South Island Trip - Day 1: Nelson & Westport

After we were done with Fiji, we had one more trip to finish off our mission.  This time we would be going to the South Island of New Zealand.

Our South Island trip was planned as a mix of business and pleasure. We looked forward to meeting various family history center directors and taking electronic folder of training videos and resource files we had organized to install at each place we visited. We also looked forward to seeing some of the beautiful scenery.

DAY 1 - WEDNESDAY – 14 SEP... NELSON & WESTPORT

We flew from Auckland to Nelson, arriving shortly before noon.  We went directly to the Family History Center where we were met by the director, Sister Maria Robinson, and the Stake Technology Specialist. Sister Robinson had prepared a lovely lunch for us which was much appreciated.  All the equipment was working fine and they seemed to have a thriving FHC serving both church members and the community. We downloaded the training files, took inventory of computer tag numbers, and talked with Sister Robinson about how things were going.  After a brief visit we were back on the road and on to our next destination.

Nelson FHC Director, Sister Maria Robinson

We had about a three hour drive to Westport.  The weather was fine so we were able to enjoy the lovely views along the way. 

 We had dinner at a local bistro and then headed to the Family History Center.  There we met with the director, Jeanne Stechman.  While the Westport FHC is quite small it was well organized and seemed to be well utilized.  Sister Stechman had been helping a number of different people find family names to take to the temple.  She was very appreciative of the resources we brought and was a delight to visit with.

By the time we got done there we were ready to head back to our room and get some rest.  It had been a long day of travel and we were tuckered!

For that night we stayed at a hostel called "The Art Hotel". It was an interesting place where lots of young backpackers would stay during their travels.  There were some dorm rooms, but we had booked a private room. We suspected we were probably the first Mormon Missionaries to have ever been there.  We were just happy to find an inexpensive accommodation that was clean and had comfortable beds.  We got a good night's rest and headed out early the next morning.

Training Day at Manurewa FHC

We spent much of the day today at Manurewa Family History Center doing some training.   We really enjoyed this.    One of the people we helped was a new convert who is just learning for the first time how to do genealogy work.   When we started all she had was a couple generations on her mother's side and no information at all on her dad.    By the time we were done with our session she had added about four more generations on her mother's line, found a fun photo of her grandfather who had died before she was born and gotten contact information for the funeral home who conducted her dad's services who may be able to provide more information.  She was thrilled.

We also helped Molli, a young single adult, learn how to standardize information in her tree and how to add sources.  We spent time going over the on-line version of the My Family booklet and showed her how she could transfer photos from her FaceBook page over to FamilySearch memories.

Then when all the others were gone we stayed for a while with the consultant, May Mariner, to help her work on her own family tree.  She spends so much time helping others that sometimes her own research has had to take a back seat...something I can well relate to.   We helped her retrieve her free Ancestry.com account and showed her how to import four generations of family information from FamilySearch.   We then taught her how to use the shaky leaf hints to discover sources and cross check her information with what others have in their trees.   Using this tool she was able to add several new names to her tree, completing all five generations of her fan chart.


We loved having this opportunity.  This is exactly the sort of work we enjoy doing - helping folks develop new skills and make discoveries that are meaningful for them.    We will be going back to Manurewa next week to participate in the planning meeting for a stake family history event they will be having in August.  Larry also talked with their High Priest Group leader about the possibility of having us do a fireside on family history for their stake.    Good stuff!