Over the Hump

 Ten months down - eight more to go!!
It is really hard to believe that we are getting close to our one year mark for this mission.

October has been a fairly quiet month.  
No travels and no visitors!

 We have had one slight dusting of snow and our daylight hours are down to around 8 hours.  It will eventually drop to 4 hours during mid-December.

Our work in the archive keeps us busy.
We had the choice experience of imaging 
Iceland's 1703 Census.

The census is kept in specially made boxes. 
There are actually two boxes - one fits inside the other.


Removing the census from the acid-free paper.
The 1703 Census!

Taking pictures of the census with the camera. 
Best and fastest camera man I know.


Imaging these records was a real privilege.  In 2013 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approved the Archives' application for the inclusion of the 1703 Census in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.  This register lists documentary heritage that has world significance and outstanding universal value. 

 The 1703 Census for Iceland is the 
oldest complete census in the world that has survived. 
It is kept in a vault and cannot be left in our room (even when locked) except for a very short time.

 What I find really interesting about this census is that they didn't just count people - they also counted the livestock and evaluated the economic conditions being experienced in Iceland at that time.  They also compiled a register of estates that included detailed descriptions of all farms and farmlands.




They say that most accidents happen in or near your home. After church on Sunday, we were climbing the stairs to our flat.  About three steps from the top, I tripped.  Hit my left eye, arm, shoulder and hip. 
On Monday morning you can barely see it!





However, this is Tuesday morning!


Yikes - Tuesday afternoon!!

Wednesday morning!
Just in time for Halloween!!!



HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Image result for halloween images

Comments

  1. jeff frenchOctober 31, 2019 at 9:47 AM

    What a privilege to be able to digitize that census! You guys are great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nancy CNovember 3, 2019 at 7:09 AM

    Wow very interesting about census, I would be slow working it, as I would want to read it all.
    So sorry about your trip and consequent eye color-did you have any shadow to match for the other eye?:-) Be careful -we want you back in one piece. Love you, prayers always.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Santa Clara CainsNovember 5, 2019 at 5:40 AM

    Oh Cindy, so sorry about the fall. I imagine that is not the only bruise you have. Your work sounds so amazingly interesting to me. All of it. The lack of daylight I would struggle with, but since you lived in Alaska I guess you are more familiar with that. Just FYI, Brother Ray Leydsman had a stroke last Friday morning. He is paralyzed on his right side. It was pretty severe so it is going to be a very long haul for him. He cannot swallow or speak. Please keep them in your prayers. Otherwise, we are just enjoying the sunshine, but we are in a drought. We haven't had rain in over 4 months so it is dry, but love our blue skies anyway. We are praying for rain though. Sending our love to you both.

    ReplyDelete
  4. PhylNovember 29, 2019 at 1:06 PM

    So sorry for your fall!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PhylNovember 29, 2019 at 1:07 PM

      Oh, and great work by the bestest cameraman!!!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FEBRUARY FIRE AND FROST

Image
February Fire and Frost First part of February .....Temperatures are starting to drop.  We are, as of this entry, at 19 degrees at night with a daytime high in the mid-twenties.  Add in the wind-chill factor (and the wind blows here a lot), it is a wee bit nippy!!  We are at about 7 hours of daylight now!  It is nice to come home in the light instead of the dark. Driving to church on Sunday we were blessed with this absolutely gorgeous sun rise!  Naturally, the pictures don't do it justice.  It looked like the sky was on fire!  Absolutely breathtaking!!! The sunsets are not to be outdone!   These were taken on our way home from work!   We needed to be a wee bit higher to get an unobstructed view. This one was taken looking out the back of our flat from our deck.  This is the tail end of the sunset shown above. Our work here in the National Archives is to scan the Icelandic...
Read more

We Are Finally Here!

Image
Today is Sunday, December 23rd, and we have been in Iceland for one week!  We had a wonderful week at the Provo MTC.  We were there with Al's brother Brent and his sister-in-law Charlene.  We served with them in Ukraine and in South Africa and it was just a coincidence that they were going to the MTC the same week as us.  They are serving a mission for their stake at home.  We had a small group at the MTC - there were only about 22 couples and two single sisters.  Out of all of these, there were only three couples going on foreign missions.  Most of the couples were doing missions from home for their stakes. Arriving at the MTC Who? What?  We thought it might say "old and gray" but it actually says "Elder"! Can't quite reach it!!! MTC Group 1 I am sitting next to the single sisters and my sister-in-law is next to me. The single sister next to me has a young man in her home ward who was in our ward in Anchorage, Alas...
Read more

And so it begins!

We received our call to serve our 6th mission for our church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We will be serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission in the Iceland Mission Region.  It will be another family history mission where we will be doing records preservation with the Europe Area Family History Department.  We will be based in Reykjavik, Iceland. We are excited to be going somewhere new and different to explore while doing the work that we have come to love. Stay tuned - more information to come.
Read more