from God's arms

A few years ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints introduced and rolled out an improved and updated family history program. The Bishopric did a presentation on it, and said that our Stake would be having classes on how to use the program, and that those who took the classes would then teach the members of our ward how to use it to do their family history.After the meeting I volunteered to take the classes and get to work finding my own ancestors. Since that time, over 200 of my ancestors have had their names taken to the temple, and saving ordinances were done for them.

I started working in the stake Family History Center every Thursday, and I really enjoy it. Last night was an amazing night, and so rewarding! I was on a high for several hours afterwards. When I got to the FHC, an elderly couple who used to live here were in town
visiting, and decided to spend some time looking for some ancestors. We found lots of information for them, pushing one of their lines back to 1752!! It was such a wonderful experience to see how much it meant to the couple to find information that they had been seeking for many years, and the gratitude they showed touched my heart.

While we were working with the couple, a new member of the Church who happens to be in my ward came to the library. She is of hispanic origin, and because she is a first generation member she has lots of family history to do. I sat with her for several hours, and it was really exciting to help her enter the information she had so carefully gathered. She has been interviewing her family members for hours every Sunday, writing down stories, dates, places, names, and events. Then last night we found a little girl that she didn't know about, and added her to the family. By the end of the night she had added many names to her file on the new family search, and was excited and a little overwhelmed at the responsibility she faces to get all the temple work done for her family members. She was able to locate the region of Mexico that she came from, and as she looked at the trek her ancestors had undertaken when in their early sixties, I could see the appreciation on her face for their sacrifice.

One  of the benefits of doing family history research is that you find yourself becoming familiar with these people, their stories, and their experiences. By this you develop your own relationship with them. It sounds kind of weird, but it is almost like they know you are thinking about them, and so they come a little closer to you in spirit. I can't explain it very well, but it is like a increasing bilateral awareness of each other, and then I get and increased desire to keep searching, and sometimes a prompting of where to look for a family. It is an incredibly spiritual but exhilarating  feeling, and I wouldn't trade it for all the $$$ in the world. Last November we took >90 names  to the temple and had them sealed to their families. We ran out of time and have another 90+ to do. Since that time, I have been researching more, and am preparing more names for a baptismal trip with the extended family. Some of my favorite memories are those family temple trips, watching nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters being baptized in behalf of our deceased relatives. WOW!!

On another note, the new goat shed is well on its way to being completed, then the pigpen needs some repair work, and then the siding on the house gets replaced. Then the pasture gets fenced,and the water is on its way to our ground!! Some exciting changes comin' our way!!