Personal Progress - I stuck it out and did it.

With the upcoming 2020 changes to the programs and resources for girls, boys, young women and young men there is much that is unknown and anticipation for the potential for growth and good that will come from the new initiative for youth ages 8-18.  One of the unknowns is how or if the current Personal Progress program for Young Women will look or exist.  Our Stake Young Women President, Jennifer Ipsen, is encouraging young women and sisters who are currently engaged in the Personal Progress program to stay engaged and complete the requirements for earning the Young Womanhood Recognition before January 2020 arrives.

Sister Ipsen recently shared with me a note that one of our stake sisters, Debra Burt, shared about her experiences in completing her Personal Progress.  Sister Ipsen sent it to me with this preface:

Debra Burt recently sent me the following note about her journey to finish her Personal Progress.  As I read it, I thought it might be able to help inspire some of the sisters in our Stake to help their daughters finish Personal Progress before the changes occur.  I also think it’s a great lesson on setting a goal and striving to finish it no matter how long it takes.  Debbie is a great example to me and as a side note - her persistence and experience helped inspire me to recently finish Personal Progress for a second time too. She would check in with me every once in a while to report her progress and so I thought to myself, I want to finish mine too! And I did!

With Sister Burt's permission, I am sharing her experience here:

It took me six years to complete my Personal Progress a second time around.  It feels good to say that I've completed it.  A lot of good things have come into my life because of pursuing this goal.  One of my best experiences was reading and studying PREACH MY GOSPEL while Claralyn and Ben were serving their missions. It really connected me to their mission experiences. The hardest goal to accomplish was memorizing the sacrament prayers. I really found it a challenge to do in my busy life as a teacher.  But I figured out a mental game to help me get it down perfectly.  Don't ask me now, though, to say them again perfectly without giving me time to practice!  

Because of taking so long to complete the value experiences and projects, I felt like a failure, like a person who can never complete anything I start.  It just hung over my head saying "You can't finish!"  I fought that feeling by continuing to work at it in concentrated chunks.  Even though there would be months of nothing done, I would pick it up and work on my goals some more. Once, I lost my Personal Progress book for three months and thought I would have to give up, it being my only record.  Then I found it in the church lost and found and started again. This time I used the online app as well as a written record.  I'd think I'd finish each summer when I wasn't teaching. I wouldn't finish, but then I would be back at it the following summer. Though it took awhile, I feel so much better about myself to know that I stuck it out and did it.  

Last, the value of pursuing this goal was making a record of many spiritual experiences over the years it took to complete.  I am grateful to have that, as my journal writing was practically non-existent.  Lots happened over the six years including the death of my mother, the two children serving missions, different callings and family history work I was able to do besides some career experiences.  So many good reasons for me to have done this.

I asked Sister Ipsen if she had any specifics regarding Personal Progress and the new initiative and what she considered the best resource for young women and sisters completing their Personal Progress.  Here is her response:

The best reference for resources is online Personal Progress. You can keep your own journal and no one can see if but you. It links you to all the scriptures mentioned and helps keep track of completed experiences and projects. It’s a great resource!  Here’s the link: https://www.lds.org/young-women/personal-progress?lang=eng  There is a deadline for when “changes” will take place in the Personal Progress program. It is Jan 1, 2020. They haven’t announced what the changes will be yet. So we are encouraging all our young women to stay actively engaged in Personal Progress in the meantime.

Thank you to both these sisters for sharing their experiences with us.  Progress is progress regardless how slowly we are moving.  I am reminded of a talk by Elder Larry R. Lawrence "What Lack I Yet?" from October 2015 General Conference.  He said, "To Him our direction is more important than our speed."  What a very hopeful thought!

For more information on the upcoming changes and the new initiative for youth you can follow these links:
https://www.lds.org/youth/childrenandyouth?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/church/news/church-announces-plan-for-worldwide-initiative-for-children-and-youth?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/06/initiative-will-bless-children-youth?lang=eng
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/new-program-children-youth
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/faith-christ-strengthened-new-children-youth-outdoor-activities

-Lorie Pierce

Finding my Family

Guest Post by Mary Jean Sokolowsky
edited by Tamela Terry

Like some of you, I didn't start out loving family history. In the ward where I grew up, there was an older woman who would get up every Fast Sunday and bear her testimony on family history. She encouraged people to come to the family history center, but I just thought it was boring and something for older people. As a child, I thought the family history center was a boring place where we had to be quiet and not touch anything. Sometimes on Sundays we had lessons on family history. Teachers would hand out a family tree and tell us to go home and fill it out. I thought to myself, “Why? I already have a family tree. What's the point of filling it out again?” The first time I did baptisms in the Chicago Illinois Temple and we did baptisms for people from Mexico. They were all named Maria. I wondered why I should care about them; I didn't know them. After I moved to Utah to go to college, I went to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City a few times to try and learn about my family. I was afraid to ask for help and so I spent my time looking in the Census Index books, but I did not find my ancestors. I don't even think I was looking for the right people in the right location or time period, because I didn't know what I was doing and I was too shy to ask for help.

I did have some good childhood experiences with family history that helped me to love it. My dad's side of the family is well documented. In fact many of the families have books written about them. I would sit and read family history details to my dad while he typed the information into the computer. In a desk drawer, my parents also had file folders where they stored documents and letters for each ancestral couple. I didn't know at the time what they were, but I remember them being there and that they were important to my parents. I also remember family reunions, meeting family members for the first time, who knew me, even though I didn't know them. Then, as a Laurel in Young Women's, I chose to organize a family reunion for my dad's family. I felt I didn't know his side very well and wanted to learn more about them. All these experiences prepared me for the next stage in my family history journey.

I attended Brigham Young University for college and it took me three times to get into the very competitive nursing program. While waiting, I had two extra semesters in which to take general education classes and some electives like organ, music conducting, extra religion classes. My dad suggested that I take family history so we could find out more about my mom's family who came from Michigan, Missouri, Indiana. In the late 70's and early 80's my mom had written letters to various organizations and archives requesting vital records about her family. She had gone back a few generations, but not much more.

