You Can Do This Work

“There somehow seems to be the feeling that genealogical work is an all-or-nothing responsibility. Genealogical work is another responsibility for every Latter-day Saint. And we may do it successfully along with all the other callings and responsibilities that rest upon us. You can fulfill your obligation to your kindred dead and to the Lord without forsaking your other Church callings. You can do it without abandoning your family responsibilities. You can do this work. You can do it without becoming a so-called “expert” in it.” 

- Elder Boyd K. Packer, “Someone Up There Loves You,” Ensign, January 1977.

The Lord Is In This Work

George Taft Benson Family
Louise Ballif Benson is seated 2nd from right.

“The Lord is in this work. He wants it to prosper. He wants us to be successful in our efforts. While living with my grandmother, Louise Ballif Benson, in Logan as a student, I knew she had been working very hard on her research. She kept referring to the fact that there was a gap that she couldn’t fill and it worried her. She prayed about it fervently. One day she received a package address just ‘Benson Family, Utah.’ The package contained a printed book which had come from a man in Syracuse, New York, who had done research independently – not as a member of the Church. You can imagine the joy that filled my grandmother’s heart when she found that this not only filled the gap, but did much more than that. Her prayers had been answered. Yes, there are many ways to help get the job done.” 

– Ezra Taft Benson, “Eternal Memories,” Tenth Annual Priesthood Genealogical Research Seminar, 

BYU, Provo, Utah, 31 July 1975.

Consecrate A Portion Of Our Time And Energy

Billings Montana Temple - Photo from LDS Media Library

“It has been my experience that some of the happiest people I know are those who are engaged in family history and temple work. Let us demonstrate our willingness to follow the prophet by consecrating a portion of our time and energy to the Lord’s redemptive work, and let us do it in a spirit of love. As we do so, not only will we bless the lives of those who have gone before us, but we will bless our own lives and the lives of our family members as well.” 

– Mary Ellen Smoot, “Family History: A Work of Love,” Ensign, March 1999.

The Love of Bread Making

Alice Alvey Pierce

This post is part of a blog link up - check out the other contributor posts here:

Mothers: Our Memory Keepers

I asked my mother if she would share with me something that she learned from either her mother or grandmother that she passed down to us, her children.

She shared that her grandma, Alice Alvey Pierce, made yummy homemade bread and taught her how good homemade bread can be. When my mother got married she started making her own homemade bread.

As a young child, I remember helping my mother sort through the wheat to remove any bad kernels before she would grind the wheat to make bread. I loved the smell and taste of homemade bread!

Today my sisters and I all make differing variations of homemade bread.

Below is the current recipe that I use for making bread, rolls, and cinnamon rolls for my husband and children (and family, friends, and neighbors). I hope you enjoy it! Can you smell the bread baking now?

Bread Machine Dough/Bread

4 cups Flour
1 ½ tsp Yeast
1/3 cup Sugar
4 TBS Wheat Gluten
3 TBS Powdered Milk
1 ½ tsp Salt
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
13 oz Warm Water

Place all ingredients in bread machine. Push ‘dough’ cycle on machine. Once machine starts going, scrape sides of pan to incorporate all of the flour. After cycle finishes, remove dough. Knead, cut into two equal amounts. Spray bread pans with oil spray. Shape dough into loaves. Let dough rise in bread pans for about 90 minutes (until dough rises above the top of the pan).
Bake 350*F for about 25 minutes for 2 loaves of bread.

Rolls:
Shape dough into 12 balls. Place in oil sprayed 9x13 pan. Let dough rise in pan for 90-120 minutes. Bake 350*F for about 20 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls:
Filling:
¼ cup Butter, melted
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Sugar
1 ½ TBS Cinnamon

Frosting:
¼ cup Butter, softened
3 cups Powdered Sugar
4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp Vanilla
Milk – to spreading consistency (about 3 TBS)

Roll out dough into rectangle shape. Spread with filling. Roll up lengthwise. Cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in oil sprayed 9x13 pan. Let rise for 90-120 minutes. Bake 350*F for 20 minutes. Spread on frosting while rolls are hot.

#FHforChildren

More Than a Hobby

Portland Oregon Temple - Photo from LDS Media Library

“Genealogy and temple work—you can’t have one without the other. They are two inseparable parts of one supernal decree the Lord has given us to aid in the redemption of the dead. The process of identifying one’s family should be much more than a hobby to a Latter-day Saint. From an eternal perspective, to consider the word genealogy and not its partner temple work—or to think of temple work and disregard its twin, genealogy—makes no more sense than to try to play a game with only half a ball.” 

– George D. Durrant, “Genealogy and Temple Work: 

‘You Can’t Have One without the Other’”, Ensign, August 1983.