For anyone who’s ever wondered what their role is in family history, Elder Mark A. Bragg has an answer: “Add what you know.”
Elder Bragg is a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as an executive director of the Family History Department and FamilySearch International. He recently spoke with Church News about how tools, resources and growing interest are helping connect families on both sides of the veil.
He also discussed the part that each person can play in completing family history research and temple ordinances.
“Start with the Savior,” Elder Bragg said. “This is His work. He’ll lead you. He’ll inspire you. This is, as He says, His work and His glory” (see Moses 1:39).
‘Add what you know’
Elder Bragg encouraged Church members to begin by simply adding whatever photos, documents and other information they have to their family trees.
As individuals do this, their information will build upon what others have added, ultimately creating a much clearer picture. For instance, Elder Bragg shared his own experience of adding what he knew about a particular ancestor to his family tree, only for someone else to come forward with birth and death records that corrected his information.
“So you add what you know, and then others will be inspired to help you out in your journey,” he said.
Church members can also use Ordinances Ready, a tool on the FamilySearch Family Tree app that searches a member’s family tree to find an ancestor for whom ordinance work can be performed. The member then selects an ordinance and brings the name to the temple. If a relative is not found, Ordinances Ready can provide a name from a member’s ward or stake.
Elder Bragg said he marvels at how prophets have accelerated temple building in recent decades at the same time that the Lord has allowed for the development of technologies such as artificial intelligence and DNA testing, all of which contribute greatly to building family trees.
However, Elder Bragg emphasized that simply finding ancestors doesn’t exalt them.
“It’s the ordinances performed in the house of the Lord that allow them to progress and to be linked for eternity and to be with us in the celestial kingdom,” he said, adding, “The main thing is helping our ancestors receive the ordinances necessary to make the covenants that are required … to learn the things that they need to do and understand to be able to live in the presence of our Heavenly Father.”
A joyous doctrine
Elder Bragg said something he wishes Church members understood about family history is that they’re accomplishing great things and that the Lord is pleased with them. “We wouldn’t be where we are without these great members.”
Church members sometimes feel guilty for not doing enough, Elder Bragg continued, which makes family history feel like a burden. But he hopes Church members will feel excitement, instead.
He referenced Doctrine and Covenants sections 124 and 128, which explain baptisms for the dead, and noted how early Latter-day Saints received this doctrine with joy.
“I hope we can be there, because that’s where we need to be,” Elder Bragg said. “It is joyous.”
Ultimately, he said, Jesus Christ’s gospel is about ministering to “the one.” Family history work touches people so deeply because it helps people one by one, he said; and instead of “taking names to the temple,” he prefers to think of it as “accompanying” ancestors to the temple so they can receive their saving ordinances.
“This is the work and the glory of a loving Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ,” Elder Bragg said, continuing, “The greatest at not losing anyone is our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And family history, [the] temple, that is a manifestation of Their love for us, that They will never forget ‘the one.’ … Because He never forgets His children.”