In my class, I learned how to search the US Federal Census with the old index books and Soundex. I learned how to focus on a specific research question and how to identify what records might give me the answer. I learned how to keep a research log. I learned how to use the Family History Library catalog, the old International Genealogical Index (IGI), Personal Ancestral File (PAF), and Temple Ready. This made my subsequent trips to the Family History Library much more successful.

During my time at BYU, I made so much more family history progress! I found my ancestors listed on census records. I found family marriage certificates. I learned that one of my ancestors was the clerk of his church, so all of the church records were in his handwriting! I even made my first leap “across the pond” into England and found my family there. To this day, I remember the first time finding my family in an 1850 US Federal Census book for Indiana. I realized that I could be successful in finding my family and that it was fun. Most importantly, I began realizing that these were real people whose lives and stories mattered. The work had take hold of me.

By the end of that family history class, I had my own family names ready for temple work. Instead of doing temple for strangers, I was doing temple work for relatives whose names and vital information I had found myself. I knew who they were, they were my family members, and I could remember which records I found them on. My temple experiences became much more meaningful and purposeful.

 After graduating and moving to Maryland in 1999, my family history work came to a standstill for awhile. The Internet was in its infancy and not really useful yet. Going to the Family History Centers to order films was tedious and very time-consuming. I would wait for weeks to get the film I wanted and by the time it showed up, I had forgotten why I ordered it! So I didn't do a lot of research during this time. However, I loved serving in the temple as an ordinance worker for several years. By this time, the Internet was actually useful and FamilySearch was up and running.

I was home taking care young children by then and I needed something to do besides clean. So I took up my research again and started cleaning up my family and the new.familysearch.org website. This was FamilySearch's first attempt at creating the online family tree. The records weren't even out yet, but bit by bit, people started indexing and now we have a treasure trove of records we don't even have to search for. They automatically come to us.

One of those automatic record hints showed on my second great-grandfather. It suggested he had a second marriage in Iowa, which was strange since his family was in New York. His son had written a book about the family and there was no mention of his father remarrying or having another family. After further digging, I found my second great grandfather did marry a second time, and had children. On findagrave.com, I found a picture of his daughter from that second marriage and I was stunned-she looked just like my grandmother. I also discovered his granddaughter was buried in Bladensburg, Maryland. I recently visited her grave site. She was only four when she died and her parents moved away after she died. All of a sudden my far-away family seemed to be closer.

Now that FamilySearch.org is now an integrated website with Memories, the Family Tree, the Records and Indexing, it's so much easier to find the family history experience you need. You can choose how you want to be involved in your own family and in helping others. You can post pictures and documents to share with others, you can index and make records available to others, you can even do old-fashioned research.

 For the last several years, my focus has been in descendancy research for my own and others' families. That means that instead of working back further and further into history, I've begun researching forward from various points on my family tree, investigating the descendants of my ancestors. By finding all the descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on) of one of your ancestral couples, you can identify and connect with distant cousins, locate family documents and photos, share stories, and collaborate on research projects.

Descendancy is a great option for those who feel like all of their main genealogy lines have been found. Unless you are a convert, come from outside the United States, or brand new to family history, most of us have established family trees. This can make it difficult to find family members who still need temple work. I'm here to tell you, it can be done. Descendancy research can help you identify opportunities for temple work. Ask me or your ward family history consultant for help. We can look at your tree before we meet with you and find the areas to work that will give you the experience you want. Family history research can be a rewarding work, no matter what stage of like you're in or how much research is already done on your family.

Church records in the handwriting of my ancestor Joseph Sweetman Wagoner

My grandmother Jean Waterbury

My great great grandfather's daughter Ruth Annabelle Waterbury

Me at Ruth's daughter's Evelyn's gravesite

Ministering - Simple Acts of Service

As much as I would love to have one really beautiful, life-changing experience to share about ministering, what keeps coming to mind are the dozens of quiet acts of kindness that I see all the time…usually done without an assignment, just loving responses of those who observed a need.  As Jean Bingham observed, “Sometimes we think we have to do something grand and heroic to ‘count’ as serving our neighbors. Yet simple acts of service can have profound effects on others—as well as on ourselves.”

As a new Relief Society President, I often feel overwhelmed by the burden of attempting to keep track of all the needs of the sisters in the ward.  I am constantly making phone calls and visits, trying to meet with the sisters and better understand their struggles. I should know better by now than to feel like I am alone in these efforts; I have lost track of the number of times when I have reached out to a sister because I was concerned about her, and the response is, “Oh! Sister So-and-so was just here!” or “Sister So-and-so just called me!”  This touches me every time.  This is real ministering: going about behind the scenes, watching out for each other.

This recent chain of events is very typical of the type of ministering I see all the time in our ward:

About a month ago, Sister Rita had hip surgery.  I was not able to visit her in the hospital; however, Sister Della took it upon herself to make sure her friend was not alone in this ordeal.  Della accompanied Rita to the hospital, stayed long enough to make sure she was okay, visited her frequently throughout the following days, and accompanied her home.  And, without being asked to, Della called me every day to tell me how Rita was doing.

Meanwhile, Sister Della was preparing to move to a new apartment.  About a week before her move, Sister Jonica texted me to ask if anyone was taking food to Della to help her out with the transition while her kitchen belongings were in boxes. I confess that the thought never even occurred to me!  Jonica (who is herself unable to eat solid foods because of her own recent surgery) fixed up 4 meals and took them over to Della.

Of course, our wonderful brethren moved Sister Della into her new apartment—also a typical (and often thankless) example of selfless ministering.  Twenty sets of strong and willing hands made light work of Della’s household full of possessions!

When the brethren were finishing up, I received a phone call from our Elder’s Quorum President expressing concern that Della was not feeling well and had a mountain of stuff to deal with in her new apartment, and perhaps the sisters could step in and give her a hand? At the time, I was out running errands and taking care of my own business, so I put in a quick phone call to Della’s ministering sister to see if she could at least call around to find someone to help. Sister Charlotte, in her typical way, answered, “Oh, yes, I was already planning on going over after her stuff was moved, I was just waiting to hear that they were done!”  I also learned that dear Charlotte had spent most of the previous day helping Della prepare for the move, clean the old apartment, and take care of last-minute red tape.

