A few thoughts to ponder

Greatest responsibility The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 356 Prophet Joseph Smith

Completion of required ordinances We want the Latter-day Saints from this time to trace their genealogies as far as they can, and to be sealed to their fathers and mothers Have children sealed to their parents, and run this chain through as far as you can get it This is the will of the Lord to this people The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, 157 President Wilford Woodruff

Completion of required ordinances Few, if any, of the ancestors of the Latterday Saints in the spirit world would choose to reject the message of salvation when they heard it Discourse by President Wilford Woodruff, Millennial Star, May 21, 1894, 339-40 President Wilford Woodruff

Dissolve the artificial boundary line I hope to see us dissolve the artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and genealogical work, because it is the same great redemptive work! The Things of Eternity Stand we in Jeopardy? Ensign, January 1977 President Spencer W. Kimball

The angels may quote from it. What could you do better for your children and your children s children than to record the story of your life? Get a notebook, my young folks, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels will quote from it for eternity President Spencer W. Kimball

The angels may quote from it. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies Kimball, The Angels May Quote From It, 5 President Spencer W. Kimball

Think of them as living Sometimes we look at this work for the salvation of the dead rather narrowly It is a wrong conception to think of the people for whom we are doing work in the temple of the Lord as being dead. We should think of them as living President Joseph Fielding Smith Doctrines of Salvation, 3:130

Seek after our immediate dead The Lord has given the Church the responsibility of preaching the Gospel to the nations of the earth This is the greatest responsibility of the Church Men are to be taught the Gospel and called to repentance and warned President Joseph Fielding Smith

Seek after our immediate dead When they refuse to heed the warning, they must be left without excuse The Lord has also placed upon the individual members of the Church a responsibility It is our duty as individuals to seek after our immediate dead those of our own line President Joseph Fielding Smith

Seek after our immediate dead This the greatest responsibility that we have and we should carry it through in behalf of four fathers who have gone before Smith, Thoughts on Temple Work and Salvation, 42-43 President Joseph Fielding Smith

Accomplish the work, not impose guilt Our efforts to promote temple and family history work should be such as to accomplish the work of the Lord, not impose guilt on his children Family History in Wisdom and in Order, Ensign, June 1989 Elder Dallen H. Oaks

Promptings of the Spirit Leaders should encourage members to determine, according to the promptings of the Spirit, what temple and family history work they can do in wisdom and order consistent with their own strength and means Family History in Wisdom and in Order, Ensign, June 1989 Elder Dallen H. Oaks See also Mosiah 4:47, D&C 10:4

Do something All members should participate by prayerfully selecting those ways that fit their personal circumstances at a particular time Our effort is not to compel everyone to do everything, but to encourage everyone to do something Family History in Wisdom and in Order, Ensign, June 1989 Elder Dallen H. Oaks

Hearts of the fathers Most of the ills that afflict youth today are because of the breakdown in the homes The hearts of the fathers must be turned to the children to their fathers, if this world is going to be saved and the people prepared for the coming of the Lord Teaching of Harold B. Lee, 281 President Harold B. Lee

Hearts of the fathers Let us think over these things, and pray to the Lord to open the way, and the way will be opened by which we will learn about our ancestors President Charles W. Penrose

Hearts of the fathers And when the time comes that we have done all we can in a natural way, the veil will be drawn aside, and the Priesthood behind the veil will minister to the Priesthood in the flesh, and reveal many things that we could not ordinarily obtain knowledge of here; but we will get them by this kind of revelation President Charles W. Penrose Penrose, Salvation for the Dead, 18

Spirit of Elijah The Spirit of Elijah is the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family Missionary Training Center, August 1997 Elder Russell M. Nelson

Retention of new converts The Spirit of Elijah can also help in the retention of new converts When they gather information for their family group sheets and then participate in baptisms for their own ancestors, they receive self-validation of the divinity of this work Family History A Magnetic Force for Good, Missionary Satellite Broadcast, Aug 29, 1997 Elder Russell M. Nelson

Elijah returns.. Elijah came not only to stimulate research for ancestors He also enabled families to be eternally linked beyond the bounds of mortality Indeed, the opportunity for families to be sealed forever is the real reason for our research Elder Russell M. Nelson

Pertaining to our salvation Let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living, that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation Doctrine and Covenants

Pertaining to our salvation For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers that they without us cannot be made perfect neither can we without our dead be made perfect D&C 128:15 Doctrine and Covenants

Responsibilities stay about the same There are several basic component parts to the temple work Over the years, they may be rearranged somewhat in emphasis, or the approach in programming Church participation may change somewhat But the responsibilities stay about the same President Boyd K. Packer Your Family History, Getting Started, Ensign, Aug. 2003 p. 12

You can do this work Genealogical work has, I fear, sometimes been made to appear too difficult, too involved, and too time consuming to really be inviting to the average Church member You can do this work. You can do it without becoming a so-called expert in it Someone Up There Loves you, Ensign, Jan 1977, p. 8 President Boyd K. Packer

Completion of required ordinances Get a cardboard box. Any kind of a box will do Put it some place where it is in the way, perhaps on the couch or on the counter in the kitchen anywhere where it cannot go unnoticed President Boyd K. Packer

