Temples, Houses of the Lord Dotting the Earth

 

Elder Neil L. Anderson, April 2024 General Conference

Next Step Plans

 One way to keep a One-On-One Individualized Experience with a ward consultant short and targeted on the needs of an individual member is to limit the time to working on a "next step" chosen by the member. You can read more about this and download a copy of this chart here:  

https://soulstobless.wordpress.com/2020/02/25/the-next-steps-model-for-temple-and-family-history-consultants/

Introducing Family Groups and Trees

 

• These are private spaces for families to gather to share information on living family members.
•  Includes the new “Together” App by FamilySearch Labs (“gamifying” family history) https://www.familysearch.org/discovery/together/story

Where can I get information on how to do family history?

 

Just a reminder about one specific resource available on the FamilySearch website: 

The Quick Start Learning Lessons and Videos. 

1. Navigate to the "?" button (Help) in the upper right. 

2. Select "Helper Resources" in the bottom right corner of the box that pops up. 

3. There are many training resources available that would be helpful, but the key resource is the one in the middle of the middle column titled "Learning Resources." This will take you to the FamilySearch Quick Start Learning Lessons and Videos. 

This can also be accessed through the link under Key Family History Websites and Webpages or here. 

https://www.familysearch.org/en/fieldops/familysearch-center-workers-and-volunteers-learning-resources

Everyone's Story is Worth Remembering RootsTech 2024

 

The RootsTech Site has thousands of videos giving instruction on everything from basic research to DNA. Even if you don't attend the event in person each year, you and your ward members can access the free content (including training for leaders) on the website here: RootsTech Website. 

2023 Rexburg South Stake Family History Update: A Focus on One-On-One Personalized Family History Experiences

 

There is a new approach to temple and family history consulting that focuses on the one-on-one personalized family history experience. When members of the church have meaningful experiences with their own family history, they are more likely to continue to engage in it regularly or come back to working on it in the future--even when they have had a disruption for a time in their lives. Members who regularly engage in their own family history are more likely to stay worthy to hold a current temple recommend, attend the temple regularly, and stay on the covenant path. Family history is also a great reactivation and conversion tool (see other articles below), a tool for strengthening the youth and adults in a ward, and a tool for strengthening families and opening the heavens for help and revelation (see also below). The updates in this edition of the training blog will help you learn doctrine and provide you with tools and resources to teach and work with your ward council and ward members to provide meaningful family history experiences for everyone. 

The main focus of this training this year (and in future years) is the one-on-one personalized family history experience. The main components are the following.

1. Add the Member to the Consultant Planner. The helper/consultant will add the member to their consultant planner so they have access to that member's FamilySearch account. This will help them to prepare a personal experience ahead of their first visit. 
2. Prepare a Personalized Plan. Using the tools in the planner, the helper/consultant will prepare some activities to help the member learn about some interesting and meaningful things about their family. They will also prepare to help the member learn to find family members who need temple work, attach records to the tree to prepare names for temple work, and to help the member to reserve names and print cards for an upcoming temple trip. 
3. Minister One-on-One. The helper/consultant will then come to the member's home or other setting where the Spirit can be felt and present this first experience. It should take about 30-40 minutes. 
4. Invite To Act. Finally, the helper/consultant will invite the member to act on a simple goal and then set up a time for a follow-up visit. 

The Church has provided a number of resources that demonstrate how to do each step. You can find some of them at these links.

• A New Approach to Temple and Family History Consulting
  
• Use Simple Activities to Create Personalized Family History Experiences
  
• Personalized Family History Experience (a step-by-step guide).  You need to be logged into your FamilySearch account for some of the links at this last training to treat you as a church member and provide you with temple work information. If you are not signed in, click at the link in the upper right corner and provide your LDS account log-in information. 
  

If you need additional help or your own personalized training, you are welcome to contact your stake consultant or ward consultant for help. One important goal for each ward is to provide the personalized experience for each ward member. This should start with ward leadership members having their own experiences with family history so they can testify and lead-out in helping others. 

Please read through all the posts on this page to get the 2023 update. Then feel free to browse previous posts for earlier information and resources. Key resources are also linked at the top of the page, just to the right of posts. Enjoy!

Open the Heavens through Temple and Family History Work

Do you have ward members who are struggling? President and Sister Nelson shared how family history and temple work can open the heavens. Excerpts from the talk can be found here. Open the Heavens Through Temple and Family History Work  

This was the promise made by Sister Nelson.