If you asked any one of these sisters or brothers about their selfless acts of service, they would reply, “Oh, it’s not a big deal! I just wanted to help out.”  To me, that is ministering in its purest, simplest, and most beautiful form.

- Helen Stanger, Eldersburg Ward

We Follow Christ

Planting Seeds
Sharing the gospel is a fundamental part of our beliefs. As members of the church, we lovingly seek to plant seeds of faith in the hearts of our friends and family, and hope those seeds might grow into a living and vibrant testimony of our Savior. As you have considered how and with whom to share the gospel, you may have wondered if your friend has ever heard of the church. If so, what have they heard? What perceptions do they have, both of the church as an institution and of the individual members? This is where a sometimes little-known organization in the church comes into the picture: Public Affairs.

The church has a large and busy Public Affairs department that makes sure we have resources such as Mormon Messages, mormonnewsroom.org, and mormon.org to help the world know about the worldwide church. Our stake has a Public Affairs committee dedicated to helping everyone in our area to know about the church in our part of Maryland. Right now our committee is Cari Larkins (CL), Teresa Cochran (C1), Kellie Nuss (YSA), Patti Gardner (EC), Jeff Link (EL) and President Steve Peterson (EC). We are glad for this chance to introduce the work of Public Affairs in this stake and how it relates to you.

Preparing the Soil
In the context of a gardening metaphor, if missionary work or sharing the gospel is indeed planting seeds, then the work of Public Affairs is preparing the soil. We seek to remove rocks and weeds, and nourish the soil so that it is ready to receive those seeds. In other words, we want to influence your friend’s perception of the church so that when you are ready to talk about your faith, they might be more prepared. We sum up our efforts as follows:

The MESSAGE of Public Affairs is:  We follow Christ

The EVIDENCE of that message to those not of our faith is:
• We love our neighbors so we participate in interfaith and community activities.
• We care for the poor and needy so we serve in our community and encourage self- reliance.
• We believe that families last forever so we enable the work for the dead in our temples.

The TASK of Public Affairs is to get that core declaration of our discipleship out to the wider community in a context they can understand.

The EVIDENCE teaches the MESSAGE. If that message is spread in clear and undeniable ways through evidence, then the soil is better prepared for the work of salvation in this area.

•We can only spread that message through contact and interaction.

•Contact and interaction take place in three primary ways—community service, social media, and church leaders meeting and developing relationships with other leaders in the community.

What can you do?
As members of the church, you make a difference as you serve in your community and let people know you are a member of the church. This simple connection does amazing things for the perception of the church in this area. Don’t underestimate your influence. As you serve in the church, you can help organizations pivot their efforts and be more outward facing. Plan the same activities you are already planning, but prayerfully seek to involve the community in some way. We are here to offer you ideas, contacts and resources for pivoting activities, plus the spirit will teach you as you seek guidance.

In 2013, Elder Bednar counseled us that “a technology known as social media is evolving in our day and playing an increasingly important role in hastening the work of salvation.” You can be involved in our social media efforts as follows:
• Like our Facebook page @ColumbiaMarylandMormons and our Instagram feed @columbiamdmormons
• Share your personal involvement in church activities on social media, such as the fun you had at an activity, or your trips to visit temples while the DC Temple is closed.
• Hashtag these posts with #columbiamarylandmormons and tag our pages, and others will know that the church exists in our area.
• Let us know if an activity would be good to share with the larger community and send us some photos, or invite us to attend and report on the activity.

Many of these efforts are subtle, take place over a long period of time, and may not seem like they have any immediate result. Elder Bednar asked us to use social media to “sweep the earth as with a flood” with news of the gospel,  but he reassured us that this only needs to happen drop by drop. As more and more of us share just a few things, our influence will grow.

Preparation for the rededication of the Washington D.C. Temple
We would like every person living within the boundaries of our stake to receive a personal invitation to the Washington DC Temple open house that will happen in 2020. Part of preparing to invite is letting people know we are here. Believe it or not, there are many who are not aware that LDS congregations are functioning right here in their neighborhood.

As you seek to learn more about Public Affairs and participate in sharing the evidence that we follow Christ, you will be blessed to know what to do and say, and you will have influence. Your light matters, so share it, as Sharon Eubank counsels: “Each of us needs to be better at articulating the reasons for our faith. . . . Use your voice and your power to articulate what you know and feel—on social media, in quiet conversations with your friends, when you’re chatting with your grandchildren. Tell them why you believe, what it feels like, if you ever doubted, how you got through it, and what Jesus Christ means to you. As the Apostle Peter said, “Be not afraid … ; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”

-Kellie Nuss
Stake Public Affairs Committee

Ministering - A Demonstration of Discipleship, Gratitude and Love for God

Sister Jean B. Bingham, General Relief Society President, has said that “our service to others is a demonstration of discipleship and our gratitude and love for God and His Son, Jesus Christ”. I know we all want to be obedient to the commandments.  We all strive to “Love one another” and to “love our neighbor as ourselves”.  But sometimes it’s a little scary to put ourselves out there, to take that extra step and offer our services, to become friends with someone we don’t know and have little in common with.

But whatever our differences, our divine heritage unites us as sisters and daughters of God.  We are united in our love and devotion to God, and our desires to follow His prophet. It really is an exciting time to live, and as I contemplate all of the new information and guidance we have received during and since General Conference, I am awed and humbled by the need to take better care of and more interest in the sisters whom I serve.

We have literally been asked to strengthen one another in the Lord. To go above and beyond what we usually did in visiting the sisters we are assigned to visit, as well as others in our wards and communities.  I know many of you have already been doing this. You have always gone beyond the monthly required visit.  You have taken a personal interest in the sisters you visit and have become a part of their lives. They have moved beyond being an assignment on a piece of paper.

How do we do this now that a monthly in-home visit with a message is no longer required?  The best place I know of to start is with prayer. Pray for your sisters by name.  Pray that you will be open to promptings that will allow you to help them.  Our Father is mindful of all of us.  He knows our hearts, and He knows their needs.  Turn your heart to Him and let Him guide you.

