LDS Access to Free Partner Accounts on FamilySearch Get Help

Access to the free LDS Account memberships in the FamilySearch.org partnership accounts with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and findmypast.com, is now available through the Get Help Link. Here is a screenshot showing the link to Get Help"

To find the link to the partner accounts, you must be signed in to FamilySearch.org with an LDS Account (i.e. be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). When you click on the Get Help link, you will see a drop down menu like the following. You click on the Help Center link.

The Help Center page looks like this:

The arrow is pointing to the Partners Link. This is a screenshot of the Partners Link:

You can then choose which of the partnership accounts you want to join. Here is a screenshot of the page for Ancestry.com:

Here is the page for MyHeritage.com:

Here is the page for findmypast.com:

Each of the pages has extensive help documents and flyers to give information about the process of obtaining free access to the individual programs.

To Turn the Hearts: The Role of the Leader's Guide

If we are to move forward with increasing involvement of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in seeking out their ancestors, we need to be more cognizant of the importance of the Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work, To Turn the Hearts as the model for how that work should progress in our Wards and Stakes. Quoting from the Overview of the Leader's Guide:

This guide describes how leaders can organize, lead, and implement temple and family history work in wards and stakes. It describes how family history can be an integral part of the ward council’s efforts for the salvation of souls. It also describes how leaders can strengthen themselves and others through participation in the work. 

This guide gives details not found in Handbook 2: Administering the Church, and it replaces the Administrative Guide for Family History referenced in section 5.4.7 of the handbook. It is designed for stake presidencies, bishoprics, high priests group leaders, high councilors who have been assigned to coordinate family history, and other members of stake and ward councils. Elders quorum presidents use this guide in wards or branches that do not have a high priests group leader. The guide also contains information about how family history consultants, stake indexing directors, family history center directors, and area family history advisers can help ward and stake leaders implement family history efforts. 

From my own personal experience, I have become more and more convinced that following the guidelines and organization outlined in the Leader's Guide is a key factor in increasing activation, retention and the overall spirituality of the members of the Wards. The reason this is so important is outlined on page 1 of the Leader's Guide:

“To turn the hearts” means that individuals and families feel a spiritual awakening as they serve their deceased relatives and experience the joy of being active participants in a fundamental part of Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation (see D&C 138:56). Participation in temple and family history work touches the soul as the Holy Ghost bears witness to the eternal nature of families.

I find it inexplicable why leaders in the Wards and Stakes ignore the opportunity of involving themselves and the members of their respective congregations in this work. As the Leader's Guide continues:

Members who engage in this work are inspired to live gospel-centered lives and are more likely to participate in personal and family prayer, personal and family scripture study, and regular family home evening. Typically, when members participate in temple and family history work, they are more likely to participate in all other Church meetings. 

Doesn't this go to the heart of the issues confronting Bishops and Stake Presidents? Why then is there so much resistance to implementing family history activities in the Wards and Stakes? Why do the statistics show only a low or marginal level of activity?

For my own part, I will continue to teach until I can no longer stand or talk.

Working within the Guidelines: Family History in the Ward

The guidelines for implementing activities for supporting family history in the Ward are very clearly outlined in the Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work, To Turn the Hearts. It is important to remember Doctrine and Covenants, 128:13:

For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, [for] they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect. 

This should be the guideline for considering family history work in the Ward. Crucial to the advancement of Temple and family history work is the dedication and leadership of the Bishop and his counselors. Here is a quote from page 12 of the Leader's Guide:

The bishop directs the work of salvation in the ward, which includes temple and family history work. Bishops can use temple and family history work as a way to strengthen members and their families. Bishops consider ways to use family history to help with missionary work, convert retention, member acti-vation, and teaching the gospel. Bishops should read through the entire “Ward Leadership” section for examples of ways to use family history in these efforts. 

The bishop and his counselors set an example by teaching ward members the doctrine of temple and family history work and testifying of the blessings that come by participating in this work. The bishopric ensures that the high priests group leader acts as the coordinator of the ward council’s temple and family history work.

The bishop and his counselors should be setting an example by actually participating in seeking after their own ancestors. I am sure that some would think the bishops to be "too busy" to be personally involved in their own family history work, but it is the spirit of the work, not the total amount of time spent that is important. In addition, as the Leader's Guide points out on page 16:

Under the direction of the bishop, members of the ward council discuss and develop a plan to encourage members to participate more fully in temple and family history work. They identify specific individuals and families who could most benefit from being involved in the work. They determine specific ways in which this work can strengthen all members—adults, youth, and children. The high priests group leader coordinates these efforts.

