Weekly Family History Activities

Alma 8–12

Alma 8

My efforts to share the gospel of Jesus Christ require patience.

From Come, Follow Me 2020:

What do you learn from him in Alma 8:13–16 about sharing the gospel despite challenges and opposition?

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.

Family History and Missionary Work

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

You might want to role-play missionary scenarios where family history can be a tool for introducing someone to the gospel.

Plan a get-together and divide all group members into missionary companionships. Have friends (including ward or stake family history consultants) or family members role-play being “contacts.” 

Those who are role-playing missionaries can then 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."

Check out these ideas to help you with your role-play activity from Help Friends Discover Their Family History:

• Download the Family Tree app
• Find a person
• All About Me
• Share stories and photos from your family

With the FamilySearch Family Tree App or other tool and a conversation, you can help others begin to discover their family history.

You might ask:

• Which of your ancestors do you feel most connected with? Why?
• Who’s the oldest relative you remember? What do you remember about him/her?
• What stories do you know about your ancestors? See 10 Ways To Discover, Gather, and Share Ancestor Stories.
• 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?

Note from The Family History Guide Team: As part of a role-play to practice sharing the gospel through family history, you and your family will definitely benefit from including The Family History Guide as a resource 

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.

Ancestor Conversion Stories

One idea is to make a collection of the conversion stories of the first converts in your ancestral lines, even if the first convert is you!

• 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 in your memories on FamilySearch and attach them to your tree.See this FamilySearch article and Project 2: Memories.

See Week 2, 2021 for more ideas, including illustrating conversion stories.

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Alma 11–12

God’s plan is a plan of redemption.

From Come, Follow Me 2020:

Notice the effect Amulek’s words had on the people (see Alma 11:46). How does knowing about God’s plan affect you?

The Plan Of Salvation

“Heavenly Father prepared a plan of salvation that teaches us where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after mortality. Understanding our place in the plan of salvation helps us develop faith and find joy in a world with many inequities. We can use our knowledge of the plan of salvation to help us in our earthly challenges.” Read more here. 

This activity works for families, groups, and wards. Ahead of time, reserve a church meeting house or another place with several available rooms. Prepare the menu and materials for the "carnival." Collect discarded keys or make paper cut-outs. You will need two keys for each participant, except for one or two adults who know ahead of time that they will not get keys. Find a place to begin such as a church building or temple grounds. A home will also work.

Step #1: PRE-MORTAL EXISTENCE

Bring a picture of the temple (representing life before we came to earth), or if you live near a temple visit it if possible and do Step #1 outside the temple. Explain what the premortal life was like (see Abraham 3:22-28 and Moses 4:1-6). See The Family: A Proclamation To The World. 

We felt happy and secure there in the care of our Heavenly Father, and we shouted for joy when we heard the plan. We knew our Savior would help us through mortality and be the means by which we could return to our Father in Heaven. "... in the Grand Council of Heaven He loved us and was [so] wonderfully strong, that we triumphed even there by the power of Christ and our faith in the blood of the Lamb." Jeffrey R. Holland, This Do In Remembrance

What specific things can we do in our home to rely on the Savior? What were our hopes in premortal life, and how does the Savior make it possible to reach our dreams? At this point, give each group member three keys and tell them that they are important.

Step #2 BORN INTO MORTALITY

As you gather and go toward the next room (or return from visiting a temple), share stories of what it was like to welcome new babies into your family.

Explain that the purpose of mortality was "for spirit sons and daughters to obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life;" (see The Family: A Proclamation To The World). Explain why the "veil was drawn and why we don't remember what the premortal existence was like. Discuss Alma 43:32.

You are all now "born" and the room representing "mortality" could be set up like a big carnival with food, party hats and decorations, tokens to play games that are available, and birthday cake because it is your collective imaginary "birthdays." Earth life is filled with wonderful opportunities! Give out plenty of tokens (tickets) for games and prizes for those who win games. You could also go to a fun venue for this part. 

During this phase, some of the adults could try to talk others out of the keys by offering to trade three tokens for one key. Some of the kids will figure out that the keys must be very valuable, and they will keep them. Some may trade them for tokens.

Step #3: DEATH

Suddenly it will be time for mortality to end. At the end of life on earth, all the material prizes, food, party hats and decorations, etc. must be left behind. Discuss death and its part in the plan of salvation (See Romans 5:12). Have everyone walk to the next room without anything extra except keys they still have. Discuss what mortality was like. What do the treats, games, prizes, and decorations represent? (worldly pleasure) What do the keys represent? (ordinances and covenants).

Step #4: THE SPIRIT WORLD

In the "Spirit World," begin by asking those who have keys if they are prepared for their reward. Make sure that one or two adults did not get keys. This is a prime opportunity to explain that there are those people who do not have the knowledge of the gospel, or who did not have the opportunity to understand it fully. 

Those with keys represent people who have made covenants and received ordinances. In D&C 138:32-35 we learn that in the spirit world, those who did not have the gospel in mortality will have an opportunity to learn about, understand, and accept the gospel. 

Invite (or this may happen naturally) those with keys to share the gospel with those who don't have keys. Explain that only through the atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior, can the opportunity to receive exaltation be possible for all of us. Talk about missionary and family history work on both sides of the veil.

Step #5: THE FINAL JUDGMENT, RESURRECTION, AND ETERNAL LIFE

We will all be resurrected (see Revelations 20:12, 1 Cor. 15:22, D&C 93:33, and Alma 40:23). So, because keys were shared to those without keys, everyone now has them, and everyone receives his or her symbolic reward (treat or gift)! That is what missionary work and temple work is all about - gathering Israel on both sides of the veil!

See Video Collections. Share what it is like to lose a loved one, and the glory of the resurrection. Visit the grave of a loved one or view online, tell family history stories, rejoice together in the fact that families are eternal.

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Your Personal History

Write one brief story about your life as you study each Come, Follow Me lesson and focus on what you learned. Save as a story (also consider audio-recording it) and add it to your FamilySearch memories.