Extreme Genes: Family History Radio

The Mormon Channel is an wonderful resource for listening to a variety of Church oriented messages. One of the featured "shows" on the online broadcasting station is Extreme Genes: Family History Radio. Here is a screenshot of the webpage for the feature;

Past shows are also available online. You can listen in anytime. There are also apps available for both iOS and Android.

The Prophets Speak on Searching out our Dead -- Brigham Young

Brigham Young, the Prophet, was one of the first people to use the newly constructed baptismal font in the Nauvoo Temple to perform baptisms for the dead. Two weeks after dedicating the font on 8 November 1841, Elders Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and John Taylor performed forty baptisms for the dead and Elders Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith, performed the confirmations. See Joseph Fielding Smith, Essentials in Church History, 27th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974), pp. 256–57. At the time of these first baptisms, the Temple had yet to be built and the baptismal font was constructed in the newly finished basement area. The doctrine of baptism for the dead was first taught at the funeral of Seymour Brunson, who died 10 August 1840 (see History of the Church, 4:179, 231). Brigham Young was also among the first of those to receive other essential Church ordinances. See See History of the Church, 5:1–2.

It is clear that each of the Prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had an understanding of the importance of the principle of baptism for the dead and of Temple work. This series presents some of the statements each of this dispensations Prophets have made concerning baptisms for the dead, Temple work, genealogy and family history.

Here are some of the statements of Brigham Young on these subjects:

This doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the most glorious doctrines that was ever revealed to the human family; and there are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 16:167 

In defending the doctrine of baptisms for the dead, Brigham Young made the following statement at
a Special Conference held in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 29, 1852, reported by G. D. Watt on pages 277-283 of the 6th volume of the Journal of Discourses;

When brother Joseph revealed the great mystery of being baptized for the dead, did not a great many of the Elders of Israel think then—"'Mormonism' cannot endure; it will be overcome." Every item of doctrine brother Joseph has brought forth had to meet with opposition from the world. We all know that it comes in contact with sectarian influence and every other influence that is not direct from God. 

When the Elders went forth, the priests supposed they could easily put them down; but when they undertook to substantiate the doctrine of baptism for the dead, were the priests successful in confuting their arguments? No. The doctrine has ridden triumphantly over all sectarianism (what I mean by sectarianism is false religion); and it is so far from being put to silence by all the rest of the world, that it is as popular, wherever you go, as any doctrine taught; it is as readily and as quickly believed.

In another discourse by President Brigham Young, Delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 8, 1852, transcribed by G. D. Watt on pages 80-96 of volume 3, he states:

What shall we say of the people who live in the 19th century? When any of the Latter-day Elders or Apostles die, and leave this world, suffice it to say, that their spirits go to that prison, and preach the Gospel to those who have died without hearing it; and every spirit shall be judged precisely as though he lived in the flesh, when the fulness of the Gospel was upon the earth. This leads to the subject of the saving and redeeming powers possessed by the righteous; but we shall not have time this morning to treat upon it, suffice it to say, that saviors are coming up, in the last days, upon mount Zion. 

This I say of every son and daughter of Adam, Prophets, Priests, and those that slew the Prophets, all go to prison; the Elders of this Church go there, and there continue their labors; and by and by you will see Zion redeemed, and saviors will come up upon mount Zion. The faithful Elders will come, and go forward in the ordinances of God, that our ancestors, and all who have died previous to the restoration of the Gospel in these last days, may be redeemed.

Brigham Young spoke again on the subject as delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 15, 1852, transcribed by G. D. Watt on pages 283-298 of volume 6 of the Journal of Discourses:

Gentlemen, don't be startled; for if we don't go back there, our sons and daughters will; and a great Temple will be built upon the consecrated spot, and a great many more besides that. The land of Joseph is the land of Zion; and it takes North and South America to make the land of Joseph. Suppose we are ready to go into the Temples of God to officiate for our fathers and our grandfathers—for our ancestors back for hundreds of years, who are all looking to see what their children are doing upon the earth. The Lord says, I have sent the keys of Elijah the Prophet—I have imparted that doctrine to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts children to the fathers. Now, all you children, are you looking to the salvation of your fathers? Are you seeking diligently to redeem them that have died without the Gospel, inasmuch as they sought the Lord Almighty to obtain promises for you?—for our fathers did obtain promises that their seed should not be forgotten. O ye children of the fathers, look at these things. You are to enter into the Temples of the Lord and officiate for your forefathers.

