Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING] [WIND BLOWING]

[FIRE CRACKLING]

[BIRDS TWEETING] [HORSE NEIGHING] [BABY LAUGHING]

[WIND HOWLING]

[TRAIN CHUGGING]

[THUNDER]

Thank you for your reference, as we have prepared for a very special devotional this evening. My name is Mikaela Fattis and I am grateful to be with you today. We would like to acknowledge Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is presiding at this meeting, and his wife Kathy. We are grateful that Elder Andersen will be our speaker this afternoon. We want to start this devotional by singing, "I Know that. my Redeemer Lives," led by Ivy Lynn Black with Sam Black at the piano. After which, we will have an opening prayer given by Cooper Beck.

[MUSIC, "I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES"]

(SINGING) I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, he lives, who once was dead. He lives, my ever-living Head. He lives to bless me with his love. He lives to plead for me above. He lives my hungry soul to feed. He lives to bless me in time of need. He lives to grant me rich supply. He lives to guide me with his eyes. He lives to comfort me when faint. He lives to hear my soul's complaint. He lives to silence all my fears. He lives to wipe away my tears. He lives to calm my troubled heart. He lives all blessings to impart. He lives, my kind, wise heav'nly friend. He lives and loves me to the end. He lives, and while he lives, I'll sing. He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King. He lives, and grants me daily breath. He lives, and I shall conquer death. He lives my mansion to prepare. He lives to bring me safely there. He lives! All glory to his name! He lives, my Savior, still the same. Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives. I know that my Redeemer lives! He lives! All glory to his name! He lives, my Savior, still the same. Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives. I know that my Redeemer lives!

Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this day. I thank you that we could all gather here together at Rootstech. Please help us. We thank Thee that we could all come here and do family history work. And please help that we can all take something that we have learned here and apply it to our lives. We thank Thee that we can serve others through genealogy work. And we say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

Thank you Cooper, Ivy Lynn, and Sam. Elder Andersen was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 2009 after spending 16 years as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. In October, 2012, General Conference, Elder Andersen gave a talk about the trial of our faith. He encouraged us to continue pressing forward, and to never leave the safety and security of the household of God during those inevitably difficult times. Trials will be trying, but they are something we came to this earth to go through and to overcome. His words, give me hope, and a regained faith in my Heavenly Father every time I read them. Thank you, Elder Andersen. Again, we are so honored to have Elder Neil L Andersen with us today, and would like to turn the time over to him. Elder Andersen.

