Welcome!

This is a newly created Blog for members of the Ridgecrest Ward. The purpose is for our ward members to check in from time to time to see what the ward's Family History Consultants are doing, and who we are. We hope that this will help you seek your kindred dead!

We want to help!
Scroll down for more information and we hope you enjoy the music!

Our phone numbers are available on the Church Website accessed through lds.org. You may also leave a comment here, or email us at rcwfhc@gmail.com

Family History Help is On The Way!

Where do I start? I’ve got so much to do, so much to organize! My genealogy is done! I can’t find my grandmother! My lines go back to the 1500s! My lines go back, ummm, all the way to…. Ummmm, me?

If any of the above questions sound in the least familiar to you as an echo of a thought in your head, then welcome to the club! Family History has been a source of joy and agony for most of us! Here in the Ridgecrest Ward we are trying to take the fear out and put the fun back into our Family History work!

Weekly our family history consultants meet together to discuss what we can do to help and then make plans to implement that help. Under the direction of our great priesthood leaders: Bro. Steve Brooks, Bro. Gary Colvin and Bro. Jason Hudgins our six ward family history consultants look at ways we can help YOU with your family history research and concerns!

So what? Does that give you ANOTHER responsibility? The short answer is YES! What we want YOU to do is to pray and ask what it is you are supposed to do regarding family history work! And THEN if you need help we are here to help! Our family history consultants have varying levels of experience in the field of family history work. And every single one of us has met with personal challenges and obstacles, even fear when it comes to doing family history work. What we have each discovered is that no question is too dumb and that sometimes all it takes is for a friendly face to come give us a gentle helping hand and we are off and running!

It’s the beginning of a New Year and most of us have made a few goals for the coming year. We hope that as you set goals in the area of Family History work you will keep us in mind and give us a call (or email us) if we can help! It is our goal in 2008 to help as many of you as we possibly can to make steps forward in finding our lost (to us) family members. In coming months look for information in our ward newsletter that may be helpful in starting your adventure into family history work.

This month’s suggestion is to get a box! And start gathering information. President Boyd K. Packer, (in "Your Family History: Getting Started," Ensign, Aug. 2003, 12) stated: “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 ...Don’t try to do this in a day. Take some time on it.”

This is our challenge to you: Make a start! We promise that you will receive blessings unimaginable and great joy in so doing.

Thinking Outside the Box

The box? What box? Oh! THAT box! You know the box you’re using to gather information about you and your family. The one under the chair? That you put in the back of the closet because Aunt Mildred was coming over.

Just kidding! I’m sure many of you have been picking up things here and there as you put the Christmas decorations away and getting the house organized after the hustle and bustle of the holidays has finally calmed down. And hey, look out that window, is it really snow?

Don’t get distracted now; you’re on a path to success! What’s the next step? I’m glad you asked!

It’s time for a walk down memory lane. Look through that stuff in the box. Organize just what is in the box in a chronological order. You could get a notebook and make notes about your memories, the beginning of a more detailed personal and family history. It’s not necessary to write down your entire history in a day, a week, or even a month. Just get started, keep that box out where you can see it, make a goal to work on your personal and family history at a certain time on a regular basis. Some people use Fast Sunday as a day for working on your personal family history or the last Monday for Family Home Evening. Setting a specific day will help you be successful!

Are thoughts tickling the back of your mind about your family tree? That often happens as we look back in our own lives and think of fond memories. Usually many of those memories include family members living and gone from us. I remember “Uncle Charlie’s” cabin way out in the country (Bellevue). Whatever happened to Uncle Charlie? I know the answer to that, and have been blessed in the opportunities to search out Uncle Charlie, Uncle Pete, and the list goes on.

If you are inspired to figure out your family tree there are lots of ways to go about it. For help you can go to the Church website (lds.org) and click on “Family History and Temples,” a list will come up that will allow you to link to several sites that would help you. If you click on “Family History Basics” you can find online help for how to start your Family History as well as links to research help and the Family History Library Catalog.

And if all of that sounds the least bit intimidating please contact your friendly family history consultants! We love to hear your stories and help you organize and find more about your family history!

The Phenomenon That Is You

The following is an excerpt from an email our family history consultants recently received: “We would like to share the following teachings of President James E. Faust. This passage is from “The Phenomenon That Is You” (Ensign, Nov. 2003, 53–56).

