It has been a great week, we are so appreciate the inspiration that comes so very often as we do this great work!

Dearest Family,  

       Happy 1st Anniversary,   Bo & McKenzie!    And an eternity together!

    Wonderful holiday on Monday!  I was able to Skype Jane in Denmark, we are becoming great friends! Allen was off work & his kids had no school!  It was wonderful to have them come visit!  We enjoyed it so much! They tried to fly kites & we planned to roast hot dogs in the field but the weather was a bit too blustery & cold! Thanks for coming to visit! 

    Each day was unique – There were several cancellations due illness, We used the free time to review RootsTech presentations – in  preparation for the Family History Fair on March 21!  It also seemed that when ever something was canceled, it opened the way for some one else to get help which we hadn’t planned on!     The new “Family Search Memories” & Family Tree apps are now available for all devices!  That was so exciting!   They have been out for awhile for Apple devices but now they are available for all Android & Kindle devices!  It makes it so much easier for busy people to be working on their Family History in the little moments of time when they are waiting – here & there!  We are being blessed with amazing technology to help us do this work!

    Our Wednesday morning in the FH Center was nice, with patrons to help & opportunities to teach consultants, a cancellation in the afternoon & we filled in someone else we had had to cancel for Thursday because we wanted to go to a funeral!  We had a great evening in Cowley with a YM’s group,their leaders, & also their Bishop indexing on Wednesday evening!     Ken and his 11 yr old scouts came to do a service project for us on Wednesday evening hauling all the tree branches from our front yard . . . .Thanks a lot!

    Bro Croft was challenged this week getting a scanner/computer set up to help a Sister.   We were there two different days, brain fatigue, the first day & time to ponder & think about the challenge.  I worked with her on other things while he worked on the computer & scanner! We’re getting more used to driving the new RAV4 each day. This week has reminded us that winter is still here with temps close to zero several nights and some snow. On Saturday we only had a skiff of snow but found icy roads and 5 inches of snow in Byron. 

      

    It has been a great week, we are so appreciate the inspiration that comes so very often as we do this great work!   His hand is definitely helping & guiding this great work. We see it daily as we help our Brothers & Sisters, answers that we didn’t know we knew come when we need them. 

    CTR to each of you & our love,  

  Bro & Sis Croft

Dearest Family,     Happy Anniversary!  today!  Gaye & Frank is it 36 years!   Happy Birthday,  to Ken on Monday!   

       It has been a wonderful week, but different in many ways!  Library was special, Brother Croft spent time with a brother his age – so excited about FH & sharing that joy with every one!  He is working with his grandchildren, the people he HTeachs, his ward consultant, getting her involved with less actives.....it is amazing to witness! My Deacon who I usually work with wasn’t feeling well & I got started helping his mother.  She had done a lot of FH 10 years ago when her husband was in college, when it was much more difficult to do! I started showing her the “hints” in Family Search & how one can link them to people, & also add new individuals to the tree.  She was amazed & excited!!!  It has changed so much in the last 10 years & also in just the last two years!

     On Tuesday a miracle happened – & we are so grateful!   We were scheduled to help a Bro in the Living center at 1:00, when we got there he & his wife had gone out to lunch with someone! Our next appt was at three, helping several consultants prepare for a Sunday lesson which they were unsure about.  We decided instead of waiting, we would go to the FHC early!  We did, & helped them with the lesson. At 3:15 an Activities Day group of girls appeared at the door,  (We had been asked to help them, but had not gotten the date on our main calendar & had forgotten)  We are so grateful that we were there, with the two consultants & Bro Croft & I, we were able to help them!

    Wednesday morning we had the opportunity to do a 45 min presentation on family History to the Lovell Women’s Club! Bro Croft talked about the Memories, sharing photos, audio, & stories. Then I did several searches, demonstrating how one can look at censuses & other kinds of original records to learn about our families. We had received a list of the people in the group so we could find records that were about their ancestors!  Was a fun time! 

Lovell Women's Club

Wednesday evening we were just going out the door to help a YM’s group in Cowley when the young man who scheduled it called to say there had been a change.  Several weeks ago, Rob had scheduled his YM’s group in the center, but we had previous commitments, so others would help him.  We looked at each other & said , lets go to Lovell. Started helping his group, & in walks another ward, who wasn’t no the schedule!   As you can see, there has been a little excitement this week & inspiration in many ways!  We are so very thankful for it! 

    Thursday, Friday and Saturday was the Rootstech2015 & Family Discovery Day in SLC. Some of this is streamed over the internet.  What a blessing it was to watch & be a part of it here in our home!  That much TV made our eyes go buggy by Saturday evening..... Very inspiring! Now we start reviewing, so decisions can be made for our stake “Family History Day” to be held March 21! We have sent all of you this link to watch it now the videos are posted on LDS.org https://www.lds.org/topics/family-history/familydiscoveryday?cid=HPSA021415698&lang=eng

    The expanded youth challenge is “Prepare as many names for the temple as baptisms you perform in the temple and help someone else to do the same” The overall theme from the Gen Authorities speaking was FIND a name in Family Search, TAKE the name to the temple or share it with a family member or the temple TEACH someone else to do the same. Plus for all of us to  understand that FH is an important part of the Lord’s plan of Salvation and not just something else to do. We must eliminate other things including church traditions from our daily routines, that we may think still need to be done in our callings.

    Sunday evening was our scheduled FH Youth Consultant meeting!  They along with their leaders have indexed about 150,000 names during December 1 to February 14.   Now, another challenge begins!

