Miscellaneous items from our stake Temple and Family History Newsletter

As a stake consultant, I help to author a monthly newsletter for the Edmonton Alberta North Stake. 

Why does FamilySearch.org exist? 
One of the reasons stated by President Gordon B Hinckley, was to reduce the duplication of time and expense of family history research. In other words, to keep us from re-doing the same research over and over again. 
Or to use a metaphor, to help us move forward instead of just spinning our wheels.  
(Until then, each person did their own research and kept it in a Book of Remembrance. A record of completed temple work was available at Family History Centers but might be several years old, leading to duplication of temple work. See Hinckley October 2005) 

The Help Center: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/landing
Find help by topic:
Family Tree Memories Searching Records Your Account Get Involved
Third Party Products 
DNA Temple FamilySearch Centers Mobile Apps
Temple & Family History Consultant

Getting "FamilySearch Center" access on your own laptop in a chapel.
Login-in the Liahona network and use this extension in your browser The browser extensions tool is on the far right of the address bar. The extension you want is 
FamilySearch Center Premium Content

Attaching Record Hints on FamilySearch (This can also be done from the Tree View.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw88XB5Zw7Y

Looking for short training to include in a coordinating session, ward council, or presidency meeting?
FamilySearch Family Tree (2 min. video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8zDSNfZdlU
Connecting yourself to your deceased ancestors (3 min. video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTXfIXvxtM
How to Use Ordinances Ready (2 min. video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvpBaRzgY0I
Note: The last two show older versions of the menus but are otherwise excellent. The first uses British English.

RootsTech recordings are available throughout the year at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

Maybe consider buying a package of these and sharing them with your ward.
Family History: Get Started Now
"This trifold leaflet is printed on heavy card stock. It has space for a four-generation family tree and a few photos and stories. It also tells how to build a family tree at familysearch.org. It does not contain information about temple ordinances. 100 per package."
About $20 CAD including GST and shipping https://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/

Clarification: "Unique submitter" means someone who has (a) printed a temple ordinance card or (b) reserved an ordinance and shared it with the temple system, during the current calendar year. So, 0 on each Jan 1st.

Training for Your Calling in Temple and Family History
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/handbooks-and-callings/ward-or-branch-callings/temple-and-family-history?lang=eng

Easy sourcing from other websites is back. https://recordseek.com/

Free "partner subscriptions" to commercial sites https://www.familysearch.org/access/member-subscriptions
Lets use them while they are available for free.

The toll-free FamilySearch Support phone number for USA and Canada is
1-866-406-1830.
You can call for help: Mon - Sat 8am to 8pm      Sunday 1pm to 8pm
 (Maybe try your ward consultants first.)

I hope you find this useful.

A great miracle I had almost forgotten

 On Sunday we were discussing positive and negative effects of social media on the Church.

One brother said, "I joined the Church because I investigated things said in anti-Mormon material."

This reminded me of a missionary "fireside" meeting we attended at the home of our friends Allan and Carolyn Woodruff, near Duffield, Alberta. Carolyn's parents were reporting their missionary experiences in the early 1980s. They said that God had performed a great miracle. 

In the 1960s-and 1970s, the Church had no missionaries in many parts of the world including West Africa. But anti-Mormon meetings in places like Nigeria had made people curious about the Church, and non-members started organizing their own version of the Church, using some Church-published materials including the Book of Mormon. 

When official missionaries were sent there in November 1978, they were told to seek out these non-member congregations, interview the pastor and baptize him if he was ready, ordain him to the priesthood, and help him to baptize his congregation. Instantly we had new branches and districts formed of disciples who were already tried and true in the faith. It was miraculous. 

West Africa continues to be an area of rapid growth of the Church. 

(A more detailed account can be found in the history of the Church in Nigeria in Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pages 364-365.)

This happened during my adult life, I was greatly impressed at the time, but it had almost faded from my memory, It makes me wonder what other miracles I have forgotten. It is important to keep a record of them, This is one of the first lessons taught in the Book of Mormon.