Vision brings forth Blessings

What is Your Family History Vision for 2017?

Having a vision for the vital work of Family History serves those on both sides of the veil.  "Where there is no vision the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18) But where there is a vision the people flourish. Here is a link to a presentation that will inspire and enlighten you as you prepare to accomplish not just a goal, but a vision during this New Year.
Click Here to enjoy a discussion with Elder Bradley D Foster, Executive Director of FamilySearch and the other Brethren that serve as assistant executive directors of FamilySearch.

Mesa FamilySearch Library

REMINDER:  Please remember to register for the Family History Conference to be held Saturday, January 21, 2017, from 9-4:20, at the Red Mountain Institute, 7126 E McKellips Road, in Mesa.  Register online NOW at www.mesafsl.org.

CLASSES ARE BACK:  Yes, attached is a list of classes to be taught during January at the Mesa FamilySearch Library Training Center, 464 E 1^stAvenue in Mesa.  FREE.  Please join us!

Class Schedule

WEST VALLEY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY SEMINAR:  Attached is information about a seminar sponsored by the West Valley Genealogical Society on Saturday, February 18, 2017, in Sun City.

For Information Click Here

HEADS UP:  The Library is sponsoring its second Family History Conference of 2017 on Saturday, February 25, 2017, at the Glendale Arizona Stake Center, 8602 N 31^st Avenue, Phoenix.  Registration begins online at www.mesafsl.org on January 21^st.  

Upcoming Events

Click Here for more information

Click Here for More Information

The Mesa Arizona Temple is closed  all of January 2017 through February 13, 1017.  It reopens Tuesday, February 14th.

Gilbert Arizona Temple:                                

• 3301 South Greenfield Road Gilbert, Arizona 85297
• Telephone:  480-822-5000          (No Clothing Rental)
• Endowment Sessions:
•          Tuesday - Saturday:  Every 45 minutes:  5:30 am to 7:30 pm
• Baptistry:
•          Tuesday - Saturday:  5:30 am to 8:30 pm
• _______________________________________________________________________________________   

Phoenix Temple

5220 W Pinnacle Peak

Phoenix, Arizona

623-474-9500

Endowment Sessions:

          Tuesday through Thursday:      6 am (Wednesday only), 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 10:30 am

                                                          4:30 pm, 6 pm, 7:30 pm

           Friday:  Every 90 minutes:  7:30 am to 7:30 pm

           Saturday: Every 90 minutes: 6 am to 6 pm

Baptistry:

            Tuesday through Thursday;     7 am to 11:30 am and 4 pm to 8 pm

            Wednesday:         6 am to 11:30 am and 4 pm to 8 pm

             Friday:               7 am to 8 pm

             Saturday:           6 am to 7 pm

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TIPS AND TRICKS: Click here to learn about "The Gear"

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Media Library:

Discover Your Story






Other Great Resources

The Gear

"The Gear" is a new feature in Family Search.
This is what the "Gear" looks like:

You will find it located on the right hand side of the "person" page in Family Search.  It has some great features as shown on this short video.  Click below to get the video

