Members of a newly organized congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Fiji village of Nakawakawa are working together to upload their family histories to the Internet.
Recently, Church members from the small but growing congregation located in a remote mountain village on Vanu Levu, brought their written and mental lists of ancestors to the meetinghouse they built themselves.
Larry and Lynda Bennett, a retired American couple who serve as family history missionaries, brought laptop computers and remote internet connections from their base in Auckland, New Zealand.
Peter Vakalala, local lay leader of the Church, brought a generator to supply power for the laptops.
Together they uploaded four generations of ancestral names, vital dates and other family details for each participant to FamilySearch.org, a free Internet-accessible service provided by the Church.
This ensured their family history information is permanently recorded, and available in the future to them, their descendants and others desiring to discover and connect with their ancestors and their ancestors’ personal stories.
“Preserving oral histories and other living memory is critical in areas where official documents may be scarce or non-existent.” said Sister Bennett.
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President Vakalala was shown how to access records, add new families and upload family photos to FamliySearch.org. He will train others in his congregation how to use it themselves.
According to Elder Bennett, family history research has the potential to keep families strong. “When you do your family history and write memories about or read stories of your deceased ancestors, you feel connected to them in a very special way.”
The Bennetts work to help people fill in the blanks in their family trees in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific islands.
They are not alone. “Mormon family history missionaries are assigned throughout the world to help implement strong family history programs,” said Sister Bennett.
FamilySearch, a service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is committed to helping people connect with their ancestors.
This effort is rooted in the Mormon belief that families are meant to be central to our lives and that family relationships are intended to continue beyond this life.
Because interest in family history is not limited by culture, ethnicity or religious faith, FamilySearch’s resources are available to everyone who wants to discover more about their family and their heritage.
Getting Started: My Family Stories That Bring Us Together
Watch videos about family history research.