Today is known as “Dia de los muertos” or Day of the Dead Day In many parts of the world like in Latin America and the Philippines so what a good day to do things like family history, watch the movie Coco or attend the temple.
If you've never researched your family history before, then there's no time like the present to start doing so. And I'd recommend that about everyone try it just once, even if they never do so again. You may be surprised how enjoyable (and even "addictive") genealogical research can be. Researching one's family history, in fact, has become the second-most popular hobby in these United States, along with the second-most popular use of the Internet worldwide. And, so, cyberspace contains an abundance of excellent resources for searching out one's ancestors, including some excellent free websites like FamilySearch.
FamilySearch has slowly expanded from the original Genealogical Society of Utah (founded in 1894) into our world's largest genealogical organization, through which volunteers gather and preserve and share records that are relevant to family history research. FamilySearch maintains a busy Family History Library in Salt Lake City, several thousand nonprofit family history centers in dozens of nations, free expert telephone support, and one of the most heavily-used genealogical websites on the Internet, which provides free access to electronic databases of several million (and counting) names. FamilySearch also has also increasingly been developing partnerships with other prominent online genealogical organizations.
FamilySearch has always been associated with my church, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I testify is not only the best organization in my life but also, as I believe, the best organization on Earth. I love how the Church reminds us that we're all both spiritual siblings and physical cousins---and, as such, that we're all part of one vast human family---and how it helps us all to learn to love/serve both God with all our souls and our neighbors as ourselves, so that we may humbly unite around God and love and truth and righteousness and mercy and such, and thereby enjoy both genuine inner peace and real lasting happiness. And I also believe that genealogical research (including events like these) can help us in similar ways, turning our hearts not only to each other but also to our ancestors (see Malachi 4:6), which may increase our sense of connectedness, both with each other and with our ancestors, along with our awareness of our narrow place within the broader flow of human history.
With respect to shaping world history, we each daily weave our own individual thread into its complex tapestry. Those threads may be short or long, thick or thin, for the better or for the worse, but we all contribute in some manner, even sometimes in ways of which we're not fully aware---and, although some people's threads may loom larger and/or become remembered better than other people's threads, we nevertheless all play our part (and even small threads in large numbers can make a huge difference). What do you want your contribution to be? What does God want it to be? How can you leave a better legacy than you're already leaving?
Along with improving your own individual legacy, will you also begin or resume or continue to seek out your family's heritage and perhaps help preserve it for future generations? And perhaps encourage your associates to do likewise? If you've never tried it before, but would like to do so, then I'd highly recommend starting with FamilySearch's official website. Try it, you’ll like it! I plan to spend this Holiday doing just that!
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