Following the Spirit in Folkers Research

17 August 2010

Working in the family history center today, I received an answer to my prayer of this morning that the Lord would guide me as I worked on the family of Berend Folkers and Geertje Kramer.  I had almost completed the copying of records that had been taken from the Groningen index “AlleGroningers” for this family.  A child born in 1873, Folkert Folkers, had a record of birth that I copied at the digital copy machines.  However, it was extremely difficult to read because it was so small print, and lots of information given that was different than the normal entries.  I made the best record that I could, and in fact made two different copies. 

As I went to put the film back into the box, (and this is where the subtle prompting came), I simply decided to put the film back on the reader and look at it again because I thought there might be other entries since it indicated that the child was born on a ship and I thought it indicated Delfzijl even though the index said Groningen.  I found another filming of this page, and a very dark, almost unreadable page filmed between the two entries.  When I took It back to the copy machine, I was able to manipulate the film such that I could make it readable and made a scan—and I did a rescan of the better film image so that I could more easily read it. 

I testify that although I would have previously been inclined to think that it was just part of the search, I never have gone back to a film today in my searches—and generally don’t do this.  However, this time, I did and did so without conscious thought until I had made the second copy and then I knew that it was an answer to prayer.  I immediately stopped searching the records, and made this entry as a testament to the fact that the Lord knows each of us, what we are doing, and is very much involved in our efforts to accomplish the goals we set each day—especially when we plan to report to him at the end of the day as asked by Brothers Melzer and Brown in our meeting on last Sunday as to how we could better prepare to receive the spirit in our daily activities.

Golden V. Adams, Jr.

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