Life History Questions and Answers

52 Questions in 52 Weeks: Writing about Your Life Has Never Been Easier

September 28, 2015 By Steve Anderson

Few people would argue the value of creating a story about a life lived. In fact, it’s really quite a noble idea to create your life’s story. From it, your descendants will likely learn something valuable and endearing from things you experienced and will get to know you as an individual.

Many people believe that it takes a huge amount of time to write their history and feel that the task is just too big. Because of that, they never start. But sharing memories of your life does not have to be a big, involved effort. Imagine for a moment, how much easier the task of writing about your life might be if you were to focus on writing about just one topic each week. It doesn’t matter if you write a few paragraphs, a single page, or several pages. The important thing is that you write something. Anything is better than nothing at all.

Now imagine if someone provided you with one question to write about each week for 52 weeks. At the end of just one year you will have created your own life story to share with your children and your future posterity. You will never be forgotten because your own life story will exist. Add some pictures, and you can make it even more inviting to read.

Below are 52 questions. Each week for one year, take one question and write as much or as little as you want. Don’t worry about how much you write for each question, but do write something. Questions do not need to be answered in any special order. At the end of the list are a few extra questions in case there are some that don’t apply to your life.

When you are done, go to FamilySearch.org, and add your stories to your family tree. By adding your stories to your private branch of Family Tree, you ensure that they will be safe and secure for future generations. Your great-grandchildren will be able to find them and enjoy reading about your life and getting to know who you are.

Good luck, and enjoy your new writing adventure. Future generations will be glad that you took the time to write something about your life and that you left them with such a valuable legacy.

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?
2. When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood, and the town you grew up in.
3. Tell me about your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your father.
4. Tell me about your mother (her name, birth date, birthplace, parents, and so on). Share some memories you have of your mother.
5. What kind of work did your parents do (farmer, salesman, manager, seamstress, nurse, stay-at-home mom, professional, laborer, and so on)?
6. Have any of your family members died? If so, what did they die from? What do you remember of their death, and what were the circumstances of their death?
7. What kind of hardships or tragedies did your family experience while you were growing up?
8. Are there any unusual genetic traits that run in your family line?
9. What are the names of your brothers and sisters? Describe things that stand out in your mind about each of your siblings.
10. What were some of the family traditions that you remember?
11. Did your family have special ways of celebrating specific holidays?
12. Share a few memories of your grandparents.
13. Did your grandparents live close by? If so, how much were they involved in your life? If they lived far away did you ever travel to visit them? What was that like?
14. Who were your aunts and uncles? Do you have any aunts or uncles who really stand out in your mind? Write something about them (names, personalities, events that you remember doing with them, and so on).
15. Where did you go to school? What was school like for you?
16. What were your favorite subjects in school? Why?
17. What subjects did you like the least? Why?
18. Who were some of your friends in school? What were they like? What are they doing today?
19. If you went on to get a college or vocational education, what school did you go to? What did you study? What memories do you have of those years?
20. What do you see as your strengths?
21. What were some of the challenges you have had to deal with?
22. What medical issues have you had to deal with throughout your life?
23. Was religion an important part of your family life? If so, what religion did your family practice, and what did it mean to you? Is it still an important part of your life today? If religion was not a part of your life, why wasn’t it?
24. What foods do you like? What foods do you dislike? Did you have any food or medical allergies?
25. Were there two or three dishes your mother or father made that were especially memorable?
26. How did you meet your spouse?
27. How would you describe your spouse?
28. What was your courtship like? Describe your marriage day.
29. Share some stories about your spouse.
30. How many children do you have? What are their names? Share a few memories about each one.
31. What were some of the major community, national, and world events you lived through?
32. How did these events change your life?
33. What are some of your life philosophies or life views that you would share with others?
34. What are some of the personal values that are very important to you? What have you done (and what are you doing now) to teach these values to your children?
35. List at least five people who you would categorize as truly great men or women. What did they do to be great?
36. List 20 or more things about yourself.
37. List 20 things or more that you think the world would be so much better off without.
38. List 20 interesting things you’ve experienced in your lifetime.
39. If you could spend a day with any famous person in the world, who would it be, and what would you do during your day with him or her?
40. What scares you?
41. What makes you stop and go, “Wow!”?
42. What are some of the things you enjoy doing in your leisure time?
43. What kind of health challenges have you experienced?
44. What advice would you pass on about raising children that you learned by raising your own children?
45. What are some of your talents? How did you discover them? What have you done to cultivate and improve them? How have they affected your life?
46. What did you do for a career? Why did you choose that career?
47. What were some of the jobs you had throughout your life? What were some of the memorable experiences you had with these jobs?
48. List five significant events or experiences in your life, and explain what effects they have had on you.
49. What are some of the life lessons that you would like to pass on to your posterity?
50. In how many places have you lived during your lifetime? Provide a brief description of each place you’ve lived, why you lived there, and why you moved.
51. If you could go back in time and do things over again, what would you change?
52. When all is said and done, what do you want to be remembered for? What would you like your legacy to be? What are you doing now to make that happen?

