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Welcome to the Brigham Young[br]University Family History

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Library Webinar Series.[br]My name is Sean Firmage.

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I will be your host [br]for this webinar.

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Today we will be pleased to hear [br]from Kathryn Grant, who will be

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giving a presentation titled,[br]"What every Family Tree User

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should know about [br]name-finding apps.

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After years on the sidelines, [br]Kathryn started doing

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family history and discovered to her [br]surprise that she loved it.

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Her specialty is mentoring [br]new family historians and

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helping them find success,[br]and maybe even avoid

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some of the mistakes[br]that she's made.

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Kathryn teaches Sunday classes [br]at the BYU Family History Library.

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She also presents at [br]Riverton Saturday Seminars

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and other family [br]history events.

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Her column on family history [br]ran in the Nauvoo Times

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for about a year and is still [br]available online.

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Kathryn works for the LDS Church [br]as a technical writer,

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with a focus on usability [br]and process improvement.

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Besides family history, [br]she loves uplifting music,

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thought-provoking books [br]and spring lilacs.

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Kathryn, we’ll turn [br]the time over to you.

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(Kathryn) Great! Shaun, [br]thank you so much.

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Hi everybody and welcome [br]to our webinar today.

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As we’ve seen, technology has [br]its blessings and challenges

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and we appreciate your patience [br]as we’ve gotten started with this.

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Today’s webinar is about a very [br]important topic that has become

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of interest to people with the [br]many name-finding apps

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being made available [br]to Family Tree users.

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Maybe you have had a friend [br]approach you and say something like,

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“Hey! Have you tried [br]such-and-such an app?

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It’s amazing! [br]In a matter of minutes,

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I found over a hundred names [br]for temple work!”

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Name-finding apps have become[br]popular in the last few years

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for doing family history, [br]but they’re also widely

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misunderstood [br]and even misused.

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And that misuse has some [br]unexpected consequences.

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Today I’m hoping that we can shed[br]some light on those consequences

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and talk about how [br]to avoid them.

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I hope this webinar will be of help [br]to three main audiences.

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The first is for people [br]who are using the apps

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or may be considering [br]using the apps.

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The second audience [br]is for consultants

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who help others [br]to find family names.

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And then finally, [br]developers of name-finding apps

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or those who may be considering [br]developing a name-finding app.

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Here's a short overview of what [br]we’re going to be talking about.

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First of all, we’re going to get [br]on the same page as far as what

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we’re talking about [br]in this particular webinar

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when we say [br]“name-finding apps.”

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Then we’re going to talk about [br]some common misconceptions

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that people have about [br]name-finding apps.

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Then we’ll look at some [br]unintended consequences.

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And finally, we’ll look [br]at an alternative approach.

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So let’s go ahead [br]and dive in.

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What do we mean in this webinar [br]when we talk about name-finding apps?

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Basically we’re talking about apps [br]that crawl FamilySearch Family Tree

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to find names with [br]green temples.

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Why is there such an appeal [br]for name-finding apps?

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I am guessing if you [br]joined this webinar,

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you’ve probably had more than one [br]friend talk to you about their

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favorite name-finding app [br]and how much they love it.

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So, why do people love [br]these apps so much?

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Well, name-finding apps say that [br]they will save you time,

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that they will reduce the effort [br]required for family history,

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that they will eliminate the tedium[br](and who doesn’t want that),

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and then finally, they promise to [br]make family history fast and easy.

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Now, for a lot of us, especially [br]if we are just starting out,

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family history can seem like [br]kind of a black box

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and we hear people talk about [br]how they spent years

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trying to break down [br]a brick wall.

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And we might look at some [br]genealogical problem

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and just be completely [br]flummoxed.

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What’s not to love about [br]an app that says

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it’s going to take away [br]all those problems?

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But there’s a little bit more to it, [br]so let’s look at some of the common

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misconceptions that happen when [br]people use these apps.

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It’s important to point out [br]that people don’t promote

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these misconceptions [br]on purpose.

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In other words, no user [br]or developer, for that matter,

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says, “I think I’ll spread [br]some misconceptions.”

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When we have misconceptions, [br]one of the reasons we have them

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is that we don’t know they’re [br]misconceptions.

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It’s been my experience [br]that these misconceptions

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lead to using [br]name-finding apps

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and using the apps tends to [br]reinforce the misconceptions.

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Let’s look at a few [br]of those misconceptions.

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First of all there are [br]three misconceptions

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that tend to go [br]hand-in-hand.

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The first is that the [br]Church is the entity

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that provided the [br]names in Family Tree.

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If we think that, [br]it’s not a very far leap

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to believe if the Church [br]provided the names,

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they must be verified[br]and ready for temple work.

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It’s a logical conclusion, [br]right?

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Finally, if we believe the Church[br]has provide the names

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and they are ready for temple work, [br]it’s not too much of a stretch

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to believe Family Tree [br]was supposed to be

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an on-going source [br]of temple names.

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Let’s take a look at the truth [br]about each of these.

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The first misconception[br]that the Church provided

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the names in Family [br]Tree is not true.

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Where the names came from was[br]users, interestingly enough.

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And that's something that is [br]very often misunderstood

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especially by new users[br]to FamilySearch because

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the FamilySearch website is [br]sponsored by the Church

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so it's logical to think the[br]Church provided those names.

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But what the Church and [br]and FamilySearch did [br]

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was they gathered names [br]that were provided by users.

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I have another webinar [br]that goes into a lot more detail

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on that so I won’t go into [br]a lot of detail here,

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but it's important to realize [br]the names in Family Tree

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were ultimately [br]contributed by users.

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Here’s an example, for those [br]of you who might remember

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the 4-generation program[br]of the last century.[br]

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We sent in our [br]family history

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on family group sheets [br]like this one.

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This is an actual family group [br]sheet for James Waterfield.

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He’s got a couple of daughters, [br]but notice there’s no wife,

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and there’s a half-sister [br]to these other daughters here,

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but the information [br]is scanty.

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Rose Hannah has more information; [br]Mary, not so much.

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But before we judge [br]people too harshly,

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we might look at [br]this record and go,

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“Wow, that’s kind of shoddy work! [br]That wasn’t very complete.”

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Remember, this sheet was prepared [br]before the days of the internet.

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The person may not have even had [br]access to a typewriter back then,

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for those of you who know [br]what typewriters are

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since we don’t use them [br]much anymore.

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I have no doubt this person was [br]doing the very best that they could.

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They were following the [br]counsel to collect names

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for four generations and to [br]submit them to the church.

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And to be honest with you, [br]many of the names that are

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submitted to Family Tree, [br]are about of this quality.

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It’s harder to see when [br]the name is digital.

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We can look at this family group [br]sheet and see there’s a lot missing.

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But when you look at this [br]same name in Family Tree,

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it's not quite so obvious[br]what's missing.

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We don’t want to be judgmental [br]or critical of people

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who have put names in [br]Family Tree.

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Whether they did it through [br]an old 4-generation program

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or they're doing it today, [br]they’re doing the best they can

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with the information [br]and skills that they have.

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For any of you who [br]have indexed,

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you may be familiar with the old[br]extraction program,

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which was the forerunner [br]of the indexing program.

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Many extracted names were [br]also added to Family Tree.

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We see the neat screen in [br]Family Tree and it's all digital

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and beautiful and easy to read,[br]and sometimes we don't stop

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to think about where that[br]information came from.

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It came from a record like this. [br]Some are a little easier to read.

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Some are a lot harder.[br]But they were, in many cases,

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handwritten records made [br]at the time of the event

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by a person who may or may not [br]have had an extensive education.

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People were doing their best, [br]but this kind of information

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ended up in Family Tree and it [br]varied widely in quality.

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So, did the Church verify all the [br]names in FamilySearch Family Tree?

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Actually, they didn’t. [br]Not because they didn't want to,

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but because it simply [br]wouldn’t be feasible.

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Family Tree has 1.1 [br]billion names in it, [br]

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so it wouldn’t have been [br]feasible for the Church to get

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the staff and the manpower [br]to verify every single one.

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The truth is, we the users [br]are responsible for

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verifying the names [br]in Family Tree.

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Many of those names [br]that we just looked at

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became green temples [br]in Family Tree.

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So those extracted records [br]or names submitted with the old

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3 and 4 generation program, [br]ended up in Family Tree

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with green temples [br]looking like they need

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temple work when [br]they actually don’t.

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And that’s an important [br]thing to be aware of

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when you’re using [br]a name-finding app.

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In my experience, about 80% [br]of the green temples that I find

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in Family Tree do not need [br]temple work and there are

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four main reasons for that, [br]that are listed here on the screen.

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The first one is they [br]might be a duplicate.

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If they are a duplicate [br]of a record that already has

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temple work attached, then [br]that work doesn’t need to be done,

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the records just[br]need to be merged.

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The records might also have [br]errors in vital information.

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As an example, I found a record [br]in Family Tree that had come from

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an early submission that [br]had the birth place

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of Cathearth in [br]Cambridgeshire, England.

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And there was no such place [br]as Cathearth, but because

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the last name of that person on the [br]record was one of my family names,

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and because it was close to [br]where that family lived,

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which was actually [br]a place called Chatteris,

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I thought there’s something going [br]on, I’m going to check this out.

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So I found the original submission [br]and was able to determine

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that the person had meant [br]Chatteris and not Cathearth.

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But because of the error [br]in that vital information,

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a duplicate did not come up [br]when I did the search.

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As soon as I corrected the error, [br]the duplicate came up

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and this woman’s temple work [br]had already been done.

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So errors in vital information [br]can cause problems.

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There can be relationship errors. [br]Not too long ago,

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I found a mother having [br]children when she was four.

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Not so likely, right? [br]So there was a problem there.

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Even though those names [br]had green temples on them,

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they weren’t ready [br]for temple work.

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Another common problem is that [br]people will put in names,

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maybe based on a census [br]or they’ll come from extraction,

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where they won’t have a death date [br]because they don’t know it

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so the person shows up [br]with a green temple,

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but a little more research shows [br]that they died before eight

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and all they need is [br]sealing to parents.

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So green temple names may not need[br]work for any of these reasons

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and a name-finding app will normally [br]not be able to distinguish this.

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They may tell some duplicates [br]but on most of the rest of them,

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these other three [br]bullet points,

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they don’t have the [br]programming power

0:13:15.489,0:13:22.986
or the algorithms, to determine [br]whether those problems exist.

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The last misconception of those [br]three is that Family Tree

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is intended to be an ongoing[br]source of temple names.

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Again, that’s logical if you think [br]that the Church originally

0:13:35.836,0:13:38.876
populated Family Tree [br]with these temple names.

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I found that this misconception [br]gets passed so frequently,

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kind of like wildfire gossip, [br]from one member to another.

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Where I live, people are constantly [br]telling each other this, saying,

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“All you have to do is go to Family[br]Tree and find your temple names.

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Isn’t that awesome that the [br]Church has made it so easy!

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They’ve just handed [br]us these names.”

