By Lincoln Hubbard
Elder O. Brent Black of the fifth quorum of Seventy opened the annual BYU genealogy and family history conference Tuesday, August 1, with a devotional address stressing the importance of writing a family history.
“What a great blessing we give to our family when we give them a legacy not of worldly possessions, but of love,” he said.
Elder Black quoted President Gordon B. Hinckley’s counsel on writing family histories.
“I promise you that if you will keep your journals and records they will be a source of great inspiration to you, . … each other, your children, your grandchildren and others.”
Elder Black said that he believed genealogy efforts are at the very heart of what we are about when we strive to follow the counsel of the Lord.
Elder Black himself has seen benefits of a recorded family history.
He quoted from the journals of his father and his mother, who, although bedridden after surgery since 1988, wrote of her struggles and thanks for her life and family.
“When adversity comes to a member of our family, a rereading of this story brings renewed strength and determination to move forward in spite of challenges,” Elder Black said.
In his personal life, the examples from his mother’s journals strengthened Elder Black during the illness of his wife, who passed away last year.
“Can you picture how this story affected me personally as I tried to care for my own wife as she struggled with cancer?” he said.
Elder Black’s great-grandfather recorded how he became aquatinted with the LDS church.
He was part of a team heading to California in the gold rush of the 1800s that stopped in Salt Lake City.
After attending a church meeting, Elder Black’s great grandfather was so impressed, he willingly lost his investment and stayed in Utah to become a Mormon, Black said.
Black said this story has deeply penetrated his soul and other members of his family.
“I will always be grateful for his sharing of these parts of his life,” Elder Black said. “It has been a great source of inspiration for me.”
Elder Black referred to Nephi’s statement that he wrote for the learning and profit of his children and wished every personal history was written to that end.
“The recording of these experiences will ultimately make a tremendous difference for us and our posterity just as the experiences recorded in the past have done for us,” he said.
Elder Black shared his hopes for the genealogy conference.
“I am hoping that as we become even more efficient in the collecting of names, dates and places, that we will take the time to share the experiences of the spirit that we have along the way,” he said.
