Elder Renlund has counseled, “When God directs us to do one thing, He often has many purposes in mind. Family history and temple work is not only for the dead, but blesses the living as well.” I would like to share an experience about how temple and family history work has blessed both the living and the dead.

About 2 years ago I was privileged to help my adopted brother in his search for his biological family. It began when my sister found a biography of my brother that my mother wrote before her death. The first pages were everything she could remember about the events leading up to his birth and what Mom knew about his biological family. After reading it, my brother decided he would start looking for his biological parents. In an email, he wrote, “This all started with your transcription of my life history. It really inspired me and caused me to ponder on what kind of a legacy or footprint I wanted leave behind. . . I feel that I could be a Savior on Mount Zion for my biological family and am excited with those possibilities.” He hadn’t really been interested in family history and temple work before, but now he had a goal!

He started by taking a DNA test. After not finding any close matches, he took the courageous step of opening his adoption records where he found the full name of his biological father and the first name of his mother. Then, through using a variety of indexed sources from FamilySearch and Ancestry, he found that his father and mother had divorced, and both had remarried—his father twice! He also discovered that his father had passed away.

The next step was to try and see if he had any living siblings. By using free resources found on the internet including People.com, Been Verified, and Whitepages he found a possible half-brother and was able to contact him by email. In the next 2 weeks, he discovered that he had 3 half-siblings, one was already deceased. At about the same time, a match came up on his DNA test. The match was a 23-year-old girl, and it turned out her mother was another half-sister.

On Facebook he discovered the name of a woman who could possibly be his biological mother. He found 3 phone numbers and two addresses for her. The phone numbers didn’t work, so he sent two handwritten letters to the addresses. Two weeks later he received a phone call from his biological mom. Last summer she traveled from Florida to Arizona to meet him.

As a result of the contact he has had with his biological family, he has been able to find his ancestors and do the temple work for his biological father and for many other family members. He and his wife and his 2 daughters have participated in work for his biological family which has blessed their lives and his. My brothers and sisters and I have grown closer as we have helped him research his family. People have been blessed on both sides of the veil.

One of the sweetest memories of my childhood was going to the Salt Lake Temple wearing a new white dress and having a peek into the temple celestial room on our way to the sealing room where my brother was sealed to my parents for time and all eternity—making our family complete. Through my experiences I can echo the words of Pres. Nelson when he said that the Spirit of Elijah is “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family.”

Elder Bednar has affirmed that “the distinctive influence of the Holy Ghost draws people to identify, document, and cherish their ancestors and family members—both past and present” and this is also my testimony!

-Marianne Bates, Consultant, Granite Family History Center