One Little Leaf On A Big Family Tree

 

As a little girl (and now as a grown woman) I loved bedtime stories, or anytime stories really. Fairy tales, folk tales, adventures and misadventures. Growing older, there was an increasing desire to relate to the characters, for a sense of reality. Don't get me wrong- I love fairy tales. But there is something special in knowing it is a true story, something that happened to someone real, someone relatable. (Unless, of course, you have magic powers like my friend L, and then fairy tales are like genealogy, just all mixed up)

 

I remember clearly when my family was given a binder of stories and genealogy on my mother's side. My wonderful aunt had put it all together for all her siblings and it is now a family treasure. I didn't understand the significance of it fully until years later, but there were stories and photos, poems and records. Every genealogist's dream.

 

In college, they introduced indexing to my student ward and we went after it with a fury. I took all sorts of classes and training on indexing, FamilySearch, and genealogy. But then life got in the way. I got sick. Family situations came up. And I let family history slip to the back corner of my mind. It wasn't until just a few years ago as I was preparing for my mission that the family history bug came back for me. In my packet, it asked me to prepare and bring a four generation pedigree chart with me to the mission. I knew a lot of that work had been done, so I went onto familysearch.com and printed it out. Seeing those names again brought back that spark, that desire to connect with my ancestors. In the months before leaving on my mission I started researching again. I starting finding out who I was missing and what records I needed. With that little spark already ignited I left on my mission.

 

That spark soon became a full blown bonfire as I started to incorporate family history into my mission. I starting teaching other members how to get started, sharing the opportunity with those who just started learning, and worked on my own on preparation days. My excitement kept growing as I was able to have more and more incredible experiences, both with the work for others and my own family. The Spirit of Elijah is alive and well.

 

There are moments when I'm searching for an ancestor and find all these records that might fit. I look through them all, using all my detective skills, and it usually comes down to a prompting. More times than not, one record or name will keep coming into my mind and a peace comes over me as I start to connect those individuals. And those sweet moments during the research process are only compounded when the names are taken to the temple. Often I can feel their joy and excitement for the opportunity to receive these vital ordinances. There is something magical in feeling so connected to my ancestors; even when I can't find exact stories about them, I can see evidences of their faith and perseverance. The more work I have the privilege to do, the more I realize that I'm just one small little leaf on a huge family tree. In fact, the work never ends. We are part of an eternal family and this desire to connect to someone real is the Spirit reminding us that there is work to be done to help our brothers and sisters. So let's put our shoulder to the wheel!