Remarks by President Brigham Young, made in the Bowery, Great Salt Lake City, October 21, 1860, reported by G. D. Watt on pages 222-226 of the 8th volume of the Journal of Discourses.

Our bodies are now mortal. In the resurrection there will be a reunion of the spirits and bodies, and they will walk, talk, eat, drink, and enjoy. Those who have passed these ordeals are society for angels—for the Gods, and are the ones who will come into the Temple of the Lord that is to be built in the latter days, when saviors shall come up upon Mount Zion, and will say, "Here, my children, I want this and this done. Here are the names of such and such ones, of our fathers, and mothers—our ancestors; we will bring them up. Go forth, you who have not passed the ordeals of death and the resurrection—you who live in the flesh, and attend to the ordinances for those who have died without the law." Those who are resurrected will thus dictate in the Temple. When the Saints pass through death, they cannot officiate in this sinful world, but they will dictate those who are here. "Go, now, and be baptized for the honorable—for those who would have received the law of God and the true religion, if they had lived; be baptized for the heathen—for all who were honest; officiate for them, and save them, and bring them up. Be baptized for them, anointed for them, washed and sealed for them, and fulfil all the ordinances which cannot be dispensed with." They will all be performed for the living and the dead upon Mount Zion.

To report and discuss all of the statements recorded from Brigham Young about the work of the  salvation of the dead would take an entire book, but here is another statement taken from a
Discourse by President Brigham Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 1869, transcribed by John Grimshaw on pages 150-156 of the 13th volume of the Journal of Discourses

We have come here to build up Zion. How shall we do it? I could tell you how if I had time. I have told you a great many times. There is one thing I will say in regard to it. We have got to be united in our efforts. We should go to work with a united faith like the heart of one man; and whatever we do should be performed in the name of the Lord, and we will then be blessed and prospered in all we do. We have a work on hand whose magnitude can hardly be told. We have now to go to and save ourselves according to the plan provided for our salvation, the Savior having done for us all that he can, except to impart unto us grace to aid us in our lives, and to save our families, friends, ancestors, and the nations that have lived before us and those that may come after us, that all may be brought unto God and be saved, except the sons of perdition. This is the labor we have before us.

Summarizing the importance of the work of seeking our our dead is recorded in Discourses of Brigham Young [Deseret Book, 1971], pp. 406–408:

We have a work to do just as important in its sphere as the Savior’s work was in its sphere. Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without them. They have done their work and now sleep. We are now called upon to do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the earth. …

There must be this chain in the holy Priesthood; it must be welded together from the latest generation that lives on the earth back to Father Adam, to bring back all that can be saved and placed where they can receive salvation and glory in some kingdom. This Priesthood has to do it; this Priesthood is for this purpose. …

The ordinance of sealing must be performed here man to man, and woman to man, and children to parents, etc., until the chain of generation is made perfect in the sealing ordinances back to Father Adam. …

Now, all you children, are you looking to the salvation of your fathers? Are you seeking diligently to redeem those that have died without the Gospel, inasmuch as they sought the Lord Almighty to obtain promises for you? For our fathers did obtain promises that their seed should not be forgotten. O ye children of the fathers, look at these things. You are to enter into the temples of the Lord and officiate for your forefathers.

Our responsibility to our ancestors cannot be said any more plainly than that.

Comments on Researching Your Mormon Ancestors

In a recent blog post, Amy Thiriot, my very talented and competent daughter, posted a concise and useful summary about "Researching Your Mormon Ancestors." I have a number of comments on the post to add a little of my own perspective to the process of researching Mormon records.

