Temple Bound
God's children are searching in greater numbers for answers and hoping for miracles as they look to Jesus Christ for relief. On 'Temple Bound,' hosted by Will Humphreys, explore how temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offer not just solace but also powerful tools for navigating these turbulent times through faith in Jesus Christ.
Tune in every Monday to hear Will Humphreys engage with guests who bring inspiring stories, profound teachings, and insights into accessing divine guidance through temple worship.
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Whether you're seeking answers, yearning for peace, or in need of a miracle, 'Temple Bound' is your weekly spiritual refuge, helping you anchor your soul to the Savior. Join us on this sacred journey to deepen your faith and discover the blessings of temple worship.
Temple Bound
The 21-Day Challenge That Changed a Generation's Anxiety with Seth Christensen
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
At 18 years old, Seth Christensen ran an experiment on his own high school. He wanted to know if five minutes of family history work a day could move the needle on anxiety and depression in his generation. The results surprised even him.
Seth served as his ward's Temple and Family History Leader starting at age 13. He spoke on the RootsTech main stage last year. Now he's headed to Jakarta, Indonesia on a mission, carrying the same message with him.
This episode covers his 21-Day Challenge, the survey data behind it, and why five minutes a day did what hour-long lectures never could.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- The pre- and post-survey results from Seth's 21-Day Challenge, including mood scores that jumped from a 2-4 range to 8-10
- Why starting with "four generations" on FamilySearch is the single most effective first step for a beginner
- The specific FamilySearch activities that got high schoolers hooked (Where Am I From, Surname Origins, Compare-a-Face, and more)
- Why five minutes works better than a full hour, and what habit science has to do with it
- How to reframe social media as a family history tool instead of writing it off as the enemy
- The story of Thomas Reese, a scythe, and a deathbed promise that changed a family line forever
- What Elder Holland's six words ("ask for angels to help you") mean for anyone doing family history work today
- Seth's advice for parents on the single biggest mistake families make when introducing kids to their ancestors
If you know a teenager who's struggling, or you're looking for a way back into your own family history, this episode gives you a place to start today.
Explore BYU Family History Lab: https://fhtl.org/
Quick Favor And Why It Matters
SPEAKER_03Before we start the episode, I have a small favor to ask. If Temple Bound has meant something to you, would you take a moment right now and follow the podcast and leave a comment on the app that you're listening to? When you follow and leave a comment, it helps the podcast show up for more people who are trying to learn, grow, and come closer to the teachings of the temple. It's free and it's simple, but it really makes a big difference. Thank you so much for being here.
The Five Minute Three Week Idea
SPEAKER_03Seth Christensen was in his senior year of high school when he decided to run a project to see if Temple and Family History Work could reduce levels of anxiety and depression. So he went to a group of high school students, created a forum that helped people rank their mood. Not surprisingly, many of his friends were struggling with anxiety and depression and so on. And so he created a challenge called the five-minute three-week challenge. Every day for five minutes, his friends and this group of high school students would do family history work for three weeks. And even though they weren't perfect, most of them did it most of the time. But the results were transformational. All of the scores went up dramatically, with people rating eight, nine, and ten out of ten for mood from the same people who are giving scores of two, three, and four. This transformation has lit Seth on fire. He was a guest speaker during Roots Tech annual conference in Salt Lake last year. And now he's on a mission. Literally and figuratively, he's being called as a missionary while he promotes temple and family history work for this rising generation. So if you know anyone who's struggling with anxiety or depression, this episode is for you. Just tell me um a little bit about you personally. I'd like to know just you know where you're at and you know your interests, that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, love to. Um, and first of all, I gotta say, I'm part of that following for Temple Bound Podcast. It is it is such an incredible thing. So thank you so much for doing this. I I just love it. It's incredible. That means a lot too. Um yeah. Uh Seth Christensen, I am 18 years old. Yesterday I graduated from high school.
SPEAKER_03So congratulations, you graduated yesterday from high school.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Oh, and it was awesome. Yeah, so it's been a great year. I served as the SBO president this past year and just kind of doing everything I can to help those people feel loved. So that's what it's that's what this last year's been about. It's been great.
SPEAKER_03So and you got interested, you got started in temple and family history work, in my mind, a lot younger than most, because when I was you know learning about you, you've had a calling in your ward since you were how how old were you when you first got called to be the ward temple and family history leader?
Seth’s Story And Early Calling
SPEAKER_03I think I was 13. 13. So that's been the last five years of your life, is that right? Yeah. Okay, so how did you get involved in that so young?
SPEAKER_01So I think it all starts with like the stories that I hear from my grandparents. I just remember Grandpa Rule, my great-grandpa, he would tell me these crazy stories, and it was him how he got through the war somehow in World War. And I remember hearing stories of my great-great-great-great-grandpa Thomas Reese, that my grandma Anderson would tell me, and it was just it's just awesome, like getting to know all these people. And I think honestly, I have to owe it most owe most of it to my grandma and grandpa Anderson, because they are very deep into this family history stuff. Like they created their own website called the Family History Guide. Every year they have us fill out like this little survey talking about where we are in life, so then we can look back and see how far we've come. And they have this huge book of stories of just our ancestors, and it's just giving me such a love for these people I've never met before, and like people I'll never meet in this lifetime. And yet I just feel so much closer to them. It's incredible. So I just want to give other people that opportunity to grow that closeness to them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because that's not common. You know, what a wonderful gift your grandparents gave you to have all your family stories aggregated into one book, but they also did this thing of like your story over time. So you were raised with really almost this idyllic instruction of how to document your own life as well as review the lives of the people in your family genealogy. As a young man, how how did that serve you to be able to read the stories of your ancestors? Like, what did that do for you as as you grew up?
SPEAKER_01Man, it's just overall gratefulness to be able to be so grateful for the wonderful things that my ancestors did to give me this opportunity to live where I am, to be living the religion that I live. And you know, there's so many incredible things that my ancestors have done for me that I'm reading these journals and it's saying, I'm going from I'm going from this Welsh land to America so my kids can be raised in the gospel, and generation after generation is people sacrificing for their kids, and I'm the outcome of that. And I just feel so grateful, and I feel like I just want to exude that gratefulness in my life. I think that's been the biggest impact.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because you've hear what they struggled through, and you know, their challenges and their faith and their humanity. It feels like you have a real connection with them. Is that fair to say?
