With the recent cooperation between the LDS Churchs Family Search program and three commercial entities (Ancestry, MyHeritage and findmypast) an unprecedented advance has been made in making genealogical records available to members of the Church. These alliances provide FREE access for Church members to a wider universe of data so that they can research their ancestors and prepare records to be taken to the Temple for sacred ordinances. Members are being invited via email to avail themselves of this benefit and several thousand emails are sent out each week. Additionally, the public can also take advantage of this expansion of available records by going to any nearby LDS Family History Center where they can have FREE access to these additional sites and other resources available at those centers to assist them in researching their family tree. . In October 2012 the leaders of the Church announced a lowering of the age for missionary service from 19 to 18 years old for men and from 21 to 19 years old for women. This change alone accounted for a sharp increase in the missionary force from 57,000 to over 80,000 serving throughout the world at their own expense. This latest arrangement making genealogical records more accessible to the members is also in keeping with the call by Church leaders for a hastening of the work of salvation.
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 02:19:51 +0000