"Sacrifice does indeed bring forth the blessings of heaven.4 I have been blessed to find many ancestors who I feel confident were ready to make covenants with God and to receive their essential ordinances. Over time, I realized that if I was working on an overwhelming project and I was out of time, energy, and ideas, if I would make a sacrifice of time by finding the ordinance-qualifying information for some ancestors or by going to the temple to be proxy for them, the heavens opened and the energy and ideas started flowing. Somehow I had enough time to meet my deadline. It was totally impossible, but it would happen every time. Temple and family history work bring me a joy that is truly not of this world." 

Descendants with Tasks: A Quick Way to Add Records to Your Family Tree and Find People Who Need Ordinances

 

FamilySearch has been providing tools to make researching your family quick and easy for a number of years now, and one of the best new tools is the "Descendants with Tasks" list that is available on the mobile phone version of the FamilySearch App. This version is particularly helpful for busting the myth that temple work is done for your family. (Elder Bednar used this on the 2023 World-Wide Leadership instruction to show the myth-busting potential.) If you find that one line of your family has no tasks right now, you may just have a very eager family member on that line. Try another! And then go back to that line later. FamilySearch is adding records all the time, so new opportunities will always arise. 

To use:

1. Find an ancestor who lived in the early to mid-1800s. For most people, this will be a 3rd to 4th great grandparent. Select them in the family tree to pull up their individual page. 

2. Click on the 3-vertical-dots icon in the upper right corner and select the option "Descendants with Tasks." This will bring up a list of individuals who need either temple work (the temple icons -- in green for people who are ready and yellow for those who need more information) and/or records attached (the blue record icons). 

3. You can toggle the list to be up to 5 generations. You can also select just record hints, temple hints, or both.

4. Clicking on the blue record icon will bring you to the record linking page. 

You can learn more about how to use this feature and other lists to do research on your phone at this page that also has more step-by-step instructions. Completing Tasks on the FamilySearch Moble App

Record Linking Through The BYU Record Linking Lab: A fun alternative to indexing.

 

The BYU Record Linking Lab has developed tools in the last few years to help grow the FamilySearch family tree. The main way this is done is by linking records that are in FamilySearch to individuals already in the tree. Many of these records contain the names of individuals that are not yet in the tree and can be added through the record linking tool in FamilySearch. 

If you have individuals in your ward or stake who enjoy volunteering but do not enjoy indexing, record linking may be a great alternative. The linking lab has a large number of tools to make this quick and easy.  Record Linking Lab Volunteer Page 

Two tools that are especially good for beginners are the "Random Hint Button" and the "5-a-Day Project." The "Random Hint Button" will provide you with a unique hint using the record linking tool in FamilySearch, and if you sign up for the "5-a-Day" project, the BYU record linking lab will email you 5 links each day that will take you to the same record linking tool. 

Linking records grows the tree and makes it possible for more people who go into FamilySearch centers to find their family the first time they use FamilySearch.  For more advanced volunteers, you may suggest some of the bigger projects being done by the Record Linking Lab. These can be found at the Family History Volunteer Opportunities page. These projects are designed specifically to increase coverage in the tree for groups like African Americans, Native Americans, and people from Puerto Rico and the Ukraine. 

Finding People to Take to the Temple and Other Instructional Videos from the BYU Record Linking Lab

Dr. Joe Price from the BYU Record Linking Lab has made it his life's work to help regular people make family history a regular part of their lives. He has created a series of videos on common tasks such as how to use Ordinances Ready and other tools to find people to take to the temple.  On the BYU Record Linking Lab YouTube page, featured videos also provide instruction on topics such as

• Finding Famous People (in your tree)
• Three Things to Do During a Family History Visit
• Relatives Around Me
• Surname Hints
• Helping Missionaries
• Introduction to Family History
• Mobile Indexing
• Merging Duplicates
• Finding Death Dates

Enjoy!

Preparing for 2024 Ward Temple and Family History Planning: Reviewing the 2023 World-Wide Family History Leadership Training

 

With fall fast approaching, it is time for wards to begin to plan for 2024, and that includes putting together a ward temple and family history plan. One good place to being the process would be to review the key principles taught in the 2023 World-Wide Family History Training. This is particularly true for wards who have had a changeover in key ward leadership. 

If your ward would like to review the instruction, FamilySearch has helpfully provided a page with links and key quotes.   2023 World Wide Leadership Training

Sharing Stories: A Simple Way to Teach the Doctrine of the Eternal Family

Family history and temple work can be a powerful tool for reactivation and conversion. At a recent RootsTech, Elder and Sister Bednar taught about the power of sharing family stories. Please take the time to watch the video. 

Additional ideas for sharing the Gospel through family history can be found here. Sharing the Gospel through Family Stories - Church of Jesus Christ