Amy initially divides the process into two main methods: purely genealogical research and going on a grand adventure. I would think a little bit more perspective might also help. How you approach the process of investigating your family history changes dramatically depending on the time when your ancestors joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you have ancestors going back to the 1800s, it is very likely that you have inherited a substantial amount of "genealogy" whether you are aware of it or not. It is also equally as possible that no recent research has been done on many of your family lines. It is also equally as possible that some of your ancestors appear in the historical record of the migration of your family from Europe or from the Eastern part of the United States. Many of the places where you can find this historical information about your family are listed by Amy in her blog post reference above.

The very first step you should take in examining your Mormon family roots is to register and sign on to FamilySearch.org and examine what is available in the Family Tree program. An almost uniform reaction by current members of the Church to what is there is that their "genealogy is all done." This is absolutely and categorically wrong in every single case. I have said this many time before, both while teaching classes and in print, if you give me 15 minutes with your family as recorded in Family Tree, I can show you how many places where there is information lacking and research needs to be done. In fact, when I started saying this I did this by examining the tree and looking for inconsistencies which I always found. Now, we all have marvelous tools that allow us to examine our Family Tree and graphically see the missing ancestors.

Above is a screenshot of the FamilySearch certified program Puzzilla.org. This tools gives us a graphic representation of the descendants of any one of our ancestors recorded in the Family Tree program and shows by the lack of descendants, exactly where our ancestral family members are missing from the data in the program. Once we have an idea of where we can go with our research, we can use the resources suggested by Amy to continue our research. Be sure and watch the Puzzilla.com videos to see how this tool will overcome your impression that "all the work has been done."

Inside the Outside of Genealogy

Biography is the near cousin of genealogy. Or maybe its the other way around. One very interesting project that relates directly to genealogy, Temple work and redeeming the dead is introduced in a blog post called "The Eminent Women of the St. George Temple." The description of the project is written by my daughter, Amy Tanner Thiriot on a blog called The Keepapitchinin. Ostensibly, this blog is dedicated to Mormon history. But in reality, it is a delightful mixture of genealogy, history, commentary and memorabilia. The blogger/editor is Ardis E. Parshall, who presently works at the The Church History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. My daughter Amy is a sometimes contributor and sometimes editor of the blog along with her own blog, TheAncestorFiles. Occasionally, they also have other contributors. If you have any feeling at all for history and especially Mormon history, you will fall in love with The Keepapitchinin blog.

Amy's most recent article caught my eye and my ear. It is entitled "Eminent Women: Jean Armour Burns." Here is a short video from the post to illustrate what I mean:


I'll let you go to Amy's post for the explanation and the connection. Thanks Amy for reminding me that I can listen to poetry on YouTube as well as music.

The Prophets Speak on Searching out our Dead -- Joseph Smith

Understanding is supernally important to our ability to act. If we are going to become involved in the mortal side of the salvation of our ancestors, we need to understand that responsibility on several levels. Of necessity, we must have a sound doctrinal understanding of the need for searching out our dead. In addition, we need the technical tools both from the standpoint of skills in the use of computers, the Internet and genealogy programs but also from the standpoint of having acquired the skills of doing genealogical research. When we match those technical skills with a sound basis in the doctrine, we have the potential to implement the work.

This series of blog posts will be a collection of quotes from each of the modern-day prophets as they expressed their understanding and testimony concerning our collective obligation to search out our dead, record accurate information about them, and then perform the sacred ordinances of the Temple for them in a dignified and appropriate way.

The first Prophet of the Restoration was the Prophet Joseph Smith. The follow are a selection of quotes from Smith, Joseph, Joseph Fielding Smith, Richard C. Galbraith, and Joseph Smith. Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Co, 1993. Page numbers at the end of the quotes are from this book.

