April 2025

The power of stories

It's all about the stories. That's one of the lessons I took from RootsTech 2025. There are lots of examples from the sessions, but I'd like to share one of my favorites - the Piano Guys. Steve Nelson, "the Cello Guy," tells about stories from the lives of his ancestors that he put into a book to read to his kids at bedtime. He wanted his children's ancestors to be their heroes. 

That is a direction that the folks at FamilySearch has taken recently with their emphasis on the "Memories" section in FamilySearch, and the Together app. We included the Piano Guys section below in its entirety, but if you want to just hear the stories part, go to the 14 minute mark and start there. I think that you will get some great ideas that you can share in your ministering efforts.

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An High Priest of Good Things to Come 

During the Family Discovery session at RootsTech 2025, Elder Andersen played a video featuring a story from the life of President Holland.  We were touched by its strong narrative,  and went looking for it! We found it on YouTube and put it on this months newsletter (below) because we think it shows some things that we all should be interested in: perseverence, patience and hope in "good things to come." 

The story comes from a Ocotber 1999 General Conference talk given by Elder Holland entitled "An High Priest of Good Things to Come." That talk is also included below (without the cinematic part, which was added later). The scripture reference is from Hebrews 9:11-12: 

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

You can probably tell that this is a temple reference, especially when you think of another well-known temple reference from Hebrews  10:19-22:

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith

Elder Holland has bequethed to us a wonderful talk to ponder as we look toward Easter! It's a temple text, and a clear reminder that the Savior is at the center of all that is taught in the temple, and all that it represents. How marvelous to be able to celebrate the infinite salvific work of Jesus, our great high priest, especially at this season of Easter. As we rejoice in the effects of His Atonement not just for members of the church, but for the whole human family, can we think of ways that FamilySearch can help us to participate in that work of gathering the whole human family?

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Memories

You can use FamilySearch as a repository of pictures, documents, and audio files. Here's a great idea from FamilySearch: take a family photo while you are  on vacation, and then get out your phone and record an audio file of each of the family members in the picture - let them each describe their feelings on those special family occasions.  My Dad used to use an 8mm movie camera for those --- now there's an app for that! It is a good way to record the voices of your children through the years, and then of course archive them in FamilySearch Memories.

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Where can I find ______ ?

FamilySearch and RootsTech and the church website are wonderful resources for anyone interested in family history, but finding what you want can be daunting at times.

Here are some tips that I have found:

The main page is for doing work, like for pedigree charts, researching records, and doing deep dives with the research wiki, for example. For the inspirational videos and the calling helps though, you have to take a different route. 

For help and training resources, click on the circled question mark at the upper right-hand corner and select from the options in the menu. The items at the bottom are especially valuable for consultants. 

To get to more general help for your calling, go to the address bar and put "/consultant" at the end of the base URL (familysearch.org/en/consultant). And while you're there, scroll to the bottom of the page and check out the additional resources there! I especially like the Quick Start Lesson Videos.

To get help for leaders, go to the address bar and put "/united-states-canada/member_resources" ( https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states-canada/member_resources ). This is a great place for training ideas for ward leaders. Look at these video titles: Organizing Temple and Family History Work; Ward Temple and Family History Coordination Meeting; Ward Temple and Family History Council Meeting; How can Relief Society and Elders Quorum Presidencies Counsel Together. How I wish I would have had these when I was on the High Council!

To take part in vetting new FamilySearch features, go to https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/.

Here is why a FamilySearch account is free:   Feelings of family connection can help us overcome the ups and downs of life. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints funds FamilySearch to help people draw strength from their family relationships—past, present, and future. ( https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/whyfamilysearchfree )

A start page for people who are unfamiliar with FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/

To create a slideshow: click Memories, then Gallery, then Album. Fill the album with slides and audio, then click Slideshow up at the top. I know it seems macabre to mention, but what a great way to get ready for a funeral reception - all the pictures are already there, and not only that, they will be  there later when family members need to remember and reconnect. All they need is a FamilySearch account.  

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Centi___who?

This DNA stuff is exciting, frustrating, and confusing! RootsTech sessions to the rescue! Diahan Southard hosted three of them, one of which helped detangle the knot a little bit for me. One of the terms thrown around by the DNA afficiados is "centimorgan," a term that refers to a measurement used in finding relationships between organisms. She made this video for RootsTech in 2021.

So, DNA research can help us to find our roots, but is most effective when used in conjunction whith genealogical research done within the previous 200 years or so. It can really help broaden our chart, but not necessarily make it deeper. One of the ideas that has cropped up fairly recently is that, because DNA studies have shown that current American Indian (sometimes called Amerindian) share DNA with Asian populations but not Middle-eastern populations, the Book of Mormon must be a work of fiction. If you want to find out more about why this idea has some major flaws, take a look at this journal article (read "really long") published in the journal of the Interpreter Foundation. It explains in detail both the promise of DNA science and its pitfalls. Here is the abstract:

The Book of Mormon claims to be an ancient record containing a summary of a now-disappeared civilization that once lived in the American continent but originated in the Middle East. DNA studies focusing on the ancient migration of world populations support a North-East Asian origin of modern Native American populations arriving through the now-submerged land-bridge that once connected Siberia to Alaska during the last Ice Age, approximately 15,000 years ago. The apparent discrepancy between the Book of Mormon narrative and the published genetic data must be addressed in lieu of generally accepted population genetic principles that are efficient in large-scale population studies, but are somewhat weak and limitative in detecting genetic signals from the introgression of DNA by small groups of outsiders into a large, and well-established population. Therefore, while DNA can definitely provide clues about the ancient history of a people or civilization, it fails to provide conclusive proofs to support or dismiss the Book of Mormon as a true historical narrative.

If you have wondered about this, I urge you to take the time to go through the article. It was a bit of a tough read for me, but I think I caught the gist of it and it's made my commitment to the Book of Mormon stronger.  I like this from Elder Renlund's BYU Education Week address on from August, 2023:  Faith will only grow by observation and reasoning, coupled with other spiritual work. In addition, observation, reason and faith are often prerequisites not only to receive personal revelation but to understand that revelation. 

 In the same vein, Elder Holland said this: 

Faith and testimony, gospel devotion and Church loyalty, conviction so strong it leads to covenants and consecration are ultimately matters of the Spirit. They come as a gift from God, delivered and confirmed to our soul by the Holy Ghost in His divine role as revelator, witness, teacher of truth. But it should be noted that truly rock-ribbed faith and uncompromised conviction comes with its most complete power when it engages our head as well as our heart.

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Why We Need Family History

Here's a FamilySearch blog article that you should read. It argues that there are compelling socialogical as well as religious reasons for members of a civilized society to be involved in genealogical awareness. Part of the article is quoted below:

Knowing, recording, preserving, and sharing our family histories can provide countless benefits to individuals, families, and entire societies. Family history is more than pedigree charts, censuses, and birthdates—it can be a powerful antidote against adverse life experiences that we face today, giving us a stronger understanding of who we are and motivating us to deepen our roots for generations to come. 

Consider that there are attributes common to people of good character that are at the center of good society, such as family identity, connection, compassion, resilience, selflessness and self-worth. These are ideas worth sharing. Please take a moment to read the article, then take a look at this BYU Devotional talk from 2016 by BYU history professor Amy Harris as she explains the concept of "genealogical consciousness."

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