I am sure all of you are working with members in your ward to work on their own family history. But are you following up on them? It is easy to work with them once and call it good and mark it off your list of members. But it is also important to follow-up with them from time to time to see if there still working with FamilySearch and to see if they have any questions.

Today, I did some follow-up with a member in our ward. She was learning how to scan photos and upload them to FamilySearch. This afternoon, we just fine tuned what she learned and uploaded 3 more photos. It is hard to learn everything in one meeting, so follow-up is a great way to see how they are progressing. Keep notes on each meeting so you will know what to ask and know where they are at in their learning. You can use the Consultant Planner to keep those notes there. But if for some reason they don't want you to add them to your consultant planner, keep paper notes. This is very handy. I do this with my clients at work and there is just no way to remember everything that was said or shared and we all need notes for follow-up. Don't limit yourself either, phone calls are just as effective in some circumstances.

Family History Flyers.... if you went to stake conference, you would have seen the family history flyers that I had available for members in the Sunday morning session. I edited these from our ward flyers. Don't forget to print them and use them as a sacrament meeting flyer and to have a small pile of them on the table outside of the chapel. Hand them out during Relief Society and Priesthood and don't forget the youth. There are different opportunities to make sure you get these out to members. If you have a new consultant called and one that was released, let me know and I can update your flyer.

Find-A-Record. How many of you used this resource?? If you haven't heard already, this program/app is no longer available. It used to help you find data problems, research opportunities, and possible duplicates across your family tree. The reason is they are no longer compatible with FamilySearch.

With all the new changes in The Church, the emphasis on family history has taken a backseat in our stake. Many new calling assignments, family history hasn't been in the priority for most of the leadership. I understand this and we may not make the 'numbers' that we desire for our stake. I will reevaluate and we can do better next year. We are still doing better than last year, but these changes has changed our focus for a bit of time during this transition.

One more thought. There will be members that just don't want to touch the computer, let alone upload and pictures etc to FamilySearch. Have you thought of having one of the youth just help with those members and taking care of that for them?? Upload their photos, record a memory or add names to complete their 4 generations on FamilySearch. Sometimes our older members would love to talk with someone about their family and the youth can help preserve their legacy.

Quarterly Meetings. For now, we will not be having these meetings. Again, part of this is because of the new changes need to take priority and I don't see anything wrong with our communication happening through this blog and email. The Sunday School Family History Class is discontinued and there is no need to discuss the class material for that. We are to teach our members/friends, one by one in their homes or other arrangements can be made at the church or local library. Don't forget that we have a family history center in the Highland/Central Building.

That is about it for now. If your ward needs extra attention or a meeting with your consultants, let me know. I would love to come and help with what you need. I think it would be a better way to serve you since the needs for each ward can and will be a bit different.

As always, contact me via email or text.

Sis. Jill Holmes

Working with the Members

How are you doing working with the members in your ward on their family history? Are you getting frustrated? Are those you are working with getting frustrated? Do you sometimes feel like you want to quit? I ask these questions, because I can honestly say that I have answered YES and NO over the years. Sometimes it can be difficult because you want to be successful with the members but you are not making any progress. Ask yourself a few of these questions to see if any of these can help you determine where you can improve.

1. Are you using the consultant planner ahead of the appointment you have made with your student, so you can a bit of pre-research before you met with them?
2. Are you familiar enough with the basics of FamilySearch to help members?
3. Are you researching your own family members for temple work?
4. Are you teaching too much at one time?

A few weeks ago, I was working with a sister in our ward and helping with her family history on FamilySearch. Besides helping her fix the communication with her printer/scanner and her computer, we were able to just work on ONE thing on FamilySearch. Memories. All we worked on was submitting photos to her ancestors. One at a time. It was actually great for her. It really meant for me to concentrate on ONE thing. Do you ever sometimes feel you have to teach them all you know because you love it so much, you want to share. But then you realize you just scared them and they don't want to touch it anymore?

For about 2 hours, we worked together on her family photos. Scanning, showing where they go on her computer after it scans, showing how to crop her photos, re-naming her files and uploading to FamilySearch and then tagging the photo. I showed her once, then had her do it again and again until she felt comfortable working on it all by herself. And she did it. That is ALL we did that night. Worked on uploading photos for 2 hours. It was a success and mission accomplished. 

In the past, I would have tried to get as much in our time together because I wasn't sure when we would meet up again. Work on one thing at a time. Line upon line, right?

Elder Renlund:

"President Russell M. Nelson, however, cautioned: “We can be inspired all day long about temple and family history experiences others have had. But we must do something to actually experience the joy ourselves.” He continued, “I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make [to] do more temple and family history work.”17 As you accept President Nelson’s invitation, you will discover, gather, and connect your family. Additionally, blessings will flow to you and your family like the river spoken of by Ezekiel. You will find healing for that which needs healing."

To read more of his talk, CLICK here. This comes from last general conference.

