A friend of mine shared some thoughts that have gotten me thinking.

She talked about how much she loves nature. She and her husband love to take walks outside (when they were younger, they hiked a lot). As for so many of us, she finds being in nature soothing to her soul.

For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, He is found in nature. He is the Creator of the earth. He is the Creator and source of light in sun, moon, and stars. The peace we can find among His creations is His peace.

My friend built on this idea and made a spiritual connection to the notion of the tree of life. She explored the idea of staying at the tree — like the one mentioned in the Book of Mormon in Lehi’s vision of the tree of life.

The tree there represents Jesus Christ. To stay at the tree — to be a tree-hugger spiritually — is to stay by Jesus. That vision given to Lehi has many elements to it, and staying at the tree is one of the key protections against things like mocking voices and the shame that can come from listening to them. (I think about how easy it is to listen to shame from hamster-wheel thoughts in my own mind; I don’t need external mocking voices to feel toxic shame. Keeping Jesus close in my thoughts can help, especially when I remember that His voice is one of love and care and gentleness.)

Reflecting on my friend’s thoughts made me think of John 15 (see also Isaiah 27) about Jesus being the true vine. To truly stay by the tree is to be connected to Him as the Source of life (both now and forever). He is the Source of breath for our bodies. He is the One who makes resurrection possible for us all. His life as the True Vine showed us the Way, and His death (on a tree, as it is sometimes said) and resurrection made the Way for us to be forgiven and someday to return back to our Heavenly Parents.

My friend also talked about her love of family history. More trees to hug! I, too, love doing family history and discovering more about my family tree, and helping use the wonders of technology to build family trees in tools like FamilySearch and Ancestry. When I do family history, I feel like I sometimes can get a glimpse of how personally each of us is known to God. Even in a few records, I can learn more about a person — what they looked like, what their profession might have been, perhaps where they lived and how they died. When I find someone in the records who hasn’t yet been represented on a family tree, sometimes I stop and just say their name out loud. “I see you.” I sometimes wish I could give them a hug! But helping their stories be told feels like a way to show love for them. These people are not dead to God, and building family trees in records helps me remember that. Like in the Disney movie Coco (about el Día de los Muertos — a movie about family history!), they need not be dead to us. We benefit when we remember them and tell their stories (and let records help us do that).

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, building family trees in records also connects us to the temple. My friend talked about this, too — about the peace she finds in the rootedness of the temple. In the temple, sacred ordinances are performed to bind families together. The crowning ordinance performed therein is called the sealing ordinance — where husband and wife can be married for time and eternity — not just “until death do us part.” The authority to bind families together in this way was committed to Joseph Smith shortly after the dedication of the Kirtland temple when Elijah the prophet — the one who spoke anciently of hearts of fathers turning to children and children to fathers — came (just as other ancient leaders had done earlier to restore the power to baptize (John the Baptist) and to confirm the Holy Ghost (Peter, James, and John).

Once people receive temple ordinances for themselves (some of them symbolic of ordinances received in ancient times), then we can act as “proxies” for those who have passed on. In a favorite film of mine, called “The Mountain of the Lord,” President Wilford Woodruff is portrayed speaking to a newspaper reporter, who scoffed a bit at this idea of doing proxy work for the dead. I like how President Woodruff’s response to the reporter was represented.

“Many people believe in some form of vicarious work for the dead. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was a vicarious work. Whoever accepts Jesus as the Savior also accepts the principle of vicarious proxy.”

Since these ordinances require a physical body, we who have physical bodies act as proxy for those who do not have bodies anymore, as death separates body and spirit until the time of resurrection. And then those who have had ordinances performed on their behalf have the opportunity to choose to accept or reject them.

You can learn more about Jesus’ visit to the spirit world after His death (as referred to in 1 Peter 3:18-19), in Doctrine and Covenants 138.)

I love patterns and symbols, and appreciated my friend’s invitation to think about trees today, and all the many ways I can be a tree hugger.

The post Be a tree hugger! On earth and for heaven’s sake appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

During the pandemic, I’ve often thought of people in past generations who have gone through difficult, long-lasting trials and journeys. The “Mormon pioneers” have been among the people who have come to mind. Cast out from place to place, they were compelled to walk across the barren plains of then unsettled territory in the United States to find a new place to settle. July 24, 1847 was the day that the main company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. In Utah, Pioneer Day is celebrated every year to mark this day. But members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all over the world celebrate Pioneer Day in different ways, and also sometimes celebrate their own pioneers in their respective lands, areas, or families.

