This blog is dedicated to my children so that they can come to know their ancestors and the rich legacy of faith that has gone before them.

Bridges and Eternal Keepsakes

Dennis B. Neuenschwander gave an excellent talk on Family History work in the April 1999 General Conference entitled, “Bridges and Eternal Keepsakes.” In his talk he even quotes something an American President, Woodrow Wilson, said. Here is an excerpt:

Family history and temple work have a great power, which lies in their scriptural and divine promise that the hearts of the fathers will turn to the children and those of the children will turn to their fathers. Woodrow Wilson stated: “A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.” Well might this be said of families also: A family “which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.”

The tag line for Elder Neuenschwander's talk is, "Genealogies, family stories, historical accounts, and traditions … form a bridge between past and future and bind generations together in ways that no other keepsake can."