SPEAKER_01Oh yes. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Is there one ancestor that you connect is there one ancestor that comes to mind right now by asking that you feel especially connected to in the moment?
Ancestor Stories That Build Belonging
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Umes that come to mind are Thomas Reese and his son Brigham Reese. So Thomas Reese lived in Denmark and he was loaded with money. He was a very rich man, and he still was a farmer. So he would go out and he would scythe his fields, like the the big old, you know, the grin beaver of the dead.
SPEAKER_03I only see him from horror movies, those big like cuttings and devices.
SPEAKER_01So that's what he that's what he'd used to cut his field. And so he went out on his field and he's scything and he's cutting, and he had to jump over this hedge to get back to his house. And so he throws the scythe over, then he jumps over, and somehow he steps on the scythe and it goes up into his back. And you know, that's not a pretty light injury.
SPEAKER_03No, especially back then, and by the way, this isn't helping my association with that instrument as a horror device. So he gets stabbed in the back with its with it's like it embedded in his back.
SPEAKER_01Embedded in his back. And he pulls it out, and obviously that wound is not looking good, and he comes to the realization that he's going to die. And so he falls on his knees and he just prays to God and he begs, Heavenly Father, please save my life, and if you do, I will find your church, I will join it. And the bleeding just stopped. By some incredible miracle, the bleeding just stopped. There's no possible way to you know talk about that. But so he does this, missionaries come to the door, he joins the church, and his son Brigham Reese is the first one to actually go to America, and he's only 16 years old. And so he gets shipped over and he ends up working in the coal mines for over 15 years to earn enough money to bring the rest of his family to America. And so Brigham Reese is one of my direct grandparents, and that just that story just makes me feel so loved. It's incredible.
SPEAKER_03I I want to highlight something you just said for every youth that's listening to this, and by youth I mean anyone younger than me, I'm 50. This idea that like we we like legitimately can have relationships, like even if they're past, there's a spiritual connection that we can have. In today's world, the adversary is working so hard on all of us, but especially this generation, on being alone. It's it's like the cure, the cure is belonging, and you can hear it in your voice, Seth, that you know you belong to these Reese ancestors. Like you belong to each other. There's something, there's a connection there that's palpable and real. And so, yeah, what were you gonna say?
SPEAKER_01It's awesome, you know. Like Brigham Young said that the spirit world is right here on earth. These people are walking around with us every day. You know, they're here. Reach out to them, you know, get to know their stories, they'll grow closer to you. Like we believe that the veil is thin. That's the wonderful thing about this gospel is that we believe that these ancestors are still alive. And not only that, they want to help us. They want to be there for us. And it is just so, so incredible.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I gotta, you're this is so fun because my wife gave this to me saying, We need to read this today. I have five episodes I'm filming, and this is the episode it comes out. Wow. This is a quote from Wendy Watson uh Nelson, uh President Nelson's uh wife. She it was a BYU speech in April of 2015. It's a little bit long, so let me just get through it because it hit, but you just said it so beautifully.
Asking For Angels Across The Veil
SPEAKER_03This is her talking. She says, as we keep our covenants, we can ask for angels to help us. Literally. It was during Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's April 2010 general conference talk that I first learned this truth, Wendy said. She says that Elder Holland says, Ask for angels to help you. He said it with such clarity and yet in a manner that implied that this was something that we all knew. But for me, it was like an entirely new principle. I wanted to yell out, wait, wait, what? You mean I can't, I can, I could have been asking for angels to help me all this time without intending to sound too dramatic. I can say with all candor that Elder Holland's six words changed my life. Ask for angels to help you. And the council changed her prayers and all these things, but she goes on and says, I started to ask for assistance from those on the other side of the veil from that moment on. I'm not talking about praying for a fantasy angel with wings to magically fairy dust our problems away. I'm talking about praying for angels, praying for to Hell Me Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to those on the other side to be dispatched, Elder Holland's word, to assist you. And we have later learned that these angels are the ancestors that we are freeing by going to the temple. When we go to the temple, we are freeing them. Yeah, your hands are up. Talk to me. What's on your mind?
SPEAKER_01It's just incredible. Like seriously, this gospel is just so true and it's just so wonderful. Yeah, it just makes you so happy whenever we talk about things like that. It's just awesome.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's nice to know that these people are there and we don't know them, but we know them. Like we can't remember, but if we learn their stories, our spirits connect and we can pray for them and get their support. And so, yeah, Seth, you you you spoke at Roots Tech. You know, one of the many things that your grandparents and family have have done that has helped you produce this testimony has been to go to Roots Tech every single year for a long time, it sounds like. And for those who don't know what Roots Tech is, can you describe what Root Tech Roots Tech is?
RootsTech And The Youth Stigma
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So Roots Tech is the largest family history event in the entire world. Like you go there, it's hosted at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, and you just see thousands of people attending this event. It is incredible. They have this huge convention hall, and it's just completely filled with seats, and every single one of them is full. And you see people and you talk to them and you realize they're not speaking English and you don't know what language they're speaking, and they're just people that come all around the world to come to these events to grow closer to their ancestors, to find ways that they can grow closer to their ancestors. And then people will set up booths, and it's like, hey, if your ancestors served in the Civil War, we probably have their census records. Come over here, let's talk about this, let's find things out about your great, great, great, great, great, great, great-grandpa. You know, it's just incredible. It's just incredible.
