Watching the Gathering Unfold - The Incredible Story of RootsTech: Rachel Matheus - Latter-Day Lights - LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Episode Transcript
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Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey there as a Latter-day Lights listener, I
want to give you a very specialgift today my brand new book,
faith to Stay.
This book is filled withinspiring stories, powerful
discoveries and even freshinsights to help strengthen your
faith during the storms of life.
So if you're looking to beinspired, uplifted and

(00:21):
spiritually recharged, justvisit faithtostaycom.
Now let's get back to the show.
Hey everyone, I'm ScottBrandley.

Alisha Coakley (00:32):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.

On today's episode we're going to hear how
one woman's pursuit in helpingothers with family history is
showing her just how much God isinvolved in His own work.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day

(01:04):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and we're really
excited to introduce our specialguest, Rachel Crump Mattheus,
to the show.
Welcome, Rachel.

Rachel Matheus (01:13):
Thank you.

Did I say your name right Excited?

to be here today .

Is it?

Matthews or Matheus.

It's well.
If you're going to gettechnical, it's Mathews.
It's like a good sneeze.
That's wrong.
But Matthews is good too.
So my husband is French, by wayof Peru, okay, and his
ancestors came from France,immigrated to South America.
After his mission he moved back, but interestingly enough, the

(01:45):
spelling is not the Frenchspelling of Matthews, it's the
Portuguese spelling, and so myrunning theory I can't prove it
yet is that they immigratedthrough Brazil, and at the time
the Brazilians didn't like theFrench, so they changed it to
the Portuguese spelling.
But when they went then fromBrazil to Ecuador and then on to
Peru, they didn't go all theway to Mateo.

(02:07):
So whichever name you get to,at the end for us it's Matthew.
So, um, and so my kids just sayMatthews.
But I've heard Mateus andMatthews, and and you know it's
part of why I keep using crumpbecause everyone can spell it
and say it Isn't that?
so funny, and I mean it's partof why I keep using crump,
because everyone can spell itand say it Isn't that so funny?

And I mean, it's kind of perfect too, because
we're going to be talking aboutlike family history and stuff
today.
But I think it's funny.
My maiden name is German, rightPredominantly German, and it's
spelled S-C-H-U-C-H-A-R-D atsome point.
So I pronounce it shoe hard, mybrother pronounced it shoe
shard.
Uh, my mom pronounced it shoeword, my dad says shoe hard, and

(02:52):
so it's kind of like whoeveryou talk to, same thing,
different pronunciation.
And then we realized in familyhistory at one point there was a
T at the end of it, so it waslike D T, shoe heart, I don't
know.
And someone along the linedropped the t and I, it's just,
it's interesting.
You're like what?

no, I think we get caught up in names and
spellings and we forget too thatit's only really been in the
last century and some changethat that people as a whole are
highly literate and can writetheir own names, right, and so
spellings can be really widelyvaried.
So there's your family history,your genealogy.

(03:32):
Tip don't get hung up on thespelling.
Listen for how it sounds inyour head when you're reading it
.
That might be your answer.

So there, you go , I love.
Sorry, we kind of went on atangent before officially
introducing you.
Rachel aside from familyhistory stuff and your husband's
last name being pronouncedmultiple different ways, do you
want?

to tell our guests.

Just a little bit more about yourself.

Sure, I'd love to.
So, like I said, my name isRachel Crump Matthews.
I was born and raised in SaltLake City or Salt Lake County.
I went to BYU.
After BYU I lived in Seattlefor seven years and then the
company I worked for brought mehome to Salt Lake and I've been
in the Sugar House area eversince.
I have two children.

(04:21):
So my oldest is 17, almost 18.
She just graduated from highschool and we're exploring all
the new things about having anadult child.
I'm not sure I was cut out forthat, but we'll figure it out.
And then my youngest is a boyand he is 14, turning 15 and in

(04:41):
quite the fun and adventurousstage of being a teenage boy, so
also learning a lot about thatright now and it's thrilling.
I'm the Relief Society presidentin my ward here in Salt Lake
and I love serving with thesisters in my ward and getting
to really try to be of help tothem and an instrument in the

(05:05):
Lord's hands in their lives.
But for the last 12 years, 13years, I have been at work in
the Family History Departmentfor the church or Family Search
International.
It's the same thing, just namesthat we use out in the general
public and names that we useinternally inside of the church,

(05:26):
and I work on the RootsTechconference.
So, in addition to now havingfamily history as a hobby, I
love to garden, I bake and inthe pandemic I got a smoker and
I now am like a meat aficionado.
And I now am like a meataficionado and I like to smoke

(05:48):
all kinds of meats and it makesme feel like I'm growing my
apocalyptic skills.
So you know when you don't needme on your computer in your
community, I can make jam, I canbake my own bread and I can
make bacon.
I know how to make bacon.

So I feel like I'm going to need you to be part
of my zombie apocalypse team,because I'm only there for like
humor, you know, and for likefate, like I'm like the one you
want to keep around in caseyou've got to get away, and then
I'll just not.
I'll just be such a slow runner, but I like the idea of you
being able to cook all thethings.

No, it was perfect timing to acquire a new
food hobby was when we were allat home.
I sit here in my office workingfrom home and be watching my
smoker right out the window soit's great timing uh to get way
in on on something new, but uhyou can never.
You can never have enough funwith your smokers, yeah.

Well, we're excited to have you share some
information about family historyand RootsTech.
I think there's a lot of thingsthat people just don't know
about it, and also some stories,so why don't we turn this time
over to you and tell us whereyour story begins?

All right.
Well, I'd love to tell you alittle bit about that, so I will
actually begin my story with anending of a story.
So I used to work for MrsFields Cookies.
I was their franchise trainer.
So if you bought a cookiefranchise, you'd come to Salt
Lake for two weeks of cookieschool and we'd hang out and
we'd talk about all your productand we would talk about how to

(07:26):
run your business.
But in spring of 2012, MrsFields announced that they were
moving the company headquartersto Denver and as I started that
year, I had been praying for howcan I get more work done?
I was really concerned aboutkeeping up with work.
My youngest was two years oldat the time and I realized that

(07:51):
I had been praying for the wrongthing, that I needed to be
praying for how to spend moretime with my children and to be
a better parent and mom.
And so in the thick of thatprayer, they announced to our
entire company that they wererelocating the company
headquarters to Denver and aboutthree hours after I thought I
had just been laid off, I foundout that I hadn't been laid off,

(08:12):
that they were going to allowme to continue to work from Salt
Lake, which was a huge reliefbecause the network that allowed
me to be successful at my jobwas all here and my tribe that
helps me was helping me with mykids and everything else, and
and so I was going to be able towork from home, which felt like
this great answer to a prayer,and I I was going to be able to

(08:36):
stay here in Salt Lake and inthe midst of of relocating, Mrs
Fields was also in the processof reformulating the cookie,
which you wouldn't think is abig deal, but it basically was
changing everything about storeoperations, and so our research
and development team had likefour years to redo the cookie

(08:57):
recipe and I got six weeks tomake it operational in stores
and with all the ripple effects.
So my job at the time was toabuse cookie dough and figure
out how to bake it and thenfigure out how we were going to
roll it out into stores becauseit and try it.

