We
now begin our final posting of this blog which has highlighted our experiences
in the Family and Church History
Headquarters Mission which was from
February 2, 2015 to July 28, 2016.
How those 18 months have flown by!
At
the end of June we had a wonderful pot luck breakfast with our social group,
the couples we trained with 18 months ago, to which we invited the young elders
and other neighbors in our Garden Apartments.
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| Sister Carlson and Sister & Elder Hatch in the Garden Apts. Gazebo |
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The Young Elders just spontaneously joined us when they saw food - Elder Wamsley,
Elder Fredrickson, Sister Dolberg, Elder Wilkes & his Companion. |
We
have often enjoyed taking walks after attending Music and the Spoken Word on
Sunday mornings.
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| Nothing beats Music & the Spoken Word LIVE in the Tabernacle. |
This beautiful day we walked behind the City Creek Mall
where we found this beautiful stream, part of City Creek, we suppose.
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| A Branch of SLC City Creek |
Nearby were some statues honoring the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Utah.
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| No Snow But Beautiful Memories |
As
we walked back through downtown Salt Lake City, we stopped to see the newly-renovated
façade of Joseph Smith Memorial Building (the old Hotel Utah.)
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| The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is an impressive edifice. |
These past 18 mos. Bonnie had her “Elijah
Choir music office” on the 3rd floor of this beautiful building, and
we had our church services in the JSMB as well.
As usual we couldn’t help photographing some of the beautiful summer
flowers in the gardens on Temple Square.
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| Although the Summer Flowers are glorious, they still can't compete with the Spring Flowers. |
The trees around the conference center were so pretty in
their beautiful green.
And of course the Temple is beautiful no matter
where you photograph it.
We
love walking to the Family History Library every day. This is the view of the log cabin beside the
Family History Library and the flowers there.
And the flowers in front of
the Library are also fantastic!
One
day our friends Elder and Sister Wurtz from the International Floor (B-1) of
the Family History Library invited us to lunch. Sister Wurtz made a homemade
Mexican lunch for us to enjoy in the lunch room at the FHL.
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| It was a delightful lunch in the 3rd floor lunch room. |
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| Sister Leticia Wurtz and Elder John Wurtz - She in Spanish & He in German - a perfect pair. |
We will surely miss all our wonderful friends like Elder & Sister
Wurtz.
On
July 1, 2016 we met Bonnie’s cousin Steve Baer and his wife Sue, who went to
the Missionary Training Center in Provo the next day in preparation to come to
our Family and Church History Mission too! They are staying in an apartment
owned by another of our cousins, David Davies.
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| Sister & Elder Baer in their cousin's apartment - now theirs for 18 months. |
They have a fabulous view
from their balcony of the Conference Center and Temple Square.
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| Elder Dolberg & Elder Baer on their apartment balcony |
Bonnie soon
began training Elder Baer, a high school and college music teacher, to take
over her position as director of the Elijah Choir. (The training is only on how to do all the
computer-related tasks, since he’s already an expert at the musical part!)
That same evening we returned to Herriman to
say good-bye to our Herriman friends and neighbors, Dave and Tanya Martin, who just
moved to St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands!
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| Sister & Elder Dolberg with David & Tanya Martin, our Herriman Angels - we LOVE 'em! |
We will miss them and their children, who have become our “adopted”
grandchildren. The family is seen here
as they send off Tanya’s nephew on his mission.
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| Emma, David, Libby, Christopher, Nathan, Tanya and the nephew in the middle |
We
were home in Herriman for the 4th of July holiday, so we attended
our Rose Point Ward’s Independence Day Breakfast. Glen stands with our wonderful Bishop Brian
Miller in front of our ward building.
Across from the church in
Herriman, in the hills where we used to walk among the trees and sagebrush,
they are preparing to build more houses!
Herriman has grown a LOT since we left 18 months ago!
We
always enjoy it when our friends come to visit us. David and Beth Street from Stockton,
California have stopped by for lunch several times during our mission. Here they are as we have lunch at Siegfried’s
– a German deli in downtown SLC, one of our favorites!
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| Beth & David Street, our good friends from Stockton having lunch at Siegfried's in SLC |
One
Sunday morning we went to the Tabernacle to enjoy the broadcast of the Music
and the Spoken Word on the big screen, since the choir was in Europe on
tour. (We didn’t have TV or internet in
our SLC apartment.) Along with the
broadcast they had a short organ performance by one of the Tabernacle
Organists. The Tabernacle was decorated
for the 4th of July!
Our
July Social Group event was actually a joint party arranged by Elder and Sister
(Roger and Marilyn) Smith from Leicestershire, England.
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| Elder Roger and Sister Marilyn Smith - our dear English Friends |
They had served missions previously at
the Johannesburg, South Africa Temple and the London Temple, so friends they
knew from these missions plus their Salt Lake City friends all gathered
together for a pot-luck dinner.
It was a
huge affair, with lots of good food, and wonderful people to meet and
enjoy.