I have seen very positive results when these guidelines are followed and when the bishop and the High Priests Group Leader work together to advance family history work in the Ward. On the other hand, apathy or lack of interest on the part of the bishop and the High Priest Group Leader almost guarantee that family history work will progress either very slowly or not at all. Here is a quote from Elder D. Todd Christofferson from the Religious Educator, vol. 6, no. 2 (2005), 10-11, taken from page 19 of the Leader's Guide:

If I were a bishop again, my approach would be to charge the high priests group leader with the responsibility to lead out in the ward council on this subject. I would ensure that we had one or more . . . family history consultants who were ‘people persons’ who could work under his direction. . . . I imagine that in the course of a year we could help at least ten families. In five years, we could have a corps of fifty families active at some level in family history and its attendant temple work. That to me would be a successful, well-run program.

#MeetMyGrandma continues

FamilySearch uploaded two more videos from around the world to the #MeetMyGrandma series. They are the same video but in Spanish and Portuguese. The goal of the program is to have people upload stories about their grandmothers to FamilySearch.org's Memories program. The videos show a huge diversity of relationships between grandchildren and their grandmothers. Here is the Spanish one.

#MeetMyGrandma program by FamilySearch

FamilySearch is promoting a new program called #MeetMyGrandma with the tag line, "People from all over the world and all walks of life recall why their Grandmother is so special." The program also has its own page on FamilySearch.org. Here is a screenshot of the page asking the question, "What Makes Your Grandma Special?"

The goal is to add 10,000 stories in 10 days. The links on the page promote adding stories to the FamilySearch.org Memories pages. The link on the page to the App Store goes to the FamilySearch Memories App. See this screenshot below:

There is another video on YouTube.com entitled, "Discover Photos and Stories on FamilySearch"

The Role of Family History in Member Retention and Activation

Family history can play a central role in the process of member retention and activation. The main reason it has not been a part of the retention and activation efforts on the Ward and Stake levels in the past, has been because of the limited family history resources available to the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The expansion of family history resources in and outside of the Church has only recently created a major opportunity for the members.

The recommended procedures for using family history as an adjunct to missionary and reactivation efforts have only been utilized generally in the Church on a very limited basis. Those procedures are outlined in the Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work, To Turn the Hearts on pages 13 - 15. Here is a quote from page 15:

Family history gets at the core of life, and people feel the Spirit. . . . More than half of the adults in our branch are now temple recommend holders who attend regularly. The benefits are worth any effort. The level of unity and harmony among our members has increased. Attitudes have changed. I see more dedication, faithfulness, harmony, and better self-esteem among our members. I can see changes in the relationships among husbands and wives and children. These improvements spread throughout the branch” (Harold St. Croix, in LaRene Porter Gaunt, “Leading the Way,” Ensign, Jan. 1995, 59).

 Here is another quote from page 14:

It wasn't long after my baptism that I was invited to attend the ward’s family history class, and as a result I was able to submit four generations of my ancestors to the temple. It was a moving experience to go to the temple and be baptized and confirmed in their behalf” (Phil D. Reinoehl, in “Becoming Part of the Fold,” Ensign, June 1999, 67).

The Leader's Guide is an important tool in implementing an effective activation program under the direction of the Bishop and the Ward Council. The basic guidelines and procedures set forth in the handbook are a proven way to positively effect the less-active and new members of any Ward.

The Role of the Family History Consultant

Over the past few years, I have talked to dozens of newly called family history consultants and many dozens (perhaps hundreds) more who have been consultants or who were at the time family history consultants. The overriding theme of those conversations is the lack of experience and knowledge they feel for their position in the Ward. It would seem that very often, those who issue callings to family history consultants are also unaware of the "job description" and fail to explain to the newly called consultants exactly what is expected. The Leader's Guide to Temple and Family History Work, To Turn the Hearts, provides this vital information. Here is a quote beginning on Page 19:

Consultants are skilled teachers who work and communicate well with others. While consultants need not be experts in family history research, they should be comfortable using the resources at FamilySearch.org and helping others use them. These FamilySearch resources include family pedigrees, historical records, and the FamilySearch indexing program. Youth can be called to serve as consultants when their technology skills can be helpful in assisting others. 

This is not surprising because I have found very few members of Bishoprics who are familiar with FamilySearch.org or any of its resources. Assuming that someone is called to be a family history consultant without these skills, is there anyone with the responsibility to teach them or see that they are taught? The answer is once again in the The Leader's Guide on Page 19: Here is the direct quote:

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.

The last point answers the question concerning the training of family history consultants. Unfortunately, the High Priests Group Leaders are very frequently ignorant of the handbook and of the programs themselves. This past week, I was speaking with a High Councilor in a Stake in the midwest who was responsible for 12 separate Church units. He was discussing the problem he had in his Stake with all of the High Priests Group Leaders who were totally unaware of any of their family history responsibilities. He further related to me that the Stake President had told him to contact each of the High Priests Group Leaders on a weekly basis for a progress report and for instruction on their duties. In another Stake, with the support of the Stake President, the High Councilors, two of which were assigned to family history responsibilities, had instructed the High Priest Group Leaders and the Stake was experiencing a dramatic growth in family history activity.

The Leader's Guide is the answer to the dilemma faced by many of the family history consultants I meet. If the Stake and Ward are providing the support called for in The Leader's Guide, then the activity of the members in family history will increase.