Thank you, Kayla, very much. And greetings to all of you, my younger brothers and sisters. I'm sorry to say this probably won't be quite like Studio C. But we will do our best. And we pray that the Lord's Spirit will be here with us. Today is Saturday. We're in a large convention facility, we're not in a church building. My message to you is a spiritual message. And because of that, we will want to have a spirit of reverence among us. But there are also going to be a few times I will invite you to clap. And even one time where I'll invite you to sing along. Can we do that and keep the spirit of reverence? Yes. Yeah. Let's begin by thanking this wonderful Youth Committee that has given us such a terrific day at Rootstech. [APPLAUSE] Can you all stand? Why don't you stand. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, so very much. We'll let you take your places there on the second or third row, if you want to go ahead. I'd like to recognize also some of my brethren and special guests from the General Authorities who are here. I don't know if the lights can catch this first row, right here. We have several-- stand up, this row, right here. The whole row. And turn around, except I don't you. You may not be a General Authority, but stand up Brother Beck. We have Brother Alonzo, Elder Alonzo, Elder and Sister Groberg, their guest, I'll bet. Grandson. OK. That's good. We have-- turn this way so they see you, Sister Cheryl Foster. Her husband's a General Authority and has been next door. President and Sister David Beck, the Young Man's President of the Church. Elder Enrique Falabella of The Seventy. Elder Allan and Sister Packer of the Seventy. Elder and Sister Steve Lund of the Seventy. Well, we could give them a round of a hand. They'll never get any other time. [APPLAUSE] I just want you to see my beautiful, red Valentine here, today. And since-- will you be my Valentine? Yes. I will be your Valentine. Thank you, very much. I love you, very, very much. Thank you. I love you, very much. Thank you. I want to say how grateful I am to Sister Andersen. She is an amazing person. She's done everything for our family, and she's the famous, she is my favorite person in my family history. Thank you. And as our grandchildren and great grandchildren look back on those who came before them, they will praise her name, for the faith and goodness that she brought into our family. Thank you, so much. Shall we give her hand? [APPLAUSE] OK now we'll get a little bit serious for a moment. I bring you the love and greeting of President Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve. We see your goodness, your desire to keep the commandments, and your devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. We love you. And we're very, very proud of you. And we thank you for being here today. Have you ever wondered why you were sent to earth now, rather than at a different time in history? What would it have been like to stand by the side of Moses? Or to be a friend of Mary, the mother of Jesus? Or how about living in Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph Smith walked the streets? Or what if, along with dozens of other teenagers, you were to walk the 1,000 miles from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley? Sometimes we look at former days or different places and we ask, why not me? Why am I here, this place? And why now? Well, you would not be the first to wonder about the time and place of your life. A prophet, living in the Americas, asked the same question. His name was Nephi. Not the Nephi that was in the beginning of the Book of Mormon, but Nephi who was the great grandson of the prophet Alma. Nephi looked around at the wickedness in the world that surrounded him, he saw money, power, and popularity were more important than that which was right. Many of the people openly disregarded the commandments. They lied, took what was not theirs, and ignored the law of chastity. Those who kept the commandments were ridiculed and mistreated. The Scriptures say that when Nephi saw these things, his heart was sown with sorrow. "And he exclaimed in the agony of his soul, 'Oh that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out from the land of Jerusalem, that I could have joyed with him in the promised land. Then were his people easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken into the words of the Lord-- Yea if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.' " Nephi was an amazing prophet of God. Yet, for a moment, he wondered why he was living on earth during his time. He knew that the Savior was to come to earth in the not too distant future. But for the moment, it appears that the beautiful events, the magnificent time that were just around the corner seemed to allude him. In only 20 years from the time he spoke, a night would pass without darkness, and Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. Within 55 years, the Savior, resurrected and glorified, would descend out of the heaven to the saints in the land of Bountiful. Nephi's son would be there, and the Savior would address him personally, and ordain him as one of the Twelve selected in the Western hemisphere. We could suppose that his daughters and sons, granddaughters and grandsons, were among those 2,500 saints who Christ invited, one by one, to come forward and personally feel the prints of the nails in his hands and his feet. It would not be surprising to believe that Nephi's great grandchildren were among those little children that the Savior blessed, one by one, who were encircled with fire and ministered to by angels. Had Nephi clearly seen the future of his righteous family and friends, surely he would not have wanted to alter the time of his mortality. Gratefully, Nephi was not one to the lament his situation. He remained righteous, taught the people about courage, worked mighty miracles, and along with the Prophet Samuel, prophesied of the eminent coming of the Savior. The Lord, speaking in the Book of Mormon, promised he would bless Nephi forever. And although he had wondered about his time and place, he concluded with these very powerful words. "Behold," he said, "these are my days." My beloved young brothers and sisters, these are your days. These are my days and they're your days. You, like the profit Nephi, have been chosen to live in the final years preceding the Savior coming to Earth. We do not know exactly the day or year of His Coming. But we can readily see the signs that precede His Coming. One day, just as Nephi came to see as vital place in preparing for the Savior's coming to the Nephites, you and I, we will see and that look back and see the glorious blessings that were ours to live in our time, as we prepared the world for the Savior's return. Let us see beyond the difficulties and the obstacles confronting us, to our important purposes, and to the glorious days ahead. Let us each echo Nephi's words. These are our days. These are my days. With these being your days, what does the Lord to ask of you? First, you are to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ. Learn of Him, of His love and unspeakable goodness to you. You are to love God. Follow the Savior, keep His commandments, and serve those around you. In the future, you will make sacred covenants in the Lord's house. Many will have the opportunity to be joined with a righteous companion for eternity, and to bring others into mortality. All of us can have the privilege of living our lives as disciples of Christ, being led by the Spirit, and lifting those around us. Now we get to some of the points I want to make to you. Some experiences that we have in life are saved for specific generations. I want to talk about one of your sacred duties for your generation, for your days, that have never quite been the same for any previous generation. It has only been a few years that temples have been across the world. With the dedication of the Gilbert, Arizona Temple on March 2, and the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Temple on May 4, we will have 143 temples in operation. When I was your age, there were 13 temples in the world. Sister Andersen grew up in the state of Florida. When she was five years old, her parents brought their family to the temple to be sealed together forever. It required a six day, 2,500 mile drive across the United States, to the Salt Lake Temple. Today there are 47 temples that are closer to her Florida home than the Salt Lake Temple. President Monson has encouraged you, the youth of the Church, to visit the temples often, and to do baptisms for the dead. He said, "Now, my young friends who are in your teenage years, always have the temple in your sites. Do nothing which will keep you from entering its doors and partaking of the sacred and eternal blessings there. I commend those of you who go to the temple regularly to perform baptisms for the dead." You, all of you, have responded to the Lord's prophet. And each year, millions on the other side of the veil are given the opportunity to accept their own baptism. No generation that has ever lived on this earth has had so greater privilege as you, of having to enter the doors of the Lord's house and insist of in the salvation of those who have come before us. As you well know, there is a vital step that allows us to accomplish this sacred work of the temple. It's a first step. We are to search out and find those members of our family who came before us. In Moroni's first visit to the Prophet Joseph Smith, he instructed the prophet that the hearts of the children would turn to their fathers. The Prophet Joseph later explained that church members were to become saviors on Mount Zion. But how are they to become saviors on Mount Zion? He asked his own question, and then answered. "By building temples and going forth and receiving all the ordinances in behalf of the progenitors who are dead. And herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers." The Prophet Joseph spoke of this work as a chain that binds. He called it a welding link, connecting families together from one generation to another. The physical welding link in Joseph's day was created by soften, melting two pieces of metal in a fiery oven, joining them together while they were still malleable, and then letting them cool and harden into an unbreakable chain. The importance of the powerful spiritual welding that binds us all together forever was stated clearly in the Scriptures. "We, without them, cannot be made perfect. Neither can they without us be made perfect." In the past, this work of finding family names, documenting them, and bringing them to the temple was principally the work of older members of the Church. Why was that? Because it required enormous time and effort. It would often begin with large reels containing microfilmed records. It meant painstaking attention to dates and places, thick historical books with limited availability, and at times, remote country cemeteries. Our ability to find our ancestors online has only emerged in the past few years, with tremendous advancements in the past few months. The months ahead will bring even more availability. While your generation has become extremely devoted to visiting the temple, in the months and years ahead, you will be just as outstanding in finding and bringing names to the temple with you. Let me show you what is ahead. We are here at Rootstech Conference. We would expect the youth that are here to have had more experience than anyone else in the country or on the globe with searching for family names. Let's try an experiment. See if we can bring the lights up. Will you please stand if sometime in the past you have participated in a temple baptism. Now we'll take the adults too. If you participated in a temple baptism, stand up. If you're five years old, you're not telling the truth.

