Family Ties to the Dead
Members of the family have been "called" to help work on genealogical research as a Family Council task. (This was when they were about 14-15 years old.) Over the years we have extended the family lines back many generations. As the children grew older they also helped input genealogy data into the genealogy software program(s). This was a major challenge as we had collected six inches of family group sheets. The value of the genealogy research is that the techniques and principles of genealogy research are used in many fields of employment. The research, documenting and posting of findings are invaluable life skills.
Linking our family to our ancestors forever by researching and reading about them has been very meaningful to the children. When the children were young, we discussed our visits to the LDS temples to seal families together in Family Council particularly when we lived significant distances from a temple. (We needed their support and cooperation.) Additionally, planning in Family Councils to attend temple dedications has been special for the family. We found it valuable to let the children know the temple and the service done there for the dead is special and an important place to visit in our lives and helped to prepare them to go. As youth, we encouraged and helped plan in Family Council for regular trips to do baptism for the dead family members. Even as college students, they found time to do baptisms and later endowments and sealings of families together forever. Naturally their own temple marriages for eternity have resulted. Now grandchildren consider temple attendance part of their busy lives. Note: The LDS website www.familysearch.org contains some wonderful resources to support this effort. Our goal is to have children grounded in their heritage of the past so they can meet the challenges of family life in their future. Return to Family ties and history |