Last week I was on vacation.  I had no plans on going anywhere, my husband and I planned on painting my daughter’s bedroom, but that was about the most exciting thing we did.

I take that back, the most exciting thing that I did was visit the Los Angeles Family History Center on my first day of vacation.  I was really excited and the night before made my research plan, double checked the center’s hours, and made sure I had driving directions so I didn’t get lost.

Who was I researching for you ask?  No one.  This trip I was looking for information on the state of Zacatecas in Mexico.  Specifically, I had three books that I wanted to look at that would hopefully tell me which parish of the Roman Catholic Church would cover where my ancestors lived.  I need this information so I would know where to direct my written inquiries on my ancestor’s birth, death and marriage records.

The three books I was looking for are (I’m sorry but I don’t know how to put the spanish accent marks here):  Directorio eclesiastico de la Arquidiocesis Primada de Mexico (Directory of the congregations and clergy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico), Directorio eclesiastico de toda la Republica mexicana (Directory of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the Republic of Mexico), and Mexico: guia general: divisiones eclesiasticas (A general guide to the ecclesiastical divisions of Mexico).

I found these books by searching the catalog on http://www.FamilySearch.org.  I searched for “Mexico – Church” on their website and these three books popped up.  Unfortunately, the LAFHC do not have these books on their shelves.  I was told to first try interlibrary loan through a local library and if that doesn’t work, then I would need to take a trip to Salt Lake City, UT to look at the books at the SLCFHC because they don’t send books from the Utah main library to other family history centers like they do for the films.  Although I was a little disappointed, I was happy to find another book that they did have called Diccionario Porrua de Historia, Biografia Geografia de Mexico, which I believe translates to The Dictionary of History, Biography and Geography of Mexico.  This book had all of the cities my ancestors are from, Fresnillo de Gonzales Echeverria, Valparaiso, and Zacatecas, the capital of the mexican state Zacatecas.

I am going through the copies I made from this book and using google translator to try to read what it says.  Later today, after I pick up my daughter from her first day of school, we will head to the library and try for the interlibrary loan.  I’ve got my fingers crossed.  Could you please help me and cross your fingers too?  Thank you.