Brothers and Sisters, I have been asked to speak about a
topic related to Family History that has become very close to my heart. The
topic is “The Spirit of Elijah and its Blessings to us”. Over the last few
years my callings in the church have focused me on family history work. My family
has been the benefit of this as we have seen the rolling out of the New FamilySearch program and the creation of the Indexing volunteer program. These
programs and our participation in them has brought alive in us the Spirit of
Elijah.
But what is the Spirit of Elijah? In April 1998 general
conference Elder Russell M. Nelson taught that the Spirit
of Elijah is “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the
divine nature of the family”[1].
It is the Spirit of Elijah that is the reason that genealogy is one of the
biggest hobbies in the world[2].
It is the reason that so many people in and out of the church are seeking to
find out about their ancestors. The Holy Ghost is “Turning the hearts of the
children to their fathers”.
But what blessings come to us as we experience the Spirit of
Elijah? Here are some examples of blessings that I have seen within my own
family:
1. Developing a Love for your ancestors: When the
indexing program was rolled out it was embraced by my family. We began indexing
on a daily basis. This was a wholesome activity that kept us from spending our
time in activities that were less beneficial to us. As we read through old
census records to provide the indexing information we discovered our own
ancestors and learned things about them that we did not know. For example, I
found on one 1900 census sheet of Apache
County Arizona, my Fathers father, Abram Burgess Slade, living next door to my
Mothers mother, Atella Wiltbank. I did not know at the time but I later learned
that my Great-Great-Grandfather, Henry Slade, moved his family to Eagar Arizona
from Colorado for a few years and then back to Colorado. Henry Slade had 9
children and a few of them stayed or returned to the White Mountains of
Arizona. In fact it was one of these children that was responsible for
introducing my father to my mother, an event for which I am truly grateful.
This discovery has led to a desire to research my ancestors and develop a love
for these people that I never knew in this life.
2. Learning from Our Ancestors: After our hearts were
turned to our own ancestors we began learning from their lives and experiences.
One example of this is that my wife began researching her family lines. While
doing this research she found a history of her ancestors Thomas and Janet
McNeil. In this history is one story that occurred at then end of their
emigration to Utah in 1859. This story caused my wife to start a tradition in
our family. I quote from the history of Thomas and Janet McNeil as told by
their daughter Margaret:
“Our food gave out and we had nothing but milk and
wild rose berries. However, we had a
good team and could travel fast. We
arrived in Ogden on October 4, 1859, after a journey of hardship and hunger,
but with thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for his protecting care.”
“We camped on the outskirts of town and Father went
into to Ogden to find work. Across the
field from where they camped was a little house with a pile of squash in the
yard, Mother sent me over to this place to ask for a squash and [gave me] some
money to pay for it. I knocked on the
door and a sweet old lady said, ‘Come in, come in. I knew you were coming and have been told to
give you food.’ She gave me a large loaf
of bread and said to tell my mother that she would come over soon. It was not long until she went over and took
them a nice cooked dinner, something they had not had for a long time, and were
indeed grateful to this kind woman, and to Lord for inspiring her to feed
them.”
For quite a few years now
when my wife Terri makes bread she looks for someone to give a loaf to. Sometimes she makes bread because she feels
the whispering of the spirit that someone needs the love expressed when a loaf
of bread is provided. We have been blessed in our family with the opportunity
to serve others through showing up on their doorstep with a fresh loaf of bread
and a friendly smile.
3. We have been
Strengthened by Our Ancestors: My Parents and Grandparents did a lot of
genealogy and wrote many histories of their ancestors. I have been blessed to
read these histories and research into these ancestors even further. In January
I started a family history blog to provide these histories and stories to my
own and extended family. Their stories of hardship and obedience have been an
example to me. When I face a trial I feel that I am stronger because of those
that have gone before me. A few examples:
Marcor Hansen Peterson
(Great-Great Grandfather)
His father was a wealthy farmer in Denmark. When
Marcor joined the church at the age of 21 his father offered him all his land
if he would give up his religion and stay at home. But Marcor later said, “I
had joined the Mormon Church, and I knew it was right; hence nothing could
hinder me from going.” So on his 22nd birthday he left his home to immigrate to
Utah. From Grandfather Peterson I learn the value of a testimony of the gospel.
Johanne Christine
Larsdatter (Larsen) (Great-Great Grandmother)
Her family joined the church
when she was 13. When it came time to immigrate from Denmark to Utah they did
not have enough money for everyone so at age 16 she volunteered to stay behind
and work until she could earn enough money to make the trip. She worked as a
seamstress until two years later a rich family payed her way with the
understanding that she would take care of their children on the journey and
repay them when they arrived in Utah. From Grandmother Larsen I learned that I
can do hard things and the Lord will watch out for me.