What's up to try it or, like all of us, no.

I had a doctor say to me once I suppose I can't
tell you to not eat cookiesanymore and I said no, literally
it's my job to eat cookies.
I sort of haven't forgottenthat it's not my job to eat
cookies anymore.
But so I, all these things hadgone really well.
I, we were rolling it out, Iwas traveling quite a bit and I

(09:43):
was kind of on my last leg ofsome big travels.
I'd been gone a lot and I couldjust feel that something was
changing in my life.
So this is fall of 2012.
So late in the fall of 2012.
And, and I just had this verystrong feeling all week long
that something was was changingand it was going to be dramatic.

(10:05):
And the following week I wasflying to Denver for meetings
and I got off the plane inDenver and again this feeling of
well, let me back up.
The Saturday before I flew toDenver, I was standing in my
kitchen and I can still tell youjust the angle the sun was
coming through the window.
It was a really importantmoment in my life and I heard

(10:27):
this thought in my innermonologue that said you need to
look for a new job, rachel, andyou need to look for a company
that's firmly planted in Utahand I thought that's kind of a
weird way to talk to yourself,and but the accompanying feeling
was not the dread and fear thatnormally goes with getting a
new job.

(10:47):
There was peace and there wasjoy in it and I was like, but
things are going so well at MrsFields.
I felt like I was doing thebest work Denver on Monday and
found out that they had decidedthat I needed to either move to

(11:07):
Denver or not be laid off thefollowing spring.
And I already knew what myanswer was.
I knew, before it was even saidout loud, that moving to Denver
was not what the Lord wanted usto do.
But it's pretty scary whenyou're the primary breadwinner
in your family to say, oh, I'mgoing to take unemployment.

(11:27):
But I'd had a very clearprompting that I needed to stay
in Salt Lake and so that was myanswer back to them.
I grieved the job.
I remember weeping for hours ina hotel room and, even though I
knew it was going to be fine,the people that I was leaving
behind and the security and theknowing of what it was that I

(11:51):
was going to do.
To venture into somethingcompletely unknown was really
scary, but I'd had experiencewith those kinds of promptings
and I knew that it would be okay.
So, fast forward to April of2013,.
My job ended and I startedlooking for a new job and, and I

(12:12):
was looking, I had interviewedwith some companies I had one
that I was like, yeah, this islooking really good.
And they said, hey, we reallylike you, we want to hire you,
but we can't give you Salt Lake.
Can you move to Denver?
Or sorry, not to Denver, toNorth Carolina or to Chicago?
And I'm like, no, I can't.
And my husband's like are yousure?

(12:34):
Because I'd be okay with usmoving.
And I'm like no, the answer isthat we need to stay here.
And a few weeks later, acolleague of mine that I had
known in my Mrs Fields yearscalled and said, hey, we've got
a temporary position on my teamworking on RootsTech.
And I didn't know what that was.
Maybe some of you still don'tknow what that is, but RootsTech

(12:57):
is a family history conferencesponsored by FamilySearch.
But it's an industry conferencesponsored by FamilySearch, but
it's an industry conference.
And so all of the major playerscome to the conference and are
part of it in the genealogyindustry.
And I and they said, hey, wejust need someone for six months
.
And I thought, well, this paysbetter than unemployment.
While I continue to look forwhat the right move is, and I

(13:21):
think within a few hours ofstarting, I was like, oh, I
really want to stay here,because it just felt like I had
come home, and and so I startedworking on that.
And a few weeks later, a fewweeks into it, the company that
I had that had offered me a jobin out of state announced that

(13:42):
they were laying off a wholebunch of people in that position
that I had been interviewingfor.
And I thought, ah, there's why.
Here's why I needed I needed toknow that I needed to stay
right in where I was, because Iwould have taken that position
and I would have been the bottomof the food chain and I

(14:02):
wouldn't have been able,financially, to just come back
home.
Uh, and so it.
It was this tremendous blessingand one of those moments where
you're like, oh, I get to seethe immediate rewards of
following through on a prompting, but I I didn't know then how
many more immediate blessingswere going to flow.
Um and and so I started workingon RootsTech and at the time so

(14:28):
in 2000, I was hired in thefall of 2013 to work on the 2014
conference.
That was the third RootsTech,fourth RootsTech, and it had
started as an opportunity tobring together genealogists and
technologists and the peoplethat were developing technology

(14:48):
for family history, to get themin a room with the people who
were doing family history andget them to talk to each other.
And that first year theyplanned the conference in like
six weeks and 2,000 people cameand they were super excited
about what had happened thereand this synergy that was
starting to happen, and so theydecided to do it again a year

(15:12):
later and they spent a littlemore time planning at that time
and they doubled in size andthen in 2013, they almost
doubled in size again and sothey just kind of kept growing
and they were trying to figureout what was happening, and
that's kind of where I came onthe scene.
So that very first year that Icame to work on RootsTech, one
of the first things that I foundout was that they had never

(15:35):
gotten a keynote speaker thatwasn't a genealogist before that
, and that year we asked ReedDrummond, the pioneer woman, to
come and keynote speak atRootsTech, and Stephanie Nielsen
, who had that fantastic storyof recovering from that plane
crash came and was a keynotespeaker at RootsTech and Dr

(15:56):
Spencer Wells from the NationalGeographic Channel and he's
talking about human migration.
But I remember I was answeringemails from people attending
RootsTech that year and I wasstill hearing from people who
were saying things like why do Ihave to use a computer to do
genealogy?
And you think, oh gosh, I can'teven imagine not doing it on a
computer today.
But at that point in time therewere still people who were

(16:19):
doing it on paper and withtypewriters, you know, and maybe
they put it into their oldpersonal ancestral file.
Some of you might remember it,some of you may still be keeping
your personal ancestral fileson a floppy disk somewhere.
But the internet was definitelywhere everything was going and
we were trying to kind ofpersuade people that technology

(16:42):
was the way to do it now, and soit was really fascinating.
But that was the first year ofwhat's called Family Discovery
Day.
So Elder Anderson came andspoke and we had specifically
designed that as a youthexperience that year, and that's
where he gave the templechallenge and he said I want to

(17:03):
challenge you to find as manynames for the temple as you do
baptisms in the temple.
And just a year earlier ElderBednar had given a prophetic
talk where he'd spoken about ouryouth have been unique, were
uniquely not designed butuniquely prepared to be involved

(17:25):
in family history because theyknew how to use the technology
and they had research skills.
And Elder Bednar had made somereally strong promises about
that.
They would be shored up againstthe influence of the adversary,
that their testimonies would bestrengthened, that they would
understand their patriarchalblessings better if they would

(17:46):
just get involved in temple andfamily history work.
And Elder Anderson kind ofstood up and reinforced that
message and he said I want youto take this temple challenge
that if you will find as manynames as you take to the temple,
you'll be blessed for it.
And he promised that they wouldhave a sure witness of the

