Weekly Family History Activities

Week 47: November 13–19, New Testament

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.

James

“Be Ye Doers of the Word, and Not Hearers Only”

James 1:2–4; 5:7–11

Patient endurance leads to perfection.

From Come, Follow Me:

How can you show the Lord that you are willing to be patient?

You can show patience in doing temple and family history work.

David B Homer (Area Seventy) shares: “During the final months of his life, the Prophet Joseph Smith reflected frequently regarding the importance of vicarious ordinances for the dead. (Doctrine and Covenants 128:1). In fact, he considered work for our ancestors to be so important that he taught “their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation . . . they without us cannot be made perfect – neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:15).

It is easy to see how vicarious work done for our ancestors allows them to be made perfect because, without us, they would not be able to receive the ordinances necessary for their salvation. What may be more difficult to understand is how “our dead” can help to make us perfect? While that reference may be a general concept denoting the dead of all who are living, it may also have a more personal meaning encouraging each of us to find “our [personal] dead” because doing so will help us to progress.” Read more in this article: Without Them, We Cannot Be Made Perfect

See also:

Helping Others in Temple and Family History Work

Teaching others how to do family history and find ancestors to take to the temple often requires some skills, a lot of diligence, much love, creativity, and lots of patience!

Some individuals you work with may be eager to accept help, and some are already involved in efforts of their own. Others may be reluctant or uninterested in what you share. Remember, however, everyone has an innate desire to know where they come from, and most will be excited to find answers.

As you provide opportunities for others to learn and be involved in family history, the Spirit of Elijah will begin to touch their lives.

The “spirit of Elijah” is described by Elder David A. Bednar as a "distinctive influence of the Holy Ghost (that) draws people to identify, document, and cherish their ancestors and family members – both past and present.” The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn

Sharing family history can be done in many ways. Teaching can involve large groups such as conference attendees or participants in a family reunion, or be as small as one on one. It can be in person or through the use of technology to meet virtually, or by providing resources that others may access as they choose. Your efforts may be specific or general.

See the following activities:

Read more in the article: Help Friends Discover Their Family History. Which includes sample videos of what progression can look like, and the following questions to begin conversation:

Who’s the oldest relative you remember? What do you remember about him/her?
What stories do you know about your ancestors?
What traits do you have in common with your family? Who did those come from?
Have you visited an ancestor’s homeland? What was it like?
What do you want to know about your ancestors?

Teach how to record stories and preserve and share photos. Perhaps you could show them by recording the answers to the above questions for (with) them.

You can add stories to FamilySearch by Using FamilySearch Apps to Record Oral Histories. The FamilySearch Memories app makes it easy to preserve your photos, documents, and audio files in a way that your entire family can access them. See an overview and instructions here. You can also find step-by-step instructions in The Family History Guide to add documents and photos to Ancestry, MyHeritage and Findmypast. Putting information on FamilySearch or other public sites may enable someone to find out more about ancestors they did not know they had.

The All The Stories site is a free way to synchronize with FamilySearch all the stories of your direct ancestors and their siblings back 9 generations. It has a searchable list of any story anyone has placed on your part of the tree, along with how you are related to that ancestor, and how long the story takes to tell.

Check out Family Activities: 5-Minute Ideas for Latter-day Saints. It includes links to the activities on FamilySearch, BYU Tech Lab, The Family History Guide, and more.

All About Me

One of the videos in the article Help Friends Discover Their Family History (see above) describes the All About Me activity on FamilySearch to help others get excited about learning about their ancestors and documenting their stories. The birth year can be changed right on the page, and you can select from family photos at the top of the page to learn about the birth years of other ancestors.

FamilySearch suggests:

For children: With a parent's help, learn about important events or inventions from the year you were born. What inventions have come since your birth?
Try to find photos or documents of when you were a newborn. Ask a parent or other family members about what you were like as a baby.
On FamilySearch, find an ancestor you'd like to learn more about. Look up his or her birth year. Using a search engine, learn what world events or inventions happened that year. How was life different back then?

Getting Started with Family History and Temple Work

The Family History Guide is free, user-friendly, and will help you teach others. The more you know aboutThe Family History Guide, the more it can become your “new best friend.”

For a fun learning activity, gather as a group and have those with access to a phone, computer, or laptop go to the “Topics” page. Ask family members to click a topic to review and then ask a question to the group that they can research to answer and share.

Finding Needed Ordinances

For help to locate those in need of proxy temple ordinances and to view related information, see Latter-day Saint Topics.

One of the options described in “Temple Opportunities” is Ordinances Ready - a FamilySearch tool that simplifies finding names for the temple, allowing you more time to serve your family and enjoy the blessings of the temple. See also: Ordinances Ready on the FamilySearch App.

See also "Recommended Tasks" on the FamilySearch home page and click the Temple tab where a list of names for possible ordinances may be displayed. Note : Be sure to check each name for possible duplicates or other issues before reserving them for ordinances.

Kathryn Grant gives instructions for How to Find Ancestors in Need of Temple Work in the Family Tree using the The FamilySearch Fan Chart.

Check out Descendancy Research and Creating Family Groups to collaborate.

James 1:3–8, 21–25; 2:14–26; 4:17

Faith requires action

From Come, Follow Me:

How do you know if you have faith in Jesus Christ? How do your works demonstrate your faith in God?

"Hear Him" Through Temple and Family History Work

President Nelson: "We can ... hear Him in the temple…please schedule regular time to worship and serve in the temple. Every minute of that time will bless you and your family in ways nothing else can. Take time to ponder what you hear and feel when you are there. Ask the Lord to teach you how to open the heavens to bless your life and the lives of those you love and serve…I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him." (Hear Him)