2024-03 Mar - Bite Sized Work

Mar 3, 2024 family history audio memories Mully Accelerating

Read time: Summary 0.6 minutes | Expanded section: 17.9 minutes | Appendices: 4.3 minutes

Summary Message

• See the 2023 Global Family Tree Progress in Temple & Family History in 4 neat graphics and your own contributions
• Engaging the Whole Family with 1-5 Minute Stories, Motivating Temple Work
• Break Down Bigger Efforts into Smaller Chunks (a success pattern)
• Youth, Help Older Relatives Tell Stories by Recording them with the Memories App from Family Search
• Adults and YSAs, How can you do as well as the Youth in 2024?
• Indexing is also Short and Easy (bite-sized)
• The Inspiring Story of Mully
• The Work of the Lord is Accelerating
• Appendix A - Step-by-Step Instructions for Recording an Audio Memory
• Appendix B - 2024 Ward Temple & Family History Coordination Meetings
• Appendix C - Computer Tools for Moderate to Advanced Computer Users

Expanded Message

Global Family Tree Progress in Temple & Family History in 2023

It can help to occasionally stop and check our progress.

• Global Family Tree Progress
• If you log in to familysearch.org, you can see what you contributed during 2023
• To see your 2023 stats, got thru menus Family Tree, then My Contributions, then Stats. Rather than seeing it like a merit badge, I see it as a way to help estimate our effort needed as we decide to do better in 2024.

Capturing Audio Stories Month for Our Ward

• Trigger: At a recent Temple & Family History Coordination Meeting, the Relief Society asked that we find ways to break down the Temple & Family History efforts into smaller chunks so people can participate without setting aside large chunks of time. So this month’s message and focus on short audio stories happens in 5-minute chunks. How’s that for bite-sized? The Relief Society’s request took my mind to Alma.

By small and simple things are great things brought to pass (Alma 37:6)

• My spouse reminded me that it takes time to ponder people to access memories from back in time. Our brains are not as quick at recall as computers.

• Recommend you identify one (1) relative. During 1-2 weeks, look at photos to remember and ponder your interactions with that person. If that is too often for you, try 1-person per month.

  • Ponder your interactions with that person while driving familiar roads, while doing chores, or other things that don’t require intense concentration.
  • Memories will bubble up as you ponder and reflect.
  • If alone (less background noise), use your phone as a voice recorder. For driving, I use a separate voice recorder from Sony that I can feel the button shapes without the danger of looking down at a screen while driving.
  • If you keep your photos on Google photos, or other digital repositories, look up that person’s name and use the photos to trigger other memories. Or dig out those old photo albums with printed pictures and look for that person in them.
  • On Sundays share a few photos short memories of your interactions with that person with your children
    • Less is more. Rather than showing many photos over an hour, like my Dad did with boring slide shows, aim for fewer photos and less time to keep children engaged.
  • If there is time, consider recording your memory (paper notes, familysearch.org text memory or audio recording memory)
  • Repeat next period. Pick another person and do the same.

• Helping loved ones get to know those you knew may not help your upcoming temple trip, but preparing for temple trips is challenging to fit into a bite-sized time slot.

  • And helping others get to know a deceased person you knew can help them know them better too. They’re not gone, their spirits are just beyond the veil of mortality.
  • Temple & Family History work is motivated by love, love for our deceased and love for our Savior, whose errand we’re on.
  • All journeys are taken one step at a time. Only Superman attempts to make the journey in a single leap. And he is fictional.