OK. Now here's the next thing, and look around you. Stay standing if you have participated in a baptism for one of your ancestors. OK. If you haven't, please sit down. For one of your personal ancestors. OK. Still got a pretty good group. OK, here's the final question. Finally, if you have submitted more names of your family to receive temple ordinances then you have personally performed in baptisms in the temple, please stay standing. Wait, wait, wait! Where are you going?

Well, that's good. That's good. You see? Look around. Still some are standing. I believe that-- and thank you, very much-- I believe that in three years almost every one of you, the youth, will be standing. I want to challenge each of you to set a personal goal to help prepare as many names for the temple as baptisms you perform in the temple. Again, my challenge-- make note of this, this is for you, don't forget it-- is to prepare as many names for the temple as you perform baptisms in the temple. There is something very, very powerful in searching out someone who needs temple ordinances. Learning who they are, and then being part of their receiving these sacred ordinances. This is how you and I become saviors on Mount Zion. There is a joy and satisfaction that is only understood through spiritual feelings. We are linked to them forever. I wish I had time to tell you some of my personal experiences on this subject. Some of our families have been in the Church for many generations. And much of our direct ancestors' work in the temple has been done. Who would say that their families are kind of like that, where their families have been in the Church for generations and you think much of your work has being done? Yeah, here in Salt Lake City that appears to be many. For the first time this past year, I could see my ancestors in a fan chart online. Here are my ancestors for four generations. Here they are for seven generations, here is my great grandfather, after whom I was named, Niels Anderson. And here is my great grandfather, Moroni Stocks, the first to be named for a Book of Mormon prophet. Do you think I have the genes to grow a great mustache? [LAUGHTER] I don't think I'll ever get the chance, unless President Monson starts, right?