As we met, we all shared things we had seen happen in our lives & the lives of others!  Several mentioned the peace they felt while doing it, how it relieved the stress of daily living, closeness with siblings, & family togetherness.   So very special!

    We had to get a different vehicle this week too, since our 2004 Toyota RAV4 isn’t reasonably repairable. Our antifreeze leak was from stripped head bolts so the aluminum block is ruined .  .  . all the repair options were too costly for an 11 yr old car. Nice outside, but the inside, (motor) has died. We decided to get a new 2014 RAV4 that should last us for many years. Happy Valentine’s Day to each other!

    It has been a great week!   we send our love to all of you!   & CTR

Bro & Sister Croft 

The week was a busy one, 2-4 appointments per day.

Dearest Family,   

    Another wonderful Sabbath Day – we attended the Lovell 4th ward Sacrament Meeting then their Sun School Class! Their lesson was on Submitting Names for Temple Work.  It is one of my favorite lessons to give – the video we us is just perfect & there is always such a special spirit during this lesson!  It was also the lesson for the Cowley 2nd ward!  We also had two wards holding Ward conference today so that changed our schedule a little!  We are able to visit other wards during this time & we enjoy that! Several wards did lessons on Indexing, since beginning on Feb 15, there will be an Adult /Youth Indexing Challenge! 

    The week was a busy  one, 2-4 appointments per day.  The weather was very nice into the 60’s and lots of wind so it’s pretty muddy around our place. Spring is slowly trying to overtake winter. . .  Still don’t have our RAV4 out of the the shop yet. One day, I was helping a sister who had a great deal of Family History from her previous husband, who is deceased.  Because it is not her line, she is unable to do the temple work for these people & was concerned about that.  She had decided to enter the information into FamilySearch so it would be there for others to find.  We began adding the info & found a line which was already in FS.  Much to her surprise & joy, we found a great grandfather who had had some temple ordinances done just 4 days ago in the Louisville Kentucky Temple! What a witness it was to the greatness of this work & that she was doing the right thing. Bro Croft is helping her husband also, he is a High Priest Group Leader, so they worked on leadership responsibilities & also downloading apps to record stories.   Wednesday was our FH Consultant Training Meeting & on Thurs Eve we had a RS group in the FHC to do indexing! The ward consultants are teaching most of the indexing classes & it is great!

    It was so very special to help each person this week, during each, the spirit whispers & testifies! This is great! A brother we help shared how he had taught FH to several people in his family and the excitement they had felt for FH too. He is also using it with a less active family he Home Teaches so they too can feel the Spirit. They are using the My Family Booklet then putting their info into Family Search. He enjoys recording family stories too!

    We were also blessed to have Bill & Kathy here for several days, arriving Thursday evening – we did family names in the temple on Friday – helped them with Family History, Friday Evening & Saturday morning.   Had a wonderful time visiting!

    Our love to all of you & CTR    Bro & Sis Croft

 

Went to Billings to the temple on Friday!

Dearest Family,

       Happy Birthday February 4 to Kenya, she’ll be 11 – and to Daeja, she’ll be 9!   We hope you all have a very special day!

    What a wonderful, busy, sunny week!  We love it!  It is so wonderful to witness the spirit in the lives of people around us!  One of the highlights this week was watching a young lady, 17, indexing for the first time! The first batch, she tolerated, the second one, a little easier, & then she began to feel the spirit! Then she wanted to do a third one!   It was a longer one & she was so excited about each name! She worked until it was finished, past the time everyone else was finishing, abt 9:20 p.m. most had left at 8:30. She was there with the YM-YW of her ward & big brother was waiting!  She was so excited to have done 170 names that night!

    My 13 yr old deacon who comes to the public library is getting really good at finding ancestors, we think last week we solved a puzzle, tomorrow we will confirm it! We have helped people index, record stories, add photos, even talked to a sister at the Living Center about all the possibilities there are to record stories with the patients she works with!

    Went to Billings to the temple on Friday!  We both had a extra special time doing some initiatory work for 6 family names from Symp, Dad’s was special because one of the ordinance workers Dad knew as a three years old in Laramie. Dad had lived with this family for a while just off his mission and had played with this little boy. Now he  is 6’ 6’' 300 lbs with grandchildren of his own! They had a nice visit as well as getting the temple work done! It was a special day!  Had a fun FHE or was it date night with a couple Friday night!  They are super excited to enjoy the blessings of Family history!

    Then today was nice – it seems in all our classes we had workshops – it is great to work one on one with people!  Today a Sister found an amazing picture of a group of 8 – cousins, uncles, kids ages 2 to 16 – all holding a puppy!  She thought she knew several in it but wasn’t sure & she knew the person who had submitted it. Bro Croft finally said why don’t you call her right now! & she did.  Her cousin was getting dinner for the missionaries, She told her the name of one of them, then said she would get back to her later.  15 Minutes later she called, was so excited, had found the picture & shared the names of all the people so our Sister could tag them in the photo!

     Just a little scripture insite:      

        1 Nephi 19: 1    And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did make plates of ore that I might engraven upon them the record of my people. And upon the plates which I made I did engraven the record of my father, ( a little about Dad’s life- memories of him) and also our journeyings in the wilderness ( our daily activities  & the activities of our family, life today), and the prophecies of my father; and also many of mine own prophecies (spiritual experiences of both our fathers & ourselves) have I engraven upon them.  Interesting?!!!!  Sounds like Family History!!!!

Well, we love you all, keep up the great work,  CTR,    Our Love, Bro & Sis Croft

       & By the way, the Youth  & their leaders have indexed over 111,000 as of Jan 25, they started December 1, 2014!