Break Down Bigger Efforts into Smaller Chunks (ask for help as needed)

• For customized help to break down your Temple & Family History journey into smaller (bite-sized) work items, may I suggest a call or visit with a Ward Temple & Family History Consultant. Any of us are glad to help.
  • Consultants can tailor to your specific context and help you see possible next steps.
  • If you see this work as too “big”, Consultants can help you decompose larger tasks into smaller tasks that can be done with less time, to help fit it better into your busy lives.
  • My spouse uses sticky notes on a board or window glass with each smaller chunk on its own sticky note. She moves stickies from “To Do” column to “In-Progress” column, to “Done” column. She finds that technique motivating. I use that method at work with software tools that basically do the exact same thing. It helps remember where you were before distraction A, B, or C happened. Easy-peazy.
  • Even an automatic-vacuum cleaner (i.e., Roomba) requires setup effort and bin emptying.
  • Paul said “let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1)
  • (Isaiah 28:13) “But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little”
  • To what degree are we self-aware and cautious of only counting what we’re not doing. Ask “How aligned is that thinking pattern with God’s pattern?” The adversary is always working in opposition.
  • To become more capable & self-reliant in new skills, think Nephi on Valentines day. Wait. What? In 2 Nep 2:14 (get it? Feb 14th?) we find “both things to act and things to be acted upon.” God expects us to act rather than to be acted upon or be blown about like a ship without a rudder.
    • To act means to decide and move. “Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.” (James 3:4) To act means doing something. To decide a direction and steer there. The rudder changes the direction of the ship. Our priorities and decisions steer our ship, when we act. When we occasionally let go of the rudder, the ocean of life may act upon us. Even in storms, its better to have a hand on the helm/rudder, to act.

      • “Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment. With the majority the bark of thought is allowed to “drift” upon the ocean of life. Aimlessness is a vice, and such drifting must not continue for him who would steer clear of catastrophe and destruction.” (“As a Man Thinketh”, by James Allen)

  • For my living, I’m in Engineering. In that field, all big projects are broken down into smaller chunks of work. Bite-sized chunk by bite-sized chunk is the pattern of how great things are brought to pass.
    • Act in this context means to proactively break down bigger work into bite-sized tasks (aka planning), and then work them one at a time. (by yourself or with a TFH consultant helping)
    • Acted upon in this context would be to say woe is me and think from a passive victim mindset or learned helplessness. As children of God, we are agents and expected to act. As soon as we recognize we’ve drifted into acted upon, we can do a U-turn and get back to acting.
  • The Pyramids were built stone by stone. Skyscrapers are built steel girder by steel girder. Nephi built a ship whack by whack (the sound of woodworking) and that after casting his own tools. Mount Everest is climbed step by step. Primary lessons are prepared one Sunday at a time. Parenting is one-day at a time (some harder than others). Even birthday cakes are divided into smaller pieces. Temple & Family History progress is little by little too.
  • Consultants have been down the Temple & Family History road before. Like Sherpas guiding climbers up Mt Everest, Consultants can help guide you towards doable next steps within your time available.
  • Did a consultant mention a task that still seems too big for you? Simply ask how you can further divide that into smaller chunks of effort. They can help you break that task down into smaller steps too.
  • The three thing all these examples have in common is that
    • (1) a person formed an desire/intention to proceed,
    • (2) they acted, did something, and
    • (3) No one did the entire endeavor in one go. So be kind to yourself and more realistic with your self-expectations. Even the Lord does not expect a single bound. That phrase should be reserved for comic books and the fictional superman.
  • “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.” (Mosiah 4:27)
    • If the pace seems un-sustainably fast (faster than you have strength), then revisit your prioritization and prayerfully identify the ONE Thing to work on now. I recommend the linked book, by the way.
    • Perseverance, at a sustainable pace, is a principle of self-reliance.
    • “There are few examples in the scriptures that illustrate perseverance more vividly than that of Nephi, son of Lehi. We see his willingness to return to Jerusalem not once, not twice, but three times” (T. Ruth Randall, Liahona Oct 2018)
  • Temple & Family History Consultants are glad to help you divvy the work into smaller chunks. Will you contact one of us and ask? We are happy to talk with you.
  • Each of us can seek direction and support from God too. We are not alone.

The weakest soul, knowing its own weakness, and believing this truth that strength can only be developed by effort and practice, will, thus believing, at once begin to exert itself, and, adding effort to effort, patience to patience, and strength to strength, will never cease to develop, and will at last grow divinely strong.

