June 2025

FamilySearch Centers

Brother Glenn Adamz, our area FamilySearch manager sent us an email with a request for information about the FamilySearch Centers in our coordinating council. As you can see from the list, several of then have been deactivated. The reason for that is mentioned in the email. 

As you read through it, please keep in mind:

• The stake president holds the keys to decide about the establishment of a FSC

• Many of the assets of the FSC are under the management of FamilySearch International and the FM Group

• The FSC brower extension is availabe to any computer in a building served by the church's Meraki firewall

• An FSC can serve an importatnt outreach function within the local community

• The FSC is listed in the CDOL through an update procedure that is separate from LCR

• FSC has its own operations guide (linked below by Brother Adamz.)

Sorry about all of the acronyms, but per Brother Adamz' request, we (Jo and I) will be contacting each of you who are responsible for the FSCs listed below, so we can talk about that then if we need to . We want to schedule a short phone call through your Executive Secretary to find out your decision and to let Brother Adamz know how to proceed. Could you please let your Executive Secretary know? Sometimes emails end up in the junk mail folder, but if he knows that we are trying to contact him, that might help. 

Here is the letter:

Sis and Bro Fankhauser,

We are contacting you to ask for your assistance concerning our FamilySearch Centers.

FamilySearch sent out a communication in January asking all FamilySearch Center Coordinators to update their hours of operation in the Center Tools found on FamilySearch.

Center Coordinators were given until April 1st to respond to this communication. Any center that did not update their information by the deadline has now been marked as inactive and no longer appears on the FamilySearch Center Locator. Accurate hours of operation are essential for ensuring that patrons can find and visit the centers.

FamilySearch would appreciate your assistance in contacting the stake president for those stakes where one or more FamilySearch Centers within the stake were made Inactive in FamilySearch. The stake president will determine if the center needs to be reactivated or closed.

Outreach:

• Please open this link https://wkf...  and add the information requested. Then submit the report.

• • You will find attached a list of centers marked as Inactive in your area.

  • Note that on the form you will submit, the name and unit number of both the center and the stake are required.

  • In the field for Active or Closed, note that there is a dropdown arrow requiring that you mark whether the center needs to be reactivated or if the stake president has determined that it should be closed.

  • The field for comments is not required but is available as needed.

• Some stakes have multiple centers marked as Inactive in FamilySearch. Please submit this form for each individual center in your area that is marked Inactive even if they are within the same stake.

Reactivation:

• After the FamilySearch Center is reactivated, the center will not show up on FamilySearch Locator until the following Sunday. The hours of operation can then be entered into Center Tools by the center coordinator.

Return and Report:

• Please submit this report by July 1, 2025, for all FamilySearch Centers in your area that have been marked as Inactive in FamilySearch.

Training for FamilySearch Center Coordinators:

• FamilySearch Center Coordinators can use the following link to view training for accessing and updating the FamilySearch Center Tools: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/support-instruction-center-tools

• • FamilySearch Center Coordinators will need to log into FamilySearch before attempting to open the Center Tools for Leaders.

  • The FamilySearch Center Coordinator could also view the Center Tools Video Instruction if they need more information on using the Center Tools for Leaders.

• You may also forward the link of the FamilySearch Center Operations Guide to the FamilySearch Center Coordinator to help answer any questions. https://www.familysearch.org/en/fieldops/article/familysearch-center-fsc-operations-guide 

Community Engagement:
FamilySearch Centers are available for community use and serve as a valuable resource for doing family history work.  

• Because FamilySearch Centers are a valuable resource to the community, please work closely with your Stake leaders to identify the best way to involve the community in the FamilySearch Center.  

Note:

• We are asking for you to contact the stake presidents because all FamilySearch Centers are under the direction of the stake and the calling of a FamilySearch Center Coordinator is a stake calling. See the Church Handbook 25.3.7 for additional information.

• All FamilySearch Center Coordinators must also be correctly entered into the LCR database under the stake, or they will not have full access to the Center Coordinator instructions on FamilySearch.

Closing or Relocating a FamilySearch Center:

• If the FamilySearch Center has been moved or if the stake president has determined to close a FamilySearch Center, the following link contains information for the correct procedure. https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/what-is-the-procedure-for-closing-or-relocating-a-family-history-center

• • The Request to Close or Relocate a FamilySearch Center form should be submitted by the stake president is contained in this link: https://cms-b-assets.familysearch.org/a3/f3/22f1f89a493993759d35196be4aa/request-to-create-relocate-or-close-a-fsc-form-5-23-english.pdf

• The section titled Close a FamilySearch Center must be filled out and signed by the stake president and facility manager. The signed form should then be forwarded to Glenn Adamz at adamzgw@familysearch.org who is the FamilySearch Area Manager and Katie Althoff-Hall Kathryn.Althoff@familysearch.org who is the FamilySearch Regional Manager supporting your area.

