Local Mormon church invites community to celebrate 50th anniversary July 26
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By Carrie Debrone
Kitchener Citizen
July 3, 2014
The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, 11 Lorraine Ave. (at the corner of Lorraine Ave. and River Road) in Kitchener will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month.
Church members invite everyone to celebrate with them on Saturday, July 26 from 1 to 6pm at a free anniversary event that will include games and children’s activities, historical rooms, photo displays, music by the primary children’s choir, refreshments and remarks from local dignitaries and volunteers who helped build the church.
In the summer of 1920, two Mormon missionaries came to Kitchener and began holding Sunday school in the home of the late Amos Willis. A branch of the church was organized in 1923 and by 1939 it had 56 members. In 1956, the membership reached 100 and by 1964, its membership had blossomed to 227 families from Kitchener and Guelph.
Under Bishop R. J. Holland, the original chapel, constructed in 1964, gave local members their first church building allowing them to move worship services from rented space in Smithson School on nearby Sherwood Ave in Kitchener.
The original building containing the chapel and a wing of Sunday school classrooms and offices was expanded in 1977 with a $300,000 addition that provided a new wing with a cultural hall, stage, kitchen, library and five classrooms.
To raise funds for the addition, about 30 members of the congregation worked from September to December 1975 as part-time security guards patrolling construction sites in the area for $2,70 an hour. They earned about $8,000 that they donated to the building fund.
Church volunteers also provided volunteer labour for the addition and gave private donations to defray the cost of the project. Local donations amounted to about $90,0000 and the rest of the addition cost was paid from the international church’s general funds.
“I get a lot of joy serving people. It brings joy to my heart, said Local Ward Bishop Andy Pockett, who leads the current 160-member congregation.
The church also has an active missionary program allowing young people to travel to different countries around the world to do volunteer work.
Currently, the local ward is hosting missionaries Sister Christenson from Utah, and Sister Fragapane from Germany.
Both young women, who have completed about half of their university education, decided to take a break from formal education and serve for one and a half years as missionaries.
While here, they serve as visitors to church families, work in soup or community kitchens, and have helped with yard work and painting.
“’We are serving and living in the way that God wants us to, Frangapane said. Since coming to Canada last August she has served in Toronto, St. Thomas, Brampton and Kitchener and is now fluent in English.
“Its a big blessing for us. We meet so may people and learn so much,” said Christenson.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, the blessings of Christ are for everyone. Seeing how people can and have changed motivates me,” she said.
Pockett explained that one of the church’s main outreach projects is its Family History Centre. Located inside the church, it is open to anyone who wants to use it.
Family relationships are extremely important part of the Mormon faith, as members believe that families are sacred units.
Established in 1988, the local church’s Family History Centre hosts the monthly meetings of the Waterloo Region’s Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
Run by volunteers, some of whom are church members and some who are members of the community, the centre offers visitors the chance to research their family history with microfiche and micro film readers, access to online family history sites, church records, census and probate records, military records, land records, birth, marriage and death certificates and many historical maps.
Mormon churches have established 4,600 similar Family History Centers around the world and coordinate their efforts with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, which has over 2 million rolls of microfilm containing copies of original records from more than 100 countries.
The vast collection was acquired through the cooperation of governments, churches and individual record keepers all over the world and is stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault outside of Salt Lake City.
Copies of these films can be ordered for anyone’s use through the Family History Centers for about $8.
Church member Cathryn Fischer has been the Director of the Family History Centre at the local church for five years.
“It’s a very encouraging and positive place to be with a peaceful atmosphere where people can come to do their research. I love being there,” she said.
“It’s such a fantabulous outreach,” said Renie Rumpel, who is not a member of the church but who has volunteered at the Family History Centre for 20 years.
“It’s really something that they do this. Not too many people realize that there’s all this stuff sitting here, waiting to be discovered,” she said.
The local centre offers records from Russia, Croatia, Jamaica, England, France, Spain and Ireland including wills, histories from every county in England that were ordered compiled by Queen Victoria, British military records, estate files, tax records, passenger lists property records and houses records of all Ontario marriages, births and deaths from 1869 on.
“We have people who come in and say "How do I start? Where do I start to research my family tree? We can help them,” Rumple said.
The centre’s knowledgeable staff of 11 can help you with every step of research and some volunteers are even specialists in genealogy from specific parts of the world. They teach people how to find records and how to search properly.
Anyone can access for free all the billions of records from the Mormon online familysearch.org site, which contains a portal that allows access to premium family history websites. You can also access for free the many sites now available online for searching family history including ancestry.com. myheritage.com and findmypast.com.
“There are no membership fees. There’s no obligation. The church just provides this as a service to the community,” Rumpel said.
The Family History Centre is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am to 4pm. Individual appointments can be arranged for Thursday evenings and most 2nd and 4th Saturday mornings but are not needed during regular hours. Call 519-741-9591 if you have questions.