Extra Questions

1. If a newspaper wanted to do a story about you, what would the story be about?
2. If someone gave you $100 and told you that you had to give it away but you could NOT give it to your family, what would you do with it?
3. Have you traveled to any place outside of your home country? What was the reason for the trip or trips and what memorable things happened on some of those trips?
4. What were some of the popular fads you experienced during your life?
5. How did you spend your summers?
6. What were some of your more memorable vacations?
7. How would you describe your personality?
8. Describe your philosophy about money.
9. Did you ever have pets? Tell about them.

Introduction

Introduction

This blog is a serious attempt to create something of everlasting value to my children and my grandchildren and so on down the generations as they come to pass.  I have been known to speak out, informed or uninformed, listener beware, about and on many varied topics and occasionally with some eccentric points of view.

Setting that aside for now as another separate piece of work it is important for each of you to know and understand that I am in fact full of faith and commitment to obtaining all of the promised blessings of the covenants I have entered into with God the Father and His son Jesus Christ.

If you read in the book of Mormon in the 1st chapter of Jacob you will find something of which I am speaking when Jacob is instructed of what types of things to record on the small plates which his older brother Nephi had entrusted to him (Jacob 1:2-4).  Therefore, this record that it might fulfill my most important responsibility to you as your Father, your Grandfather, and so on.

After many attempts to arrive at the best forum and medium for conveying the most precious and valuable thoughts and feelings of my heart and soul.  I have concluded that this blog might just be the place to compile and memorialize such things for the benefit of my personal posterity.  I would like to direct your individual and collective desires and actions to follow the path that will bless your life now and through the eternity to come.

Remember this from Matthew 22:

34 ¶But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

 35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Regarding the first.

Trying the best I could and not doing so perfectly I want you to know that while I do love God with all of my heart, my heart seems to have many, many facets with edges that have needed to be smoothed out over my life's experiences.  These facets and my heart will and can only become perfect through the atonement of Christ and my repentent efforts to improve and change, sometimes one facet at a time, sometimes this comes only when the spirit really helps me recognize the need and helps me achieve the true desire to improve.

When one attempts to change their heart I have heard and I have learned that it is true both physically, as in the case of a heart transplant, and spiritually, as in the case of myself and most of us,  that when we attempt to change our heart, maybe call it repent, there is a natural force of rejection that begins to take place.  Physically, there are drugs and medicine to assist with this.   Spiritually, there is faith and perserverance and the strength that God bless us with as we continue to try.   Always continue to try!  Never give up on repenting of what you need to, please! 

Regarding the second.

Only when I became more aware of the unconditional love of God and Christ for me did I become able to love myself as a divine son of God.  This is a challenge as well because I had to accept my imperfections and weaknesses along with the true knowledge and belief that again Christ could help me become clean and pure and unspotted from the trials and tribulations of this world.

Then, knowing this I have tried as best I could to love others as I love myself.  I regard others, all others, as equally important and valuable in the sight of God and worthy of my efforts to love and serve them whenever and wherever I find myself able to do so.  And, when I find myself moved upon by the Spirit to recognize and understand the promptings to do so.

This has taken shape primarily and principally in the form of love and service to my dear companion Melanie, our children, our grandchildren, then our extended families, then our friends and those we associate with at work, church, etc. and finally to love and serve those that God simply puts in my path day by day.