COVID-19 has changed a lot of things, but it has also allowed for resources to reach across the globe. For example, BYU Women’s Conference this year was all virtual, and you can get access to 35 different presentations for six months. And there are free presentations available as well at the following links.

• The Church News 
• BYU Women’s Conference YouTube channel 
• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints YouTube channel
• sesiones complementarias (en español)
• sessões gratuitas (em português)

RootsTech (the “world’s largest celebration of family” [genealogy, family history, family connection] even before 2021) reached 1.5 million people in 240 countries. Because of this impact, the 2022 conference will all be virtual.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can find online resources to celebrate Pioneer Day no matter where they are in the world. For example, an Evening from the Pioneer Museum will be held this week on July 22 from the Museum on Facebook Live: By Trail, Sail, and Rail: Pioneer Journeys to Zion.

You can also find links to many Pioneer Day Concerts from past years here.

The post Celebrating Pioneer Day online appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

We realized we had a draft buried about the “world’s largest family celebration” (for genealogists, family history hobbyist, and anyone interested in learning more about connecting more to your roots). It’s called RootsTech and it’s going on free right now.

Learning about our roots can help us as humans.

“We can find peace and understanding by learning from our ancestors. The resilience our forbears developed can inspire us to overcome challenges and avoid mistakes that others have made. Everyone has scoundrels and heroes in their family tree. Discovering information about ancestors can bring understanding and compassion for them and ourselves.” (Robin Olsen Worthlin)

I really don’t like COVID-19, but I do appreciate the way it’s inviting people to think about how to make amazing resources more freely available.

You can register for RootsTech here.

Here’s the RootsTech Mainstage schedule. And a schedule of sessions.

Many RootsTech sessions exist in a wide variety of languages. Instructions also exist within the content about how to translate content.

Find RootsTech session archives here.

You can also see highlights from the conference using the hashtag #RootsTechConnect or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

The post RootsTech is FREE and happening right now! appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Wendy Watson Nelson, the wife of the prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a big fan of family history. She talks about doing family history as one way to open the heavens.

I was impressed as I listened to some of her experiences that she has recorded specific family history miracles.

So I wanted to record a recent experience.

Elmer C. Mathews and his wife, Addie Ostrander Mathews, distant relatives of mine, had a child listed in FamilySearch, but the program flagged this child as being born before the mother was able to have children (birth years were only 8 years apart). Also, the last name of the child was different (Rae). So I dug deeper.

I love looking for the original records (not indexes, if possible). There was a census record available. I looked at it and at first, couldn’t make sense of it. I asked questions in my mind about what could have been possible. Could this be a child from another marriage? Could the dates have been recorded incorrectly? Then I noticed that James Rae’s name was not indented in the census as children usually are. His name was recorded as though he was a head of a new household.

That led me to look at the address section of the census record. It said “See page 8A4.” I was on page 13 of the census. So I went back a few pages…and sure enough, on page 8A, line 4, there were James M. Rae and Harriet P. Rae.

I was so excited to be able to update the records in FamilySearch (each record represents real people!).

I worked then on merging the records that already existed for this family (and finding more original records to verify that James Rae is indeed James N (not James F as originally indexed…hard-to-read handwriting sometimes means errors in indexing).

With more of this work, I discovered that James’ middle name is Nathaniel (as per a typed directory that shows him living with his father, James M…at the very same address that was listed on page 8A, line 4: 367 Pennsylvania Avenue in Elmira, NY)!

After a couple of hours working on cleaning up the records, I was also able to create a new record for a different James and Harriett. I also found James Nathaniel’s baby brother who died at age 1. The census that was so strange had indicated that James and Harriett had had 4 children, 3 living. Now Charles D. Rae can be sealed to his parents, once temples are once again opened for what is called proxy ordinance work.

Family history is a true love of mine, both because it’s just such a fun challenge (a kind of data science) and because of my deep belief in the eternal nature of life, and God’s desire for families to be connected through priesthood authority beyond death’s door.

I love bringing families together through family history. Bringing their records together. Using records to tell more of their stories. Mourning with them as I learn more of their stories, as many of them had very hard lives. Rejoicing with them, too. I feel the power of family woven throughout their stories…seeing widowed parents living with their children, or siblings taking in single siblings, for example.

