Greetings

Well, I thought I would start a blog for my activities as a Family History Consultant in the Royal Park Ward. First, I thought I should explain a few things.

1) I am not (yet) an avid blogger. I created my first blog last July (2007) called code-geek and since then I have not created any entries in that blog.

2) I design and write software for a living. I've done this for more that 20 years. (I think it is about 26 years now.)

3) I am learning about family history, so "consultant" is more of a goal than an accurate description of my experience.

4) What is a "Family History Consultant" as I have used the term? This is a position or calling in the church that I belong to. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. I am by no means an official spokesman for the Church, so the things I state here are my own thoughts and explanations. I have been a member of the Church my entire life, and my family has been members of the Church for several generations, so I have what I think is a pretty good idea of what the Church is all about. Right now, though, I'm trying to explain what a "Family History Consultant" is. A position or calling in the Church is an area of responsibility that we, as members of the Church, are asked to take by our leaders. We do this on a volunteer basis. We believe that these callings come from the Lord through our leaders by inspiration by the Holy Ghost. I believe this. Therefore, when I am asked to take a calling, I do it. As a Family History Consultant my responsibility is to help others with their own family history. I should probably put some sort of link here that directs the interested reader to more information, but I currently don't know what I would link too ... and I don't know how to link a this point in time (this is my first real blog entry).

5) What is a "Ward" and what is the "Royal Park Ward"? A Ward is a geographic area in the Church presided over by a Bishop. Usually a Ward has between about 300 to 600 members. The Ward, however, includes all people whether members or not as we believe that we have a responsibility to care for all people in the Ward whether a member of the Church or not. Of course everyone has a responsibility for themselves and I think that good people everywhere care for their neighbors and friends. I think it is nice to know that there are people available and willing to help when help is needed. The "Royal Park Ward" is the Ward that I belong to. It picks its name up from the street where the church building is located.

Okay, now that I've got those short explanations in place, what is this blog about? I wanted a place that I could share my experiences and help those people in my Ward.