Visiting Missionaries In Wolf Point Photographing Cemetery Headstones

The lack of social gatherings and other side effects of the pandemic is also disrupting missionary work for the young missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints serving in Wolf Point.

They used to spend much of their week before COVID-19 teaching others about God and prophets, while performing 10 hours of community service.

Under current conditions, they are trying something different.

The president of the Dakota Mission, Scott L. Howell, a university administrator on leave from Brigham Young University and a former sexton of a small cemetery and an amateur genealogist himself, said, “I thought it would be helpful for our missionaries during this time of social distancing to get out in the fresh air and do something meaningful like take photos of headstones in cemeteries for genealogy purposes.”

One of the missionaries currently serving in Wolf Point, Elder Jay Idell from New Hampshire, said, “It makes us happy knowing we are helping other people reunite with their ancestors.”

Currently, these missionaries have photographed about 5,000 headstones in the Wolf Point area and uploaded them to the BillionGraves website where other volunteers will transcribe the information so interested family and genealogists may electronically access the information and photo of the headstone from the comfort of their own homes.

Anyone aware of any small/private cemeteries in the area that they would like photographed, they can contact the Wolf Point missionaries at 406-794-8580.