Now then, proceeding on, I have no other desire nor ambition in mind other than to reunite with all of you at the proper time in such a state of proper preparation, obedience, and performance as to truly be worthy of the infinite atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and a glorious celestial resurrection.  

This way we might obtain and enjoy the covenant blessings we have been promised that we might be blessed together with our family relationships intact and together returning to our Heavenly Father's presence to be blessed with exaltation and eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7).

May God bless you as you read these things with a witness of the spirit by the power of the Holy Ghost (Moroni 10:5) that you might be true to the faith that our parents have cherished and true to the faith for which martyrs have perished.  Be true to this faith that in my weakness I have tried to uphold and turn into marvelous and glorious hope for joy and happiness.

This work will now commence with a direct reference to my faith as my reflection, testimony, and commentary on the 'Articles of Faith' of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I memorized them as a child, then lost the word for word only remembering the concepts.   Later on I've come to use an acronym to assist me in my recollection of which one was which and then on our mission to South Africa, Melanie and I recited them every third day to each other, a pattern we shall continue as long as we are coherent and together!

Here's the Acronym:  GTAP HOGB RTWK 13

Here's the interpretation set in key words:

1. Godhead
2. Transgressions
3. Atonement
4. Principles
5. Hands
6. Organization
7. Gifts
8. Bible
9. Revelation
10. Ten Tribes
11. Worship
12. Kings
13. 13, the long one.

Here's the Acronym in my silly talk way of remembering:

1. GTAP - Gitty up
2. HOGB - Hog back
3. RTWK - Return to work
4. 13 - the long one at the end

Larry 1:1 - 1st Article of Faith - Godhead

1.  I believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

This to me is the God, Elohim, and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Jehovah, and the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit of Light and Truth, the Comforter.

The image that comes to my mind as I ponder Him, and Them is this one.  We have been taught that They were very similar in appearance and that in this particular instance Jesus Christ was introduced to the Prophet Joseph Smith in what we commonly refer to as 'The First Vision' as He stood on the right hand of God the Father.

Believing in Them as I do, I try my humble and failing best to keep Him first in my life and to pray to Him daily with love and gratitude for all of my blessings.  I am so thankful to Him and the Savior that together they have implemented fully and perfectly this great Plan of Happiness for all of us if we but choose to accept it and follow His guidance and obey His commandments which will lead us along a safe path to return to Their presence along with our family members to partake of eternal life with them!

I know He loves me and is mindful of me and has blessed me with those people and experiences in my life that will work together for my best good in the long run.

The Savior's atoning sacrifice is such an amazing accomplishment to bless my life.   I know I can scarcely comprehend it but to the point of knowing it was infinite and eternal and covers me and all others somehow if we will just accept Him and follow Him.

I have felt the supreme blessing of the gift of the Holy Ghost in my life on many occasions when I have felt promptings, peace, and strength to move forward and onward in spite of my weaknesses.  

I love them all and anxiously anticipate learning at the appropriate time how all of it works so perfectly, both the mortal and the spiritual ministries which they move forward by and through other devoted followers and believers.

Larry 1:2 - 2nd Article of Faith - Transgression

2. I believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

1. dbseh

Larry 1:3 - 3rd Article of Faith - Atonement

3.  I believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

Larry 1:4 - 4th Article of Faith - Principles & Ordinances

4.  I believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Larry 1:5 - 5th Article of Faith - Called of God by prophecy and laying on of hands

5.  I believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

"Called to Serve Him"

Believing as I do in God, the Eternal Father who is an exalted and perfected Being, omniscient and omnipotent, and who has a plan for us, His children, which we supported in our pre-earth life, therefore; it seems reasonable and very rational to me that His implementation of His plan by and through His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ would be handled by a system of perfect order and delegation as necessary.

Thus, the Priesthood, after the Holy Order of the Son of God and its accompanying keys, assignments, and stewardship for Angels, Prophets, and worthy, faithful, and obedient agents to act in His behalf.

It follows then that callings and ordinations would take place properly authorized from God via His Son and so forth for the blessing of mankind and to fulfill Their purposes.

My earliest recollection of how this works in my life was probably when I was a new Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood of the Ogden 56th Ward.  I was new to Priesthood organization and callings but soon learned by experience with the other young quorum members and by callings that were extended to me that I could and would serve the Lord by accepting calls of leadership in all three of the AP quorums.