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And so the “good news” gets [br]spread around with people

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not realizing that it’s [br]actually a misconception.

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But the truth is that Family Tree [br]is a wonderful gift that was

0:14:18.015,0:14:21.153
given to us by the Church [br]through FamilySearch

0:14:21.153,0:14:24.946
as a place to collaborate [br]with other researchers,

0:14:24.946,0:14:33.858
a place to track temple work, and [br]where we can add family names.

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Once in a while when I talk [br]about the problems

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with the data in Family Tree, [br]I have had a couple of people say,

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“Wow! It sounds to me like you’re [br]criticizing Family Tree.”

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One person even felt like I was [br]criticizing the Prophet because

0:14:50.426,0:14:54.364
the Church sponsors Family Tree. [br]But the truth is,

0:14:54.364,0:14:58.013
to point out the reality of the [br]data in Family Tree

0:14:58.013,0:15:02.397
isn’t a criticism, [br]it’s actually empowering,

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because if we understand [br]the data in Family Tree,

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we understand better [br]how to use it.

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So data issues don’t mean [br]that Family Tree is flawed,

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or that the Church [br]did something wrong

0:15:14.907,0:15:17.802
by putting this data [br]in Family Tree.

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It only looks like a criticism of [br]Family Tree to point out the data

0:15:24.581,0:15:28.418
if a person thought the data was [br]supposed to be perfect

0:15:28.418,0:15:31.838
and that Family Search had[br]intended it to be perfect.

0:15:31.841,0:15:35.836
If you think something’s perfect [br]and then someone says it’s not,

0:15:35.836,0:15:40.590
that sounds like criticism and[br]like the program failed.

0:15:40.590,0:15:46.730
But if we realize that the [br]purpose of Family Tree

0:15:46.730,0:15:50.081
is for us to collaborate, [br]track temple work, and add names,

0:15:50.081,0:15:55.826
and it was never meant to be a [br]perfect source of verified names,

0:15:55.826,0:16:00.569
then we realize it’s not a [br]criticism of Family Tree.

0:16:00.569,0:16:02.755
So the problem isn’t [br]the Family Tree data.

0:16:02.755,0:16:08.473
The problem is the misconceptions [br]that we might have about it.

0:16:08.473,0:16:12.953
Two more common misconceptions [br]that go a little bit hand in hand --

0:16:12.964,0:16:16.343
One of those is that success [br]in family history

0:16:16.343,0:16:19.685
means reserving large [br]numbers of names.

0:16:19.685,0:16:27.673
Again, this is one of those [br]misconceptions promoted by apps,

0:16:27.673,0:16:31.540
at least the way they are used, [br]because so many people use them

0:16:31.540,0:16:34.184
to find large numbers [br]of temple names.

0:16:34.184,0:16:39.518
Associated with that, is the [br]misconception that family history

0:16:39.518,0:16:44.753
is tedious and time-consuming, [br]especially so without an app.

0:16:44.753,0:16:51.033
Let’s look a little bit closer [br]at those two misconceptions.

0:16:51.035,0:16:53.069
So, does success in [br]family history mean

0:16:53.069,0:16:55.075
reserving large [br]numbers of names?

0:16:55.075,0:16:58.834
We’ve been taught in conference [br]that’s not the case.

0:16:58.834,0:17:02.212
You might remember Elder Scott’s[br]talk where he mentioned that he

0:17:02.212,0:17:07.232
didn’t think people would be very [br]happy beyond the veil if someone

0:17:07.251,0:17:11.211
reserved a large number of names [br]and kept them in their temple queue.

0:17:11.211,0:17:16.236
So that's a problem and[br]the Church has dealt

0:17:16.236,0:17:18.753
with that problem by [br]releasing names from

0:17:18.753,0:17:22.337
people’s temple queues if they’re [br]older than two years.

0:17:22.337,0:17:29.817
So that took care of that problem, [br]but still I hear people saying,

0:17:29.823,0:17:38.119
“Wow! I found 400 names!” [br]It almost becomes a matter of pride.

0:17:38.119,0:17:43.349
I remember hearing a talk that was [br]given in my stake by a young woman

0:17:43.349,0:17:47.329
who had been taught to use a [br]name-finding app to just comb

0:17:47.332,0:17:49.767
through family tree and [br]find bunches of names.

0:17:49.767,0:17:52.926
So she had used the app. [br]She had gone through and gotten

0:17:52.926,0:17:56.896
a couple hundred names and then [br]her sister tried to use the app

0:17:56.896,0:18:02.138
to crawl the tree, but the older [br]girl had already reserved the names

0:18:02.138,0:18:05.610
after the app had run [br]for a certain period of time.

0:18:05.610,0:18:09.710
So the younger sister was really [br]frustrated and discouraged because

0:18:09.732,0:18:11.972
she tried to do the same[br]thing her sister did

0:18:11.977,0:18:18.857
and wasn’t able to get [br]this huge number of names.

0:18:18.862,0:18:24.553
Another problem with this [br]misconception is that it can lead

0:18:24.553,0:18:27.482
to cutting corners and [br]not verifying the names.

0:18:27.482,0:18:30.501
So people will use the app. [br]They’ll gather hundreds

0:18:30.501,0:18:34.104
and in some cases I’ve heard of, [br]people doing thousands of names,

0:18:34.104,0:18:36.768
and then they don’t verify them. [br]They either put them in their

0:18:36.768,0:18:40.505
temple queue or share them [br]with the temple system,

0:18:40.505,0:18:43.148
and then other people end up [br]doing the invalid names,

0:18:43.148,0:18:46.563
which is not really[br]fair to them.

0:18:46.563,0:18:50.303
So if success in family history [br]doesn’t mean reserving

0:18:50.304,0:18:56.867
huge numbers of names, how do we [br]qualify success in family history?

0:18:56.867,0:19:00.243
After years of working with people [br]and helping them get started,

0:19:00.243,0:19:03.621
I’ve come to believe that [br]success in family history

0:19:03.621,0:19:06.920
means a consistent, [br]diligent effort.

0:19:06.920,0:19:10.682
In a way, for those of you who [br]are home or visiting teachers,

0:19:10.682,0:19:14.602
it’s the same principle. [br]Home and visiting teaching

0:19:14.614,0:19:17.332
isn’t a one and done. [br]We don’t just visit a person

0:19:17.332,0:19:19.904
once and then say, [br]“Okay, you’re good for life.”

0:19:19.904,0:19:25.704
or just think about them once [br]towards the end of the month.

0:19:25.704,0:19:27.970
Being a good home or [br]visiting teacher means

0:19:27.970,0:19:31.271
consistent, diligent effort [br]on a regular basis.

0:19:31.271,0:19:34.485
And I really believe it’s [br]the same in family history.

0:19:34.485,0:19:37.609
So, our goal shouldn’t be [br]to be gathering large

0:19:37.609,0:19:40.791
numbers of family names, [br]but instead to be

0:19:40.791,0:19:45.430
making a consistent, [br]diligent effort.

0:19:45.430,0:19:48.719
And this one, oh my goodness, [br]please forgive me because

0:19:48.719,0:19:52.385
this is actually one of [br]my greatest concerns,

0:19:52.385,0:19:56.485
one that I just wish I [br]could shout from the rooftops

0:19:56.497,0:20:00.584
and tell people it’s a [br]myth that family history

0:20:00.584,0:20:02.374
is tedious and [br]time-consuming.

0:20:02.374,0:20:04.934
Let’s leave the app [br]aside for a minute.

0:20:04.934,0:20:08.874
There’s a misconception in the [br]church that family history is

0:20:08.879,0:20:13.279
tedious and time-consuming. [br]It’s true that some time periods

0:20:13.282,0:20:19.797
and some areas of the world are [br]more difficult than others.

0:20:19.797,0:20:24.999
I wish I could tell people [br]that everybody has places

0:20:24.999,0:20:28.222
on their line like that, [br]but everybody also has

0:20:28.222,0:20:31.722
places on their line that [br]are easier than others.

0:20:31.722,0:20:37.642
So family history is not tedious [br]and time-consuming per se.

0:20:37.642,0:20:43.173
What is tedious and time-consuming [br]is doing it without the spirit.

0:20:43.173,0:20:47.118
Let me give you an example. [br]I was helping my friend Marci

0:20:47.118,0:20:55.697
get started with family history[br]quite a few years ago.

0:20:55.697,0:20:59.804
I was kind of new to what I was[br]doing and hadn’t fully realized

0:20:59.804,0:21:03.173
the power of prayer and the [br]power of following the spirit.

0:21:03.173,0:21:06.055
So Marci and I just met in [br]the Family History Center and

0:21:06.055,0:21:09.152
sat down to work on her lines. [br]I asked what she wanted to work on.

0:21:09.152,0:21:12.772
And she said, “Well, what about this?” [br]So we got in there

0:21:12.773,0:21:18.797
and we looked and looked and tried[br]stuff and churned and finally

0:21:18.797,0:21:25.323
after 45 minutes or an hour, [br]we both looked at each other and

0:21:25.323,0:21:31.064
agreed it wasn't working [br]and didn't feel right.

0:21:31.064,0:21:33.276
It was a good learning [br]experience that it took me

0:21:33.276,0:21:36.296
that long to realize [br]that it wasn’t working.

0:21:36.299,0:21:39.906
And it was tedious. [br]And it was time consuming.

0:21:39.906,0:21:44.266
And we both felt that we had not [br]made the best use of our time.

0:21:44.266,0:21:48.584
But what was interesting [br]is that after we realized that,

0:21:48.584,0:21:52.773
and then we sought the Lord [br]and the inspiration of the Spirit,

0:21:52.773,0:21:55.238
we felt prompted to move [br]to a different place

0:21:55.238,0:21:58.190
in her family tree [br]and things just opened up.

0:21:58.190,0:22:01.695
And it was not tedious, [br]and it was not time-consuming.

0:22:01.695,0:22:07.111
So, I really believe it’s a myth, [br]and we do people a disservice

0:22:07.111,0:22:11.631
when we teach them family history [br]is tedious and time-consuming.

0:22:11.631,0:22:18.727
So, technology can help us. [br]It can take some of the searching.

0:22:18.727,0:22:21.366
We can search digital records [br]so much more quickly than if we

0:22:21.366,0:22:27.422
had to travel to a court house. [br]But family history only becomes

0:22:27.422,0:22:30.934
tedious and time-consuming when [br]we’re not going by the Spirit.

0:22:30.934,0:22:33.601
It can be challenging, [br]but it won’t be tedious

0:22:33.601,0:22:37.921
and it won’t be this [br]terrible experience.

0:22:37.921,0:22:43.241
So, unintended consequences [br]of those misconceptions,

0:22:43.241,0:22:49.965
let’s take a look at some of those.[br]Invalid or duplicate temple work.

0:22:49.965,0:22:54.266
We’ve talked a little bit [br]about that with the high percentage

0:22:54.266,0:22:57.854
of green temples [br]that are invalid.