(18:06):
Savior and that they would beable to know that life continues
beyond the veil.
And and I remember sitting inthat at the back of that room
and and when I'm on site atRootsTech I there's very little
of what's said that I can takein because I've got a radio in
my ear and my phone in the otherear and there's always somebody

(18:29):
talking to me.
But in that moment I rememberhim saying that that that we
would have a sure witness oflife continuing beyond the veil
and that we'd have increasedfaith in the savior, and and and
taking that away.
And we came back from RootsTechand everybody said, okay, well,
what's next?
And and I remember ElderAnderson meeting with some of

(18:52):
the leaders of the familyhistory department saying it was
great, how are we taking it tothe whole world?
And at that point in time wehad we were really a very North
America, almost Utah centricevent and we had a program that
we were piloting that was calledthe Family History Fairs and
you could take content fromRootsTech and we'd written a

(19:15):
guide and you could do somethingin your own word or stake and
share that.
And and shortly after RootsTech, that became my baby.
I got to take care of thatproject and nurture it, but we
had translated content into 10languages.
I'm not sure that theAncestrycom class about British

(19:38):
research and Chinese was superhelpful to people in China, but
it taught us a lot about how toapproach the world with family
history and there were a lot ofvery smart people in our
department that already knewthat.
But from the conference side.
It was an early miracle groundto understand what do people

(20:01):
need?
And I remember Elder AndersonElder Enrique Falabella was one
of the assistant uh directors ofthe family history department
and he turned to him and he saidElder Falabella, does what's
been planned work for the peoplein Latin America?
And he said no, it doesn't.
And so we got to go back to thedrawing board and really start

(20:22):
looking at how we could teachpeople outside of what the
sphere of what I knew a littlebit about, and prepare things
that were going to be moreuseful to people around the
world.
And I remember in that momentand through the course of that
year, realizing how, howimportant the work was and

(20:45):
really like starting tounderstand the scriptures that
teach about it.
So we talk about Malachi 4 allthe time and the hearts of the
children turning.
But if you look at it allthrough the Doctrine and
Covenants, the Lord referencesthose verses.
In fact, when the angel Moronistood at Joseph's bedside in D&C
2, he talked about the Book ofMormon, the restoration of the

(21:07):
priesthood, and then he quotesMalachi, which to me is that
reference to the coming forth oftemples and the proxy work that
the Lord would ask us to do andthat the world would be utterly
smitten with a curse if weweren't turning our hearts to
our fathers and the hearts ofthe fathers to the children.
But I came to really understandwhat that meant from a

(21:29):
doctrinal standpoint.
But I had not done any familyhistory.
My patriarchal blessingactually talks extensively about
it.
The patriarch had all but saidamen when he reopened my
blessing and said the books willbe open to you, rachel.
You'll get involved in the work.
And I didn't ever think muchabout it because I felt like

(21:50):
there were lots of genealogistsin my family and a very full
family tree.
But there was more work to bedone.
And there was more work for meto do.
And a couple of years into mytime in the family history
department working on RootsTech,a colleague of mine said it's
time for you to learn, rachel,and he started teaching me how
to do family history and how tofind names and prepare them for

(22:13):
the temple.
And I don't know that I got toadd to the family tree that we
all share and, coming off ofthat experience and wanting to

(22:34):
call my own family and teachother people how to do it, and
then I realized that that was myopportunity in what I was doing
every day because, at its itscore, rootstech is an
opportunity to learn more aboutfamily history, to keep going on
something you already know orto get started on that process,
and we have content for everyone.

(22:55):
But RootsTech just continued togrow.
We got to be about 20,000people on average in the Salt
Palace 2019,.
We had another global learningopportunity when, on the
prompting of leadership in thefamily history department, we
decided to hold RootsTech London.

(23:16):
So if you can think back towhat were you doing in the fall
of 2019, nowhere in your mindsetwas the coming COVID-19 virus.
But we did a second RootsTechin that year in London and I
remember being on site at thatevent and the local members had

(23:38):
come.
They were helping staff theconference and they were so
awesome, like they just were onfire and people were so drawn to
what was going on.
Just a funny story we sharedthe building and they had the
other uh, and there was abarricade wall between the two

(24:07):
events and we didn't care.
We're like anybody come throughour side, but comic con they.
They wanted to make sureeverybody had their tickets and
they were in the right placesand so uh as, as they were
getting off of the tube at theend of the building where we
were at, because the lines wereshorter, people were coming
through in costumes that I'llnever be able to unsee in my

(24:30):
life, you know, as they werecoming into Comic-Con and
embracing these stories andthese characters and and, and we
knew they were going to becoming through our side.
So we put up pedigree chartsfor the Star Wars.
You know, the whole Skywalkerfamily tree was up, and the
Simpsons family tree and I'mtrying to think, some of the

(24:53):
other fun ones.
There was a Harry Potter familytree and we had those up on
giant posters as they werewalking through and of course
they were delighted by it and weall wore these T-shirts.
They were bright blue and theysaid on them ask me anything.
So they're stopping us andasking questions about Comic-Con
.
We're like, oh well, you wantthe other side, but let me take
you down there.
And we were talking to him andengaging with these people.

(25:15):
Well, they wanted to comedownstairs, they wanted to come
to our expo hall and we're like,great, let them come.
But security in London is a lottighter than what you see it in
Salt Lake, and so the securitypeople just kept saying, oh no,
this is not for you, you need togo that way.
And they just really wanted in.
And I was like what would makesomeone coming for Comic-Con

(25:39):
want to come and be part of agenealogy conference?
I mean, you know this, thisdoesn't seem like they go
together.
And then I remember watchingthis group of people walk
through and suddenly there wasthis clarity that it was like
what are we seeking?
What are people doing cosplayseeking?
Well, they're seeking a story.
They're seeking connection withother people.

(26:01):
They want to.
They want to figure out whatout, what special powers they
have and where it might havecome from.
And I was like what does familyhistory offer to us?
It offers us connection.
It offers us a part in a biggerstory.
It offers us an opportunity tobreak bad cycles in our own

(26:22):
family tree or to perpetuate thegreat things about our family
tree.
But it was like, oh, this is awork for our time, this is a
work for the age that we're in,where we feel so disconnected

(26:46):
and our technology is taking usfurther away from our own
stories and our own identities.
And here we are doing familyhistory online and it's bringing
us closer and it's bringing theHoly Ghost into our lives.
We were on a train one morningas we first got to London, and
it was morning commute.
In London.
The conference hadn't startedyet, but it was morning commute.
Train was wall to wall people,but there were like 12 of us

(27:10):
wearing RootsTech gear on thistrain and as we got further out
from the city city I was able tosit down and this woman looks
over at me and and she did nothave a British accent, she had a
Brazilian accent.
But she said are you with withthis?
Uh, what did she call it?
Uh, she didn't say conference,but some other word that I've

(27:34):
been seeing all the adverts for,and I was like I didn't
understand a word.
You just said I know it wasEnglish, but it took me a second
and I said oh, you meanRootsTech.
You're asking if if we're partof RootsTech and I said yes, and
she starts.
She got very animated and I waslike, oh, my goodness, what's
going on?
And she said I just just todayfound out this week that in my