Thomas Evans (Great
Grandfather)
Thomas was born and raised in Glamorganshire Wales. His father was
a coal miner and at the age of seven Thomas joined his father in the coal
mines. They worked 12 hour days 6 days a week underground. He worked with his
father until he was 14 when a large rock fell on his father. Thomas pryed the
rock off of his father and carried him home where he died nine days later.
Thomas at the age of 14 continued to work in the mine now as the only
breadwinner of the family. At the age of 25 his mother remarried and he left
home. He made his way to Pontypridd in Glamorganshire where he met his wife and
found the church. From Grandfather Evans I have learned the importance of taking responsibility and that very hard things
can be accomplished.
Becoming Saviors on Mount
Zion
When we have truly turned
our hearts to our fathers the love we have for them will prompt in us a desire
to help them. Elder Henry B. Eyring stated the following: “Many of your
deceased ancestors will have received a testimony that the message of the
missionaries is true. The ordinances you so cherish are only offered in this
world. Someone in this world must go to a holy temple and accept the covenants
on behalf of the person in the spirit world. That is why we are under
obligation to find the names of our ancestors and assure that they are offered
by us what they cannot receive there without our help.”[3]
President Gordon B. Hinckley said “We literally become Saviors
On Mount Zion. What does this mean? Just as our redeemer gave his live as a
vicarious sacrifice for all men and in so doing became our Savior. Even so we
in small measure when we engage in proxy work in the temple became as saviors
to those on the other side who have no means of advancing unless something is
done in their behalf by those on earth.”[4]
President Joseph F. Smith: “Jesus had not finished his work
when his body was slain, neither did he finish it after his resurrection from
the dead; although he had accomplished the purpose for which he then came to
the earth, he had not fulfilled all his work. And when will he? Not until he
has redeemed and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that have been
or ever will be born upon this earth to the end of time. … That is his mission.
We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and then not until
we shall have saved all depending upon us; for we are to become saviors upon
Mount Zion, as well as Christ. We are called to this mission. The dead are not
perfect without us, neither are we without them.”[5]
Bothers and
Sisters, genealogy work used to be hard. It involved looking through microfilms
to find the one entry out of thousands on the microfilm that pertained to your
ancestor. It often involved travel to the country where your ancestor lived.
However, today with the invention of the internet much has been done to make
this work easier. The Extraction program provided searchable transcripts of
thousands of microfilms. And now the Indexing program is making the records of
the past easily searchable through the computer at your home. The Indexing
program is adding new indexed records each day to the growing database of
genealogy records. The church has 12 Billion individual names on microfilm
which when all indexed will require 18,000 terabytes or 1.8 million gigabytes
of storage space.
Some interesting facts about advances in making these records
available to you at home over the internet:
- 1880 census (50 million names) took 7 years to produce searchable transcripts
- 1890 census (62 million names) took 2.5 years to produce searchable transcripts/indexes
- 1900 census (76 million names) is expected to be completely indexed in 7 months
In the Family history class that I teach there are video segments used in the lessons. In one video there is
a statement that effects me every time I watch it. In the video a father
recounts a story about when he took his family to the temple to do baptisms for
their ancestors how an ordinance worker spoke to this family about the ancestors they would do work for. He told them
“that many of the people for whom you will do work today lived hard and bitter
lives. Many of them died believing God had forgotten them. But today you will
show them that God has not forgotten them. He does not forget any of his
children. Their names will be spoken in his house and they will know that god
has not forgotten them.”
This statement by the ordinance worker resonates with me as
I consider the life of my answer William and Caroline Evans who were the
parents of Thomas Evans. Life in the coal mines of Wales was hard and bitter. This
statement helps spur me on when I am trying to extend this line and find the
parents of William Evans and Caroline Lee Evans. They need to know that God
loves them and that I love them.
Brothers and Sisters I pray that you will catch the spirit
of Elijah. That you will know that even if you believe that someone else has
done all of the work for your ancestors, that it is important that you get to
know them, that you gain an understanding of them. In looking at your family history I
believe you will find that some of them still have been forgotten by their descendents.
I pray that you will not forget them.
[1]
Russell M Nelson, “A New Harvest Time,” Ensign, May 1998, 34
[2]
Genealogy is now among the fastest growing applications for noncommercial use
of computers in the home. The popularity of a recent television series entitled
Ancestors was unprecedented. It was subscribed to by 340 of 353 PBS
television stations—the highest response rate in their history. In connection
with that effort, a book was prepared entitled Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide
to Family History and Genealogy. More than 35,000 copies of it were sold in
less than a year. Some experts have estimated that 20 percent of Internet use
pertains to genealogy.
[3]
Henry B. Eyring, “Saviors on Mount Zion” Family History Lesson Video for
Lesson 1
[4]
Gordon B. Hinkley, “Saviors on Mount Zion” Family History Lesson Video for
Lesson 1
[5]
Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. (1939), 442.
Interesting that Carla spoke in the same Sunday about honoring our pioneer legacy. She had stories from our ancestors also. We were lucky enough to be in California visiting. Thanks again for your blog.
ReplyDelete