I Was Called To The Black Hole

 “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow deep, to know our heritage – to know who we are and where we came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness” – Alex Haley, American writer

As the century turned from 1999 to 2000 I found myself spending Tuesday nights at my church building in the black hole called the microfilm room in front of a large machine, in the dark. I received a calling to be a Family History Consultant. For the first time in my life I was doing research in villages of Silesia, now southern Poland, to find my ancestors. As I scrolled through microfilmed birth and death records I found the Kindler and Lindner families and many other surnames my Aunt Hanni drilled into my head as a child. I wrote about her influence in my life on Day 2 here. 

These are the Lindner sisters, my maternal grandmother second from the left, at the turn of the century from 1899-1900.

The woman on the right is Anna Hoppe, my paternal grandmother, in the year 1900.

So, here I was one hundred years later fascinated by their clothing. their countenances, and their history. What stirred this relatively new hobby? Flashes of light were coming from the other side of the veil in the form of memories from my aunt. I felt her presence while I took my daily walk. When the call came to be in our Family History Department it wasn't coincidence. 

My aunt was so concerned about genealogy because in the 1930's, before World War II swept through Silesia, she joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a single woman and walked from village to village gathering our genealogy documents.

She safe guarded these papers all her life and showed them to me year after year when I stayed with her during my summer visits.

You may not be interested right now but sometime during your life a longing with surface to know more about those who came before you were born. Please let that flash of light guide you.

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