(27:59):
family history there wereslavers and she was trying to
reconcile what it meant to havethat in her history and that one
of her great uncles had beeninvolved in the slave trade,
going to Brazil and, and she wasdevastated by that.
But she also was so engrossedin finding these generations of

(28:22):
her family and so we're talkingabout it.
She says when can I go to learnmore?
I'm like, well, you need tocome to RootsTech, we can help
you learn more.
And she says, no, I want to geta degree in this.
And I'm like, well, byuaho hasan online program that you can
do.
And we're talking about all ofthese things and I found myself

(28:42):
thinking what are the odds that,in millions of people that
flood into London every singleday for her work, that this
woman gets on a train with 12people from RootsTech that could
help answer her question?
And as I was talking to her andwe were telling her about what
we do and why we love it, I keptfeeling this prompting that she

(29:06):
wasn't seeking genealogy asmuch as she was seeking the Lord
, and genealogy was going to bethat path to finding him.
And I thought what a miraclethat I get to be that instrument
, that I got to sit by her andthat I happened to be wearing
something with a logo on it thathelped her identify an

(29:29):
opportunity to find herself andto find the Lord.
And he can do his work.
He can do all the temple workhimself I'm sure he can.
But because of what it does forus, he lets us do that work.
And for, as flawed as we are atit and maybe not as
temple-minded, that lady wasn'tlooking to do anything for the

(29:51):
temple.
But as she finds her family andshe adds it to family trees A
member, cousin somewhere says,oh look, here's family history
work that's already been doneand I can now take their names
to the temple.
I mean, and in this season oftemple building it, like I just
sat there going, wow, I get tobe an instrument in the Lord's

(30:11):
hands every single day.
And and in the middle of London, where I didn't know anyone
except the people I wastraveling with, he put me in
that path and he's done thatover and over and over again in
my time in the family historydepartment.
So we had an incredibleconference.
We came back, we did RootsTechSalt Lake in 2020.

(30:33):
And we were just three weeks.
We were the very last eventheld in the Salt Palace before
the world shut down.
In fact, on that Saturday Iremember someone saying to me
they just announced theycanceled General Conference.
I'm like we don't cancelGeneral Conference and it was no
, they weren't holding it inperson.
But even then, I don't thinkany of us could have

(30:54):
comprehended that, that we wouldall go home and leave our
workplaces and our offices andand what was going to happen in
the next two years to all of us,um, but somehow we were not a
super spreader event and, uh,and we had the highest number of
people in the salt palace thatyear as we'd ever had.

(31:18):
And we were put in a perfectspot when the pandemic started
to decide whether we were goingto go back, try and go back in
person in the spring of 2021 orgo online.
And pretty quickly, we knew wewere going to have to be online
and that revelation would come.
And pretty quickly, we knew wewere going to have to be online
and that revelation would come.

(31:39):
And we knew that if we wentonline, we needed to be global
and it couldn't just be inEnglish anymore, and that we
needed to be free so that anyoneanywhere could join in with
what we were doing.
And then we knew nothing elseabout what we were doing.
We had a pretty good idea ofwhat RootsTech was.

(32:13):
But we didn't have a platform,we didn't have a website that we
could manage.
We didn't have, we didn't knowhow we would get all that
translation work done with thesame size budget as what we had
from the year before.
But I remember being reallyconcerned about it and, in
particular because staffing wasmy key responsibility at the
time just really being concernedand really being prayerful
about how are we going to dothis, how are we going to staff
this.
I don't know how many peoplewe're going to need, I don't
know what jobs we're going tohave.
I just knew that whereverpeople get a chance to talk to

(32:35):
people in the family historydepartment, they've got a lot of
questions about genealogy.
And I remember very clearly inJune of that year, the Lord
being very comforting and sayingRachel, you do everything you
can do.
You bring your five loaves andyour small fishes and I will

(32:58):
take care of the rest.
And I thought, okay, I can dothat and I will do everything
that I can do and I willresearch as much as I can, and I
just know that the rest of itwill sort itself out.
One of the key things we weredoing at the time was looking
for a platform that we could putour content out on and could
function in languages and wasn'tgoing to cost our entire year's

(33:18):
budget.
And we were just a few daysaway from signing a contract
with a company that, for everyperson that joined us, it was
going to cost us a dollar, whichdoesn't seem like a lot until
you get a lot of people on Right.
And we hadn't signed thatcontract, but we'd sort of
launched a quasi registrationand on the first day of

(33:39):
registration we had more peoplesign up on the first day of
RootsTech registration inSeptember of 2020 than we had
attend the entire conference theyear before.
Oh, wow.
That's fast.
So all 30,000 had just signedup and the really smart business

(34:03):
intelligence people were likedoing forecasts based on how
ticket sales had gone in pastyears and and, and their
projections said we shouldexpect about 300,000 people to
come online to RootsTech and wewere feeling pretty good about
that.
But we were like, wait a minute, this contract we're about to
sign, we're not prepared forthat.

(34:24):
So we started talking and atthe time, elder Bednar was the
head of the Temple and FamilyHistory Executive Council and
Elder Hamilton, who is goingemeritus this summer, has been
our executive director for thelast seven years and he went in
and was reporting back to ElderBednar and Elder Renlund and he

(34:48):
said this is what we think isgoing to happen.
And Elder Bednar went off mutein their meeting and he said I
think that's wonderful.
I think that you need to bethinking about a million people.
Wow, and that's a littledaunting, yeah.

(35:08):
And when this was reported backto our team, we all went what?
And then we were told about thespirit that was in the room in
that moment, that that it hadchanged from just setting a goal
to it feeling prophetic and andknowing that at the head of our

(35:31):
, our team, our prophets, seersand revelators.
We said, okay, and I work withthe best people in the whole
world and our engineering team,the head of engineering, a man
named Craig Miller, who is justa giant among people, looked at
our contract and looked at theplatform we were looking at and

(35:53):
what we needed done and he saidI think, with the Lord's help,
we can build this.
And we were literally flyingthe plane as we were
constructing it, but everyengineer in our whole department
stopped what they were doingand turned and built
RootsTechorg and it wasMacGyvered together.

(36:17):
It was built with duct tape andbubble gum and bailing wire
that year, but we were able todo it and it didn't break.
And, and to go back to myearlier story, we had all the
staffing we needed and then someand people were asking us
questions and and other peoplewere helping answer the person

(36:39):
who was answering the questions.
Questions and miracles werejust happening to us right and
left, and 1.5 million peoplefrom 242 countries and
territories around the globejoined us during RootsTech in
2021.

Wow.
So how many years was that fromstart to finish?

