Every spring when the tulips and daffodils start blooming I’m reminded of a story I heard when I first began my family history journey. My dad had just given me the suitcase full of his thirty years of research and I felt overwhelmed with the task ahead of me. I attended a local family history fair hoping for practical help and inspiration. In one of the classes, the young presenter related a story written by Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards titled “The Daffodil Principle,” and how it related to family history. Jaroldeen’s daughter, Carolyn, had invited her several times to make the two...
In the recent LDS General Conference, church leaders spoke about a wide range of topics that comforted, taught, and inspired us. Many of the talks focused on personal conversion and our relationship with the Savior. Many other messages were about strengthening families and how we can improve our relationships with each other. As a family history consultant in my ward, the insights shared about why we should do family history research and proxy temple work for our ancestors especially stood out to me. Here are twelve of the lessons I drew from the messages that pertained to family history: 1 – We can...
Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Allison Gilbert’s new book, Passed and Present, about celebrating the lives of relatives we’ve lost. Enter our giveaway of the book here! Remembering loved ones who have passed away is a unique kind of challenge. We want to celebrate their lives, yet sometimes sharing memories can be difficult. We may wonder if our family members (children, teens, etc.) are even interested. As family historians, we have many stories of loved ones long past that we’d like to tell. How do we do this in our everyday lives? Allison Gilbert answers this question with...
Image courtesy of RootsTech At the end of Bruce Feiler’s inspirational keynote talk at RootsTech in February, he encouraged listeners to do four things: 1 – “Find a way to connect your family story with the oldest stories ever told.” 2 – “Find a way to not just talk about the green and bountiful moments, but about the moments in exile, in desert, in pain.” 3 – “Find a way to take your passion for family history, and pass it on to subsequent generations and especially to our children – who need it in order to believe that they can...
In October 2014 General Conference, Elder Allan F. Packer spoke about family history in his talk, “The Book.” He said, Like partaking of the sacrament, attending meetings, reading the scriptures, and saying personal prayers, doing family history and temple work should be a regular part of our personal worship. He spoke about this on February 14, 2015 at the Family Discovery Day as well: Last year, our theme was “Igniting Interest in Family History,” and we introduced the “spiritual passport,” which encouraged members to begin collecting the stories and information that would help them and their ancestors qualify for eternal...
Our ward is working on a temple challenge to find a family name for temple work by the end of November. I think it’s important to talk about the difference between searching for a name and surfing for a name. Searching: Finding records that reveal relatives not yet in Family Tree. Adding them to the tree, checking for duplicates, and reserving their ordinances. Surfing: Clicking around family tree until you find a relative with a green temple icon, then reserving their temple ordinances. When I really search for records about my ancestors, instead of just surfing for green temple icons, these ancestors start to...
Elder Holland’s beautiful talk about mothers today made me think of all the generations of mothers that have gone before me. It is staggering to think about the lifelong carrying that all of them have done throughout time to make my existence possible. It is not only the prenatal carrying but the lifelong carrying that makes mothering such a staggering feat. Speaking directly to mothers, Elder Holland said: Thank you to all mothers everywhere for giving birth, shaping souls, forming character, demonstrating the pure love of Christ. Thank you for your crucial role in fulfilling the purposes of eternity. Be peaceful, believe...
Elder Hugo Montoya spoke during the afternoon session of General Conference today about bearing one anothers’ burdens. One way to do that is to go the second mile. “The Savior said, ‘Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.’ As an example, we are asked to attend the temple regularly, as our individual circumstances allow. Attending the temple requires a sacrifice of time and resources especially for those who have to travel a great distance. “Nevertheless, this sacrifice could be considered part of the first mile. We will be walking the second mile when we...
I read 1 Nephi 5 this week and was struck by the story of Lehi searching the brass plates and what he found in them. Hugh Nibley, in his lectures on the Book of Mormon, said that Lehi didn’t have the genealogy of his fathers because the records on the brass plates were rare and secret. The law was read publicly once a year by the scribes and pharisees, and that was all the access the people had to what we now call the Old Testament. So, when Lehi and his family fled from Jerusalem, the Lord commanded Lehi to send...
