I've come to understand that every person, no matter how lowly has a purpose in the Lord's plan. Some are meant to be great bishops, some great home teachers, other perhaps great primary teachers. I am none of those. In point of fact, only one principle of the gospel really comes easily to me: family history. Perhaps it is my love of puzzles (genealogy after all is one of the greatest, most complicated, and most deviously difficult puzzles ever devised) or perhaps it is sheer stubborn-mindedness, but I love genealogy.
It seems a paradox that one so engrossed in a world of technology (even enthralled by it) should be so excited to dig into archaically scribed, partially completed records penned by people long since dead. Yet here I am. Lucky for me the church is on a mission to bring those very records into the new century with technology bursting from their cracked and faded pages!
Am I talking about www.familysearch.org? No. It's probably a wonderful resource if you don't hail from a long line of avid genealogists, descend from early church members who failed to pass on records, or know a great deal about relatives from 1880 sans census records. Unfortunately I am not one of those. My real point of interest is the so-called "new familysearch.org." I have heard precious little about it apart from a few tidbits thrown to me in a Scandinavian family history class nearly a year ago, but what I have heard is remarkable. The church is reputed to be merging technology and family history in a phenomenal way: records being harmonized, categorized, digitzed, and publicized. A veritable oasis to weary genealogical travellers who are tired of finding rides to the Family History Library every other day.
Want to learn more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FamilySearch
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