Weekly Family History Activities

Psalms 102–103; 110; 116–119; 127–128; 135–139; 146–150

“Let Every Thing That Hath Breath Praise the Lord

Psalm 119

God’s word will keep me on His path.

From Come, Follow Me:

This psalm contains many phrases that compare our lives to a journey back to Heavenly Father. As you read, look for words like walk, path, way, feet, and wander. Ponder your own life’s journey—where you’ve been, where you are now, and what direction you are headed. What do you learn from this psalm about your journey back home? According to this psalm, what has God provided to help you stay on the right path?

In his first address to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson said: 

“Now, to each member of the Church I say, keep on the covenant path. Your commitment to follow the Savior by making covenants with Him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.

“As a new Presidency, we want to begin with the end in mind. For this reason, we’re speaking to you today from a temple. The end for which each of us strives is to be endowed with power in a house of the Lord, sealed as families, faithful to covenants made in a temple that qualify us for the greatest gift of God—that of eternal life. The ordinances of the temple and the covenants you make there are key to strengthening your life, your marriage and family, and your ability to resist the attacks of the adversary. Your worship in the temple and your service there for your ancestors will bless you with increased personal revelation and peace and will fortify your commitment to stay on the covenant path.” (President Russell M Nelson, Ensign, April 2018, As We Go Forward Together) 

“What is the covenant path? It is the one path that leads to the celestial kingdom of God. We embark upon the path at the gate of baptism and then “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men [the two great commandments] … to the end.”² In the course of the covenant path (which, by the way, extends beyond mortality), we receive all the ordinances and covenants pertaining to salvation and exaltation.” ( D. Todd Christofferson, Why the Covenant Path) 

Discuss as a family what your covenant path is. Where is each individual member of your family on this covenant path? You may want to refer to Covenants Mark the Path for additional reading. What do you need to do to continue on the covenant path? How can you keep the covenants you have already made? What commitments would you like to make as a family to do better so you might become an eternal family?

Look up some of your relatives and ancestors' timelines on FamilySearch (or create a paper one) and note the ways they stayed on the covenant path (baptisms, major decisions, missions, temple marriage, serving in callings, etc) and then write a letter of gratitude to (or about) one or more of them (individually or as a family) for the decisions they made, and for their examples to you. Young children could draw a picture of that relative or ancestor for their note of gratitude or you could role-play meeting one of these ancestors in the spirit world and share what words of gratitude you would say to him or her (everyone could take a turn at this).

In an 1844 discourse, Joseph Smith advised “all the Saints to go to with their might and gather together all their living relatives to [the temple], that they may be sealed and saved, that they may be prepared against the day that the destroying angel goes forth; and if the whole Church should go to with all their might to save their dead, seal their posterity, and gather their living friends, and spend none of their time in behalf of the world, they would hardly get through before night would come, when no man can work.” (Becoming Saviors on Mount Zion) 

"For we without [our ancestors] cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect." (D&C 128:18). Many of our deceased ancestors are being taught the gospel in the spirit world. They need our help and we need theirs! Find some names of your ancestors who need their temple work done using Ordinances Ready and do it. Read how to verify names and relationships here.

Psalms 127–28.

From Come, Follow Me:

What does it mean for the Lord to help us “build [our] house”? (Psalm 127:1). How can we better involve Him in our efforts to create a righteous home?

"If we will build righteous traditions in our families, the light of the gospel can grow ever brighter in the lives of our children from generation to generation. We can look forward to that glorious day when we will all be united together as eternal family units to reap the everlasting joy promised by our Eternal Father for His righteous children….the practice of having traditions to keep us close to the great heritage which is ours to enjoy should be something every family should try to keep alive.

"Daily we should kneel in family prayer and study the scriptures together. Weekly we should observe the Sabbath day by attending our meetings, especially sacrament meeting, and behave appropriately to the activities that are proper for the Lord's day. We should also gather our families together in weekly family home evenings. Perhaps it would also be appropriate to have a date with our wives each week, to remind us of the great blessing they are in our lives. Monthly we should fast and pay our tithes and offerings to the Lord. Semiannually, we should make listening to the messages delivered at general conferences a family tradition. We should organize, annually, family reunions to keep alive our great gospel heritage.

"Other traditions which should continually be part of our lives are receiving father's blessings, patriarchal blessings, missionary preparation, temple preparation, and regular temple attendance where possible, and being together as family units on those occasions when sacred ordinances are performed in behalf of a family member. (L. Tom Perry, April 1990 General Conference, Family Traditions)

"Establishing family traditions that unite family members is important, but those traditions can be made eternally significant when they involve gathering your family to, around, or in the temple ... You can establish temple family traditions that create special bonds between your living family members and connect them with their ancestors." Creating Family Temple Traditions shares some ideas of creating meaningful temple traditions:

• Plan monthly temple trips with cousins
• Drive by the temple as a family
• Strengthen family ties through memory storybooks which serve as reminder that families are forever
• Learn about a temple's history
• Make a list of temples that your ancestors were married in
• Create a temple experiences book
• Record thoughts and impressions about attending the temple (especially for the first time)
• Color pictures of the temple and talk about the temple with your family

Check out these pages for additional activity ideas:

• Latter-day Saint Youth: Temple & FH Activities
• Family Activities: 5-Minute Ideas for Latter-day Saints

“Each of us has traditions in our families. Some of them are material. Some of them have deep meaning. The most important traditions are connected with the way we live our lives and will last beyond us as our children’s lives are influenced and shaped.” (Righteous Traditions) 

Read more about how to Cultivate Righteous Traditions, How Families Develop Strong Foundations, and some Inspirational Quotes about Family Time.

Traditions bring spiritual, cultural, and family understanding. "Traditions influence the way we live and the way we look at life. They may be practices or beliefs handed down from generation to generation, or new habits or patterns we establish in our own families. Some will be based on commandments and righteous principles, others may evolve from our cultural or national heritage." (Traditions Worth Keeping, Ensign 1986)

Discuss some of the holidays your family celebrates. What traditions does your family have for each holiday? What other unique traditions do you have--such as for birthdays, graduations, baptisms or other events? Have any of these traditions been passed down from prior generations? Which ones and why have they continued? Discuss how these traditions help bring you closer as a family?

Explore Church Records

Looking for church records is one of the basic ways to do research. Church records are especially important in times before government or civil records were kept. To get started with church records, see Goal F1 In the United States page, or the corresponding Goal in the country page you’re using.