When I was Priest age I remember helping by teaching some of our own youth Sunday School class but I don't remember being called to do so, it's probably just what we did together since we were a tight group of youth.  Ended when we got Sister Christensen as our SS teacher I suppose.

The next big step for me was receiving a call to serve a FT mission in Switzerland in October 1967 and then being ordained an Elder and receiving my temple endowment at the Salt Lake Temple prior to leaving.

After my mission came the most important calling of my life for now and for eternity, to be a husband!   On Friday the 13th of November 1970 I was blessed to marry Melanie Stone in the Logan Temple.  Wow!  What a time in my/our life and for our future family.

I had a few callings to serve with the youth, as a BB coach, and then in 1972-3 as a counselor to Jack Shaum (of Stop and Shop grocery store) in the YM presidency of the Ogden 7th Ward until my work took us to San Francisco for the summer.

The next calling I remember was after Melanie and I moved to our first home at 319 E 4300 S in Washington Terrace.   I was called for a short time to serve as Scoutmaster and to again coach the YM BB team which I enjoyed.   Then, I was called to serve as a counselor to Walter J. Mikesell in the Sunday School Presidency.

But at this time came the second most important and eternal calling in my life.   On Monday, February 24th, 1975 I became a father to our firstborn son, Jeremy William Hansen.  Again such a terrific blessing to me/us I can't overstate its significance to us both!

Then, while there in the Washington Terrace 4th Ward, I was called to be the Elder's Quorum President in the Washington Terrace 4th Ward and I in turn asked for him, Walter J. Mikesell, along with Danny Blaylock to serve with me as counselors.  We enjoyed our service very much, held PPI's, had good HT success, etc.

Pres. Darrell Olsen of the WT Stake was disappointed when I told him of our move to the Riverdale 1st Ward, in July 1977, but soon after the move I was called by Bp. Gail Sanders to be the ward Finance Clerk.  This was new to me but not hard for me because I liked this type of thing!

Don't remember how long it lasted though before I was then called by Pres. Wes Barton to be the Elder's Quorum President, my second chance at success.   I remember having Glade Wiser and Dave Fowler and Scott Priest as counselors and secretary.  Glade and I went on to become very close friends over the following years.  We enjoyed service and welfare projects, etc.

That calling lasted until early in 1980 when the ward boundaries changed and I was called to serve with Bp. Bryce Gibby as the Ward Clerk/Finance Clerk of the Riverdale 3rd Ward.  This was a new and interesting opportunity to be a little more involved with the Bishopric while I fulfilled my Ward Clerk duties and I learned a lot from he and his counselors, Joe Thompson and Dennis Hill.

Then in 1982 Dennis was released and I was called to replace him in the Bishopric as the 2nd Counselor to Bp. Gibby.  Melanie's dad, Clarence William 'Bill' Stone, ordained me a High Priest and thus started another adventure in the Lord's work and service.  This was an opportunity to reconnect a little more with the people-side of the ward and this felt wonderful to me.

In 1984 things changed once again.  Bp. Gibby was released and succeeded by Bp Dixon Walker who called me to serve as his 1st Counselor in the Bishopric, probably after being counseled to consider doing so by the Stake?  Steve Kimber was called to be the 2nd Counselor.  Anyway, although every Bishopric is a little different and the Lord calls different men at different times for different reasons, we did serve together for about two years.

Then in March of 1986, the stake boundaries were realigned once again and a new ward, the Riverdale 7th Ward was formed.  I was called by Pres. Ronald Hamblen to be the Bishop!  This was a big change and shock to me.   I was familiar with some of what the Bishop did, but I really had no idea how deep and strong the currents of service in this sacred office ran.  But along with my counselors, Dale Hunter and Kent Hill, we did our best.

Kent eventually moved and Greg Limburg was called to be his replacement as the 2nd Counselor. 

Greg served a while and then was released and Dan Beech succeeded him for the remainder of my term as Bishop.  These were wonderful days, never to be forgotten and cherished by us forever and ever.  We were released on Mother's Day 1991 after a little over five years of service.   Dan, Dale and I along with our wives get together every year for dinner to celebrate this wonderful time of service and our brotherhood.  I love these men!