So 2011 to 2021.
So 10 years 2000 to 1.5 millionand we had people give us
content.
Our site was only translatedinto 11 languages, but we had
people give us content in 23separate languages and and like
they were coming out of thewoodwork with here I can help

(37:25):
you teach in I'm trying to thinksome of the unusual languages.
One of them was uh, it's aSouth American language and I
can't remember the name of itright now, but like languages
I'd never heard of before, andwe had people.
We started watching ourregistration numbers towards the
end and the dots on our mapwhere people were coming in from

(37:47):
, and we were seeing peopleacross the Middle East.
We were seeing people coming infrom Russia.
We were seeing people coming infrom North Korea and places
where the church cannot be today, and they were signing up to
come and be a part of RootsTechand to learn something about
their own family story.
And I quite regularly wonderwhen people are going to figure

(38:12):
out that I'm an imposter and Idon't belong in the chairs that
I've gotten to sit in.
But I'm grateful that the Lordlets me be an instrument in his
hands.
So we did two years online andwe've continued to grow.
So this year we had over 10million join us from again 243

(38:34):
countries and territories.
There aren't very many leftthat, uh, that we don't have a
pin on the map.
Um, we used to fight to get all50 States.
There was always somebody fromone state that was missing.
One year it was Connecticut,one year it was West Virginia.
We seem to get all 50 Statesnow without any trouble, um, but

(38:55):
but literally like everywhereon the map, and people are
joining us and and it is justincredible, in 2023, we went
back to being in person too, andI think the biggest joy of that
year for our attendees, I thinkit was to be back in person,

(39:15):
but for us as the family historydepartment, it was the first
time we got to all be togetherin one room again after three
years of being distributed andseparated, and it was like the
best family reunion you've everbeen to, to watch us find each
other again and reconnect, andit just this joy that just comes

(39:36):
with this work.
But we've seen incrediblegrowth in the time that I've
been here.
Going back to the pandemic, youknow, a lot of industries died,
but not genealogy, like atFamilySearch, we saw huge growth
in people creating new accounts, you know, and while we were
all sitting at home trying tofigure out what to do with

(39:57):
ourselves, a lot of people thoseof our faith and not of our
faith are like, hey, let's tryout this genealogy thing, and
because FamilySearch is free,it's an easy entry point and
you've got collaborative peopleout there to help you.
And so we've just seen thisincredible growth and, oh, what
DNA is doing for our industry.

(40:17):
It's just mind blowing whatpeople are able to find and the
connections they're going tomake.
I this is my own personalopinion it's not anybody, uh
nobody has has said this, uhdirectly, but I really believe
but the for those who come fromdiasporas that are impossible to
trace your culture back, inparticular African Americans,

(40:41):
that they can't find their wayback to the continent through
records.
I think that as these DNAdatabases get better and better,
that will be the ticket to themfinding their families and
finding where they come from.
And currently FamilySearch hasmassive efforts across the
continent of Africa and in othercultures where oral genealogy

(41:03):
and oral history is how they dothings.
We're gathering those names andwe're talking to village elders
and they're telling us theirfamily story and we're recording
it in their voice andtranscribing it and someday
somebody will say, okay, I'mfrom this village in Africa and
they'll be able to go toFamilySearch and find that

(41:23):
village and hopefully connect tothat family line that's been
lost for so many generations.
In fact, in 2017, I got to goto Africa for the department and
we went out into villages and Iwatched this oral genealogy
happening and we were in onequite large village and they

(41:44):
said, oh, there's a lady acouple of roads over who
remembers the names of herancestors that were taken in the
slave trade.
Would you like to meet her?
I'm sure you can imagine ourresponse was yes yes, please.
And we got to sit with thiswoman as she, in her tribal
language that we couldn'tunderstand, recounted the names
of her ancestors and peoplewhose names were lost.

(42:06):
Their history was lost in thoseunspeakable things and yet
they're still remembered and nowthose names are preserved and
and hopefully somebody in theirposterity will be able to make
that connection and performtheir ordinance work.
It was in the, the Accra Ghanatemple, that I really understood
the scriptures in Ezekiel 47that talk about the waters

(42:31):
flowing forth from the templeand how they bring healing and
they bring life.
And I've never stood in a roomthat was completely empty,
because it was Monday and theywere cleaning the temple.
It was completely empty and yetit was full.
The baptistry was full ofpeople who were waiting for
their posterity to come and toperform that ordinance work.

(42:53):
And, and it's just, it's themost magnificent season to be a
part of that work and to behelping the Lord do what he
needs doing, and knowing that Iget way more blessings from it
than what I've ever, what I'veever, put into it.
So that was a lot of talking.

So now, nowadays is it, do you do the live
version and online at the sametime?
Is it kind of combined?

Yes, we do, and it's.
It's challenging, you know,because the audience in front of
you is easier to remember thanthe ones online, but the ones
online there's so many more ofthem, and so we just, you know,
we actually we take ourengineering team and even though
we're all sitting on computersincluding me, we're in the salt

(43:39):
palace, so we get to see thepeople in front of us, um, but
we're, we're up all night fixingproblems and and things.
It's just amazing.
I mean, we published 1500 newpieces of content in three days,
uh, in February, in March ofthis year, and we have

(44:00):
incredible partners in thechurch's publishing department
that help make that happen, andpeople who bring their talents,
like they just, you know, it'samazing what they learn, what
they teach, the languages thatthey do it in, and how it can be
just the thing that somebodyelse needs.

(44:21):
And every time we get to hear astory of somebody breaking down
a longtime brick wall orstarting their family tree from
scratch and putting in what theyknow, it's just amazing.
You know, and we can all addwhat we know, like, even if your
tree is full, you can add aphoto and a story that brings
that to life for your kids oryour grandkids you think about.

(44:43):
You know someone that you lovethat's passed on and what you
wouldn't give to hear theirvoice again.
Well, somebody is going to feelthat way about you someday.
So add what you know and youcan put it in the tree.
And and you can always take afamily name from the family
search app when you hit thatordinances ready button and it
will get you a family name thatyou can take to the temple every
time and feel those blessingsthat come from being there for

(45:07):
your own family and andperpetuating that.
I listen way better in thetemple when I know it's for one
of my own relatives and just toleave them off the desk.
So I get way more out of theexperience when I'm there that
way too, yeah.

Wow, it's kind of turned into more than just
record keeping.
It's a lot more personal.
I know that you can add storiesand pictures and different
types of files and things, soit's almost like a keepsake.

Yeah.

A way to record and store someone's legacy in a
digital version that people canrefer to.

Oh yeah, and you can keep.
Like you know, I know peoplewho are curating their own
family search person page.
I know people who are curatingtheir own family search person
page so that, when they passaway, the photos that were
important to them are there andthe stories that they want their
family to remember about them.
You can do all of that veryprivately.
You don't have to share it withanyone until after you're gone,

(46:12):
but it's there.
I had a sister in my ward a fewyears ago who she knew she was
dying.
She'd had a really, reallycolorful life and I remember her
handing me her personal historyand saying I want you to scan
this and I want you to put it onthe family tree on my page.
And I said OK, and I startedgoing through it and the stories

(46:36):
that she was preserving aboutherself.
I was shocked by, um, they werethings I thought only happened
in tv movies and and I thought,is this really what she wants
saved?
And then I, and then the spiritchastened me a little bit and
said yes, she wants her familyto break these cycles and she
wants them to have a chance toknow what she overcame and that

(47:00):
she had been to the temple andthat she had recovered and I was
so grateful to get to help herwith that and to see that from a
totally different angle.
Um, but it's.
It's really a powerful tool toowhen you're grieving.
Um, both my paternalgrandparents have passed away.
In the time that I've worked inthe family history department

(47:22):
and as my family was grieving,as my children were grieving, my
cousins were grieving, westarted putting our pictures up
and I saw pictures that I hadseen in my grandparents' house.
But I started seeing picturesI'd never seen before and
pictures from my childhood thatmy aunts and uncles had taken

(47:43):
but I had never seen, becauseyou remember the old days when
we did film and they gotdeveloped.
But as we were scanning thosephotos and putting them up, it
brought such peace and comfortto see that we were all together
grieving and that we were allfeeling my grandparents, that

(48:06):
closeness to their story, um,and how very thin the veil is.
I I'm pretty sure my grandmawas was also trying to curate
which photos went up.
Some of the ones I know shedidn't like I have not seen yet.