˜ As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen

Engaging the Whole Family with 1-5 Minute Stories, Motivating Temple Work

• Throughout history, humans have told stories to one another. Hollywood, Bollywood, streaming services and the book publishing industry are all built on stories.
• Stories are engaging to all of us. We’re wired for stories. For example, I watched the Mully story below for 81 minutes with rapt attention.
• If you don’t have a long story, that’s okay (the site will only take 1-5 mins per recording anyway). Record small 1-5 minute vignettes (small segments, rather than the full story).
• As you recall and record another audio memory, the collection of memories becomes fuller and your relatives can piece together the puzzle of what they knew of them with what you know of them so all have a clearer picture of your shared ancestor’s life.
• So let’s use the Family Tree App in little bursts of minutes (no hours needed)
  • Load the app on your mobile device if you don’t have it
  • Family Tree App in Apple Store
  • Family Tree App in Google Play Store
• FamilySearch Memories make it simple and fun to create a digital scrapbook of memories that brings joy to families now and into the future.
• Find the person you want to tell a memory story about and press the record button.
• Sisters typically do this well already, but for the men consider the next few bullets as a reminder.
• Before you tell your story, imagine your grandchildren were all sitting around you rapt with attention. Smile as you record. Some of your progeny may not meet you in mortality, but they can later be enthralled by your engaging story, your tone of voice, your story pacing, your love that comes through your voice, and they can get to know you a bit from your telling in your voice. It’s a win for the person your story is about, and it’s a win for future progeny about you!
• What a grand opportunity! Easy-to-make digital recordings, democratized by ubiquitous phones with excellent microphones and that fit in your pocket. No reels or cassettes of magnetic tape to keep track of. Familysearch.org even backs up your digital memory. Zero “housekeeping”, no closets full of artifacts. Yay!
• Not everyone can write or type as fast as the thoughts come, but nearly all of us can talk as fast as the memories come.
• Keep your stories relatively short (less than 5 minutes) and record different stories so people can listen a little at a time too.
• Ideally, record multiple small segments, one by one, as you recall them.
• Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. You can rerecord if your inner perfectionist requires it of you. Or tell your inner perfectionist to come back later.
• I would love to have recordings of my Granddad or Grandmother talking about his dad or her family that took her in after her parents died, but the recording technologies near the end of their mortal lives were not available beyond recording studio businesses. We are abundantly blessed with these technologies and the capabilities they enable in 2024! What an enormous change!
• I encourage you to record your memories while your mind still works great and while you have the ability to recall and speak at the pace kids and teens can listen within their attention span.
• Even if you’re past that point, some stories are better than zero stories. Who would you have loved to listen tell stories about your family members? Will you be that person for others (cousins, children, grandchildren)? Please? Ponder your love for those not even here yet. Please sacrifice your 5 minutes now for them later. What a heritage you can leave to them.

Youth, Help Older Relatives Tell Stories by Recording Them with the Memories App from Family Search

• During 2023 Youth in our Ward led Adults and Young Single Adults in Temple & Family History! Great job, youth! Will you decide to lead again in 2024?

• WHAT - How can you do that again in 2024?

  • You can figure out an unfamiliar phone app faster than adults can.
  • You may have to pre-warn Grandma to keep the stories to just the one person at a time. Use her phone to show her a count-down timer, while you use your device to record the story. Kitchen timers work too for countdowns.
  • You can even do this for young-ish relatives like your Mom and Dad, or Grandparents in their 40s-60s. (That range may seem old, but its not really)

• WHY

  • You’ll have their voice forever, which you may not appreciate now, but you will later in life, after the exits from mortality take them from you. It may not be soon, but it runs in your family’s history too.
  • Your service of loading the mobile app, figuring out how to use it, and asking Mom or Grandma questions and pressing record can bless everyone you know in your family and cousins you haven’t met yet too.
  • As you ask about a specific person you’ve pulled up in Memories, their memories may come flooding out. You are uniquely positioned to help capture that memory for all. You may even learn some stories you didn’t know yet.
  • It only takes 5 minutes (max for the app) per story, so you can serve and then go do something else too.

