Elder Mark A. Bragg on how temple and family history unify families in Christ [25:09-30:09]

I'm, my dad was a convert. And so, but I feel connected also to the broader church as well. Not just the pioneers who cross the plains, but pioneers in every land who are learning from that resilience, their resilient themselves. What advice do you have for those? And we've talked about this a little bit already, who are new to their church. And I think, well, other people, they know how to do this. Does it go back to adding what you know? Yeah, well, I think it's two things. It, it absolutely is out of what you know. Now, in the very, the very first week, they can have their interview with the bishop and get their temple recommend. And the bishop at the same time can go on to family name assist, which is on the system or, or any member of the, of the word council can go on and help them get their family search account and, and put information in about their ancestors and, and literally go and do the work right away. So I think that's part of it. But I, I think we have so many wonderful people, temple and family history consultants throughout the world that can help with this. And, and the key is to not complicate it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. It's, it's faith, it's repentance, it's baptism, it's gift of the Holy Ghost, and it's enduring to the end. And everything else kind of falls in that. And I think that sometimes our love of, of family history, research sometimes makes us complicated. It shouldn't be that complicated just to add what you know. And, and then I think there's a, there's a, a great deal of, of humility when we allow others to help us. So then allow, allow others. You don't have to have the responsibilities to do all of this research. We have experts that can help you. So what we're seeing in, in Europe, for example, they'll get a new convert. And I just, I just presented this to the corner of the 12. They, there was a new convert in Aberdeen, Scotland. And you got baptized. And within a really short period of time, the temple and family history consultant met with him. God has much information as he could. It wasn't a lot enough. And then the the consultant went away for about two weeks and then came back with this tree of over 100 names. And then said, here, Paul, this is name, Paul, you just go and do this, this glorious temple work for your, for your family, for your ancestors. Don't worry about finding it and researching it. This is our gift to you. So you only have to post on that. And, and I think we can do more of that. Help our new converts, help people. And then they'll, they'll get it. They'll, they'll want to get more involved in it. But let's not bog people down. Certainly, in particular, at the beginning, I think we can help them find and, and, and most importantly, take their ancestors, accompany their ancestors to the to the house of law. Yes. You're making me think immediately of the fact that we have people who are called and set apart. There's a power that comes with being set apart, but calling. Absolutely. Yes. And then they can be a part of that with you. And, and like you said, I think, I think it's probably a study somewhere that our new converts, if they are in the house of the Lord often. Oh, yeah. That's just a beautiful thing for them and their testimonies. Well, it is for them, for their spirituality and for their sense of connection to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to the church of Jesus Christ of our day saints. And so their retention is much, much higher. When we, the sooner we can get them, again, it's not complicated. Get them, get them a calling, if they're male, get them the priesthood, get them a temple recommend and get them into the house of the Lord doing work for their ancestors. Then, then those roots really start to develop. And same for our long-time members. Don't just think, oh, that's for somebody else for everybody, you can be during this. That's right. And those ancestors, like you said, are maybe paving the way, opening, softening some hearts, getting it ready. No doubt. And that's why, that's why we've, I know we've spoken about it a couple of times, but that's why ordinance is ready is so great because anybody can get on family search, open them, ordinance is ready. And the algorithm will find someone in your tree. And if there's not someone in your tree that needs ordinances done, which could happen, but it doesn't happen very often, then it'll look at those in your award who have ancestors. And they've, they've submitted these names, the temple that can be done by other people. And they'll search your award. And then, if that's not available, and they'll search your state, but in, certainly in the United States, and it's growing throughout the world, of course, but certainly in the United States, you're, you're about a hundred percent hit rate. You're going to find someone to take to a company to the temple. I, I love doing, I said the people, I love doing that with my boys, baptisms. And it's, it's just so neat to talk