Family History

***This is a talk I was asked to give at a stake YW's activity about family history. I debated writing a whole separate post - & I'm sure I will eventually - but this talk tells you about my struggle with family history! I want to make it clear to anyone who is struggling that it's not just them, & it will ALWAYS be worth it!!***

Today I’ve been asked to speak on family history and different challenges I’ve had with it, and how I’ve been able to overcome those. So on my family history line, if you go straight back, it comes to a dead end on every line eventually. When I first started looking for names, I thought that the only thing I could do was find the names that weren’t there. For me, that didn’t work out so well. I couldn’t find any records or leads, and it was just really frustrating. I knew it was important to do family history, but I decided it was too hard and I gave up on it. Then, a couple of months later, we had a fireside on how you can find work in your cousin’s lines. It seemed easy enough so I decided to try the different approach. In an hour or so I found five names through my dad’s cousins. Unfortunately, after I found those names, I couldn’t find any more, even after working on it for another hour. Being the impatient person I am, I gave up again and decided that family history wasn’t for me. I was fine with that until my ward gave us a family history challenge in August. Each of the young men and young women in my ward were asked to find 5 names for baptisms and index 1,000 names. If we reached our goal, we would go to the Salt Lake temple to do all of the baptisms. They gave us three months and a lot of encouragement. We had several mutual activities on it, and they even called two youth family history consultants. 

Slowly I realized that this was my opportunity to really start doing family history. I knew that something about what I was doing to find names wasn’t working. I decided that I would pray before I started doing any family history, and I wouldn’t listen to music while I was doing it. They both seemed like simple things, but for me, they made all the difference. When I was really focused on what I was doing, it was a lot easier to keep a good perspective on it. I also realized how important it is to make sure the spirit is present when you’re doing the work, because sometimes it’s hard to know if what you’re doing is right. The first time I prayed before working on it, I was able to find 20 names in an hour. I haven’t been so lucky after that first time, but after working on it for several hours every week, I’ve found 94 names, 50 of which I’ll be taking to the Salt Lake temple with my ward on Saturday. (Remind me to blog about this - it was the neatest thing!!) For me, the names never just appeared in my line. Family history isn’t simple. We have amazing technology that makes it easier, but it doesn’t always immediately give you what you’re looking for. But I know that if you put the time and effort into finding names, you’ll be able to find them. Don’t give up like I did so many times. Trust in the Spirit and you’ll be able to do the work that the prophet and his apostles have called us to do. It really is important and it’ll bless you and bring you so much peace. 

I know that doing family history really has made a difference in my life, and I know it can make a difference for anyone who is willing to even try. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Savannah