This is the slidedeck that accompanied a presentation on family history, particularly the role and importance of personal histories.

1. TEMPLE &
FAMILY HISTORY WORK
STAKE HPG QUORUM MEETING
AUGUST 14, 2016
Mark C. Butler, HPGL – Arl 6th Ward
Celestial

2. TEMPLE AND FAMILY
HISTORY WORK
Word Association

3. THE DOCTRINE OF
TEMPLE AND FAMILY HISTORY WORK

4. THE DOCTRINE OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
5 ¶Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Malachi 4: 5-6
Spirit World
Mortality

5. THE DOCTRINE OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
3N 24:1 And it came to pass that he commanded
them that they should write the words which the
Father had given unto Malachi, which he should tell
unto them.
3N 25:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord;
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their
fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

6. THE DOCTRINE OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
38 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by
the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of
the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he
shall plant in the hearts of the children
to the fathers, and the hearts of the children
shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole
earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
Joseph Smith—History 1:38-39

7. THE DOCTRINE OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
“Behold, the time has fully come, which was
spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—
testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent . . . to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the children to the fathers.”
Doctrine and Covenants 110:14–15
Kirtland Ohio
April 3, 1836

8. THE SPIRITUALLY REFINING NATURE OF THIS WORK
 Members who engage in this work are
inspired to live gospel-centered lives and are
more likely to participate in
o personal and family prayer,
o personal and family scripture study,
o 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.

9. THE DOCTRINE OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
“Elijah came to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children
and the children to the fathers. With that, natural affection
between generations began to be enriched. This restoration
was accompanied by what is sometimes called the Spirit of
Elijah—a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of
the divine nature of the family.”
Elder Russell M. Nelson
In Conference Report, Apr. 1998, 43; or Ensign, May 1998, 34
…plant in the hearts of the children

10. PRIESTHOOD LEADERSHIP OF
FAMILY HISTORY WORK
LEADER’S GUIDE TO TEMPLE & FAMILY HISTORY WORK
• Organization of the effort at the Stake and Ward Levels

11. PRIESTHOOD LEADERSHIP OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
STAKE
Roles & Responsibilities

12. PRIESTHOOD LEADERSHIP OF FAMILY HISTORY WORK
WARD Roles & Responsibilities
Members

13. Spirit World
DOING FAMILY HISTORY WORK
Connecting Heaven and Earth
Mortality
• 4 key aspects of Temple & Family History Work

14. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
• Who in this group has spent any time doing Family History Work?
• What “tangible” things made it possible for you to create the name
records in the FamilySearch.org website?
• What makes it possible for any of us to do Genealogy?

15. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
• What are the major activities involved in doing FHW?
• Which activities consume most of your time?

16. QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
• If you could have just 1 thing that would greatly improve the
sourcing of family name records in your research, what would it be?

17. 4 KEY ASPECTS OF TEMPLE & FAMILY HISTORY WORK
1. Receive your own endowments!
2. Hold a Current Temple Recommend!
3. Do Family History Work (Genealogy)
for your deceased ancestors.
o Find – Take – Teach
4. Create & Preserve Personal and
Family Histories
o Stories
o Photos
o Documents
o “Memories”
Receive Own
Endowments &
Help Others of
your Family
Hold CTR &
Attend Temple
Often
Baptisms for
the Dead
Do Ordinance
Work for Your
Ancestors
FIND-TAKE-TEACH
Create &
Preserve Your
Personal &
Family Histories
Leader’s Guide to Temple & Family History Work

18. PUTTING THE FAMILY IN “FAMILY HISTORY”

19. PUTTING THE FAMILY IN “FAMILY HISTORY”
Make the Sabbath a Delight by Finding Your Ancestors

20. MY FAMILY BOOKLET
• Stories That Bring Us Together
• September 25, 2013 By FamilySearch

21. • Start working on gathering family STORIES….NOW!!!
• Who has a Mom and/or Dad still living?
• Who has children still living?
• Who has living Great/Grand Children?
2 Nephi 25:23 & 26

22. • Start a Personal History by September 30.
• Ways you can gather Family History Stories
• Call your Mom/Dad/Grandma/Grandpa/Children/
Grand-Great Grand Children, and gather at least 2
stories from each of them by end of August.
• And get four more stories by September 30.
• ….brainstorm list
Will You?

23. • Scriptural backing for these “stories?”
• 2 Nephi 25:23 & 25
For we labor diligently to write…
• To persuade our children
• That our children may know

24. FAMILY SEARCH - MEMORIES
Stories

25. KEEP ME. PROTECT ME. SHARE ME.
Preserving Family History Records

26. THE SPIRITUALLY REFINING NATURE OF THIS WORK
• No work is more of a protection to this Church than temple
work and the family history research that supports it
• No work is more spiritually refining
• No work we do gives us more power
• No work requires a higher standard of righteousness
President Boyd K. Packer “The Holy Temple,” Ensign, Oct. 2010, 35

27. “Now go, and do something today.”
Have I Done Any Good - Hymn #223
“I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands.”
Nephi's Courage - Primary Hymn #120

28. What are you going to do next?

29. Help/Guidance for Writing Your Personal History
• A few links to references from Church sponsored resources
• Writing Your History: Some Helpful Ideas. https://www.lds.org/new-era/1973/11/suggested-family-
oral-history-topics?lang=eng
• https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/01/writing-your-history-some-helpful-ideas?lang=eng
• These articles were written by William G. Hartley and published in 1973 and 1977 respectively. I would highly
recommend to you anything he would teach about Personal Histories. Of course I am biased given that he
authored the Autobiography of my Great Great Grandfather (my first ancestor to join the Church in 1835).
• FamilySearch Wiki https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Write_a_Personal_History
• How to Get Started Writing a Personal History https://www.lds.org/church/news/how-to-get-
started-writing-a-personal-history?lang=eng
• These links are good, but just not from the Church per se.
• http://lds.about.com/od/ldsfamilyhistory/a/personalhistory.htm
• http://www.lauper.org/lifeoutline.shtml
• http://www.familyhistoryquickstart.com/writing-your-personal-history/
• http://ldsthisismechallenge.blogspot.com/p/personal-history-in-depth.html

30. THE END
Or is it really just the beginning?