VIDEO OF THE GEAR

Light the World through Family History Work

LIGHTtheWORLD The Lord has never, to my knowledge, indicated that His work is confined to mortality. Rather, His work embraces eternity. I believe He is hastening His work in the spirit world. I also believe that the Lord, through His servants there, is preparing many spirits to receive the gospel. Our job is to search out our dead and then go to the temple and perform the sacred ordinances that will bring to those beyond the veil the same opportunities we have.  ( Thomas S. Monson, “Hastening the Work,” Ensign, June 2014, 4-6) you can Light the World this Christmas Season through helping someone find a name to take to the temple. What Happens in FamilySearch for a Recently Deceased Person? I.  Ordinances for a recently deceased person appear as Not Ready           A.  Information for Members: Family Tree does not make a name ready for ordinances until one year and one day after the date of death. Below are steps you can take if you know that the ordinance status should indicate the person is ready for ordinances:                                                                                                                         The system uses the information that appears on the Person page to determine whether you can do temple ordinances for a person. If the death date is incorrect, you can edit the date to see if the ordinance status changes.  If the death date contains only a year or a month and a year (for example, 2010 or September 2010), change the date to reflect the actual death date (for example, 15 September 2010). If the date is at least one year plus one day from the current date, the ordinances should appear as either Request or Request (Permission Required). If the Sealing to Parents ordinance is required and the person has been dead for less than a year, the system does not allow you to print family ordinance cards or a Family Ordinance Request even if you have a letter of worthiness from the person's bishop. You need to have a member of the temple presidency contact Special Services in the Temple Department.  Click HERE II.  Official LDS Church Membership records are separate from Family Tree records.        When an LDS Church member dies, each person below must complete some tasks:               1.  The ward or branch clerk of the deceased member.                 2.  The patron who has a record of the person in the private space of their Family Tree.        3.  The Church Membership department.           Actions to take:        1. Notify the ward or branch clerk where the deceased member lived, and provide                        supporting information, such as a death certificate, obituary, funeral program, or official                  death index.                       2. Find your copy of the person in your private space in Family Tree. Add the death                    information to your copy of the person. This moves the record out of private spaces              and into public Family Tree space. Then add sources to the record which clearly                    show the death—death certificate, obituary, newspaper article, or other sources.         3. Check for possible duplicates, and merge records as appropriate. If an LDS                              Church Membership record is found, please ensure it is the surviving record in a                    merge process.  For More Information Click Here _________________________________________________________ Merging Duplicate Records in FamilySearch Do you ever find more than one record of a person in FamilySearch?  If you want to learn more about the process of merging, you will want to read this blog post from Leslie Albrecht Huber.  This post was well written and easy to understand.  To find out more information Click Here.   __________________________________________________________ Resources for Leaders by Lisa McBride

New pages on LDS.org give priesthood and auxiliary leaders resources and information concerning family history in wards, stakes, districts and branches. These pages can help you in your calling as a family history center director. Understanding the doctrine and promised blessings of family history can strengthen your faith in the importance of the work you do, help you support local priesthood leaders, and work more effectively with others in your unit who have family history callings.

To access these pages, either click here or go to LDS.org and select Families and Individuals on the blue tool bar. 

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Indexing Grows the Tree by Devin Ashby Thank you for helping to spread the message of indexing. In October 2016, 772,728 new individuals were added to the Tree as a direct result of indexed records on FamilySearch.org! These are new people who weren’t in the Tree before who were added from indexed records and are now available to have their temple work completed.  See complete blog post HERE. _________________________________________________________ Dates to Remember: December 23-26   Mesa Family Search Library will be closed December 23 (after 10 am session)-24 and December 31-Mesa Arizona Temple closed January 14th: January 21st:  The Mesa AZ FamilySearch Library is pleased to announce a Family History Conference to start off the New Year.  The conference is FREE and will be held on Saturday, January 21, 2017, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. at the Red Mountain Institute building on the Maricopa Community College Red Mountain campus.  This facility is located near the Loop 202 and McKellips Road, at 7126 E McKellips Road, Mesa.   Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Duane Roen, the founding coordinator of the Project for Writing and Recording Family History in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at ASU, where he serves as Dean.  Attendees can choose from 7 classes each hour.  Registration begins online at mesafsl.org on Thursday, December 15th.  Registration begins 15 Dec 2016 at mesarfhc.org  Click Here January 3rd- February 14th:  The Mesa Arizona Temple will be closed for maintenance.  Take advantage of performing the ordinances you have reserved in December before the Temple closure!

February 25th:  The Mesa FamilySearch Library will again sponsor a conference on the west side of the valley.This conference will be at the Glendale Stake Center, 8602 N 31st Ave, Phoenix. Registration begins 21 Jan 2017 at mesarfhc.org

February 8-11th  -  The largest genealogy conference is just around the corner.  Click Here to purchase tickets

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Mesa FamilySearch Library

The Mesa FamilySearch Training Center at 464 E. 1st Ave (West of the Mesa Temple) is open for patrons. Films and fiche can now be accessed and viewed, books are available, and photo scanners are waiting to be used.  For more information call 480-964-1200 or 480-962-9611

OPEN: • Monday - 9:00am to 5:00pm
             • Tuesday - 10:00am to 8:30pm
             • Wednesday - 10:00am to 6:00pm
             • Thursday- 10:00am to 6:00pm
             • Friday - 10:00am to 6:00pm
• New Consultant and Priesthood Leader training on Tuesday nights at 7:00pm. (4 week course

