Season for Family

A community of women finding time for family connections.

Are We Related?

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This week’s #seasonforfamilyactivities idea is all about making fun connections! Family History can seem boring at times or if it’s not boring to you, it can be boring to those you are trying to get involved! This activity is guaranteed to be so much fun for kids, teens and adults alike.

I am going to share with you 2 ways to find out if and how you are related to those outside of your immediate family! Both ways do require a familysearch.org account that is connected to your deceased relatives.

1 – Finding Relations to Those Who Are in Close Proximity to You

If you would like to find relationships with people in the same room or close area as you, you and those around you need to download, open and login to the “FamilySearch Tree” App to your phone or tablet.

  • Android
  • IOS

Next, you and your friends will need to navigate to the Menu and select “Relatives Around Me” and tap “Scan for Friends”. That’s it, if you are related to anyone near you, your relationships will show!

2 – Finding Relations to Anyone with a FamilySearch Account

Do you have long distance friends that you’d love to find connections with?!? To check on these relationships, you’ll need to use Relative Finder on the computer (this is a website, not an App).

First, you’ll click on the “Login with FamilySearch” button, where you will login to your account.

Once you are logged in, you’ll come to a page like this where you can see your relations to celebrities, Political Figures, Latter-Day Saint Prophets, etc. This all on it’s own is fun!

In order to find relations to specific people (online friends, etc.), what you will need to do is Create a Group. You’ll do that by clicking on “Groups” and “Create” on the top right menu bar.

From here, you will Create a Group Name and Password.

After your group has been created, all you need to do is share your group name and password with anyone that would like to join! To join, you do need to login (like in the previous few steps) and click on “Groups” and “Join”.

Now, when you are on the homepage of Relative Finder, and after your friends start joining, you will be able to see your relationships! Make sure to that the checkbox next to the group that you want to look at is the only one selected, so that you can start seeing those connections. (Shown below)

Also, Make sure to click on the names so that you can see how you are related!

We hope that you’ll try these 2 methods out and let us know how it goes! Use this as an activity for parties, a Family Home Evening (invite another family or 2), Youth Activities, Church Lessons, etc.

ARE WE RELATED TO YOU? Want to find out?

We have started a Relative Finder group on our Facebook Page! Come check it out. Here is the link to our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/seasonforfamily/
and after you are in the group find the post with this image to get the Relative Finder group and password.

CAROLYNN REYNOLDS

branchesart.com
IG: @branches.art

Passing Down their Legacy of Faith

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I read through a short biography of my great-great-great grandfather the other day. I read of his faith. His deep conviction of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His strength in the hardest of trials. I wished so deeply that I could have met him. I wondered if I could be a little bit like him. I wondered what he would have taught me if I had had the opportunity to sit on his knee as a child.

I thought of my grandfather, his great-grandson, who passed away a years ago. I used to sit on his knee. He taught me so much about the gospel on that soft, inviting little seat. He had such an amazing knowledge of, well, everything. But especially he loved to talk about the Savior and His teachings. He had an entire library full of books written by amazing men and women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He taught me to delve deep into my understanding of the gospel.

My Grandpa and I

I think now about my dad. He would often let me stay up late to discuss some doctrinal aspect of the gospel. I never got sick of hearing him talk about this passion of his. That same love of our Savior had been passed down to him.

I have to admit that even with all the names I have found, temple work competed, talks on family history and so forth, I have hardly read a story from any of my ancestors. I have been so focused on getting the work done. Not to mention, this line of my family has had SO much work done already I never even bothered to look through it. It was already “done”. How wrong I have been.

Two things became clear from reading these stories of my great-great-great grandfather. One, these men and women who came before us are of a powerful importance in my life. This deep love for the Savior and His teachings was passed down from those before me and has become a part of me now. Our ancestors’ faith, their experiences, their perspectives, their love is very much a part of each of us. Even some of their faults and shortcomings are passed down. The second thing that became VERY clear to me was that it is my RESPONSIBILITY to continue to pass down this legacy of faith to my children. My children need to hear these stories. They need to learn from these men and women who have already helped shape them a little into who they are. These ancestors aren’t just names. They are my family.

With this said, I am excited to introduce a series starting up next week called, #seasonforfamilyactivities It will be a way for us to share ideas to fill some of those long summer days coming up with activities to do together as a family. These activities will be fun and help you discover and pass down your own family legacy so that our ancestors won’t be forgotten but that they can be celebrated with us and in us.

What are some ways you have been inspired by the stories of your ancestors?

KAYLA BERRETT

IG: @kaylaberrett