2023-12 Dec - Start with Four Generations

Dec 7, 2023 family history your book generations

Read time: Summary 0.3 minutes | Expanded section: 5.7 minutes | Entire message 8.2 minutes

Finish 2023 Strong as it Comes to a Close

Summary

• How to start your 4 Generations for the 48% of our Ward that does not have theirs yet
• Use Ordinances Ready for temple names
• Your story matters too
• Invite a person in our communities to use the Family Search Center
• Thank you for your help in gathering Israel on the other side of the veil during 2023 The restoration of the Gospel continues. There are now 712% more temples than when I joined the church. From 47 to 335

Expanded Message

We can love our fore-fathers, mothers and cousins, learn their stories (where possible), think on them, reflect where we come from, express gratitude for them for their contribution to who we are.

We can let that love manifest into sharing some of our time in Temple & Family History as part of the gathering of Israel.

Temple and Family History work is another way to help us stay on the covenant path as our Prophet has pleaded with us to do.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” Anyone with eyes to see the signs of the times and ears to hear the words of prophets knows that is true. The perils of greatest danger come to us from the forces of wickedness. Those forces are increasing. And so it will become more difficult, not easier, to honor the covenants we must make and keep to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; ~ President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, Apr 2022

We have never needed positive spiritual momentum more than we do now, to counteract the speed with which evil and the darker signs of the times are intensifying. Spiritual momentum can help us withstand the relentless, wicked attacks of the adversary and thwart his efforts to erode our personal spiritual foundation. ~ President Russell M. Nelson, The Power of Spiritual Momentum, Apr 2022

Four Generations

• For the 48% of our Ward that does not yet have their 4 Generations entered into Family Search yet…
  • See Getting Started or Adding the First Four Generations
  • Begin family history work by gathering your own personal information and focusing on your first few generations (4 is a good start).
  • Uniting families for eternity is part of God’s work of salvation and exaltation. Temple and family history work is the means for uniting and sealing families for eternity (see Matthew 16:19).
  • Please come see us in the Family Search Center at the Stake Center during posted hours or set an appointment for one of us to come to your home (or zoom call) so we can help you make your next step.
  • You can start with a print out of this PDF 4 Generation Chart
  • You can use the My Family - Stories that Bring Us Togetherbooklet if you don’t have a computer, then bring it to the Family Search Center for help getting the information online. If you have family in another language, try this 2 minute video with them.
  • How do I print fan charts and pedigree charts in Family Tree?

Ordinances Ready

• For those with 4 generations done, consider using Ordinances Ready: FamilySearch App Feature Helps Find Temple Ordinances for Your Ancestors
  • Ordinances Ready searches the FamilySearch Family Tree, as well as temple reservation and shared lists, to find available ordinances for people you are related to.
  • It verifies that the person:
    • Is related to you.
    • Was born at least 110 years ago.
    • Has chronologically consistent birth and death dates as compared with family relationships.
    • Is not a duplicate, based on the information available in the tree.
  • If it cannot find a family name for you, the Ordinances Ready search will expand to include ordinance reservations from the temple inventory, ensuring that anyone that uses it will be able to find and request ordinances to perform in the temple.

