Making it easier to engage in this joyful work of Salvation (with video)

I chose this picture, because it was in the Nauvoo temple that the heavens were opened for the Saints, and a greater number of them first received their endowments and sealings, and the Heavenly Fire of the Covenant burned in their souls. It is hoped this post will help that same Fire of the Covenant burn in your soul as well. 

President Nelson has testified that this great saving work of our dead that we are engaged in is the Work of Almighty God. He further stated; "we are his covenant children, he can count on us." I wanted to dispel a myth, then the incredible videos.

 
Aunt Edna didn't complete your Family History-not even close
But many people think Family History doesn't apply to them, and they tune out because they think "Well, my work has already been done by Aunt Edna," or some other family member who is a Genealogist and has found all my family clear back to where there aren't records. Well that is false. Your Family History work isn't anywhere near done, and it's easier than ever to do it now.  

That's right. That false idea has stopped so many people from enjoying the blessings of Family History, and so we sit here, enjoying the blessings of the gospel, while millions of our relatives on the other side are praying for the day that someone can do their work so they can return to the presence of the Lord.

I have some critical information here that will dramatically change how you see Family History and Temple work, and how critical it is you engage in it.
 
The Definition of Relatives is not limited-an example
Most of us think of our Family Tree as our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on until we reach the 1600's or 1400's and can't go any further.  But that view of Family has changed with Family History in the church now. 

Let me give you an example that just illustrates the point, and is just to illustrate a point though it's based on real genealogies. First some definitions. I will speak of my ancestors, and my ancestor's posterity along other descendency lines, which are his children and children's children to now.  Please keep in mind these are estimates to illustrate, I'm not a math major, so it's not 100 percent accurate, though I have attempted to be conservative in my estimates to make up for it. Now part of this is a bit dry, but it gets really good after that.
 

One of my Great Great (many more) Grandfathers converted in Missouri, and was in Nauvoo, and emigrated to Utah in the mid 1800's.  It shows he had 14 brothers and sisters. And just one of his children had at least that many or more children.  Now if you go back to include His Grandfather from the 1700's, then go through my ancestor in Missouri, and assume his kids had 5 children each (many back then had many more), an estimate of their total posterity could be tens of thousands or much more (one estimate was 40 thousand, but we will use the smaller number of 10 thousand).  Now his grandfather wasn't a member.

Now one point: I haven't checked in detail on this line, but If there is posterity on alternate lines moving forward from this ancestor in the 1700's to today, they are considered my family, too, and I can do their Family History and Temple work if it's not done, provided it is 110 years after their birthdate. And so can you on your alternate posterity lines. Let that sink in a bit.  So with 7-8 generations back with tens of thousands posterity, and with each generation back further that number can increase exponentially. And you are wondering, can I do that?

Family Search Helps you to find them! Guess what? Family Search will even help me to find them, will show me how I am related, and will give me hints with records that may contain more of my family-and some of their posterity are so recent that Family Search can give hints to records that help you find them.  

Hopefully you can see by now that this is more people than one person can do in a lifetime. And that Family Search helps you to find more of them.  So Let me blow your mind a bit more now, then the good stuff after. 

Hundreds of Thousands? Not even close
This was just one line back. If you go back 4 generations, your ancestral view will have about 16 great grandparents. But they also had other posterity that didn't go to you. So go back further to 7 generations, which many members have, and there you have potentially 128 parents or 64 potential posterity lines. So 7 generations times 64 with tens of thousands of posterity each amounts to maybe 640,000 in alternate posterity lines moving forward from a 7th Generation ancestor. Beyond what Aunt Edna could do.

But wait there is more.  If an ancestral line goes up 2 more generations back further than 7 generations, that brings it to 512 grandparents and many great grandparents or about 256 posterity lines.  Straight math says that 256 times 10,000 is about 2.5 million posterity.  The math gets fuzzy here, because this is just a limited estimate, and doesn't account for compounding, but this just shows we are now exponentially far beyond what hundreds of Aunt Ednas could do.  

Finally the Point: More to do and you can easily work on those alternate posterity lines from a common ancestor. Some of the lines working back have gone from your ancestor in the 1600's forward to the 1800's where there are census records online that can add to your family tree with just a few taps or mouse clicks. 

The Lord is hastening his work in his time.  The tools we have to find our relatives and do their work has made it so easy. I have found relatives who were related to me by an ancestor in the 1600's, but on a different posterity line. And Family Search gave me hints on how to find more relatives on these lines.  In fact, the Mobile App, and the website are designed to show you these hints. 

One thing to make sure of. You need to click on the "view my relationship" to make sure there is a relationship before adding to your family tree. 

Now I'm including an incredible newer video that first shares our Prophet and Apostles promising us blessings as we engage in Temple and Family History work. "This latter day work will destroy the powers of darkness, and bring to pass the salvation of the human family".  And after that, a get started video walkthrough where you can watch how to do it. Here's the first one.

And here is the get started video

A simple step to start
To start, open the Family Tree App, or go to the Family Search website, and if your family tree isn't there, input your parents, grandparents, and maybe great grandparent's names, birthdates, and relationships there, and it should pull in the family history that has already been done.

Read their histories
Take a moment to read the histories your relatives have put in there.  You may feel the spirit of Elijah start to stir in you.  You may feel like you are not alone on this earth or in the heavens. 

Ancestors with Tasks or Recommended tasks
And then, if you are on the app, go to the "ancestors with tasks" section (recommended tasks on the website), go to one of the people, and then look at their record.  See if they have any spouse or children there.  Check their birthdate and place. 

Then tap the blue circle and it will take you to a vital record like a census record, birth record, or other record that they are on.  Tap "review" or "compare." It will show you both records, your relative in your family tree, and the record found by Family Search.  If it is a match, it will show you if the record found by Family Search lists additional Family Members that are not in your Family Tree.

And with a few taps, you can add additional family members and with a few taps more, you can reserve their temple work. Now these are not just names. They are people. Your people. Your Family. And they have been waiting for their work to be done. 

Once they are reserved, you can use the "ordinances ready" part of the app to print ordinance cards, or it will give you a number, and you can give that to the temple office, and they can print the cards for you. 

Now it's not always as simple as that. But when you run into roadblocks, reach out to Family Search using the help section of the app or website, or contact a Family History Consultant, and then pray. Apostles and prophets have promised that if we will do that, the Lord will open up a way.  I've followed that counsel, and have always found that the Lord opens up doors for us. 

Testimony, Promise, and President and Sr Nelson's words
I testify that this work is the work of the Lord.  It will redeem and save all who will come unto him.  It will bring us blessings untold.  We will have a greater testimony of the Savior and this work.  We will grow to have a love for our ancestors. And as we engage in this work, we will not stray from the Savior and his gospel. 

And when we pass away, we will see the people whose work we have done, and we will be able to embrace and weep tears of joy as we together enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to dwell in the presence of the Lord forever.  Here's a video of President Nelson and his wife inviting us to engage in this great work. 
Discover your story on the Family Tree Mobile App, or on the Family Search Website.  You can also view other posts on this blog for how to use the App to get started

Picture of the Nauvoo Temple courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, available in the Media Library.

Church videos in the church media library, Promised Blessings of Family History Part 2, and A Sacrifice of Time by President and Sr Nelson. click the links to view on the church page. 

Please note that I have attempted to make approximate estimates based on the best numbers I had, however I make no claim to exact accuracy. In most cases, I have used significantly conservative estimates. These cases are just illustrations, though based upon actual genealogies.