Pedigree charts, pictures on a giant family tree, and lots of practicing on FamilySearch.org cell phone apps made the scene at the Family History Devotional on Sunday, May 14. Eighty-four YSA’s were in attendance for an excellent devotional. Kojo Gharbin, Ashaiman Stake YSA male representative conducted the devotional. His committee did a great job lining up the program which started with an opening hymn, opening prayer and then a presentation from Brother Fiifi Cudjoe, the stake family history consultant, about the importance of collecting and organizing family information. Members of a four-team group from FamilySearch.org in Salt Lake City, Utah USA, gave a presentation where they shared information on name research that had been done in Ghana. Presently 5.2 million names, oral histories and family records have been added to FamilySearch from areas in Ghana. They taught that if an individual knows what village they came from there is probably a way to connect them to their relatives. A lot of work by many people has taken place to create this FamilySearch.org resource to local members of the church.
A challenge to the stake YSA’s has been ongoing for the past two months to complete their Pedigree Charts and download the FamilySearch apps for smart phones: FamilySearch Tree and FamilySearch Memory. A streamlined version of FamilySearch is also available which conserves data usage: lite.fs.org.
Many YSA’s brought their family information. A future meeting will be held to determine who was able to identify the highest number of family names to take to the temple.
Several young single adults commented on how grateful they were to be in attendance. One YSA said they thought their parents had done their family history but after this evening they could see that there was a lot more to be done. Another YSA commented: “Everything was great! I now know how to go about it.”
The evening closed with a song and prayer. Everyone enjoyed food and socialization afterwards.
