Oh my --

I don't know how other missionaries feel, but I feel very inadequate right now. We've had our last day of training and I have a pile of material and lots of scribbled notes, but if someone asked me for my name, I feel as though I'd have to ask for help. And they're going to turn us loose on the library floor?! As tough as it was, I almost wish I could turn around and go back into training. We had our last class this afternoon, and got our schedule for the rest of the week. We're going to be doing a lot of shadowing and reverse shadowing, a kind of Siamese Twin patron assistance team. It should be very interesting, and probably rather scary.

On the bright side, I've been asked to conduct the Elijah Women's Chorus for one of their rehearsals. Our lovely director is leaving the mission on the 23rd and they're scraping around in the bottom of the barrel for a replacement. I don't think I'll be the replacement, but it will be fun to direct such a good choir, with such fabulous accompanists. I plan to have me a real good time before I fall off the podium into oblivion. Such chances don't come very often.

On a brighter note, it is incredibly beautiful here and I'm going to put in some photos to prove it. I don't know which ones they'll be yet, but chances are they'll be in the Plaza, around the Church Office Building, or Temple Square. Or, if Bob hasn't yet shown his gorgeous night shot of the valley from his brother-in-law's house, I might put that in. Enjoy!

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Addendum: I obviously have a lot to learn about uploading photos. Sorry about the mish-mash! Just do the best you can with them.

Serious Deprivation (or is the word depravity?)

This is how sad things are when you don't have a piano available. We're not complaining -- we have adapted. I'm sorry the red lights in the keys don't show up. They really help me to know where to put my fingers. Pretty soon I'll be able to play a real tune.

Matt! This is for you!

Sorry about that last one. My pinkie twitched!

I finally saw the Monastery/Monk video (about tech support). I loved it. As soon as I can get it on my flash drive (the guy promised -- all I have to do is find him and hold him to it) I will put a link in the blog so you can all appreciated what the underpaid pre-medieval monks had to go through. So some of our classes are actually a lot of fun.

Hope everyone is having a pleasant 4th of July. We are.

Matt! This is for you!

Picture Niagara Falls . . .

. . . and picture yourself standing at the bottom of the torrent, trying to get a drink of water. That's what us poor trainees feel like as we finish our third week of training. There is so much information to give us, and it's coming at us so quickly, that we all feel half-drowned and not very knowledgeable. Fatigue is our watchword -- you can usually spot the trainees by their appearance (red eyes, lots of material, a sort of confused expression) -- or maybe that's just the poor Zorneses. In fact, Matt had a very good description of our early morning attitude. We keep plugging along with these two encouraging factors in mind: Our setting apart blessings, and the fact that every single person we've talked to has been through the same thing, with the same feelings. But they all "got it" and a lot of our trainers have been here a relatively short time. I should put in a third factor -- the Elijah Choirs; Men's, Women's and Mixed. It makes getting up at 4:45 a.m. worthwhile (I can't believe I just wrote that), and I mean that. So I know we'll make it, and we hope that by the end of our 4th and last week of training we'll know enough to be turned loose on the poor patrons. I know that a lot of the patrons know much, much more than I ever will, but there are constantly folks coming in who have never been to the Library before, nor have they ever done a lick of genealogy research. My comfort is that perhaps we can learn together, under the gun, as it were. As long as they don't want their lines traced back to Adam before the end of the shift. (That's a joke, I think.)

Does that sound whiney? I don't mean it to! We really are having a wonderful time and are so very glad to be here. It's beautiful here right now, and we have a great group. I'm even learning some of their names -- we've had to introduce ourselves about eleventy-eleven times, before every class and training exercise. We've begun saying "We are still Elder and Sister Zornes, from Dallas," and everyone sympathizes. Also this was a very good waker-upper: I had been feeling rather smug about my first four generations, and then I discovered how much wasn't done, how poorly it was sourced, and how much work there is still to do. I'm really glad I'm learning all this stuff -- it's been very helpful. Now if I could just learn the other 99.75 %!!

We've Got Your Bach

I'm still a little emotional as I write this, so I may not be too coherent. I used to wonder why this church, the one church actually presided over and directed by our Savior, has had such a lack of music worthy of its Eternal nature. There have, of course, been many very talented and capable members who have contributed enormously to our literature, but we have never had one with truly global stature, who whose works are going to be part of classical choral literature for many years to come. We have one now, Mack Wilberg, an awesome individual indeed. I have always loved his hymn arrangements, both LDS and early American, but I never realized the depth of the man until I heard a recording of his Requiem, and went straight to heaven.

We were unable to attend the broadcast this morning because Bob is fighting off a cold and hadn't had a comfortable or restful night. So to compensate I put on my headphones and put in a new CD we bought yesterday, the aforementioned Requiem, and was rewarded beyond words to express. If you don't have a good, even great, sound system you need to hear it on headphones, so it comes straight into your head. It's a personal revelation and speaks so strongly to your spirit that God lives and that he loves us.

The church finally has the composer and the music it deserves. This is a great time to be alive. (Note to Cameron: if B&N doesn't have it, I'll send you one.)

We're assigned!

We had our last bit of training today, followed by an inspiring "Go Forth" meeting, followed by a trip to the temple. That was followed by lunch in the cafeteria, wherein the mission presidency bussed our tables. Neat! I'm glad they didn't offer to wash our feet -- I felt funny enough giving them my dirty dishes and used napkin.

Our assignment is the stuff of Bob's fondest dreams -- we're assigned to the Family History Library, in the U.S./Canada reference zone. So now we go back into training for two more weeks, and I hope that I can learn enough to be able to help other people. Our trainers assure us that we can, and everyone who knows anything about that zone says that it's really wonderful and that we will love it. I'm including photos of our trainers, Sister Wallace (Bob's) and Sister Bettinson (mine). I've already uncovered some new information during training and I am pretty jazzed about being turned loose in the "candy store."

We got home early today, but will start in again on Monday with an early call for choir, so right now I am going to take a nap! How lovely to have an apartment with two matching recliners. The housing team was inspired, for sure.