We have had a great week!

July 27, 2014

Dearest Family,   

    Happy Birthday to Aunt Betty on Thursday, Happy 25th Anniversary to Bryan & Vicki on Thursday, & Happy Birthday to Ethan on Friday & Bekah on Sunday, August 3!   Have a great day!!!!!

    We have had a great week! We even weeded the pond on Monday a.m. The cat tails like to grow there so Bro Croft goes out in the little boat & cuts them off. We tied to one side & I held the rope on the other side so he was easier for him to cut then off where they grow on the bottom of the pond.  It worked quite well!!! They would take over the pond if we didn’t cut them off. 

     As usual, Sunday is a wonderful day, an end to & a start the another great week! Classes were small in all the wards, but in each one there was someone with special needs that we were able to help.  That is always so great when it works like that. In one ward, a non-member lady came into our SS Class to learn about familysearch.org.  The regular class members were all absent & we were teaching a FH consultant & the High Priest group leader when she came in.  We changed plans & I helped her set up her tree while Brother Croft helped the others worked on other things.

   A Young Women President came in, needing last minute help because of a change in plans.  We helped 7 of her YW learn about the Youth Temple Challenge. They were numbers 6401-06 to sign up. One had already accepted the challenge. The other YW in her ward were going to another ward to hear the talks of two young Men leaving for missions.

   Sunday evening we had a 13 yr old sister come in – she wants to do baptisms in each of the Utah Temples.  She also loves to do the research on her family.  We also had Mom- Dad & 19 yr old daughter with mission call & 17 yr old son all doing research. Two adult ladies who are sisters & one brought her 13 year old son, all doing research & finding names for the temple. It was a busy, fun & rewarding evening – we love it that way!

    In Cowley on Thursday we had the FTM Elders come in to learn some more plus a young mother brought in her non-LDS neighbor also a young mom to get going in FS. Both had a wonderful time and found lots of new people! It is always so exciting when working with a non=member when one of their lines shots back to the 1500’s.....

    We had a few cancelations, sickness, company, but we were able to find others to fill in & productive things to do!  Friday A.M. was Election School for me – in preparation for the Primary Elections in August.  I really enjoy working as an Election Judge.  Bro Croft spent the morning fishing!  I’m glad he could do that! 

    Saturday was the parade for Cowley Days.  A brother & his wife in the Care Center wanted to go. It was fun to be able to take them.  He is in assisted living there and we have been helping him with his Family History.   Saturday Afternoon was the Cowley Family Reunion. Great to see family!

    Have a great week – we are all busy getting ready for our Big Sky Family Reunion!  We will miss those who are unable to come & are excited to see the rest of you!  

  Love to all    &  CTR 

  Bro & Sis Croft!

    

Always great!

July 20, 2014

Dearest Family!  

    Happy Birthday to Vicki on Monday & Talon on Tuesday, the big “13”!!! Congratulations to Ethan & Bekah!  Yesterday was their eternal marriage.  This was a great week,  With a wide variety of activities!!! Started out with the day at the Public library! Always great!

     Had an amazing FHE this week! The Father in the home had never had the experience of finding & taking his own family name to the temple! That was our goal.  The spirit was there & it was accomplished. Other family members were able to get their trees connected. One daughter had had trouble setting up her account, with help from SLC we were able to get this corrected & also be guided to a name for her to take to the temple! The evening was one of blessings & guidance from the spirit. Four year old daughter also learned to add pictures. Again on Wednesday we returned to help the Mom, She & I accomplished  several things & Bro Croft & the little girl added more pictures – she does indeed know how to add photos & stories!

    We’ve helped with indexing, spent a busy morning in the Family History Center, & even got a perm & hair cut!  (that is refreshing)   While I was there, Bro Croft did errands & preparations for the Big Horn lake Day on Saturday! 

    Thursday we were able to help several new missionaries who serve in Cowley with their FH – they will be great at using it as a proselyting tool!  They have great testimonies of it & the Spirit which goes with it! Also had two others come for help.

    Day of service in the afternoon!   Friends of Bighorn Lake always help the Park Service one day a year when they have an employee activity.   Volunteers man the Visitors Center so all can attend.  We were there in 11:30 – 5:00.   They had a few extra challenges at their activities with boat problems, so it was longer than expected.

    The Big Horns were beautiful – a trip to acclimatize Bro Croft for Big Sky.  I was able to have several ladies over to quilt in the afternoon.   Helen Kay, Pricilla Caturia, Rebecca Walker, Darece, Whitney & Kaitlyn, & Rachelle Weeks who stopped on an errand for Amber & decided to join us.  It is so nice to work around a quilt & visit!

    Saturday at the Lake was so nice, weather was perfect, It was great to visit with the people, see friends & make new ones. There were  512 who  enjoyed the free boat rides from 8am to 4pm.  The Triathlon had fewer people participate this year, we had to change our weekend which may have conflicted with other such events in the area. As usual it takes over 60 volunteers for the day to help the visitors. 

    Then we were able to end or start this week with the Sabbath day!  Several ward consultants gave the lessons today & we just backed them up!  They did great!  A ward Mission Leader came to the center this afternoon to see if we could give the presentation which we had given to the Ward Mission Leaders in the stake to his 7 ward missionaries.  We gave him several nights when we were available – He chose tonight – we scrambled a little but felt it went well.   Others helped us out covering the FHE for the time we were gone!   We also attended a young man’s Eagle Ct of Honor who is really into FH!

