When I first joined the Church in 1963, I got excited about genealogy. I interviewed all my living relatives, filled out family group sheets, went to Arkansas and copied headstones of relatives in an old cemetery. It wasn't long before I decided it was all too complicated and gave up.

Then in 2002 I was visiting some friends in Moscow, Idaho, who were using the Church's Personal Ancestral File 5.0 software for genealogy. I could tell it was user-friendly. I thought about trying again but figured I needed all my original records that were in storage several states away. It seemed impossible. However, I decided to start with myself and go from there.

My mother was a fount of information and sent me obituaries of relatives. As I used the Family History Library, I learned about the Social Security Index, the 1880 Census and the Church Web site, www.familysearch.org. Everything kept falling into place.

I decided to continue what I was doing in Spokane, Wash., where the family history center is next to the temple. Members of the Belle Terre Ward, as well as other patrons, assisted with baptisms, and all the work for my relatives, which covers about five generations.

During that time I had two spiritual experiences. The first concerns a great-grandfather on my mother's side. I was pondering about him for several days, because I could not discover any records about him.

One morning, I woke up with his full name in my mind. I did not even know he had a middle name. As I searched for it on the Internet, I found him, along with his wife, on a family tree. I would never have discovered them without this spiritual assistance.

The next concerns a great-uncle. While using the Web, I found myself looking at my great-uncle's information on a California death certificate. To my knowledge, all those relatives had never left Arkansas. I knew it was he, because it had his mother's maiden name listed. It is still a mystery to me how I came to view this information. Of all the deceased, these two individuals were very strong in making known that they wanted their work done. I am grateful to be the relative who can assist them. — Winnie T. Ainsworth, Winter Haven, Florida

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