The power of family is as old as time (and older). I feel like these people know that I’m here trying to help them, and sometimes I feel their desire to help me do that. It usually takes a while for me to find a groove each time I open up FamilySearch, but almost every time I do family history work, something like this happens. There’s a ZING of energy as pieces of a family’s puzzle come together. I feel a little like we’re having a little bit of a family reunion through the veil.

The post Family History Miracles appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

My parents are both converts to The Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a young and recently baptized married couple in Brazil, one of their biggest dreams was to establish their family in the “Estados Unidos” (USA), more specifically Utah, to be closer to the large body of unified saints there. What they wanted more than anything was to raise their children on high moral ground. This fact, is something they have always been proud of, “our family legacy,” as my dad always says.

So they stood in long lines, filled out many forms, and waited…and waited…for six years. Then one day their request for permanent resident status was approved. That’s when our family (I was six at the time) moved. My dad jokingly recalls, “with four pieces of luggage and eight hundred dollars.”

Through hard work, and sheer grit, I saw my immigrant family struggle to survive. We worked as janitors, we delivered news papers, we worked odd construction jobs. I don’t think I ever saw my parents sleep. But I always saw them on their knees in prayer.

Now looking back at the upbringing they were able to secure for their children, the freedom from corruption and oppression they were able to give us, the opportunity every single one of us was able to access…their struggle was worth it.

This event happening on Tuesday is actually more than just a rally for marriage…to me at least. This event is about gratitude, and exertion of liberty. This event is the opportunity to stand as a collective body of saints for what matters most -our faith, our family, and our freedom.

That’s what brings me to you now. I wanted to share my story and why I want to personally go. It’s because my parents fought for me to have this very opportunity.  I remember waking up at 4:00 am and folding newspapers with my mom and dad. It’s for them that I’m going to this rally. It’s for the sacrifices they made to give me what I enjoy today. It’s for their marriage, the mutual covenant made between each other and God Almighty. It’s for their belief that the “Estados Unidos” is truly a place where if good men dwell, they will be free. It’s for Utah, the ‘city set high on the hill’, built from the ground up… out of nothing.

The very existence of my state was founded upon the backs of those who have gone before us. Courageous men, women, and children — families — that collectively gave their all for what we currently enjoy today. This is the legacy of Utah.

I want to stand with the large group of strong and courageous sons and daughters of those fathers and mothers that are counting on us to continue their legacy. I want to support this event with my presence.

-Carolina Sagebin Allen

Note: Mormon Women: Who We Are and the More Good Foundation take no official stance on events such as those mentioned above. Please remember, also, that this site is not an official site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The post How I am standing for faith, family, and freedom this week — by Carolina appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

A news station in Arizona (ABC 15) recently did a four-part special showing the inside of a Mormon temple (temples are the most sacred buildings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). The temple featured in this news story is the Gilbert, Arizona temple. [An open house for the public will be held from January 18 – February 15 (see GilbertMormonTemple.org for reservations for free public tours).]

In this story, ABC 15 reporters talk about each of the main rooms used in every temple: a baptismal font, instruction (endowment) rooms, the celestial room, and marriage (sealing) rooms. They interview members and leaders within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for insights into what temples mean to Mormons. Hear a story, for example, of a family who lost a teenage son to cancer and how the knowledge of God’s plan and the doctrine of eternal families helps them find peace.

They get thoughts from leaders of other faiths as well.

They also talk about genealogy (family history) — and the free, open-to-the-public family history libraries available to anyone who is interested. (See how the reporter was able to find records of her ancestors as part of her report!) Volunteer missionaries can help people cull through the millions of family history records, even those usually only available through paid subscriptions.

They feature youth and their involvement in temple baptisms by proxy for the dead. They also talk about the youth celebrations that take place before temple dedications. This event in Gilbert will include 12,000 youth. Celebrations include singing, dancing, and cultural and historical celebration.

Speaking of celebrating the local area, even the design of each temple reflects a respect for the local area and/or history. In the Gilbert temple, the agave plant is a symbolic thread throughout the temple’s design, and on the temple grounds. Hear more about why the agave plant was chosen.

Thanks to ABC 15 for the thorough and thoughtful video series.