That would be me Like.
Don't share that one.

Not that one, not that one.
In fact my mom's mom, I haveone on that.
I put on that it is just so.
It is so her, like she was theone always behind the camera,
not in front of it, and and alot of that was because she
really didn't like having herpicture taken.
But as she she's standing there, somebody took a picture of her

(48:48):
with their camera in her handand it is not a flattering photo
of her and I know she wouldhate that picture, but it just
speaks volumes of who she was tome and I can hear her in my
mind saying oh Rachel, youcharacter, what are you doing
with that?

(49:09):
You know, and because that wassomething she'd say all the time
and I, you know, and my kidsdidn't get to know her, but I
can share that little bit offamily search with them and I
can share that history of who weare and we can take it back and
we can go back generation aftergeneration.
And and it's funny becausemaybe your kids have said this

(49:29):
too but my children believe thatanything that happened before
the Internet included dinosaursand I'm like, no, there were no
dinosaurs in the 80s.
But but you know, as, as Ithink about the things that I
have lived with and and what theworld was like for me as a kid
versus today and, and it seemspretty ordinary to me, like

(49:54):
things, I've even forgotten thatwe did right Turning the dial
on our TV.
But but the world has changed alot and and what a horse and
buggy was to my greatgrandparents, so normal, was so
like wow to me the idea of itand and our normal.

(50:16):
You know the idea of it and andour normal.
You know, driving our own carsand not self-driving cars to our
grandkids are going to be sodifferent from each other.
And so your story you might belike, oh, I'm boring, I'm
ordinary, but you're not, andyour history and your day-to-day
is inspiring to people ingenerations yet to come.

(50:37):
You know, they know we don'tknow what, what will be normal
to them that we're like what youknow they'll never know what.
When pantyhose came in plasticeggs and and paper towels in a
bathroom, where those actualtowels that you remember, you

(50:57):
pull them, them down, and theywere always wet, yeah.

Oh yeah.

In the bathroom.

Oh man, that's so funny Time time.

I mean, yeah, things happen quick.
My grandpa's still alive, he's94.
And I have a Tesla and I wasdriving him in the car and it
was driving itself and as wewere driving, he was telling me
how, when he was young, theyused to ride in a horse and
buggy.

Yeah.

And I'm like oh, grandpa, you went from a horse
and a buggy to a self-drivingcar in your lifetime.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

It's crazy.

And you think about it and I think it was
President Hinckley that talkedabout.
You're the middle link, you'rein the middle of all that and
you're that connection from thepast to the future.
Several years ago, rosemaryWixom, when she was primary
general president, spoke atRootsTech.
Several years ago, rosemaryWixom, when she was primary
general president, spoke atRootsTech and and she talked

(52:02):
about how her mother, her mother, her, her mother's grandmother,
so her third great grandmother,was Brigham Young's daughter
and knew Brigham Young and andso her mother knew people who
knew Brigham Young and then knewher own great grandchildren.
And in these modern times, andyou think, oh, that Brigham

(52:25):
Young, that was so long ago.
And yet there's this connection, this binding link between
these generations, and we arethat link today.
We are those people and andwhat do we owe future
generations?
Well, we owe them a story.
Um, I often think, wouldn't itbe great if every one of us, in

(52:47):
our family search profile page,shared our testimony or wrote
the story of our baptism day andwhat you remember about it?
And it might not be very much,but that was a moment in your
life where everything changedand and you know if you've got

(53:08):
pioneer ancestors or not sopioneer ancestors.
Somewhere in your tree issomeone who chose god, who, and?
and you look at that person andsay, oh they, they changed the
trajectory of our whole familyright and they changed our
history, and but you're alsosomeone changing the history of
your family and changing thatstory.

(53:29):
And it might be that you werethe first one to go to college
or you're the first one to get aself-driving car, but you're
changing that narrative, you'rechanging the course of your
family story and you deserve tobe remembered too, and your
stories will be important togenerations that nobody knows.

Yeah, I love that.
So where do you with AI andthings?
Are you seeing how that's goingto kind of work into family
history or RootsTech?

Oh yeah, well, we already are.
We've joked about all thepeople who were just couldn't
get enough DNA classes a fewyears ago are now torn between
do I go to the AI class or theDNA class at RootsTech?
We already are.
So one of the amazing things.
So when I started working inthe family history department,

(54:25):
you know we've been gatheringrecords for one hundred and
fifty six years If I've got thenumbers right, someone in my
department will correct me and Iprobably got this wrong but it
used to be that we went outfamily history People who are
helping with family historywould go out and they go to
record holders and they'd say,can we have your records to help

(54:46):
people do genealogy?
And they'd literally bring thestacks of paper back to salt
lake, um.
And then, in like the 1920s,microfilm was invented and we
look at that and think that'spretty old technology, but in
the moment it was revolutionary,um.
And so we started microfilmingrecords and instead of taking

(55:06):
people's records, we tookpictures of them and and we
brought them back to Salt Lakeand we kept master copies of
that microfilm and then we'dmake copies of it and send it
all over the world to helppeople.
And then digital photographycame and we started digitizing
the records in the collection.
Started digitizing the recordsin the collection, but we also

(55:28):
were still out digitizingrecords within, you know,
archives and churches and allover the world.
Well, I think it was I'm tryingto remember what year I think
it was 2018, maybe uh we finallyfinished digitizing the
collection that was already herein salt lake city and
converting all that microphoneto digital images.
But we continue, but none of ithas been most not none of it.

(55:52):
I should back up.
Much of our collection had notbeen indexed yet, which meant
you couldn't go online andsearch for it, and when I
started working in thedepartment, I think I remember
hearing an estimate that therewas 30 lifetimes, at our current
rate of indexing, before wewould have the collection we had
, right in that moment, indexed,you know, and putting metadata

(56:19):
on it.
Thank you, thanks for helpingsomebody find a family name and
being able to search for itonline.
But because of that, we startedworking with other industry
people and they were helping usindex and we're like, ok, this
is going to speed the work up,but it was still a lot of

(56:40):
lifetimes at our current pace.
And then came AI at our currentpace.
And then came AI and we've beenusing for about the last 10
years.
We've been developing what wecall computer-assisted indexing.
And just to give you context,when the 1940 US Census came out
, it was the fastest indexingproject of that size that had

(57:05):
ever been done and I think theygot the whole thing done in six
months.
When the 1950 census launchedwith computer assisted indexing,
it was done in six hours, holycow.
And then we got to just reviewnames and make sure that the
computer had gotten it right.
And that's just the tip of theiceberg.

