Week 07 FHGEN 120

This week was all about reviewing what we have learned in the past 6 weeks. Took the mid-term exam and got a B. Missed 2 questions out of 21. Not sure which 2 I missed.

I was able to find two ancestors through all the studies we have been doing. So, I was able to reserve their names so I can do their temple ordinances. I am going tonight to the temple to finish an endowment for another family member. So next week will be the baptism and confirmation for the two ladies. I find this very exciting!

Week 06 FHGEN 120

This week we delved into Ancestry.com searches. I learned a lot about searching in different ways. I took a name from my Family Tree who’s name was just listed as Mrs. John Crosby. I want to find her given name. I found more information on their daughter but I am still searching for Mrs. John Crosby.

I am still, however, not doing great on some of the quizzes. The wording of the questions are confusing at times. I am hoping this will get better.

I had to have a procedure done this week so my mind was not always where it should have been. The week went by so fast to me, probably because I was down for 2 days. Then all of a sudden it was Friday and I wasn’t even close to being done with my assignments. Fridays I work then immediately after that I take my son to the San Diego Temple for his shift. That shift is from 5 pm – 10 pm. I kept thinking I would just sit in my car and do my school work instead of going in. Well, when I got parked and got my son out of the car and situated in his wheelchair I had the impression to go and do a session. I was able to do my relative, Emily Sills, who was born in 1826. She had been waiting a long time. I felt blessed by my Heavenly Father and I could feel the calming affect of being in the temple.

Shared with us, this week, was a scripture from 1 Corinthians 15:29 – “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?” I really did not know what this meant. It confused me. So I went to my trusty LDS.org and looked it up to see what I could find from the leaders of the church. They never fail me! First one I read was from Robert L. Millet, assistant professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. He wrote: “Verse 29 [1 Cor. 15:29] has spawned a host of interpretations by biblical scholars of various faiths. Many consider the original meaning of the passage to be at best “difficult” or “unclear.” One commentator states that Paul “alludes to a practice of the Corinthian community as evidence for Christian faith in the resurrection of the dead. It seems that in Corinth some Christians would undergo baptism in the name of their deceased non-Christian relatives and friends, hoping that this vicarious baptism might assure them a share in the redemption of Christ.”

Some recent translations of the Bible have attempted to clarify this passage. The New English Bible, for example, translates 1 Corinthians 15:29: “Again, there are those who receive baptism on behalf of the dead. Why should they do this? If the dead are not raised at all, what do they mean by being baptized on their behalf?”

Many non-Latter-day Saint scholars believe that in 1 Corinthians Paul is denouncing or condemning the practice of baptism for the dead as heretical. This is a strange conclusion, however, since he uses the practice of baptism for the dead to support the doctrine of the Resurrection. In essence, he says, “Why are we performing baptisms in behalf of our dead, if, as some propose, there will be no resurrection of the dead? If there is to be no resurrection, would not such baptisms be a waste of time?”

On the subject of baptism for the dead, one Latter-day Saint writer observes, “Paul was most sensitive to blasphemy and false ceremonialism—of all people he would not have argued for the foundation truth of the Resurrection with a questionable example. He obviously did not feel that the principle was disharmonious with the gospel.” The full article can be found at the link below.
Was baptism for the dead a non-Christian practice in New Testament times, or was it a practice of the Church of Jesus Christ, as it is today?

This started clarifying this scripture for me. But I searched more and I found a General Conference talk given by Elder Boyd K. Packer from October 1975 regarding the redemption of the dead. He says: “Then another ancient scripture, ignored or overlooked by the Christian world in general, was understood and moved into significant prominence: “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?” (1 Cor. 15:29.)

Here then, was the answer. With proper authority an individual could be baptized for and in behalf of someone who had never had the opportunity. That individual would then accept or reject the baptism, according to his own desire.

This work came as a great reaffirmation of something very basic that the Christian world now only partly believes: and that is that there is life after death. Mortal death is no more an ending than birth was a beginning. The great work of redemption goes on beyond the veil as well as here in mortality.

The Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5:25.)
His full talk can be found at: The Redemption of the Dead 

In John 3:5 it says “…Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

So, if we do not do the work for our ancestors how are they going to feel? Some did not get the chance to know what was needed to return to our Heavenly Father. The church had not been restored in their time. It is our responsibility to help them. In a talk at church a returned missionary shared a dream one of her investigators had. This dream really impacted me. She was in a room with some other people but they were ashen looking and looked so sad. Also in this room was a beautiful ornate door with the feeling of happiness beyond the door. She asked them why they did not go through the door. They said “We can’t. We need you!” That is when she realized that these were her ancestors! She had been hesitant about getting baptized until this dream. She knew she had to get their work done for them. This was a testament to me that the family hsitory work we do for the dead is vital. Our ancestors and those of others need us to find them and do their temple work. They want, as much as we do, to enter into the Kingdom of God.

Week 05 FHGEN 120

This has been a hard week for me. With health issues, family issues, work, school, etc. I have felt very overwhelmed. I seem to be having a hard time understanding the instructions given and have not been getting the grades I expect from myself. It is frustrating.

We learned a lot this week on searching on FamilySearch.org. I learned you can use wildcards * and variants ? to find different spellings of names. After doing quite a bit of indexing I can see why this is needed. The names could have been typed wrong due to the different handwriting styles. When I used the last name Laszko (La*ko) there were a lot of names coming up Lasko. I will need to research if they are part of the Laszko family Tree.

Each week I have read the quote from President Henry B. Eyring form his April 2005 Conference talk: (Hearts Bound Together)
“After you find the first few generations, the road will become more difficult. The price will become greater. As you go back in time, the records become less complete. As others of your family search out ancestors, you will discover that the ancestor you find has already been offered the full blessings of the temple. Then you will have a difficult and important choice to make. You will be tempted to stop and leave the hard work of finding to others who are more expert or to another time in your life. But you will also feel a tug on your heart to go on in the work, hard as it will be. As you decide, remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. . . . Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them.”

The first part where he says that after you find the first few generation the will become difficult and you will be tempted to stop. I saw myself doing that last year when I was trying to learn how to find my husbands side of the family, the Laszko’s. The records are hard to find or not complete. Family members don’t know and it was frustrating. That is when I decided to take coursed in Family History to help me on my path and to hopefully be able to help others to find their families without giving up.

In his talk he goes on to say: “When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment.”

Can you imagine meeting one of your ancestors and have them look at you with disappointment because you gave up!? I don’t want to imagine that! I do love the idea that I will meet them in the spirit world  and I want to see gratitude and love in their eyes. I always feel them with me when I am in the temple doing their work for them. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to do this work and to visit the temple. It is a very unique experience.

Even though I am struggling with difficulties at this time I will not give up on learning how to do Family History and to find all that I can and get the Temple ordinances done or started for them. I know how I felt when I received my endowments and I know how important it was to me so I can imagine how important it is to them.

 

Week 3 FHGEN 120

This week was fun. We started using RootsMagic 7 and I think I was able to learn quite a bit. Before this class I did not know anything about Family History databases. I actually thought that it was all on FamilySearch. I am actually excited to see if I will be able to read my grandmothers disks she left for me from all her research. I have about 20 or more disks to look at. Before I do that though I want to learn more about this program.

We were able to learn how to add a family to RootsMagic. We did the Wright family. Orville and Wilbur Wright. I found that fun. We looked at a 1880 census record and had to take that information and add it to the database. I had went a little further than I was supposed to and looked Marvin Wright, the dad, up and found birth dates and death dates, places of birth and death, correct spellings, etc. I was able to add some articles I found online regarding the family and of course the Wright Brothers. I then thought I should ask if we could do this or do just what was asked in the assignment. Needless to say I had to go back in and redo all the extra I did. But, I really learned that I like to search out more information.

Another thing we learned about were the tools that are available to us in RootsMagic. We were asked to explore one of the tools and answer some questions and share on the discussion board.

