This blogpost features a half-sheet activity page to complement the Come Follow Me (CFM) reading for September 29-October 5, which includes Doctrine and Covenants 109-110. Click here for an index and links to my CFM blogposts for other weeks.
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FAMILY HISTORY: A STUDY GUIDE
This week during my CFM studies, I was drawn to the section of the manual entitled:
THE SAVIOR WANTS ME TO TURN MY HEART TO MY ANCESTORS
Sounds great, huh?
Except, I was just like most people...living a busy life raising kids, serving in the church, and thinking that family history was something I'd do SOMEDAY...when I magically had enough time. I had heard about all the technological advances that had been made since the days of holing up in family history centers looking through rolls of microfiches, but I didn't really have the desire to figure out what that meant. Until the challenge was issued.
After the challenge, I decided it was time to humble myself, find someone to teach me a few things, so I could learn how to do it myself, and hopefully help the youth while I was at it. And we did it. We held several family history nights at our house and got to the point where ALL of the names for our temple trip for the 60+ youth in our ward were provided by the youth. It was a humbling, yet empowering experience for me.
That was several years ago and I’m here today to tell you that family history in 2025 is NOT the same as family history 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. Changes in technology have made family history easier than ever and have made it so we don’t even have to leave our homes if we don’t want. Basically any and all excuses you’ve been tucking away as a reason why you’re not doing your family history are no longer valid.
EXCUSES
When I polled some people about why they don’t do family history, I heard these four main excuses repeated over and over :
1. It’s not my season in life to spend time doing genealogy. I’ll do it someday….
2. My great-aunt (or some other relative) is a professional genealogist and has already done all of the work. There’s literally nothing for me to do.
3. It’s too complicated and I don’t know how.
4. I’m too busy.
PROMISED BLESSINGS
We have powerful promises given to us by modern apostles that when we engage in family history work our entire families--both living and dead--will be blessed. These promised blessings range from increased protection from the adversary, strengthened testimonies, and greater light and knowledge from the Holy Ghost. These are blessings that we all could use….no matter what season of life we are in.
VIDEO OF SOME OF THE PROMISED BLESSINGS
Why are we making excuses and not allowing ourselves to receive those blessings?
In Malachi we read: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
Have you felt your heart turning to your fathers? It is rare thing to feel the spirit of Elijah UNTIL we obey. We have to begin. We have to start now and do something. The Spirit of Elijah is a real and powerful motivation–but it seems we have to choose to put one foot in front of another to be able to feel it.
THE LORD'S MATH AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO FAMILY HISTORY
If you're a long-time reader of this blog, you've heard me refer to the "Lord's Math" before, but if you're new here, let me give you a recap.
What is 0x0?
It's zero, of course.
The answer is simple and applies to family history work as well. When we put zero effort into doing family history, we get zero of the promised blessings from it.
So, 0 x 0 = 0 but here’s another simple math question for you. What is 1x 52 ? Most kids in the room can tell that the answer is = 52. If you could work on family history just one hour per week, that’s 52 hours of work over the course of a year to help in the salvation of YOUR ancestor’s souls! That’s 52 out of nearly 9000 hours in a year or less than half of one percent of your time to help our departed loved ones be able to enjoy the full blessings of eternal life.
Still sound like too much of a sacrifice to you? What about doing just one hour a month….maybe on Fast Sundays? 1x 12 = 12, and twelve hours of family history (and the blessings that come with it) is still a whole lot better than 0.
In D&C 64:33 we read, ‘Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.”
In no area of our lives does this apply more than in family history. Start now. Do small things; and I promise great things will happen! The Lord's math is that He takes our small efforts and rains down blessings upon us for those efforts. The blessings far out-weigh the efforts we put into it.
“The Lord’s ways are higher than our ways—and so is His arithmetic. It is different than ours.” (Chad Webb, S&I Broadcast, August 2015
The Lord's math is pretty awesome, isn't it?
Whether you’re finding names, indexing, keeping a journal, interviewing relatives, or researching sources, there is a work for us all to do--a work that will bless our families through the eternities. Don’t let these blessings slip away because your great-aunt Judith already wrote a book about your family. The only way to get zero blessings from family history is to give it zero effort.
THE DAY DAWN IS BREAKING BY THE TRUMAN BROTHERS (HYMN #52)
Verse #2 is particularly apt for this topic.
"In many a temple the Saints will assemble And labor as saviors of dear ones away. Then happy reunion and sweetest communion. We'll have with our friends in the beautiful day.”
SCRIPTURES
"To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—" D&C 110:15
"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead
rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? " —1
Corinthians 15:29
"The Lord is in his holy temple, the
Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the
children of men." —Psalms 11:4
"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.” --Malachi 4:6
"I have hallowed this house,
which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and
mine heart shall be there perpetually."—I Kings 9:3
QUOTES:
“When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them."--Henry B. Eyring
“It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other
tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a
wide range of information and communication technologies, “Your fingers
have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work
of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The
skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a
preparation to contribute to the work of salvation” Elder Bednar
“No work is more of a protection to [us]
than...genealogical research. ... No work is more spiritually refining.
No work we do gives us more power. No work requires a higher standard of
righteousness. Our labors...cover us with a shield and a protection.” Boyd K. Packer
PRINTABLE ACTIVITY SHEET (AN ORIGINAL)
THIS WEEK'S ACTIVITY SHEET LINK (in case it's not showing below)
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Be sure to bookmark this site and come back every week for more Come, Follow Me resources!
Enjoy learning the gospel together!
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