(57:26):
I mean, there are people outthere developing, you know, tree
models that figure out okay, ifthis, then this, and they look
across sites and across recordsand they're using it to help
develop family trees.
Now we still need to be involvedin the work.
I think in fact I know it wasPresident Eyring.
He says we don't know whatmarvels the Lord's going to

(57:49):
inspire to assist in this work,but we do know that it will
still require the spirit workingin people like you and me, and
so I still see that need everysingle day and it's amazing what
can happen.
But even five years ago, Ididn't know enough about AI to
think that it was going to bethat powerful.
But what it's doing and whatit's helping people to learn and

(58:11):
to do quickly, it's justamazing.
And the Lord says I'll hastenmy work and my time.
I have no doubt that he willhasten with AI.
We just have to keep up with it.
So it's pretty incrediblewhat's out there and what's
happening.
And we're just on the cusp.
It's really only just beginning, wow that's so cool.

So tell me, what do you think like?
I guess I'm sure you guys havea bunch of ideas of what you'd
like to have happen withRootsTech in the future, right,
like like, what type of newtechnology might you like to
have or what type of problem areyou still trying to look for a
solution on?

Oh well, I mean, I think one of the key things
is is knowing that we've got theright content for the people
that we're serving.
We've got the right content forthe people that we're serving.
You know, because we familyhistory, your family history
journey is is so unique to youand and I've I've talked to
people all over the church thatthey're like oh, I've taken all

(59:17):
these family history classes.
We used to do them in Sundayschool, remember?
And yeah, and I've taken themand I still don't know what to
do.
I don't know where to begin, andpart of the issue is that every
one of us has a unique startingpoint where we're at and,
fortunately, through the HolyGhost, you can find that
beginning spot.

(59:37):
But as an enabler of that, asone of the few that spends my
whole life trying to help otherpeople be able to do their
family history, I'm alwayslooking for do we have the right
thing?
Do we have just what you need,alisha, to keep going and you
know, and what's got needs,because your trees are different

(59:58):
and cookies would help meCookies would help.

Alisha Coakley (01:00:02):
Me Cookies would help cookies would help me.

Rachel Matheus (01:00:05):
Cookies would help.
You should just make aconnection.
I will say this anytime I helpsomebody with their family tree,
I always have to end with atreat, because because god wants
us to be happy and all thingsand, and you know, when we've
done his work, we've earned atree.
When the saints meet, we alwayseat right I'm all for that I
love that logic so um, anytimewe've got a missionary going out

(01:00:28):
of my ward or whatever, if theyneed help getting that part of
their, I'm like, come on over,I'll help you and then we'll
have a cookie.
But yeah, I mean it's just.
There's so much to just wantingto make sure we've got the
right things for everybody, thatit's accessible and meaningful
to you, because I think a lot ofpeople are like, oh, it's so

(01:00:49):
boring and for some people it is.
You know, I, I, it turns outI'm one of those people that was
born to do it.
Like I get really excited aboutoh look, I remember this from
my high school history class andit's helping me all this stuff.
But but the other thing isthing is just that we keep it
simple for people, and one ofthe main things that we work on

(01:01:11):
in fact, it's one of our qualitystandards in the family history
department is always am Imaking it easier for you, even
if it's harder for me?
And I love it, because I lovebeing able to say to somebody
hey, we're going to simplifythis journey for you and we're
going to make it better, andwe're going to make it easier
for you to act in doctrine andto receive those blessings,

(01:01:33):
because I started this byquoting a whole bunch of
apostles and blessings thatthey've promised.
There's way more, more promisedblessings for this and I have
felt every one of them in mylife.
I thought, oh, this is nice,one or two of these will come my
way.
Every single promised blessingthat has been uttered out of the

(01:01:56):
mouths of prophets about whathappens when we get involved in
Temple and family history work.
I have felt it in my life and,oh, it just makes things so much
better.
And the Holy Ghost is there.
I mean, he will guide youthrough all of it.
I remember hearing PresidentEyring give a talk where he
talked about his dad being inAustralia and wanting to go to

(01:02:19):
church, but he didn't know howto get there and how.
He walked out on the street andthe Spirit said turn left, turn
right, walk straight ahead.
And he ended up at the church.
And, as I've done genealogy,I've been in the tree and I hear
the Holy Ghost say change thespelling of the name, do this,
do that, modify, and suddenlyI'm at just the right person and

(01:02:43):
the one that I know has beenwaiting for their opportunity to
be found and to have theirtemple work done, and that deep
relationship with the Holy Ghosthas empowered every aspect of
my life.
I feel more confident in mycalling, in my parenting skills.
All of that because I know theHoly Ghost speaks and that he'll

(01:03:06):
point us in the right directionand that all roads lead back to
our savior.
And there's no other place wherewe get to act as a savior for
somebody else the way we do whenwe're in the temple for someone
in our tree, and and so it just.
You know it just keeps goingand going and getting better.

(01:03:27):
And how do I make it easy foryou so that you don't go into
the family history coma or justsit there and say, oh, don't
talk about it.
I feel too guilty, like I wantyou to feel, just like oh, it's
pure delight, it's pure joy.
Be in the Lord's hands.
And and yeah, bring on themiracles.
Bring on the miracles, bringthe comfort when you're grieving

(01:03:52):
, bring whatever, whateverblessing you need.
The Lord is offering it throughhis work.

Scott Brandley (01:03:57):
Yeah, it does feel a lot easier than it has
ever been and like even when yougo to the temple now you can
they'll find you a family nameon the app.

It's two clicks on your app.
You say I want a name, this isthe ordinance I'm doing, and
then it's print the card or havethe people at the temple print
the card, either way, and youknow.
And you take it a little deeperand you say how am I related to
this person?

And.

Oh, maybe I'll look at the sources or the
memories and find out a littlesomething about them.
And then, suddenly, your templeexperience.
It's like oh, I'm not sittinghere by myself, they're sitting
right next to me and and they'rereal.
Like you know, it's not just aname, you're there for, it's a
person.
And and the Lord doesn't lethis sparrows fall, he knows

(01:04:49):
where they all are and and ifyou're banging your head against
a brick wall, just know, maybeit's not their time yet.
Go work on something else.
So yeah.