Completion of required ordinances 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, your certificate of graduation President Boyd K. Packer

Completion of required ordinances Collect diplomas, all of the photographs, honors, or awards, a dairy 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 President Boyd K. Packer

Completion of required ordinances Don t try to do this in a day Take some time on it Gather all these papers together and put them in the box Packer, The Holy Temple, 232-33 President Boyd K. Packer

Seek out our kindred dead Each of us is to compile his or her own life history Each of us is to keep a book of remembrance President Boyd K. Packer

Seek out our kindred dead As individuals and families we are each to seek out our kindred dead, beginning first with the four most recent generations on each line, then going back as far as we can Your Family History, Getting Started, Ensign, Aug. 2003 p. 12 President Boyd K. Packer

No work is more of a protection No work is more of a protection to this Church than temple work and the genealogical research which supports it No work is more spiritually refining No work we do gives us more power President Boyd K. Packer

No work is more of a protection No work requires a higher standard of righteousness Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people The Holy Temple, p. 265 President Boyd K. Packer

Completion of required ordinances The exaltation of our Father s children rests upon the completion of required ordinances, if all are to move forward on the road that leads to immortality and eternal life President Gordon B. Hinckley

Completion of required ordinances The determination of accurate family history records and the work which follows in the temple are basic in this vast undertaking which the Lord has placed upon our shoulders Hinckley, The State of the Church, 52 President Gordon B. Hinckley

Spirit of the sacrifice That which goes on in the House of the Lord, and which must be preceded by research, comes nearer to the spirit of the sacrifice of the Lord than any other activity of which I know A Century of Family History Service, Ensign, Mar. 1995 President Gordon B. Hinckley

Crowning blessing the church has to offer All of our vast family history endeavor is directed to temple work. There is no other purpose for it. The temple ordinances become the crowning blessing the church has to offer General Conference, April 1998 President Gordon B. Hinckley

In the spirit of love and consecration Then, in a spirit of love and consecration, we must extend ourselves in the work of redemption of the dead through service in the temples of the Lord President Gordon B. Hinckley

In the spirit of love and consecration This service more nearly approaches the divine work of the Son of God, who gave his life for others, than does any other work of which I know He Slumbers Not, nor Sleeps, Ensign, May 1983, 8 President Gordon B. Hinckley

Unseen worlds are closely connected The seen and the unseen worlds are closely connected One assists the other Elder John A. Widtsoe

Unseen worlds are closely connected Those who fail to partake of the privileges and blessings of temple work deprive themselves of some of the choicest gifts within the keeping of the Church Temple work begins with genealogy John A. Widtsoe (quoted by Boyd K. Packer in his book: The Holy Temple) Elder John A. Widtsoe

Your power will be multiplied many times You can have the utmost assurance that your power will be multiplied many times by the Lord All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart Elder Henry B. Eyring "Rise to Your Call" Ensign, Nov. 2002, 78 President Henry B. Eyring

Pray to the Lord to Open the Way This is a spiritual work, a monumental effort of cooperation on both sides of the veil where help is given in both directions It begins with love Anywhere you are in the world, with prayer, faith, determination, diligence, and some sacrifice, you can make a powerful contribution Elder Richard G. Scott

Pray to the Lord to Open the Way Begin now I promise you that the Lord will help you find a way And it will make you feel wonderful Redemption, the Harvest of Love, CR, Oct. 1990 Elder Richard G. Scott

The spirit and influence of your dead The spirit and influence of your dead will guide those who are interested in finding those records If there is anywhere on the earth anything concerning them, you will find it Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard, p. 230 Elder Melvin J. Ballard

The spirit and influence of your dead I believe the youth are not only willing and able to do genealogical research, but they are a good means of giving life to the whole program Family History and Genealogy, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p 163 President Ezra Taft Benson

Temple Service is accomplished in two steps Doing work for others is accomplished in two steps: first, by family history research to ascertain our progenitors; and second, by performing the temple ordinances to give them the same opportunities afforded to the living President Howard W. Hunter

Temple Service is accomplished in two steps There are some members who engage in temple work but fail to do family history research on their own family lines Although they perform a divine service in assisting others, they lose a blessing by not seeking their own kindred dead as divinely directed by latter-day prophets President Howard W. Hunter

Temple Service is accomplished in two steps I have learned that those who engage in family history research and then perform the temple ordinance work for those whose names they have found will know the additional joy of receiving both halves of the blessing First Presidency Message: A Temple-Motivated People, Ensign, Feb. 1995, 2 5 President Howard W. Hunter

The spirit and influence of your dead For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man Pearl of Great Price Book of Moses 1:39 Pearl of Great Price

The spirit and influence of your dead For I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them 1 Ne. 3:7 Book of Mormon

Invite the Spirit But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 32: 9

The spirit and influence of your dead Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord Old And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse Testament Malachi 4:5-6

Completion of required ordinances Don t try to do this in a day Take some time on it Gather all these papers together and put them in the box Packer, The Holy Temple, 232-33 President Boyd K. Packer