Talk in Sacrament Meeting

About 20 minutes after returning from our trip, the 2nd counselor of the Bishopric caught me on the phone and asked me to talk in Sacrament Meeting the next Sunday. The topic: Family History. I thought I'd share.

I was asked to speak on Family History today. My first thought on this topic was of course the countless pedigree charts I’ve filled out from me to my great grandparents, which is rather easy to do, since most people know who their grandparents were. But how people go beyond that is quite a daunting task to me, and one I didn’t think I could learn in a few days. I do remember going to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City when I was younger, probably around 9, and typing in my maternal grandfather’s name. I thought it was pretty cool how all these names were connected to him, as well as to my grandmother. I learned then that some of my mother’s lines go back all the way to the 1500 or 1600s. I also learned that somehow I’m related to John Adams, second president of the United States, through his cousin Samuel Adams. How I could add to this vast Family History with absolutely no experience befuddled me.

While preparing for this talk I found an article by Boyd K. Packer entitled “Your Family History: Getting Started”. Isn’t that the perfect title? President Packer states “If you don’t know where to start, start with yourself. If you don’t know what records to get, and how to get them, start with what you have.” This simple way to start working on your family history seemed so much simpler than jumping in to find some long lost name from 1682 that’s missing.

President Packer also offers a simple solution on how to gather your information, he says, “Get a cardboard box. Any kind of a box will do. Put it someplace where it is in the way, perhaps on the couch or on the counter in the kitchen—anywhere where it cannot go unnoticed. Then, over a period of a few weeks, collect and put into the box every record of your life, such as your birth certificate, your certificate of blessing, your certificate of baptism, your certificate of ordination, and your certificate of graduation. Collect diplomas, all of the photographs, honors, or awards, a diary if you have kept one, everything that you can find pertaining to your life; anything that is written, or registered, or recorded that testifies that you are alive and what you have done.

Don’t try to do this in a day. Take some time on it. Most of us have these things scattered around here and there. Some of them are in a box in the garage under that stack of newspapers; others are stored away in drawers, or in the attic, or one place or another. Perhaps some have been tucked in the leaves of the Bible or elsewhere.”

Reading this, it occurred to me that I brought back a giant 18 gallon Rubbermaid container at Christmas time from my parents’ house labeled “Charisse’s memories”. I thought I’d share with you some of the things I found. Stacked on top were 6 journals. I started writing in a journal when I was about 12, and have kept one ever since. Sometimes I’ll write every day, other times every few months, it was my best friend when I was a teenager and didn’t quite know who I could talk to about certain things in my life. There was a whole string of ribbons from when I did Summer Swim Team. I also found my baby book where I figured out that at 9 months my daughter, Samantha, was as big as I was at 1 year. There were stories I had written in 8th grade, and all of my most important school reports. One report I found that was especially interesting was my autobiography I wrote in 5th grade. Here are some excerpts:

I started the report writing, “I was born at a very early age—so young that I cannot remember, and so I had to ask my parents about life before I was born and after I was born in order to explain the whole story of my life. In fact, remembering different events in my life helps me to know who I am, where I came from, and what is possibly in store for me in the future.

My parents met in college. They lived in the same apartment complex when they went to BYU…One year they went to the same dance. My father asked my mom to dance. They started to date. They dated for about one year then got married.”

This next excerpt I thought was just funny, “I cry a lot. When I get hurt, when I miss someone, and even sometimes when I’m happy I can cry. Most kids cry for these same reasons. Some adults do, too. I mean if an adult or kid is giving a talk and is very happy, they will start to cry. I’ve seen lots of people do this. About everyone cries when they miss someone a lot. Kids cry when they get hurt. In my house with five children, someone gets hurt every day, so there is a lot of crying in my house.”

This next one is from the “in the future” section of the autobiography.“What I think it means to love someone is that the boy has a good attitude towards you and he likes you and you like him. If this is true then you can go out. To love I think is not to think someone is cute or he thinks you’re cure. You shouldn’t go out with anyone that treats you like an insect.

When I grow up I want to get married. You should love the person you are getting married to and he should love you. If you want a kid you should have a kid. But if you don’t want one forget about it and don’t try.”

So life is very interesting through a 10-year-old’s eyes. I’m sure my kids will love to read this someday and laugh at how silly their mom was when she was 10.

