User:Lindasmith8

I am Linda Marie Smith and was born in Augsburg, Germany in 1957. My parents were born and raised in southern Idaho. I was born in Germany while my father was serving in the US Army. Our family moved a lot. We lived in Germany, Kentucky, Tennessee, Idaho, Georgia, Turkey, Maryland and Pennsylvania before he retired to Idaho. Since marrying I have lived in Idaho, Washington and Missouri and now live in Hagerman, Idaho. I am married with 8 children and 19 grandchildren. I began learning to play the piano when I was 6 years old and I began playing in church when I was 11. My mother secretly wanted me to play in a stake conference by the time I was 12. Unfortunately, we were living in an area where there was no stake, but I did play in a district conference when I was 13. It was a special conference in Turkey attended by Hartman Rector, Jr. It was the first conference held in Turkey since the time of Paul. That was in 1970. In 2000 I moved to Missouri with my husband and discovered that I was attending the ward started by Bro Rector's aunt. When he was 19 he spent the summer with her and converted her to the gospel. Through the years, I have been amazed at how often my path has crossed with people around the world. Now, in addition to playing in church, my husband and I play in dance bands - I play keyboards and he plays bass guitar. We met while playing in a band together in 1993, married in April 1994 and he joined the church in August. In 2000 I felt like we needed to move to Missouri. My husband took me very seriously and 2 months later we moved 6 of our 8 children, 2 cats, a dog, a car, a pick-up, a van and a 24-foot U-haul to Moberly, Missouri. 2 days after we arrived we found a house and my husband had a job. In 2004, within sight of our home the car I was riding in was hit by a train. I was thrown clear of the car landing next to it down a 20-foot embankment. My co-worker was crushed in the car as it rolled. Angels were with me that day. No one understands why I did not die then, nor can doctors explain why I was able to walk later, but here I am. Among other injuries I had a C-1 fracture and should have been dead before help arrived. Our time in Missouri was like a Zion's march for us. We were married in the Nauvoo temple in 2007 and returned to Idaho in 2008 very different people. My family history training began when I was 8 years old. My mother gave me hand-written copies of her aunt's genealogy to recopy starting with her and adding her father's family. Later when she found new information at Historical Libraries, I would add it to her pages. My penmanship was very good, but she eventually bought me a typewriter. By the time I was a teenager I was helping her do research and after I was married she took care of my children while I researched and in 1994 I built my first computer, which she paid for. In 2006, I helped beta test NewFamilySearch and our temple in St. Louis was picked to be the first to use the new system. Because I already had access to newFamilySearch when the Twin Falls temple came online in 2009 (one of the first to get access in the west), I was able to help others learn how to use it. I started my first FamilySearch mission that year and served until 2014. I beta tested 'Memories' and wrote the Knowledge Documents for it during the latter part of my mission. My husband and I have been serving in the Twin Falls, Idaho temple for 5 years. We attend the Fairfield, Idaho Branch, an hour from our home. I am the Branch Organist/pianist and the Family History Consultant. I teach Family History at the local library. My husband fondly says he is a Family History widower, but he gained his testimony of the gospel sitting at a computer in a Family History room and has submitted hundreds of family names for temple work since he joined the church.