“Connect,” New Era, January 2020, 38–39
Connect
Photograph by Randy Collier
I really like participating in the Children and Youth program because I get to set my own goals to accomplish.
For one of my goals, I chose to find family names and perform baptisms for the dead for them. It took a lot of work to learn how to do family history, but I felt so happy every time I found a new name to take to the temple.
Once I got the hang of it, I just kept going and going because it was so fun. Soon I had too many names to do by myself. So a whole bunch of my cousins and I all went to the temple with the names I found, and together we did baptisms and confirmations for 172 people.
My parents are working on finishing the rest of the temple ordinances for those people, which is cool because I feel like my whole family is on a team! Our goal is to help as many of our ancestors as we can.
Doing family history has helped me become closer to both my living family and my ancestors. I’m happy that I completed my goal, and now I hope to make an even more challenging goal so I can keep accomplishing more.
Eldon M., 13, Ohio, USA
I like to sing and act, and I enjoy using those talents to bring the Spirit to others. I also love spending time with my pets. My favorite Book of Mormon story is when Christ visits the Americas and how He talked about how he will “gather [us] as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings” (3 Nephi 10:6). It reminds me of how much He loves me.
Brenna W., 16, Indiana, USA
I love to play the saxophone, do family history, and spend time at the lake. I’m the only member of the Church in my entire high school, and it can be really hard. But I realized that being a disciple of Christ is part of my identity, and sharing Christ’s light with the people around me has helped me strengthen my testimony a lot. It’s good to be bold and defend what we believe. It’s good to stand out.
Sarah J., 17, Wisconsin, USA