Living History School Days

     The California Living History Service Missionaries are returning to the schools after a hiatus due to Covid 19.  Only in the schools, we drop the missionary designation as we do at State Parks and the like.  We are Living History Specialists.  Although called and set apart as service missionaries for The Church of  Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are not proselyting missionaries and are not part of the missionary department, but Public Affairs.  Our mission is to build bridges of friendship in the community, encourage interest in history, and by extension perhaps genealogy, help increase appreciation for the goodnes of our livew, and promote family values.   For intance, when our rope makers teach the children about ropes, they point out that a single stand is not very strong, but when twisted together, working together, several strands make a strong rope, just as family members or community working together strengthen each other.

    Thursday, we did a program at El Dorado Adventist School.  Doing a religious school is particularly nice.  It is only at such a school that we can have a private group prayer.  Otherwise, we only  pray alone privately before going to the school.  Also the children were well behaved and  comfortable talking to adults.  

     A school program begins with the all the children together and "Load Your Wagon" .  The leaders talk with the kids about the hard decisions about what to take and what to leave as they prepare to go on their journey to Oregon or California.  The children help put things on the "wagon bed" and sometimes have to re-evaluate.  They think about what is in their bedroom at home and what they would be able to keep.  Not much!

    After the wagon is loaded, the children are split into groups and go around to stations.  Thursday we had Bear Flag, cloth dolls, toys, laundry, and rope making.  I helped with cloth dolls.  I was surprised at how interested and excited the kids - both boys and girls - were in making the cloth dolls and appreciative of what the dolls would mean to  children who had to leave all their toys behind or on the trail.  

      After the program, the children invted us to enjoy a snack with them.  We had butter and apple butter (seemed like apple sauce) the children had made.  With muffins the teachers proviced.  Very nice!

       It is, apparently, traditional, for the Living History Specialists to go to lunch after the school program.  A good time to evaluate and develope unity.  I don't know if I am going to do this.  We went to Cascada, a Mexican restaurant in Placerville.  To someone who thinsk Wendy's or Taco Bell is a splurge, a lunch that starts at about $17seems like a lot and is not something i can do regularly.   Happy surprise, however!  Sumner Howes, our District Leader, and his wife  bought lunch for a couple of us single ladies.  Very nice, I  cannot expect that every time, nor would I want to.  That would not seem right. 

      Friday, I worked at the Folsom Pioneer Village.  We had two school groups come through. (Home school groups.  Home School groups are very nice, too, although the children may be slightly more prone to do things their own way regardless of instruction)  When we do school groups at the Village, we charge $10/sturdent and $6/chaperone, and again do much the same program.  (I imagine we charge schools we go to.  I will have to ask.)  We do use up a lot of supplies.  We set up stations through the village with crafts and activities that are not usually available.  I did cloth dolls again,  And again was pleased with the interest and appreciation shown by both boys and girls . 

     One little six year old girl declared her intention to get married.  Then she asked when you can get married.  The mothers/teachers/chaperones stayed quiet.  So I told her that she needed to be quite grown up, maybe 20,and that first she she should get to know lots of friends so she would know what kind of friend she likes best and wants to always be with.  The girl told me that it had to be boys because two girls can't have babies.  I said, that's right, but having friends who are both boys and girls sitll helps you learn what you think is most important.  I also said that if you want a husband who works hard and tells good jokes, you have to be someone who works hard, too, and laughs.   I asked her age and then told her that she had to wait about15 years.  At that point, a mom/teacher/chaperone broke in and said 20. 

Slightly different conference experience

 My Conference experience was a little unusual today.  

We almost always go to the Stake Center and enjoy conference on TV in the multi-purpose room.  We being my household, David and Teresa, Ruth's family, and Benjamin's little family.  The little kids play more or less quietly in the back and the older kids usually take notes or sit and do conference related activities or sometimes play with their younger sibs.  Ruth has small candies which she pays to the kids if they show her conference notes for each speaker - little kids do pictures of something the speaker talked about.  During the conference break we share lunch with the full-time missionaries - often 2 dozen or so missionaries.

Today there was a problem getting the satellite transmission.  No kidding!  Our satelitte dish is gone! Stolen?!  Eventually both the building and people in our room  got confernce via the internet and computers.  We listened through the building's sound from the chapel because it was  better, but we watched on TV through either Teresa's phone or a computer or both.  Some individuals watched on their own computer screen.  The fun part was that most of the time, the visual and the sound were out of sync.  Still we wanted the visual.  There were amusing moments.

When we started lunch, there were only TWO missionaries. A bit of  let  down after all the work and money we spent getting lunch together.  We surmized that missionaries who had come to the building earilier left while the tech guys were trying to figure out how to get conference without the satellite.  Eventually more missionaries came for lunch.  I think we had 8 which is not too bad.  There will probably be more missionaries Sunday.

Conference itself, was as usual, a feast, even though I kept nodding off.  Heavy emphasis on missions and missionary work.  Instead of taking notes, I worked on crocheting bunny hats for premies.  River Park Ward (Marcia RS president) asked Brighton  (her sister Nila, RS counselor) to help with their service project.  They need the hats by the end of the week.   For sometimes amusing, sometimes insightful, and somewhat random notes see Thus We See - Formerly Middle Aged Mormon Man.   Stay tuned to Thus We See for deeper, more thoughtful notes and comments later.