Kitchener Citizen
July 3, 2014
The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, 11 Lorraine Ave. (at the corner of Lorraine Ave. and River Road) in Kitchener will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month.
Church members invite everyone to celebrate with them on Saturday, July 26 from 1 to 6pm at a free anniversary event that will include games and children’s activities, historical rooms, photo displays, music by the primary children’s choir, refreshments and remarks from local dignitaries and volunteers who helped build the church.
In the summer of 1920, two Mormon missionaries came to Kitchener and began holding Sunday school in the home of the late Amos Willis. A branch of the church was organized in 1923 and by 1939 it had 56 members. In 1956, the membership reached 100 and by 1964, its membership had blossomed to 227 families from Kitchener and Guelph.
Under Bishop R. J. Holland, the original chapel, constructed in 1964, gave local members their first church building allowing them to move worship services from rented space in Smithson School on nearby Sherwood Ave in Kitchener.
The original building containing the chapel and a wing of Sunday school classrooms and offices was expanded in 1977 with a $300,000 addition that provided a new wing with a cultural hall, stage, kitchen, library and five classrooms.
To raise funds for the addition, about 30 members of the congregation worked from September to December 1975 as part-time security guards patrolling construction sites in the area for $2,70 an hour. They earned about $8,000 that they donated to the building fund.
Church volunteers also provided volunteer labour for the addition and gave private donations to defray the cost of the project. Local donations amounted to about $90,0000 and the rest of the addition cost was paid from the international church’s general funds.
“I get a lot of joy serving people. It brings joy to my heart, said Local Ward Bishop Andy Pockett, who leads the current 160-member congregation.
The church also has an active missionary program allowing young people to travel to different countries around the world to do volunteer work.
Currently, the local ward is hosting missionaries Sister Christenson from Utah, and Sister Fragapane from Germany.
Both young women, who have completed about half of their university education, decided to take a break from formal education and serve for one and a half years as missionaries.
While here, they serve as visitors to church families, work in soup or community kitchens, and have helped with yard work and painting.
“’We are serving and living in the way that God wants us to, Frangapane said. Since coming to Canada last August she has served in Toronto, St. Thomas, Brampton and Kitchener and is now fluent in English.
“Its a big blessing for us. We meet so may people and learn so much,” said Christenson.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, the blessings of Christ are for everyone. Seeing how people can and have changed motivates me,” she said.
Pockett explained that one of the church’s main outreach projects is its Family History Centre. Located inside the church, it is open to anyone who wants to use it.
Family relationships are extremely important part of the Mormon faith, as members believe that families are sacred units.
Established in 1988, the local church’s Family History Centre hosts the monthly meetings of the Waterloo Region’s Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.
Run by volunteers, some of whom are church members and some who are members of the community, the centre offers visitors the chance to research their family history with microfiche and micro film readers, access to online family history sites, church records, census and probate records, military records, land records, birth, marriage and death certificates and many historical maps.
Mormon churches have established 4,600 similar Family History Centers around the world and coordinate their efforts with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, which has over 2 million rolls of microfilm containing copies of original records from more than 100 countries.
The vast collection was acquired through the cooperation of governments, churches and individual record keepers all over the world and is stored in the Granite Mountain Records Vault outside of Salt Lake City.
Copies of these films can be ordered for anyone’s use through the Family History Centers for about $8.
Church member Cathryn Fischer has been the Director of the Family History Centre at the local church for five years.
“It’s a very encouraging and positive place to be with a peaceful atmosphere where people can come to do their research. I love being there,” she said.
“It’s such a fantabulous outreach,” said Renie Rumpel, who is not a member of the church but who has volunteered at the Family History Centre for 20 years.
“It’s really something that they do this. Not too many people realize that there’s all this stuff sitting here, waiting to be discovered,” she said.
The local centre offers records from Russia, Croatia, Jamaica, England, France, Spain and Ireland including wills, histories from every county in England that were ordered compiled by Queen Victoria, British military records, estate files, tax records, passenger lists property records and houses records of all Ontario marriages, births and deaths from 1869 on.
“We have people who come in and say "How do I start? Where do I start to research my family tree? We can help them,” Rumple said.
The centre’s knowledgeable staff of 11 can help you with every step of research and some volunteers are even specialists in genealogy from specific parts of the world. They teach people how to find records and how to search properly.
Anyone can access for free all the billions of records from the Mormon online familysearch.org site, which contains a portal that allows access to premium family history websites. You can also access for free the many sites now available online for searching family history including ancestry.com. myheritage.com and findmypast.com.
“There are no membership fees. There’s no obligation. The church just provides this as a service to the community,” Rumpel said.
The Family History Centre is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am to 4pm. Individual appointments can be arranged for Thursday evenings and most 2nd and 4th Saturday mornings but are not needed during regular hours. Call 519-741-9591 if you have questions.
