One day while we were in Utah the kids were all busy and Jim was working on the shed. I thought maybe I should take a couple of hours and go to the BYU library. I kept thinking maybe I won't, maybe I will. It was supposed to snow. Finally I just made a decision. I'm going.
When I got there I thought I'd see if James Tanner was in the library. I figured my chances were good since he is there most of the week teaching classes, etc. As I approached the desk to get a new password for using their computers, an Elder approached me asking if he could help. I asked him if James Tanner was there. He replied, "Well he is in today but at lunch. At 1:00 he will be teaching." I inquired about that and asked if anyone could come and he said yes! It was 20 minutes away. He showed me the door where the class would be held and the door was closed. He said, "The door will open when the prayer meeting is over." When I got my password I went to a computer and started to do a few things. I was approached by this really weird guy who had a lot of really weird questions for me so was glad I had an appointment with JT at 1:00.
Here's a picture of The Family History Library at BYU. It is a beautiful facility and right in the middle of the campus. Did you know this is the second largest library for Family History in the world? It is!
At 1:00 o'clock absolutely nothing happened! The mystery door was still closed, I sat at a library table facing the door for a few minutes just waiting. The next thing I knew JT walked up beside me and said hello. He doesn't know me but I have talked with him on enough occasions that I looked familiar to him. We chatted and then seriously talked about his blogs, I confessed to being a fan. He seemed quite surprised by that. Funny! I then confessed to staff training and mentioning him most weeks. He was flabbergasted!
Finally the door opened and he and I went in. I was expecting a classroom. Instead it was a small conference room with big overstuffed leather chairs, a round table, etc. I snapped a couple of photos discreetly but I think he caught me on the one below. Whoops. But he did crack a big smile after that and didn't ask for my camera or anything. Thank goodness. He knew I was taking it for all of you! After his presentation he thanks me for coming.
There were just a few people in the room, five I think, that are on staff and then James and me. He proceeded to teach a class about the partners that he said would never be published or declared publicly. He stated his opinions on what is happening and what will likely happen in the future.
He also spoke about some new Green Arrows appearing out of the blue on Family Tree for children under the age of accountability that had already been sealed but are resurfacing as though they had not. There are thousands of them that have appeared because some of the sealings from a certain period of time had been completed but not recorded properly. He had some advice on those which was just redo them if you have previously done them or go though the channels to get FS to fix them if you are not sure.
He had another section of his presentation that was to be done online. Sadly the entire University lost the Internet during that remainder of the time. So he just talked and answered a few questions.
It was such a privilege to talk with him and hear him teach the staff. I love it when Life happens like that. As luck would have it, this week he is out of the library on vacation so I went at the right time. Family History is often a serendipity experience.
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