0:22:57.854,0:23:01.603
Another problem that [br]has surfaced within

0:23:01.603,0:23:06.357
the last year or so is using a [br]name-finding app to take

0:23:06.357,0:23:16.137
names that somebody else is [br]right in the process of reserving.

0:23:16.143,0:23:20.905
And then not realizing that names [br]need to be added to Family Tree.

0:23:20.905,0:23:25.822
So if we think that Family Tree [br]is this pool of names that

0:23:25.822,0:23:28.841
the Church has provided, [br]then we don’t realize that

0:23:28.841,0:23:31.534
a lot of names are missing [br]and that we are the ones

0:23:31.534,0:23:35.054
who are supposed to be [br]adding those names.

0:23:35.055,0:23:38.720
And finally, another unintended [br]consequence is not becoming

0:23:38.720,0:23:43.592
self-sufficient in finding names [br]because we don’t think we have to

0:23:43.592,0:23:48.172
and so we don't and so we never [br]learn to become self-sufficient.

0:23:48.172,0:23:51.533
I want to go into a little bit [br]more detail about this problem

0:23:51.533,0:23:56.033
of taking names that other [br]people are currently reserving.

0:23:56.033,0:23:59.391
I want to share two experiences [br]that I had on that.

0:23:59.391,0:24:03.611
The first is that one of my friends [br]called me almost in tears.

0:24:03.620,0:24:08.120
Her voice was teary when she said, [br]“I’ve been working on this

0:24:08.120,0:24:10.415
such and such family.” [br]She was pretty new to

0:24:10.415,0:24:13.654
family history at the time [br]and she was learning to

0:24:13.654,0:24:16.692
do careful verification [br]and find family and

0:24:16.692,0:24:20.206
it had just been such a beautiful [br]experience for her to finally

0:24:20.206,0:24:22.419
take her own family [br]names to the temple.

0:24:22.419,0:24:25.444
So she had found this family [br]and she was very carefully

0:24:25.444,0:24:29.132
putting them in family tree, [br]verifying the names,

0:24:29.142,0:24:31.663
adding the sources, [br]and so forth and then,

0:24:31.663,0:24:34.527
before she could finally [br]make the reservations,

0:24:34.527,0:24:38.539
someone else came through [br]with a name-finding app

0:24:38.539,0:24:42.151
to reserve those green temples [br]and took the names that

0:24:42.151,0:24:45.619
my friend had very carefully [br]researched and verified,

0:24:45.619,0:24:47.975
and this other person [br]had not done any

0:24:47.975,0:24:51.048
research or verification[br]on the names.

0:24:51.048,0:24:57.754
So that’s one experience that I [br]learned first-hand from my friend.

0:24:57.754,0:25:00.474
And then I had an experience [br]the other night,

0:25:00.489,0:25:06.242
where I was working on a name [br]and I promise you the name had not

0:25:06.242,0:25:10.810
been available in the system [br]for more than five minutes,

0:25:10.810,0:25:13.634
and I think it was more [br]like about 3 minutes,

0:25:13.634,0:25:16.934
when somebody else came [br]through and got the name.

0:25:16.934,0:25:21.850
I was in the very process of [br]reserving it for temple work.

0:25:21.850,0:25:27.857
Now, it’s important to point out [br]that it is not wrong to reserve a

0:25:27.857,0:25:31.297
name added by somebody else. [br]That’s not what I’m saying.

0:25:31.297,0:25:35.977
So, my niece, just as an example, [br]she loves doing family history

0:25:35.985,0:25:39.940
and the other day she had found [br]some names that were very

0:25:39.940,0:25:44.711
difficult to find while she was [br]working on our family.

0:25:44.711,0:25:47.422
So she found family names, [br]but she found some other names

0:25:47.422,0:25:52.605
in that process, of people that it[br]took her awhile and they were

0:25:52.605,0:25:55.822
tricky to find. Well, she [br]made the choice to put

0:25:55.822,0:26:00.254
those names in Family Tree because [br]she suspected that it would be very

0:26:00.254,0:26:04.963
difficult for somebody else to [br]repeat the research she had done.

0:26:04.963,0:26:06.697
So she put the names [br]in Family Tree,

0:26:06.697,0:26:10.595
but because they weren’t on her[br]line she did not reserve them.

0:26:10.595,0:26:13.538
So if somebody comes along [br]and reserves those names,

0:26:13.538,0:26:18.224
that’s why she put them there. [br]So that is not a problem at all.

0:26:18.224,0:26:23.604
The problem arises when --[br]Well, I just have to ask myself,

0:26:23.604,0:26:26.617
is it fair to take names[br]that somebody else

0:26:26.617,0:26:29.897
has loved and labored [br]over with no more

0:26:29.897,0:26:34.177
thought than running an [br]automated name-finding program.

0:26:34.177,0:26:37.977
So to avoid this problem,[br]as you’ve probably noticed

0:26:37.980,0:26:40.261
if you’ve used one of these [br]name-finding apps,

0:26:40.261,0:26:45.181
they don't tell, at least none[br]of the ones that I have tried,

0:26:45.181,0:26:47.681
tell you when the [br]name was created.[br]

0:26:47.681,0:26:50.681
And so, if a name [br]was created,

0:26:50.681,0:26:53.560
and you can tell this is by [br]looking in the change log.

0:26:53.560,0:26:57.570
Over on the right-hand side [br]of the Person page,

0:26:57.570,0:27:00.457
there’s a link that says [br]“Show All Changes.”

0:27:00.457,0:27:03.125
If you click that link and[br]scroll to the bottom,

0:27:03.125,0:27:06.845
it will tell you when [br]that name was created.

0:27:06.845,0:27:10.989
So you can tell if the name was [br]created within the last week

0:27:10.989,0:27:12.805
or maybe even within [br]the last month,

0:27:12.805,0:27:17.473
it would be a nice courtesy [br]to contact the person who

0:27:17.473,0:27:20.761
contributed that name and say, [br]“I noticed that you

0:27:20.761,0:27:24.578
contributed this name. [br]They’re on my family line too,

0:27:24.578,0:27:28.404
and I was hoping to reserve [br]some names for the temple.

0:27:28.404,0:27:31.064
Are you OK with me [br]reserving these names?”

0:27:31.066,0:27:33.473
And who knows, through that [br]process you might meet a

0:27:33.473,0:27:36.445
cousin who you can collaborate [br]on research with.

0:27:36.445,0:27:41.156
But just doing that resolves [br]the problem of reserving names

0:27:41.156,0:27:45.545
that other people are right [br]in the process of reserving.

0:27:45.545,0:27:48.611
You can imagine how discouraging [br]that is, especially for a new

0:27:48.611,0:27:53.051
family historian, to be right in [br]the process of adding names and

0:27:53.054,0:27:56.194
just have those names vanish[br]right before their eyes as

0:27:56.194,0:28:02.952
they’re trying to add them. [br]That’s a reason that I recommend

0:28:02.952,0:28:07.627
not adding lots of names all at [br]once with a name-finding app,

0:28:07.627,0:28:10.345
but rather checking those names [br]and checking to make sure that

0:28:10.345,0:28:17.172
somebody else is not already [br]planning to reserve those names.

0:28:17.172,0:28:22.305
Another problem is that people [br]get the mindset that family

0:28:22.305,0:28:25.999
history means searching in [br]Family Tree for names and

0:28:25.999,0:28:28.596
they don’t realize [br]names need to be added.

0:28:28.596,0:28:31.221
So I did some checking and [br]got some updated figures.

0:28:31.221,0:28:36.187
These population totals used [br]to be higher but current estimates

0:28:36.187,0:28:41.707
are that about 100 to 115 billion [br]people have lived on the earth

0:28:41.710,0:28:45.499
since the beginning [br]of human history.

0:28:45.499,0:28:50.005
Only 1.1 billion people [br]are in Family Tree.

0:28:50.005,0:28:54.945
I am not really good at math, [br]but even I can figure out that

0:28:54.948,0:29:01.553
this leaves between 99 billion [br]and 114 billion people

0:29:01.553,0:29:05.393
that probably need to be [br]added to Family Tree.

0:29:05.397,0:29:10.512
Granted there are not records [br]for many people who lived

0:29:10.512,0:29:13.151
back through time where either [br]the records have been destroyed

0:29:13.151,0:29:17.439
or they didn’t keep them. [br]So there are some of this

0:29:17.439,0:29:20.838
large group that we’re not going [br]to be able to find records for,

0:29:20.838,0:29:28.523
but there are a surprisingly large [br]number that do have records.

0:29:28.523,0:29:31.781
A lot of people still need[br]to be added to Family Tree

0:29:31.781,0:29:35.258
and it is an absolute joy. [br]I don’t know that I’ve ever

0:29:35.258,0:29:38.498
felt the Spirit stronger [br]than when I find a name

0:29:38.499,0:29:42.639
and add it to Family Tree. [br]That person has just gone

0:29:42.639,0:29:47.337
from being lost to [br]“getting in the queue”

0:29:47.337,0:29:52.346
of having the opportunity [br]to get their temple work done.

0:29:52.346,0:29:55.912
Some more unintended [br]consequences --

0:29:55.912,0:29:57.769
An unfortunate one [br]that I’ve noticed

0:29:57.769,0:30:01.169
is relying on technology [br]instead of the Spirit.

0:30:01.181,0:30:05.021
Now let me be careful to [br]explain what I mean there.

0:30:05.021,0:30:09.250
One problem is that people [br]trust technology more than

0:30:09.250,0:30:13.650
they trust themselves. [br]I’ve been in information technology

0:30:13.659,0:30:17.439
for about 20 or 25 years now [br]as a web designer,

0:30:17.444,0:30:21.444
as a database person, [br]done different things

0:30:21.444,0:30:24.184
with technology and [br]I love technology. [br]

0:30:24.190,0:30:31.390
Technology is so [br]miraculous to us

0:30:31.399,0:30:35.435
in so many ways that we give it [br]more credit than it deserves.

0:30:35.435,0:30:39.855
We think it’s maybe a little [br]more perfect then it is.

0:30:39.855,0:30:43.778
Because of that sometimes [br]people will trust the technology

0:30:43.778,0:30:49.442
and not trust the Spirit. [br]And usually in a case like that,

0:30:49.442,0:30:52.140
it’s not so much that they [br]don’t trust the Spirit,

0:30:52.140,0:30:55.405
but more that they doubt the [br]prompting that they’re hearing

0:30:55.405,0:30:58.365
because they think, “why [br]am I getting that prompting

0:30:58.365,0:31:01.573
because the technology right[br]on my screen that I can trust,

0:31:01.573,0:31:05.652
or I feel I can trust, is showing [br]me something different.”

0:31:05.652,0:31:10.016
If it’s a toss-up and they’re [br]not quite sure that the Spirit’s

0:31:10.016,0:31:12.891
really speaking to them, [br]I’ve seen that a lot of people

0:31:12.891,0:31:18.978
will tend to go with technology.[br]Another issue is that technology

0:31:18.978,0:31:21.918
can just make the Spirit [br]seem unnecessary.