Nebraska City Nebraska FamilySearch Center

Council Bluffs Iowa FamilySearch Center

Kearney Nebraska Ward FamilySearch Center

Hastings Nebraska FamilySearch Center

Phillipsburg Kansas FamilySearch Center

McCook Nebraska FamilySearch Center

Sioux Falls South Dakota FamilySearch Center

Yankton South Dakota FamilySearch Center

Shenandoah Iowa FamilySearch Center

Storm Lake Iowa FamilySearch Center

Columbus Nebraska FamilySearch Center

Best Regards,

Glenn Adamz

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Temple Ordinance Training

In 1832 the Lord told Joseph Smith to "organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God" (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119). We see lots of people coming to the temple. Sometimes it's a struggle to find a way to take care of them all and still keep the temple a "house of order" but it's what we need to do if we are really serious about keeping this commandment! And it's a good problem to have.

 The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve know all about the order of the house of the Lord, and there are rules. They have put the rules in the General Handbook of Instructions, especially in Sections 25, 26, 27 and 28, and in the handbooks for temple presidents and temple recorders. Temple presidents and recorders train office staff in procedures that will ensure that the books of the temple comply fully with the standards of the First Presidency. They try very hard to help other priesthood leaders to understand the rules, so that the ordinances of the temple are performed and recorded properly. 

D&C 118 speaks of the importance of the recorder and the record: "and let him be very particular and precise in taking the whole proceedings, certifying in his record that he saw with his eyes, and heard with his ears...consequently, the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on the earth. And the book which was the book of life is the record which is kept in heaven;...for out of the books shall your dead be judged, according to their own works, whether they themselves have attended to the ordinances in their own propria persona, or by the means of their own agents."

Given the importance of both the recording and the record itself, it's not surprising that the General Handbook spends quite a lot of time explaining the rules in those sections of the handbook noted above. I think all of us reading this are agents of the Savior. He is counting on each one of us to know those rules so that everyone who comes to the temple can be confident that not only will the ordinances be administered according to First Presidency standards, but that they will have a good experience whenever they are in the Lord's House. 

Many of those rules are handy to know when you counsel patrons who are planning to come to the temple to do "living" ordinances (endowment & sealing). The handbook is clear about notifying the temple in advance. The recommend that you complete for them, with their help, is an important document; it becomes part of those books out of which we are judged, so important in fact that the temple staff is charged with ensuring that it's fully filled out, with attention to:

• the full name of the patron(s), 

• ensuring that all given names and surnames are included, 

• all spellings are correct,

• city (village or township), county or province and state (if in USA) or country names are accurate, 

• all dates are in genealogy format (day, month, capitalized and either spelled out or 3-character alpha), and 4-digit year, 01/01/2025)

• ward/branch and stake/district designations are written or circled

• fully completed signatures

• printed characters are clear and legible.

All that, and then the paperwork that goes along with it, takes time, and so it's a good idea  for the patron to start the process at least a couple of weeks in advance of the intended appointment.

We are all looking forward to using the new Ordinances Preparation app that the Temple Department is getting ready to include with LCR, and hoping that a lot of these items that now are dependent on our memories will soon be prompts and checks in a better automated system. Higher and holier.

Please let us know if we can help with this, but really, the main thing is to train from the handbook. 

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Preparing to Enter the Temple

This is something from the church website. Can you use it? (click on the picture to read the whole thing)

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New Help for Counsultants

The Church sent an email to all TFH consultants last week, and we thought that you might like to see the stories that it offered. Sometimes, getting the information to the right people is an issue in our callings. So please take a look at these offerings (mostly RootsTech sessions) and try to make sure that the right people know about them - consultants, for sure, but also ward TFH Leaders, stake committees, and ward councils! This is terrific training for us.

There are four of these stories. They are presented below similar to their presentation in the email, with a narrative and a picture that's linked to the full feature (click the picture to activate the link). Note that the link for "Storied" takes you to the Storied sign-in page where you may create a free account. Storied is a FamilySearch partner, and Stroried accounts are free to members of the church.

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Uniting Families

Training rom Church Headquarters

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