I presume the doctrine of “baptism for the dead” has ere this reached your ears, and may have raised some inquiries in your minds respecting the same. I cannot in this letter give you all the information you may desire on the subject; but aside from knowledge independent of the Bible, I would say that it was certainly practiced by the ancient churches; and St. Paul endeavors to prove the doctrine of the resurrection10 from the same, and says, “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?” I first mentioned the doctrine in public when preaching the funeral sermon of Brother Seymour Brunson and have since then given general instructions in the Church on the subject. The Saints have the privilege of being baptized for those of their relatives who are dead, whom they believe would have embraced the Gospel, if they had been privileged with hearing it, and who have received the Gospel in the spirit, through the instrumentality of those who have been commissioned to preach to them while in prison. Page 179.

This doctrine presents in a clear light the wisdom and mercy of God in preparing an ordinance for the salvation of the dead, being baptized by proxy, their names recorded in heaven and they judged according to the deeds done in the body.This doctrine was the burden of the scriptures. Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation. The dispensation of the fullness of times will bring to light the things that have been revealed in all former dispensations; also other things that have not been before revealed. He shall send Elijah, the Prophet, &c., and restore all things in Christ. Page 193.

There is nothing equivocal in these statements, pursuing the salvation of our dead ancestors in not just something for old people to do in their spare time, it is a basic requirement for our own salvation. Notwithstanding the clarity of these words, it is interesting how lightly this responsibility is taken by many members of the Church.

From the Documentary History of the Church 4:568-569 on 27 March 1842:

This was an interesting day. A large assembly met in the grove near the Temple. Brother Amasa Lyman addressed the people in a very interesting manner. He was followed by Joseph, the Seer, who made some highly edifying and instructive remarks concerning baptism for the dead. He said the Bible supported the doctrine, quoting 1 Cor. 15:29: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead?” If there is one word of the Lord that supports the doctrine of baptism for the dead, it is enough to establish it as a true doctrine. Again; if we can, by the authority of the Priesthood of the Son of God, baptize a man in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, for the remission of sins, it is just as much our privilege to act as an agent, and be baptized for the remission of sins for and in behalf of our dead kindred, who have not heard the Gospel,8 or the fullness of it. Page 201.

From a further discourse of Joseph Smith on baptism for the dead:

The situation of the Christian nations after death, is a subject that has called forth all the wisdom and talent of the philosopher and the divine, and it is an opinion which is generally received, that the destiny of man is irretrievably fixed at his death, and that he is made either eternally happy, or eternally miserable;1 that if a man dies without a knowledge of God, he must be eternally damned, without any mitigation of his punishment, alleviation of his pain, or the most latent hope of a deliverance while endless ages shall roll along. However orthodox this principle may be, we shall find that it is at variance with the testimony of Holy Writ, for our Savior says, that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men wherewith they shall blaspheme; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come, evidently showing that there are sins which may be forgiven in the world to come, although the sin of blasphemy [against the Holy Ghost] cannot be forgiven. Peter, also, in speaking concerning our Savior, says, that “He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:19, 20). Here then we have an account of our Savior preaching to the spirits in prison, to spirits that had been imprisoned from the days of Noah; and what did He preach to them? That they were to stay there? Certainly not! Let His own declaration testify. “He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight of the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4:18.) Isaiah has it—“To bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness from the prison house.” (Isaiah 42:7.) It is very evident from this that He not only went to preach to them, but to deliver, or bring them out of the prison house. Isaiah, in testifying concerning the calamities that will overtake the inhabitants of the earth, says, “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.” Thus we find that God will deal with all the human family equally, and that as the antediluvians had their day of visitation, so will those characters referred to by Isaiah, have their time of visitation and deliverance; after having been many days in prison. Page 2018-219.

Again from the Documentary History of the Church 5:139-141 recorded on 31 August 1842:

President Smith said, “I have one remark to make respecting the baptism for the dead to suffice for the time being, until I have opportunity to discuss the subject at greater length—all persons baptized for the dead must have a recorder present, that he may be an eyewitness to record and testify of the truth and validity of his record. It will be necessary, in the Grand Council, that these things be testified to by competent witnesses. Therefore let the recording and witnessing of baptisms for the dead be carefully attended to from this time forth. If there is any lack, it may be at the expense of our friends; they may not come forth.” Page 260. 

