NGO Conference in Salt Lake CIty

We've had an interesting week with the National Genealogical Organization (NGO) Conference in Salt Lake City for the first time in 25 years. There were also three other conventions at the same time so this has been a really big deal. We have not had students this week but have been helping. The conventions were the reason that they put 100 new computers in the FHL (Family History Library) and completely rewired the building to get wireless internet in every nook and cranny. It was important good because on Tuesday morning when the FHL opened at 8:00 AM, there were 270 people waiting at the door to get in.

Monday morning Elder Marlin K. Jensen, Church Historian, spoke in our Devotional. (The Men's Chorus was amazing as they sang "O Say, What Is Truth.) The Church would love to have historian David McCullough write about the western movement. He wrote 1776 and John Adams and won the Pulitzer Prize twice. He is impressed with the church and its youth. After speaking at BYU he commented, "They actually listened to me." Recently David McCullough invited Elder Jensen and his wife to a private dinner with him and his wife for two hours and asked the question, "Why do they do it? --speaking of the Tabernacle choir, the ushers, the missionaries, and all the other volunteers.

Three afternoons John and I helped oversee 60 free computers and printers which were set up in the Salt Palace near the 100+ exhibition booths. It was a convenience for everyone to check email, do family history, etc. It is amazing what is happening with technology. The GenTech area demonstrated that the future is already here. 300,000 new names were downloaded into FamilySearch and it was exciting to find them. Some of the people that I had meticulously searched in the microfilms last week with Henrietta last week from Germany were now available in an indexed format at the touch of a button. The microfilm information was better because it gave birth and christening information as well as the parents, grandparents, witnesses, etc. but with the index we would not have had to spend the many hours searching for the names in the difficult German script--we could have gone to them directly. There were many positive comments. One patron said, "I'm learning more here with the hands-on help than I am in the classes." John helped a patron find her grandmother for whom she had searched for many years. She immediately e-mailed her family and went to the library (skipping the lectures) to document the information from its orginal source. We met many wonderful people from all over the country.

It was unforturnate that the weather was so cold. We had a lot of rain and snow! Fortunately, it melted quickly but it was amazing to see all the spring flowers bowed down with snow at the end of April.

The highlight of the conference was the presentation at the Conference Center by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra, Pres. Eyring, and David McCollough. There were about 2000 conference attendees but the Conference Center was nicely filled and also streamed to over 20,000 people. The choir sang 5 numbers. There were five video clips about families in varied times and situations. One of them was about Emma who developed leprosy in Hawaii and was sent to Molikai. She married there and they had six children. Each of the children had to be sent away from the island before their first birthday. A granddaughter returned to the island in search of the graves and found them and described her emotions. Another one was about a family with Scottish roots whose young son decided to learn the bagpipes and their experiences. The video segued into the Utah Bagpipers, Choir, and Orchestra playing Amazing Grace featuring this man. It was an uplifting, memorable evening for everyone. It took us almost half an hour to get to our car which was parked in Conference Center parking and 3 minutes to get from the top level to outside! Pres. Eyring's talk was carefully crafted to include all of the organizations who were there. He used quotes from their early journals. His theme was "Unity through Community."

The desired outcome of all the money and resources which have been expended is to help us share and mentor one another. The established, older genealogists have expertise in records and the younger people have expertise in technology. Family history is not just a temporary fad but is becoming more established and growing every year in every sector. Even among the Facebook group, it is growing rapidly. It has been an amazing week for us. We are so blessed to be part of it.