Ask your sisters what works best for them.  A visit, phone call, text, walk in the park, play date with your kids, lunch together, a short conversation at church…all these and more can be part of your Ministering and care. Sister Aburto, General Relief Society 2nd counselor, has said: “It’s not so much what you do, but how you feel and how they feel.  Do whatever it takes so that person knows that you are a true friend and that you will come when they need your help.”

So maybe we need to ask ourselves - What am I are going to do that will be different than I’ve done before?  How can I show more care instead of less?  How will I be able to respond during my quarterly interview with my Relief Society leaders when they ask how my sisters are doing? Will I really know?

I think we’re going to find greater unity in our wards and branches as we implement this new program.  I think we’ll have more needs being met, and more of our less active sisters returning to activity.  I trust that we’ll grow closer as we counsel together and coordinate with our Priesthood brethren. Whole families will be blessed by our care and love.  Isn’t it marvelous to watch our Father’s plans for us unfold?

I’m so grateful for a living Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, and for his counsel to us to seek revelation. In his words: “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."  I pray that you will seek for and follow the guidance you need as you watch over your sisters with love.

- Cindy Erekson
Columbia Stake Relief Society President

Our Sometimes Simple Efforts

This week we get to travel to Scotland with Lorna Browne as she shares her wonderful experiences with searching her family's history.

I was very excited to learn that our first stop was going to be in Wigtownshire, the area of Scotland that my ancestors had emigrated from when plans were first unveiled for my second trip to Scotland with a bagpipe band.  Because I have a very Scottish first name and I play the pipes, I have always felt it was my responsibility to learn more about my Scottish heritage.  Although we knew a few things, we did not know much about my Scottish lines at that time.

It was my plan to rent a car once we arrived to the area and go off on my own and discover what information I could.  I soon found that my plan would not be an easy one to follow as it did not appear that there was any place in Wigtownshire where I could rent a car.  I was discouraged, but soon saw the Lord’s hand in helping me while I was there.  Out of all of the families that band members were assigned to spend the time we were there with, I was assigned to stay with the McCrone family.  It turned out Elsie McCrone’s hobby was genealogical research!

One of the first things that Elsie asked me after I arrived in her home was whether or not I had any Scottish heritage.  I answered that I did.  When I pronounced my ancestors’ surname, “McGeoch” as “McGeel,” she mentioned that she had not heard that name.  A few days later, she asked me to spell this name.  When I did, she said, “Och, ‘McGee-oak!’”  She then told me she would be happy to help me look for what information we could find in the area about my family.

Elsie took me the next morning to the cemetery next to a church that my mother had connected our family to.  There we not only found the names of family members we were looking for, but we also found the names of others.  She then took me to other cemeteries in town.  As we were traveling, she asked me if I knew anything else about the family.  The only thing I knew was that they had lived on a farm with the name of Red Brae.  When we were near the end of looking through the last cemetery, we came across a grave of a person who was buried near the Stones of Torrydon near the farm Red Brae.  When Elsie read this, she was excited.  She had heard of these stones and she was sure that her husband, an electrician, had maps that we show us where the farm was.  

We returned to their home and spread maps around on the floor and looked for the Stones of Torrydon.  I have to admit that I wondered if the farm would still be around, but it was! We then jumped in her car and headed to the area to see the farm.  I was content to take a photo of the farm’s sign and the exterior of the farm, but Elsie wasn’t.  She encouraged me to get out and she knocked on the door.  When the homeowner answered the door, Elsie told her that I had come from Canada and my ancestors used to live on this farm.  She wondered if I could see it?  To my surprise, the woman who then lived there invited us in and told me that the kitchen area that we were in was the entirety of original home.  It was really neat to be there, and I am very grateful that I had the chance to see the home and to learn so much more about my ancestors!

My experiences in Wigtownshire were the first where I received the Lord’s assistance with my family history efforts, but they have not been my last. I will not write about these here, but, if you are interested, ask me about the way things opened up for my family to secure a Czech genealogist to research our family there at a rare time when the archives were open. You could also ask me how my mother learned how to read Cyrillic, Romanian, and Ukrainian to read records released by the Greek Orthodox Church from an area in modern-day Ukraine to take my father’s lines back to the 1700s as it was the only way we could obtain information about these lines.  You could also ask how Ancestry.com’s release of a new batch of German church records helped my family extend a line that we had not been able to do anything with for many years.  It is such a blessing to live at a time when there are so many tools to help us do our family history! Although we sometimes need to travel to some places to gain information, we no longer need to go to all parts of the world to learn more about our ancestors!  I know that temple and family history work is the Lord’s work and that He magnifies our--sometimes simple--efforts as we seek to do it. Through small and simple things, great things do truly come to pass (Alma 37:6).

- Lorna Browne

The Time Had Come To Reignite My Family History Search

As an African American convert to the church, I knew that researching my ancestors would be a challenge. The biggest obstacle to tracing my African-American lineage would be slavery, an institution that broke family bonds and made record keeping nearly impossible. I already knew very little about my family beyond my grandparents. That’s why after an initial start to my family history research (and many hours of frustration), I ended up taking a 4 year hiatus. I felt defeated at the time but I held on to hope that the answers I needed would be revealed to me in due time.

After a not so subtle dream and a Sacrament meeting full of talks on family history, I received revelation that the time had come to reignite my family history search. So I dusted off my old FamilySearch.org account and began the work once again. To my surprise, I had so many more opportunities open to me now compared to before. More resources for African American genealogy were available through Ancestry.com and other websites. My grandfather and the eldest member of our family, who previously lived in another state, just moved to Maryland and he was able to give me so much information about his parents and grandparents.  Another family member of mine, who has been a great record keeper, gifted me with numerous documents including obituaries, birth certificates, death certificates, pictures and letters. I never knew before how much information she was sitting on! Newly equipped with only first names of family members who were born into slavery and the name of a small town in South Carolina, I was able to find (through the magic of the Internet) the slave owner’s records with my ancestors’ names and birth years listed! It was like my ancestors had just opened the floodgates and released the jackpot of family history goodness on me!

