In In a talk given by President Henry B. Eyring in April, 2020 general conference; he told about the development of Family Search, why it was initially developed and how it has changed and evolved over the years.
Initially Family Search was developed because so many temple ordinances were being duplicated in the temples. The First presidency wanted to make sure that people who were sacrificing their time by serving in the temple were not merely doing work that had already been completed. This effort to prevent duplication of temple ordinances led to the development of Family Search.
Most of us know that Family Search is a wonderful tool which does much more than prevent duplication of temple work. Family Search has billions of records available to members and non-members to research and connect to family. We can also be part of the thousands who are indexing and preparing records to be made available on Family Search.
President Eyring declared: “I testify that the Lord saw far into the future and how He would lead us to help Him accomplish His purposes in the last days.
The Lord saw it all coming. He planned for it, step by step, as He has done with other changes in His Church. He has raised up and prepared faithful people who choose to do hard things well. He has always been lovingly patient in helping us learn.”
Because of new and developing technologies, family history, which includes writing and sharing our own history and that of our family members and ancestors is much easier. We can attach stories, documents, video, and audio files to our person page or the person pages of our ancestors at Family Search, with the click of a mouse.
If you are new to Family Search, or need help in using these inspired tools, contact one of the Temple and Family History consultants in your ward. You can find who these are on your ldstools app on your phone, or at churchofjesuschrist.org. Give a consultant a call, and set up a meeting by phone, facetime, skype, zoom, etc. Even if you have never logged in to Family Search these ward consultants can help.
Other Great Resources that we have available to us include:
The Granite Family History Center – Though the FH center is closed for walk in patrons due to the pandemic. You can use the Granite Family History Website, to schedule a time for your family to use the facility, or to use the scanners that are available there. On the website, you will also find links to various articles, videos, tools and lessons that can assist you in this great work
What a great blessing it will be, if when the temples are open again we all have names prepared to take to the temple. In my experience, when we are doing the ordinance work for our own family members, it makes the temple experience sweeter and more spiritual.
President Nelson has declared: “The Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance nothing else compares in majesty.
Our ancestors cannot be made perfect without us, and we cannot be made perfect without them.”
President Nelson added: “individuals choose every day where they want to live eternally by how they think, feel, speak, and act. “He wants us to choose to return to Him. He will not—He does not—force us in any way. The precision with which we keep our covenants shows Him just how much we want to return to live with Him.”
We have been invited to start where we are, and prayerfully set a goal to increase our efforts in Family History and Temple work. Whether we are just getting started or have vast experience, there is much for all to do.
— Elaine Hardman