The post Inside a Mormon Temple appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

What: Instagram Great Gram Day, a lovely idea developed by Erika Loveland. Seriously, she is a genius!

Why: To raise awareness that the worth of all souls is great, and because of Jesus Christ, our families can be together forever.

When: September 15, 2013 – The first day of the Family Proclamation Celebration!

What do I do on September 15?  Post your ancestor’s picture onto Facebook as your profile picture for the whole day, and/or a few times throughout the day onto your Instagram and Twitter feeds or on your blog.

In your status, caption, or tweet, include with the picture:

– The person’s name

– How you’re related

– A brief blurb on their life if you know it

– This link: www.familysearch.org/photos/

– And a fun little hash tag like #IGGday, #grateful, #Ancestor, or #FamilySearch

The post Instagram Great Gram Day appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

An unprecedented genealogy/family history project is being launched today, in a joint effort between Archives.com, FamilySearch, findmypast.com, and other leading genealogy organizations. The 1940 U.S. Census Community Project involves indexing free digital images from the 1940 census that will be made available today. The indexing work will make these census records available for online searching.

You can be part of this community genealogical project. Find out more about how to get started here.

The video below explains more about the National Archives work put into digitizing the 1940 census, and how you can find people you may know in this census.

Do you know someone who is in it? Those people who were part of what has been called the “greatest generation” (those who experienced the Great Depression, World War II, and other significant historical events and developments) are in it. Find more

Find out more about the 1940 Census Community Project

The post The 1940 U.S. Census Community Genealogy Project – Launches Today! appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Why is it important to start with ourselves? Well, if you think about it, you are the only one who really knows the real you. Parents, siblings, friends and your spouse only know parts of your life. Also, if you don’t take the time to record your own history, then it’s up to others to piece together the parts of your life—which may or may not be accurate. If you’ve ever tried to research your family history, I’m sure you know how much easier it is to find out information on those ancestors who wrote details in journals, than those who only left a name!

A lot of times we feel we need to start at the beginning and include every little detail of our lives (or our family’s lives), but in the end that can lead to frustration because we don’t always have the best memories. Frustration leads to putting it off until later, which eventually leads to not getting it done.

Here are a few ideas and exercises you can do right now to get started on recording your history! I recommend doing this in a word processing document and writing a basic outline, then as time permits you can go in and add more details.

Step 1: Start with the now. Simply jot down what is going on in your life right now: where you live, marital status, children/grandchildren, your job(s), community/church activities you participate in, etc.

Step 2: Record major life changes. Note the dates of the important events in your life: birth, graduation(s), church/military service, marriage, birth of children, jobs, moving, etc. These should be things that you know the date of (or at least a month and year).

Step 3: Fill in the gaps. After you’ve done the first two steps, you can start to fill in the gaps. Write more about each item you’ve recorded. Talk about your graduation day, or a funny story from your military or church service. Write the details of your wedding day, or your memories of your child’s birth. Really whatever you want to embellish on! And remember, you don’t have to do this all at once either. Pick one thing each day, like your wedding engagement, or a glimpse of your first year of college. Take 10 minutes and write the details!

If you are a more hands-on person, here are a couple of fun ways to record your life:

Timeline: Grab a large sheet of paper (or tape two together); draw a horizontal line across it. Start on the left and add a small vertical dash, above which you will write “born” and the date. At the other end of the line, write “today” and the date above a small dash. Now you just need to add more small dashes to the line to indicate some of the major events of your life (see step 2 above for ideas). If you’re short on time, just work on it for 5 minutes a day until you’re sure you’ve filled it in. And if you don’t know an exact date, you can just put a year, or “around ___ years old”. You can add as much detail as you want to each dash as well—like, “Born to John and Jane Doe on Jan. 15, 1979 in Austin, Texas”.

Map: Draw a simple map of a place you lived as childhood, a college apartment or campus, or even your current residence or workplace. Don’t forget the outside too! Then add simple notes to the map about memories you have in certain areas. These will be great prompts for stories when you decide to write a more in-depth personal history, and if you don’t get that done, then at least you have something recorded!

Here is an example of a map I drew of the house I lived in until I was 10. I made the house a different color than the map to make it stand out. I also used a different color to write little memories of things I remembered about different things that happened in the different places. The map is not perfect and certainly not to scale, but it’s not really the map that matters, it’s the jogging of memories that matters!

