Youth and Family History, Part I – The Red Headed Hostess

If you have a teenager… they really need to read this article.

This is Brooke.

And she is fifteen… ( I think).  And she is one of those young women that absolutely gives you great hope in the rising generation.

Elder Bednar gave a talk once called, “Quick to Observe.”  And that is what I thought of when I heard her story…. this is a young lady was quick to observe!

This is her story….

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October 18, 2011

 

In the last General Conference, one of the talks that stood out to me was Elder Bednars talk on Family History.

It immediately caught my attention because I’ve always been interested in family history work. He stressed the fact that people of all ages especially the youth should work on it, because “the time is now.”

I’ve always been interested in family history work,

and I would love to hear stories from my grandma, and other family members. At the beginning of each school year, my dad gives each one of my siblings and me, a father’s blessings. In my blessing, my dad said that I would help many family members through family history. It really stuck out to me in this prayer, but I became busy and after that I didn’t really think about it much.

When I heard this talk I knew I had to continue doing family history work,

finding ancestors with temple ordinances that I could perform. That night after hearing about how I could get help from the lds.org youth page, I was up until 2:30 the next morning looking for names. I had traced all the way back to Adam and Eve on a couple of my lines, but I kept searching and found 2 names, one boy and one girl, that was missing the baptism, confirmation, endowment, and initiatorys ordinances.

The following week

my brother, my dad, and I were able to take those names to the temple, along with some other names from another family in our ward. My parents are planning on going back together to perform the endowments and initiatorys together.

After finishing our names,

and continuing with the other family names, a temple worker told us that there was a reason we were here doing this. We didn’t really think much of it, until we learned awhile later that the person who found all of these names passed away a week earlier and had gathered all of those people to watch their work being done for them.

Through this experience I feel I have become closer to these relatives, to my family, and to my heavenly father.

These people are not just names on a page, but my actual family who made sacrifices for their generations to come.

I have come to gain a further knowledge and testimony of temple work,

that if we attend the temple regularly, to perform these ordinances, it will make us stronger. Family history work helps me to strive tone worthy, not only to help them, but to also to live with all my family together. Also, it helps me strive to remain worthy so I can be an example to my posterity. In my patriarchal blessing it says that “… you will have a powerful influence on generations to come.” I know that this brings many blessings by serving others. It has helped me become closer with my family members, and gain new relations, and has blessed me with much help and guidance in my life. I love the gospel and the joy it brings into my life

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“It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. 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. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.”  (Elder David A. Bednar, October 2011 General Conference)

Have you checked out the new youth website?

This would be a great thing to have a Family Home Evening about.  It is brilliantly done.