After being released as Bishop, Stake President Ron Hamblen called me later in 1991 to serve on the High Council with an assignment to the Melchizedek Priesthood Committee under Pres. Carl Cook, his 2nd Counselor.  I had an assignment as well to assist with the Riverdale 2nd ward leadership and MP.  Bp. Brett Schneiter was 2nd Ward Bishop at that time.  I grew to love attending and serving there and with the other eleven on the HC and the Stake Presidency which also included Pres. Keith Carrigan as the 1st Counselor.

While on the HC, I also had an assignment which would prove valuable in my future work.  This was to organize and assist with a Sr. Citizens dinner etc. each year.

After serving on the HC for a time, in early 1993 Pres Hamblen was released as the Stake President.   Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Twelve came to reorganize our stake leadership.   Pres. Carl Cook was called and I was called to be his 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency along with Pres. Bob Kellerstrass as his 2nd Counselor. 

This was another exciting and demanding calling which provided much learning and growing experience.   It was a little bit different to work on the Stake level and deal primarily with those in the Stake who were strong and active.  During this time we took turns renewing Temple Recommends which became one of my favorite duties, meeting with those faithful members.

After a year or two Pres. Kellerstrass was released and replaced by Pres. Steven Eichmeier as 2nd Counselor.   I didn't really know him well prior, but over the remaining years we became very close friends serving together.

This calling in the Stake Presidency continued for about eight years when, not to our surprise, Pres Cook was called in 2001 to be an Area Authority Seventy.   We were released and President Bret Schneiter was called to succeed Pres Cook.

(As a side note, Pres Cook continued a few years until he was called to be the President of the New Zealand Auckland Mission after which he was called again as an Area Authority Seventy.  This time he served until April 2011 when he was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy as a General Authority of the Church.  From this point he was assigned to the Area Presidency of the Africa Southeast Area as the 2nd Counselor to Pres. Dale Renlund.  When Pres Renlund was released in 2014 Carl was called to be the Area President.  More on this later.)

After my release from the Stake Presidency, I returned to the Riverdale 3rd Ward and served once again with now Bishop Joe Thompson as his Ward Clerk.  This continued for some time until Bro. Gunther Gaudig, the Ward Finance Clerk became terminally ill and then I assisted him to the end and eventually took over for him after his passing.    Bro. Gaudig had served as my Finance Clerk when I was Bishop as well, he was a wonderul German brother and did a tremendous job in serving.

About this time, in fact it was November 24th, 2004, came the next biggest and blessed calling of my life,  I became a Grandfather to Jimmy's little girl, Marlie Hansen.  Again an almost indescribable joyous occasion and experience.   Just look at her and those beautiful big blue eyes!

After serving again as Finance Clerk my calling shifted for a time to Missionary work.   I was called to serve as a Ward Missionary with my dear brother Dale Hunter who was the Ward Mission Leader.   Once again we were together and out visiting the people in their homes which we both loved as much as just being together!  We also enjoyed teaching the Gospel Principles SS class and grew the class and had a great time with the members and investigators.

When the time came for us to move to our new home in 2010, Melanie and I received a calling to teach the Temple Preparation lessons in our new ward the Riverdale 8th with Bp. James Aurich (who had served as our Exec Secretary while we were in the Stake Presidency).  We served in this for a while and were happy to teach Clark and Connie Bybee and attend the temple with them.  

Then we were both called as Ward Missionaries and I as the Ward Mission Leader, succeeding Mitch Shaw, former Bishop of the Riverdale 3rd Ward who had been called to succeed Pres. Schneiter as Riverdale Stake President.  Again we tried to engage in Missionary work in the ward and had some other wonderful Ward missionaries working with us, Rose Bell, Iris Graham, Jodi Brown, in particular.

Pres Mitch called us in to his office in the early months of 2011 and called us to serve on a PT Service Mission to the Jefferson Ward over in Ogden where Bp. Howard Pluim was serving.  This was an exciting calling for the two of us.  I was asked to assist with fixing some financial and audit related issues that had developed in the ward and Melanie was asked to assist wherever the Bishop needed her.

My time in this calling after fixing some of the old long-standing issues was to deal with finance and specifically helping those PT Service Missionaries deal with administering Welfare to the needy members.   This was a gigantic burden for the ward and I was happy to assist wherever I could with this.  We enjoyed serving along side of Bret and Sue Schneiter, Mike and Nancy Hales, and Dave and Connie Bailey.