I was able to see photos of dozens of my family members online. Do you know what your great grandparents looked like? If your chart is as complete as mine, your first responsibility is to fill it in as best you can. More and more information is becoming available each month. What I meant to say is, if it's not as full as mine, you are to fill it in as best you can. If your chart is as complete as mine, there is still very important work for you to do. This works goes on and on. It will never be complete, even when the Savior returns.

When our chart appears complete, we help others find those in their lines. And we find those closer related to those in our family tree. We call it finding our cousins. This is a very important part of my talk to you today. How do we find our cousins? Now listen to this, because you will be tested on this, and you won't be let out of this room unless you know the answer. How do we find our cousins? In two ways, first, we go to our chart and we find those closer related to our great great grandmothers and grandfathers. For example, I might go up my chart to Grandma Francis Bowen Evans. I lost my chart. Can you bring that up John, or not? There we go. Let's go to Francis Bowen Evans. Let's see if we can find that. And then look at the family of Grandma Evans' brothers and sisters. Well, we haven't seen those yet. Well you can't see this, that's OK. My Grandma Evans had five sisters and two brothers. And this is the way I find my cousins. Here's the second way. So I start looking through the families of my Grandma Bowen Evans' family. The second way is to find our cousins to help those around us. We begin with this special booklet of My Family. Now I don't have a copy with it, but is it in our hands? John, do you have that one? No? Who can hold up the My Family book? You got it?

There's one. There's one.

OK. Well, you know what it is. You want to bring me one? OK. You will find a copy of this book, My Family, in a material you receive today. Or for those watching from afar, hopefully you will have access to one. It's already in dozens of languages. If you're family is new to family history, fill it out. Or if you're tree looks like mine, take the booklet to a new member, or someone who hasn't been quite as involved in the Church as your family has been, and help them search out their family. As you do, you will help them bring members of their family to the temple. These are your brothers and sisters, but we also like to call these our cousins. Now, now comes the more fun part of this talk. In video, let me show you how this works. The people you are going to see in this video are some of my family. And here they are person. I want them to stand up. Stand up. Let's throw a light down here. Turn around. This is our daughter, Kristin and her husband Mark. And these are our grandchildren Michael, Courtney, Jason, and John. Now, watch them in this five minute video as they find their cousins.