In an April 2017 talk by Pres. Henry B. Eyring, he says “We do not know what marvels God will inspire people to create to help in His work of gathering His family. But whatever marvelous inventions may come, their use will require the Spirit working in people like you and me. This should not surprise us. After all, these are beloved sons and daughters of God. He will send whatever inspiration is needed to give them the opportunity to return to Him.” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/gathering-the-family-of-god?lang=eng)

I am so grateful that God sent me the inspiration to help complete His work. I am even more grateful that I was in the right position to receive this inspiration. I have gained many blessings from this family history journey besides having many names to take to the Temple for performing ordinances. This has given me the opportunity to draw closer to my family members. Being the only LDS member of my family has been a challenge at times, and working on family history with my aunt and grandfather has allowed me to share the gospel and learn the oral histories of my family. My testimony of the Gospel and my faith has been strengthened by allowing the Spirit to work through me. The Lord has blessed me in my efforts to do family history work. The “Spirit of Elijah” is strong and I can feel it guiding me and revealing the knowledge I need to help my ancestors return to Heavenly Father. It is my hope that others will be able to receive this inspiration in the gathering of Heavenly Father’s family.

Tyese Knight
Eldersburg Ward

It Was Not By Chance

I have loved doing family history research ever since I was old enough to copy family names from my mother’s genealogy onto my own family group records as a young child.   Family history work has brought the Spirit powerfully into my life and has blessed me with immeasurable peace and joy throughout my life.  Some of my greatest spiritual experiences have come while engaged in family history research and temple work.   I’d like to share with you one of my treasured family history experiences which is both a family history story and a visiting teaching story wrapped together in one.

Many years ago, while living in Utah, I was handed a slip of paper with my new visiting teaching assignment.  One of the names read, “Esther H.”  “Oh how nice,” I thought.  I had been wanting to get to know Esther better.  She was a lovely woman in her 80’s, articulate, wise, and a person of great faith and testimony.  I was a mother of four young children at the time and felt that there was much I could learn from her.  But I had no idea of the blessings that were in store for both of us through this visiting teaching assignment.

I began visiting Esther in her home.  Over the course of our visits I learned many things about her – about her family who had settled that area of Utah, about her husband who had died years before from a heart attack and about her sadness over her only son who had been inactive for years.  She grieved that she had no active posterity.   I learned of her missionary experiences to Bulgaria and her humanitarian work in South America.  She had so many wonderful stories and life experiences to share.  Though we were probably over 40 years apart in age, we became very dear friends.  She showed great interest in my family and the things going on in my life.  I always came away from those visiting teaching visits feeling very uplifted.  My own family was going through some financial hardships at the time, including a job loss, and I was strengthened through those years by her testimony and example of consistent and steady devotion to the gospel.  She had weathered many of her own storms in life.

I looked for ways that I could serve Esther.  She had helped me so much, even sharing the fruit from the fruit trees on her property, which was a great blessing to us.   One day our conversation turned to family history research.  She asked if I knew how to use the computer program to enter and clear family names for ordinance work.  “Yes,” I told her.  “I use it all the time.”  She then explained to me that her husband had been a convert to the church.  There were no other members of the church in his family.  Her husband had been diligent in collecting as much information as he could over the years while on business trips around the world.  He had gotten the temple work done for many of his close ancestors, but not all of them.  He had an aunt, not a member of the Church, with whom he had corresponded who was an avid genealogist and had meticulously collected genealogy on their family.  She had compiled two huge volumes full of genealogical information and histories which she sent to him.  Esther told me that she had been feeling very strong promptings that she needed to get those names to the temple.  She was at a loss, though, because she did not really know how to use a computer.  She had just bought a brand new one, but didn’t know how to use it yet.  She asked if I could teach her how to use the program so that she could type the names in and get the temple work done for her husband’s ancestors.  She was feeling a great sense of urgency about it.

I was joyful.  This was something I definitely could help her with.  Over the next few months I went over to her house regularly to teach her how to use the genealogy program.  The progress was very slow, though.  Her hands and fingers were arthritic and just didn’t work like they used to.  She had a lot of difficulty just trying to master using the computer, let alone the internet and the genealogy program.  Being a very independent person, she was frustrated with herself and her lack of progress.   Adding to her anxiety was that feeling of great urgency to get the work done.  Finally, at the end of one of our teaching sessions, a thought occurred to me and I asked her, “Would you like me to just type this information in for you?  I wouldn’t mind doing it.”  She looked at me with so much relief and said, “Would you? Really?”  She couldn’t believe that I would do this for her.  I told her, “Of course.  I would love to be able to help you.”  She was overjoyed.

Esther then gave me an apple box full of her husband’s genealogy including the 2 hardbound books put together by his aunt – all of his precious family records.  I brought the box home.  I carefully went through every pedigree chart, family group record and the two books and got all of the information entered into the computer.  The project took me two years to complete.  As I went along, I processed batches of names to clear them for temple work.  As I got cards printed for temple work, I brought them over to Esther.  She was so happy and spent every week after that in the temple.  She often brought friends along with her, to help get the temple work done for her husband’s family.  That was something that she could do, and she did it enthusiastically.  It was such a beautiful experience.  We were working together to accomplish this great work – one entering the information and the other doing the temple work. 

As I worked on the genealogy, I learned about her husband’s family – the good people they were, their faith and homesteading experiences in a little town in central Kansas.  I began to feel a closeness with this family, even though they were not my own.  As I worked on the project over those two years, very real blessings, both temporal and spiritual began flowing to our family – a job for my husband after two years of unemployment, the ability to buy a home after years of renting, as well as other spiritual blessings.  We saw the hand of the Lord plainly in our lives.  I felt so uplifted and a divine sense of calling in doing this work.

  

The project finally came to a close when the last ordinance was completed and I brought all the records back to Esther at the end of those two years.  I handed her a disk with all of the genealogy on it and all of the completed ordinance cards – well over 100 cards.  She had tears in her eyes.  The work was finally done.  She was now at peace.

It was not long after the project was completed that new opportunities awaited our family including a new job for my husband and an out of state move to -- Kansas.  What a great surprise to move to the very state where these people came from that we had done the work for!  My heart was filled with joy as we drove through central Kansas and I got to see the place where this family lived out their lives – these people now sealed and ready to move on in their eternal progress in the heavens.