0:31:21.925,0:31:24.279
So it’s not that people are [br]blocking the spirit

0:31:24.279,0:31:27.094
or ignoring the spirit, [br]it’s just that if you use

0:31:27.094,0:31:30.523
a name-finding app and it [br]presents you with 400 names

0:31:30.523,0:31:33.429
of people who apparently [br]need temple work,

0:31:33.429,0:31:37.343
then why do you need to [br]follow the Spirit on that,

0:31:37.343,0:31:40.959
The names are right I front of you. [br]And I understand that.

0:31:40.959,0:31:46.479
I can see why people would.[br]It would not even occur to them

0:31:46.479,0:31:49.765
that they would need to follow [br]the Spirit in a case like that

0:31:49.765,0:31:54.789
because the names have just been [br]handed to them as they see it.

0:31:54.789,0:32:01.009
So another challenge that comes up, [br]another unintended consequence is

0:32:01.009,0:32:04.240
that these misconceptions [br]just spread like wildfire.

0:32:04.240,0:32:09.090
Because somebody reserves [br]400 names or 8,000 or whatever,

0:32:09.090,0:32:12.003
and they feel that they’ve [br]experienced such great success,

0:32:12.003,0:32:14.932
and they can’t wait to share [br]it with everybody else.

0:32:14.932,0:32:19.072
Just in the last couple of weeks, [br]I’ve seen people posting on facebook

0:32:19.074,0:32:23.981
and posting on forums, saying, [br]“I’ve found this wonderful app,

0:32:23.981,0:32:28.179
and I reserved these hundreds [br]of names and now I’m just so glad

0:32:28.179,0:32:31.185
that I did that and you [br]guys should try it too.

0:32:31.185,0:32:36.091
So it just spreads because [br]it sounds so fantastic.

0:32:36.091,0:32:42.171
And it sounds like it’s going to [br]make a difficult task easier.

0:32:42.171,0:32:48.311
The problem is because people [br]have these false expectations,

0:32:48.311,0:32:52.435
then when somebody tries to [br]share the facts with them,

0:32:52.435,0:32:58.059
the facts are really not welcome. [br]And that also is understandable.

0:32:58.059,0:33:01.759
Nobody likes to be disappointed [br]in their expectations.

0:33:01.762,0:33:05.591
I’ll give you a couple of examples. [br]There was someone on a public forum

0:33:05.591,0:33:09.602
who was talking about gathering [br]hundreds and hundreds of names,

0:33:09.602,0:33:14.469
and submitting them to the temple. [br]When a few of us very gently tried

0:33:14.469,0:33:18.989
to suggest that a lot of the names [br]gathered that way probably

0:33:18.989,0:33:21.733
weren’t valid and at least [br]they should be verified,

0:33:21.733,0:33:24.787
the person responded, [br]“Do you mean to tell me that

0:33:24.787,0:33:28.794
the Church has spent millions [br]of dollars to make Family Tree

0:33:28.794,0:33:32.196
and the names in it aren’t [br]even ready for temple work?”

0:33:32.196,0:33:35.794
So that was shock to them and [br]it was a huge disappointment,

0:33:35.794,0:33:40.371
because they had been led to [br]believe that all they had to do

0:33:40.371,0:33:44.989
was run an app and gather [br]names out of Family Tree.

0:33:44.989,0:33:47.877
Another person that I was [br]helping not too long ago,

0:33:47.877,0:33:53.057
we sat down and he happily showed[br]me his name-finding results,

0:33:53.059,0:33:58.785
where he had around 300 names [br]that the app had found

0:33:58.785,0:34:04.178
and he said, “Isn’t this great? [br]I’d like to get these names done.”

0:34:04.178,0:34:09.190
And I said, “I’m so glad [br]you found those names.

0:34:09.190,0:34:12.846
We really should verify them. [br]There’s a chance that some

0:34:12.846,0:34:16.385
of them may not be accurate [br]and it’s always just a good idea

0:34:16.385,0:34:18.870
to go through and attach [br]some sources and so forth.”

0:34:18.870,0:34:22.990
And he just said, [br]“No, I’d really rather not.

0:34:22.991,0:34:26.968
The names look ready to me so I [br]think I’m just going to go ahead.”

0:34:26.968,0:34:32.334
Of course as a consultant, you [br]can’t put your foot down and say

0:34:32.334,0:34:35.292
“NO! You’re not submitting those [br]names until you’ve verified them.”

0:34:35.292,0:34:38.222
We all have our agency [br]and we’re all responsible,

0:34:38.222,0:34:42.229
but I have to think that this [br]brother had very good intentions,

0:34:42.229,0:34:47.699
I know he had very good intentions, [br]and I have to think that one reason

0:34:47.699,0:34:51.496
he felt that it was appropriate was [br]because he had used an app that

0:34:51.496,0:34:55.703
presented those names to him as [br]apparently needing temple work,

0:34:55.703,0:35:03.643
and it just seemed superfluous that[br]he would need to verify them.

0:35:03.643,0:35:09.412
For the last part of these [br]unintended consequences,

0:35:09.412,0:35:18.646
I want to talk about some of the [br]more spiritual downsides to using

0:35:18.646,0:35:22.286
name-finding apps and gathering [br]large numbers of names.

0:35:22.286,0:35:26.201
What I’m noticing among people [br]that have done this is that they

0:35:26.201,0:35:29.494
don’t really get to know the [br]people whose names they’re

0:35:29.494,0:35:33.319
reserving so their hearts [br]aren’t really turned.

0:35:33.319,0:35:39.058
All those people are [br]is names on a list to them.

0:35:39.058,0:35:41.719
Don’t get me wrong, [br]they feel a general sense of

0:35:41.719,0:35:45.308
“Wow, this is great! Now [br]their temple work can be done.”

0:35:45.308,0:35:49.768
That is wonderful but they don’t [br]know anything about these people.

0:35:49.768,0:35:53.013
Where did they live? [br]What was their life like?

0:35:53.013,0:35:58.903
What did they experience that has [br]contributed to the way I live?

0:35:58.903,0:36:02.791
What sacrifices did they [br]make that enabled me

0:36:02.791,0:36:05.704
to enjoy the blessings [br]I have today?

0:36:05.704,0:36:10.084
So when we don’t dig into those [br]names as we’ve actually been

0:36:10.094,0:36:15.086
counselled to do then we lose [br]something really precious and,

0:36:15.086,0:36:20.166
in my experience, people’s hearts [br]are not turned by just

0:36:20.166,0:36:24.108
submitting names from an app, [br]and especially just by submitting

0:36:24.108,0:36:28.508
large numbers of names [br]that aren’t verified.

0:36:28.515,0:36:33.576
Another problem that I’ve seen [br]is that an app can encourage

0:36:33.576,0:36:37.731
people to have that [br]“one and done” mentality,

0:36:37.731,0:36:41.208
like the woman that I mentioned, [br]I don’t think I told this

0:36:41.208,0:36:43.754
whole story in this webinar, [br]but I mentioned somebody

0:36:43.754,0:36:49.349
who found 8,000 names. [br]She was a sister from California,

0:36:49.349,0:36:53.100
who had been taught to use a [br]name-finding app and didn’t realize

0:36:53.100,0:36:57.087
that there were some possible [br]problems with it so she had just

0:36:57.087,0:37:00.683
reserved all these names and [br]shared them with the temple system

0:37:00.683,0:37:08.970
and thought, “OK, that’s done. [br]I’ve fulfilled my obligation

0:37:08.970,0:37:12.545
to family history.” [br]What’s interesting about

0:37:12.545,0:37:15.676
family history is that, [br]as Boyd K. Packer said,

0:37:15.676,0:37:21.792
there is no work that is [br]more spiritually refining.

0:37:21.792,0:37:24.187
When we treat it like [br]a “one and done”

0:37:24.187,0:37:28.185
I think we miss out on that [br]spiritual refinement.

0:37:28.185,0:37:32.583
We don’t have that on-going [br]blessing of learning to

0:37:32.583,0:37:36.063
recognize the spirit, [br]of connecting with our ancestors,

0:37:36.063,0:37:38.703
of discovering [br]our family stories.

0:37:38.706,0:37:44.721
And so, I think we rob ourselves [br]of that blessing when we make

0:37:44.721,0:37:50.649
family history into a [br]“one and done” experience.

0:37:50.649,0:38:00.842
I debated whether or not to share [br]this next one because once

0:38:00.842,0:38:05.628
in a while people have gotten [br]offended at my bringing this up.

0:38:05.628,0:38:11.450
But, I’ve experienced it myself and [br]I’ve talked to so many other people

0:38:11.450,0:38:15.559
that have experienced it that I [br]think it’s worth mentioning.

0:38:15.559,0:38:21.161
And that is, that when we submit [br]invalid names for temple work,

0:38:21.161,0:38:25.519
our temple experience [br]is less meaningful.

0:38:25.519,0:38:29.340
And I think there’s a [br]good reason for that.

0:38:29.340,0:38:33.370
As perhaps you have, I have been [br]in the temple when I have

0:38:33.370,0:38:37.589
literally felt the gratitude of the[br]person whose work I was doing.

0:38:37.589,0:38:41.292
I could tell they were pleased. [br]I could tell that they accepted

0:38:41.292,0:38:45.647
the work and that they were so [br]happy about the chance to progress.

0:38:45.647,0:38:50.542
I don’t think I would feel that [br]same joy and gratitude from

0:38:50.542,0:38:55.063
somebody if I were doing their [br]work for the 20th time.

0:38:55.063,0:38:59.263
I had a friend who had an [br]experience that illustrated

0:38:59.263,0:39:03.210
this not too long ago.[br]He had gone to the baptistery

0:39:03.210,0:39:05.867
to do some family names[br]that he had carefully

0:39:05.867,0:39:09.461
researched and validated and [br]he said that the Spirit was so

0:39:09.461,0:39:13.832
strong during that experience. [br]He was just overjoyed to tell that

0:39:13.832,0:39:16.772
those people were happy [br]about their temple work.

0:39:16.778,0:39:19.834
So after he did the work [br]for his ancestors,

0:39:19.834,0:39:25.261
apparently it wasn’t a very busy [br]day so the officiator asked if he

0:39:25.261,0:39:30.330
could stay and do other names. [br]And so he agreed gladly and

0:39:30.330,0:39:34.416
started doing the names. [br]As he did, he noticed that the

0:39:34.416,0:39:39.456
wonderful feelings were no longer [br]present, and that seemed strange.

0:39:39.456,0:39:44.163
As they went through the names, [br]what he started to notice is that

0:39:44.163,0:39:48.252
there were a couple of them that [br]were apparently the wrong gender.

0:39:48.252,0:39:53.499
They were clearly women’s names [br]that were being baptized as men.

0:39:53.499,0:39:57.420
And also there were some dates [br]that were suspect and some places,

0:39:57.420,0:40:00.941
and things that you could just[br]tell that these names

0:40:00.941,0:40:03.653
had not been very [br]carefully researched.