• Will you accept the invitation to try this with Mom or Dad first and then as you get better at it, do it for Grandma & Granddad and aunts, uncles, cousins?

• Stories are fun to listen to. Sure, reading can be fun too, but many more people like hearing stories in a loved one’s voice even better.

Adults and YSAs, How can you do as well as the Youth in 2024?

• In some Texas wards, adults competed with the youth during Thanksgiving turkey bowl games of tag football. So we’ll go with that theme for this message to draw smiles (not to cause division). Besides the youth won more often anyway.

• Adults, we feel busier than youth, so how can we do this is small bite sized chunks of time? Read on…

• You’re already prepared to tell stories. You’ve spent your entire life (way more years than the youth) telling brief stories. You’ve got this!

• First, put on your reading glasses or hold the phone further away (sorry, that’s for me).

• Take the leap and load the app even if it’s new to you.

  • Family Tree App in Apple Store
  • Family Tree App in Google Play Store

• What experiences with loved ones make you smile when you remember them? Share those memories first.

  • Before you listen to the adversary saying negative things, your progeny were not there and didn’t experience that with the emotion that you did. They WILL appreciate you sharing that precious memory. If they are teens, they will appreciate it more later. Don’t talk yourself out of sharing. Its impact could last for generations. Please share. Please.

• What would you tell a child under 10 years old? “You can do it.” or “Just try it.” So follow what you’d tell a child. This can be even easier than eating spinach as a 6 year old. It’s the anticipation of the first bite you have to get past.

• Once you find your way around in the app, it only takes 5 minutes (max for the app) per story!

• You can test how it came out by seeing the name you gave it when you saved it. Press ▶ (play) and listen to your recording.

  • If you don’t like it, you can Delete the recording and try again. Be careful deleting. Only delete what you added.

• If you need to, you can log on from a laptop or desktop and confirm that the file is there.

Indexing is also Short and Easy (bite-sized)

• Want to use little segments of time to serve in Temple & Family History? Use indexing on a mobile device. On mobile devices you have a helper artificial intelligence that has already looked at the record and made its best guess.
• You just have to confirm or correct the AI’s guess.
• Ta Da! That’s it.
• Spend as little as 5-10 minutes to index a single batch and you’ve helped Temple & Family History!
• And Indexing is bite-sized, meaning it fits into your busy days.
• Please don’t index and drive. Ha ha.

• As always, the HOW in Temple & Family History work takes more scope than this (sometimes brief) monthly message can accomplish, which is why the church organizes into stakes and wards/branches, and calls Temple & Family History consultants to serve you and get you going or to help (where possible for now) where you’re stuck.
• Consider serving by indexing, to put money(data) into the ATM before temple trips take money(names) out, so to speak. If you use your mobile device, the Artificial Intelligence (A.I. Machine Learning model) will give it a go first and you only have to confirm (youth, I’m talking to you because you can see mobile screens better). If you do indexing on a computer, it’s all on you to read the cursive writing (older technology) and type what you see (index) the data.

The Inspiring Story of Mully - How much of a difference can one person make?

• Youtube version of the documentary
• I just watched a documentary that won multiple film festival awards, about a Kenyan man, Mully, who was abandoned by his family as a 6-year old and left all alone. He survived as a street kid for ten years.
• Then he progressed through various jobs, saving as much as he could.
• With his savings, he started a business and became a millionaire.
• Then he ran into some other street kids that prompted a rethinking of his priorities.
• He sold all his businesses and, with his family of four children, began helping as many orphans as they could. They started with 3 orphans, then grew to 100+ orphans.
• They had to move from the city to a rural plot of poor land. There was no water, no electricity. They then had 1,000 orphans in their care.
• With a working well, Mully realized they needed to be more self-reliant.
• Mully and his family and the older orphans began to build the buildings they needed, plant the crops they needed.
• Over 27 years, so far, Mully has helped 12,000 orphans survive, thrive, learn skills, get educations.
• It is an impressive story. Mully’s organization is called Mully’s Children’s Family (MCF). Their web site says they have done more since the documentary was made, caring for 6,200 children now.
• What does this have to do with Temple & Family History? It is another adjacent story about rescue. Fundamentally inviting others to come unto Christ so he can rescue them is what the Lord asks of us. The love for others motivates our Temple & Family History efforts. Mully rescued some of the many orphans in Kenya. He did what he could (more than I expected while watching). We do what we can in Temple & Family History work. Our efforts help individuals who have passed on to more fully come unto Christ and to be linked to their progeny. It is a different kind of rescue, but still impactful to each one of them. The Lord’s focuses on the one. He loves each of us.
• My wife commented about Mully, “It makes you think about what you do with your spare time.” Indeed it does.
• It made me realize that I, perhaps all of us, get too easily distracted or discouraged. In our internal “battles” of spirit over natural man, how can I better do what God wants me to do?

