FamilySearch volunteers Earl and Sherry Petersen are flying out of Christchurch tomorrow, heading home to the United States after their 18 months missions with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They are leaving many friends they have made here, but also a legacy of over 440,000 probate records digitized as part of their volunteer service.
A probate record is a legal document associated with a deceased person’s estate. Genealogists, historians, archivists and others find these records extremely useful in piecing together personal, family and other histories.
Sherry Petersen’s role over the last year and a half, working alongside her husband and staff from Archives New Zealand, has been to carefully prepare individual probate records for photographing by her husband.
Using a camera especially designed for the job, the couple have taken digital images of paper records so Archives New Zealand and members of the public can easily find records on FamilySearch.org.
The digitization process also ensures that records are preserved for future generations, avoiding the threats of paper deterioration and natural disasters.
Elder and Sister Petersen, as they are known as Latter-day Saint missionaries, have now completed two missions for FamilySearch and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their first mission as a couple was to Guam, where they also digitized records.
There are over 85,000 Latter-day Saint missionaries worldwide who volunteer for 18 to 24 months, unpaid and at their own expense, to serve communities across the globe. Missionaries take on various assignments including supporting the Church’s humanitarian, self-reliance, education and family history programs.
In many cases missionaries work alongside representatives of governments, other churches and community groups in the service of society.