0:40:03.653,0:40:07.175
And for my friend, [br]that was just another testimony

0:40:07.175,0:40:12.021
that when we are careless with [br]our family names and don’t

0:40:12.021,0:40:15.606
properly verify them, [br]and then if we do work and

0:40:15.606,0:40:19.980
the names turn out to be invalid, [br]it’s not going to be as meaningful

0:40:19.980,0:40:23.430
of a temple experience. [br]Now the reason some people have

0:40:23.430,0:40:26.488
expressed concern before, [br]is that they’ve misunderstood me

0:40:26.488,0:40:29.918
to say the temple’s not [br]a good experience.

0:40:29.918,0:40:35.284
No, that’s not what I’m saying. [br]But what I am saying is that

0:40:35.284,0:40:39.894
if we’re careful about doing [br]our research and we find

0:40:39.894,0:40:44.765
valid names and we’re guided by [br]the Spirit in doing that work,

0:40:44.765,0:40:47.804
then we’re going to have an [br]especially beautiful experience

0:40:47.804,0:40:53.564
at the temple which we [br]might not otherwise have.

0:40:53.564,0:40:58.806
Let’s return, if you don’t mind, [br]to the misconception that I said

0:40:58.806,0:41:03.041
was one of my greatest concerns, [br]and that is that we're teaching

0:41:03.041,0:41:06.627
people that family history [br]is tedious and difficult.

0:41:06.627,0:41:09.613
And in this particular context [br]people are being taught that

0:41:09.613,0:41:12.834
it's tedious and difficult [br]without the app.

0:41:12.834,0:41:15.581
The truth is [br]family history is

0:41:15.581,0:41:24.437
tedious and difficult [br]without the Spirit.

0:41:24.437,0:41:33.377
What I’d like to do now [br]is show you an alternative

0:41:33.377,0:41:36.567
approach to using [br]name finding apps,

0:41:36.567,0:41:40.782
especially to find [br]large numbers of names.

0:41:40.782,0:41:44.468
A little while ago, [br]the Church did some research

0:41:44.468,0:41:47.530
and I learned about this [br]in a presentation that I attended

0:41:47.530,0:41:51.650
by a brother named Mike Sandberg [br]who works for family search.

0:41:51.652,0:41:54.410
He said that the Church [br]had done research on people

0:41:54.410,0:41:58.767
who were not submitting [br]any temple names at all

0:41:58.767,0:42:02.202
and suddenly they went to [br]submitting names regularly.

0:42:02.202,0:42:06.192
So naturally, the Church [br]had a burning question.

0:42:06.192,0:42:10.733
How did they make the transition? [br]What enabled them to go from

0:42:10.733,0:42:14.731
not submitting any names at all [br]to successfully submitting

0:42:14.731,0:42:17.991
temple names regularly? [br]What they found out

0:42:17.991,0:42:23.011
was very interesting. [br]85% of those who made this

0:42:23.011,0:42:30.930
transition had a helper and 65% [br]of them got help multiple times.

0:42:30.930,0:42:36.512
So the Church discovered that [br]having a person to help or mentor

0:42:36.512,0:42:42.772
somebody new to family history [br]was the key to success.

0:42:42.772,0:42:46.581
If this is sounding familiar [br]to any of you, you will realize

0:42:46.581,0:42:51.431
that this became the basis for the [br]Church’s Find-Take-Teach program.

0:42:51.431,0:42:57.056
Find-Take-Teach is a Spirit-led, [br]one-on-one effort

0:42:57.056,0:43:04.202
where help is given [br]by a person who pays the price

0:43:04.202,0:43:07.896
to know how to help [br]that person by the Spirit.

0:43:07.896,0:43:12.159
Let me go ahead and show you [br]in a little more detail

0:43:12.159,0:43:18.239
why this approach works. [br]I’m simplifying this.

0:43:18.239,0:43:22.356
If you want more information [br]you can look on FamilySearch.org.

0:43:22.356,0:43:24.707
They’ve got a complete [br]description of it.

0:43:24.707,0:43:29.680
But very simply, the helper and [br]the patron both pray for guidance

0:43:29.680,0:43:34.900
and then the helper prepares a [br]personalized lesson by the Spirit.

0:43:34.900,0:43:37.931
And during this lesson, [br]also by the Spirit,

0:43:37.931,0:43:40.387
they find a starting place [br]for this person

0:43:40.387,0:43:45.757
or they find valid temple [br]names for the person.

0:43:45.757,0:43:49.768
Finally, when they get together, [br]the helper guides the patron

0:43:49.768,0:43:54.825
in a one-on-one setting to [br]reserve those temple names.

0:43:54.825,0:44:00.885
I want to show you as a person who [br]has responsibility currently for

0:44:00.885,0:44:04.645
helping and mentoring people, [br]I want to show you the process

0:44:04.645,0:44:09.175
that I go through to find a good [br]starting place when I’m working

0:44:09.175,0:44:12.344
with somebody in a [br]Find-Take-Teach experience.

0:44:12.344,0:44:17.518
This is not the only way to do it. [br]It’s the way that works best for me

0:44:17.518,0:44:22.098
and I have other friends that are [br]equally successful in using

0:44:22.098,0:44:26.602
different approaches but I can [br]speak to what works for me.

0:44:26.602,0:44:29.678
I hope that this example [br]might be helpful to you

0:44:29.678,0:44:35.079
in finding your own best approach.[br]So the first, most important thing

0:44:35.079,0:44:39.539
for me is that I have to go [br]some place quiet where I can

0:44:39.539,0:44:44.135
hear the Spirit in preparing [br]this Find-Take-Teach experience.

0:44:44.135,0:44:49.055
I can’t be where I’m distracted. [br]I can’t be where I feel pressured.

0:44:49.055,0:44:52.283
I have to be in a place [br]where I can truly feel

0:44:52.283,0:44:54.710
the inspiration [br]of the Holy Ghost.

0:44:54.710,0:45:01.272
So, I make those arrangements, [br]whatever it takes.

0:45:01.272,0:45:06.652
In one of my classes a sister said [br]that she can’t do it at home.

0:45:06.652,0:45:08.638
There’s just no way, [br]even in the bathroom

0:45:08.638,0:45:11.578
it’s like knock, knock, knock [br]“Mom! Are you in there?”

0:45:11.578,0:45:15.918
So what she does is she [br]goes to the public library

0:45:15.918,0:45:17.961
where people are [br]supposed to be quiet.

0:45:17.961,0:45:21.157
And so that place works for her. [br]You might find a different quiet

0:45:21.157,0:45:24.535
place that works for you. [br]But whatever you do,

0:45:24.535,0:45:27.651
find a place where you can be [br]in tune with the Spirit.

0:45:27.651,0:45:31.791
And then, I bring up the Fan Chart, [br]that’s my favorite place to work.

0:45:31.791,0:45:35.718
And I listen for what I call [br]“heart tugs” which are

0:45:35.718,0:45:39.498
spiritual promptings to me [br]that somebody is wanting

0:45:39.498,0:45:43.405
their temple work to be done. [br]So here’s an example.

0:45:43.405,0:45:47.685
I had offered to help a sister [br]at the MTC as part of a

0:45:47.685,0:45:52.786
Find-Take-Teach experience there. [br]This sister had a very full tree

0:45:52.786,0:45:56.976
and she wasn’t convinced that we [br]would be able to find anything.

0:45:56.976,0:45:59.956
So I asked for her[br]helper number.

0:45:59.956,0:46:03.197
The place where we were working [br]that Sunday in the MTC was very

0:46:03.197,0:46:07.669
noisy and I knew that it was [br]not a good place for me to

0:46:07.669,0:46:12.127
really hear the Spirit and [br]find a good starting place.

0:46:12.127,0:46:17.816
I asked for her helper number and we[br]arranged to meet the following week.

0:46:17.816,0:46:22.136
And I went to a place where [br]I could listen to the Spirit.

0:46:22.136,0:46:27.050
As I did, I prayed sincerely, and [br]I had asked her to pray with me.

0:46:27.050,0:46:32.150
And so, I looked at the fan chart [br]and as I pondered and looked and

0:46:32.150,0:46:36.124
clicked on a few different names, [br]I found that I was drawn to this

0:46:36.124,0:46:40.724
name of Abraham Chadwick. [br]So I thought, "OK, I’ll follow that

0:46:40.724,0:46:43.342
prompting and I will [br]check Abraham’s

0:46:43.342,0:46:46.561
Person page and see[br]what’s going on there."

0:46:46.561,0:46:51.341
Well, as my friend mentioned, [br]he had done a lot.

0:46:51.341,0:46:54.578
As it turned out, and I had no way [br]of knowing this of course,

0:46:54.578,0:47:01.834
he was the first member of their [br]family to join the Church.

0:47:01.834,0:47:04.665
So as I looked here and read [br]his personal history and clicked

0:47:04.665,0:47:07.660
on his wives’ names and [br]his children’s names,

0:47:07.660,0:47:10.809
sure enough all their work [br]was done and it was evident

0:47:10.809,0:47:14.521
that he was a good, faithful [br]man from reading his testimony.

0:47:14.521,0:47:17.715
So I thought, "Wow, this might [br]be harder than I thought."

0:47:17.715,0:47:21.273
But I continued to pray and ask [br]the Spirit for guidance to be led

0:47:21.273,0:47:24.624
to that place where the [br]Spirit wanted me to work

0:47:24.624,0:47:30.239
for my dear sister in the MTC. [br]And as I did, again just another

0:47:30.239,0:47:32.898
line-upon-line gentle prompting, [br]I found that I was

0:47:32.898,0:47:35.814
led to this name of [br]Sarah Ann Chadwick.

0:47:35.814,0:47:39.854
So I looked at that and [br]this is what I found.

0:47:39.861,0:47:46.206
She had a husband, George Bradbury, [br]and they had six kids.

0:47:46.206,0:47:52.066
And all their work was done too, [br]so I’m so grateful that by this

0:47:52.066,0:47:55.546
point I had learned better [br]how to recognize the Spirit,

0:47:55.546,0:47:59.303
because in my younger days I might [br]have doubted myself and just said,

0:47:59.303,0:48:03.860
“Wow, I’ve been digging around here [br]and I’m not finding anything so that

0:48:03.860,0:48:05.850
might not really have [br]been the Spirit.”

0:48:05.850,0:48:11.420
I might have questioned myself. [br]But because I had, fortunately,

0:48:11.420,0:48:16.265
tried really hard to grow in my [br]ability, and I’m far from perfect,

0:48:16.265,0:48:19.273
but I’d really tried to grow in [br]my ability to hear the Spirit,

0:48:19.273,0:48:23.664
I trusted these promptings. [br]I thought, “I’m gonna keep going.