The great work of providing the saving ordinances for our kindred dead is a vital part of the threefold mission of the Church. We do this work for a purpose, which is to redeem our dead ancestors. Temple work is essential for both us and our kindred dead who are waiting for these saving ordinances to be done for them. It is essential because “we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect” (D&C 128:18). They need the saving ordinances, and we need to be sealed to them. For this reason it is important that we trace our family lines so that no one is left out.

Searching for our kindred dead isn’t just a hobby. It is a fundamental responsibility for all members of the Church. We believe that life continues after death and that all will be resurrected (see Acts 24:15; Alma 11:41-45). We believe that families may continue in the next life if they have kept the special covenants made in one of the sacred temples under the authority of God. We believe that our deceased ancestors can also be eternally united with their families when we make covenants in their behalf in the temples. Our deceased forebears may accept these covenants, if they choose to do so, in the spirit world.

The great vicarious work for our kindred dead in our temples demonstrates both the justice and the fairness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith explained the terrible dilemma which would face God’s children without temple work for our dead. Said he: “One dies and is buried, having never heard the Gospel of reconciliation; to the other the message of salvation is sent, he hears and embraces it, and is made the heir of eternal life. Shall the one become the partaker of glory and the other be consigned to hopeless perdition? Is there no chance for his escape?” (History of the Church, 4:425–26). Fortunately our ancestors will have the opportunity to receive and accept the saving ordinances as we identify them and complete these sacred ordinances for them by proxy. We do for them what they cannot do for themselves. It is a very satisfying experience (pp. 54–55).

Elder Dallin H. Oaks stated: The first principle is that our efforts to promote temple and family history work should be such as to accomplish the work of the Lord, not to impose guilt on his children. Members of this church have many individual circumstances—age, health, education, place of residence, family responsibilities, financial circumstances, accessibility to sources for individual or library research, and many others. If we encourage members in this work without taking these individual circumstances into account, we may do more to impose guilt than to further the work. (“Family History: In Wisdom and Order” Ensign, Jun. 1989, 6–8)

As family history consultants we WANT TO HELP each of you succeed in this important work, not impose guilt! So please, help us help you and give one of us a call, or email!

A Testimony of Family History Work

Over the 30+ years I have been a member of the Church, I have seen many changes in the accessibility to genealogical research materials. From the days when access to the Federal Census Records required “National Security Clearance” (Brother Bryan actually received that!) to today when we can research those records online, at home, for free, the call to search for our kindred dead remains a constant call to the sons and daughters of Adam. Looking ahead I have been blessed to have a glimpse of the new program that will help to coordinate the efforts of others seeking the same ancestor, eliminating useless duplication of efforts, correcting errors, perfecting our knowledge and increasing the ability to extend the blessings of the gospel to all of those in the post-mortal world. Through all of those amazing and exciting advances in technology it is still those singular spiritual moments that continue to motivate me to seek out those precious ancestors. I have felt such love from them, I have learned from them though they had long since passed through the veil. And one day I look forward to greeting them and embracing them and thanking them for their gentle influence in my life. I have learned about a mother’s love, I have learned about priorities, I have felt strength and courage by looking in the faces of ancestors whose names I had yet to know, but knew that somehow they were my family. Participating as a proxy for some of these ancestors has brought me closer to them as if I could better understand their joys and sorrows. Allowing another sister to be a proxy provided a profoundly joyful experience as I was able to assist her through a portion of the temple experience during my training period as a temple worker. Just as missionary work and reactivation efforts are about finding the One who is seeking the Truth, so is family history work about finding the One. Occasionally we find entire families, and other times it takes us a long time to find a single name. But in the searching we are blessed time and again with peaceful feelings of assurance that help us to press forward. I have come to feel that Love is a lot like Gravity: it flows down. Our ancestors look down to their posterity already knowing us, already loving us. We have the task of turning back to look to them and to look for them. It is then when we are filled with that wonderful Spirit of Elijah and we find that the love has multiplied in our individual lives and that even the tasks of today that had felt so burdensome are somehow a little lighter because we know we are more loved than we knew yesterday. I believe that time is measured or felt differently in the spirit world. Our ancestors are able to wait patiently for us to find them, or perhaps that is one of their greatest trials. Nevertheless they do wait for us. Let us each try a little harder to find those moments when we can search for those who love us.

And if you don’t know where to start, or need a little help getting re-started, give your local family history consultant a call! We love seeking the dead!