Lessons on the Temple
Lesson No. Eighty-Five

The Lord is Hastening His Work on the Gathering of Israel On Both Sides of the Veil

A conference talk given by the then Apostle M. Russell Nelson at the Sunday Morning session of the 2006 October General Conference about the Gathering of Scattered Israel.

The Lord has inspired computer and many other technologies so Israel can be gathered (This message was first written nine years ago, and the Lord continues to inspire technological advancements) – There have been remarkable advancements in technology, the Brethren have emphasized the importance of family names, and the patrons, especially the youth, have felt the spirit of Elijah.  The work is hastening. 

The ordinances done in the Louisville Temple have historically been about 30% family names.  In 2014 we set a goal to have at least 50% family names.  At the end of October 2014, the last month of our assignment, year to date we were over 80% family names and the month of October was almost 90%.

The foundation was laid in 2012 and 2013, and the hand of the Lord in hastening the work of families in the Louisville Kentucky Temple became obvious in 2014.

First Presidency letter of October 8, 2012 – “When members of the Church find names of their ancestors and take those names to the temple for ordinance work, the temple experience can be greatly enriched….We especially encourage youth and young single adults to use for temple work their own family names or the names of ancestors of their ward and stake members.”
We see many members following the council of the Prophet in doing temple work for their ancestors.

Family Tree - In March 2013 this technology was made available to members and the public.  It is now possible to build a family tree entirely online with your pedigree chart pre-populated with many names.   

As we met with branches, wards, and stakes in our temple district we strongly encouraged them to help new converts use Family Tree to find the names of deceased family members they can bring to the temple.   When new converts go to the temple for their own family names retention is over 80%.

Possible Ancestors are "individuals who have a probable family relationship that cannot be verified because the records are inadequate, such as those who have the same last name and resided in the same area as your known ancestors."  This opportunity to find family names is not widely understood.  We promoted it throughout the temple district.  A majority of the ordinances we did in the Louisville Temple are from workers who used this policy to find names which we label LFF (Louisville Family File). 

Finding Your Cousins – At Roots Tech 2014 Conference, Elder Neil L. Andersen introduced a new program to identify those brothers and sisters of our direct ancestors.   "Puzzilla", is a program which quickly shows where there are spouses and children of our ancestor’s siblings that can be incorporated into our line.  It then links us to Family Search with that sibling’s name to allow us to find more about that individual (marriage, children, death) allowing us to do the Temple work.  This is revolutionary.

Collaboration with commercial genealogical organizations – Early in 2014 the Church Family History Department announced agreements with Ancestry.com, findmypast.com, and MyHeritage.com whereby members of the Church will have free access to the data bases of these companies.  There will be free public access to Ancestry.com and findmypast.com in thousands of family history centers worldwide.

Testimony – The work of the Lord is correlated on both sides of the veil.  As the work hastens here it also hastens in the spirit world as many of our ancestors accept the gospel there when they hear it. 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said:  “It is our opportunity, in this dispensation, and our privilege and duty to spend our time in searching out our dead. We are of the house of Israel… our ancestors were also of the house of Israel…Therefore our fathers are more likely to receive the gospel (if they did not hear it in this life, to receive it in the spirit world), than are those whose descendants are not in the Church and who refused to receive the gospel here” (Doctrines of Salvation II, p. 133).

The Lord has made it possible for members of the Church to go to Family Search any time and find family names that can be taken to the temple.  Individually and as a family we will be greatly blessed as we do work for family members who are on the other side of the veil.  Furthermore, we should do this work often enough that it is a sacrifice.  Remember, temple worship always has and always will require sacrifice.