I'm Kristen. I'm married to Mark. We have six children. We were the kind of people that always thought our family names had all been done, and that there was no one else left to do on the family line. All right Jason, we're on to the last child of James Arline. My name is Jason. Maud Arline? Maud. My name is Michael. Katherina. What? I am Courtney Ebert. Leslie Durant. I think she needs something. She needs something? I thought it was going to be impossible, but it was very easy and not that hard to find a cousin. Do you know anyone named Maud nowadays? No. I found a cousin. You found one? A cousin is someone on our family tree. Oh. Oh, wow. Wow, she had a lot of kids. When I do family history, I choose an ancestor, and then go down to their children and their children. Is that right? 20 children. Nice. Perfect. Just go down their line looking for green arrows. All right. Hey, they've got a picture of Leslie. Yeah. Like the bow tie? He's married. He was married, all right. Green arrows appear on any name who needs their ordinances done. Any cousin who hasn't gotten baptised or sealed to their parents. He needs everything done. Oh, he's never had any of his work done. Well, we can help him with that. Now you could do his baptisms. Can we print it? Yeah, we can do it. That's great. Our stake president invited us over for family hug meeting. He set up an account for us, and we just started finding names. There were almost 100 names that they had found and wanted to do ordinances for. It gave me a warm spiritual feeling that I was helping my cousin get his ordinances done. My 8-year-old son had found a whole family of names. There were five or six names that he had found. And he was so excited, he wanted this work done. So he went to his 13-year-old brother and said, can you take these names to the temple for me and do the baptisms? And that's just not something you say no to. You can't. It definitely makes it a lot more fun to have someone doing it with you, and to get excited with someone else. And we can find the cousins together. And it makes him feel more closer to the cousin and me. It's great. Sometimes after they go to the temple, they'll show us the cards and the ordinances that they did for some of my names. And I just feel so happy, because I realize that I can get my cousins to live with the Heavenly Father again. It's great that my children have led out with this. They were the ones enthusiastic, and if your kids are excited about something, you have to jump in. And the kids had had great success in finding their cousins, but I wanted to be part of this family history work, too. So one day, as I was thinking about the children and their great work, I actually had a thought that I should call Sister Rice. Sister Rice is here. Hey, guys, Sister Rice is here. Sister Rice. Sister Rice was an old friend of our. Hi, sweetie. Hi, hi. She's just the sweetest person in the world. Oh, you've got lipstick on you, David. Oh, my gosh. OK. We invited Sister Rice to do her family history, because we knew that that could bless her life. Sister Ebert sent me a My Family book to find my ancestors, to write their names down, photos, stories, great aunts and uncles, and great grandparents. I am going to help Sister Rice to find her cousins by showing her how to get all those names into the computer. OK, Courtney, that's my grandmother on my dad's side, Miss Ethel. And because I didn't grow up knowing them I called her Miss Ethel, and my grandfather, Mr. Tom. And what was the year of her birth? 1904. And Courtney was able to connect them, in the family tree. And it leads to so many branches. I have found my great great grandfather, who, I didn't even know his name. I have found him. You see the green arrow? Yes. If you scroll over that, it says, request ordinances. OK. And then print. This is so cool. Between the two of us, I felt like I was doing family history work, even though it wasn't on my own family, I kind of felt like I was helping my cousins. I think everyone can find their cousins. You're really never done. I always yell, I found a cousin. Even if you feel like there are no names possible, there's always going to be something out there to do, and someone to get work done for them.

We're going to go to the temple, and I'm going to get to do her names. And that's going to be a lot of fun, too.

Doing the baptisms for Sister Rice's family was a great opportunity. And there's such a great spirit. And I'm so glad I got to do it. I found my great grandfather's name, and I was able to do a baptismal for him, through someone else, but it was done anyway! And I never knew him. I never knew his name. And it's just amazing. And I'm glad. I'm truly glad. I knew what a big deal this was to Sister Rice. And to know how great she felt about it was a big thing to me.

Why don't we have the Ebert family stand, and we're give them a hand, again. [APPLAUSE] Are you learning how to find your cousins? Let's get the idea stronger in your mind by listening to a new song, written just for today, and performed by youths who are here in our audience. It's titled, "Find Your Cousins." and get ready to sing along.

[MUSIC, "FIND YOUR COUSINS"] (SINGING) When I started on my family history, where to begin became such a mystery, 'cause everybody tried to tell me it was done. I couldn't believe that nobody was missing. What is it possible that we were dismissing someone really important in our life? 'Cause every single face on my tree came a from a larger family.

There's a lot of people that my eyes can't see, but I won't forget they're a part of me. And I'm gonna find, I gonna find my cousins. A grandma and grandpa and my great great greats are just the beginning of the work that waits, and I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins.

Wo, wo, wo, wo, wo. We're gonna find our cousins.

I felt assured that I found in my labors, I had to go out and meet my neighbors, see if maybe I can't help find their kin. In every line there were fathers and mothers, folks I cared about, sisters and brothers. And I was happier than I had ever been. 'Cause every single person we see is part of our Father's family.

There's a lot of people that my eyes can't see, but I won't forget they're a part of me and I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. My grandma and grandpa, and my great great greats are just the beginning of a work that waits and I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. Wo, wo, wo, wo. We're gonna find our cousins.

