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At the New Mission President's Seminar on June 25, 2013, Elder David A. Bednar said the following:
"The Lord has inspired technologies and tools that enable us to benefit from the oneness of missionary work and temple and family history work more than at any previous time in this dispensation." (Excerpt from a Sermon at the New Mission President's Seminar on June 25, 2013).
In fulfilling Elder Henry B. Eyring's prophecy of the dramatic growth of the Japanese Church, Elder Bednar's message is seen as an important message to open that door. I am convinced that when we see family history work as a major key in promoting Missionary work with the stakes, we will see a wonderful miracle of conversions.
The announcement last year of a new temple to be constructed in Okinawa will help accomplish the work prescribed in this important message. In anticipation of the Okinawa Temple groundbreaking ceremony in December 2020, the stake presidency announced the following:
2021 Okinawa Stake Themes and Goals
Theme: Conduct missionary work for people on both sides of the veil in preparation of the construction of the Okinawa Temple.
- Assist all members over 10 years old in creating church accounts and accessing Family Search.
- Access your own Family Search files and submit the name cards for the ordinances.
- Complete family trees of each family (Connecting families).
- Organize the records in family trees (Data standardization and identify duplications).
- Ministering brothers and sisters will help the members create accounts and access Family Search.
- All members, including youth, to obtain and hold a temple recommend.
- All members (including Primary and Youth) will utilize family history to share the gospel to others.
- Each person introduces the "family history app" to one person.
- Present an Okinawa temple invitation card to friends.
The Stake Presidency is determined to do everything necessary to prepare for the construction of the Okinawa Temple. Recently, the stake held a temple and family history fair to help achieve these goals. This event, named "Umanchu Yui Fair," mainly targeted the youth and YSA. It was held from 18:00 to 19:00 on Sunday, November 22, 2020. A presentation on Family Tree was made on Youtube Live.
We planned and implemented the event to instruct youth and YSA how to enter their family tree, organize and submit names to the temple. Instructions were given on how they can help other members of the Church or non-member friends use the “Memory app” and “Family Tree app”. Since this event was our first attempt, we had a few problems in the beginning, but we enjoyed the bright and exquisite questions and answers of Sister Airi Kise and the sister missionaries who acted as moderators. A video explaining the importance of the family tree and demonstrations and testimonies of two youth lifted everyone's hearts. In addition, this time, many questions from viewers were sent to the chat, and these were answered in real time. Brother Asato, the High Councilor for Stake Temple and Family History, answered the questions, some that could not be answered immediately, were answered later.
The staff was very nervous because this was their first live performance. However, they were very relieved to be able to finish it without any major problems. This time, two of the youth, especially Brother Yoshimura and Brother Ishikawa, gave a wonderful demonstration of Family Tree and shared other wonderful testimonies. This presentation was a good motivational tool to emphasize the importance of the Family Tree not only to the youth and YSA, but also to other Church members.
In 2021, the stake will continue to pursue the goals listed above. The Temple and Family History Consultants in each unit will help all active members create Church accounts and access the Family Tree and the Memory app. In addition, we are enthusiastically working while helping members to eliminate duplication and provide data standardization. With the help of the Elders Quorum Presidency and the Relief Society Presidency, we are also reaching out to members of the Church who currently do not come to church.
Among them are some people who came back to church after a period of 10 years. In addition, some of their companions have started taking missionary lessons. Many of the less-active children of the members have also created accounts and are working to link them to their parents' family trees so that they can see the photos and ancestor names uploaded to the Memory app and Family Tree. We are confident that these activities will accelerate the missionary work and reactivation and open the door to fulfilling the prophecies of Elder Bednar and President Eyring.