One month of waiting…but who’s counting?

14 July 2019

Hello —

Two questions we get daily: “Oh, you are still here?” and “ Any word on your VISA?” Our sarcastic side wants to say, no, we’re not here. Just an illusion. And if we had heard anything, you would have too! But I’m trying to repent of my attitude and so my prayers are evolving from, “Please give us our VISA tomorrow,” to: “If it be Thy Will, please give us our VISA tomorrow.” For me, that is progress! It really isn’t that bad. It’s just the “Instagram Curse.” Life is just fine until you check Instagram and realize that you are completely miserable. We would be perfectly happy if someone hadn’t told us that we COULD be in New Zealand. So, we practice faith, and try to bloom where we are planted, even if we are only weeds to be plucked out at any minute. Jeff has tremendous faith and daily says things like, “If the Lord wanted us in NZ tomorrow, we would be there tomorrow. Let’s wait on the Lord.” Gotta love that man.

But here at the library, we do see miracles and there are many reasons to rejoice. There was a women who came to the library yesterday that reminded me of many of our guests at the Family History booths I’ve participated in. A little reluctant, not really wanting to be there, giving me an attitude, of “OK, fine, show me what you got.” She barked out some information as I was trying to help her while she was muttering under her breath, “I really didn’t want to come in. It was all my husband. I don’t know what we are going to find. Blah blah.” So, we got to work, and every time a branch of her tree filled out with names and places she had never heard of before, she teared up. By the end, she kept fanning her eyes to stay the tears and she confessed, “This really is incredible. I didn’t want to come here at all. Wow, thanks.” And she gave me a big hug. Happens everyday here.

Jeff had some miracles too. There was a complication on retrieving the right map for a guest. He had to go deep in the archives of the computer, down to a DOS c: prompt, with the help of a professional librarian. He kept following the lead through twists and turns until he came upon a batch of images. Not really knowing what to do next, he clicked to the middle of the images, to take a guess, and kazam, on his first try, he landed on the map that she was looking for! How amazing is that? Hundreds of images, and he got it on the first try.

More sunny days, more family and friends to see. Life is good. We love visitors!

Alyson and Jeff

Photos: Trip to Rexburg, Pizza with the Adys, Meeting Sue Thomas, dinner with the Larsens