We stand and know when nothing can take our place, 'cause some day we will meet these people face to face. This is our time when we're prepared to do our part to labor with all of our hearts. All right, now you got to sing along. I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. Sing with us. I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. Come on, I can't hear you. Oh, oh, ah. I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. Wo, oh, wo, oh. I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. 'Cause there's a lot of people that my eyes can't see, but I won't forget they're a part of me. And I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. This is our day! My grandma and grandpa and my great great greats are just the beginning of a work that waits. And I'm gonna find, I'm gonna find my cousins. This is our day! Wo, wo, wo, wo. We're gonna find our cousins. This is our day. That same thing, y'all. This is our day. Wo, wo, wo, wo. We're gonna find our cousins. This is our day. This is our day. Wo wo wo wo. we're gonna find our cousins, oh, oh, find our cousins. This is our day. We're gonna find our cousins. This is our day. Gonna find our cousins.

[APPLAUSE] Tia, Tia. Micah, Micah.

I couldn't see the older people in the front swaying very much, but in the back, I could see it. Let's thank Tia Thompson and Micah Rindlisbacher for these wonderful soloists of ours. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, very much. Thank you.

Ross Booth, who composed the words and music of the song is here. Would you please stand up, Ross? Where are you? There he is. [APPLAUSE] And they were kind enough to put it on LDS.org. It's there now. You can download it on the way home. Isn't that a great song? [APPLAUSE] We're now going to give you a demonstration of finding our cousins. Let me introduce you to another of my favorite grandchildren, Clayton Hadlock. He's a senior in Bountiful High School and just received his mission call to Fortaleza, Brazil. That's where the-- [APPLAUSE] Clayton is the technology specialist in our family, so he's going to help us show this demonstration. I found some things in our family history that I like to show you all, starting with this really cool website called the Puzzilla.org. It will help us find missing people on our family tree, our cousins. Great! Let's share the screen so everybody can see. Now right over here, this is my mouse. And this is my mouse. I used my LDS account to log into Puzzila. It scanned our tree and made this fan. Males are the blue squares, females are the red dots. This is me. There you are. And this is you. Where am I? There we are. There he is. There we go. And all these red and blue squares are ancestors in our direct line. But we're looking for our cousins. So let's pick one. Let's go back to this ancestor, your second great grandfather, and my fourth great grandfather, Jorgen Christian Andersen. You can see how we're connected. Now this is the power of Puzzila. You can click on Jorgen's square and see his descendants from his point of view. Let's do that, and see what we have. Puzzila is now accessing Family Search, and pulling in the information. Jorgen moves into the center spot, and all of these lines are his descendants. This is our line. And that's you. And these are all of our cousins. I'm going to zoom in here, so we can get better look. Jorgen is here in the center, again. And this first circle of dots and squares are all his children. And the lines that come from them are their children. If there are no lines, that means that Family Search has no information about their children. So what we're going to do is to see if there any records that would suggest that Jorgen has more grandchildren that we don't know about. Pappy, why don't we choose one of Jorgen's grandchildren? OK. Let's check in this daughter right here. Well, it looks like she was less than 16 years old when she died. We can tell, because it has that little yellow box there. She probably wasn't married, and didn't have children, because she was so young. Let's pick another sibling. OK, how about over to the right, and pick her sister, there. Is that her sister? It looks like her name is Karen Jorgensdotter. That should work. Now let's click on her dot and that will lead us to her person page on familysearch.org.

Hm. All right. Now this is her person page. What we need to do is make sure that she is the right person. It looks like she was born in 1831. Good. Her parents names are Jorgen and Anna, and her husband's name is Niels. This is great. I think this is our Karen.