0:48:23.664,0:48:26.423
I am not sure why ‘cause this [br]isn’t looking too good,

0:48:26.423,0:48:30.676
but I’m gonna keep trying.” [br]So I clicked on the first name of

0:48:30.676,0:48:37.190
their first son and that’s when I [br]started to feel that I was going

0:48:37.190,0:48:40.829
the right direction. [br]And so the first thing that caught

0:48:40.829,0:48:44.790
my attention was that Samuel’s wife [br]didn’t even have a last name.

0:48:44.790,0:48:48.790
So that indicated more research [br]definitely needed to be done.

0:48:48.790,0:48:53.307
And I noticed that they [br]didn’t have many children.

0:48:53.307,0:49:01.727
Back in the 1800’s, most families [br]had a large number of children.

0:49:01.738,0:49:07.187
With just a little bit of research, [br]it wasn’t like I took days and days,

0:49:07.187,0:49:09.709
in fact I don’t think [br]it was even hours,

0:49:09.709,0:49:15.609
it was just a little quick checking [br]in Ancestry and FamilySearch

0:49:15.613,0:49:19.268
historical records. [br]It didn’t take long to discover

0:49:19.268,0:49:23.793
that Samuel and Kate were missing [br]four children from Family Tree.

0:49:23.793,0:49:27.554
These children were not there and [br]needed to be added so that their

0:49:27.554,0:49:29.899
temple work could be done. [br]And then I thought,

0:49:29.899,0:49:32.919
“OK, that is why I [br]got that prompting.”

0:49:32.919,0:49:36.819
I think the reason I was prompted [br]to start with Abraham was that if

0:49:36.819,0:49:40.639
I got a prompting like suppose [br]that the name Samuel Bradbury

0:49:40.643,0:49:44.394
came into my mind, I would not [br]have a clue what to do with it.

0:49:44.394,0:49:51.132
And so the Spirit led me along a[br]path where I could see how this

0:49:51.132,0:49:55.772
family first got involved with [br]the Church and then how these

0:49:55.772,0:50:01.469
people who needed their ordinances [br]were related to that first convert.

0:50:01.469,0:50:05.272
So this was just a wonderful, [br]beautiful experience in

0:50:05.272,0:50:12.217
finding these names. [br]Also, as I did more research,

0:50:12.217,0:50:17.697
I found in the 1911 census that [br]Kate had died and so Samuel had

0:50:17.697,0:50:21.690
remarried and his second wife [br]Ada Sarah was not in

0:50:21.690,0:50:25.530
Family Tree either, and her [br]temple work needed to be done.

0:50:25.534,0:50:29.016
So just from following that [br]prompting, I was able to find and

0:50:29.016,0:50:34.956
verify these five names and pass [br]those on to the sister in the MTC

0:50:34.956,0:50:38.379
so that she could get [br]that temple work done.

0:50:38.379,0:50:42.539
Another example on this family, [br]was that when I looked at Hannah,

0:50:42.539,0:50:47.041
Samuel’s younger sister, [br]she did not have a spouse.

0:50:47.041,0:50:49.017
Again, just a little [br]bit of research.

0:50:49.017,0:50:52.509
This wasn’t hours of looking [br]through court records or something,

0:50:52.509,0:50:56.774
this was doing a search on [br]Ancestry in available censuses.

0:50:56.774,0:50:59.894
In just a short period of time [br]I discovered that at one point

0:50:59.900,0:51:02.325
Hannah had been living [br]with her mother.

0:51:02.325,0:51:10.085
And so there was the definite proof [br]there that this really was my

0:51:10.085,0:51:14.243
Hannah that I was looking for, [br]and found out that she did have a

0:51:14.243,0:51:17.199
husband and they had [br]three children together.

0:51:17.199,0:51:20.990
Right there were four more names, [br]four valid names that needed

0:51:20.990,0:51:26.756
to be added to Family Tree.[br]So that is an example of how

0:51:26.756,0:51:31.604
to follow the Spirit to find [br]a place to work in Family Tree.

0:51:31.604,0:51:36.167
But I was mentioning this to a dear[br]sister in my stake who I was

0:51:36.167,0:51:40.807
helping get started with family [br]history and this is what she said,

0:51:40.809,0:51:43.966
“I don’t think I’m that good [br]at hearing the Spirit.”

0:51:43.966,0:51:46.197
I have to tell you [br]something about this sister.

0:51:46.197,0:51:49.865
She is amazing! She serves people. [br]She’s wonderful.

0:51:49.865,0:51:52.726
I don’t think she was giving [br]herself enough credit.

0:51:52.726,0:51:57.570
But, I think all of us have felt [br]that kind of sense of inadequacy.

0:51:57.570,0:52:01.823
I know I certainly did, especially [br]when I was first starting to really

0:52:01.823,0:52:04.627
try to follow the Spirit [br]in family history.

0:52:04.627,0:52:10.167
Fortunately we all learn to hear [br]the Spirit line upon line.

0:52:10.167,0:52:13.805
Wherever you are in learning [br]to follow the Spirit,

0:52:13.805,0:52:18.905
wherever I am, that’s a place [br]to start growing from.

0:52:18.905,0:52:22.902
In fact the only place we can start [br]growing from is where we are.

0:52:22.902,0:52:25.620
So we all learn to hear the [br]Spirit line upon line,

0:52:25.620,0:52:29.044
and to me that is such good news, [br]because that’s doable.

0:52:29.044,0:52:31.873
I can do that. [br]I can grow line upon line.

0:52:31.873,0:52:35.353
And the wonderful thing I that have [br]found about family history,

0:52:35.359,0:52:41.814
and to me it’s one of its greatest, [br]greatest blessings is that it is

0:52:41.814,0:52:46.909
simply one of the best tutorials [br]in learning to hear the Spirit.

0:52:46.909,0:52:50.890
I could give you dozens of [br]examples on this, but I won’t.

0:52:50.890,0:52:56.290
I’ve got a whole other webinar [br]on that and I’ll show you the

0:52:56.290,0:53:01.097
link at the end of this one and [br]you can watch that if you'd like.

0:53:01.097,0:53:09.152
I have found as I listen to the [br]Spirit in doing family history,

0:53:09.152,0:53:12.672
I’ve learned more about how the[br]Spirit speaks to me and that

0:53:12.680,0:53:17.491
knowledge has grown over the years [br]as I continue to hear promptings

0:53:17.491,0:53:21.497
and discern then correctly, [br]and sometimes not correctly.

0:53:21.497,0:53:26.478
I learn from making mistakes too. [br]But the point that I wanted to

0:53:26.478,0:53:30.151
make is that family history [br]is one of the very best

0:53:30.151,0:53:33.278
tutorials in learning [br]to hear the Spirit.

0:53:33.278,0:53:37.297
And if we don’t try to follow the [br]Spirit in family history then we

0:53:37.297,0:53:44.803
lose that great opportunity of [br]refining our ability to hear.

0:53:44.803,0:53:51.061
Hearing the Spirit better brings [br]blessings in all areas of our lives.

0:53:51.061,0:53:55.441
I love this quote by Joseph Smith, [br]and it’s something that I have

0:53:55.441,0:54:00.463
experienced doing family history. [br]And that is that a person may

0:54:00.463,0:54:04.958
profit by noticing the [br]first intimation (or hint)

0:54:04.958,0:54:08.527
of the spirit of revelation.[br]It may give you sudden strokes

0:54:08.527,0:54:13.282
of ideas like call so and so, [br]or sit here at this meeting

0:54:13.282,0:54:16.319
because you don’t know this [br]but you’re going to find somebody

0:54:16.319,0:54:20.691
to help you with temple names, [br]or there’s a mistake in your record,

0:54:20.691,0:54:23.443
go back and check it. [br]So it may give you these sudden

0:54:23.443,0:54:28.140
strokes of ideas so that by [br]noticing it you find it fulfilled.

0:54:28.140,0:54:30.806
So you find that prompting [br]you got was a real

0:54:30.806,0:54:35.058
prompting because whatever[br]it told you about was true.

0:54:35.058,0:54:37.430
So you find it fulfilled [br]the same day or soon

0:54:37.430,0:54:41.824
and thus by learning the Spirit [br]of God and understanding it,

0:54:41.824,0:54:45.200
you may grow into the [br]principle of revelation.

0:54:45.200,0:54:49.309
And it’s my testimony that this [br]is absolutely true and that doing

0:54:49.309,0:54:51.674
family history gives [br]you the opportunity

0:54:51.674,0:54:56.734
to grow in hearing [br]revelation in this way.

0:54:56.734,0:55:05.698
So, closing thoughts. [br]This is something that comes up

0:55:05.698,0:55:09.730
from time to time when we [br]talk about the problems with

0:55:09.730,0:55:14.142
misusing name-finding apps. [br]So the person will say,

0:55:14.142,0:55:17.391
“But, the app I’m using is [br]certified by FamilySearch.

0:55:17.391,0:55:20.081
Doesn’t that mean that it [br]finds valid names?”

0:55:20.081,0:55:23.753
And that’s understandable why [br]people would think that because

0:55:23.753,0:55:27.672
the word “certified” sounds [br]really official, doesn’t it.

0:55:27.672,0:55:31.150
It sounds like there’s some [br]type of guarantee on the app

0:55:31.150,0:55:33.850
that it’s going to perform [br]as I expect it to.

0:55:33.853,0:55:38.871
But, that’s actually not the case. [br]The short answer is no,

0:55:38.871,0:55:42.505
being certified doesn’t guarantee [br]finding valid names.

0:55:42.505,0:55:46.825
And, in fact, it doesn’t have [br]anything to do with valid names.

0:55:46.829,0:55:52.694
Let’s take a look at what [br]FamilySearch certification means.

0:55:52.694,0:55:57.192
This is a direct quote from the [br]FamilySearch certification site.

0:55:57.192,0:56:00.386
The reason most people probably [br]don’t read this is that it’s

0:56:00.386,0:56:03.497
geared towards developers. [br]So most of us don’t have any

0:56:03.497,0:56:07.488
reason to go out to this site. [br]But, listen to what it says.

0:56:07.488,0:56:11.844
The designation is simply used [br]to identify software applications

0:56:11.844,0:56:16.284
that FamilySearch believes to be [br]generally compatible with

0:56:16.284,0:56:20.060
FamilySearch or its application [br]programming interfaces,

0:56:20.060,0:56:23.761
which is basically the way the [br]programs talk to each other.

0:56:23.761,0:56:28.405
So FamilySearch believes that [br]this app is generally compatible

0:56:28.405,0:56:32.529
but FamilySearch takes no [br]responsibility and is no way

0:56:32.529,0:56:38.451
liable for any such application. [br]Accordingly, FamilySearch in no way

0:56:38.451,0:56:44.071
warrants that these applications [br]will function as intended or that

0:56:44.071,0:56:48.157
they are free from harmful [br]or undesirable aspects

0:56:48.157,0:56:54.068
or free from errors. [br]So, the reason I bring this up

0:56:54.068,0:56:58.788
is just to help us understand [br]that to say an app is FamilySearch

0:56:58.788,0:57:03.747
certified is a wonderful thing and [br]it does mean something specific.