1. I explored the To-Do List tool.
2. The main purpose of this tool is to have a place to save all the tasks I would like to accomplish. I can enter several tasks for each person and for each family. An example: I have a John Smith with a birth date of abt: 1860 and a marriage to Jane Jones abt: 1880. So, on my to-do list I would add a to-do item to John Smith to locate a birth record for the individual. I then could add a to-do list for family of John Smith and Jane Jones and put in to find a marriage record with a date.
3. I like to-do lists! It lets me know what I want to accomplish, if I accomplished it, and if not, then what is my next to-do item to finish. It keeps order in my hectic life. I can also make a general to-do list.
4. It allows me to enter an unlimited number of tasks for each person and/or family. That way when I think of something I can make a to-do item so I will not forget. My mind thinks a thousand miles a minute and I need to have someplace to store what I was thinking about doing. #ADHD ugh.
   I can also access the to-do list from the main screen by highlighting a person then clicking on the to-do button on the toolbar. It will bring up the list. You can also bring up the to-do list from a person’s edit screen.
   I like that you can filter the to-do list in different ways. You can sort by priority level, which you can set when making the to-do list. You can sort the list by status. Such as open, completed, pending, problems, etc. You can also filter it based on to-do items by person, family, or even general to-do’s.

5. You would use this when you want to find or search for something and you do not have the time right then. This will help keep you on track in your research. When you have finished with a to-do item and it was a research task you can transfer that to your existing research log.

In reading the discussion board I read a post by Lisa who explored the Problem List tool. Here are her responses.

1. I explored the problem list.
2. The purpose of this list is to alert you to problems in you database, such as children born after the mother’s death or married at 10.
3. While exploring the Lincoln file I noticed a few problems on my own.  By using the problem list it gave me a list of specific problems to address.
4. I found the tabs at the top of the list interesting because I could address each problem within the list.  I don’t have to worry about backing out of the list and finding the problem in my database.  I can edit the person from within the list, edit the family, mark it as not a problem, add it to a to do list or even print out the list.
5. I believe this would improve my research because it would help me identify problems that I need to do more research on.  We don’t automatically do the math on dates and sometimes we enter dates incorrectly.  This would help clean up my database.

I really found this helpful. With my grandmother who is still with us doing work and me doing work I know we have doubles, problems, ones with no last names, etc. This will help me locate them and to be able to attempt to fix them. When I do find problems I can then make a to-do list to keep me focused on what needs to be done and then to put all that into a research log to keep track of all I do.

This program is going to be great in my efforts to keep pursing our family history. I have a lot of work to do and was always confused at how to do it. I am so grateful that the Lord helps us in our endeavors to do the work that needs to be done. Without the Pathways program and BYU-I this would not have been possible. I changed my major this year to Family History after much praying in how to go about doing the work for my husbands side of the family as well as for the extended family of spouses of my children.

“After you find the first few generations, the road will become more difficult. . . . You will be tempted to stop and leave the hard work of finding to others who are more expert or to another time in your life. But you will also feel a tug on your heart to go on in the work, hard as it will be. As you decide, remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. . . . Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them.”
Henry B. Eyring, in Conference Report, Apr. 2005, 82; or Ensign, May 2005, 79-80.

This is how I felt. The road was difficult and I did not know where to go. The thought kept coming to my mind to pursue a degree in Family History/Genealogy. I finally listened and started my new journey.

 

Week 02 FHGEN 120

This week was kinda hard and a big eye opener for me. I could not seem to get better than a B- on the first test. I read and read until my eyes felt like they were bleeding and still could not get it. This is hard for someone with OCD and works hard at getting A’s. This class will definitely teach me things I will need to know and challenge me to learn more! I am excited about this path I have chosen to take.

I have quite a lot to learn. I am a very computer literate person but for some reason struggled this week with understanding. I realize that I am going to have to slow down and really concentrate on what I am reading and what is being asked of me to do. I love learning new things and I have a passion for finding and searching for things. This class and the classes I will be taking will teach me to search and find family members, to record them and their history and to be able to do the work in the Temple for them that they desire.

Here is the questions she asked us to answer and the format she requested regarding custom tools.
Format your discussion post with the following questions and answers labeled 1-4 for each template:

Family Group Sheet

1. Why did you include or exclude the various components?
   I included in my Family Group Sheet baptism dates, endowment dates, sealings to spouse and parents so that I can see what work has been done or not done. This will help me in doing the work that is still required. Since I am not the only one doing family history I want to make sure everyone gets done. Looking back, I can see that names have been done 2 or 3 times and others have been forgotten. I also included space for 3 spouses. Some may need more. My aunt has been married 9 times so that will be fun when I get to her line. I am on my second marriage (and last) so I figured that I would need more than one space for spouses. I also chose to do this in Excel so that I could format the date areas to change to the date format that Family Search, Roots Magic and other sites use. So no matter how the date is inputted it will change to the correct format.
2. Where will you store your template?
   I am storing the template in my Family History folder so that it is always available. My Family History folder is saved in my OneDrive account.
3. What is the reason behind your storage decision?
   So it will always be accessible to me wherever I am. I can get to it from my phone, tablet, or any computer that is available.
4. How will you organize and name copies of your template as you use it in your family history research?
   I will organize it by family surnames. The copies of the family group sheet templates will be saved by husbands surnames and first name. I am thinking about adding the wife’s name as well. I will know more about doing this as I learn what I am doing and how to make searching families easier.