Just a few years later, Esther’s health declined and she passed away.  How grateful I was that the family history and temple work for her husband’s recorded family were all completed.  I knew she would be meeting her husband with great joy.  

In a Priesthood blessing given to me later, it was made known to me that I had been fore-ordained to help with this family history work for this family.  It was not by chance that I was given this sister as my visiting teaching assignment or by chance that we ended up renting a home in that ward.  The hand of the Lord was in it.  I have a deep testimony of the blessings of family history work and of visiting teaching assignments.  I know that the Lord will lead us as we look for ways to serve the sisters in our care and that he stands ready to bless us as we engage ourselves in His marvelous work of salvation.

-Debbie Wood

Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear

This past week, I read an article from the February Ensign.  It was written by our own Leah Welker of the YSA Branch.  I was touched by her message and asked her permission to highlight it here.  I also asked her to share with us the motivation behind writing the article.. Thank you Leah for sharing of yourself with us!  I know I was uplifted reading her experiences and her article.

You can read her article here:

Perfect Love Casteth Out All Fear by Leah Welker, Ensign, February 2018

-Lorie Pierce

---

Short bio: Leah was born in Provo (yes, her parents met at BYU) but has spent most of her life divided between Texas and Maryland. (She just claims that she is from “the United States.”) She was fated to return to the college of her birth, and in April 2016 she graduated from BYU–Provo with a BA in English language and minors in editing and Modern Hebrew. After graduation she had a short internship at the Ensign, the result of which was four bylines in that publication. She is currently working as a freelance editor in Jessup, Maryland.

Why I wrote the article: I’ve often struggled with many of the symptoms described in the piece: fear, despair, and pride. These emotions were strongest in high school, when I felt like I was going through a constant battle against darkness. The darkness didn’t come from just the worldliness of the students; it also came from the very curriculum—from the literature in our English classes to the dire predictions of the future in social science. I felt exactly like Casey, the spunky heroine from Tomorrowland; every class I sat in seemed a deluge of doom. I only wish that I’d been as wise and brave as her to raise my hand and ask, “So, what are we going to do about it?” I only sunk deeper and deeper into fear, pride, and despair.

It was only when I went to BYU that I started regaining my hope, and slowly my faith and charity. Maturity, perspective, the Spirit, and the dozens of good, faithful examples around me started filling me with light again. And bit by bit, Heavenly Father started teaching me what I could be feeling instead of despair and doing instead of worrying.

It all started coming together when I was an intern at the Ensign. The revelations kept flowing, and I knew I just had to write them down. So I wrote that article. I went through many drafts—more than is usual for me—to get it just right. I knew if there was one message I was meant to share while I was there, it was this one. I wish I could have added more of my personal journey to the article, but that had to be cut for space constraints (the never-ending struggle of a magazine publication). That is why I am so happy to share it here. Because this article, though it doesn’t appear to have a trace of me, is my story, and I hope by sharing it, I can help someone who was filled with as much despair as I was to realize that there’s another way—in fact, there is His way, and it is filled with more light, happiness, and purpose than he or she can currently imagine.

-Leah Welker

Now she truly is my sister!

For years I have been on the fringes of Family History.  I'm a dabbler.  I take a class or hear an inspiring talk and get excited now and then, but I've never felt that drive that some people feel.  You know 

​"​

those people

​"​

...the ones who have spent hours, days

​, months and years digging through files, scouring old records, recording histories and traveling to check out cemeteries in far off locations. 

Sure, I faithfully go to the Temple and act as proxy for people who's existence has been discovered and ordinances readied by "those people".  I serve each week as an ordinance worker, and help countless people receive the saving ordinances of the Gospel and I must admit, I've envied the looks of joy and satisfaction on the faces of others as they've done the work for their very own ancestors.

Well, recently I have been doing the work for some of my ancestors.  Cousins 6 times removed, wives of 8th granduncles, etc.  I don't know these people.  They are not even in my direct line, but they are family none the less, and some share family names of my direct line. 

A few months ago I started using an app called Take A Name.  This app quickly searches through thousands of records in Family Search, identifies people you are related to and shows you what ordinances need to be done.  It also shows sources so you can verify if enough information is available to correctly identify this person and link them to others.  The first time I clicked on, I found 24 ancestors with 56 ordinances ready to be done.  The next time I found another 25.  It's easy to reserve names that you'd like to work on, so that when next you go to Family Search, the names are there and ready to be printed.

Is this a lazy way to do genealogy? Some would say yes.  Others might realize how wonderfully easy modern technology has made this, and would gratefully thank all "those people" who have researched, indexed and paved the way for this great work.

So, now that I'm doing the work for my own family, do I ALWAYS have a spiritual experience and the confirmation that my work has been accepted? No...not always...but let me just share one sweet experience that happened in Initiatory.  I brought 5 names with me.  5 ancestors of my own.  The very first one was my Grandmother's cousin.  As I said her name, tears began to pour down my face.  I honestly don't think they were my tears.  I was acting in her behalf, and I truly feel that her tears were streaming down my face.  The ordinance worker began to weep, and by the time we'd made it through, all 3 workers were crying.  Even the initiatory director walked down and checked on us saying she could feel the Spirit so strongly that she knew something wonderful was happening.  I will forever be grateful for this experience.  I don't expect it every time, and maybe it'll never happen quite like that again...but I do know that I look forward to meeting this sister someday.  Now she truly is my sister! 

- Cindy Erekson

2018 Relief Society Curriculum

I’m excited that beginning in January, Relief Society and Priesthood Sunday meetings will follow a new curriculum.

This new curriculum will invite more discussion from each sister.  I am looking forward to being spiritually fed and learning more.

“Sundays in Relief Society are no longer just the responsibility of the leaders,” said Brooke Jensen, a counselor in a Relief Society presidency. “Each member takes an active role.”

Sunday meetings will follow this schedule (I’ve included links with more explanation):

First Sunday - Counsel together about local responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges and make plans to act.