SPEAKER_03And what's neat is they have all these speakers, and it's not just for members of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints, even though Saturday is typically designated for those more temple-specific elements, is my understanding. Um, uh, this is my first year to go, we'll be this next year in 2027. I've actually never gone myself. I know I've had this podcast for years. Wow. But it's just it's one of those things where because I know you, I have to go because you spoke last year. You spoke on stage. And why don't you share with us a little bit about what was it that you talked about?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um so there's definitely this stigma about family history that it's a lot more of an old folk thing. You know, like I'm talking to people, I even like did this pre and post-survey, which we'll talk about later, but talking to people what they thought family history was. And someone told me, like, oh yeah, family history, this like this box of papers that my grandma has underneath her bed. And or like, oh yeah, family history. Um I don't really know. It's just kind of like this genealogy stuff, I guess. I don't think it really matters that much. And just being able to talk to them and be like, listen to the wonderful things that you'll find. And just because of family history, it is so wonderful. Like, well, we're here to gather on both sides of the veil. How many times has President Russell Nelson talked about that? Now, that's what we're here for. And Dalinite Jokes is just carrying on that message. It's incredible. That's so neat.
SPEAKER_03So you spot you got to speak to the audience about this and kind of you're because that was something I've always wanted to do. And I served in the State Temple and family history role. The reason I was so passionate about it was because I was so concerned about my own sons and the youth of the of the state feeling disconnected from social media. And they all know, everyone knows what it is. But yeah, it's all that we know. And and I feel like, I always feel like this is the very magic, the magic, that's the wrong word, but the power of the of Elijah, that spirit of Elijah. It feels like magic. But it feels like, but it is, it's so transformative. Magic is an appropriate adjective. So um for you, what would you um as you're as you're as you were going through the preparation for this to talk, like how did you how did you think about like presenting this in a way that would be received by the younger generation as like, oh, this is relevant to me?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um as we kind of prepared for it, I got all these notes of like what we did to prepare right here. And so I was like, I'm looking through it, seeing all these things, and it's just it's awesome. Every great story starts with a hook. And so our hook to these this wonderful generation is that it's you. You are the one that someone is talking about. You know, you are the one, you are among the ones that Nephi saw in the vision of first Nephi 14, for 14. You are one of the ones talking about the ancient prophets, you are with the ones that are talked about the stripling warriors in the last days by Alma. You are the ones that President Nelson said were saved to be the part of the youth battalion to gather Israel. You are part of a divine plan to bring about salvation for the world and prepare the for the glorious return of Jesus Christ. There's uh there's nothing of greater consequence, absolutely nothing. This gathering should mean everything to you. This is the mission for which you are sent to earth. I feel like that's a pretty big statement. You know, and being able to talk to somebody and say, listen, you're here on this earth, you've been saved to come down now because this is your mission. This is your mission. We have temples dotting the earth. We have the wonderful opportunity to get baptized and receive the endowments and go through the initiatories for our ancestors. That is incredible. And once they realize, once it kind of hits them, once that mantle falls on their shoulders, you can tell. You can look them in the eye and they're like, This is it. This is incredible. And it is just so awesome. It is so awesome.
The 21-Day Survey And Baseline Data
SPEAKER_01But one of the things we did to prepare is a 21-day challenge where it's just do five minutes of family history every day. And at first, we started with this survey, and I've got it pulled up right here. I just want to go through a couple questions and see what we did.
SPEAKER_03You just go, I want to hear all about the survey. This is one of the main things I want to hit. So you just take your time and go through all of it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Beautiful. Okay, well, I will be talking about this for the next two hours.
unknownSo good.
SPEAKER_01We started out with a survey, and we did 21 days because there's all this science behind that three weeks makes something a habit. Once you can do something for three weeks continuously, that when it that's when it becomes a habit. And so we started off day zero and sent out the survey, and I'd be sending it out to a bunch of friends at my high school and be like, hey, come do this 21-day survey with me. Come do this 21-day family history challenge. And it's we have these questions, and it's starting off, how would you rate your mood on for the past month on a 1 to 10 scale? And most people answered a seven. Or how many days per week or per month? How many days uh on average per month did you engage in family history? And, you know, 34 of them put zero and fifty of them put one. And how many have you like how many times have you even like talked about your grandparents about family history stories in the past year, and most of them are zero. And it's just it's crazy to see all of these things. Thankfully, the one that people put at 10 was how valuable do you feel family connections are in your life currently? And we got a lot of people putting tens, we got a lot of people putting nines to fours, but it's crazy when we get to this part when we see how satisfied are you with your current level of connectivity with your current family, and people are putting five and six. And it's just people aren't happy with the way that they are with their family because everyone just seems like they're busy, everyone seems like they have all these different priorities, and it's hard to kind of gather people in and do these things. And how satisfied are you with the current level of your connectivity with your ancestors? And it's threes, you know, people aren't really satisfied with that. Then this is the one we get to the outcomes. It's awesome. Like how in the last month have you been experiencing some of like these symptoms? Are you were you sad, low energy, poor motivation, variable after, discouraged, disturbed sleep, and people are putting five to six times a week? Uh have you been experienced being tensed, being worried, distracted, problem sleeping, and people are putting three to four times a week? In the last month, have you been experiencing low esteem, uh self-criticalness, or lack of confidence, and people are putting one to two times a week. And that's kind of when it hit me at least, like this is a real problem we're having in our generation is that people aren't feeling good about themselves, they're not feeling good about their connection with their family, they're not feeling that connection to their ancestors, and we it just kinda hit me that you know, this is the mission because all things that we do here on this earth that God tells us to do are not this horrible thing. Everything that we do is for our own good in the end. And it was awesome because the Lord tells us that we need to be doing this family history, we need to be reaching out to not only our family on this side of the veil, but on the family on the other side of the veil. And I had a bunch of people texting me, hey, I'm trying to do five minutes of family history today. I have no idea what to do. I've indexed six days in the last week. It's like where my question goes.
SPEAKER_03Because I get I get the reports. The reports are like, I get okay, so the the foundation, you just did a beautiful job, Seth, of outlining like where the before was. The challenge is five minutes of family history work a day for 21 days. What so tell me what you would do to help people get in, like if I was gonna tell my son, what are you gonna do for five minutes a day? What were people doing that they found they could start you know doing every day?
What To Do For Five Minutes
SPEAKER_01This this is where I thrive. This is my element. You know, you can go to family search.com once you get there or familysearch.org, you can sign in, you can see your family tree, which is so awesome. One of my favorite activities is just picking a line, seeing how far I can get back, and then reading these memories of people I've never met. I found out that my step great grandfather snuck into a female rodeo uh competition because he put on a wig and makeup and won. It's like I wouldn't have known that if I didn't just go click on read Holt Walker. But here we are. Seth, we do that in our family.