A
highlight of our final month was a visit by our son Paul, his wife Amee, and 5
of their 6 children. (The oldest,
Spencer, 16, stayed in Rancho Cordova, California since he has a job working at
Paul’s law office in Sacramento for the summer.) They
delivered their two 14-year-olds, Lola and Ryan, to BYU’s Especially for Youth for the week, and then stayed at our home with
the youngest three to enjoy outings for the week.
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| Lola & Ryan - our 14-year-old Grandchildren who attended Especially For Youth at BYU |
We took a leave of absence for one day to
enjoy some time with them.
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| Ella & Parker were super fun. |
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| Little Ruby was super cute. |
We got to
go with Paul’s family to the wedding reception of Bonnie’s niece Susie Baer and
her new husband Brad Young.
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| Brad Young with his new Bride, Susie beside her mother Linda Baer |
It was great to see all the family of Linda
(and Robert, deceased) Baer.
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| The Robert Baer Family at the Wedding - John, Kathryn, Chrissie, Susie, Linda, Julie, Stephen |
Paul and Amee (and a
sleeping Ruby) with our son-in-law David Ellis were also at the reception.
Ella and Parker were off enjoying the reception’s “kids room” where they
had activities to keep them happy – a great idea.
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| All the Baer grandchildren who attended the wedding |
One
day Amee and the kids came to SLC to enjoy the sights while son Paul had lunch
with his brother Dave. Bonnie went with
them to the Family Search Discovery Center where they could have some special high
tech experiences in discovering their ancestors. Here they see their pictures up on the
“family wall.”
They also had their
pictures taken in period costumes.
But Ruby liked the play area the best.
During
our time off on Friday afternoon and Saturday we got to spend more time with Paul’s
family. We showed them the spectacular
views from our church in Herriman.
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| Grandpa with Parker and Ella high up the hill with SL Valley in Background |
We also enjoyed watching them playing with blocks and other toys. Parker built some great “castles” and
Ruby loved the blocks and the train.
She’s saying here, “Chugga-chugga
Choo-choo” as she played with the train.
We even got time Saturday morning to
visit with Lola and Ryan who were full of stories of their fun time at
EFY. Here’s the family as we say
good-bye to them.
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| Lola, Ella, Paul, Ruby, Amee, Parker, and Ryan - What a beautiful family! |
Bonnie
got to visit with the family of our son Daniel and his wife Meggin at the
bridal shower for their oldest child, Maciah Cluff, who will soon be married in
the Ogden Temple – our first grandchild to marry! She got quite a “haul” at her shower!
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| Maciah at her wedding shower |
On
Sunday we went with Bonnie’s cousin Elder Steve Baer and his wife Sue to the
missionary farewell of Bonnie’s and Steve’s childhood friend, Hilma Strebel
Bellessa.
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| Elder Dolberg, soon-to-be Sister Hilma Bellessa, Elder Baer, & Sister Dolberg |
Hilma and her husband
David are headed for their mission in the Philippines. It was held in Midway, Utah, a little “Swiss
town” where many of the homes and stores are in Swiss-style architecture.
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| Swiss style home in the Bellessa's neighborhood in Midway, Utah |
Even
the chapel has the half-timbered walls and roofline typical of the Swiss
building style.
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| The LDS Church building in Midway, Utah |
Afterwards we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at
the home of the Bellessas. Hilma’s
husband David Bellessa shows us some of the fascinating architecture and décor
inside their home.
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| David Bellessa - Soon-to-be Elder Bellessa |
Afterwards
we drove to the nearby town of Heber, Utah to visit Bonnie’s and Steve’s cousin
Dave Davies and his wife Jeannie. What a
great afternoon we had just sharing family stories together!
Monday,
July 18 was the Elijah Choir’s Pioneer Program, where stories were told by
choir members about their own pioneer ancestors, interspersed with 5 choir
numbers. We took a picture of the choir
that day. It’s not hard to recognize choir director Bonnie in the red jacket.
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| The Elijah Choir with TWO Directors - Sister Bonnie Dolberg with successor Elder Baer in middle |
Right behind and to her left is
Elder Baer who took over direction of the choir after Bonnie’s departure. After the program Bonnie was presented with a
special book of memories and a PINK (fluorescent!) conducting baton by our
mission President Tate. Other members of the mission presidency looked on behind.
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| "Will I now ever use that director's baton?" is seen in Sister Dolberg's face. |
Bonnie
will certainly miss directing the choir at our weekly Mission Devotionals
and monthly Mission Conferences.
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| A Candid Shot of Sister Dolberg Leading a Choir Rehearsal |
She
will also miss all the wonderful choir members =
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| The Sopranos |
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| The Altos |
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| The Tenors |
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| The Basses |
Sister Dolberg has appreciated her terrific
accompanists:
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| Sister Gregory |
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| Sister Summer-Rae Schwendiman |
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| Sister Catherine Dahlke at the Piano |
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| Young Elder Austin Kitchell (3rd Cousin to Sister Dolberg) |
Weekly
hour-long rehearsals have also been fun on Wednesday afternoons. Here at one of these rehearsals Bonnie
introduces Elder Stephen Baer, who will be their new director.