Melanie helped in Primary some but most interestingly she served as a Visiting Teaching companion to Carolyn Lawrence.   They had quite a list of sisters to visit and went every month.   But probably most importantly, they became close friends and blessings in each other's lives.

We served together at Jefferson until November 2013, a 30-month assignment which we loved from the first to the last day.  We were asked to serve for 24 months but we requested a six-month extension which was approved.

By the end of our service mission we had arrived at the decision to retire from our work and put our papers in for a Full-Time senior mission.  So towards the end of 2013 we began with the medical and dental side of things to get the paperwork together to submit.

After the turn of the year 2014 we had our interviews with Bishop Hall and President David DeYoung (he had succeeded Pres Shaw after his fatal accident).   Then the mission papers went to SLC.

On February 13th, 2014, we gathered our family together at our home to open the large white envelopes from SLC.  To make this especially more memorable for our oldest granddaughter Marlie, we had everyone sit in a circle around us and had Marlie read the letters.  Wendy created a special video to memorialize this terrific experience.   

[Insert the video clip here somehow.]

South Africa Johannesburg Mission, 18 months beginning on Monday, June 2nd with a two-week MTC training in Provo.   Wow!   This was exciting to us.  Ben and Jill were serving in Johannesburg, he as Executive Secretary to the Area President, now Carl Cook!   We were going to join them in South Africa, amazing!

We served as an 'Office Couple' in the Mission Office along side of the Thompson's for a little over eight months.  President Dunn then transferred us to a MLS (Member Leadership Support) way up north-east to the Limpopo Province to live in the city of Polokwane and serve in a group of that Branch in the township of Seshego.  We replaced another senior couple, the Harwards, who returned home.

[Insert more about this later.]

April 29, 2015 I was called by President Dunn to be his 2nd Counselor in the Mission Presidency.  I tried the best I could for the short time this lasted, until July 1, 2015, to assist him and lighten his heavy load.   This helped him regarding the ecclesiastical side of his calling which deals with members, recommends, Priesthood advancements, and other assignments.   I was very happy to be able to help any way I could to help lift the burden placed upon Pres. Dunn.

Front, E. Menendez, Sis. Dunn, Pres. Dunn, E. Malapula;
2nd, Sis. Allred, Melanie, Sis. Thompson;
3rd, E. Allred, me, E. Thompson.

Then we got a surprise visit towards the end of June 2015.  Pres. and Sister Dunn came up to visit with us and the Winwards (E. Winward was serving as the Polokwane Branch President).  We were invited to a special stake conference meeting down in Pretoria where we would be informed that two stakes would be formed from the one there.   Also, that our mission was to be realigned and all of us serving in the Pretoria and Limpopo areas would be shifted and re-assigned to the Botswana/Namibia mission as of July 1, 2015.

We were both surprised and shocked but willing to move forward.  The younger Elders had a harder time with the change, but change we did.  Pres. Wilson asked me to assume 'Office' duties until such time as a new couple arrived to take over (this actually happened a few months later at the end of November).

In August Pres. Wilson came to Seshego and officially organized the new Seshego Branch, independent of the Polokwane Branch and now on its own with Pres. Elias Mashishi, 1C Martin Sefara, and 2C Andries Mogatho.

We bid farewell to the Winwards in mid-September and to the Butler's in mid-November as they both finished their missions. Following a nice send-off by our Branch members at the end of November, Melanie and I bid them a warm, loving farewell and left for home December 2, 2015.   So happy for the experiences, sad to leave them.

Pres. DeYoung released us as full-time missionaries the night we returned on the 3rd of December.  We reported to the High Council the following Sunday.  We reported in our Ward the same day.  We spoke in 8 of the 9 Riverdale Wards as well.

In January I was called to team-teach SS course 16-17 with Josh Taylor.

In April I was called to be an ordinance worker at the Ogden Temple.  Melanie was called shortly thereafter.  We were set apart and started serving May 5th on the mid-day shift, Thursday's and Friday's.

[It is now September, much has changed,  audits performed, Seshego Branch organized, baptisms and progress....add more later.]