In the early morning of Saturday, May 30th, students and members of the community gathered at the BYU–Hawaii Stake Center on campus to learn how to do family history work.
Workshops were set up to help those who came to gain insights and motivation about this great work. After kicking off the event with muffins and fruit for breakfast prepared by student volunteers, participants were moved into the chapel for an introduction to the importance of family history work and divided into groups for the different workshops.
Sam Kinikini, Laie YSA 1st Stake high counselor over the temple and family history committee, said “We decided as a committee to follow the lead of our leaders. When they held the RootsTech conference, we realized we needed to do our part in hastening the work. It just grew from that desire to having our members be part of the hastening. We have to catch up and learn what’s been made available, because it’s always changing. We felt like we needed to do our part and give everyone the chance to do this most important work.”
Kinikini said the workshops helped all those who attended to get more involved with their own family history work. He said, “Everyone can search, take one name to the temple and teach others to do the same thing and everyone will be blessed on both sides of the veil.”
Diana Miyasaki, a senior missionary from Idaho serving at the PCC, taught a workshop about rounding up photos and stories. She said her favorite part of this experience was “preparing for it, reflecting on the stories I’ve gotten and shared with family, then researching just a little bit more and gaining a little bit more experience. I mainly loved feeling the spirit of how important it is to connect with your ancestors.”
Student volunteer Ami Alvord, a junior from California studying marine biology, was “in charge of the tech aspect of FamilySearch. I’ve been called as a family history missionary and they've kept me for about a year. Teaching the workshop was a good learning experience for me.”
She said she’s always able to learn more about new family history tools and her own personal family history of well. All in all she felt that the workshop was a success. “Everybody walked home with at least some sort of knowledge that they didn’t know before.”
Miyasaki hoped everyone walked away knowing “everyone has a story. Everyone has pictures. … Share your story. Share your pictures. No one can tell it the way that you can.”