Consultant Planner - FamilySearch Part 3

Today we are going to go over The Consultant Planner. This is a great resource to keep track of those you teach in your ward or stake. You can create lesson plans, complete some research on the members line ahead of time and track progress with notes.

Sign into your FamilySearch account, then follow the graphic below to get to the Consultant Resources.

I am now going to share with you two videos that will explain the process. This first video comes from Rexburg Family History Center and it is FANTASTIC. This is what we need to do with our members.

This 2nd video comes from the church and FamilySearch and it focuses on the spiritual side of the research when we share what we have learned with our family. And notice that the sister learns the process ahead of time and then let's her brother 'find the family members' on his own. It will bring tears to your eyes.

It is so important to use these tools to help others help themselves and their families. A great resource for us and them. We need to become very familiar with these tools.

If you need assistance or clarification, please let me know.

Sis. Jill Holmes

The Family History Guide - Project 1: Family Tree - Part 2

Okay, have you had a chance to visit The Family History Guide www.thefhguide.com yet?? If you haven't you really need to take the time. It is such a worthwhile tool for us as a consultant but it is also great for members that we are working with. You can even give the members 'homework' with these lessons. They explain well for you. It helps you by saving a ton of time. Before you meet with a member, have them go through one of the lessons before hand. That way the information isn't so brand new. Terminology will be more familiar when you teach.

Are you ready??

Visit The Family History Guide, hover over the FamilySearch Tab, a drop down menu will come down. Click on Project 1: Family Tree.

You will see all the lessons that are available.

Go through them before showing to members. You don't need to know everything but you do need to know where to find the answers. This is a perfect place to find those answers. My opinion, it is better than FamilySearch help section. I personally have been waiting for a web site like this for years.

One last item to cover. Tracking Sheets. They have a tracking sheet system that you keep an eye on your training for yourself or for your student. This is a great way to see progress or to see areas of improvement that would be needed.

On the home page of The Family History Guide, go to the upper right hand corner....

This is where you can track your progress. For the Online Tracker, you just need to create a FREE account and then you can take notes, mark progress and save the information. If you feel better keeping track with paper copies, you can download the Tracker (Word) version. You will download what you need. (Remember where you downloaded it.) You can either keep track of it on your computer, it would just be 'offline' vs 'online'. Or you can print and keep them in a binder for quick reference. They think of everything.

I hope this helps a bit and we will dive into more of The Family History Guide later on.

Enjoy,
Jill

The Family History Guide Overview Part 1

The more I use The Family History Guide, the more I love it. You know when you are self-taught in just about anything, you realize there are somethings you miss. If you don't know what you don't know, you don't know it. :) Case in point. If you haven't visited this site, it is a must for your calling. Why would I say that? Because it gives you step by step on how to learn the material (FamilySearch) and step by step on how to teach members and train yourself as a consultant and it is all FREE!! Not bad, right?

This is going to a 10-part series, but it could be more or less. Not sure yet. But I want to have some blog posts that go through some of the training that is involved for yourself and others on this site. And show some screen shots, so you know what I am talking about.

Disclaimer: I should have shared this before. I am not an English major, I love to write, but I know I lack the knowledge of perfect grammar. :) So bare with me. I will get the point across. :)

Here we go. Type in your address bar in your browser http://www.thefhguide.com

At the top you will see a menu bar that goes across the top of the home page. Each one of those topics has a drop down menu when you hover over it. Let's take the first one, Intro. You will see all the topics that are covered under Intro....

I love how it takes into consideration that there are many who just may not be well versed in the computer or even how to start family history, they got this covered. With the Computer Basics, it will teach everything from how to use a mouse to figuring out your email. And it covers both PC and Mac. This is a great resource for our older members too. Have your senior members go over this material even before attempting to show them FamilySearch. It may not be such a bumpy ride when they get started with you.

I mentioned in my last blog the 'Quick Start' video. A great place to start. Then just go down the menu items and get familiar with what is available. You don't need to know everything, just know where to find it.

Review this material to start the foundation for your own personal study so you will be able to direct those that you teach.

"This work is a spiritual work, a monumental effort of cooperation on both sides of the veil, where help is given in both directions. Anywhere you are in the world, with prayer, faith, determination, diligence, and some sacrifice, you can make a powerful contribution. Begin now. I promise you that the Lord will help you find a way." Elder Richard G. Scott.

The Family History Guide - A Beginners Guide

The Family History Guide - Quick Tour

THE FAMILY HISTORY GUIDE by Genealogy Star

Hello all,

I am going to post this to the blog but I wanted you to have the whole email. Since I didn't write it, I can't repost it on my blog except to give a link (which I will). This blog is called GENEALOGY STAR.

I have talked about multiple times about The Family History Guide. ( www.thefhguide.com )It is 'approved' by the church to use it for your own personal training and to train members on how to do their own family history. I have mentioned several times that this website will also show members and yourselves how to do some research for your ancestors. It includes the basics for FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com and MyHeritage.com.

