Week 69: Family History, are you doing it?

From Renee - 

I have been worried about how Lauren is doing after losing Sis Hansen. 

She says “I'm ok. Promise. The peace has been incredible. The gospel is true! Through and through.  It's just amazing how the Lord gives us exactly what we need. The hardest part will be saying goodbye to both President and Sister Hansen. But all will work out. It really will and I really believe that.“

Then some other cute things she included in a note to me:
We had almost 40 lessons this week:)  We had a baptism postponed this week. Yup. 
I heard about the snow this morning by a nice lady at Target! My mission has scarred me from ever going to Walmart ever again by choice. You should be proud :) 
It is totally crazy how time flies. All these kids have been saying they're 14 and 18 and I'm like wait... that's how old my siblings are. Weird. I'll send Megan a bday note today! 
Thank you for teaching me organization - we're working on that with Sister Soelberg :) 
Actually, I figured out yours and dad's secret to life success: you're expert planners. It's that simple. I love you too :) You're just the cutest :)

Lauren's email

Lots of coordinating emails today, so I'm just going to share a brief testimony and procedural information about family history work!

Family history is what we do when we are researching the information and stories of our ancestors. It has the power to link us together, to bring us closer together, and to invite the Spirit into our homes even more strongly than before. Most people are interested in talking about families. As we focus on the family, the Lord will help us find even more people who are prepared to receive the restored gospel.

Temple work is made possible through the Priesthood, the power and authority of God on the earth given to man to bless His children. We research our ancestors, find their stories, learn of their struggles, all so that we can help them have the opportunity to choose to accept the gospel. We take the names we find to the temple, so that acting as proxy, we can perform the ordinances for them to ultimately go to the celestial kingdom and to be eternal families.

That is the power of family history. It opens hearts, strengthens bonds, and invites the Spirit to testify of the truth of the restoration of the gospel!

Some resources to check out once you're on familysearch.org:

• Pandora's Hope Chest - available through Google Chrome, allows you to easily find those people who are ready to have their names taken to the temple or those who need more information.
• Puzzilla.org - you can view the descendancy easily to see where work needs to be done
• rootsmapper.com - View where your ancestry comes from and see who else is from those areas

Challenge for this week: Get on familysearch and feel of the power that comes as you work on finding your ancestors. I know that the Spirit will touch your heart. The joy of the gospel will fill your heart! You will gain a better understanding of what it means for us to be eternal families. Our Heavenly Father's plan will take on new meaning. 

What an amazing gift from our Heavenly Father.

I love you all! The gospel is true! Miracles happen! Our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives and loves us. He will always help us. As we live worthy, the Spirit will lead and guide us in every aspect of our daily lives. As we follow those promptings, we will always know that we are doing what God needs us to do.

Love,

Sister Holbrook

This is an amazing talk by President Hinckley about the importance of our role as members in sharing the gospel.

PICTURES!! Your favorite part :)

Our fantastic district: Sisters Goormastic, Sammartano, me, and Soelberg. Elders Isufaj, Brown, Chang, Siebert, Clark, and Bishop.

Making Pho (Vietnamese soup) with the Pham's, Sharp's, and Bradley's! Best dinner ever.