    We love you all & CTR! 

Bro & Sister Croft

  Will be seeing everyone before long at Big Sky!

Another great day, & week!

July 14, 2014

Dearest Family!  

       Happy Birthday, Ky!   15 years!  This will be a special week for Ethan & Bekah – Temple Wedding  on Saturday!!! All of our missionaries letters were wonderful!

  Another great day, & week!   A little slower than normal,  Summer holidays & reunions, etc. but it was nice anyway!  Had a nice FHE this week with a family,  8 yr old daughter & 15 yr old son!   She shared the story & picture of her baptism & he is looking for temple names!  Indexing with two elderly – they are so grateful to be able to contribute something!  

    Had a visit with Terry & Elsie Peters, who used to be our neighbors.   They have moved to Sheridan, but came over to get some pigeons from Dad.  It was great to visit with them. Dad was also busy with home projects, fixing tub faucet and a fence  around the pond.   Will work on that one more this week.  I picked the first dish of raspberries, tomorrow there will be more!  Ryan & Rhonda’s quilt is complete & Bo & McKenzea’s is on the frames.   I quilted & rolled one side this week & Saturday Arlene Collins came  & she is more experienced & faster than I. We were able to roll the other side.  Hurray!! now we can quilt on all sides – Next Friday will try to invite several more people to help & accomplish a little more!

      Friday we were able to Skype with cousin Jane in Denmark.   We are enjoying this so very much! Always able to give some help with Family History!   Melvin also called this week with some questions – we were able to solve his problem! We were also able to talk to the Fikes this week, Symph’s helping friends in Laramie!

    We are learning more about the Youth Temple Challenge each day!  Stake leaders are introducing it to the Bishops of the wards & it is going to be great!   We met with our Youth Consultants tonight & enjoy their great spirits so very much!  Sunday classes were great today! Consultants in two of the wards decided to begin teaching their classes.   We are the backup support! & they did great!  Had fun classes in several other wards today & one youth class!  It was also a busy evening in the FHC tonight with 3-4 patrons & some consultants learning new things,

    Big Sky will be here real soon! ! !

        We love the work & are so grateful to have this blessing in our lives!   CTR everyone & we love you all!

Bro & Sister Croft                (Busy day yesterday, just didn’t get this sent!)

We have had an amazing week!

July 6, 2014

Dearest Family,

    Happy Birthday to Marlene today, July 6th & to Amber on Tuesday, July 8th!    Hope you have a great day!

We have had an amazing week! Ryan & Rhonda stopped by so we could wish him Happy Birthday & they shared their surprise of the day – it’s a boy!  Each day we saw miracles.    J Q & I analyzed her pedigree  to re-focus & see where we need to go now! That is the way life is, we just need to be analyzing to keep ourselves on the straight path!  As usual we have helped several with indexing, several with their family trees, some adding photos, others looking for ordinances. We had a youth group in the FHC this Wednesday, Several of them were able to find places in the tree to find ancestors.  Dad had success again with two youth in using Puzzilla.org to find missing family members not yet in the Family Tree. He was training a new FHC as well as helping a young lady when the new FHC suddenly pointed to a name and said check this one. Sure enough there was a spouse and children, 3 girls and 2 boys.  He took the time to witness to them how the Spirit had prompted the FHC! It was another one of those WOW moments! ! !   It was also our Family History consultant meeting, we helped with training there. We explored several new features like Hints, Attaching sources to the tree, the new setting section for patrons and how to add photos from the Person page. New features are being added every week to hasten the work.

    July 4th – we do live in a wonderful land!  It is a blessing!   Took a break from the routine & fished at Crooked Creek Bay from the shore!   It was an absolutely perfect morning! Calm, warm, the fish were jumping & biting, Dad was able to share some maps & info with people new to the area. After arriving home, I discovered that there were few pesky bugs that feasted on me. I was able to get Bo & McKinzea’s quilt on.  We enjoyed a barbeque at the Rael’s in Cowley!  yum yum  Saturday was our first trip to the Big Horns – so Bro Croft could get acclimated before Big Sky.  The flowers were beautiful, saw some moose, The mountains were just beautiful!

    Most of all, we watched online as the site for the Youth temple challenge developed. This morning it was up & each youth can now go to this site & accept the challenge. Again we quote Elder Neil L Anderson. ”Set a personal goal to help prepare as many names for the temple as baptisms you perform in the Temple.”  Here is a link to the site:  Just click on it!

 

https://www.lds.org/topics/family-history/temple-challenge?cid=ld-tc-1011&lang=eng#watch=49339905690967434930-eng

 

May we challenge the youth of our family accept this challenge. We also challenge you to share your experiences thru Social media to inspire the youth of the world.

 

We had a family of 5 come to the FH Center last night so we had 5 consultants busy helping them connect their trees and locate names, add photos and stories plus add more names to the tree for the husband from his non-LDS relatives records. So exciting to see a family so excited working together on FH!

 

We love you all!

CTR

Bro and Sister Croft