Now we need to find a record that can give us the missing information and prove that they did have children. It's easy to search for the record straight from the person page, using the Search Records button. Just right there. Pappy, go ahead and click the Search Records button. This will search for any records that match Karen's information. OK. Here we go. Wow, that's a lot of records. Do we start at the top of the list, and just go down? Well, you could do that. But I don't think the first one is the best one to look at. See, in this one, her husband's name is Christian, not Niels, so she's probably not the right Karen. The search uses information in Family Search, but it's possible that other people with the same name could show up in the results. But if you look at the second record, the husband's name is Neils, so that's probably the right one. This is so exciting, because this is a christening record from 1857. A christening is when a baby is baptized, and is often used a record of birth. Karen was 25 years old at this point, so it's not her christening, so it must be the christening of a child. And that means that she had children. So let's go ahead and see that record. OK. This is so cool. The Family Search website provides a summary of the record called an Index. It says that Karen and Neils's daughter was christened on January 18, 1857 at St Michael Church, in Slagelse, Denmark. Her name is Carolina Vilhelmina Christiansen. Now, Pappy, here's the cool thing. The church has a website that we can go to and see pictures of the church. Wow. I found this picture of the church and the baptismal font on Flickr. They still use it today, just like they did 160 years ago. That's amazing. Can we look at the record, itself? Yes we can. We just click on the View Document button and look for the christening record of Carolina Vilhelmina Christensen, the daughter of Karen and Niels. Go ahead, Pappy, click.

Hm. So here's the record, and here's Karen, her daughter, and her daughter Carolina. Imagine, here it is in the actual handwriting of the pastor who performed the christening almost 160 years ago in that church in Denmark. Pappy, by clicking on this record, you have found our cousin. And now we can offer her the ordinances of the temple. Wow. That's terrific. That's great. Thank you, Clayton. You know, Pappy, I've already gone through this family and found three other children, Anna Maria, Niels Peter Otto, and Christina. I've already added them to the tree, and here they are, right there. Wow, and look at that. They have green arrows. Now, as a family, we can go to the temple for all of them. You know, Pappy, even though our family has been in the Church for many generations, there are numerous cousins be found. I'll bet this is true with every family. It is true, Clayton. We all have cousins waiting for their work. Let's give Clayton a thank you for his demonstration. [APPLAUSE] And the man who developed the software for Puzzila is here, as well, Brother Bill Harton, where are you? Here he is, right here. Turn around Brother Harton. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Thank you, so very, very much. My dear friends, we are all brothers and sisters in our Father's family. Our own families are not randomly thrown together. President Monson has said, we discover something about ourselves when we learn about our ancestors. When we see ourselves in the perspective of our family, those who came before us and those who come after us, we realize how we are part of a wonderful link that connects us all together. As we search them out and take their names to the temple, we bring to them something they cannot obtain without us. And in doing so, we are connected to them. And the Lord, through His Spirit, confirms to our soul the eternal importance of doing what we're doing. President Monson has said about temple work, those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price is too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. I add to his words, that blessings and power from on high await our family members who have gone before us, as they accept the ordinances we perform for them in the holy temples. They have finished their mortality, but they continue to live. We become saviors on Mount Zion, and are bound together with them forever. These are your days. You were born in a time of temples and technology. These are your days to more fully turn your hearts to your Father's and bring these saving ordinances to those within your family. These are your days to prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior.

As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I invoke a blessing upon all within the sound of my voice. As you seek to contribute to this sacred work, both by finding those needing ordinances, and then beginning their work in the temple, yo9ur own knowledge and faith in the Savior will increase. And you will receive a more certain witness that life continues beyond the veil. I know that life continues beyond the veil. I know it.

I testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He lives. His glorious Atonement allows these ordinances in the temple to last forever. And I so witness of it, and leave my love with you. And express my thankfulness for you. And assure you that this is His holy work upon the earth. That President Monson is his prophet, and that this power of the priesthood that is exercised in these temples will continue with us forever. And I so witness it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

We would like to think Elder Andersen for sharing his message with us today. We would like to thank all of you for coming, and making this a wonderful experience. We have all been asked to help with the great work of connecting our family, past, present, and future. And we hope that today you have learned some way that you can do that. We hope that this Spirit has touched you and taught you about something you can do to help. We hope that you'll remember today, that we all have the responsibility to find our cousins and to be key in connecting our families. Let's all accept the challenge to find our cousins. Our closing prayer today will be offered by Sam Black.

Dear Heavenly Father, we're so very grateful for this day. We're so grateful for the Spirit that we able to feel today. Pray the Savior to take what we have learned today and apply it to our daily lives. And plus that we will, too, return home in safety. And I say these things in the name of Christ. Amen. Amen.

Elder Andersen Youth Devotional: Find Our Cousins

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Youth devotional with Elder Neil L. Andersen on family history.
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