SPEAKER_03I've got to jump in real quick because my family, that's one of the things that we did back in the day is that you take your family tree on the phone and you'd share screen on the TV, and you would just pick a family line. I never thought about going to the memories. We just kind of played this game where. How far back could you go? And sometimes you're going back to like, you know, BC. And you're just like, wait, how can I do this? And sometimes there's information people. So there's something just cool about like, I think that's teaching people how to use it, but you're saying that was one of the things that people could do. They could just do that. And that was one of many activities they could do to start family history.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I think going along with that, I hope if anyone who's starting out doing family history gets anything from this episode, I hope it's that you go into your family tree and you fill out those four generations. Because once you fill out those four generations, that's when the tree explodes. That's when it gets into the census data, and that's when everything fills in and all of your ancestors fill in and all these wonderful things happen. You just have to go through and put, oh, this is my mom and my dad. This is my two grandma, this is my two grandpas, my two grandmas. And then once you get there, the world just opens up to you and you see all these.
SPEAKER_03So the generations are you, your parents, your grandparents, and then your grandparents.
SPEAKER_01Yes, if your great grandparents are still alive, then great-grandparents as well. It's it's just awesome. Once you get those in, everything for Family Search becomes so much more easy because it everything just makes so much more sense when you can actually see your ancestors. It's not just I'm indexing for random people, even though that's good. You just don't feel that same connection as you do when you see, this is my great great great great grandma who was a baby that got taken across the plains. You know, it's like it became everything feels so much more real. It is truly incredible. And then if we go back to familysearch.org, um, memories, awesome place. Kind of talked about it earlier. Click on memories, just overview or gallery or family feed, find these wonderful places that you can just find wonderful memories about your ancestors. And now we're getting to the youth part of it. This is probably where I spend 80% of it because it's just fun. You know, you can get to like activities, and this this is when it's fun. You can go to activities and you see things like where am I from? And it maps out all of your ancestors across the world. You click on one and you see your memories of your ancestors that lived in the Netherlands or your ancestors that lived in Ghana. You find these ancestors who have traveled across the world to get you to the place that you are, and you find out that you're from places that you had no idea you were from. I had no idea that I had like every single Europe country until I did it. So it's awesome. And I think another great one is like surname origins. I can put in the last name Christensen, I can find out what it means, where it's from, where it's most common, what country shares the most last names with Christensen. And it makes me feel more like I'm connected to not only my ancestors, but to a people that are still here and still alive. Everything becomes a lot more real when you realize it's not like some thing, it's not uh Constantinople. It's a country that still exists right now. Your ancestors are still there. My grandparents have gone to Europe and they've seen the church that my grandma's great-great-great-great-grandpa and grandma got married in. It's a real place, and you can find these things. Um, a wonderful thing is all about me. You can find out everything about the year you were born, who won the MLB championships that year, who won this, who won that, what was gas priced, how much was a movie ticket, and like what's some fun trivia about that? That's so awesome. You can find famous relatives, right? I found out I was like strangely related to Abraham Lincoln. So, yeah, it's like I'm close, I'm closely related to Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Harkey from Studio C. I found out that you can upload a picture of your face, you can go to compare a face, and it'll tell you which ancestor you most look like. Like it is just so awesome. There's so many wonderful activities. You just have to go and figure them out yourself because I could keep going through these activities for the next long time.
SPEAKER_03So, this is what people were doing for those for those five minutes a day. You were they were just picking some of these different activities, or they were indexing. Did you teach people how to index, or was that something that they didn't do much of during this this period?
SPEAKER_01Since it was mostly with high school students, it wasn't really indexing. Okay. I didn't really focus on that because most of them can't recursive. So it wasn't it wasn't very effective.
SPEAKER_03So you were just finding you were intentionally finding things that would be engaging and interesting at at a level that would make sense to anyone. And I think that's that's really powerful because you're giving them that spirit of Elijah in a way that feels personal to them.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
Games Guides And Weekly Momentum
SPEAKER_01I think, and then the last I've got two more great resources, and it's the BYU Family History Lab. That's just a website you can go to and you can play games like Geniopretty, it's Jeopardy, but your ancestors. You just connect it to your family tree, and it's like, what year was Orson Clark born? And what city was it in? And then you click on it and you find it out, and once you get a family gathering, you split them in two, and you compete to see how you spell Mildred. That's fun. That's family bonding, if I've ever heard of it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So what's the website again?
SPEAKER_01Uh the BYU Family History Lab. It is fun. It is fun. And then the last great one is the Family History Guide. This one is actually started by my grandma and grandpa who live over here, and it's incredible. Like, I could talk about everything they've done for hours upon hours. Like uh, it is just so incredible. The church has started using their resources that they've gathered. Wow. And it's more like the family search and family history guide are kind of combining to become wonderful. It gives you weekly activities that you can do with Come Follow Me and relate that to family history and you know how it combines, and it is just incredible. It makes something new every week, it makes it not just, you know, you can get sick of something quick, but once there's something new that happens every week, it is truly awesome. You can focus on a new part of family history, and it makes come follow me feel so much more deeper once you're relating it to who you are, where you have come from. It is so awesome. I love it.
SPEAKER_03That is so fun. I love how you're doing this, Seth. And it's it's getting me excited. It's it's getting me all in, you know, and I obviously love this space, and it's for for people, for most people, it takes time to get excited. I think the resources and technology are shortening that gap because, like, for me, I'm very passionate about the temple. And temple, you can't do temple without family history. Those two things are meant to go together. For me, the temple was this like experience of just like little drops of dew over time until it became like a for me a raging river of excitement of like, hey, I'd love going to the temple, but that wasn't my normal start. Family history was similar. It feels like technology now, you guys are able to really dive in with both feet right out of the gate because it becomes relative to us and why it matters to us today. So now that you've shared what people were doing for this 21-day challenge, I'd love for you to go back and explain a little bit more about like what that process ended up looking like and the results.
