From deep in the catacombs of the Family History Library

This is our tutor - Bror Jaffa - reviewing verb conjugations with us the night before we moved from the MTC in Provo to our new digs in Salt Lake City. Our visa for Norway did not arrive. We re-filed the work permit form on July 13 but the guy from the travel dept. said it could be as short as a couple of weeks or as long as 60 days before we go to Norway.

We weighed and packed "just to make sure" we could get our stuff on an airplane without paying extra. The other stuff was needed for the move into the Garden Apartments - a few days worth of food, bedding borrowed from Lisa Peay and an iron - necessary for our daily uniform of dress clothes.

THE Garden Apts. is a big complex filled mostly with missionaries. It has location, location, location! Note the COB (Church Office Building) in the background.

We haven't decorated and we don't plan on it, but the apartment is fine. Our first full day was Pioneer Day - 7/24 which was celebrated as a state holiday on Monday the 25th.

 the The Days of '47 parade was fun. It had a wonderful home town flavor. Big crowds and lots of local color. The floats were almost all made by local LDS congregations. Good bands, horses, old cars and local politicians rounded out the day. 

In Utah you have to have blond queens

and a dude with his parrot on an old timey bicycle

and a very dedicated Clairinet player

not to mention Mama's Temple choir, smaller than the Mo Tab Choir but very enthusiastic

I didn't make it up!

We have never lived near a city center before. It is really kind of fun. The days have been hot so we walk at night. The city is crowded on the warm summer nights and the backdrop is fantastic. We have visited a Pioneer museum and are getting comfortable with the streets of our various walk routes. It was about nine-thirty when I snapped this picture just half a block from out apartment.

But where are we all day long you may ask? We have been asked, assigned, called, Shanghaied to serve in the bottom basement - that's B2 - at the Family History Library. Our job is digitizing books. The library is putting its entire collection and the collections from all of the other Church FH libraries online. We work with a great bunch of people - both young and old - making these digital copies.

Shanna at her work station. You can see the pages she has copied on her second screen.

Yes, I have to wear the badge and tie even when I am locked in a little tech room deep in the bowels of the library. I did 1582 pages today. At this rate we ought to finish the whole library in...

All we can say is, "If you have to get stuck somewhere waiting for tickets and a visa this is probably as good a place as we could find." We have already connected with Denis and Ila Winn, Lamyrle Shaffer, and the Haywards (now from Folsom). We just got our Comcast hookup so we are back on the net. More news when it breaks.

Week One at the MTC

 We flew to Salt Lake City on Sunday 7/10 and spent the night with Lisa (Shanna's sister), Mark and Jonny in Orem. At about 10:30 on July 11th we checked in at the Missionary Training Center in Provo. We said our last of many "Good-byes" outside of our dorm on the MTC campus.

Speaking of which, this is home for at least the next two weeks. It is very much like a college dorm but roomier. We have plenty of storage, a good bathroom, very comfy queen bed and secure internet access.

We are here with about 2500 other missionaries in training. On Tuesday evening we all attended the same devotional. This is the traffic jam going back to the dorms. There are over 100 "senior couples" like us. As you walk the halls to class or a meeting you are likely to hear any of dozens of languages being spoken as we all struggle to "SYL" -  speak your language.

On Wednesday after a long day of classes we were guests of the young missionaries who are studying Norwegian. We have the same tutor. Two were online via Skype with a local Norwegian but the rest were still at it at almost nine PM.

This is our "district" and another one of our instructors - Bro. Pike. The couple on the far right are headed for Durban, South Africa, the couple in the middle are headed for Frankfurt, Germany.

Here is our version of the point to your country picture. If this week is any kind of an indicator we are in for a fantastic time. Our group of 32 senior couples represented a cross section of states, professions and careers - both blue and white collar, with destinations on every continent. We had a great time together. Next week we will learn how the Church Education System operates and how they want us to teach our Institute class to the young adults in our group in Bergen. We hope to get word on the status of our visa to Norway. It hasn't come through yet.