“Why is family history work so important?” Friend, July 2013, 44
Special Witness
Why is family history work so important?
Adapted from “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn,” Ensign, Nov. 2011, 24–27.
The members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ.
The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that our “greatest responsibility in this world … is to seek after our dead.”1
Family history is a vital part of the work of salvation and exaltation.
We have the covenant responsibility to search out our ancestors and provide for them the saving ordinances of the gospel.
I invite the youth of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah.2
I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the temple for your kindred dead.
As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers.
Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase.
You will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.
Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding.
Illustration by Adam Koford