The Results And What Friends Wrote
SPEAKER_01Yes. This is when this is the heartfelt part of this episode. I already feel it coming. But it is just it was incredible to see the effect that this had on my friends, to be able to see how their lives change, how they told me that they were so grateful for it, how they said that like they felt like their family bonded more just because once you start doing family history, it's not something that you feel like you can keep to yourself. I don't know if that make quite makes sense, but it's like you go to your mom and you're like, Did you know that we're like a direct ancestor from this president? They're like, no, I didn't know that. Or I I found out that I have royal blood because my who knows how many great grandpa was King Louis, whichever number. One of the king Yeah, the one that got decapitated in the French Revolution. Yeah. So got it. I'm still a little scared from the guillotine. You know, I don't because I got that I got that royal blood in me. They might be coming after me still, who knows? But like it is just so awesome.
SPEAKER_03So they started sharing it with their families, and so yeah, what were the results of the did you do the survey on the back end of it?
SPEAKER_01Yes, and that's that's what I got right here. And I feel like I gotta preface this by saying that's exactly it. I did not challenge them at all to share it with their families, but as we go through this whole survey, you can see that they were doing it. You can see that they were growing closer to their families. And remember, we talked earlier in this episode about how low their average mood was, and now at the end of 21 days, all the answers are either an eight, a nine, or a ten, with most of them being on nine. Really? And it's incredible. And we see how many days per week did how many days per week in the last month did you average on engaging in family history? And we have 71% saying I engaged in it over five times. Now it was one, two, three, four, five plus, and all of them are saying five plus. And this is the part where like I kind of get a little emotional talking about this, but um, in your own words, what have you learned from this experience? And I'm like reading like these friends' testimonies of family history and seeing it click for them how closely related this is to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've learned so much more about my family history from this experiment, and I've been able to find new ways that the Lord will speak to me. I have felt so much joy because of this experiment, and I can feel the joy of those I have helped beyond the veil. The Lord knew exactly who I needed to help or how to help me know my family more and appreciate them more each day. And then this is someone else saying, I have learned how family history is more important to us, more important than ever I more important than I ever knew. The people from the past are way more similar to us than we think. We have so much to learn from the reliance, faith, and love from the family that came before us. Also, as you learn more about them, I bet they're paying more and more attention to helping you in your life. You know, people are starting to feel their ancestors closer to them. I can talk about many sacred experiences that you know my dad has told me where you know his dad passed, and he can still feel him here today because he wants to be involved in our life. Ancestors want to be involved in our lives. They've sacrificed so much to get us here, and they just want to make sure that we are living the fullness of the gospel to its fullness. I think if that's the blessing that they spent their entire lives giving to us, we can at least feel the joy of it. I felt more connected Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_02I was just saying that's so beautiful.
SPEAKER_01It's incredible. I felt more connected to my ancestors and learned about how long my family has been in the gospel. It's really cool to read the stories of my great-grandparents moving to Salt Lake City and their participation in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And it's just it's just so awesome. It's like there's so much information out there that gets lost. But with family history, you can really find out a lot. And then this line just kind of makes me cry. It's my ancestors aren't as far off as I originally thought. It's just people are feeling it. Once you get to know your ancestors on the other side, once you spend that time, you can feel it. You can feel the gospel, you can feel the ancestors with you. I have learned more about my family and who I am and where I've come from. I've learned the true meaning of my family and why it's so important to know who I belong to. Now we are born together. That's why we're here. You know, we are I just I like calling this like the great youth family history adventure. Like it's truly so, so wonderful. This is all by divine design that we are able to be here on this earth to be able to help our ancestors to pay back even just a little bit. You know, they have done so much to get us here. The least we can do, which is the greatest thing for them, is to do their temple work, is to do their family history work. And once we get that family history work out of the way, we can see them. And it's so incredible.
SPEAKER_02Like truly this gospel is designed around families.
SPEAKER_01That's that's the central unit, that's the fundamental unit. And we're here, and it's not just mom, dad, kids, you know, it's mom, dad, mom, dad, mom, dad, mom, dad. For generations, for so many generations. It is just so incredible. And you know, learning how to document your own story so in the future your own kids can look back and say, Oh, I didn't know that my dad did this, I didn't know my grandpa did this, I didn't know my great grandpa did this. And, you know, I'm definitely like filling out my own little thing and definitely exaggerating a lot. So my kids think I'm awesome.
SPEAKER_03But what how do you, hey Seth, how do you how are you documenting
Documenting Your Life With Social Media
SPEAKER_03your story? Because there's so many different ways, right? You could video, you can journal with a book, you can what how do you document your story?
SPEAKER_01I think this is one thing that I think our youth is doing a lot better than they think. And this may sound strange, but I'm gonna say the answer, the best answer of like people are doing it and not even realizing it is social media. Let's go.
SPEAKER_03So I'm hearing, I'm finally hearing us say how social media is good versus how it's not. Like you're talking about it as a recorder of your family history.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Like um, yesterday I was driving to graduation, and it was me, my mom's on this side, my girlfriend's on this side, and we are just looking through um like my mom's Facebook and my Instagram, looking at all of our memories of the past who knows how many years, just building up to this. And it's like even two years ago, there were things that I forgot, and it's just so incredible. So I think social media is a great one and an undervalued one. You know, people are posting their graduation pictures, or they're saying, hey, I just turned 17 years old, and being able to have this access, to be able to have this resource, your kids will be able to look back and like, oh, that's what mom looked like when she was 17 years old. Yeah. Or I did not know that mom went to nationals for cheer. You know, it's like all these wonderful things that they they can see just because they look at their parents' Instagrams, their Facebooks, their TikToks, or I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_03I'm not really on TikTok, but I'm sure that no, but to your point, to your point, it's this really cool way of framing it because all of these things are tools, and we get into this mistake of thinking of the tool as inherently good or bad. I mean, we do have to just pause for a second and recognize that the people who run the social media companies are legitimately running them to make you addicted to them. So we have to recognize the powers behind the scenes are there trying to trap you. There's like, there's no doubt on this. That this they've done studies, there's all these documentaries now. Yeah. But we have to look at it as a tool, understanding where some of its intentionality is coming from. And if we can turn it to use for family history, then we are using it for the intended purpose that God wants us to use it for, not to find connection in the incorrect superficial way, which is like number of likes. You know, you don't care about your mother's number of likes, you cared what she'd look like. That's a very different, you know, framing of how we approach social media. And I love that you're taking this uh not controversial but counterintuitive approach. Because I think when I when I talk to the youth, Seth, I always raise my hand and go, okay, guys, why is there so much depression and anxiety in the world today? Social media. Who here is tired of hearing about social media is causing depression and anxiety and all the hands go up? They know it's the problem, but they're not going to stop using it. And so what you're saying is, let's use it for good and actually make ourselves happier through so people can feel like they're doing social media or excuse me, doing family history work, their own personal history when they're on there. And I love that you're helping people like accept it in a positive way.
