On the opening day of RootsTech 2026, Elder Mark A. Bragg, a General Authority Seventy, executive director of the Family History Department and chairman of FamilySearch International, offered insights on what he wished more members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understood better about temple and family history.
The first thing he wanted members to know: “The Lord is pleased with your efforts.”
“I think we feel too much guilt about not doing enough, while ‘so and so has 82 generations documented,’” he said. “I think the Lord would say, ‘Slow down. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ I want them to know that the Lord is pleased with what they have done.”
Elder Bragg shared this and other thoughts on temple and family history in an interview with the Church News at RootsTech 2026 in the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, March 5.
3 key principles
For Latter-day Saints who might feel overwhelmed at the thought of doing temple and family history work, Elder Bragg suggested they consider three key principles.
1. Start with the Savior. “This is His work. You don’t have to feel stressed. He is going to help you. This is His work and His glory (see Moses 1:39). He will be in it. Start with Him.”
2. Use Ordinances Ready. “It’s so simple. It will send you names of ancestors. If it doesn’t have anybody in your tree yet, it will look in your ward, then it will look in your stake. So when you go to the temple using Ordinances Ready, you will be able to do the work for someone who is somewhat connected to you.”
3. Add what you know. Go to FamilySearch.org, add the photos, add the stories, add the names that you know. You will be amazed at how it grows, not only by the way that you feel connected to your ancestors, but others will help add things.”
Growing up, Elder Bragg was told that his grandfather was born in Turlock, California. Having no reason to doubt it, he entered this information into FamilySearch. Later, he received a message from someone indicating that the birthplace was incorrect. Elder Bragg felt “indignant” about the correction until the person provided documentation that confirmed his grandfather was indeed not born in Turlock, California.
“So here I added what I knew, and the community helped me correct it,” he said. “Start with what you have, and you will be amazed at how it takes off.”
The Lord opens the way
One of FamilySearch’s responsibilities is to “nourish” temples with names for proxy ordinances. With 214 operating houses of the Lord worldwide and over 100 more announced or under construction, Elder Bragg acknowledged it’s a tremendous task.
“When I start to feel a little stress about that, I remind myself this is the work of the Lord,” he said. “Whenever we get to a crossroads where we are not sure where we are going to go, the Lord opens up [the way]. Today He is opening up generative artificial intelligence, and we are able to take information that comes in the form of books and genealogies. We are able to take that information, put it into family trees and connect families. We are seeing things come up as we get to points where we need the Lord’s help.”
On an individual level, Elder Bragg promised that if members will do what they can, the “Lord’s hand will lead and guide you.”
‘The true miracle of family history’
One of the most significant things Elder Bragg has learned over the last eight months as executive director of the Family History Department is this: “The true miracle of family history is that we can accompany our ancestors to the house of the Lord and perform ordinances on their behalf. That has sunk into my heart in a way that it never had before,” he said.
Reflecting on a leadership meeting he once attended, Elder Bragg was struck to hear President Thomas S. Monson teach that “the Lord is just as concerned with those on the other side of the veil as He is with us on this side of the veil,” Elder Bragg recalled.
“I have seen how concerned the Lord is for those on the other side of the veil as He opens doors, as He places us in archives and introduces us to individuals who lead us to records. Then, tie that to the incredible expansion of the Church through convert baptisms and what happens when those converts take the names of their ancestors to the temple, further building the family tree,” he said.
“We are in a time that we could not have even imagined five years ago, and it is my testimony that the Lord’s hand is involved.”
