Autumn The Indexer

I had ward council this morning before church since we didn’t have it last week b/c so many people were out of town. After church we came home, had dinner, and I told Autumn she had to read for 15 minutes before she could watch TV. I’m trying to get her back into that habit since school will be starting up in about a month. You would have thought I told her she had to cut her right arm off!!! She had a MAJOR MELTDOWN!

Once she had calmed down she came to talk to me about what had happened and I was indexing. She asked me what I was doing, and I showed her. She asked if she could try it. I told her she could index for 15 minutes or read for 15 minutes and she chose indexing. I sat with her and showed her how to do it. Hopefully she’ll want to index a lot, b/c there are some AMAZING promises from Apostles about the blessings that come from doing family history (or helping others do theirs in the case of indexing):

Elder David A Bednar’s talk “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn” … “It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28–36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.”

Elder Richard G Scott’s talk “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead” … “Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.”

Those are some phenomenal promises from Apostles of the Lord! I am glad Autumn wants to index so that she can have those types of promises in her life. I also want/need those promises in my own life, which is one of the reasons I have been indexing so much!