I often wonder what the Prophet Joseph Smith would have thought of the duplications of the ordinances due to the poor record keeping of the members of the Church.

It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings, etc. One of the ordinances of the house of the Lord is baptism for the dead. God decreed before the foundation of the world that that ordinance should be administered in a font prepared for that purpose in the house of the Lord. “This is only your opinion, sir,” says the sectarian. * * *
If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord.
Where there is no change of priesthood, there is no change of ordinances, says Paul. If God has not changed the ordinances and the priesthood, howl, ye sectarians! If he has, when and where has He revealed it? Have ye turned revelators? Then why deny revelation? Page 308.

Comments made by the Prophet Joseph Smith about the teachings of baptism for the dead as taught in the New Testament:

The doctrine of baptism for the dead is clearly shown in the New Testament; and if the doctrine is not good, then throw the New Testament away; but if it is the word of God, then let the doctrine be acknowledged; and it was the reason why Jesus said unto the Jews, “How oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”—that they might attend to the ordinances of baptism for the dead as well as other ordinances of the priesthood, and receive revelations from heaven, and be perfected in the things of the kingdom of God—but they would not. This was the case on the day of Pentecost: those blessings were poured out on the disciples on that occasion. God ordained that He would save the dead, and would do it by gathering His people together. Page 310.

See Studio C Live at RootsTech 2014

One of the more interesting YouTube.com phenomena has been the rise of Studio C, a comedy show from Brigham Young University (BYU). FamilySearch is capitalizing on the extraordinary popularity of this program by inviting attendees at the free Saturday RootsTech event as part of Youth Day to see Studio C. If this doesn't mean anything to you it just illustrates the gap between the generations yet once again. Two of my granddaughters' most prized Christmas presents were Studio C oriented gifts. One of my grandsons even participated as a background person in Studio C comedy routine. My guess is that the Saturday afternoon presentation by the Studio C cast will create a mob scene at RootsTech.

I feel sorry for the presenters at RootsTech who have the 3:00 pm, Saturday timeslot. The only saving grace will be that few of the "older" RootsTech attendees will have any idea what is going on.

How do we hasten the work of genealogy? Family History Work in the Ward

Many of the talks and articles by Church leaders recently have discussed the need to "hasten the work of salvation." Quoting from the October, 2013 Ensign with an article with that specific title:

It is time for all of us to understand more clearly our role in hastening the work of salvation. As we make member missionary work, convert retention, activation of less-active members, temple and family history work, and teaching the gospel a natural part of our lives, we will experience great joy and be endowed with the spiritual gifts we need to strengthen the Church in the 21st century.

The focus of most of the commentary is on missionary work for the living, but temple and family history work are always mentioned. So how do we "hasten" our genealogy or family history work?

One of the biggest challenges and one key to progress, is that of involving the youth in the work of seeking out their ancestors. Whether you call this "family history" or "genealogy" the process is the same. Quoting a comments made by Elder Paul B. Pieper of the Seventy and Elder Allan F. Packer of the Seventy and Director of the Family History Department, from a Church News article of April, 2013:

Helping the youth gain perspective is a goal of the new youth curriculum—where learning resources replace lesson manuals, said Elder Pieper. The curriculum will allow youth instructors to determine what they need to build into each Sunday experience to prepare youth for temple and family history work and missionary service.

“The new MTC is the home,” said Elder Packer. “The new family history center is the home. The new curriculum is going to help the youth and the parents both in that role.”