Second and Third Sundays - Study recent general conference messages chosen by presidency or group leaders or, on occasion, by the bishop or stake president.

Fourth Sunday - Discuss a special topic chosen by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Fifth Sunday - Address a topic chosen by the bishopric.

The November Ensign has the full explanation of the new curriculum.

I hope you are able to take some time to read about the new Sunday curriculum.  As sisters, I believe that when we come to Relief Society ready to contribute we will bless lives.  I am grateful for inspired leaders and for a prophet who loves us and knows our needs.

- Kim Olivier, Stake Relief Society 2nd Counselor

Personal Moments with Gordon B. Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley became the prophet just before I turned 11, and was the prophet until he passed away when I was 23. These were my key decision-making years, so as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, he was definitely a huge influence in my life for good. A person teaches more by example than by what they say, and Gordon B. Hinckley was a great example in many ways. I will briefly discuss four ways the teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley have influenced for good/blessed my life.

Gordon B. Hinckley was a great example of optimism. He always had a positive attitude and a friendly smile on his face. Seeing his optimism influenced me to want to be an optimistic person also because I could see that optimism equals happiness.

Gordon B. Hinckley was happy to tell others about the gospel, and share his testimony with them. I still remember when our family gathered on my parents’ bed to watch his interview with Mike Wallace on television. I was so impressed that he had the faith and courage to face the world in such a bold manner. Seeing his courage in sharing his beliefs has taught me that I can also have that same courage in sharing with others my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.   

Gordon B. Hinckley was a great example of how to be a good spouse. He and his wife, Marjorie, were such a cute, loving couple. You could tell in the way they treated each other with utmost love and respect. President Hinckley was instrumental in the bringing forth of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, which offers great counsel on marriage and family matters. Seeing his example, and studying The Family: A Proclamation to the World has influenced me to be a better spouse, and helped me to better understand how a marriage and family should be.

Gordon B. Hinckley also taught about the importance of temples. During the time he served as prophet, the number of operating temples leaped from 47 to 124. I remember attending youth temple baptisms at the Portland, Oregon temple. Each visit was a special experience. They helped me to gain a testimony of the importance of temple ordinances, temple work, and family history.

I love Gordon B. Hinckley. I am grateful that he was the prophet during such crucial years of my life. I am grateful for all the wonderful things I have learned from him. I am grateful for his good example.

-Bonnie Barrett, Columbia 2nd Ward

I Can Better Know Who I Am

Being a teenage convert to the church Family History was a completely foreign concept to me. I had never thought about family members that I had never met, much less about those hundreds of years before my time. Unfortunately, it wasn't until I had kids of my own that I actually started thinking about these family members. But once I did, I couldn't stop thinking about them. I knew nothing about any of my ancestors. How was I supposed to know who I was if I didn't know who they were? And being the only member of the church in my family I was feeling the pressure to get the temple work done for my ancestors. However, I was completely overwhelmed and at a loss as to where to start. Fortunately, Heavenly Father knew that I would need help once I got started on this project and blessed me with a wonderful sister in our local family history center and a family history class provided by our ward.

Family history wasn't always easy and though there were times of frustration I kept trying. A couple of years later through FamilySearch and Ancestry, I was able to find a distant cousin of my mother's who, though not a member of the church, had been doing family history for my mother's family. This was an amazing blessing to me since at that point I had been having no luck finding any of this information. Then just recently I found out that my great grandma, who also wasn't a member of the church, had been doing family history for her side of the family for years. After she passed away my uncles decided that since I was doing family history now they would pass on all of her things to me. Within these things were some old Family Ledgers. For the last 3 days, pretty much straight from 7am to midnight, I have been sorting through these precious treasures unable to put them down! I have been putting all the names into digital family group sheets. 82 group sheets and 142 family names later I finally got it all done! The entries ranged from the oldest one, who born in 1782, all the way down to my father.

When I look at all these family names I now feel that I know these individuals even though I have never met them. I feel a deep love for them and look forward to taking their names to the temple so that we can all be sealed into our family chain throughout the eternities. Through the years I have come to love family history and the sense of connection and love it gives me. I'm so thankful for those who have preceded me who have worked so hard on our family history and the blessing that I have to carry on where they left off. Family history has helped me discover who my ancestors are so I can better know who I am.

-Jessi Eberle
Ellicott City Ward

The Heart of Relief Society

Dear Sisters,

“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). 

This scripture was used as the opening statement for September's visiting teaching message. I think it embodies what Relief Society is all about. One heart, one mind, living righteously and taking care of each other's needs, -whether they be physical, emotional or spiritual.

It has been said that Visiting Teaching is the heart of Relief Society, and I believe that's true.  And I'm not just talking about the "monthly visit" that we dutifully do.  It's the caring for one another, the genuine interest in each other's lives, and the time and effort spent in service that draws us close as sisters and allows us to grow spiritually in ways we cannot do on our own.

I follow the quarterly reports of our stake, and have been concerned as I've watched the numbers fall.  Too many sisters are not getting visited or contacted.  Do these sisters feel welcome in our wards? Do they have friends among us? Do they feel they have someone to turn to when they have a need? I fear that many opportunities are being missed to reactivate, motivate and serve.  I worry that some sisters are feeling isolated and alone.

I know that I personally feel better when I have visited or contacted the sisters for whom I have stewardship.  Our busy lives can make this difficult, and I never like to impose on their time, (a fear you might share also) but over the years I have learned from and been spiritually fed by wonderful sisters who were "assigned" to my care.  I have walked away feeling like I was the one who benefited most from our visits.

Yes, Visiting Teaching is the heart of Relief Society.  But...we need to get Visiting Teaching into our hearts. Then we can truly be a Zion people.

Sending much love as you go forth and visit the wonderful sisters of the Columbia Stake,

Cindy Erekson

Stake Relief Society President

Personal Moments with Gordon B. Hinckley

I have loved studying the teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley this year in Relief Society.  One of the most memorable teachings for me from President Hinckley was his emphasis on reading the Book of Mormon.  

