Katie and the Family History Center

For the past year or two Katie, Maggie and Emily have been volunteering at the Family History Center every Thursday night.  June 14th was her last day and to celebrate Brother Atkinson arranged for a party to honor her service.  Chris and the kids and I came as well and heard them talk about their appreciation for Katie’s willingness to come and bring others to serve with her.  It was a neat to see how much they loved having her there.

Katie ended up writing one of the BYU application essay’s about Family History…

How have you become aware of a significant need in your family, school, and/or community? Please explain how you have worked towards meeting that need.

Brother Atkinson is a 60 year old family history worker, Sunday school teacher, and now a friend. This is how I met him: Family History has been a huge focus in our stake for the past few years, especially since we went on Trek in 2014. We all brought a name of an ancestor who was a pioneer and "trekked" for them. I was Mary Rennie Laird, a pioneer woman who joined the church at age 16 and was among Scotland’s first converts. She endured many trials but remained faithful and it is because of stories like this that I fell in love with family history. The general authorities and our stake presidency have been asking us to find names and learn how to use familyhistory.org. We had several firesides and lessons about it, however, the majority of members had a desire but "didn't know where to begin" or "never got around to it"... including me. Our stake was in need of people to become more familiar with doing family history so they could teach others. All of the priests and laurels in my ward were called as Temple and Family History Consultants. I decided to do what I could to fill that role. I started volunteering at our stake Family History Center every Thursday evening. I help patrons find names and navigate familysearch.org, organize microfische, clean computers, scan photos, run the story booth, and even wear a name tag. I also have a lot of time to work on my own family history and learn new things. I brought my little sister, Emily, and neighbor, Maggie, along too and they love it. I met Brother Atkinson because he is the youth family history consultant and he trained us. He has no family and loves having a connection with us. Now every time he teaches a lesson in church or talks to someone with me in the room, he brags about how I was the first youth in his ward to come volunteer and how I brought two more volunteers. It can be embarrassing but it feels good to be his pride and joy. My service in the family history center has helped others, but taught me the most.  It has taught me how to love others--my coworkers, patrons, and especially my ancestors. It has taught me that you must dedicate time to learn a new skill. It has taught me how to find names for the temple. A few weeks ago, my sister and I found 101 names in one night. I love knowing I am doing something to help my family after all they have done for me. I am so grateful that my ancestors found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and raised their kids so that I could be born into the gospel and have these truths to live my life by.