 

Family Research Log

1. Why did you include or exclude the various components?
   I included in my log the date I am doing the research on and the place. The place can be a physical place with an address or a website address for online searching. I want the source description to know what the source is such as a book title, author, document type, etc., and the scope of what I searched. I want to know what my results are. Did I get anything? What was I able to get? Was is it the wrong person? If I received a document then I want the #. When I index birth records and marriage records I usually input a record/document number so that is the number I would be looking for. I also included a space for where I filed it. Physical file and the name or online file and file folder and location would go here.
2. Where will you store your template?
   I am storing the template in my Family History folder so that it is always available. My Family History folder is saved in my OneDrive account.
3. What is the reason behind your storage decision?
   So it will always be accessible to me wherever I am. I can get to it from my phone, tablet, or any computer that is available.
4. How will you organize and name copies of your template as you use it in your family history research?
   My research log will be named by surname, first name middle name and birth if/when available then put in the family folders.

Challenges you encountered and how you overcame them.
The challenge I came upon this week was understanding. I just couldn’t understand some of the work. I finally just slowed down, prayed for help, and then contemplated what to do. I went back to the beginning and found what I had missed. Challenges will always arise and we need to learn to face the challenges and overcome them.

“There are millions across the world who are working on family history records. Why? Why are they doing it? I believe it is because they have been touched by the spirit of this work, a thing which we call the spirit of Elijah. It is a turning of the hearts of the children to their fathers. Most of them do not understand any real purpose in this, other than perhaps a strong and motivating curiosity.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Century of Family History Service,” Ensign, Mar 1995, 61.

Thoughts about the above quote:
I love that quote by President Hinkley. When I started to search out my husband’s side of the family after his dad died last year that is when the spirit hit me. I just knew that this is what I am supposed to do and that I will eventually I will be really good at it.

Learning to use custom tools

We are learning to use custom tools and make our own Family Group Sheets and a Research Log. I think I did pretty good with both of these projects. Had a rough start at first but then with a lot of prayers and contemplating I finally figured out what I needed to do.

 

 

 

Week 1 FHGEN 120

This was the first week of class to teach me how to find my ancestors. Here are some questions that they would like me to reflect on. I will post weekly to help me to understand how I am learning and progressing. I will post tips so I never forget them.

1. What were your experiences?
   My experiences this week was not much. I am getting to know my classmates and have learned that they have struggles with finding family members.
2. What did you learn?
   I learned that with help from the Lord and experts that I will be able to find the ancestors I am seeking. I know there are many waiting for me to find them and get their Temple work done for them. It’s exciting to think about!
3. What obstacles did you have and how did you overcome them?
   The biggest obstacle I faced this week was pain. I could not sleep and had pain radiating from my back down my legs. I went to Urgent Care in the morning and was told I had some swelling in my back and needed to take meds and rest. That same day my family had to take one of our dogs, Waldo, and have him put to sleep. He was 15 years old. It was a rough week. I almost wanted to quite and start another time.
4. What tender mercies or miracles did you witness?
   With lots of prayer I found my answers and stayed put. I know that Satan is trying to get me to stop doing the work for my family. My boss called me and told me to take the week off and relax. He was very kind to me. I am his personal assistant so he relies on me quite a bit so that was my biggest tender mercy.
5. Do you have any helpful tips to share?
   Pray! Pray everyday for strength, for guidance, for knowledge.
6. What resources were most useful to you?
   No resources have been taught to us yet. But I love Family Search. I do indexing there most every night. I try to do 500 a month.
7. In what ways did you receive “more than your own strength?”
   Healing. I have had back surgery so this was a bit of a scare. When I went to my chiropractor he told me that my scar tissue was attaching to my back. He is now working on breaking it up. The pain was excruciating. But I finally do not have the radiating pain down my legs.