Another thing I found was this calendar. It’s from 2005, the year Stephen and I met, dated, and got married. Stephen and I met out at BYU while we were both studying Mechanical Engineering. We were actually participating in an extra-curricular activity called the Mini-Baja. A sort of dune buggy type car that we designed, built and then raced against 100 other universities. Well, in this calendar, for some reason I started writing the things I did that day before I went to bed. Some days say “hung out” or “watched some movie”. June 18th says “rafted down Provo river”, that was cold. I do not recommend rafting down the Provo River in June. Anyway, it’s a sort of unorthodox way to keep track of dates and it’s sort of funny because it’s my entire courtship on a few pages. I even wrote down the first time Stephen said “I love you”.However, there aren’t any thoughts written down its just facts of things we did.

President Packer says that once you have gathered everything you think you have “make some space on a table, or even on the floor, and sort out all that you have collected. Divide your life into three periods…children, youth, adult…put together every record in chronological order….once you have done this, you have what is necessary to complete your life story. Simply take your birth certificate and begin writing….After you’ve made the outline of your life history to date, what do you do with all the materials you have collected? That, of course, brings you to your book of remembrance…” he later states “Some very interesting things will start to happen once you show some interest in your own family history work. It is a firm principle. There are many, many testimonies about it. It will happen to you.”

Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander Of the Seventy said “Genealogies, family stories, historical accounts, and traditions… form a bridge between past and future and bind generations together in a way that no other keepsake can.”

Elder Neuenschwander mentions three different types of bridges. First, family history builds bridges between the generations of our families. Family history research provides the emotional bridge between generations.

A generational bridge I witnessed was at my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration. For a gift, my father had taken all of my grandparents’ old slides that had been sitting in their closet, some had never been opened, and he had them digitized. He also printed out some pictures of his parents wedding day, and the 6 kids growing up and then I made them into a scrapbook. I have never seen my aunts and uncles so fascinated by pictures. I don’t think my father or his siblings had ever seen candid pictures of themselves when they were little, and the grandkids also liked seeing the old photographs. I had also never seen a picture of my grandfather without white hair, since he was white by the time he was 30.

Moving beyond the living I saw a generational bridge begin a few summers ago when attending a family reunion for my mother-in-law’s family. Each family beforehand had gathered some type of family story to share. Most did little slide shows of some pictures. The stories we had, had been compiled by one of Stephen’s sisters. For whatever reason, we decided that we’d reenact some stories. I was to be Merie, Stephen’s grandmother, and Stephen was his grandfather, Tom, in a reenactment of how they met. The story goes that they were at a dance and Tom asked Merie to dance, but she didn’t want to because she didn’t know how. She ended up dancing with him anyway and stepped on his toes numerous times. The kids absolutely loved watching the movie. And I think they were able to see that their great-grandparents were real people too. I also gained a little insight into these two people that Stephen knew, but I had never met.

Second, family history builds bridges to activity in the church. Elder Neuenschwander says, “Family history work solidifies converts and strengthens all members of the Church. Family history research and the preparation of names for the temple can be most valuable in the retention of new members. Faith and confidence grow as family members are included in the saving ordinances of the gospel.”

President Packer said, “Family history work has the power to do something for the dead. It has an equal power to do something to the living. Family history work of Church members has a refining, spiritualizing, tempering influence on those who are engaged in it. They understand that they are tying their family together, their living family here with those who have gone before.”

After reading or hearing stories about our own ancestors, we begin to feel a bond with them. Then, we can take those names to the temple. Which brings me to the third bridge, family history builds bridges to the temple. Elder Neuenschwander says,” Temple ordinances are the priesthood ratification of the connection that we have already established in our hearts.”

President Hinckley once said, “All of our vast family history endeavor is directed to temple work. There is no other purpose for it.”

So for everyone who thinks family history work is too daunting of a task, follow President Packer’s advice and begin with yourself. As we make ourselves available to the Lord to do his work, we have been promised his help. We can remember the principle taught by Nephi, “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.” We don’t know what names we’ll find to be submitted to the temple, but we may find some interesting stories binding us to previous generations and building our heritage.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


I found out after church that the Bishop's wife, who was teaching in Young Womens decided that my 10 year old self had a good quote. She was teaching the "dating" lesson in Young Womens and after Sacrament Meeting found some little bug thing and wrote on it "Don't Date someone that treats you like and insect" There were a few other people talking about the same quote. What can I say? You don't want to date someone who treats you like an insect.