Hastening the Work -President Monson

This morning I read the June message by President Monson. I admit I'm already a bit of a family history addict, but this really got me fired up. Growing up, I believed that my pioneer heritage ensured there were no loose ends in my family tree. In fact, that belief stuck with me until two months ago, when I actually took the plunge and began looking. In a matter of days I found over 100 names in Papa Dave's line that needed to be sealed!

In his message, President Monson gave some very motivational words, encouraging us to dive into this work. He quoted President Joseph F. Smith who beautifully illustrated the blessings our ancestors recieve when we do their work. He said:

“Through our efforts in their behalf their chains of bondage will fall from them, and the darkness surrounding them will clear away, that light may shine upon them and they shall hear in the spirit world of the work that has been done for them by their children here, and will rejoice with you in your performance of these duties.”

 For anyone starting family history for the first time, we might become confused or discouraged. President Monson encouraged us to not give up. He said:

"Now, family history work is not easy... The Lord expects you and me to perform our family history work well...We are going to make mistakes, but none of us can become an expert in family history work without first being a novice. Therefore, we must plunge into this work, and we must prepare for some uphill climbing. This is not an easy task, but the Lord has placed it upon you, and He has placed it upon me.

As you pursue family history work, you are going to find yourself running into roadblocks, and you are going to say to yourself, “There is nothing else I can do.” When you come to that point, get down on your knees and ask the Lord to open the way, and He will open the way for you. I testify that this is true."

How amazing! To have confirmation from a Prophet that we will be blessed to succeed in this work! I hope that as you begin working on finding names, that you will immediately feel the joy that comes through finding our ancestors.