The Blessings of Climbing Into Your Family Tree

Elder Cook:

The head of this work is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After His death, He opened the door to the prison that held the dead captive:

“He organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men. …

“And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel” (D&C 138:30–31).

Our message is simple, but it is profound. It does not require soaring rhetoric or complex doctrine. It is about having a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a commitment to follow our Savior.

As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I promise that if you look beyond the bonds of time and mortality and help those who cannot help themselves, you will be blessed with more closeness and joy in your family and with the divine protection afforded those who are faithful in His service.

May you parents, youth, and children find joy and be blessed in every other aspect of your life as you fulfill the obligation that has been sent from heaven to participate in the sacred work for the dead.

Elder David A. Bednar:

Elder Gong and I invoke this simple blessing upon you.  That as you hear and study, pray and ponder the things you have learned tonight, that you will come to know that they apply to you.

I fear that many members of the church listen to this kind of instruction and they believe it for everyone else but I’m not sure it applies to me. If I had the wish of my heart, every person participating in this instruction would understand the joy in pressing forward on the covenant path and that the power and the protection are individual and personal. They are not general and abstract.

Elder  John A. Widstoe

“I have the feeling . . .that those who give themselves with all their might and main to this work receive help from the other side, and not merely in gathering genealogies.  Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return in all the affairs of life.”

 Sister Wendy Nelson
It is my testimony that however fabulous your life is right now, or however discouraging and heartbreaking it may be, your involvement in temple and family history work will make it better. What do you need in your life right now? More love? More joy? More self-mastery? More peace? More meaningful moments? More of a feeling that you’re making a difference? More fun? More answers to your soul-searching questions? More heart-to-heart connections with others? More understanding of what you are reading in the scriptures? More ability to love and to forgive? More ability to pray with power? More inspiration and creative ideas for your work and other projects? More time for what really matters?

I entreat you to make a sacrifice of time to the Lord by increasing the time you spend doing temple and family history work, and then watch what happens. It is my testimony that when we show the Lord we are serious about helping our ancestors, the heavens will open and we will receive all that we need.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson:

These ministering angels know who you are, they care for you, they love you, and they will become a vital part of the fortification of your home.

President Russell M. Nelson: We can be inspired all day long about temple and family history experiences others have had. But we must do something to actually experience the joy ourselves. I would like to extend a challenge to each one of us so that the wonderful feeling of this work can continue and even increase. I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make in order to do more temple and family history work this year.

“While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.”

”No matter your situation, you can make family history a part of your life right now.”

Elder Neil L.  Andersen

Let us see beyond the difficulties and the obstacles confronting us to our important purposes and to the glorious days ahead. Let us each echo Nephi’s words: “These are my days.

You were born in a time of temples and technology. These are your days to more fully turn your hearts to your fathers. As you contribute to this sacred work, your knowledge and faith in the Savior will increase and you will receive a more certain witness that life continues beyond the veil. You will receive protection against the temptations that surround you, and you will prepare yourself and the world you live in  for the Second Coming of the Savior.

Elder Quentin L. Cook

The combination of greatly increased numbers of temples and advanced technology for family history work make this the most blessed time in all history.

Elder David A. Bednar

We have a tremendous capacity to be innovative and create new things. I would recommend that we not do that. I invite everybody to use the tools that have already been developed, such as the Family Tree app.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson

It seems that this is a place where technology is filling the measure of its creation. And so we should be embracing it and letting our children and families embrace it as well.

Theodore Tuttle

Elder Melvin J. Ballard testified that “the spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records. If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it”

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

“‘Tell me a story’ is a frequent request from children. While fictional stories and fairytales can be fun to share, consider instead telling your children stories that show faith in Jesus Christ and stories that connect them to their noble ancestors. Years ago, Kristen and I decided to create our own family storybook, filled with accounts from our extended families and ancestry. We love reading from it with our family.

“We invite you to create your own compilation of examples from your family history of those who acted on their faith in the Savior, in His leaders, and in the principles of His gospel. You might pull stories from talks or family histories, or even just stories you heard growing up. Document them, and share them. Doing so can help you and your family turn your hearts to your ancestors.”

Did any of my ancestors fight for the Union in the Civil War? (2020)

Elder Neil L.  Andersen

Here is my major theme this morning: As evil increases in the world, there is a compensatory spiritual power for the righteous. As the world slides from its spiritual moorings, the Lord prepares the way for those who seek Him, offering them greater assurance, greater confirmation, and greater confidence in the spiritual direction they are traveling. 

Elder David A. Bednar

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 holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

President Russell M. Nelson 

I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him.

Mary Farren Harrison Rogerson (3rd Great Grandmother. A member of the Martin Willie Handcart Company)

“I did not know how to leave England and sail to America. I did not know how to build, maintain or push a handcart. I did not know how to comfort or provide for 5 children walking across the plains, But I knew I had the Holy Ghost , and I knew he could show me how to do all these things.”

Elder Dale G. Renlund

But as we participate in family history and temple work today, we also lay claim to “healing” blessings promised by prophets and apostles.⁶ These blessings are also breathtakingly amazing because of their scope, specificity, and consequence in mortality. This long list includes these blessings:

• Increased understanding of the Savior and His atoning sacrifice;
• Increased influence of the Holy Ghost⁷ to feel strength and direction for our own lives;
• Increased faith, so that conversion to the Savior becomes deep and abiding;
• Increased ability and motivation to learn and repent⁸ because of an understanding of who we are, where we come from, and a clearer vision of where we are going;
• Increased refining, sanctifying, and moderating influences in our hearts;
• Increased joy through an increased ability to feel the love of the Lord;
• Increased family blessings, no matter our current, past, or future family situation or how imperfect our family tree may be;
• Increased love and appreciation for ancestors and living relatives, so we no longer feel alone;
• Increased power to discern that which needs healing and thus, with the Lord’s help, serve others;
• Increased protection from temptations and the intensifying influence of the adversary; and
• Increased assistance to mend troubled, broken, or anxious hearts and make the wounded whole.⁹

If you have prayed for any of these blessings, participate in family history and temple work. As you do so, your prayers will be answered. When ordinances are performed on behalf of the deceased, God’s children on earth are healed.

Joseph Smith:

The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; we are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory; it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory … “A work that God and angels have contemplated with delight for generations past; that fired the souls of the ancient patriarchs and prophets; a work that is destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God, and the salvation of the human family.