“Are we racing to find more names and make the consumption of more information more important than getting to know those who held the names we seek?  …Getting to know them is the point…It is where the real power lies.”   -Amy Harris

In a talk given on 18 July 2017 at BYU by Amy Harris entitled, “On Dead Cats and Dead People: How Family History Can Save the World,” she teaches us that the end objective is not to accumulate a stack of temple ordinances cards that we may never be able to get to, neither is it the gaining of a tremendous amount of genealogical knowledge.  It is to get to know our FAMILY.  In the getting of ordinances and information let us not forget that it is about offering temple ordinances for our family.  

There are few things more thrilling than finding a family member who has not received their saving ordinances, reserving their names, then researching who they are!  Where did they live?  Who were their parents and siblings?   Who and when did they marry and where did they live?  How many children did they have if any?  Did they leave family behind in another country to follow their heart or faith?  We can find them in censuses, on ship records, cemetery records, birth and death certificates, sometimes even in a phone book with an address that you can find on Google maps and what their occupations were. 

When you are finally able to go to the temple with that ordinance card in hand, you know who you are taking, that they were real people with the joys and sorrows of mortality and finally have the privilege of accepting the ordinance you will provide for them through your family history and temple service!  This truly is the power in Family History work… getting to know and love them!

FAMILY HISTORY WORK – It is about FAMILY!!! –Janet Helland