SPEAKER_01I think that's great. Exactly. It's it's your story, you know. And you know, I journal and I I make videos sometimes, but like having that access, I'll have as many resources as I possibly can so people will be able to look back and see it. But it it is just truly incredible. I think you know, social media, yes, it is a double-edged sword. Yes, definitely, because we all know the risks that come with social media, but once you can use it as a tool, it is incredible. You know, there are times where we have social media fasts in the church, you know. That that was one of Russland Nelson's uh challenges. And there's also times where it's hey, take a picture of this. Or if you uh watched uh Eller Stevenson's young adult devotional, it's like, how can I go even deeper? I saw so many people take pictures of this wonderful word collage that they made of just these wonderful things about the gospel, and they posted it on social media. I feel like many times when I'm going to my friends' stories and I'm seeing what they posted, and it's them at the temple, or it's them sharing a general conference talk, that helps me feel enlightened because people are sharing their testimonies through social media, and again, double-edged sword, know how to use it well. Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, a sword inherently isn't good or bad. I mean, it was built for cutting, and I think again, again, that's goes back to our earlier comment that the people who are developing social media tools, they are absolutely wanting you to, they're designing it to where it's hard to let go. It's a sword that grabs you back and and it gives you these dopamine hits,
Using Social Media Without Getting Used
SPEAKER_03especially at night. If there's one thing I want everyone, adults or anyone of any age to stop doing is doom scrolling before you go to bed, not because it's bad. Like it's not like sinful. What I'm saying is it's it's training our brains from a dopamine release center to deregulate, and it absolutely correlates with difficulty in sleeping, which is foundation for physical health. As a physical therapist, I just needed to say that. But it is still just a sword, and you can use it to cut in a positive way. And you're talking about how we can use that for our personal um history. Um, I have to ask you, what was it was there something about this that surprised you? The 21-day challenge, this this born to gather, which I love, is is there anything that surprised you in that process? Either the outcome or any element of it?
SPEAKER_02I think about that for a second. But I feel like honestly, for the most part, no.
SPEAKER_01I I uh You know, we have this wonderful gospel, like when you look at the plan of salvation, it's not like this super intricate all these little tiny details, these plan B's, plan C's. It's a pretty simple plan. And I feel like that's also the same way with family history. It ties right into it. Once you get to know it, it makes sense. But also it can be like the temple where you get a little more dewdrops every single time you look into it, every time you see more of it. You know, but you're expecting those dew drops. You're expecting something new to happen every time. You're expecting some story you've never heard before to change your life. You're expecting an ancestor who lived in the 1600s, or an ancestor who lived in the eighteen hundreds who crossed the plains and you never met them in person, and somehow you feel like you are going through the same thing. You can listen and l see their exact stories as a as a source of strength, honestly. Yeah. I feel like once you understand that, you're not really surprised by anything, but you keep looking forward to understanding new things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that I love your answer that you weren't surprised. There was like a faith behind this, because you have lived it. I think that's what's cool about it, is that you, because of the wonderful parents and grandparents that you have, have been born and raised in this. Um, I don't want to ever paint the picture perfection, but like there's this is the most effective use of family history in raising a family I've ever seen. And it has created you to be so passionate that now you can share with others. And it's it's cool to watch. Watch, I think, you know, especially as you're going through this, I can see why it wasn't surprising to you. Here's what surprises me, though, is that they were only spending five minutes a day, and then they had this dramatic impact on their mood. Why do you think, you know, and they weren't even doing it 100% of the time. It was like 71% and then, you know, five times the last week or whatever that stat was. Why do you think these small family history activities m made such a change in their perspective perspective and their mood?
Why Small Habits Create Big Change
SPEAKER_01I am reminded of a T of a story that my seminary teacher told me this past year. And she was talking about how she got to institute, and you know, she was so busy, and she was just feeling like I just I don't know, like I just can't read a whole chapter the Book of Mormon every night. That just sounds horrible. This is I just can't handle it. And she ended up taking a Book of Mormon class, and for the first while their only homework was to read the Book of Mormon for 30 seconds a day. And it got her into the habit where it's like she goes to bed and she's like, Oh, I'm so tired. I have to read my Book of Mormon. But I only have to read it for 30 seconds. And so she read it for 30 seconds, and then she closes it, go to bed. 30 seconds, close it, go to bed. Once you start, the foundation of a habit, it increases every time. There's so much, so much research about this. You know, there's uh the Atomic Habits book. They talk about that.
SPEAKER_03I was just thinking about that book totally.
SPEAKER_01James Clear, right? He's awesome. But you know, getting 1% better every day. And I think for this short, this short experiment, it's only three weeks. You know, you're not focusing on becoming one percent better at family history every day. It's just happening as you increase. You know, that's just the learning curve. But once you keep going on from there, once you find something to improve on just a little bit, a little bit, a little bit, it all just keeps going and expanding, and you begin you begin to understand things that you know you didn't think that you'd understand before, and you start making connections you didn't think you'd understand before. But you know, it's tied back into the question, it's only five minutes a day. But it's starting that habit, it's starting that. And five minutes a day is a lot more minutes than they've been doing for their entire life combined. Yeah. So, you know, it's building onto it. And even if it's just that little bit every single day, they are growing closer to their ancestors, they're growing closer to our Heavenly Father, they're growing closer to Jesus Christ, even through just five minutes every day. And it's compounding.