0:57:03.747,0:57:07.738
It means that you can generally[br]count on it to work correctly with

0:57:07.738,0:57:15.017
the FamilySearch.org website, [br]but it does not guarantee anything

0:57:15.017,0:57:20.097
about the app being used in a [br]certain way, or misused, or any

0:57:20.097,0:57:26.537
problem that result from its use.[br]Here’s another thing that I hear

0:57:26.537,0:57:30.808
sometimes in talking with a couple [br]of different app developers or

0:57:30.816,0:57:33.981
reading their websites. [br]They say, “I’m an app developer

0:57:33.981,0:57:37.418
and my app warns people that they [br]should research the names that

0:57:37.418,0:57:41.699
they find so isn’t that enough?” [br]You would hope that it would be.

0:57:41.699,0:57:44.347
You would hope that everybody [br]reads the fine print,

0:57:44.347,0:57:51.147
but my own experience is that [br]I don’t always read the fine print.

0:57:51.147,0:57:55.517
Sometimes if I’m in a hurry [br]I just glance at it and think

0:57:55.517,0:57:59.907
"I don't have time for this."[br]My experience is most people don't

0:57:59.907,0:58:04.734
read the warnings not only for [br]these apps but for anything.

0:58:04.734,0:58:07.441
In fact, I’ll give you an example. [br]The other day I was helping

0:58:07.441,0:58:11.861
somebody in a Find-Take-Teach [br]experience and several warnings

0:58:11.861,0:58:15.288
came up during the process of [br]our working together and

0:58:15.288,0:58:18.761
the person I was helping just[br]clicked right past the warnings.

0:58:18.761,0:58:23.829
And the sense that I got was that [br]they felt that they would not

0:58:23.829,0:58:27.258
have understood the warnings anyway[br]so why bother to read them.

0:58:27.258,0:58:31.749
So maybe it was a little sense of [br]technophobia or inadequacy or

0:58:31.749,0:58:36.608
whatever, but for whatever reason, [br]most people don’t read the warnings

0:58:36.608,0:58:41.158
on these apps or anyplace else.[br]I’ve also found that the few people

0:58:41.158,0:58:45.405
who read the warnings don’t really [br]understand how to apply it because

0:58:45.405,0:58:48.985
often the main users of [br]name-finding apps are people

0:58:48.985,0:58:51.543
who are just getting started [br]in family history and

0:58:51.543,0:58:54.686
somebody has told them about [br]the app and said this is a

0:58:54.686,0:58:57.021
quick and easy way to [br]find temple names.

0:58:57.021,0:59:00.073
So they get to the app, [br]and if they read the warning,

0:59:00.073,0:59:05.693
they go, “Oh, Okay, I’ll research, [br]whatever that means.”

0:59:05.704,0:59:09.110
And so they reserve their [br]hundred names, or whatever,

0:59:09.110,0:59:11.845
and then they look at the list [br]of a hundred and they go,

0:59:11.845,0:59:17.576
“Well, looks fine to me. [br]I’m not really sure what I’m

0:59:17.576,0:59:22.764
looking for but I don’t see any [br]problems so I guess I’ll go ahead.”

0:59:22.764,0:59:26.068
And we can’t fault people for [br]that because if they’re just

0:59:26.068,0:59:29.684
getting started and they don’t [br]understand, then they’re doing

0:59:29.684,0:59:33.804
their best to follow the warning [br]but they didn’t really understand

0:59:33.811,0:59:36.829
what the app developer [br]meant by the warning.

0:59:36.829,0:59:42.329
So, that’s an example of how just [br]putting a warning on an app doesn’t

0:59:42.329,0:59:47.177
really help solve the problem of [br]the app being misused to find

0:59:47.177,0:59:51.417
invalid names or large [br]numbers of names.

0:59:51.417,0:59:53.762
So at this point you might [br]be asking yourself,

0:59:53.762,0:59:57.774
what if I submitted a lot of names [br]like the dear sister in California

0:59:57.774,1:00:02.234
that has submitted 8,000 names [br]gathered with a name-finding app?

1:00:02.234,1:00:06.202
Well, if the names are in your [br]reservation list, verify them.

1:00:06.202,1:00:12.523
You’ve got them. There's no[br]reason to not verify them.

1:00:12.523,1:00:16.319
What that means is not just kind of [br]looking at them and going

1:00:16.319,1:00:21.392
“Well, I don’t see any problems,” [br]but rather going back and verifying

1:00:21.392,1:00:25.663
is the vital information correct? [br]Is it supported by sources?

1:00:25.663,1:00:28.799
Are the relationships correct? [br]Are there any obvious problems

1:00:28.799,1:00:32.209
like the mom having kids [br]when she’s age four?

1:00:32.209,1:00:33.707
So verifying[br]those names,

1:00:33.707,1:00:36.739
you can’t really verify [br]names en masse.

1:00:36.739,1:00:39.107
You need to verify [br]them individually,

1:00:39.107,1:00:43.076
just like when the Savior had [br]the individuals come to him.

1:00:43.076,1:00:46.290
When he appeared in the Americas, [br]they came one by one.

1:00:46.290,1:00:49.138
We also need to verify [br]names one by one

1:00:49.138,1:00:51.166
and make sure that[br]they’re correct.

1:00:51.166,1:00:54.705
So that, of course, is not [br]necessarily a short process,

1:00:54.705,1:00:57.905
especially if you have 8,000 [br]names in your temple queue.

1:00:57.905,1:01:01.405
So if it’s going to take longer [br]than two years before the names

1:01:01.411,1:01:06.191
will be released by the Church, [br]then you probably would want to

1:01:06.191,1:01:09.608
put those names back in [br]FamilySearch and let other people

1:01:09.608,1:01:12.546
go ahead and reserve them and [br]hopefully they would reserve

1:01:12.546,1:01:16.055
just a few and they would [br]carefully verify them.

1:01:16.055,1:01:18.683
If the ordinances [br]are already done,

1:01:18.683,1:01:21.223
don’t worry about it. [br]Don’t beat yourself up.

1:01:21.223,1:01:24.295
I know of people who have [br]beat themselves up.

1:01:24.295,1:01:27.590
Like a sister I’m aware of [br]who found out that she had,

1:01:27.590,1:01:33.090
after reserving green temple names[br]and doing about 30 ordinances,

1:01:33.090,1:01:37.691
a cousin contacted her and said, [br]“Did you realize you just did

1:01:37.691,1:01:40.938
all this duplicate work? [br]Those names were done years ago.

1:01:40.938,1:01:44.880
And she was so hurt and so [br]frustrated and so disappointed

1:01:44.880,1:01:48.348
because she had been told that the[br]right thing to do was just gather

1:01:48.348,1:01:51.168
these green names and that[br]she didn’t need to verify them.

1:01:51.168,1:01:54.084
So she was so hurt and disappointed[br]that she exclaimed,

1:01:54.084,1:01:57.628
“I am never doing [br]family history again!”

1:01:57.628,1:02:02.134
Now, hopefully after she thought [br]about it she changed her mind.

1:02:02.134,1:02:06.734
That was hopefully just said in the [br]disappointment of the moment,

1:02:06.734,1:02:10.340
but that’s what we don’t want [br]to do is beat ourselves up.

1:02:10.340,1:02:13.660
If you’ve done some of these names, [br]especially if you did them with

1:02:13.660,1:02:16.571
the best of intentions, [br]consider it a learning

1:02:16.571,1:02:19.671
experience and just say, “Okay, [br]that’s water under the bridge.

1:02:19.671,1:02:22.583
Going forward I’ll know [br]better what to do.”

1:02:22.583,1:02:26.683
And, you can help people that you[br]talk to be aware of these problems

1:02:26.686,1:02:31.586
so that they don’t run into [br]the same types of issues.

1:02:31.586,1:02:35.081
Your next question might be, [br]are you saying that I should

1:02:35.081,1:02:39.647
never use a name-finding app? [br]No, I’m not saying that,

1:02:39.647,1:02:44.874
because it is possible to use name-[br]finding apps to find valid names.

1:02:44.874,1:02:48.114
It's just that in my experience, [br]and this is anecdotal,

1:02:48.114,1:02:51.314
so this is just my experience[br]as a Stake Temple and

1:02:51.314,1:02:53.768
Family History Consultant[br]and a ward consultant

1:02:53.768,1:02:57.994
in a number of different [br]wards, it’s been my experience

1:02:57.994,1:03:01.345
that they usually aren’t [br]used to find valid names.

1:03:01.345,1:03:04.443
Most of the time the people [br]who are using them have been

1:03:04.443,1:03:07.381
told that it’s a fast [br]and easy way to find

1:03:07.381,1:03:13.461
temple names and they’re [br]not told about verification.

1:03:13.462,1:03:18.002
So, if I use a name finding app, [br]how can I find valid names?

1:03:18.002,1:03:21.269
You can! So here are some tips [br]for finding valid names

1:03:21.269,1:03:26.737
with name-finding apps.[br]First of all, most importantly,

1:03:26.737,1:03:33.982
seek the guidance of the Spirit. [br]I know a woman who started to use

1:03:33.982,1:03:37.327
a name-finding app and the [br]Spirit told her not to.

1:03:37.327,1:03:40.602
Now that was specifically [br]for her situation.

1:03:40.602,1:03:43.551
That should not be [br]generalized to anybody else

1:03:43.551,1:03:46.511
in any other situation.[br]That was just in hers.

1:03:46.512,1:03:51.237
But, she was told not to [br]and if she had disobeyed

1:03:51.237,1:03:54.321
the Spirit, then that would [br]have been a mistake for her.

1:03:54.321,1:03:57.301
So you want to seek the [br]guidance of the Spirit

1:03:57.301,1:03:59.889
in using the name-finding apps, [br]and if you’re warned

1:03:59.889,1:04:02.902
not to use them, then don’t. [br]On the other hand, if you’re

1:04:02.902,1:04:10.313
told to use them by a definite [br]spiritual prompting then do.

1:04:10.313,1:04:13.598
Verify each and every name [br]carefully that you find.

1:04:13.598,1:04:16.826
So verify the vital information, [br]the relationships,

1:04:16.826,1:04:21.466
check for duplicates, add sources, [br]make sure the vital information

1:04:21.471,1:04:28.151
agrees with the sources. [br]And here a tip is to use

1:04:28.151,1:04:32.591
one or more names as a starting [br]point to find and add more names.

1:04:32.592,1:04:36.812
So you can find, maybe a couple [br]of names using a name-finding app

1:04:36.813,1:04:41.273
and then go back to Family Tree and [br]thoroughly research those names and

1:04:41.273,1:04:44.789
see if anybody’s missing, [br]kind of as we did in the example

1:04:44.789,1:04:53.679
that I showed you of the Find-[br]Take-Teach experience in the MTC.

1:04:53.679,1:04:57.899
And then finally, I found [br]that it really helps to work

1:04:57.906,1:05:03.688
on one family at a time, rather[br]than a large list of random names.

