Sitting in the backseat of the car, Tabitha turned her brown eyes out the window, and saw the temple come into view. It reminded her of something. Her youth advisor's words seemed to play over and over in her mind;
"In the next 3 months, I challenge you to take these lessons I have taught you about the Family Search Mobile app, and use that to find one of your ancestors who needs their work done so you can take them to the temple."
Why was this thought coming back to her? She tossed her dark brown hair behind her shoulder as she wondered. And yet, despite her inexperience, she felt a sense of peace when she thought of doing family history. She only remembered the lessons vaguely, and had no experience with it.
At home she was still thinking about it, and as she flopped onto her bed with her phone, she realized she needed to do something about it. She opened the Family Search Mobile App, and did as the Family History Consultant who came to her class had instructed her to do.
She went to her app, tapped the 3 lines, and went to her "Ancestors with tasks" and waited while the app searched, gently tapping her toes against the foot of her bed, desperately hoping the search didn't take too long.
Three minutes later, she saw the list. Tossing her head, she slowly began to tap the blue record hints on the side, and then tapping review to see if the records found were the same as the person in her tree.
And after an hour, no one matched, or else it was matched to someone who already had their work done. And Tabitha was done, too.
It was a week before she picked up the app again. She almost had lost hope, but during church, she was thumbing through the Family History videos in the Gospel Library App, and she saw a short video where Elder Anderson stated the following:
"Our ability to find our ancestors online has only emerged in the last few years with tremendous advancements in the last few months. Where [you youth] have become extremely devoted to visiting the temple, in the months and years ahead, you will be just as outstanding in finding and bringing names to the temple with you"
It was as if he was saying it would happen! She felt the spirit testify that it could. She decided to watch another video before the opening prayer. She watched a video where a girl was able to take the names of her ancestors to the temple, and become more acquainted with her family. And the peace she had felt before came back to her.
3 hours later, after church, She opened the app again, went to her ancestors with tasks, waited, and then found some new names in the list. She tapped the blue circle on the first one, worried she would just find records and nothing else. She clicked review, and under the name Jonathan Keller, it showed a census record with a wife and children that weren't in the tree!
She said a quick prayer, and then got to work. The interface allowed her to add the names into the family. Then, she went to each new name, and even though the app did a duplicate search, she did another quick search to see if there were duplicates. She didn't want to take these to the temple if their work had already been done.
There were no duplicates! As she was getting ready to reserve the names, she felt the spirit confirm to her that what she had done was correct.
Hidden from the view of Tabitha, though in the same room, Jonathan hovered with his wife, Ennis and 3 children, Anna, Helen, and Thomas. The glorious spirit being beside them had just brought them there so they could see that their temple work would be done soon.
They had felt the spirit testify to them it was true, and had seen the spirit bring peace to Tabitha. All of them felt this kinship to this girl whose faith would bring them into the presence of the Lord.
Thomas was excited! After 150 years of waiting, they could receive their ordinances, and return to the presence of the Lord. Anna said she was never so excited to have finished their proxy lessons.
And as Ennis felt the spirit, she put her arms around her husband and children, and they all felt the promise of returning to their heavenly home. It filled them with anticipation, and a promise of joy that would be full as soon as their ordinances were done.
As the spirit was receding, Tabitha felt a sense of gratitude that she had taken her youth leader's challenge. All the frustration was worth it now. She now had names to take to the next youth temple trip, and she felt a closeness to her Savior that filled her with a joy she had never known. She knew this work came from the Lord, and felt of his love, through the spirit. And she had a feeling that tears were being shed on both sides of the veil.
All of us have our story. But it isn't really our story. It's effects echo into the eternities. We work to help bind our ancestors to the Lord, and to do for them what they can't do for themselves. And it's not work, really, it is joy. And it lasts for eternity.
And this work is hastening. I've mentioned in another post how amazing it is to see the baptistries filled with youth who have brought their own Family History names to do their work. I've also seen how the sealing sessions are more filled with people doing their own names.
It didn't always used to be that way. You can be a part of the Lord's hastening his work as you will engage in this great saving work of Family History and Temple work. As President Nelson has said, "We are preparing the world for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ...we are his covenant children. He can count on us."
Discover your story by opening the Family Tree Mobile App, or going to the Family Search Website, and signing in.
Below is the video that was referenced in the story.
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