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Enjoy some Christmas music this year  Click Here

Secret to Success

Accepting the Find-Take-Teach Challenge

How does a Stake organize their Family History work? Mesa Arizona Citrus Heights Stake took the Find-Take-Teach challenge and have seen outstanding results. They recently revealed their secrets to success. Listen to Gordon and Susan Porter, Stake Family History Center directors, and Karl Huish, High Councilor over Family History in the Stake reveal the secrets to the success!  Click: here

Some points to success: 

1. The Stake Presidency supports the Center Directors 100%. 
2. The Stake High Council Member over Family History actively supports the program.
3. The Stake purchased 20 new laptops to further the work of redeeming the Dead.  
4. Each building has a Family History Center, either a small room or a large one at the Stake Center, which can be accessed on Sunday, used during Sunday School time as well as at other times.
5. Ward Consultants support the Stake Family History Center Directors by serving as asked and scheduled by the directors.
6. Youth groups are scheduled on Wednesday nights.
7. Upon entering the FHC each person is given a one page sheet showing the simplified method of descendancy research. They are then encouraged to find a name on their own.
8. A consultant will assist the patron only if additional help is needed.

Step # 2 F-T-T---Finding Opportunities

Have you been searching for "green Temple" icons and found it difficult to find a name to take to the Temple?  If so, you are ready for Step # 2--- Opportunities.  Step # 2 describes how to identify a person who is in FS without a spouse or children and lived long enough to have the possibility that they were married and had children.  To look at this sheet click here.  (This blog has a sidebar which takes you to the link under the heading "Training"

                                              Findarecord.com                                                                                                                                                   Another help to cleanup records in FamilySearch or find ordinances that need to be performed is findarecord.com.    Try out this site if you have little time but want to accomplish something that will help perfect the information in FS.  

Click the item you want to accomplish.  For example if you need an ordinance for Temple work, simply click the box that says Ordinances. (Hint:  the more generations you have it search, the longer it will take the program to load.)

You Are Invited to Join the FamilySearch Arizona User Group

Are you a FamilySearch user?  Perhaps a consultant or FHC Director? the FamilySearch Arizona User Group meets once a month to participate in webinars presented by people from FamilySearch.  They meet the last Thursday each month at the Mesa FamilySearch Training Center, west of the Mesa Temple.  If you would like to be added to the email list, contact:  Mike Ostler, michaelostler@gmail.com

Mesa FamilySearch Library

The Mesa FamilySearch Training Center at 464 E. 1st Ave (West of the Mesa Temple) is open for patrons. Films and fiche can now be accessed and viewed, books are available, and photo scanners are waiting to be used.  For more information call 480-964-1200 or 480-962-9611

OPEN: • Monday - 9:00am to 5:00pm
             • Tuesday - 10:00am to 8:30pm
             • Wednesday - 10:00am to 6:00pm
             • Thursday- 10:00am to 6:00pm
             • Friday - 10:00am to 6:00pm
• New Consultant and Priesthood Leader training on Tuesday nights at 7:00pm. 

Upcoming Training Events

Jan 14, 2017- Community Discovery Day at the Interstake Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sponsored by Mesa South Stake

Jan  21- Red Mountain Institute Genealogy Conference

Feb 8-11 - Roots Tech in Salt Lake City

Feb. 25 - Family Discovery day at Glendale Stake Center, 8602 N 31st Ave, Phoenix.

Roots Tech 2017 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah is taking registrations. Scheduled to happen February 8-11, it will be the largest Family History Event of the year and is sponsored by FamilySearch.  https://www.rootstech.org/rootstech-2017

Training for My Calling

Don't lose the vision of your calling.  Make sure you are up to date on your Family History calling. Go Here for the latest.  
The page for the High Priest Group Leader has been updated.  Click Here

Audacity

Audacity is a free shareware program that allows you to edit audio files.  Why would you want to do that?

An example is you would like to upload an audio file of your grandpa talking or singing, but the audio file needs to be cleaned up.