In August of 2005 President Hinckley issued a challenge to Church members.  He challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in its entirety before the end of that year.  He later reported, “It is amazing how many met that challenge. Everyone who did so was blessed for his or her effort. As they became immersed in this added witness of our Redeemer, their hearts were quickened and their spirits touched.”

I vividly remember taking President Hinckley’s challenge.  My 3 boys were young (ages 8, 6, and 4), but they were old enough to all be involved in organized sports and music programs.  I did a lot of driving my boys around, so I decided to read the Book of Mormon by way of listening.  I listened in the car as we drove to various events.  After a while my boys began reciting scriptures from the Book of Mormon.  I was amazed, especially with my 4 year old.  I remember the Spirit I felt as I listened to the book in its entirety over a few short months.

President Hinckley makes a promise when we read the Book of Mormon.  He said, “It is then that the Spirit can bear witness of its divinity.”  We are all entitled to receive personal revelation.  It is my testimony that when we read the Book of Mormon and sincerely seek revelation through study and prayer, we will know it is true.  

President Hinckley said, “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.”

I am grateful for the teachings of President Gordon B. Hinckley.  He was such a positive man with much energy.  Remembering, studying, and obeying his teachings have truly blessed my life.

- Kim Olivier (Columbia 2nd Ward)

Stake Relief Society Counselor

Personal Moments with Gordon B. Hinckley

Janice Maughan - Columbia 2nd Ward

At the beginning of the year I prepared an overview lesson about President Hinckley using the information at the beginning of the Relief Society/Priesthood manual. What an amazing man!  His accomplishments, his service and dedication to the Church, and his energy are inspiring and a little overwhelming.  

I love his calm and loving but very logical, problem-solving attitude.  Whether it was helping provide better printed material for missionaries, or recommending that the temple instruction be put on film, or decentralizing authority by creating Area Presidencies, or bringing the Church out of obscurity through the use of media, or creating the Perpetual Education Fund to help underprivileged members, or introducing smaller temples so more could be built, he was an innovative problem solver.  President Hinckley cared about people so much and felt a keen responsibility for helping and lifting them.  I love that quality of leadership.  I'm grateful for his example.

Always Keep Pushing

“To you who think you are lost or without hope, or who think you have done too much that was too wrong for too long, to every one of you who worry that you are stranded somewhere on the wintry plains of life and have wrecked your handcart in the process, we call out Jehovah's unrelenting refrain, 'My hand is stretched out still'. His mercy endureth forever, and His hand is stretched out still. His is the pure love of Christ, the charity that never faileth, that compassion which endures even when all other strength disappears.”
by Jeffrey R. Holland

About two weeks ago the youth of the Columbia Maryland Stake embarked on a Pioneer Trek for 3 days and 2 nights, the amount of spiritual growth and power that this experience brought to our youth is overwhelming, I would like to share with you a bit about my experience.

My name is Jessica Haggerty, I am 17 and also one of the lucky few who had the opportunity to attend trek twice! Both experiences have proven to be hugely important to my spiritual growth and understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thursday morning (July 13th) we arrived to camp Liahona at 8am sharp to have our bags checked for anything we shouldn't have (like pillows or watches) and to get sorted into our families for the trek. I had an amazing family (go clouds!). Then we set off into the wilderness. The first day we did about 12 or 13 miles of hiking, pulling a cart about 10 times my weight. (Keep in mind that the weather was about 99 degrees).

Friday we hiked about 5 or 6 more miles, then spend the rest of our day playing pioneer games and square dancing (there is nothing a little dancing can't solve).

Then Saturday we had our group devotional, alone time, and testimony meeting.  Finally we walked the remaining 3 miles back to camp, packed up our families things, and went home.

There are a lot of things that I could tell you about the trek, a lot of things I could tell you about the people that were there and the things that we did, but I want to focus on the things I learned about myself and my Heavenly Father. I want to focus on the way that I felt, and the spirit that had touched me.

 I began this post with a quote about struggling to find strength when you feel too weak. Often times on trek, especially during the women's pull (a time when all of the young men go away so the young women have to pull the cart on their own), I felt like I was on the edge. I felt like I could only pull for a few more steps, I could only push for a few more minutes before I would give up and allow the weight of the cart to stop me from continuing on the path. But somehow, I kept moving, I kept pulling, I kept pushing. Even when my energy seemed long gone, somehow I found the power to keep going. In many ways I think this is similar to the atonement of Jesus Christ. Sometimes the weight of the world and the weight of sin seems like too much to handle. It seems as if at any moment my strength will run out and I will have no choice but to stop moving along the straight and narrow path. But when I turn to Christ, because of the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, I find the strength to keep going, to keep repenting, and to keep forsaking. He gives me the power to keep clinging to the iron rod. Christ's love and charity extend to all people, the strong and the weak, the tall and the small.

"Let us never forget the faith of our fathers and the selfless sacrifice of our mothers, those pioneering Saints who set such an inspiring example of obedience. Let us remember them as we strive to be valiant servants in our work to ‘invite all to come unto Christ’."
by Joseph B. Wirthlin

Ever since I had a testimony I've loved to share it. And for the past many years serving a mission has been set in my heart. Trek is an experience that helped me understand even further how much of a gift the gospel is in our lives, and gave me an overwhelming desire to sacrifice my time and energy for the gospel, as the pioneers did while crossing the plains.

The pioneer saints walked, were hungry, were thirsty, they gave up their homes, all of their belongings, their families, they even suffered death so that I can be where I am now, and so I can know about the gospel and so I can be happy. Sometimes it is so easy to forget about where we came from, but trek reminded me of the great sacrifices that my ancestors made.

Because of the pioneers, because of what they sacrificed and gave to their families and to their God, I've found a desire in my heart to serve they way they have served me. I've found a desire to do hard things, because I know that nothing is impossible when I'm on Christ's side. I’ve found a desire to give opportunity in the way that I have been given.

In conclusion, trek was an amazing experience. It was so much more than just a few kids hiking in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It was a spiritual journey that had a heavy impact in the hearts of all of our youth. It has taught me things that I will remember forever, as I do hard things in college, on my mission, and as I journey through the rest of my life. I will always remember the times when I felt as if I could no longer push, but because of Him, I always kept pushing.