Sunday, May 25, 2014

Aren't You a Little Young to Be Hastening the Work of Salvation?


Recently, Guy has been showing interest in doing family history and indexing.  And ever since he listened to a young woman in our ward give a talk in sacrament meeting about how indexing is a "whirlpool of righteousness" and can be very "addictive"...Guy has been all in!  Something that is good AND addictive?  Sounds dangerous, let's do it!

This is great news for me, because ever since hearing all of the promises recently given by the apostles on how doing family history can bless and protect our youth, I've been anxious to introduce Guy to family history.

Some of the promises/advisories are as follows:

Elder Bednar:  Many of you may think family history work is to be performed primarily by older people. But I know of no age limit described in the scriptures or guidelines announced by Church leaders restricting this important service to mature adults. You are sons and daughters of God, children of the covenant, and builders of the kingdom. You need not wait until you reach an arbitrary age to fulfill your responsibility to assist in the work of salvation for the human family.

Elder Bednar, "The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn": It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

Elder Bednar:  As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

Linda S. Reeves, "Protection from Pornography": Remember that living Apostles have also promised that as we search out our ancestors and prepare our own family names for the temple, we will be protected now and throughout our lives as we keep ourselves worthy of a temple recommend.5 What promises!

Elder Walker, "Live True to the Faith":  The more connected we feel to our righteous forefathers, the more likely we are to make wise and righteous choices.

Elder Cook, "Roots and Branches":  If the youth in each ward will not only go to the temple and do baptisms for their dead but also work with their families and other ward members to provide the family names for the ordinance work they perform, both they and the Church will be greatly blessed.

So what are you waiting for?  The Whirlpool of Righteousness awaits...and the water's fine!



10 comments:

  1. Thanks for gathering all those great quotes together in one post. I have seen my family blessed by indexing and family history for sure. It's even more fun when your children become old enough to take their own ancestor names to the temple and do baptisms for them. Sweet, sacred moments. You'll love it.

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  2. I'll see if I can interest my grandkids the next time I visit in indexing....good quotes-thanks!

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  3. What a wonderful post!! Thanks for sharing :-D

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  4. Seriously cool! I haven't even considered introducing this to my kids...

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  5. Awesome Post! I am trying to get my granddaughter's to learn how to do indexing. I will have them read this one~
    Blessings!

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  6. I love how you make the time and find the way to include the gospel in your everyday life. How fun to get your little guy going on indexing at this young age!
    Back before indexing was even cool yet I did about 10,000 names and was asked to be an arbitrator. Then I had more kids and it all went out the window. Maybe it's time to bring it back and have the kids help read off the info. while I type or something.

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    1. Oh that's really neat! And yes, you should! I have faith and and a testimony of the prophet's words when they say that this will be a protection to our children. I should have you come over and teach Guy...we are both learning together and it's fun to have this common experience/memories to share with each other as years pass.

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