Your Story Matters

• I ask you to spend 7 minutes of your time watching this short church video Your Story Matters More Than You Think (7:12 mins). It shows why your story matters too. Remember, temple and family history is about individual souls, who they are, the impact they made, and helping them come unto Christ. It is way beyond merely dates and forms.
  • If you want to tell your family stories, please use the holidays to do so with guidance from the Holy Ghost about the parts to say that can help one of your family.
  • Consider Family History Activities designed for the whole family, and tell a story about how one of your grandparents impacted you
  • If you want to make a video, you’ll have to find someone who knows how to help you with that.
  • If you want to put your life into a physical book for your posterity and need a guide, I can help show you the steps. Qualifications? I’ve done it. I have privately published a 401 page softcover, glue-bound, 6x9 inch, physical book to my family about my story to my family and I’m happy to show anyone who wants to do this how to go about it. The printer charged me $325 to print 14 copies of the physical book. Depending on your family size the costs grow as you order more copies.
  • If you want to put your life into a eBook for your posterity and need a guide, I can help. I’ve also written multiple eBooks and I’m happy to show you how to do that too if you’re interested. eBooks are easier and cheaper to make and release, using free software (free in money, not your effort).
  • Your story is unique, you have had an impact on others, and you too can share your story. For those with families, yes, your kids know much of it if you’ve told stories, but what about grandchildren and great grandchildren? Two to three generations from now, they will deeply appreciate any effort you put into this. I am happy my granddad did this for his life.

Invite Someone in our Community

• Invite a person in our communities to use the Family Search Center during posted hours. Missionaries can use this invite as a fallback when people don’t yet want to engage in spiritual discussions. Member missionaries (that’s us) can recommend Family Search Centers as an easy invitation.
  • If you’re traveling for the holidays, let those know where you are that they can find a Family Search Center using this link
  • If in the area, give them this about link to help them feel comfortable.
  • They don’t have to dress up, the dress code for guests at FamilySearch centers is casual.
  • Usage is free. No cost, no donations
  • There are no strings attached. The resources available in centers are free, with no commitment required. Center volunteers are trained to help you make family history discoveries and do not expect anything in return.

Thank You for Serving

• Thank you for your service to the Lord in the area of temple and family history during 2023.
  • Your service is between you and the Lord. The following information is only to see general trends.
  • Our ward was up from 49.2% to 51.8% of members with the first four generations of ancestors in the family tree at familysearch.org. All the ward consultants are ready to help you (To be clear if you’re a new member, rest assured there is at no cost for our help. We accepted these callings to serve you and the ward).
  • Like Joshua’s outnumbered army of old, our 47 adults, 2 young single adults, and 4 youth submitted names using familysearch.org.
  • We had 107% of the people logged in to familysearch.org in 2023 as we did in 2022, up to 134 people in the ward.
  • We were slightly down in names added to the tree, and memories added to the tree, but we were up 166% in indexing over 2022.
• The only way for any of us to see how our contributions changed year-over-year is inside family search, is using these two menus to get to My Contributions and then to Stats, which will show you how you have served others over the years in this area. I find it useful for trying to do better than my prior year self. I share it for optional use.

Feel Good for 5:55 Minutes

• A feeling of heaven to lift your spirits and show the light we’re blessed with in the midst of the mists of darkness.

Current Workflow for Family History:

1. Historical people’s information first has to be digitized (others do this).
2. We index people’s digitized information so the image can be associated with text, which can be found in computer searches.
3. We link families' data together in FamilySearch.org (each member’s initial target is 4-Generations found and linked. Later we work cousin lines too.)
4. We link people’s information (source data, memories) to the right person to help us and others to get to know them better.
5. Finally, we can get names to take to the temple and offer them the choice of being linked to their families for eternity in our own pattern of regular temple attendance.

The Big Picture - Why Do Temple & Family History

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ~ Jesus Christ, Matthew 4:19

“Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018

“That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something big, something grand, something majestic! Now, participating in the gathering of Israel will require some sacrifice on your part. It may even require some changes in your life. It will definitely take some of your time and energy and your God-given talents. Are you interested?” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018 Youth Devotional

“I invite you to increase your participation in family history, including family history research and indexing. I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him.” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, Hear Him, Apr 2020

“We have opportunities to fulfill our mortal missions, but we don’t have to. No one will make us. We have our agency to choose how we spend our time and energy, our talents and resources. In fact, what we choose to do is actually part of our testing. The choice is yours and mine.” ~ President Russell M. Nelson, 2018 Youth Devotional

As Ward Temple & Family History Consultants we are called to help you with HOW to do these things.