SPEAKER_03I love that answer. It makes me feel because of the nature of what we're talking about, that it it all it takes is five minutes for the spirit of Elijah, this thing that is like defining the great gathering. It's it's defined in Malachi, right? With the turning the hearts of the children to the fathers. Yes. You don't have to spend a lot of time. It's just any sort of intentionality. I think of it as like a machine. You put in one coin, it comes back with like so many coins you can't imagine because of the nature of the promise. So if we put a minute of effort, the pounds or tons of results are because of the nature of God's divine work in the latter days. So it is, I just was feeling, I really asked that question not knowing, but as you described that, I'm like, yeah, it's like the power of an atomic habit celestialized. You know, a celestial atomic habit is going to be exponentially, infinitely more powerful. So five minutes of temporal time yields un unmeasurable results. It obviously, people's hearts were turned literally as a result of this uh experiment that you did. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like they're growing closer to their families, they're growing closer to their families on the other side of the veil, they're growing closer and they're feeling happier. Yeah. They're it's not just something that they're doing, it's it's working.
Blessings The Spirit Of Elijah
SPEAKER_01And I feel like because of my experience in the gospel, I can only truly relate this because this is the power of God. This is the power of God working through this. He's commanded us that this is what we are supposed to be doing. And when we follow his commandments, I just like imagining him, he's got this bucket in heaven and he's got this ladle, and every single time he does a little thing, we do a little thing that he wants us to do, it's just like ladles of blessings coming down, you know, and we we send him up that one coin and we get 80 in return. No, we will always be unprofitable servants to God, which I didn't really understand until this year. It didn't mean that we wouldn't be good servants, it just means that we wouldn't be like worth the sacrifice. But that's not what Heavenly Father is in for. It's not what Jesus Christ is in for. They wanna they love us, they want us to have them that opportunity to become like them. So they're just saying, we're not expecting you to be perfect, we're not expecting you to return all the blessings we've given you. We just want to bless you. I truly believe that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father want to bless us in every single aspect of our life. So if we give them that opportunity to do it, if we go forth and if we do the things that they ask us to do, we see those blessings and we feel them. It is incredible.
SPEAKER_02Like um, I have to find this David A. Bednar quote. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, I invite the young people of the church to learn about and experience the spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourself to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead. It's so real. And, you know, this isn't just like this the gospel and this is family history what we're doing, you know, it's an appendage to it. We are here for it. Like we uh like the main body is the atonement of Jesus Christ, and this is an appendage to it, is being able to help his children return to him. That is the sacred opportunity that we've been blessed to blessed to do. And every time you go to the temple to and do any proxy work, that's family history. If you go in and you go to ordinances ready and you go get an ancestor's name and you go through for them, that's family history. Everything is family history, you can always relate
Memory Anchors Places And Objects
SPEAKER_01it. One of my favorite examples is McDonald's. Kind of a strange thing, but also that's family history. Why? Because I took my great-grandma to McDonald's once and we just talked about stories. Uh so therefore, McDonald's is family history.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. But I love that because you know, when we think about memories, what are they? They're who, what, when, where. There's a story. And so it can be a location that anchors us, like a McDonald's. And by the way, from a marketing perspective, there's a reason why they have play places. They want you to anchor memories and childhood positivity so that when you're sad as an adult, you know where to go to feel happy. But I mean, more in a bigger sense, the the memories are who, what, when, where, why. It's the the context, the physical environment, the feelings that we have. That's what constitutes a memory. And so we can anchor them to a location, a person, a specific feeling that we had. It's in those connections, it's in those spaces that we connect. And they don't have to even be alive because when that person passes on, um, you know, we can still connect through these different elements. A good friend of mine lost her husband and two of her children in the course of a year. And um, in in one of the caskets, they put these little like stone hearts, and she carries, there's one in the caskets and one in her pocket. That physical object anchors her soul to the memory. There's power in memory. And what you're saying here is that the spirit of Elijah is essentially that memory and the connection that we have with people living and dead, so that we can go back home together as an eternal family.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Why did Joshua have the tribes take rocks from the Jordan River after they they pass through it on dry ground? You know, that is a memory. That is a solid object that reminds them of a memory. That's exactly what your friend is doing. Like, it's just so real. And not only is it so real, it is so joyous once you learn to experience it.
SPEAKER_03You're sharing a story that my wife shared with me um two nights ago. The the rock the story of Joshua and the Rocks. I just want you to know that you are being highly inspired, not for the audience, but for me right now. So uh, Seth, this this has been such a beautiful episode. We could literally go for hours. I I have to ask you, where are you going on a
Mission Plans And How To Start Today
SPEAKER_03mission soon? Are you like going to college? Are you just working? Like what's I hate asking that question, but I have I have a very devious reason why I'm asking. What what's what are your plans?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Um so on June 24th, I leave on a mission to Jakarta, Indonesia. Dang it.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Here's the only reason I'm upset about that is the guy I I want to get you down to Arizona for a fireside. Like I good for you. I'm not sorry, let's let me change my reaction. Good for you. Now let me let me be selfish and just go, okay. So I think there's something really special about where what you're gonna be doing in Jakarta. You're gonna love that area and you'll be the best missionary. I just I think what you bring to the table in terms of passion for family history is so special that selfishly I want to get you damn near Son of our fireside, but you need to go on your mission. Um, I love it. So if people wanted to learn more about this, um, Seth, like if people are hearing this and they're just like feeling so connected and so passionate, is there do you have any resources, directions, ideas? Like what I I feel I feel so inspired. I just know a lot of people are gonna want to act on their these feelings. What do they do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um definitely there's so many resources that you know we've talked about, that'll be linked into that talk that we were talking about, but I cannot recommend enough the 21-day challenge. Okay. Not only does it start that habit, but it brings that joy of family history into your life, it makes it real for you. You know, we just talked about nine different testaments that all talked about it, 10 nine people's testimonies who said this helped me grow closer to my family. So if you feel like you're not connected with your ancestors enough, if you feel like you're not surrounded with your family enough, if you feel like you just need something in your life, if you feel like you are depressed, sad, if you have these wonderful, if you have these hard feelings, you know, we just went through that and we watched their mood improve because I feel like this just works. There's no explanation for it, but other than that, it works. Once you understand how it works, that's what the 21-day challenge is for. Once you can get through this learning curve, once you can go to the family history guide and you can relate it to come follow me every single week, and you can find something new to do every single week. It works. I cannot talk about it enough. It is truly so wonderful. I cannot express how much I love it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I I'm so excited for you, am so blessed to know you, and so grateful for you. I think what you're doing now, gathering um on the other on this side of the veil is such a great time for you. And when you get back, I would like to make an an intention for us to reconnect and see what we can do to help this work on the family history side things continue to progress together because what you bring to the table is such a beautiful energy and pure knowledge of what this is. So I I can't thank you enough for being on the show.