You may think you know a website well and don't think to look into it. But I would. I am working on the FamilySearch training and I am amazed on how much I didn't know how to do some very simple tasks. It helps fill in the gaps in our own knowledge.

The site also have an online tracker and you can also print them, this will help you keep track of your personal training. There are also trackers for the other websites and training that I mentioned and also for the state, country research. It teaches step by step. Even the basics on how to use a computer. This is helpful.

PLEASE take the time to be familiar with the site and for your personal training. I am going to keep going through it. You never know what you will learn. Even for the seasoned researcher.

Enjoy,
Sis. Jill Holmes

Notes From Our Last Meeting

A bit delayed in giving you a follow-up of our last meeting. So here are the scoops and some additional thoughts. Thank you for all who attended our meeting. So grateful for your time and service, it doesn't go unnoticed.

General Conference earlier this month was amazing. Such a great theme of temple work, ministering and changes in the quorums of the priesthood. Which also means that the High Group Leader is no longer the presiding priesthood over the ward temple and family history consultants. We now have the Elder's quorum presidency that is over us. Please keep in mind that we may not get the attention we need at the beginning as they get used to their new responsibilities. 

The Family History Guide is your go-to for learning how to use FamilySearch Family Tree, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and many others. It will also help with your research. In the next post, I will share with you more info regarding this website but keep it in mind in your own personal training and those that you help. A great resource.

BYU Family History Library YouTube channel. This is a gold mine of information. There are tutorials or webinars from their library on how to use the many websites we use for research and for our callings. These videos are uploaded weekly with new content. Make sure you click on 'Playlists' for a more organized version of all their videos. Pay attention to when the videos were uploaded so you know you will have the latest information.

LDS.org has updated their family history pages. The old ones are still there but we need to use the new pages located HERE. Or if you go to lds.org click on 'Families and Individuals' and then click on Family History. That is the easiest way besides bookmarking the page. The new page has been refreshed and looks great. I would get used to this new page and be familiar with it. I am sure it will be updated frequently.

Family History Support for your calling and for members needing help when we aren't available. This is not for research help, but mostly temple ordinance questions and website help with Family Tree. 1-866-406-1830. Easy number to remember, it is the day the church was organized.

There was a question asked on how much do we meet with members? It was suggested that we meet with them quarterly. I was thinking about that and I think it needs to much more than that. And it may need to be as much as the member needs until they get on their feet and feel comfortable navigating around. Remember, we can share with them The Family History Guide website and they can complete self-guided training by following the training schedule that is on the website. (Again, I will cover this in another post.) With that in mind, we do need to keep our skills up and learn new ones. I will forever talk about The Family History Guide as the go to resource to learn/teach new research techniques, learning how to navigate on most of the family history websites and to keep up with what is new.

That will be it for this blog post. There were other items that were discussed in our last meeting but some of the topics deserve their own blog post. So I will be posting those shortly.

Enjoy,
Jill

Blog for the Ward Temple & Family History Consultants - San Bernardino, CA Stake

Welcome to our blog. This will be a landing place for all ward temple and family history consultants in the San Bernardino, CA Stake to keep up on the latest information for our callings and personal research. I had started a Facebook Group, but realized that not everyone has a Facebook account or they don't visit their account very much. That is why I have started this blog. Instead of sending out emails (except to let you know there is a new blog posting), I will post here. This way all of  'my emails' will be in one place and searchable with labels and search box for easy finding of information.

General Conference this past weekend was amazing. If you didn't get a chance to watch, follow this link to get caught up. We had a new announcement which will effect our callings a bit. The High Priest Group Leader position has been retired and we now have both the previous High Priest Group and the Elder's Quorum, combined as the Elder's Quorum. There are three talks that go over the new changes. The talks from President Nelson, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Rasband will go over the changes in more detail.

The main take from this that will affect how we proceed with our callings as consultants is who we will report to. We will no longer report to our high priest group leader, since that position has been retired. There will now only be an Elder's Quorum and I am sure those positions in the next several weeks will be reassigned. With that in mind, we will continue to proceed with our assignments until the priesthood callings have been assigned. We will need to be patient with all involved as they will all have new assignments and it may be a bit before they have a chance to work with us in our callings.

Training Tip for today: We all need to know the 'landing' page on lds.org for your Family History Calling. Here is the direct link. It has been updated. If you are on lds.org you just need to click on 'Families and Individuals' and when the drop down menu shows, click on 'Family History'. Just that easy. No need to go through the 'Calling' section of the site.

Go through the page on lds.org and see what is available so if a question is asked of you, you may not know the answer, but you will know where to find the answer.

There will be additional posts but just wanted to share with you the web address for this site for future reference. The next post will be a recap of our last meeting. Keep an eye out for that later this week.

Enjoy,
Sis. Jill Holmes