Wow, you know it's funny, my mom, my mom's
always been really like big intofamily history and I've always
kind of just said that's greatmom, because she wants me to do
all the time and I'm like you dothe family history, I'll just
go do the temple work.
You know what I mean.
And now it's now I feel alittle bit more open to it,

(01:05:22):
especially after talking to youjust um, because my mom is um
passing away and so we'regetting ready to go.
Uh, tomorrow actually we'regoing to well, when this airs it
will have been last week, butum, we're, we're going to
Georgia to go um, have my kidssay goodbye and everything like
that.
And when we were speakingearlier about um, you know just

(01:05:47):
how you knew that yourgrandmother wasn't going to be
appreciative of.
You know, having that badpicture up and stuff like that.
Like my mom was that for for us.
Like she was always behind thecamera.
She never liked being in frontof the camera.
There's a lot of pictures ofeverybody else and not really a
lot of my mom, and in this wholeprocess of of her terminal

(01:06:09):
cancer and getting to talk toher about some of her life
stories, it's amazing to me tohear how much I didn't know
about my mom.
Like it's like she's my mom,but man, my mom, my mom was also
a woman.
you know my mom was a child,teenager.
She was a real person.
She was a 20 year old at onepoint.
Like it's it's kind of it'slike the older I get now, the

(01:06:32):
more I'm kind of shiftingtowards that.
Like I can understand now whymy mom loved family history so
much, because for her it reallymade her family members real and
and, and I think that, um, youknow, as we move forward with
this tough transition, it'salmost like one of those, uh,

(01:06:56):
you know, maybe I can stillhonor my mom by kind of taking
over something that she lovedand maybe that will also help me
to feel that, also help me tofeel that connection.
Oh, you will.

You know you will and she will be with you.
I'll tell you, my grandparentshave a way of making themselves
known on a regular basis.
I'll wake up some days withjust this absolutely urgent
feeling.
You got to get to the treetoday, rachel, and I don't

(01:07:27):
always know why I'm going, but Istart with a prayer and I say,
okay, point me to where I'msupposed to be.
And, without fail, every timeit's on my grandparents lines
and I find things and I addnames and and I know when I'm
done and I've done what I'mthere to do.
And then they come and they sitbeside me for a second and I

(01:07:50):
don't see them.
I know this sounds a littlecrazy, but they're there and
they sit in the room with me andI know what they feel like in a
room.
I was 40, some odd years oldwhen they passed away, and so I
know what it feels like to be intheir presence.
And they come and they speakthe things that need to be said

(01:08:11):
and I know that they arediligently doing missionary work
and they are adamant that thepeople they're teaching get
baptized.
And because I'm listening, theylet me help them and then I get
to be with them again, and sothat promise that, knowing that
life continues beyond the veil,there's no sorrow in their

(01:08:33):
passing, their sadness, butthere's no sorrow because they
are still very much involved andand it just I look forward to
those moments.
Now I'm like, okay, it's been awhile since we talked.
Will you come and?
And the Lord puts them on histhe errands they need to be

(01:08:55):
doing, and they'll get it donethrough their family and and I
just get to reap the blessingsand and, yes, that connection
with your mom, and she won'tstop being her on the other side
.
She's still going to be outthere going all right.
I need your help Get this done,because she knows that she can

(01:09:17):
count on you.

Sorry, I'm just a mess, oh man.

Rachel, I'm all red.

I think this is timely and, you know, if you had
a message that, a final messageyou'd like to share with people
that are watching this, whatwould that be?
Rachel?

oh, it would be.
Seek the Lord, what does hewant you to do in the work?
And then be that instrument inhis hands because he will work
miracles.
And he will work miracles forothers through you.
And there's no greater blessingthan that and being that person
that gets to help him do whathe needs done.

(01:10:04):
And I know he could do itwithout me, but he lets me help
and he'll let you help too.
He'll help you go ask for helpfrom your neighbor, your friend,
the consultant in your ward.
They'll help too.
But we're all we get to be thatperson and through the spirit
he'll help you to do what youneed to do.

Yeah, I love that and I love that and I love
that.
I don't know, I was justthinking this, but I was like
the Lord has really made itpossible, especially through
what's root, what root Texasroots tech is doing, and like
family search and all thatanybody, member or not, and no
matter where your, where yourlevel of membership might be or
your level of your testimonymight be at the moment, there's

(01:10:45):
something for everyone to do.
Right, you could be taking thenames to the temple and doing
the work, or you could befinding the names, or you could
be finding the storiesassociated with the names, or
you could be working on the techend or translating something
for someone, or you know what Imean.
Like there's just, or just likesubmitting information.
You can help verify your namesand records.

(01:11:05):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, so it's.
It's been pretty enlightening.
I, like I said I just you knowbeing younger and stuff I just
never really could get into itand I I really appreciate you
coming on today and just sharingyour story and your thoughts
and everything like that and,most importantly, just for you
being in a, in a place where youhave the spirit with you so

(01:11:27):
strong that I could feel thatspirit and I could feel my, my
testimony growing more aboutfamily search and history and
and and all the things that youknow.
I'm sure the Lord is like comeon, alisha, do something.
So I really appreciate youcoming on today.

So no, it's a pleasure yeah, I agree with
Alisha yeah, yeah, for sure,yeah, yeah, I agree, oh, awesome

(01:12:23):
.

Well, miss rachel, we really appreciate you
coming on today and sharingyour story and your, your
knowledge and your testimony andeverything like that.
Um, if anyone is interested ingetting involved in roots tech,
where should we point them?
Like?

so I would start with rootstechorg.
There's there's classes allover our library.
We do a live webinar everyThursday on a different topic
throughout the year, but you canjoin us on rootstechorg anytime
.
If you've got questions aboutit or what's coming up next, you
can email us at info atrootstechorg.
Go talk to your consultant inyour ward, talk to someone you

(01:13:05):
know who does family history andsay, hey, I want to get started
, will you help me?
It's always better with a friendand my friend that started me.
He just kept needling me and Ifinally said yes, and it took me
a while and I'm like what tookme so long.
It's been like the greatestgift of my life and and the

(01:13:25):
depth of my gratitude to him forwhat he brought to my life and
what has come since then.
Like it, it just it's.
It's endless.
It's the cycle of goodness thatthat the world needs.
And so go find a friend thatwill, that will walk you through
it.
We'll all talk too much becausewe get really excited about it,

(01:13:45):
but but say, okay, this is mygoal and they'll help you
through it.
We'll all talk too much causewe get really excited about it,
but but say, okay, this is mygoal and they'll help you get
there, um, and help you do whatyou need to do Awesome.

All right.
Well, you guys heard it here.
Thank you guys so much fortuning in today with Rachel and
with Scott and I.
Um, we just want to remindy'all, hey, if you have a story
to share or if you know someonewho has a story to share,
something that can really bringsome light to the world and help
others to build their testimony, please, please, please, reach
out to us.
You guys can head over tolatterdaylightscom and fill the

(01:14:18):
form out at the bottom of thepage, or you can email us at
latterdaylights at gmailcom.
We would love to hear from you,um, and lights at gmailcom.
We would love to hear from you,um.
And.
And, of course, we would lovefor you guys to help us spread
light by doing your five secondmissionary work, clicking that
share button and gettingRachel's story out.

Awesome.
Well, thanks again, rachel forcoming on Really appreciate it
and thanks everyone for tuningin and we will see you next week
with another episode ofLatter-day Lightsday lights.
Until then, take care, bye-bye.

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Watching the Gathering Unfold - The Incredible Story of RootsTech: Rachel Matheus - Latter-Day Lights

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Watching the Gathering Unfold - The Incredible Story of RootsTech: Rachel Matheus - Latter-Day Lights