Lifey breaks video journaling down to digestible bite-sized clips
Journaling is taking on a new look. Whereas keeping a journal used to require hours of writing or typing, Lifey is inviting people to share their life history verbally. Lifey is a new company in Provo, Utah, that invites people to record their life history on video for free. Alex Balinski, who also started the Prepare […]
5 ways to enhance temple worship from home
Temple worship is essential for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the temple, faithful members learn more about the plan of salvation, make sacred covenants and draw closer to God. But at certain times — like during the summer — when schedules are particularly packed and weeks go by quickly, it […]
5 family history tools even teenagers will love
Let’s face it — historically, family history has been for old people. But not anymore. In years past, genealogy has required a significant investment of time and effort that younger people just couldn’t afford. But today, billions of records are easily searchable online. This change has enabled people both old and young to succeed in family history work […]
5 FamilySearch hacks to help you find temple names faster
At RootsTech 2015, Elder Neil L. Andersen expanded his previous challenge — which was for Church members to “prepare as many names for the temple as you perform baptisms in the temple”—to include teaching others to do the same. With this extra focus on temples and family history, many Church members wonder what they can do […]
10 celebrities you’ll see at RootsTech ’15
RootsTech is the largest genealogical conference in the world with thousands of attendees — from professional genealogists to occasional hobbyists — from around the world. But if a genealogical conference sounds stale, you’ve never been to RootsTech. RootsTech 2014 brought over 9,000 attendees (including 4,000 youth) from 49 states, six Canadian provinces and 31 countries. Live-streaming […]
Building momentum: FamilySearch in ’14 (and what to expect in 2015)
More missionaries are serving in the mission field today than ever before — 88,000, which would have accounted for the entire Church membership in 1869. Twenty-six temples have been announced or are under construction today — the same number as the total temples in the world at the end of 1983. In like manner, family history work has […]
7 non-traditional ways to record your family’s history
Remember your Grandma’s “Book of Remembrance”? Or your father’s detailed, daily journal? Those are great ways for recording important events, but they’re by no means the only options available anymore. If writing for several minutes every night isn’t your style, try one of these creative ways for preserving your family’s story. 1. Photo books Digital […]
5 questions every family should ask their grandparents
Family history work is about more than dates and places, though those facts are important. It’s about more than providing temple ordinances, though sealing families together is certainly the end goal. In its purest form, family history work is about strengthening family ties through the generations—doing the work necessary to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart […]
Free subscriptions to Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, findmypast available to LDS Church members
In an ongoing effort to make genealogical records available to Church members, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made an agreement with three major partners — Ancestry.com, MyHeritage and findmypast — to provide premium subscriptions free of charge to all Church members. A limited number of Church members have already received subscriptions, […]
How to prepare family names for the temple in 5 easy steps
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are finishers. Mormons are a fully invested bunch, serving full–time missions, paying a full tithe and striving for the full and abundant life. But there’s one aspect of gospel living many Church members are doing only halfway. “Temple and family history work is one work divided into two […]
Magnify and simplify: Resources to help with 10 church callings
As the new year begins, many Church members are seeking to do better, to be better, to be more, to do more. Church members are asked to magnify their callings, after all. But Elder M. Russell Ballard clarified that teaching. “The instruction to magnify our callings is not a command to embellish and complicate them,” he said. “To innovate does […]
5 New Year’s resolutions from the prophets
The most popular New Year’s Resolution in the United States last year was to eat healthy and exercise regularly. “Learn something new,” “get organized” and “read more” rounded out the list. As worthwhile as those goals might be, none of them are listed below as resolutions for 2014. We’ve dipped into recent General Conference […]
5 steps toward learning to love family history
Let’s play the word-association game. When we say “Family History” what’s the first word that comes to mind? Boredom? Guilt? Nothing but crickets? You’re not alone. Family history is important— this we know. But sometimes it’s hard to feel that importance deeply and personally in a way that motivates us to actually do it. Here […]
Studio Ciao
Matt Meese, an actor and writer on Studio C, is constantly dreaming up new characters to become on BYUtv’s sketch comedy show. When Ancestry.com offered to research his family tree’s cast of characters, Matt’s shoulder angel asked, ‘Who do you think you are?’ “I haven’t done a lot of family history work myself but […]