Rapid Fire Plus Making It Fun
SPEAKER_03Before we finish, I'd like to do some rapid fire questions with you if you're okay with that.
SPEAKER_00Let's do it. That's what I'm here for. Okay. Favorite temple. Favorite temple, Jordan River. Why?
SPEAKER_01I, you know, I've just kind of grown up going to that temple. That's always been the one in my boundaries. I went through the temple for the first time last Saturday, and I was able to go to go through Jordan River. So you know, it's the only temple I've been through, so it's gotta be the favorite, at least for now.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Besides where you're going on your mission, where's someone in the world that you would like to visit someday?
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's hard.
SPEAKER_01Um, I would love to go to like Denmark and kind of experience what my grandparents have experienced going through and seeing the places that my ancestors have been. You know, we have family homes that are still there. We have cousins that still live there. I I think that would be wonderful to go through and just be like, this is where it happened. This is where, this is the river where uh Thomas Reese got baptized in. You know, that that would be a dream come true to me. I'd love that.
SPEAKER_03Love that answer. Okay, what's a common mistake that people make when it comes to family history? Whether it's you know how they present it or what's a mistake that people make or a parent might make with their kids around these things.
SPEAKER_01I uh my first thought comes to there's a reason why youth always think that family history is just the papers underneath grandma's bed. You know, once you can start them on the right track, it's a lot easier to start someone on the right track than to take them off the track they're already on and put them on the other one. Once you can start them by going through family history, or I think the best thing you could do for your kids as someone who has never had kids is you know, tell them family history stories. That was my favorite thing growing up, is listening to these things about May Katherine Rasmussen or listening to uh Christian Thorup and how he got to America, learning these stories about my ancestors. That was the best thing you can do. The biggest mistake you can do with family history is making it boring. Don't make it boring. Find some way to do it. You know, my ward, we held a detective night, and everyone came and they had fedoras and trench coats, and we had magnifying glasses, and we made it fun to go through, and there were different stations that they could go to and be like, oh wow, they upload a picture of their face. I look like my great-great-grandpa. You know, or you can do this, you can do that. Once you just put someone in a room and you have a slideshow and you say, This, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, click, this, this, this, this, right. That's what makes it boring.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Don't do it. I I love that advice. I think I feel like everyone who's listening who's not a kid is going like, okay, let's do this. Um, last question. And this is where, you know, this is a temple and family history podcast. The family history part has been this entire episode. Usually it's more temple focused just because that's the nature. But always at the end, my temple bound. But this last part, but they go together. Temple and family history, they are synonymous. And I'm so glad that you were able to highlight that for me. The one thing I do every single episode is this
A Message To Future Descendants
SPEAKER_03last question. This is family history time. Your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids have just watched this episode. They are seeing you the day after you graduated from high school in the same month that you're leaving for your foreign mission. If you would just talk to them, your kids and your descendants briefly, and just tell them what's in your heart for a few minutes. That way we can capture that for your personal family history. I would greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But I hope that through my efforts to grow closer to Christ, I can help bless you in your lives. I hope that one day if I'm not on this side of the veil, I'll be able to help you on the other.
SPEAKER_01And I hope that because of my work, being able to grow closer to Christ, be able to make covenants in the temple, I will be able to help you throughout the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_02I hope that you can remember me for who I am now.
SPEAKER_01And I hope this experience, being able to, you know, see me now is able to help you realize that I am a real person, and not only am I a real person, but my dad is a real person, and my grandpa, and my mom, and my grandma, and their parents, and their parents, and their parents, and they want to love you, and they want to serve you. They already do love you, they want that opportunity to serve you, they want to find that way that they can go into your life and they can help you with your blessings. We believe in the ministering of angels, so please let them be your angels. We are blessed beyond any understanding to be a member of God's family, to be able to be blessed with forever families that I know that even if I never get the opportunity to meet you, that I know that I will see you in heaven.
SPEAKER_02So to my descendants, I hope I hope that you can feel the joy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01I hope that you can understand the pure joy that it is to know of Jesus Christ, to know Jesus Christ, and to spread that knowledge of Jesus Christ and his atonement. I love you.
SPEAKER_03Seth, thank you so much for for being on the show today. It means a lot to me, and uh, you just made me cry, man. Really appreciate you. And um, yeah, we will keep in touch with you throughout your mission. Please make sure you include me on your email list. I'm sure many people may want to be on your email list after this. And then when you get back, let's circle back around and let's continue that work together. Does that work for you?
SPEAKER_01I would absolutely love that. Let's do it.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
Closing Thoughts And Credits
SPEAKER_03All right. Everybody, thank you for tuning in to this incredibly special episode of Temple Bound. I am so blessed to know Seth and just want to echo his words and to say that this is real. What we are doing here in this life is echoing through the eternities in both directions, both for our ancestors and for our descendants, that we were we were born to gather, as Seth says. So go and do the best you can and remember that in the end, you're not alone. Until next time. Temple Bound is brought to you by the Light on a Hill Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at building and strengthening families across the globe. Produced by Heather Humphreys, with show notes and social media managed by Isabel Dizon and Kimberly Simbafon. Wardrobe by Anne Collar. These views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are on their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for joining us today as we continue learning, growing, and striving to bind our lives closer to Savior. Until next time.
