Jun 11, 2024

Meet Susan Vickers, a volunteer for the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project. Susan works on the Transcription Team, transcribing a wide variety of historical documents. 

One thing she has enjoyed about being a part of the Project is “learning about the things the Church and its people were involved in. The Papers range from inviting people to attend training at the Brigham Young Academy to receiving requests to help someone with their legal issues to private spiritual matters.”

Susan discovered the Project through JustServe.org. She used to do a lot of indexing on FamilySearch.org and was intrigued by the communications in Wilford Woodruff’s writings. Wilford recorded many important moments of Church history, and she is grateful to transcribe those records and make them available to the world. 

Susan feels her life has been blessed by being a part of the Project. She shares, “I feel great peace as I work on these documents, often in the early hours of the morning before I head out to teach seminary or serve in the temple. It sets the tone for my day.”

Susan has had many special experiences while transcribing documents. “One thing I read that really struck me,” she says, “was a letter from the Turkish Saints in 1890 begging the Church to send them missionaries . . . It was especially touching to me as I have met the man responsible for translating the Book of Mormon into Turkish. . . . There are still relatively few Turkish Saints, and it is a struggle for them. 

“It reminded me that Jesus Christ and His teachings, especially the ordinances of the gospel, are more important than anything else and worth any sacrifice. I was also filled with gratitude for living in a place and time where I have easy access to the words of our prophets and to temples.”

Susan would like others to know that volunteering with the Wilford Woodruff Papers is  “a great way to serve from home . . . It doesn’t have to take hours. Every bit of effort helps, and it is fun to watch as others help with the Project and the number of remaining documents decreases. It is a team of transcription warriors.”

To learn more about becoming a volunteer, visit our website: https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/volunteer.