or something because there are a lot more muslims there than I expected to see in Utah.  

I'm not actually just living off of ginger ale and pizza rolls I was just joking.

I've been tracing Joseph Henry Sutcliffe's line. I don't know who Joseph Henry Sutcliffe is it's just in the training manual.  I'm sure he's the ancestor of one of the senior missionaries or something. 

And the guy at the Bishop's Storehouse said they get visitors from the army, national guard, and such because they really want to find out how the mormons always manage to be the first ones there when it comes to disaster relief.  

And why is Becca getting acupuncture? 

Oh and thanks for the camera but now I don't have anything to connect that one to the computer because the cord I have doesn't fit it.  

Also sorry I confused you about not sending you an e-mail last week but you confused me.  I'm living in my own little world over here and when I don't get a letter or an e-mail from my mom that week I don't know what to think, so I just reply to the people that have e-mailed me.  

My training is still hard but I'm learning a lot.  I can trace genealogies back to the 1500s and even further than that if the family is of nobility.  And that's just in England and Wales, I still haven't learned how to handle Scotland, Ireland, Australia etc.  

And this is kind of a tangent, but do you know how some people say that they can trace their genealogies back to Adam and Eve or Abraham?  Yeah they're lying.  No credible family tree has even managed to get past around 400-100 bc as of yet.  So if they say they're telling the truth they probably have really bad sources or something. 

Just kidding I was way off.  Apparently it's impossible to even trace your lines further than 450 A.D. according to this guy: 

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=e50a05481ae6b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1

I forgot to say that if you're Jewish you can probably trace back your line way further than that, because they have crazy records.  We have plenty of Jewish records here but they're confidential.  Only Jews are allowed to look at them...obviously...

Week Four

Like I probably told you I live in a 4 man apartment now, which I'm not enjoying that much.  All my roommates irritate me in very specific ways and sometimes it gets really hard to stand.  I'm just glad they respect my stuff and don't go through my food or anything because I was actually worried about that when I got here.  I'm also glad that I'm allowed to just walk out and wander around the apartment complex if I want to.  And I also just today created a little song in my head to the tune of "I'm trying to be like Jesus".  I call it "I'm trying to Stand My Roommates."

We got new Elders yesterday so I'm officially no longer a new elder.

My zone is still really hard, but I'm learning a lot.  I'm learning how to find and dig through records that date back to the 1500s, and it's not easy... To give you an idea, prior to the early 1800s the only records kept were by the priests in the local parish or village (In England and Wales they have what are called parishes which is like a county to us, and then they have counties which are states to us, hopefully that's not confusing.)  And the priests pretty much just pulled out a piece of paper and just started scribbling stuff down.

But wait, it gets worse.

Prior to the early 1700s, they kept their records in Latin.

WHHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY?!!?!?!

So I'm pretty much learning basic Latin now too.  I'ts not too hard, though.  Birth is nati.  Christening is baptismi.  Marriage is matrinonium.  Etc.  The hardest thing I ran into is filius means son, and filia means daughter, but instead of writing out what gender the child being Christened was the particular priest that wrote this particular record just initialed an "F"...Good job.  Good job priest.  That's totally not hard to figure out.

Oh and when they say that John Smith was a popular name in England they are not even kidding.  I found a birth record that was about two pages long, and they were all John Smiths in a certain Parish.  Name your kid something else!...people in the...past... Oh and every girl is named Elizabeth pretty much.
And, yeah.  I'm currently working on a project for filling out a pedigree chart all the way to the 5th generation for some guy named Joseph Henry Sutcliffe.  It's pretty hard.

(You can read this, right?  Yeah I had to find a name on there...)

I got a really short haircut by some other Elders (at least it was free) and unfortunately it made me realize that my hair is indeed already starting to thin.  It's probably only noticeable to someone like me who examines himself in the mirror, but yeah I can definitely tell, which depresses me.

(I got my first free haircuts from some other Elders.  They cut it really short.  And yes I'm thinning.  Oh and this camera blows btw.)

And on Monday our mission went to a trip to the Bishop's Central Storehouse Utah Headquarters thing.  It's where all the other Bishop's Storehouses get their food.  It's gigantic, about 5 Costcos can fit in there.  (It might even be an even crazier number like 15 but I can't remember exactly.)  It's out near the airport and it's pretty new, only a year old.  They also have a lot of cool photography in there to emphasize the fact that this is a very special warehouse.  I took a ton of pictures so I think I'll just attach the entire folder.

I'm currently reading through the New Testament for my first time and I'm enjoying it a lot.  (I know I'm supposed to be reading through D&C but I'm already well acquainted with that.)

And I'm still pretty good at shopping even though I'm pretty much living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches  ginger ale, and pizza rolls.

(This is the view I have every Music and the Spoken Word, it's pretty good.)

(This is how close I sit to Lyod Newell.  Unfortunately my camera is really sensitive to movement, so it looks like it was taken in that plane of existence you enter one you put on the One Ring.  Also, I really hate this camera.)

(The new view from my apartment.  Isn't it beautiful?)