The Amazing Results of a Family Fast

Sorry for using a cliche title to the post, but yesterday was a powerful day.

For the past few years, I have been doing Family History work.  Researching to find names of ancestors in order to perform ordinances in Mormon temples, such as baptisms and marriages.  In the Mormon faith, we believe that if a person does not have the chance to perform these ordinances while on Earth, they will receive the opportunity in the next life, but they must be performed by a living person on Earth in the temple.

I had seemed to have hit a brick wall in Family History.

It had been a couple of months since I had found any names and so I turned to my extended family - my parents, brother, and sisters, and their families - and asked if we could have a family fast in helping to find names of ancestors to take to the temple to perform these ordinances.  They readily and graciously agreed for which I was grateful.

Every month Mormons "fast" on the first Sunday of the month. This means they go without food or drink for two consecutive meals and then donate the money that would have gone to the meals to help the poor or those in need.  While they fast, they dedicate the fast to a special purpose: a sought after blessing, a bit of gratitude, a prayer for someone in need.  I was asking my family to dedicate this fast to our family's Family History efforts.

Sunday morning I awoke and started what was going to be a 12-hour-day at church with meetings.  I volunteer as the secretary to our congregation's unpaid leader, the Bishop, and his schedule was full.  At 7:30 I prepared meeting agendas and finalized his calendar in preparation for our meetings that started at 9:00 AM.

I arrived two minutes late as I spent some time making a meme from a presentation I listened to.

The meme I created that caused me to be late

The 9 - 10 meeting with the Bishop and his counselors went as usual.  At 10:00 AM, the other lay leaders of the congregation arrived to discuss the physical and financial needs of specific members in the congregation and to draw up plans to address those needs.

I brought my Chromebook to take notes and at some point during that 10:00 AM meeting, the miracle started.

Unexpectedly, my computer got a little notification asking if I wanted to download some app extensions onto Chrome relating to Family History.

Sure.

I downloaded three of them: Hope Chest, Ancestry Family Search, and RootsSearch.

I did not think much of it, tried playing with them for a few seconds, then went back to focusing on the meeting at hand.

Two hours later I was sitting next to our former Bishop, a BYU-Idaho psychology professor who has since been assigned to teach Sunday School to the adults in the congregation.  He had once told me about Hope Chest.

Hey Bishop, how do I work this?  I whispered during the beginning of the Priesthood instruction.

I don't know, ask my son.

Hey, Bishop's son, how do I work this?

I don't know.

Shoot.

After a few clicks on my own, I thought I figured it out.  Ben, the person in charge of Family History in the congregation started to encourage me when he saw what I was doing.

I let the program run and after 45 minutes, sent the following text to Ben:

Check out those muscles, Ben!

Hey, six was better than zero.

Sunday ended with six names.  One name for each member of the original John and Joan Rail family.  And I was grateful.

But I thought I may be able to do better.  So I tried again on Monday.

Monday's results were a little better.

Final result?

Are you kidding me?

I was stunned.  As I told my family, I still have some work to do (putting them into the system and merging duplicates, so the number will go down), but if that is not a testimony to the power of family fasts and of family history work, I do not know what is.

Actually I do know what is.

This is.

Ninety-three is.

And it just so happens to be the year Candice graduated from high school.

Go class of '93.

The Junto Grove

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Thanks!

Embraced By His Love

She was rather rambunctious today. It was her second time in nursery, she had a beautiful new dress on. But come Sacrament meeting, she was frustrating. A slight temper tantrum, running up to the podium, screaming during Sacrament. We almost took her home, but we did not.

Then Church ended. Mother was in choir rehearsal. Sarah and I were behind the last pew, she at one end, I at the other. I looked at her and she smiled. I opened my arms to her and she ran. She ran as fast as her little legs would take her.

When she got to me, I hoisted her up in my arms and we embraced.

And I began to understand forgiveness.

Sometimes I err, and err pretty badly. I do not understand how Heavenly Father can forgive me. Yet, as I held Sarah in my arms, what occurred during Sacrament meeting melted away from my memory and my heart was filled with love.

Is this what Father Lehi felt when he said

But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. (2 Nephi 1:15).

I am not sure, but it was both powerful and tender, as I am learning my precious daughter is.

She Could Not Carry Her Own Burden

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows - Isaiah 53:4

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:30

Friday and Saturday were pretty huge days for Sarah. We had a conference for the youth and that meant a lot of walking and a lot of sun and not a lot of sleeping. Two days of that with a 15-month-old makes for one grumpy and tired Sunday. As we sat down in preparation for the Sacrament, Sarah was not to be consoled. She would not sit still nor would she stop screaming.

I looked at my wife and told her to stay seated. I took Sarah out of the congregation to the lobby. I held her numerous ways and let her walk around, but to no avail. The screaming and the discomfort of this little one would not cease.

Two weeks ago, my wife had brought a Kelty carrier. Sarah loved her Baby Bjorn, but she had outgrown it. She despises strollers, so her mother decided on the Kelty. They are for the outdoorsy, adventurous types. They look cool and they are designed to change the weight distrubution to your hips (as if my hips need more weight as it is). But the only change in weight I have noticed in this carrier is how much heavier it is than the Bjorn.

But Sarah loves the Kelty and naps in it, so it was time to see if the Kelty would help her rest. I took off my suitcoat, put Sarah in the Kelty and started to pace. After 10 minutes the silence came. I looked back as best I could, but it still took someone else to tell me she was napping.

As I carried my daughter, I thought of the Savior. Each of us caryy burdens far too heavy to shoulder alone. And He shoulders them. We do not always realize it, but he carries them for us.

And it brings peace.