The My Family Booklet - Visiting 7-Cities

From Thursday 22 May 2014 through Sunday 25 May 2014, we had the opportunity to visit 7-Thai cities. These were the cities of: Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Kalasin, Roi-Et, Maha Sarakham, and Nakhon Ratchasima.  The map below shows their location in Thailand.

The purpose of the visits were as follows:

1.  Elder and Sister Meeker to deliver an automobile to Elder Brown in Udon Thani, and inspect missionary apartments in the cities. This was successfully accomplished.  

2.  Elder and Sister Moleff to determine:

(1)   Extent of distribution and use of My Family booklets, and

(2)   Function of Family History centers at Udon Thani and Khon Kaen Districts.

Visits to Udon Thani and Khon Kaen District Family History Centers determined that the centers are being administered correctly, though printers in both centers were not functioning properly.  Requests to repair were sent to the FM group.

From talking with the Elder and Sister missionaries in each of the cities, we found that not all the booklets have been distributed to the Branch members.  Also, it wasn't clear if the members were filling-out the booklets and also uploading the information into FamilySearch.
Elder and Sister Moleff's purpose as Family History Support Missionaries in Thailand, is to have more Thai Saints submit names of their ancestors for temple work.  The Lord is accelerating His work of Salvation and Redemption on both sides of the veil.  The lowering of the age of missionaries is for this side of the vail, the results of the My Family booklet is for the other side of the vail.  Photographs and purpose the My Family booklets is shown below.  

My Family Booklets in Thai and English

Collecting and preserving your family history is easier than ever before these days by virtue of some new Internet tools on FamilySearch.org, the Church’s genealogy website. With FamilySearch FamilyTree, the new Stories and Photos functions, and the convenient and quick means of preparing ancestral names for temple work, it’s an exciting time for those whose hearts are turning to their fathers and posterity.

Trouble is, these tools haven’t been of much use for people without an adequate Internet connection and without an essential degree of computer literacy—until now, that is.

On November 12, 2013, the Family History Department launched a new tool, a booklet called My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together, as a way of reaching out to the vast majority of the membership of the Church worldwide—including some 25 percent of Church members in the United States—who either do not have broadband Internet access or who, for whatever reason, choose not to acquire the skills to use it, said Paul M. Nauta, marketing manager for FamilySearch.

In short, the booklet is a convenient, step-by-step way for Church members without easy Internet access “to share their family memories and save those memories for future generations and also to identify their ancestors and prepare their names for temple work."

With the booklet, the user with pen or pencil in hand starts out by telling his or her story.

“You capture a few things you would like future generations to know about you; hobbies and interests, favorite traditions, and photos.”

Members can do that for themselves, ward family history consultants can assist, or children can help their parents, grandparents, or other relatives fill in the booklet. They can also write down everything they remember about their ancestors and turn to older family members to fill in the stories and people they don’t remember themselves.

The completed booklet can then be taken to the Family History Library or one of the Church’s thousands of family history centers located worldwide, or simply to a friend or relative who has the necessary Internet access. Using a help feature on FamilySearch.org (www.FamilySearch.org/ myfamily), the information is entered into the FamilySearch website.

Thereafter, the photos, stories, and precious memories the booklet helps capture are always available to descendants and other family members who use FamilySearch.org. Names of ancestors are also added to FamilySearch FamilyTree, where they can be researched by relatives doing their own family history research or prepared for temple ordinances.

In a keynote address at the RootsTech 2013 Conference, Dennis Brimhall, CEO of FamilySearch, shared FamilySearch’s vision to empower people to share their family memories and save them for future generations. “Imagine if your ancestors had easy access to computers, digital cameras, and family history websites that allowed them to upload, preserve, and share important family memories through photos, stories, and vital names, dates, and places? How amazing would that be?” Brimhall said. The My Family: Stories that Bring Us Together booklet and corresponding Internet tools are installments towards making that happen.  The booklet is being introduced in 26 languages.

We started our trip in Bangkok and visited Nakhon Ratchasima, Maha Sarakham, Roi-et, Kalasin, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Nong Khai. The sisters in Nong Khai live about 150 yards from the Mekong River.  We could see across the river to Laos.  Most of the area we passed thru reminded us of Nebraska with it's plains and fields of crops - only these crops were rice.  We flew back to Bangkok from Udon Thani; the airport there was formally a US Air Force Base during the Vietnam War.