A New Beginning

I'm starting out on this journey of a blog. I can't guarantee that any of it will turn out alright. I can't even guarantee that it will be interested, insightful, or informative in any way. My only goal for this site is to bring myself closer to those who have gone before me.

This is my Family History blog. What has started out as a project in school takes on new meaning as I learn about my family, and yearn to help others search for their ancestors. Truly, the sealing power has been restored--families can be linked together forever, throughout the eternities, because of the Priesthood and the sealing power restored through Elijah in these latter-days.

For those of you who have stumbled upon this site and have no clue what I'm talking about, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as the Mormon church. I'm proud of my faith. I have a firm testimony in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and have built my life upon Him, as it is He who gives me strength. I love God, and I love His restored gospel. I also love my family, and so I am happy to know that I can spend forever with them, through this gospel of Christ.

In the LDS church, we take a special interest in Family History (or Genealogy) because of our knowledge of the eternal nature of families. Malachi 4: 5-6 states: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 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." We have been taught in our church that our ancestors cannot be saved without us, neither can we be saved without them. This directly ties with the scripture in Malachi, and helps us to turn our hearts to our fathers, our ancestors who gave us life, and help them by performing sacred ordinances for them, such as baptism, in temples across the world. These ties created in the temple last for eternity, meaning we stay as family forever.

It is my goal to locate as many of my family members as I can, and do the work for them. They cannot do it for themselves, but since God is merciful and gracious, He has allowed for a way to redeem the dead, to allow those who have passed on to be baptized in His name through a living proxy, and to, therefore, reap all the blessings that come from living in accordance to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Job asked, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14) and we know that the answer is "YES!" Because Christ died and rose from His tomb on the third day, we all shall live again, including our ancestors.

I love my family, and I want to be with them forever. As I come closer to them through this Family History work, I encourage everyone else to do the same. There are people waiting to receive these blessings, and we're the ones who can help! This is a great and noble work, and I know that I will be blessed as I embark upon this journey--one step at a time.