SALT LAKE CITY — RootsTech 2016, the largest family history conference in the world, ended its four-day run Saturday with Family Discovery Day, a suite of sessions and classes focused toward members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church's FamilySearch International is the creator and organizer of the conference.
Some 22,000 attendees — many of them teens and younger children and many attending as families — swarmed the Salt Palace Convention Center for the event, which featured talks and discussions from LDS General Authorities, officers and prominent members.
In the opening general session, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, shared a story about his grandmother’s course through life, illustrating the power of combining family history with the blessings of LDS temple attendance.
“It is not just randomly mixing two things together, but the one helps direct the other,” he said
Elder Renlund was joined on stage during the opening session of the 2016 RootsTech Family Discovery Day by his wife, Ruth Lybbert Renlund, and their daughter, Ashley R. Renlund. Together the family looked through a photo album and invited the thousands in attendance to join them on a family history journey.
Elder Renlund said that in 1912 missionaries from Sweden went to Larsmo, a small island off the coast of Sweden, and taught his grandparents, Lena Sofia and Leander. His grandparents were baptized the next day, becoming members of the first branch of the church in Finland. “At the time, there were only 756 missionaries in the whole world,” Elder Renlund said.
In 1917, Leander died of tuberculosis, when Sofia was pregnant with their 10th child. "It was a difficult struggle for her, an impoverished peasant woman, to keep what remained of her family intact," Elder Renlund said.
He described meeting her in 1963 on the island of Larsmo: “I had just turned 11 and she was 87. She was stooped from a lifetime of hard labor. She was so bowed over that when she stood from her chair, her height did not change. The skin of her face and hands was weather-beaten, as tough and textured as worn leather. She stood as best she could and pointed to a photo of Leander on the wall and said to me, in Swedish, ‘Det här är min gubbe’ — this is my hubby.”
Thinking that his grandmother had spoken incorrectly, Elder Renlund wondered why his grandmother used the present tense when speaking about her husband, who had died 46 years earlier. Later in life, with a gospel perspective, it made sense. “I believe there are so many messages the Lord has given to us about working with our family history, and throughout my life I have been able to learn and connect to the example of my family.”
Ashley Renlund spoke about her Aunt Anita, "an explosives expert, a fabulous teacher and our family's real rocket scientist," and then explained how the history of explosives reminded her of how Latter-day Saints can combine gospel elements together to make them stronger. She said nitroglycerin was a powerful explosive but extremely unstable. However, when combined with kieselguhr, a stabilizer, it became dynamite, a tool that literally changed the world. “Dynamite wasn’t the discovery of a new material, but it involved putting two known materials together to make them safer, more effective and more useful.”
Analyzing what his daughter had explained, and then relating it to the gospel, Elder Renlund said, “Think about the strength and comfort Lena Sofia must have gained from knowing about the sealing power! But the power is given direction as we research and learn from our ancestors.”
His daughter confirmed by saying, “Without family history, the sealing authority can’t get where it needs to be to be used. And the true value of family history is only realized because of the sealing authority. The real power is in the combination.”
In the family session of Family Discovery Day, Stephen W. Owen, Young Men general president for the LDS church, declared that relationships are important in God’s plan.
“There’s no age requirement to be touched by the Spirit of Elijah,” he said. “Any individual who shows even the smallest interest in family history work can open the door to blessings.”
Every person, regardless of their current family circumstances, can begin working on "the things that last," he said.
"Each can find comfort in the relationships we've developed and in the knowledge that those relationships are forever and transcend death. … I recognize that not everyone has had the opportunity to nurture and develop family relationships, but don't be discouraged," he said. "Stronger relationships can begin with you, right now, where you are. Through all kinds of family history and temple work, you can increase in love and help your family heal going in both directions, toward your ancestors and toward your posterity."
In the same session, Rosemary M. Wixom, Primary general president for the church, said it is important to learn the stories and draw strength from the lives of one's ancestors.
“How do we make our ancestors real?" she asked. "We tell their stories. Too much courage, faith and real-life challenges have gone into their lives for us to let their examples dissolve like faded ink on paper.”
“Dearest” friends — Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of President Russell M. Nelson, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Sheri L. Dew, CEO of Deseret Book — offered themselves as exhibit A and exhibit B in regards to family history work during their session.
Nelson, as exhibit A, is an avid, enthusiastic family history researcher who has found and submitted more than 10,000 family names. Dew, as exhibit B, confessed, “When it comes to family history research, I’ve been a slacker.”
After relating the process by which she gained a love for family history work, Nelson shared lessons she has learned from engaging in family history, including, “Family history research is fun!”
Nelson promised listeners, “Family history work will bring miracles to your life and to the lives of those you love.”
Dew, before thousands of witnesses in attendance at the discussion, accepted the challenge extended by Elder Dale G. Renlund earlier in the day to find as many names for the temple as ordinances performed in the temple.
“There may be some of you who are slackers, too,” Dew said. “And not because you’re not deeply committed to the Lord, but just because you haven’t figured out how to make it fit, like I haven’t. So my question today is, Will you join me? Will you accept Elder Renlund’s challenge to find as many names as ordinances you perform?”
Two prominent players from Utah’s rival college teams shared the stage during a session of Family Discovery Day. Taysom Hill, who played quarterback for Brigham Young University, and Britain Covey, wide receiver at the University of Utah, shared memories and personal experiences regarding their faith and membership in the Mormon church.
Rob Boshard, known as “Rockin’ Rob” on local radio station Oldies 94.1, acted as emcee to the special session of the family history conference that was geared toward youth and families.
Both Hill and Covey answered questions regarding opportunities to share their faith with teammates. They also highlighted Covey’s recent call to serve a mission in the Chile Rancagua Mission and Hill’s marriage to his wife, Emily, in the Salt Lake Temple.
rscott@deseretnews.com