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| Elder Baer & Sister Dolberg |
(Bonnie recruited her cousin and his wife Sue to come to our mission for
this very purpose! They are now both working at the Church History Library in
addition to his choir duties.)
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| Elder & Sister Dolberg, Sister & Bishop Davies, Sister & Elder Baer |
Recently Elder
and Sister Dolberg and Elder and Sister Baer enjoyed lunch with two more of
their cousins: Bishop Dean Davies (1st
counselor in the church’s presiding bishopric) and his wife Darla, and Dean’s
sister Debra Davies Cheney (who must have been taking this photo.) It was another great “cousins gathering!”
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| Elder Baer ready to take on the Elijah Choir duties |
Saturday,
July 23 was our last scheduled day working on the B-1 International Floor of
the Family History Library, though Bonnie spent much of that day in the music
office training Elder Baer. Now he is officially installed in her office - now HIS new office.
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| Surrounded by Elders Wurtz, Yowell, Burnette, Dolberg, & Wheatley, Sister Diana Bass hold the cookies she baked for the last day of Elder & Sister Dolberg's mission. |
Sister Bass brought a huge plate of cookies for all the B-1 missionaries
in our honor.
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| Together Forever - Sister & Elder Dolberg - in the breakroom of B1 Floor in the Fam.Hist.Library |
This is our final photo as we leave at the end
of our last day at the library.
We
will miss terribly our many friends on B-1. There are around 100 missionaries
(part-time and full-time) working on our floor, plus many paid employees.
The evening of our last day, we
attended a Tabernacle Choir concert that evening, which featured the choir and
orchestra plus the King Singers from England.
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| Special Pioneer Day Program by the Tabernacle Choir & King Singers |
The choir and the
King Singers sang many of the same songs the next day in the Music and the
Spoken Word broadcast.
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| The King Singers at the Pioneer Day Program - July 23, 2016 |
Bonnie got
special honors before the taping, being introduced to the perhaps 6000
attendees as being the “outgoing director of the Family and Church History
Headquarters Mission’s Elijah Choir.”
She was very surprised as the announcer told about our mission choir,
and was happy that he asked all the choir members stand up as well.
Monday,
July 25 was a holiday in the state of Utah honoring the day that Brigham Young and
the first company of Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley on July
24, 1847 and he declared, “This is the right place.” We
watched some of the Pioneer Parade with over 100 groups/floats in downtown Salt
Lake City.
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| Elder & Sister Dolberg with the wife of the float's creator |
To see more photos of the parade see: https://www.lds.org/church/news/days-of-47-parade-celebrates-how-pioneers-inspire-todays-generation?lang=eng We sat in the shade where many of the
award-winning floats were lined up awaiting their turn.
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| Elder & Sister Dolberg had a front-row seat in the shade during the whole parade. |
While there we got some first-hand
information about the Bennion Utah East Stake Float, winner of the Children’s
Choice Award.
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| Add caption |
We met some of the
people who were involved in its creation, and one man sent us some photos of it
during construction.
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| The Children's Choice Award winner as it was being built. |
After
spending a couple of days cleaning our Salt Lake City apartment and filling our
car with our STUFF, we were ready for the Wednesday, July 27 “Farewell
Luncheon.”
About 20 outgoing
full-time missionaries met for a catered lunch with the mission presidency and
their wives.
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| July's Missionaries Leaving the Mission |
And then after singing together “God Be with You ‘til We Meet Again” we said
our final good-byes, returned to our apartment to pack up the food from the
refrigerator, and drove home to Herriman.
We were pretty exhausted by the time we’d brought in everything from the
car, and spent the next several days trying to put it all away.
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| Stake President Daniel Smith with Sister & Elder Dolberg in the front room at their home in Herriman, Utah Thursday July 28, 2016 |
On
Thursday evening, July 28, our Herriman South Stake President, Pres. Daniel
Smith, came to our home to hear our mission report and to officially release us
from our mission. We sadly took off our
missionary badges for the last time, and had our picture taken with Pres. Smith
to document the occasion.
We
have enjoyed our mission so very much, and have learned so many things as we
have served in the Family History Library about how to do genealogical
research. Glen has found records for hundreds
and hundreds of relatives as we’ve researched his family tree. He’s been especially gratified as he’s
researched the families of his Dolberg grandparents who were both born in the
German colonies along the Volga River in Russia. He was able to find more family members from
the Russian censuses, and even traced some ancestors back to their original
German villages where they were born in the 1600 and 1700s! Bonnie has put lots of stories, documents,
and photos on the pages of various ancestors, both in her lines and in Glen’s,
and has learned a lot as she’s researched Glen’s other grandparents’ lines,
many of whom came to the U.S. during the 1600s.
The
future? We plan to do some traveling in
the next few months, and then hopefully we can do volunteer service at the
Riverton Family History Library, just 10 minutes from our home. We want to continue to share our knowledge
and EXCITEMENT about family history with any and all we meet. If you live nearby, let us know and we’ll
come happily to help you one-on-one!
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