August: How can I teach others how to do family history work?

All Printables and Videos found HERE

1. Introduction

• Did the youth do any family history work with week?
• Have you ever taught someone how to use technology?
• Quote from Elder Bednar, “Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends.”

2. Learning Together

• What are some ways you can use your technology skills to help others learn about family history?
• Quote from Generations Linked in Love by Elder Russell M. Nelson found in the printables

3. Teaching Others

• During the lesson, "Why is it important to learn about my family history?", the youth mentioned different ways that they find names to take to the temple. I had them teach their tips to the class.
• Watch "Preserve your Photos and Family Memories" video. When I watched this video, it really touched me and I knew that this was what we needed to focus on in this lesson.
• I hooked my laptop up to a tv and showed the youth how to add photos and stories to their ancestors "Memories" section of their profile. As well as how to tag other ancestors in the photo.
• I went to my grandma's house in preparation and she let me take a book full of stories and pictures. She even had cassette tape recordings of President Monson interviewing my Great-Grandparents that need to be transcribed. How cool is that!? Let's just say I'm hooked on learning about my ancestors and I brought all the life histories, some photos and those cassette tapes to show my class, hoping that they will find the enthusiasm for learning about their ancestors.
• I also showed them how to use the Memories app on their phones. It links to the Family Tree (Family Search) app. You can store pictures, recordings, and documents on the Memories app while you are meeting with grandparents and others who can share stories and pictures of ancestors. There is a really cool feature on the Family Tree app called "Relatives Around Me". If two people have this screen open on their phone, Family Tree will find how you and their other person are the most closely related. I found out my husband is my 6th cousin!

4. Making it Personal

• Watch "Help Others Add Photos and Documents the Their Family Tree" video
• Think of someone that you could share what we have learned today with (FHE, Grandparents, sibilings)
• I bought copies of "My Family: Stories that Bring Us Together" booklet from the distribution center. You can also order them online HERE
• Let the class share their family stories

5. Conclusion

• You might not remember all of their names, but they will never forget yours.
• SoulSavers treat (I put a piece of paper over the "Life" part of "LifeSavors")

August: Why is it important to learn about my family history?

All Printable and Videos found HERE

1. Introduction

• Have the youth try to fill out a pedigree chart. (Some are going to be able to fill it out and other's might not know past their parents)
• I let the class share how well the class did. Then I had them hold on to the chart until the end of the lesson.

2. Likening the Scriptures

• Why do we do family history?
• What is the spirit of Elijah?
• Malachi 4:5-6
• D&C 128:18
• Read the "Redeeming the Dead" section in True to the Faith
• Watch The Time is Now Video

3. Learning Together

• How can we do family history work?
• Interviewing family members, recording memories (such as journals that were talked about last week), Learning about ancestors, adding photos and stories to FamilySearch.org, doing indexing, Completing temple ordinances
• Read "Redeeming the Dead" quote by Elder Richard G. Scott
• What family history work have you done? Or family members?

4. Making it Personal

• Read "An Invitation to the Rising Generation" by Elder David A. Bednar

(So this part of the lesson can be done many ways. My husband is a tech junkie, so we just happened to have a couple, okay quite a few, Kindle Fires. You could also ask the class to bring their own electronic device. Or you might have a few laptops and tablets lying around. Or if that isn't an option, you could set up a projector and laptop to show the class.)

• Give the youth a tour of the FamilySearch Indexing program
• Give the youth a tour of the FamilySearch website/app
• This was my main focus 
• How can I find ancestors who need ordinances completed?
• How do I reserve ordinances?
• How do I print them off and take them to the temple?
• In the link above, I provided some FamilySearch articles for help in navigating their site
• I also showed them the "Take A Name" app. This is my favorite, especially since I can't easily find ancestors to do work for since my immediate ancestors have had their work done already. This app will find people like my 1st cousin 7 times removed that needs their work done.

5. Conclusion

• On an index card, I had them write down one thing that they would do this week to do family history. (Ex: Complete the pedigree chart if they weren't able to, learn about an ancestor, or find a name to take to the temple.)