Have you ever wanted to bring your own family names to the temple but didn’t know exactly where to start? The process of finding ancestors who are waiting for their sacred ordinances has been miraculously simplified over the years. By utilizing modern technology, you can easily identify and rescue those who are waiting in the spirit world.
The Evolution from the Old Days
The embedded document below is a masterful guide on taking and reserving temple names. It outlines the best programs available today and provides a step-by-step methodology for maximizing your research time. By following this guide, you will experience the profound joy of bringing your own ancestors to the House of the Lord.
Modern computer-based programs that allow us to identify and clear names are completely in the realm of fantasy compared to the old days. Years ago, members had to fill out a purple mimeograph form with an individual’s information and get signatures from two ward genealogy leaders.
These forms were then mailed to Salt Lake, where workers would check the individual against boxes of 3×5 cards to see if the work had already been done. Today, we are blessed with spiritually-discovered inventions that allow us to proceed with incredible magnitudes of success.
Why You Should Clear More Than You Can Do
Many members wonder if they should only reserve names they can personally take to the temple. However, if your ancestors have accepted the gospel in spirit prison, they would much rather be in the temple queue to be done by someone in the world-wide church than waiting for you to clear your busy calendar.
When you clear more than you can personally do, you simply share the excess with the temple for others to perform. It is deeply comforting to know that others are doing your family history ordinances while you are sleeping. Always remember to focus on the “one” individual who desperately wants their work completed.
The Top Four Programs to Use
There is a specific hierarchy of tools you should use when searching for your family. Your absolute first choice for identifying a name to print right now is the “Ordinances Ready” feature under the temple tab in FamilySearch.
Your second best option is to use Virtual Pedigree, which is a FamilySearch partner created by the BYU Family History Tech Lab. The third choice is to manually look for FamilySearch green icons in the descendancy view, and the fourth option is an advanced program called Hope Chest.
Important Rules to Consider
As you are processing these names, there are a few essential rules you must follow. First, you must abide by the 110-year rule, which requires you to get permission from a living relative to perform ordinance work for anyone born within the last 110 years.
If you encounter a yellow warning icon indicating insufficient data, you must either research the individual or estimate the required dates. A standard estimation rule is that a husband is married at 25, a wife at 21, and they begin having children a year after marriage.
Mastering the Hope Chest Extension
If you are serious about finding thousands of names, you should purchase the annual version of Hope Chest for around $33 a year. This program appears as an icon extension exclusively in your Google Chrome taskbar.
This brilliant extension will systematically search all the descendants of your chosen ancestor, saving you hundreds of hours of manual clicking. Take a moment to read the full 8-page document below to learn exactly how to set up your screens for maximum efficiency! You can also check out our previous post on The 52 Stories Project, or visit FamilySearch to start finding your ancestors today!
