Reg Assignment #3

Assignment #3
Joy Marie Prior

For my family history class we were assigned to log onto the new.familysearch.org and to explore the website. It was a simple enough activity: click on a few icons, watch the required tutorials, and print off a few sheets of paper. The only problem was that my records are in the process of being transferred from my home ward to my student ward. That means that until my records get into my new bishopric’s hands I am not a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I found this all out after I signed up for the class, and before the add/drop deadline. The first day I sat in the BYU family history center for an hour and clicked the same buttons over and over, every time I got kicked off the new.familysearch.org. Then I had a teacher assistant come over and try all the same buttons I had tried. The next day I called the number on the help screen and talked to a women for over an hour. She told me to try all the same buttons I had tried earlier in her New Zealand accent, but the buttons still did not work. After that I got transferred, and this is when I found out that my login name will not work until my records are transferred… I tried again the next day, but no luck. Finally, I convinced my mom to let me use her login information and I was able to print off the assignment. By the time I finished with the first real assignment I was just about to log onto my BYU student page and click the “drop class” button. What kind-a summer class is this I thought to myself. This thought made me blush as I realized how disrespectful and truly impatient I was acting. There are millions of my spiritual brothers and sisters patiently waiting to have their family history work done, and I can not even wait for one hour on the telephone. I realized too how I have taken my me membership in the church for gratitude. It has been less than a week that my records have been lost in cyberspace, and the biggest difference in my life was I could not log onto a website. I could just feel someone puzzled at my childishness; there are souls who have not ever had their records on the church. Unlike me they are hurt a little more than being denied access to a webpage for a few days, they are being denied access into God’s presence. My records will not be recognized by the church until the student secretary mails in a little paper work, but their records will not be recognized by the church until their prodigy are baptized, their genealogy completed, and their names verified and submitted to the Temple. It was humbling to realized how anxious and patient all of God’s children must feel as the good news of Salvation is being carried to every corner of the earth; both seen and unseen.