Sacrament Talk given 29 Apr 2007

I try to be an instrument for furthering Family History each and every day. I know the great good that has come from seeking out my own ancestors and the ancestors of others. I know that I have helped several people in this ward find long sought ancestors, but I do not take any credit for the results. I absolutely receive help and guidance. Although I have gone to great lengths to educate myself to become a better genealogist, Heavenly Father always meets me more than half way. Whatever steps each person takes you will be guided. I have watched the Spirit of Elijah start to burn within members of this stake in the last two years with the opening of the family history center. People come into the family history center knowing very little and within a short time are often making great strides in not only finding their ancestors, but gaining knowledge about how to research. I am here to bear witness that the spirit of Elijah is alive and well in this stake. The seeds have been planted and now it will be up to those so moved by the spirit to nurture the seeds. I have faith that the acorn contains the oak. Heavenly Father will light the fire of the Spirit of Elijah in those who ask for guidance.

I have been a zealot for family history and in fact I have been quite pushy with some people. Do not underestimate that it was simply me acting without guidance on you unsuspecting victims. I have no idea why I badgered a certain handful of people and said nothing to others. Prayerfully consider the promptings and either hold them dear or discard them according to the dictates of the spirit.

For me there is great importance in knowing your family history. In fact, I wrote my masters thesis on the Transformational Power of Genealogy. I take the Spirit of Elijah seriously and I know that the great and dreadful day of the lord approaches, but more importantly your ancestors are waiting for their work to be done. They are also waiting to get to know you. Eternity is organized into families. We are responsible for taking care of our living and our dead relations. They without us cannot be made whole. By spending time getting to know ancestral stories we get to know them. 

Joseph Smith said, "Our dead should be as dear to us as our living relatives." The way that we get to know our living relations is by spending time with them. With living relations we sit around the dinner table and tell stories. We take little moments to just be together. We sit in church and reverently pray together. In similar ways we can get to know our ancestors. When you spend hours hunched over a microfilm reader and finally find the person you have been seeking, they are right there in the room with you in spirit. They cast a warm glow of love upon you that cannot be described. When you visit the cemetery and touch the weathered headstone you get a sense of the love others felt for this person, which then warms your heart. What is even more unfathomable is that when you exert great energy and effort on behalf of your ancestors they start to fall in love with you. When you meet them in the Spirit World you will know them and they will know you.

The doctrine tells the story of the importance of family history work.
The old testament ends and the doctrine and covenants begins with doctrine regarding family history. In Malachi Chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 we read:
5 ¶ Behold, I will asend you bElijah the prophet cbefore the coming of the dgreat and dreadful eday of the LORD:
6 And he shall aturn the bheart of the cfathers to the dchildren, and the heart of the echildren to their fathers, lest I come and fsmite the gearth with a hcurse.
This final proclamation from the old testament was repeated by Moroni when he first visited seventeen year old Joseph Smith in 1823.

D&C Chapter 2. Moroni spoke to Joseph saying:
1 BEHOLD, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of aElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and bdreadful day of the Lord.
2 And ahe shall plant in the hearts of the children the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
3 If it were not so, the whole aearth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
On his first visit, Moroni, conveyed to the young Joseph the keys of the priesthood and the importance of family history work.

I testify to you today that each of you has the power within to move mountains in the pursuit of family history. I cannot imagine what my life would be like without a deep and intimate knowledge of my ancestors. The more I learn about my ancestors the more understanding and compassion I have for my living family. We are each born or adopted into a family, which was designed before our coming. Heavenly Father has cleared the way for each of us to learn our family history. Whether you do the actual research or just take the time to study thorough research done by others you will begin to develop a relationship with your ancestors. The doctrine regarding Elijah can be confusing.
When Jesus first began his ministry he was often mistaken for the returning Elijah. And even to this day in the Jewish tradition an empty seat is left at the table for Elijah’s return.

In Biblical times the mission of Elijah was not fully understood and only when the keys of the priesthood were revealed did we finally understand the full picture of the Spirit of Elijah. In 1842 Joseph Smith gave even more clarity to the significance of Elijah’s mission with an explanation of the meaning of the curse suggested in the scriptures in Malachi.
Joseph said in D&C 128: 18 in part

the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding clink of some kind or other between the fathers and the dchildren, upon some subject or other—and behold what is that subject? It is the ebaptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.
He goes on to say in D&C128:24
Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the hrecords of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.

We must tie ourselves to our families or this life was an exercise in futility. We will have lived, loved, suffered, sacrificed and then died for nothing. This raises an important point about doing accurate work. If you tie yourself to the wrong people through shoddy research or by relying on the work of others, What is the point? Sacrifice begets love. You cannot download or inherit your family history. You have to sacrifice either time or money or both. In the average year I spend a few thousand dollars on my own family history and that money is always returned to me. I feel strongly that my efforts on behalf of my ancestors have not gone unnoticed. By the same token I can see the scope of a persons life and that there is an ebb and flow to life. My great grandfather was born in the church to stalwart pioneers who never strayed in their convictions. He married a beautiful woman in the temple and they went on to have eight children. I am in possession of many anguished letters written by his wife, which generally say, “How could you treat me this way?” There are stories of him disappearing for days on end including a ten day absence over Christmas one year. He was an alcoholic and he often stole money from the till in his wife’s restaurant, which she started because she could not depend on him for money. Eventually he returned to the fold and was a devout member of the church and by all accounts the couples last few years were very happy ones. The full scope of this man’s life demonstrates that every person has the potential for repentance and forgiveness. Only by knowing the full history can I let go of judgment for his wrongs.

Jesus died on the cross for ALL Gods children.

I bear my testimony that the work of family history is a holy endeavor and you will be rewarded for any role you play in the furthering of the work. The knowledge of your ancestors will only bring positive rewards. I bear witness that Heavenly Father has opened the way for every one of us. His disciples are ready and waiting. This I say in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.