Kadena Okinawa Temple and Family History

  RootsTech 2021  was awesome! I participated in a few different portions of the conference: group session for German family history individual session for family history strategy temple and family history instruction (handle separately) various tutorial videos (Korean/German family history research) keynote addresses I was blown away by how much specialized information was available across a variety of topics and regions and how much I was able to learn during the conference. I went into the conference as a real novice and gained tons of insights into how to do German family history research as well a whole slew of new resources--including several websites and various working-aids--that I can use to research gaps in my family tree and discover new names. I felt empowered after learning from professional genealogists. I'm excited to dig in and use my new resources and leverage my new knowledge; I'm sure both will help me for years to come. I am SOOO glad I choose to participat...

I recently saw the exciting news that there will be free family research help as part of RootsTech 2021 :  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/RootsTech_Connect_Research_Help . You can receive help in two primary ways: by attending a group session: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/RootsTech_Connect_Research_Help#Group_Research_Sessions . by scheduling a personal online consultation:  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/RootsTech_Connect_Research_Help#Online_Consultations . Group sessions, which will be held generally between midnight and 7am Japan time, are being offered on the following topics: British Isles Nordic Countries Asian Countries Germany Latin American Countries US and Canada FamilySearch Research Wiki Digital Library For the personal online consultations, the point is to get more customized help so there is a huge variety topics you can choose from. Consultations, which are mostly available in the mornings Japan time, are offered in four languages: English, ...

   A month ago, I posted about an update on improving place names on FamilySearch . Well, I checked back on the feature, which is available online and via the FamilySearch app, and now there are over 90 different locations to choose from. (Specifically, there were a whopping 93 locales listed.) Some of the locations are nations/countries that no longer exist today, such as Prussia. This is definitely a welcome change. Based on this change, there appears to be plenty of work left to be done. So if you are looking for a "small and simple" way to help out or just  an opportunity to use your foreign language skills , try out the improving place names feature on FamilySearch.

I previously posted a basic introduction into indexing . Once you get the hang of it, indexing can be pretty simple and actually kind of fun. In fact, it is even something you can do together with kids, including elementary school children. Aside from the many spiritual blessings that come from spending time doing family history work , here are a few other benefits for my elementary school kids that I saw when I included them in my indexing efforts: Cursive Handwriting : Doing indexing is impossible without being comfortable with cursive writing. Since some people today never learn to fluently read and write in cursive, this is something new kids will learn while doing indexing. My kids still struggle at this point but they are getting more comfortable with cursive and starting to be able to read it some on their own. Typing : My kids had started learning to type, so indexing together gave them another opportunity to practice. This was nice because they only needed to type small chunks...

Have you heard about the annual family history conference called "RootsTech"? It's a multi-day event with inspirational speakers as well as workshops on various topics related to family history. Well, it's that time of year again. RootsTech 2021 will be held February 25th through 27th. (That's Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the United States, so it will be mostly Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Japan/Korea.) This year's conference will be 100% online and 100% free. It is a great opportunity to learn more about FamilySearch , learn about family history in general, and be uplifted. Here's the main website for this year's conference: https://www.rootstech.org/?lang=eng . Here's a spot where you can learn more about RootsTech: https://www.rootstech.org/about?lang=eng . Registration is very simple. It takes maybe 1-2 minutes. You can use the live chat function to have a robot register you or you can register yourself here:  https://www.rootstech.org/...

Probably the most well-known alternative family history project among Church members is indexing. Most members have heard of indexing and many have participated in it.  What Is Indexing? For anyone unfamiliar or unsure, indexing is a way to digitize documents. Specifically, you type up the contents of historical documents so as to make those contents searchable. A variety of documents have been or could be indexed; some of the most common document types include census records, marriage certificates, and voter records. Traditionally, these documents were maintained in hardcopy and later on microfilm or microfiche . While microfilm/microfiche allowed the documents to preserved in a more space-efficient manner, be distributed far wider than the original hardcopies, and even potentially be uploaded online, there was still a critical shortcoming: the information was still generally inaccessible. Finding information would require a person searching through literally thousands or millions...

  A little more than two months ago, I posted about an easy but less common way to participate in temple and family history work: improving place names on FamilySearch . It appears that there has been a lot of participation in this project and a satisfactory amount of data has been collected for the majority of countries and localities. As of January 3, 2020, only the following six location options are now listed: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, and United States. But don't let these facts dissuade you from participating in this fun and easy family history project.

One less common way to participate in temple and family history work is to join in a newly started project to improve place names. You can help out via FamilySearch.org or via the FamilySearch app. Here is where the project is found on the website: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/improve-place-names/ . In the app, just click on the three lines icon on the top left and you'll find the project listed as the eighth item. At the opening screen, you can choose to select a specific country you'd like to work on or you can leave it to chance and stick with the default setting of "Any Country." Currently there are 20 different countries or localities listed. (There were actually 42 options listed just a few weeks ago.) [[Update: As of January 3, 2020, only the following six location options are now listed: Austria, Czechoslavika, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, and United States.]] [[Update #2: As of February 8, 2021, there were 93 six location options listed.]] For those of you...

Are you interested in doing some family history work and hoping for an easy way to start? Did you hit a roadblock or dead-end in your family history research and feel like you need to take a break? Has your family tree already been filled out and connected the whole way back to Adam and Eve (or maybe just back to Noah and the flood) but you'd still like to work family history? Are you interested in new ways to participate in family history work? If any of these statements describe you, I have a few ideas that might interest you. Stay tuned for details.

President Nelson Reviewing Items from Salt Lake Temple Capstone Photo Credit: Deseret News Even though currently we are not able to attend the temple, we can help the work move forward in many ways, such as the following: Live worthy of and keep a current temple recommend; Work on your family history--President Nelson mentioned this during the April 2020 General Conference. This will enable you to prepare names to take to the temple and share family history with others, especially your family; Help others do family history work, including through indexing projects on FamilySearch—this was also mentioned by President Nelson during the April 2020 General Conference; Pray that the Okinawa temple will be completed quickly. Here are the invitation and promise given by President Nelson during the April 2020 General Conference: "While worshiping in the temple is presently not possible, I invite you to increase your participation in family history, including family history research and i...

Hi! This blog, entitled " Kadena Okinawa Temple and Family History",  is not an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints   but is meant to be a source of tips and inspiration related to temple and family history work. I'll try to share tidbits I learn from time to time--mostly related to FamilySearch.org --and hope you will find them useful. Also, since plans to construct the Okinawa Japan Temple were officially announced , I'll try to give periodic updates and other news regarding the temple. (Hopefully anyone looking for info on "LDS temples",  "Latter-day Saint temples",  or "Mormon temples" will find their way to this blog.) If something posted seems off or doesn't quite make sense, please forgive me. I'm still figuring this out myself. 😃 (Feel free to pass me feedback.) If you are looking for related information on social media, you might try the following hashtags: #okinawatemple #okinawajapantem...