Malachi's Vision

At our Stake Conference last month the Stake President announced a project he felt was very important for our Stake at this time. We were not at Stake Conference, but yesterday's meetings at church covered it again so that everyone could learn and understand the President's vision for us. The name of the project its Malachi's Vision, coming from Malachi 4:5-6, where we are told that in the last day, Elijah shall return and turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers. This is something we've heard for a long time and we know that by doing temple work for the dead we are helping to do this.

What was introduced to us through the stake is something a little different. We have been asked to go to www.familysearchindexing.org and start doing extraction work. The Church has so many records of people from years past, but the records have to be translated or extracted so that we can do the work for those people. My grandpa did extraction work for a long time, before his eye sight got bad, but his seemed so different. He had actual papers (copies of the originals) that he extracted. The church has now made it possible for anyone to do this work.

The vision was talked about yesterday in Sacrament Meeting as well as our combined Elders Quorum/Relief Society meeting. As the woman from the Stake was explaining how easy it is to do this, I got very excited. My friend mentioned that she has been enjoying this work because she can't go to the temple as often as she would like, but she can do a little of this work everyday, at home, while her kids or playing or taking a nap. I came home from church, looked up the website and volunteered to do some myself.

So far I've indexed 200 names. Right now they are mostly working on the 1900 census in the US. So, when you download a batch of 50 names, you get part of one state's census. I've done some from Wisconsin and Michigan. It's so interesting to see the different countries have immigrated from, how many children people have, how many people have lost children along the way, etc. I am really enjoying the work. It gives me a way to "turn the hearts" at home, everyday if I want to, when I can't go to the temple that often.

For anyone else who can't go to the temple as often as you would like, but has a few minutes here and there, I would encourage you to check out the site. Anyone can do it. There's a tutorial to teach you exactly what to do. You will be blessed.