Download PhotoOne of the great promises of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that the hearts of family members on both sides of the veil will be united (Malachi 4:6; D&C 2:1-3).
Speaking to Saints throughout the Asia North Area on October 18th, Elders K. Brett Nattress (General Authority Seventy) and John A. McCune (General Authority Seventy President -- Asia North Area), and Devin Ashby (FamilySearch) reminded the Saints just how joyful and inspiring this responsibility can be.
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Elder K. Brett Nattress (General Authority Seventy), Elder John A. McCune (General Authority Seventy President -- Asia North Area), Osama Sekiguchi (Area Director for Family History), Elder J. Kimo Esplin (General Authority Seventy), Elder Yuichi Imai (Area Seventy).© 2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.And how simple accomplishing this has become!
Elder Nattress began his remarks by telling a story of the power of the temple ordinances in bringing the Spirit into our lives. He recounted the visit he and a local leader made along with Elder Carlos A. Godoy (General Authority Seventy) to two young sisters and a husband in French Polynesia. They had not been coming to church.
At first, they were uncomfortable with the visitors. They even expressed that the Church was “not for us” when asked why they had not been attending meetings. Elder Nattress then noticed a picture on the wall of a man who looked to be disembarking from a plane and going to a temple. “Who is that? Is he going to the temple?” he asked.
Tears welled up in both the sisters’ eyes. “We love our father,” they said. “He had a strong testimony of the Gospel.”
They then pointed out that they also were in the picture, and that this was when they too had gone to the temple as a family to be sealed for time and eternity.
In that moment, the entire mood of the visit changed. “A sweet spirit entered the room, and we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Elder Nattress. “Their father had made a difference in their lives. Families are eternal. This is a key and loving doctrine of the Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Elder Nattress went on to explain that sharing and preserving the stories of our faith and the faith of our ancestors strengthens us and keeps us together.
He compared passing testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ between generations to Olympic Runners successfully passing a baton from one team member to the next. If the baton is not successfully passed, the team will not win regardless of how fast the individual runners are.
Recording and preserving family history is an opportunity for families to pass their faith in the Savior from one generation to those that follow.
The FamilySearch Website is the Church’s inspired vehicle to help accomplish this transition.
Elder Nattress then offered important points that those teaching and practicing Family History and Temple Work should bear in mind:
- Keep the Savior at the center.
- Keep it simple.
- When teaching, strive to inspire, motivate, and help people feel the love of the Lord.
Most especially, Elder Nattress stated that we don’t want people to be overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of the FamilySearch website, which can lead to them walking away from instruction thinking, “I can’t do this.”
“Less is more,” he emphasized.
Continuing on with Elder Nattress’s theme of focusing on the Savior, Devin Ashby stressed the importance of focusing on the Savior when doing and teaching family history. “Without the Savior we can’t be sealed as families forever.”
In other words, Jesus Christ is the power and beauty underlying family history and temple work.
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FamilySearch
Designers at FamilySearch have worked to make the tools for finding names to take to the temple as easy to use as possible.
When learning about Family History and Temple Work, there are 4 simple steps that should be followed according to Brother Ashby:
- Start with the Savior. Emphasize His role as the foundation for the sacred process.
- Learn how to use the “Ordinances Ready” link to obtain names that are closely linked to you to take to the temple.
- Learn to build your own family tree.
- Add what you know – This can include photos, stories, memories, and even voice recordings.
To serve the broader Asia North Area Saints, the FamilySearch website is available in English, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, and several other languages.
Inspiring Stories from Real People
Elder Nattress counseled that we should remember that those names we take to the temple are not simply names on slips of paper – They are real people whom the Savior loves and who are waiting in the Spirit World for their work to be completed.
He emphasized that our goal will be a “smashing success” when all members are able to use the “Ordinances Ready” function in FamilySearch. In Elder McCune’s words, “It’s a gamechanger!”
Elder Nattress went on to tell the inspiring story of a sister in New Guinea who prayed for years to find the truth. One day the “black-and-whites” came (this was her description of the Latter-day Saint missionaries – White shirts and dark skin). “When they taught me, I could feel their power,” she said. “I knew what they said was true.”
She said that from the missionaries she learned that God lives. “It changed my life,” she testified.
After her conversion, she read the Book of Mormon to her 5 kids every day “because they need that power,” she said.
She and her husband began preparing to go to the temple and saved money for 5 years. On Sundays, they would get up at 5:00 A.M. and walk 5 hours to church, crossing 5 rivers and 2 mountains. They did this so that they could partake of the sacrament. They would return home crossing those same 5 rivers and 2 mountains – All because they had a testimony that Jesus Christ lives.
Eventually, a miracle happened which would bless the lives of all Saints living in New Guinea.
Government restrictions had precluded the family from leaving the country to attend the temple. Church authorities worked with the prime minister and were able to clear the way so that the family could leave the country to attend the New Zealand Temple in Hamilton.
Elder Nattress recounted meeting the family at the temple. There in the House of the Lord, the family was sealed for time and eternity. At the conclusion of the live sealings, the family had brought 150 family names with them. They worked until late in the evening to accomplish the sacred ordinances and sealings.
These types of wonderful stories can happen for faithful members who focus on the Savior and “keep it simple.”
Elder McCune followed Elder Nattress and spoke of the Church’s accelerated building of temples throughout the world. “These temples are part of the Church’s mission to gather Israel on both sides of the veil,” he explained. “In many places where temples have been constructed, the Saints are now blessed to be able to attend the temple on a regular basis.”
Elder McCune then told the story of Eliza Cuthbert Burton, a Pioneer ancestor of Sister McCune.
Eliza Cuthbert lived in England, the daughter of wealthy farmers. In her early 20s she married Joseph Burton. When they met Latter-day Saint missionaries, Joseph was immediately interested in the message of the Restored Gospel, but Eliza was not. She had heard rumors about the Church and wanted nothing to do with it.
As she was praying and worrying about what to do, it is recorded in the family record that “there came a light into her room. The room became as light as at noon.” She knew the Church was true.
Shortly thereafter, she was baptized, and the Burtons began making plans to travel to Utah, wanting to be sealed as a family with their 2 children.
Tragedy struck, however, when while working on the docks, Joseph lifted something heavy, and a blood vessel burst. As he was dying, he pleaded with Eliza to please get to a temple so that they could be sealed as a family for eternity.
Despite her family’s opposition, Eliza departed for far-away Zion with her two young children. They arrived in Iowa late in the season, and there were no wagons available.
She obtained a handcart, loaded up her children and some scant provisions, and with the Martin Handcart Company began the trek across the wide American plains.
An early snowstorm came before the handcart company made it to Utah. They came to the Platte River and desperately needed to cross. Many in the company needed to be carried across the river in the storm, but Eliza refused to be carried. She first carried her 7-year-old son across, and then tied him to a bush so that he would not try to follow her back into the river as she crossed back to get her daughter. She crossed the river unaided 3 times.
Download Photo25% of the Martin Handcart Company died before reaching Utah, but Eliza made it with her children.
In 1865, Eliza and Joseph Burton were sealed to each other and to their children in the Endowment House.
Stories of faith and sacrifice such as these serve to strengthen us, explained Elder McCune. “We see the same strength that we see in many of our Saints today. Those stories need to be preserved and remembered.”
By completing sacred ordinances in sacred temples, we bind ourselves and our loved ones to God and to each other and move toward salvation and exaltation. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught in 1842 that eternally, “. . . we cannot be whole without them, and they cannot be whole without us.” Together we must lift each other on both sides of the veil in enjoying the fruits of eternal life (D&C 128:15).