So now that you have some ideas of how to record your own history, I challenge you to set aside some time in these next few weeks and start recording some information about you!

The post Tips for Doing Your Personal History appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Keeping track of your personal history is something that a lot of people find intimidating. There are many roadblocks to getting it done: “I don’t know what to write. I don’t have time to do it right now. I don’t know how to do it, and no one even cares if I do it or not” are some of the excuses I have heard over and over. But I’m here to tell you today that every single one of those roadblocks is very easy to overcome!

First roadblock: “I don’t know what to write.”

Finding things to write about is intimidating. Do you record the main events of life or little things? How much in detail do I need to go? I have found that it really takes a little bit of both the big stuff and the small stuff. I recommend starting big and then going small—write a basic timeline of your life, record the dates of important events, then start filling in with smaller events and every day things. There are also journaling prompts in books and all over the internet.

Second roadblock: “I don’t have time to do it right now.”

This is one excuse I hear a lot from people, but really, it’s a matter of priorities. Instead of watching TV, take a half an hour to record something from your past or something that happened that day. (Or you can even do it while watching TV if you are a good multi-tasker.) If you don’t even have time to watch TV, you can still record just one little thing in 5 minutes if you commit to just doing it. Often we think that we need to do some elaborate writing that will take hours to edit and perfect. I personally think that even making a small list on a sticky note and putting it in a notebook with others like it is just as great of a way as writing a whole diatribe! And don’t forget that you can record your personal history along with your family! Get the whole family involved. Set aside time each week to all work on it. Doing this together will not only bring you closer to one another, but will create the time needed to accomplish your goal.

Third roadblock: “I don’t know how to do it.”

Like I already mentioned, I like to focus on the fact that how you do it, is not as important as just doing it. Here is a list of many different ways I’ve thought of to record your history.

-Use the computer and a word processing program. You can make one file folder (mine is labeled “Personal History”), and save each topic individually in your folder, or you can make one long document with all your history. You can add pictures when you want to as well using this method.

-Start your own personal history blog (that you can make private or public, depending on who you want to see it), and write your history. Blogs are great because you can not only write, but you can post a video, add pictures or even scrapbook layouts.

-Make a scrapbook layout (digital or traditional) about a specific topic about you.

-Write it in a journal—an age-old solution, but still a good one! Plus, those who someday read it, will get to see your handwriting and mistakes you made—making you more real!

-Take (or find) pictures from your past that make you smile. Put them together in a photo album. You can save one of the slots to hand write about the pictures on that page on a 4×6 piece of paper (acid free to keep from destroying the picture on the other side of it), or you can make a 4×6 answer on your computer in a photo editing program, and print it off with your other pictures!

-Make a video. You can do this by either taking pictures and adding music to it (like a slide show), or by using your video camera and record yourself talking about you.

-Make an audio file of you talking about your history. You could do it in the car on the way to work, while getting ready for the day, in one of your favorite locations, or while you’re sitting in bed.

-Write a poem about an aspect of your life. Some people are very talented in this area!

-Make a digital photo collage or album through an online site. Add to it regularly.

-Focus on one topic and make a list of things about you concerning that topic.

-Create a table in a word processing program. Choose one topic and fill it in with what you did in the past, what you are doing in the present, and what you hope to do in the future.

-Publish a photo book through an online site, with old pictures and stories about them. This is great because you can make multiple books in one easy click of a button!

-Draw some things about you. For example you can draw your favorite foods. (This would be especially fun for younger children to do!)

-Do it together as a family! Set aside a specific day every week to get together. Think of a topic and everyone can record about themselves in one of the ways above.

-Interview your parents, grandparents, or other close family members or friends, and have them tell you stories about them. This would be so cool for you and your family to have when they pass away!

Fourth roadblock: “No one even cares.”

This is so untrue! Everyone has a story. EVERYONE! Record what makes you, YOU. There is only one you, and you are loved by so many people. You possess unique talents, habits, and quirks that no one else has. You think and feel differently. You say and do things that no one else would do. Share those things that make you unique!

It would be a tragedy to not leave anything behind for your friends and family to remember the real you by. Help your family remember who you really are now, and who you were in your younger years by recording your history before it’s too late. With a little bit of determination, time, and thought you can overcome those roadblocks and record your story before you know it!

The post Personal and Family Histories: Getting Past Roadblocks appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.