As part of the Find–Take–Teach process, family history helpers seek to apply proven principles to create heart-turning experiences for the people they help. These experiences help others love family history and ultimately become saviors “on mount Zion” Obadiah 1:21.
The first principle is foundational and can ultimately set up the success of the family history experience—prepare spiritually. In a lesson plan on helping other love family history, this principle is described in this way:
Prepare Spiritually. Seek the Spirit. Ask the Lord for help as you prepare to meet the needs of the individual or family you are working with. Pray for them before you meet.
Helpers seek to have the Spirit by praying for success in faith, living in a way that allows the Spirit to inspire and guide them, and focusing on the individual or individuals they will be working with.
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I witnessed the power of preparing spiritually on a recent visit to a couple in my neighborhood. I had been helping Rue and Mary Nielson find temple names for a few weeks. In preparation for one of my visits, I prayed to Heavenly Father that I might be guided in my efforts to help Mary find a name on one of her lines. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for that meeting, but with heaven’s help, I did find a name of an ancestor awaiting temple blessings.
Prior to arriving on the appointed day of our visit, before I prayed again and received a distinct impression to ask Mary if she had felt any promptings about which family line in her tree we should explore. After opening our visit with prayer, I turned to Mary and said, “I have a name to talk with you about, but I feel like I need to ask you if you have had any promptings about which family line we might focus on.” She smiled and answered that she had, indeed, received a prompting while she was at the temple doing sealings for a family we had found in our previous visit. She said that she’d had a distinct impression that there were more members of the family that we hadn’t found yet.
At that point, we switched gears and went back to the family line in question and found additional family members. This success built Mary’s confidence, and for the rest of our visit, she voiced additional impressions that led to a total of seven ancestors for which she and her husband could do temple work. We had a remarkable, heart-turning experience together. We felt the Spirit of the work and were blessed for our spiritual preparation. I have seen firsthand and have a testimony that if we show faith to ask for guidance and direction from the Spirit, He can bless the lives of those we are helping.
