Blessings of Preparing Family Names for the Temple and Performing Their Ordinances Atticus Lee Jay Lee 11/7/15

Do you have a desire to feel closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ? Do you sometimes wish it was easier to live the Gospel? Are there some weaknesses that you struggle with that you wish you had more strength to overcome? Does temple work ever seem like a duty and you wish it was more of a joy? Do you sometimes wish you could be better protected from Satan’s daily assaults on your virtue? Is there someone you know who struggles with their testimony, and you wish you knew what could help them increase their spirituality? Do you wonder if miracles still exist, and would you like to experience some in your own life? If you answered YES to any of these questions you are in the right place.

Spirit of Elijah – What is it? Elijah’s earthly ministry was a difficult time for Israel. They were in apostasy and rebellion. His earthly mission was to revive Israel by doing the following: Teach fallen Israel the true doctrine of the gospel Bear testimony in the name of God Perform miracles (sealing the heavens, calling down fire from heaven, raising a boy from the dead... to name a few) Restore all saving ordinances through the Melchezidek priesthood. Just as Elijah revived Israel in his day. The Spirit of Elijah can revive us spiritually in our day as we perform ordinances that can only be done in temples.

Why do you need to do the work? Elder Quentin L. Cook taught that our doctrinal obligation is to our own ancestor. Why? Because the celestial organization of heaven is based on families. “Members who engage in temple work but fail to do family history research on their own family lines perform a divine service in assisting others, but they lose a blessing by not seeking their own kindred dead.” Elder Richard G. Scott “I have learned that those who engage in family history research and then perform the temple ordinance work for those whose names they have found will know the additional joy of receiving both halves of the blessing. Heavenly Father wants each of us to receive both parts of the blessing of this vital vicarious work. Any work you do in the temple is time well spent, but receiving ordinances vicariously for one of your own ancestors will make the time in the temple more sacred, and even greater blessings will be received.” Elder Richard G. Scott

Apostolic Blessings “Don’t underestimate the influence of the deceased in assisting your efforts and the joy of ultimately meeting those you serve. The eternally significant blessing of unifying our own families is almost beyond comprehension.” Elder Quentin L. Cook “As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this hold work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.” Elder David A. Bednar

So How Do You Do This Work? 1.Schedule 1 hour a week to do family history research and put it on your calendar. 1.Make that time sacred, make sure it is uninterrupted and the likelihood of interruption is low. 2.It’s a great way to spend part of your Sabbath day, after FHE, or any other time. 2.Schedule a time on your calendar to attend the temple regularly. 1.This could be weekly, every other week, or monthly. 2.Invite a family member to go with you (a parent, grandparent, cousin, or close family friend). Inviting others helps us keep our commitments. Acknowledge in prayer your gratitude for the help you receive while doing research and the blessings that have come to you as you participate in family history and Temple ordinance work.

Finding Names – Record Hints  Start with yourself in FamilyTree  Follow your tree back until you find someone who has a blue Record Hints icon by their name.  Once you verify that the record is for the person in your tree, attach the source document.  By following this method you will find several folks in the source documents that weren’t previously in your family tree and you’ll be able to add them to your Temple list.

Attaching Source Documents 1.Click on the person’s name. 2.Click the ‘Review and Attach’ button. 3.In the comment field add a comment about how you know this is the right person to attach to. It could be something as simple as ‘Same person, spouse, child, and dates match.’ 4.Once you have attached the document to all people mentioned in the source document you can hit the ‘Return to FamilyTree’ button at the bottom left of the screen.

Using Puzzilla to Find ‘Loose Ends’ 1.Go to puzzilla.org, you use your lds.org log in. 2. Go back about 6 generations and click on an individual. Then click on the ‘Descendants’ button. 3.Set the ‘Generations’ option to the left to 4. This should ensure that you are dealing with ancestors that were born more than 110 years ago.

Click on a line where it terminates. In this case, Andrew is represented by the highlighted green dot. Then click on ‘View in Family Tree’. Attach source documents if needed. Also do research using Ancestry.com, Find My Past.com, or My Heritage.com. You’ll likely find that Andrew did have children. You can then add those children and if they were born more than 110 years ago you can submit their names for temple ordinances.

Possible Duplicates Always search for possible duplicates before you submit a person’s name for temple ordinances. Carefully review any possible matches. Rely on the Spirit to know if a merge should be done. If dates and locations don’t match, but people do. Like this case then you should see if ordinance work has been done for the duplicate. If it has then a merge may be appropriate. If it hasn’t then you should delete the individual with the incorrect information and do the work for the person with the correct information.

Printing a Temple Ordinance Sheet Go to the ‘Temple’ pull down menu at the upper right of the FamilySearch. Click on ‘All Reserved’. When your list comes up, click on the boxes to the left of the people you want to perform work for. Print your ordinance sheet. Ask your parents or another endowed adult to take the sheet to the records office at the temple and they will print off the pink and blue ordinance slips. Okay, let’s all try now on the computers. We’ll lead you through step by step and help anyone that needs help. Raise your hand and we’ll come right over.