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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. <
I am an heir to the blessings promised to Abraham.
From Come, Follow Me:
Why are the blessings promised to Abraham important to you?
When the Lord made His covenant with Abraham, He promised that this covenant would continue in Abraham’s posterity, and that “as many as receive this Gospel shall be … accounted thy seed” (Abraham 2:10–11). This means that the promises of the Abrahamic covenant apply to members of the Church today, whether they are literal descendants of Abraham or adopted into his family through baptism and conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Galatians 3:26–29; Doctrine and Covenants 132:30–32). To be counted as Abraham’s seed, an individual must obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
“The Lord granted unto Abraham’s seed the great blessings of truth, priesthood, and the ordinances of exaltation, but he expected the recipients of these blessings to covenant to do something in return. ‘For of him unto whom much is given much is required’ (D&C 82:3), the Lord explained to the Prophet Joseph Smith…In our day, when we are granted the fulness of the gospel and when we actively participate in both missionary and temple work, we are fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant to its fullest.” The Abrahamic Covenant
“When we speak of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we are referring, of course, to missionary, temple, and family history work. We are also referring to building faith and testimony in the hearts of those with whom we live, work, and serve. Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.” President Russell M. Nelson, Let God Prevail
President Nelson’s invitations:
To the brethren:
“After some 4,000 years of anticipation and preparation, this is the appointed day when the gospel is to be taken to the kindreds of the earth.This is the time of the promised gathering of Israel. And we get to participate! Isn’t that exciting?” Covenants
To the sisters:
“My dear sisters, we need you! We “need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices.” We simply cannot gather Israel without you.” Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel
To the Millennials:
"Spend more time on your knees in prayer, more time in the scriptures, more time in family history work, more time in the temple. I promise you that as you consistently give the Lord a generous portion of your time, He will multiply the remainder." Becoming True Millennials (see also this article)
To the youth :
"My dear extraordinary youth, you were sent to earth at this precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the world, to help gather Israel. There is nothing happening on this earth right now that is more important than that. There is nothing of greater consequence. Absolutely nothing. This gathering should mean everything to you. This is the mission for which you were sent to earth.”
"Now, participating in the gathering of Israel will require some sacrifice on your part. It may even require some changes in your life. It will definitely take some of your time and energy and your God-given talents. Are you interested?"
"As you pray about this sacrifice of time, you will be guided to know both what you can give up that week and what you can do instead to help gather Israel." Hope of Israel
See also:
Fun, relevant family history activities often are the catalyst to help family members have a desire to do proxy temple work for ancestors. Find what works for you and your family. Check out activities for families, individuals, youth, and children.
For example:
See the Activities Index. The “no prep” activities are marked with an asterisk.
Consider the "add-on" method as you plan family history activities. Make a routine by adding an activity to a meal, bed-time, travel time, family prayers or scripture reading, etc.. See Need a Time Filler? Think Family History!
Find more activities videos here, and check out 5-Minute Ideas for Latter-day Saints.
An idea to help both individuals and families do temple and family history work more consistently comes from an address Sister Wendy Nelson gave in a women's conference talk in 2015.
She offered the invitation to busy, overburdened sisters to do some temple and family history work each day for 21 days and then to watch what happened. She was concerned that adding one more thing to their list of things "to do" would make them even more burdened but the opposite was true for all who participated. Even a few minutes per day helped them to see miracles in their lives and the lives of their families. Although this challenge was given to sisters of the church, it is applicable to everyone.
Discuss ideas and options and make a plan! Think about routines and traditions you can create.
See the Facebook group for The Twenty-one Day Family Connections Experiment. The Come, Follow Me Companion (Weekly Family History Activities) is included as one of their community contributed plans. Read more about all of the plans here.
Hopefully, a habit can be created to continue doing temple and family history work daily.
This activity can also be done in a ward..
One of the ways that you can more easily do temple work and family history during the week is to make it part of what you are already doing. The Family History Guide has created Weekly Family History Activities - A Come, Follow Me Companion to provide temple and family history activities correlated to each Come, Follow Me lesson. Decide how to implement this idea if it is something that would bless you and your family.
President Nelson teaches that building faith and testimony in the hearts of those with whom we live, work, and serve is a way to gather Israel. He shares that “people are interested in their families” and that “missionaries can help investigators discover their ancestors” (see Family History Can Aid Missionary Work).
We all have opportunities to be missionaries - even if we are not serving full-time missions! Consider creating experiences to practice sharing the gospel through family history by role-playing at home.
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."
Practice using The Family History Guide as a resource. Practice what you might say to new converts about the temple blessings available to them, their families, and their ancestors. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel.
See also: Including Temple and Family History in the Work of Salvation.
"I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.
As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary.
As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives. Parents and leaders, please help your children and youth to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah." David A. Bednar, The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn
As you prepare for General Conference, it may be interesting to learn about the personal histories of our prophet and the twelve apostles. Find their life stories here, including photos and additional biography links.
Note that you can participate in general conference using your personal digital devices. ChorchofJesusChrist.org, Mormon Channel, and BYUtv all have viewing and listening options. Text and audio of conference proceedings are available within days on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, the Mormon Channel, and the Gospel Library app. See available formats and channels.
You can also follow the prophets and apostles and other leaders on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. You may want to follow Church Youth social media pages for general conference messages, to share inspirational posts, or to create your own messages to share.
Remember to record your impressions and thoughts in a journal. Online study tools and the Gospel Library app can help you do this digitally - saving this part of your personal history to continually review, and to inspire future generations.