• To many pauses between words and sentences making the file way to long
• Background noises you would like to remove
• He started a one story at the beginning of the file that he didn't finish until the end of the audio
• You would like to interject audio notes of explanation occasionally before you complete the audio
• You want to add background music as your grandpa is telling the story

There are many other reasons you might want to edit a file.  Usually you can cut any file down in size by a minimum of 50% making it far more interesting and easy for people to listen to.

You can download "Audacity" from the internet and 1000s of videos that will explain it.  Just type Audacity program into Google.

This one sheet instruction sheet to help you get started.

GETTING STARTED WITH AUDACITY

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

Ancestry.com LDS Account

Ancestry.com under special contractual arrangements with the Church allows members to use Ancestry.com for free.  Anyone can use Ancestry at any one of the recognized Family Search libraries, but members of the Church can use Ancestry for free in their homes for a limited time.

Ancestry is a powerful search engine that increases the number of records you can search over what is available as searches on Family Search.  Ancestry also makes a direct link with Family Search so you can add documents and people between Ancestry and Family Search simply by a click of a box.

Click on this link to get a PDF instruction sheet that tells you how to get and use your LDS Ancestry.com account:

PDF:  LDS  ANCESTRY.COM ACCOUNT

You can also watch this 2 videos explaining the process.

INTRODUCTION TO ANCESTRY.COM  LDS ACCOUNT

DEMONSTRATION OF ANCESTRY/LDS ACCOUNT

Sister Lopes

The Spiritual Aspects of Indexing and Abitrating

Natalia Lopes of the Mesa South Stake indexes and arbitrates records in Portuguese.  She relates experiences of guidance through the Spirit and bears testimony to trust in the Lord and not be afraid when coming to hard to read records.  Her beautiful story and testimony is a great example.  

Sister Natalia Lopes tells how she got started arbitrating:  Click Here

Sister Natalia Lopes Testimony about indexing: Click Here => Natalia Lopes

Becoming an Abritrator

Things to do:   

1.  Study every Project Instruction Page BEFORE working on a batch.   

2.  Look closely at every Field Help example and explanation in the project.   

3.  Index several batches BEFORE starting to arbitrate in a new project.   

4.  Focus your efforts in a limited number of projects that you have studied thoroughly.  This creates the greatest success for arbitration.
    

The goal is to publish accurate records.

Examples of Accurate Arbitration:

Key B is correct.  Basic Indexing Guidelines teaches:  "Maiden names are indexed before married names in the Surname field."  We know "Fisher" is a maiden name for Nancy because the surname of her father is "Fisher".  Arbitrators must be alert to potential maiden names and accurately record them in the surname field.  

If you would like more training in Arbitration, check out the link on the sidebar under training or contact Wallace or Edith Haws; note contact information below the header.

 Family History Conference to be held October 29th 

at ASU Institute

ANNOUNCING the 2016 Family History Conference, Putting the Puzzle Together,
 sponsored by the Mesa AZ FamilySearch Library on Saturday, October 29, 2016.    The conference is FREE and will be held at the Tempe Institute of Religion on the ASU Campus, 1000 South McAllister Avenue in Tempe, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:20 p.m.  Attendees can select from the 50+ classes available and register for as many as five classes.  They may also purchase lunch provided by Jason’s Deli.   Registration is still open, but get registered soon because classes fill up fast. Click Here

Other Events Approaching

Jan 14, 2014 -  Large Community Family Discovery Day at the Interstake Center, sponsored by Mesa South Stake--more information is coming.

Feb 8-11, 2017 - Roots Tech in Salt Lake City.  Register now!  Click Here

Wooden Village - Apps to help find information @ familysearch.org

Debbie Holtzendorff, a Church Service Missionary for FamilySearch recently conducted a webinar to the Arizona FamilySearch Users Group to describe a webpage that she has helped to develop with links to apps that assist and expand searches in FamilySearch.org/familytree.  Check out this great webpage at woodenvillage.org: click here.  Anyone interested in attending the meetings of the AZ Users Group is welcome.  Meetings are held on the 4th Thursday of the month at the Mesa FamilySearch Library, 464 E. 1st Ave, Mesa, AZ.  The next meeting will be held October 27th at 7 pm and will discuss changes to the Research Wiki.

