An Author in the Book Club

One of my favorite "small groups" in our ward Relief Society is the Book Club. We get together monthly and take turns suggesting books to read and leading the discussions on the ones we have all read together. This broadens my horizons considerably as everyone has different tastes. I have enjoyed most all the books chosen.

In our ward is a relatively new author (front and center in the photo), whom we invited to lead the group on her second book. It is "Stoney Creek, Alabama" by Jennifer Youngblood and her mother Sandra Poole. We all liked the book so much that we asked her to do her first book at our next meeting. That one is "Livin' In High Cotton"

"Livin' In High Cotton" is based on the true story of her grandmother (or was that great-grandmother, I don't remember), but it is a very compelling story of the South during the years of the Depression and Prohibition. The fact that it is based on the truth drew me in even more that the equally well written Stoney Creek, Alabama. Stoney Creek is based on a story that takes place in a saw mill. A young girl returns to unravel the mystery of her father's murder.

For our book club I made refreshments of a Mississippi Mud Cake and Buttermilk Pie, both Southern specialities from the story. I had never tasted nor made Buttermilk Pie before so that was scary to try out, but Jennifer, who is a true Southerner said it was one of the best she had ever had. Wow!

Both books are available at Amazon.com and local bookstores. I recommend them. Jennifer's third one is due out shortly and will be called something like "Trailers, Pines, and Power Lines".

Improved Temple Readiness

During Sunday School I have started taking the Family History Class. This last Sunday we met in the Family History library adjacent to the Laie Temple. We saw a video about the new Church genealogy program FamilySearch. It is being introduced throughout the world with Utah being the last place so that it doesn't get too overwhelmed all at once and some of the bugs can be worked out before it get bogged down. Anyway, this new program will make genealogy so much easier. Get on the internet but do not go to www anything. Instead go to new.familysearch.org In order to sign in you need to know your confirmation date and your membership ID number which is found on your temple recommend or you can ask your ward clerk.

With this program you can look up your own name and get a pedigree chart then click on family names to see additional information on that person. Living family members will not show up other than the pedigree in order to protect their privacy. But if you want to do ordinances for any of your dead relatives you can just click on the person and the ordinance and print out your own sheet with the bar code necessary to take it to the temple and get the card necessary to perform the ordinances. The program will inform you of any duplications in materials. When you print the Temple ordinance page with the bar code the computer will mark that ordinance as "in progress" so that someone else can't get the same one. When you go to the temple the bar code will be read and the work you do recorded then the same day the computer program will read "completed" The program will also show you time lines of important events in the life of the person you have clicked on. It is really quite interesting and I have a lot to learn about it.
To my surprise I found a couple of uncompleted ordinances that I could print the materials for right away. One was having my deceased father sealed to his parents which I thought he had done. It feels like a really wonderful thing to do to get this paperwork straightened out and the whole program will be such a blessing to the Church.

On a sadder note however, the Laie Temple will be closing for one and a half years (18 months) on December 29th for remodeling. I've heard the interior remodel will make the building so different we won't even recognize it when it is done. I guess that will give me lots of time to work on records, but obviously to get work done I had better not procrastinate.