Will we save ourselves and all our dead?

By Jake from Salt Lake City, United States - Salt Lake City Panorama from Ensign Peak, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42765173

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we hear or sing one of the most popular hymns of the Restoration: High on the Mountain Top with text by Joel H. Johnson, 1802-1882, and music by Ebenezer Beesley, 1840-19064. Quoting from verse four:

For there we shall be taught
The law that will go forth,
With truth and wisdom fraught,
To govern all the earth.
Forever there his ways we'll tread,
And save ourselves with all our dead.

This reference to saving ourselves with all our dead refers to Verse 15 of Section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which states:

15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect.

The opening message of the Saturday Morning, April 1, 2017, General Session of Conference, by President Henry B. Eyring is summarized on LDS.org as follows:

General conference has always been a time of gathering for the Latter-day Saints. …
I have felt impressed to speak to you today about another kind of gathering. … I refer to the gathering of the family of God. … 

… Our Heavenly Father is anxious to gather and bless all of His family. While He knows that not all of them will choose to be gathered, His plan gives each of His children the opportunity to accept or reject His invitation. And families are at the heart of this plan.
Centuries ago, the prophet Malachi said that in a coming day, God would send Elijah to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). … 

… The hearts of the children—of you and me—have turned to our fathers, our ancestors. … 

The youth have caught the vision admirably; now their parents need to catch up. There are now many people who have accepted baptism in the spirit world because of the work done by the youth, and they are waiting for other ordinances that only adults can perform in the temple. The work of gathering Heavenly Father’s family is not just for young people, and it is not just for their grandparents. It is for everyone. We are all gatherers. … 

I testify that God the Father wants His children home again, in families and in glory. The Savior lives. He directs and blesses this work, and He watches over and guides us. He thanks you for your faithful service in gathering His Father’s family, and I promise you the inspired help that you seek and need.

I suggest that all those who are involved in gather the dead through work in family history need to read his entire talk again. We have those of our "dead" who have already accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are ready and waiting for their ordinances to be performed. It is our opportunity and out duty to find them, identify them through proper evaluated records and take their names to the temples to do their ordinances.