A few months ago I had the privilege of meeting with an amazing sister named Dany over Zoom to help her with her family history work. She was from Phnom Pehn, Cambodia and a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At the time, she was a BYU Pathways student and Sister Barrett, a missionary in my ward, was serving as her instructor to help her learn English. She arranged the meeting so Dany could get some help with finding her ancestors. Although I knew nothing about doing family history research in Cambodia, I agreed to meet with her to help her get started.

Dany was a delightful person and I was so impressed by her eagerness to live the gospel fully and extend the blessings of temple work to those who have passed before her. Her history was sad and dark. Many of her relatives were killed during the time of the massive genocide under the leadership of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Not only were relatives lost, but records were destroyed that would have offered her information about her ancestors.

Having so little information to work with it, I wasn’t sure how we would go about getting started. To my surprise, Dany had already started a tree on FamilySearch and had submitted temple work for her deceased father and her maternal grandparents. She had been very diligent in doing what work she could with what little information she had.

I offered her some resources I found online for obtaining governmental records that could give her more information about her family. It all seemed very limited, but she said she would give it a try. Her faith was remarkable. 

As we wrapped up our Zoom meeting she expressed to us the desire she had, not only to serve those who lived before her, but to do all she could to make life better for those after her. She is truly a gatherer of Israel. She is a light that will bring blessings and joy to many on both sides of the veil. 

We are promised that all will have the opportunity to receive temple blessings and this includes the people of Cambodia who cannot be found due to limited resources. They, too, will someday have this sacred work done for them as Dany and many other faithful saints in Cambodia are searching them out and fulfilling their important responsibilities of gathering Israel in the latter days.

-Christy Pugh, Innovations/Communications, Granite Family History Center