If God be for us, who can be against us? ~ Romans 8:31

The Work of the Lord is Accelerating

• Fully 26 years ago, Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke at General Conference about the first smaller temple, and of the pattern of urgency from Joseph Smith, to President David O. McKay, to President Spencer W. Kimball, to President Gordon B. Hinckley, and continued by our current Prophet, President Nelson who quoted Brigham Young declaring “the urgency of vicarious temple work”. Elder Ballard talked of keeping pace.

• Glenn L. Pace said 32 years ago “The speed of the train is increasing.”

• President Monson said “lest we become complacent, may I quote from 2 Nephi…[2 Nephi 28:20–21]…Someone has said that our complacency tree has many branches, and each spring more buds come into bloom. We cannot afford to be complacent.”

• For me, it does feel like the speed of both life and our gospel work has increased in the last three decades.

• How can the Lord’s yoke be easy, and his burden be light (Matthew 11:30 as a question) when more is expected as the pace increases? Because the Lord is pulling on equally or more on his side of the yoke. Mully’s story is one of many examples showing all things are possible with God.

• When I have felt overwhelmed, after reflection I realize it’s because I was trying to do it myself, alone, without God’s help. When I actively invite or plead for His help, He lessens my burdens. Yes, there are still challenges, but feelings of being swamped or submerged all yield to internal peace as faith activates and when I recognize, with gratitude, that He is pulling the load with me. We are not alone. We are not abandoned like Mully. If we feel so, we can reach out for His hand with one hand and hold to the rod, the Word of the Lord, with the other hand to make our way through the mists of darkness. Like Nephi, I know in whom I have trusted (2 Nep 4:19).

• The Lord is asking much of each of us in Temple & Family History work in this last dispensation. We’re still free to choose how much to contribute and when.

• But rather than yielding to feeling overwhelmed by what the Lord is asking of us in this last dispensation, what if instead we thank Him for our blessings, and then we ask in prayer “How can I…?" and then pause and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. God knows my circumstances and yours too. He knows my current capacity and yours too. I’m grateful for God’s help and this pattern that relies on light to overcome darkness. I am confident he forgives our occasional wincing when he asks us again and again to stretch and grow our capacity rather than letting us pause too long.

• But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matt 13:23). Sometimes I wonder which seed am I right now.

• Roots Tech 2024 was 29 February to 2 March 2024 and had lots of how-to videos and talks to help grow your knowledge and skills in Temple & Family History

“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

Sincerely, Your Ward Temple & Family History Consultants,

During Stake Family Search Center posted hours, our Ward’s staffing assignments are as follows (also posted near the hours on the bulletin board next to the Family Search Center door):

(our contact info is in the tools app, or see us in church)

Appendix A - Step-by-Step Instructions for Recording an Audio Memory

For adults, I’m going to provide step-by-step instructions.