1:05:03.688,1:05:07.248
The reason it’s helpful to work on [br]one family at a time is that you

1:05:07.248,1:05:10.397
get to know that family, [br]you become familiar with

1:05:10.397,1:05:13.586
the place that they lived, [br]with what they did for a living,

1:05:13.586,1:05:17.395
with how many children they had, [br]with when their kids left home

1:05:17.395,1:05:20.583
and got married, and so forth.[br]And so, as you follow

1:05:20.583,1:05:24.127
this family through time, [br]as you find their birth records,

1:05:24.127,1:05:26.976
their census records, [br]their death records,

1:05:26.976,1:05:30.167
all those different things that [br]help you know that family,

1:05:30.167,1:05:34.927
then you’re able to correctly [br]find the information for them,

1:05:34.927,1:05:38.103
validate those names and [br]add them to Family Tree.

1:05:38.103,1:05:41.219
And I felt so much more [br]comfortable working in

1:05:41.219,1:05:45.981
family units to add names[br]to Family Tree rather than

1:05:45.981,1:05:51.041
just working from a mass list of [br]random names that are just in

1:05:51.041,1:05:58.020
whatever order they were found [br]by the name-finding app.

1:05:58.020,1:06:00.887
So, therefore what? [br]Do you remember President Packer

1:06:00.887,1:06:04.167
used to say this a lot, [br]so what are the takeaways that

1:06:04.167,1:06:08.136
I hope we’ll get from this webinar? [br]Well, if you are a user

1:06:08.136,1:06:11.062
of a name-finding app, [br]the takeaways are

1:06:11.062,1:06:13.805
I hope that you would be aware [br]of the potential problems

1:06:13.805,1:06:17.204
that we’ve talked about today [br]and also that you’d help others

1:06:17.204,1:06:20.788
be aware because there’s so many [br]misconceptions going around,

1:06:20.788,1:06:24.871
that you would use these apps [br]as guided by the Spirit,

1:06:24.871,1:06:27.660
that you would remember [br]that there are so many names

1:06:27.660,1:06:31.295
that still need to be[br]added to Family Tree,

1:06:31.295,1:06:33.850
that you would realize [br]that a good helper can help you

1:06:33.850,1:06:38.314
in a way that an app can’t, [br]and that you would remember

1:06:38.314,1:06:44.134
that technology doesn’t replace[br]thought, research, or the Spirit.

1:06:44.134,1:06:48.244
As amazing as technology is, [br]it’s not perfect and we need

1:06:48.244,1:06:51.603
to use it as a tool and [br]as a companion to our

1:06:51.603,1:06:55.971
spiritual efforts but not [br]as a replacement for them.

1:06:55.971,1:06:59.103
If you are a developer, [br]what would I hope that

1:06:59.103,1:07:02.523
you would take away from [br]this webinar today?

1:07:02.540,1:07:06.175
I would love to see app [br]developers educate people about

1:07:06.175,1:07:10.548
the data in Family Tree to [br]combat those misconceptions.

1:07:10.548,1:07:14.928
Again, I don’t think most [br]developers are setting out

1:07:14.928,1:07:20.298
to tell people wrong facts [br]about the data in Family Tree.

1:07:20.298,1:07:23.721
They’re not meaning to [br]communicate misconceptions,

1:07:23.721,1:07:28.341
but users pick them up anyway, [br]especially when they’re shared

1:07:28.341,1:07:32.594
word of mouth from user to user [br]or posted on Facebook or wherever.

1:07:32.594,1:07:36.567
So app developers could do [br]a huge favor to users

1:07:36.567,1:07:40.941
by educating them about [br]the data in Family Tree.

1:07:40.941,1:07:43.843
Also, teach people that [br]Family Tree is not meant

1:07:43.843,1:07:46.890
to be a primary source [br]for finding names.

1:07:46.890,1:07:50.850
Yes, there are some great, valid [br]green temple names in Family Tree,

1:07:50.851,1:07:55.591
but Family Tree was never intended [br]to be a primary source of temple

1:07:55.591,1:08:02.067
names so we don’t have to find our [br]own family or do our own research.

1:08:02.067,1:08:06.947
I would love it if app developers[br]did not give users the impression

1:08:06.947,1:08:10.968
that family history without the [br]app is difficult and tedious.

1:08:10.968,1:08:15.128
Again, family history is only [br]difficult and tedious

1:08:15.133,1:08:19.494
if we don’t have the Spirit. Let[br]me take that back on difficult.

1:08:19.494,1:08:23.790
There can be challenges, [br]especially in some time periods

1:08:23.790,1:08:28.770
and some places, but what I found [br]is that if you follow the Spirit,

1:08:28.772,1:08:31.332
you’ll be led to solve those [br]problems and there’s a

1:08:31.332,1:08:36.706
sense of joy and it’s not [br]difficult in a horrible way.

1:08:36.706,1:08:40.570
It’s difficult in a challenging [br]and invigorating way.

1:08:40.570,1:08:43.844
So, I would love for this [br]misconception to be done

1:08:43.844,1:08:48.286
away with in the Church, [br]that family history is synonymous

1:08:48.286,1:08:54.266
with difficult and tedious. [br]I would also love it if apps

1:08:54.266,1:08:58.002
put caps on the number [br]of names that they found.

1:08:58.002,1:09:01.427
I’m aware of some that do, [br]but to my understanding,

1:09:01.427,1:09:05.163
there are some that don’t, [br]that allow users to just grab

1:09:05.163,1:09:10.523
huge numbers of names and [br]submit them for temple work.

1:09:10.523,1:09:15.258
I was talking with some friends [br]the other day about the problems

1:09:15.258,1:09:19.621
that we continue to see with people [br]submitting large numbers of invalid

1:09:19.621,1:09:24.081
names using name-finding [br]apps and we would love it if

1:09:24.081,1:09:26.929
there was some kind of[br]feature that would allow

1:09:26.929,1:09:30.933
people to clean up those large [br]numbers of the invalid names

1:09:30.933,1:09:34.090
that have been submitted, [br]whether it was some

1:09:34.090,1:09:37.963
super duplicate search or [br]something, I don’t know.

1:09:37.963,1:09:40.610
This was on our wish list. [br]We thought it would be

1:09:40.610,1:09:43.930
so wonderful if there was [br]some way to clean up

1:09:43.934,1:09:48.654
those many invalid names [br]that have been submitted.

1:09:48.654,1:09:52.732
I would like to close with [br]a quote from David Rancher,

1:09:52.732,1:09:55.803
who is currently the chief [br]genealogical officer

1:09:55.803,1:09:59.668
at FamilySearch. [br]He said, “I love my computer.

1:09:59.668,1:10:02.255
I love it for everything [br]it can do for me,

1:10:02.255,1:10:06.655
but the computer is not [br]what turns my heart.

1:10:06.655,1:10:10.343
What turns my heart are the [br]experiences and the impressions

1:10:10.343,1:10:17.255
I have from the Spirit and the [br]things that I know and understand.

1:10:17.255,1:10:19.178
So that concludes [br]our webinar for today.

1:10:19.178,1:10:22.750
I wanted to share with you those[br]promised additional resources.

1:10:22.750,1:10:27.630
The first one is a list of other [br]webinars that you can get on this

1:10:27.630,1:10:31.193
link down at the bottom and [br]they are webinars that go into

1:10:31.193,1:10:33.972
more detail about what [br]we’ve talked about today.

1:10:33.972,1:10:42.132
Many times people use name-finding [br]apps because they’ve been told that

1:10:42.132,1:10:45.604
it is the only way to find [br]success as a beginner.

1:10:45.604,1:10:48.478
And, unfortunately, I’ve [br]even seen this attitude

1:10:48.478,1:10:52.390
among consultants where [br]they will say it is too hard

1:10:52.390,1:10:55.497
to teach a beginner to do [br]careful family history.

1:10:55.497,1:10:58.353
They’re going to get discouraged[br]and they won’t do it.

1:10:58.353,1:11:02.785
And so therefore I have to teach [br]them to use the name-finding app.

1:11:02.785,1:11:07.205
Well of course, Find-Take-Teach [br]has turned that on its head.

1:11:07.205,1:11:12.668
As a helper prepares a Spirit-led [br]Find-Take-Teach experience

1:11:12.668,1:11:18.425
to find valid names, beginners do [br]learn to do valid family history.

1:11:18.425,1:11:23.665
So that first webinar kind [br]of touches on that subject.

1:11:23.665,1:11:26.254
The second one dives more [br]into using the Holy Ghost

1:11:26.254,1:11:29.922
in family history, duplicates [br]in Family Tree, obviously.

1:11:29.922,1:11:34.189
And then the last one goes into [br]a lot more detail on understanding

1:11:34.189,1:11:37.014
the data in Family Tree,[br]where it came from and

1:11:37.014,1:11:39.940
what some of the additional [br]challenges are with it.

1:11:39.940,1:11:42.007
And then lastly, [br]I want to recommend to you

1:11:42.007,1:11:46.275
this amazing book that I just love. [br]It’s available at Deseret Book.

1:11:46.275,1:11:48.249
It’s called "Hearts Turned [br]to the Fathers,"

1:11:48.249,1:11:52.900
and it’s a history of family [br]history since the restoration.

1:11:52.900,1:11:55.192
So it starts out from [br]the beginning of the

1:11:55.192,1:12:00.032
restored gospel to about [br]the 1990’s when the book was

1:12:00.032,1:12:04.200
published and when FamilySearch [br]was just gaining traction.

1:12:04.200,1:12:09.040
So if you love family history [br]I think you would love this book.

1:12:09.040,1:12:11.961
So thank you everybody for your [br]time and attention today

1:12:11.965,1:12:14.945
and I hope that this webinar [br]is helpful to you,

1:12:14.946,1:12:17.687
hope that it makes your [br]family history more meaningful

1:12:17.687,1:12:21.209
and more successful. [br]Thank you.

1:12:21.209,1:12:24.055
(Sean) Okay thank you so much [br]to Kathryn for that wonderful

1:12:24.055,1:12:27.951
presentation. I would just like [br]to remind everybody that these

1:12:27.951,1:12:31.386
webinars will be uploaded onto [br]YouTube and our channel name

1:12:31.386,1:12:35.746
is BYU Family History Library. [br]If you could, before you leave

1:12:35.746,1:12:39.132
the webinar today, look at the [br]different polls that we have

1:12:39.132,1:12:41.477
down at the bottom [br]of the screen.

1:12:41.477,1:12:46.717
We’d love to hear any feedback [br]that you have or suggestions

1:12:46.717,1:12:50.417
to different topics that you’d [br]like us to cover in the future.

1:12:50.417,1:12:54.677
That would be very helpful for us [br]and our different presenters.

1:12:54.680,1:12:57.941
And again, thanks to Kathryn for [br]that wonderful presentation today

1:12:57.941,1:13:08.161
and we hope to see you guys at our [br]next webinar. Alright, Bye.