Reading this article today really increased our appreciation of those who make it all possible.
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"Each morning, Doug and Patricia Lowe would begin their day by fighting the traffic of buses and taxis into downtown Lima, Peru. They would walk down stairs that led to a basement they described as moldy, dusty and smelly. It would often shake due to earthquakes, and there was a jail on the other side of the wall.
Although it may initially sound like an unappealing place, this basement was where the Lowes were called to further the work of the Lord.
Once they were downstairs, the Lowes would retrieve old books that were up to two feet tall and three inches thick, placing them on moveable tables connected to overhead cameras. The Lowes worked together for about eight hours a day to photograph the civil records found inside the books. Page by page, they archived birth, death and marriage certificates.
“It was not a clean, modern archive,” Doug Lowe said of the conditions records are housed, which can range from traditional libraries to archives he and his wife found. “We were expecting kind of a Library of Congress situation, and it was not a Library of Congress situation.”
Eighteen months of long hours and challenging working conditions followed those first few weeks in Lima. And yet, for this Mormon missionary couple, it was the beginning of an experience they said was one of the most rewarding of their lives....."
(Read the full story here: Record Preserving Missionaries Needed)