• Open the Family Tree App on your mobile device.
• At the bottom-left of the app, select the Tree icon.
  • 
  • If you don’t have anyone in your tree view, see one of the Temple & Family History Consultants to get you started.
• Select the relative you want.
  • Don’t see them, select the 🔍 icon (magnifying glass) near the top-right of the app to search for the person you want.
• The person’s page appears.
• Under the relative’s name select Memories.
• Near the bottom right, select the plus sign + button.
• Select Add Audio.
• Add From will pop up with My Files (in case you recorded it elsewhere) and Record Audio.
• Choose a Topic pops up. If you want to use a prompt, feel free. Or not. It’s up to you.
• Select Begin Recording at the bottom of the app.
• Big Start button appears. Press it
• Talk for up to 5 minutes.
• Press Pause to collect your thoughts, or Done when finished.
• A name the file box appears. Name the recording.
• If talking about the dead, no worries having the recording set to Public.

CAUTION: Consider private or public about the living due to cybersecurity risks, identity theft, financial fraud, etc. Living people’s pages in familysearch.org are not visible to anyone but you. Memories, however, can be if you leave them public. When done, consider setting the memory to Private if you mention living people or personally identifiable information about the living. Better yet, delete that version and re-record the memory again without such details about the living.

• You’re done! You have contributed a priceless memory to all your direct family, your cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.

Appendix B - 2024 Ward Temple & Family History Coordination Meetings

The Stake guidance is to regularly hold a ward/branch Temple and Family History Coordination Meeting. So in 2024, we are doing that.

• 2nd week of each month for 15 min in Stake Family Search Center
• 4th week of each month for 15 min in Stake Family Search Center
• Invitees: Ward Consultants for Temple & Family History, Relief Society counselor over Temple & Family History, Elder’s Quorum counselor over Temple & Family History, Youth leaders over Temple & Family History, Ward Temple & Family History Leader, Stake Family Search Center Leader
• Start time: 7 minutes after the conclusion of ward Sabbath meetings
• End time: 22 min after ward meetings (you can go even if the meeting goes longer than planned)

Appendix C - Computer Tools for Moderate to Advanced Computer Users

• Free Text Expander Tool

  • If you’re doing a lot of family history on family search, this tool helps me and may help you too. I type “Find a Grave”, “Standardized Formatting”, “US Social Security Records” and similar phrases a lot. Now I use a so called text expander tool and only type a short code and get the entire expanded text. The time saved aggregates over time and saves frustration for me. So I’m sharing.
  • The tool is espanso and it works on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. I have already saved a ton of time with this tool. Once you setup your short codes it is easy to use. The setup is a bit tedious, but worth it.

• Free Audio Transcription to Text Tool

  • My wife’s dad and I recently tested Whisper AI on my 6-year old laptop (really old in computer years) and fed Whisper AI three audio files (.mp4a format), one at a time, of recorded stories and got back three text files in just less than the time to play the audio files. It took me more time to send it back to him by email than it did to transcribe the last audio file! I recommend doing something else while waiting. Watching it work is like watching paint dry, but the result is worth it.
  • Whisper AI got all the words right.
  • Whisper AI takes some persistence to use locally on your own machine and is not for the faint of heart regarding computer technical issues yet. I followed someone else’s YouTube video instructions. I’m sharing because if you’re okay using command line applications, Whisper AI is really awesome.
  • It blows away older tools like Dragon Speaking. You don’t have to speak punctuation. Whisper AI just adds it.
  • Whisper AI is based on an LLM (large language model) from OpenAI, the same folks who brought us ChatGPT.

P.S. - Behavior Change

Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming. ~ Dallin H. Oaks, 2011

• The Lord’s pattern is to invite. The adversary opposes, using diversions, discouragement, etc.

• As each of us decide our desires, priorities, choices, actions, changing, achieving and becoming more like our Savior, Jesus Christ, we invite you to tithe an amount of your time and energy (appropriate-to-your-unique-context) to gathering Israel.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

P.S.S.

• The intent of these messages is not as a guilt trip, but rather as a reminder of the grandeur of the vision and scope of the work God asks of his children as we prepare for the Savior’s second coming, and the urgency our Prophets have indicated.
• Discouragement is the adversary’s pattern. The bigger picture can inspires commitment for what we can do, one step at a time, little by little.
• With our hand in the Lord’s hand, all things are possible as we keep trying and practicing Christlike love and service, we can help unite families through family history and temple work and be blessed too.
• Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass.