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

Myth Busting!

 

The Ward Temple and Family History Plan: Aiding the Ward's Vision

In recent years, there have been some adjustments Church-wide to temple and family history leadership patterns in wards and stakes. A few years ago, three apostles provided information and training on how to effectively use the new planning and council system. I would like to highlight the words of two of those apostles, Elder Renlund and Elder Bednar. 

Their points are particularly good to review as wards go into planning for 2024. One point that was made by both was that part of the plan should be coordination meetings or other regular communication patterns that will aid in accountability, engagement, and success in implementing the ward temple and family history plan. Here is a summary of the key points.

 Elder Renlund: Clarify patterns, plans, and coordination

Because of the organizational adjustments that have occurred in the past year, there has been some confusion among temple and family history consultants wondering where they fit in the ward organization. Elder Renlund shared various ways temple and family history callings could be organized depending on the size and strength of the ward or branch.

To aid a ward’s vision and attitude, a temple and family history plan should be developed by the ward council and approved by the bishop. This could include a plan to reach out to 10- and 11-year old children to do family history work, or it could be a plan to work closely with those who the missionaries are teaching so that new converts are ready with family names on their first time to the temple.

To effectively engage consultants and enhance communication, coordination meetings need not be long, should be people-oriented, and at times could be done by text, email, or phone rather than in a formal meeting, Elder Renlund said.

Asking that wards clarify their leadership patterns, plans, and coordination meetings, Elder Renlund promised: “As you do, the Lord will hasten His work on both sides of the veil, and you will be blessed in the process.” 

Elder Bednar: Help people receive, remember, and honor temple ordinances

For his part of the meeting, Elder Bednar was joined by eight members of a local ward who have key roles in temple and family history—the bishop, the president and first counselor of both the elders quorum and Relief Society, the ward temple and family history leader, and two youth who are temple and family history consultants.

Sitting in council, Elder Bednar asked them to summarize what they had heard and learned from the evening’s instruction, with the group offering suggestions and emphasis. In several instances, he invited other leaders to add insights.

The summaries included:

• Have a simple ward temple and family history plan.
• Communicate and coordinate frequently, effectively and concisely.
• Focus temple and family history efforts on individuals.
• Remember the added value of and motivation from family history stories and memories.
• Take advantage of FamilySearch accounts and the Family Tree app features, rather than creating a ward’s own programs or aids.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help when facing a research roadblock.
• Allow efforts to be home-centered and Church-supported, rather than Church-supplanted.
• Consider calling recently returned missionaries and recently assigned missionaries who are waiting to leave to serve as ordinance workers in the temple.
• Find ways for youth and even children to be engaged in temple and family history efforts.

Noting that each year 500,000 youth, converts, and other Latter-day Saints become eligible for first-time temple ordinances, Elder Bednar invited wards “to help people prepare to worthily receive, remember, and honor temple ordinances.”

Preach My Gospel, 2nd Edition: Easy Ways to Share the Gospel through Family History

Family history isn't just for active members of the Church. It can be a tool we can use to help find people for the missionaries to teach and to reactivate or strengthen struggling members. 

Preach My Gospel, 2nd Edition has a number of sections on the use of family history in missionary work. Ward leadership may want to read through all the sections to gain ideas, but one section that is particularly useful is in Chapter 9: Find People to Teach under "Use Family History." Here is what was said. 

Use Family History

Family history is another way you can find people to teach. Throughout the world, the Spirit is influencing millions of people to identify their deceased ancestors. Many want a stronger connection with their extended family. This can lead to a desire to find a connection and identity as part of God’s family.

What we sometimes refer to as the spirit of Elijah is the influence of the Holy Ghost drawing people to identify, document, and cherish their family members—both past and present (see Malachi 4:5–6).

In your finding, you might introduce people to FamilySearch.org or invite them to download the FamilySearch Tree app or the FamilySearch Memories app. You could also give them a copy of the booklet My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together. These resources help people discover relatives and ancestors and gather their stories.

Determine what family history resources are available in your area and how they could help the people you contact. The ward temple and family history leader can help people identify their deceased ancestors.

Invite people to share memories of their loved ones with you. As they do, they may feel the Holy Ghost testify to them about the importance of families in God’s plan. These moments can lead to natural conversations about the purpose of life, God’s plan of happiness, and the role of the Savior in that plan.

When appropriate, teach people the doctrine about why Church members do family history work and how it relates to temples.

Pray to be aware of opportunities to use family history in your finding efforts. Be creative, and become familiar with available resources.

FamilySearch Training Videos for Beginners

 FamilySearch has created a wonderful set of videos that can assist any member or consultant in learning the key tasks for using the website to add individuals and attach records with the record attachment tool. Some of the videos also are paired with a PDF with step-by-step directions. 

FamilySearch Training Videos
Skill	Video Link	PDF Step by Step Directions
What is FamilySearch?	Introductory Video to FamilySearch.org   Demo: Getting the Most from FamilySearch Search	n/a
Create an Account		Creating a New Account on FamilySearch
How to start your Family Tree	How to Start Your Family Tree
Add a Person to Family Tree	Add a Person to Family Tree	Add a Person to My Tree
Add an Unconnected Person	Adding an Unconnected Person	Add an Unconnected Person to Family Tree
What is a Source?	What is a Source?
What is the Left-Hand Column of a Record Source?	Left Hand Column of a Source
What is the Right-Hand Column of a Record Source?	The Right-Hand Column of a Record Source
Match a Record Source to an Existing PID	Finding a PID to Attach Your Source To
How to Resolve Problems with Wrongly Attached Sources	Resolving 3 Types of Wrongly Attached Sources
Merging Duplicates	Several Videos for Different Scenario when Merging Duplicates	Resolving Duplicate Records on FamilySearch.org
Other Great Videos	SourceLinker101.com

Family History Should Be a Habit