Come, Follow Me is a resource offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is designed to be used in the home to support personal and family scripture study to build faith in Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation and in the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Come, Follow Me is self-contained and adequate, when used properly. Products and materials designed to supplement this resource, though they may be helpful in some instances, are not necessary for a successful home study program.
Doctrine and Covenants 49-50: "That Which Is of God Is Light"
"He that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day" (Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).
After a conversation with Leman, Joseph Smith sought clarification from the Lord about some of the Shakers' teachings, and the Lord responded with the revelation in section 49.
The Savior is our "good shepherd" (Doctrine and Covenants 50:44). He knows that sometimes sheep wander and that the wilderness has many perils. So He lovingly leads us to the safety of His doctrine, away from dangers such as "false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world" (Doctrine and Covenants 50:2). Following Him often means letting go of incorrect ideas or traditions. (Read more in the lesson intro here).
Conversion Stories
Along with learning new doctrines, those who joined the church during the early restoration often faced great changes in lifestyle and culture without support from family or friends, and without modern technology to connect easily with church leaders and others. Do you have ancestors who joined the church in the 1800s? Did they join the church later? Do you know their conversion stories?
Make a book of these stories for your family (bind, put in a notebook, or share digitally).
Send this collection of stories with your missionaries as they are asked to bring family history stories with them.
Give them as gifts.
Place these stories in your memories on FamilySearch and attach them to your tree. The Family History Guide gives step-by-step instructions for preserving your photos and stories, in Project 2: Memories.
Have family members illustrate the stories. See Week #10, 2019 of the Come, Follow Me Companion for ideas to illustrate conversion stories.
Of course, recording and sharing any conversion stories from your ancestors and from living members (including you if you are a convert) would also be a blessing now and for generations to come!
Temple and family history work is a particular blessing to new members because it helps them stay strong when challenges inevitably come. In the RootsTech Family History Leadership session in 2017, Elder Dale G. Renlund explained: "Convert participation in temple and family history work is positively correlated with retention at one year. In our research, new converts consistently disclose that when they are vicariously baptized for their deceased ancestors or make new discoveries in their family history, they re-experience the same feelings they initially felt as investigators. These feelings and memories build a defense against the challenges they face during their first year in the Church."
You can help new converts build that defense and re-experience the spiritual feelings of their conversion in several ways:
Extend the hand of fellowship. Reach out to new members not just as a consultant or leader but as a brother or sister in the gospel.
Invite the Spirit. Teach new converts how to gather their family using the power of the Holy Ghost given to them at their baptism. Point out moments where the Spirit is present, helping them to recognize the Holy Ghost in their lives.
Focus on the first four generations. Help new members know that through family history and temple service, they become part of a multigenerational family in the Church.
Point them toward the temple. Elder Quentin L. Cook instructed temple and family history consultants to "work with the end in mind—assisting members in taking their family names to the temple." Performing sacred ordinances in the temple helps new converts stay strong.
Sister Wendy Nelson related a powerful teaching from President George Q. Cannon: "Those who are joining the Church are joining quite precisely because their ancestors have been praying for one of their posterity to join the Church so that they, the ancestors, can receive their essential ordinances by proxy." RootsTech 2017
We can help answer these prayers and assist the Lord in gathering His family as we help investigators and new converts participate in family history. Their testimonies will increase, and they will experience joy as they connect with and serve their family members beyond the veil. Read more here.
Use The Family History Guide as a resource to help newly baptized members know how to start doing temple and family history work. See the Get Started page.
Marriage between man and woman is essential to God's plan.
From Come, Follow Me :
What truths about marriage do you learn from Doctrine and Covenants 49:15–17?
Share Marriage Memories
Gather the family to share your love story if possible, or remotely share it. You may want to write it down, record it, and upload it to FamilySearch Memories. Post it in your home where it can be easily re-read often. You could also share the love stories of church leaders or others you admire.
Ancestor Marriages
Talk about the marriages of your ancestors and read any that have been uploaded to FamilySearch (or that you would like to upload). Find them using the FamilySearch Fan Chart, the All The Stories site, or any of the resources in this list of 10 Ways to Find Ancestor's Stories. Be sure to check your relationships to them in FamilySearch as you get to know these stories.
You could make a book of the love stories of your ancestors and living relatives (a nice family history gift).
Plan to go to the temple to perform sealings if possible. Work as a family to find missing marriage certificates. Check out record hints and research helps on the fan chart.
Use the FamilySearch timeline of each ancestor, and locate the places where family marriages took place. Read about those places as you study the stories and view the related details and documents.
Another idea is to mark these places on a wall map.
Marking the temples in which ancestors were sealed or where proxy work was done would be a fun activity also! Check out My Ancestor's Temples.
Read The Family: A Proclamation to the World aloud and discuss the Lord's plan for eternal marriage and eternal families. Record and upload to FamilySearch Memories Each family member could take turns reading a paragraph including younger children (even if they need help) and this could be both audio and video recorded.
Memorize The Proclamation as a family. Find free printable memory cue cards here—Memorize The Family: A Proclamation to the World. You could also create your own cards with visual memory cues, or simply divide the proclamation into sections and put them (page-by-page) into a notebook to use.
Have family members sign a copy of the Proclamation to display in your home and possibly share on social media, along with your feelings about marriage and family.
Creating a book with family pictures correlated to parts of The Family: A Proclamation to the World would make a beautiful gift and heirloom to pass on.
Note: President Nelson encouraged us to do the following for six months, but it may be a wonderful opportunity to carry this invitation through your study of the Doctrine and Covenants this year:
"As you study your scriptures during the next six months, I encourage you to make a list of all that the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel. I think you will be astounded! Ponder these promises. Talk about them with your family and friends. Then live and watch for these promises to be fulfilled in your own life." (President Russell M. Nelson, Let God Prevail, October 2020 General Conference)
