Family History Helped Me Find a Greater Sense of Belonging

By Xóchitl Bott Rivera

Church Magazines

I was able to find deeper connections through miracles in my family history work.

I remember my mother recounting the story of her family’s situation back in Mexico. She told us how her father’s land of inheritance was stolen by a relative and how her father never knew his own grandfather. And the story always ended with the sad account of a gang coming and burning her family’s house and everything inside to the ground—including their family history records.

I thought all our genealogical information on my mother’s side was gone for good.

Every time I opened FamilySearch, I could only go back a couple generations on her side. But because of diligent family history work, we could trace my father’s line as far back as 300 BC. The difference was staggering! But I thought there was no work I could do, so I didn’t touch our family tree for over 10 years. My ancestors were like a forgotten memory that didn’t need revisiting.

But I’ve learned that there are powerful blessings that come from getting to know our ancestors.

Finding Belonging—and Healing

I love what Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said about doing family history work:

“When we die, we don’t cease to exist. ...

“Still very much alive, our ancestors deserve to be remembered. We remember our heritage through oral histories, clan records and family stories, memorials or places of remembrance, and celebrations with photos, foods, or items which remind us of loved ones.”¹

This reminder was the main reason why I decided to try to find more information on my ancestors. It couldn’t hurt to try, right? I even noticed that I’d get a burning feeling in my heart that prompted me to check a specific family line. (I now realize it was the Spirit, obviously.)

Every time I followed these promptings, I would subsequently find an ancestor whose ordinances needed to be completed at the temple. And as I continued to find them, I felt my bond with my ancestors beginning to grow. I suddenly realized how real they are and how real our connection is. As I did my family history, I felt as though my ancestors were right there with me, helping me make progress.

I only had the oral and limited written histories of my mother’s family to go on. But since “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (see Alma 37:6), that little information was what I needed to invite a miracle for my family.

As I slowly added to my mother’s family tree, I received a message from someone I didn’t know on FamilySearch. A maternal family name I had sent to the temple was reserved by this person, and they asked me for help to find more information about their family.

Temple names can only be reserved by descendants of that name, meaning I was related to this person messaging me. I was astounded! My family had always believed that we were the only members of the Church on my mother’s side and that no one from her side lived in the USA. But we were wrong.

This person turned out to be a distant cousin—their family immigrated to the United States almost 40 years before my mother did and are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. By what can only be described as a miracle, they contacted me right when they were visiting my state, and we had the opportunity to meet each other.

We shed tears when we finally saw each other. As we shared our stories, we realized that we had so much more in common than we’d thought. There is something about finding long-lost family members that makes my heart grow with love—a love that has the power to heal loneliness and discouragement and remind me of my divine identity and eternal connections.

The Importance of Our Ancestors’ Stories

I have felt such joy through this work. As Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, “Any sacrifice we make in the Lord’s cause helps to confirm our place with Him who gave His life a ransom for many.”²

The blessings available to us when we do family history work are “breathtakingly amazing because of their scope, specificity, and consequence in mortality,”³ as Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared. The Lord blessed my family with relatives who could help us feel a bit closer to home and ease some of the loneliness we’ve been feeling.

I believe that this kind of miracle is possible for everyone to experience if they give family history a try.