Photo by Jordan Bauer
As a generation of texters and tweeters, we have been prepared to serve our ancestors through family history work and to lay claim to promised blessings.
With the increasing number of genealogy records on the Internet and the tools to access them, you don’t have to be a genealogist to do family history anymore. In “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn,” Elder David A. Bednar invites young members of the Church to participate in family history work.
Elder Bednar discusses the unique opportunity we have as a generation poised on the forefront of technology. “Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends.” We as young adults, along with the youth, are uniquely prepared to answer this call.
According to Elder Bednar, as we get involved in this work we will be blessed in three ways:
- Our love and gratitude for our ancestors will increase. We will be able to recognize them as real people and feel a deeper connection to them.
- Our service will shield us from temptation. When we engage in family history, we will be protected from the influence of the adversary throughout our lives.
- Our relationship with the Savior and our testimony of him will be strengthened. As our love for our ancestors grows, so will our love for him.
As we move through the final dispensation, it is important to remember that family history “is a vital part of the work of salvation and exaltation.” We are trusted with one of the most important works humankind will ever embark on. Through this work we will learn that “we are the Lord’s agents in the work of salvation and exaltation. . . . This is our duty and great blessing.” When we begin our family history work, we will see that our efforts will bless the lives of our ancestors as well as our own lives.
We, as the rising generation, have a unique opportunity to take part in this work and to seize these marvelous blessings.
Read or watch the rest of Elder David A. Bednar’s talk “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn” to learn more about family history work.
Source: LDS General Conference
—Shantel Fitzgerald, Mormon Insights
feature image by avi richards
Find more insights
Take a look at “Begin Your Family History” to learn how to start your family history.
Learn how to use FamilySearch, the Church’s family history tool.
I love this! Family history work is so important and technology has made it accessible and so much easier to do. It’s such a blessing to me to be able to have a way to store and share my family history.
Family history work has become SO much easier with the advent of all of this wonderful technology. I am so grateful for it!
I have never really done family history before. It had always seemed way too difficult and time consuming. However, in one of my classes at university, I was able to compile text and pictures about my great-grandma and turn them into a book. Many times while reading and editing her words, I just broke down into tears. I think there is something so tangible and special about connecting with our ancestors.
This is a great reminder. Family history is something I’ve always struggled with–it’s intimidating! I, like a lot of other people, often feel like the work has already been done in my family. But that’s not true and it doesn’t need to be intimidating; it’s so much easier to find work to do now and we should definitely all take advantage of that.