New Features in FamilySearch

1. Attaching sources in FamilySearch from My Heritage is now easier with a new link. With one click a source is saved.  Find out more here

2. New Partner:  "Geneanet is the first site dedicated to genealogy in France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands. With this account, you will be able to search their Genealogy Library of more than 3.5 million old newspapers, books, magazines, and partner indexes."  Click Here

3.  Many noteworthy Partners of FamilySearch  click here

Have You Added Family History to your Sabbath Day?

Perhaps you’ve heard the promises associated with family history work. Elder Richard G. Scott promised: “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 [and] prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple…. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life.” Elder David A. Bednar has declared: “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.”

And what about the promises associated with keeping the Sabbath day holy? President Russell M. Nelson encouraged: “The Sabbath provides a wonderful opportunity to strengthen family ties.” And in a worldwide training on Sabbath day observance, President Nelson promised: “As we learn better how to hallow the Sabbath day, faith will increase across the world.”

Remember that you now have the ability to print your own Family Ordinance Cards from home.  To review the process, click here.

Arbitrator Training

ARBITRATOR TRAINING

Examples of common mistakes by Arbitrators => Common Errors

Youth Family History Consultants are Amazing!

Two Youth Family History Consultants in the Mesa Central Stake/ Harris 1st Ward are an inspiration! Not only do they display enthusiasm for the Work of Salvation, but have experiences that exemplify that Youth Consultants are in the know and a great asset to the Work.   Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk and video about Youth Consultants is exemplified in our own Mesa Area with youth from one of our own Stakes. 
To view the videos of the Youth Consultants, Maia and Makenna:  CLICK HERE

FamilySearch Apps---New Features are here! 

 FamilySearch Family Tree and FamilySearch Memories just got better!

The Memories App now features a new "Landing Page" where you can easily navigate to upload Photos, Stories, Documents and Audio.  You can also view your memories in the grid view OR the list view.

Download the Apps and give them a try!

Also when making a Audio Recording you can use suggested questions provided by FamilySearch to help, such as:

What do you remember about the place you grew up? 

What would you tell your family who might hear this in the future?

FamilySearch Family Tree App can Now Search Historical Records

 Just like you do from your computer, you can now do searches from your phone or tablet. Note the new option that now appears:

When you search from the person page, the app will give you the option to search FamilySearch or Ancestry.

You can also add  or edit notes in the app under a person's detail page:

Another new feature allows you to add photos, stories or audio the the Family Tree app:

To read about other new features, view the complete blog HERE

 Family History Conference to be held October 29th 

at ASU Institute

ANNOUNCING the 2016 Family History Conference sponsored by the Mesa AZ FamilySearch Library on Saturday, October 29, 2016.    The conference is FREE and will be held at the Tempe Institute of Religion on the ASU Campus, 1000 South McAllister Avenue in Tempe, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:10 p.m.  Attendees can select from the 50+ classes available and register for as many as five classes.  They may also purchase lunch provided by Jason’s Deli.   Come join us as we learn about “Putting It All Together.” Registration opens on Wednesday, September 14, at www.mesafsl.org.

Training Resuming

Family History Consultant/Priesthood Leader classes are resuming on Tuesday, 6 September.  Classes will be for the first 4 Tuesdays of each month from 7 pm to 8:30 pm.  Don't miss this opportunity to get a boost in your calling.

Need Help?-Visit the Training Center

464 E. 1st Ave.  Mesa, AZ
Hours:  Monday: 9 am - 5 pm
                Tues thru Fri: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Local FamilySearch User's Group to meet each month at Training Center

The monthly webinar for the FamilySearch User Group will now be presented the last Thursday of each month at the Mesa FamilySearch Library Training Center.  If you are interested come and join them.

September 29

Time:  7 pm

Place:  464 E. 1st Ave., Mesa

Indexing is still important

Have you indexed this month?  The lastest FamilySearch Indexing project is marriage records.

This project is really valuable because these records most often include women! In most cases, there is information about the wife, including her maiden name and parent’s names.  And what is fun, you can pick your favorite State to index!  Maybe you will find someone one your line that you have been looking for!

FamilySearch Blogs---Stay posted

Doing research in Mexico? This blog will help you--click here!

Principles to Help People Love their Ancestors and Family History click here

Five Steps to Identify Old Photos:  click here