Your Witness of Jesus Christ
John 1:8–9,
15–18
From
Come, Follow Me :
Consider writing your witness of Jesus Christ—what would you want to share? What experiences have helped you come to know and follow the Savior? Who might be blessed by hearing your testimony?
"Generations are affected by the choices we make. Share your testimony with your family; encourage them to remember how they felt when they recognized the Spirit in their lives and to record those feelings in journals and personal histories so that their own words may, when needed, bring to their remembrance how good the Lord has been to them." (Ronald A. Rasband, "Lest Thou Forget," General Conference, Oct. 2016)
Read
A Mother's Love—Blessing Lives through the Generations and talk about a legacy that can help strengthen your family as time goes on. Ponder how your recorded experiences can build a legacy that can last through the generations yet to come. Not only that, but think about how your written testimony can be shared in many ways to influence your living family members. The author gives the following ideas to consider including as you share your testimony in your writings:
- The reality of Heavenly Father and of being children of God
- The reality of Jesus Christ
- The reality of the Holy Ghost
- Joseph Smith as a prophet
- The Book of Mormon
- The Restoration
- The power of the Atonement
- Eternal families
- The power of prayer
- Finding answers in scriptures
- Faith in Christ to overcome life's challenges
See also: O Remember, Remember, Henry B. Eyring, General Conference October 2000, to help you in your quest to create and preserve a heritage of faith for generations to come.
Elder Uchtdorf explains how to gain, nourish, and share personal testimony
here.
Hand-write, type, or use the
FamilySearch Memories Audio App to record your testimony and testimonies of family members. Save on FamilySearch.
The youth can be a blessing to help family and others to use technical tools for family history. Listen to Elder Bednar's
message to the youth on this subject. See also the
Youth - Latter-day Saints page in The Family History Guide.
Sharing the Gospel
John 1:35–46
From
Come, Follow Me :
Notice John the Baptist's testimony in verse 36. What were the results of his testimony? (see verses 35–46). What does your family learn from the people described in these verses about how to share the gospel?".
Family History and Missionary Work
You might want to read this FamilySearch blog post—
The Power of Family History in Missionary Work. Then talk together about this quote by Elder Bednar: "The artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and family history work is being erased; this is one great work of salvation."
You could role-play missionary teaching scenarios using
Preach My Gospel (how to offer to help people find the names of grandparents, great-grandparents, or other ancestors).
Many people desire to know of their heritage. As they learn about those who went before them, they may become interested in knowing about eternal families and what the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches about sealing families together. Thus, teaching about temple work and helping with family history can be a successful finding, teaching, and retention tool.
Elder Bednar explains: "Missionary work and family history and temple work are complementary and interrelated aspects of one great work, 'that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him'" (Ephesians 1:10) "... The artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and family history work is being erased; this is one great work of salvation."
Missionary, Family History, and Temple Work
Family History and Missionary Work
Talk about times when you or your ancestors felt the Spirit prompting you in your temple and family history efforts to help others. You might want to role-play missionary scenarios where family history can be a tool for introducing someone to the gospel.
Divide into companionships and practice door approaches with this guidance from
Preach My Gospel: "Talk to people about their families. Help them see how the restored gospel can be a blessing to their families. Offer to help them find the names of grandparents, great-grandparents, or other ancestors. Enlist the help of ward temple and family history consultants."
Family History As A Retention Tool
Practice using The Family History Guide as a resource to explain how to find and record information about ancestors. Practice what you might say to new converts about the temple blessings available to them, their families, and their ancestors. Share how the temple has blessed your life and the lives of your loved ones.
You may want to consider creating a collection of the
stories of the first converts in your family lines. Find family history stories using the suggestions in
10 Ways To Discover, Gather, and Share Ancestor Stories. If you don't have many stories from the lives of your ancestors available, you could learn from conversion stories and other stories from the lives of our church leaders. Read more
here. You may want to put these stories in your memories on FamilySearch and attach them to your tree. Find instructions in
this FamilySearch article. The Family History Guide gives step-by-step instructions for preserving your photos and stories in
Project 2: Memories.
See more illustrations in this blog post:
A Miracle In Denmark.
Stories illustrated by anyone, of any skill level, can be copied for gift-giving, shared for bedtime stories, or used as coloring books. These stories can help us all make connections to those who have gone on before. See
Week #10, 2019 of the
Come, Follow Me Companion for ideas to illustrate conversion stories. One young man even gave
drawing lessons to improve the skills of his cousins who were the illustrators, to help create ties to their ancestors.
Watch President and Sister Nelson's
RootsTech 2017 presentation (story at 2:13) in which Sister Nelson describes the experience of creating a storybook illustrated by her great nieces and nephews, ages 3-18, about their 4th great grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth. Have fun discovering, illustrating, and sharing your own family history stories, including the conversion stories and the miracles in your family!