Having helped hundreds of people get started with researching their family history, the biggest question I have is who is going to teach all these people how to do the work? Granted, a new member whose family has never done genealogy or family history work previously, has an open field. They can usually go to available family records or easily obtainable online records and complete two or possibly three generations. But what happens when they have to do some actual research into records that may not be as easily obtained? One the other hand, what of the youth who find themselves heirs to a family history that goes back generations? How are they supposed to start? With the now suspended New.FamilySearch.org program it was easy to find "green arrows" or people supposedly ready for ordinances. This was mainly due to the unresolved duplications in the program. FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program brings the process into the realm of reality and out of the dream world of harvesting green arrows. I was amused by a comment I had to a blog post recently that said:

Oh, don't get me started on this subject!!! I love the idea of collaborating on family research, but we keep forgetting that people have different reasons for doing their research, and not all of them reflect the goals of accurate scholarship. My feeling is that FamilySearch should have two entirely separate trees, one for the "feel good about your family" types, and the other for people who cite their sources and can analyze them as well.

Do we really want a "feel good about your family" type of family history work or is there some component here of accuracy and diligence in identifying the right people? Believe me, there are people in the Church who think that they have the responsibility for re-doing all of their ancestors' ordinances themselves, even if someone else has already done the work.

In my own Ward, for example, the individuals assigned to work in Family History are almost entirely isolated from the rest of the Ward, especially the youth. The High Priest Group Leader and the Ward Mission Leader attend Ward Council, but no Family History Consultant or other representative of the family history work is directly involved. None of the members of the Ward regularly hear about "doing their family history work" like they do about missionary work or home teaching. In our Ward, we have a structured help center every Sunday during Sunday School to help members with their family history, but the youth cannot attend, even if they wanted to, because they would be viewed as missing their Sunday School class. Even most of the adults feel guilty because they are missing the Gospel Doctrine class. There is no other scheduled time when Ward members can get help with family history. Family History is mostly viewed as "one more program" competing for the interest and activity of the members and unfortunately is usually viewed as much lower priority than other programs.

The Family History Consultants, during infrequent opportunities to address the Ward, invite the members to ask for individual help, but unless the Family History Consultant or Consultants push the issue, nothing happens. As I have written previously, our Ward uses the Sunday School time as an open time for assistance. Because of this, members of the Ward have qualified hundreds of names for Temple work. This would not be the case if we were "teaching a class" instead of helping the members individually. All this is done "outside" the regular organization of the Ward. This opportunity to receive help with family history cannot extend to the youth because there is no mechanism in place or program or time or whatever to make that happen. If family history is addressed in the context of the existing program, it is looked upon as a "special event" taking away from the regular scheduled classes and activities.

If you are talking about integrating family history into the lives of the youth and their families, this needs to be done in a way that provides the help and support necessary. Presently the whole system relies on a Ward's High Priest Group Leader, who receives little or no formal training in how to do Family History. Most of the High Priest Group Leaders I talk to around the Church are only vaguely aware of FamilySearch, much less of the entire Family History programs of the Church. One minor adjustment would help to change that, in my opinion, put the High Priest Group leaders into the Family History loop or have a Ward Family History Consultant who acts in a similar capacity to the Ward Mission Leader. In many Wards, the "Family History Consultant" is a woman. That is not a problem and usually she is the most qualified person in the Ward. But she has not direct contact with the High Priest Group Leader in any formal meeting. Neither does a male Family History Coordinator who is not a High Priest.

The Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work, To Turn The Hearts, says at page 3:

High priests group leaders have the primary responsibility to coordinate the ward council’s efforts to encourage and enable temple and family history work in the ward.

At pages 17 and 18 or the Guide, the program as outlined is exactly what is being accomplished in our Ward with the exception that there is no provision for the inclusion of youth in the activities. Again, at page 19 here is a quote from the Guide:

The high priests group leader directs the work of family history consultants as he:
• Recommends members to be called and set apart as family history consultants, as requested by the bishopric.
• Works with the bishopric to ensure that enough consultants are called to meet the needs of the ward.
• Provides assignments to consultants, including assignments to work with certain ward members.
• Ensures that consultants are properly prepared to perform their callings and makes them aware of the training resources at FamilySearch.org/serve.

In addition, we have already established Family History Centers in the Stakes around the Church, let's use them. Where there are no centers, how about a dedicated family history class room where a class or assistance can be given every Sunday? How about some other innovative ways to provide the training and help necessary to actually do family history?