When we lived in Germany about 10 years ago, it was nearly impossible for the members to see the microfilms for their towns and villages. I had German friends (members of the Church) tell me that it was cheaper for them to save their money to go to the Family History Library in SLC for a week of research than it was for them to go to the various depositories (governmental, ecclesiastical, etc.) to see the actual records. The restrictions on the genealogical records are very complex. There are layers of bureaucratic rules. These are some of the reasons why Latter-day Saints in other countries may not be as involved with family history. They may want to do the work but it might be very expensive for them to do it. (Some of you may know that it is very expensive to live in these European countries because of their high taxes and cost of living.) Perhaps this may be why the Church has been very involved with extractions in some of these countries. The information can be read easily in the USA but not in the original country. As the work was put on the IGI and now New FamilySearch, the members in the original country may be able to connect to these lineages for their ancestors. We need to teach our ward members to search records out on the "Record Search -- Pilot Site" at www.familysearch.org. There are hundreds of records being added there each year. The searches on Record Search will only get better as the indexing projects proceed. I like Karen's suggestion about the members praying for the release of these genealogical records. (Our family benefitted from the prayers for the Iron Curtain to fall as our son recently served in the Baltic Mission -- Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. He loved his mission and is now proficient in Russian. We often talk about the miracle that brought down the Iron Curtain.) We can teach our wards' members to pray earnestly that the records for our families will come forth as quickly as possible.  We should pray that the hearts of the governmental leaders will be softened so that the people can know their ancestral heritage. In addition, when we (who have so much freedom) do the work for our ancestors from these restricted areas, we are actually helping other members of the Church back in the original countries. Mary Scott Northville Ward Westland Michigan Stake Detroit Michigan Temple

That reminds of a story my uncle told me. He is not a member of the Church, but he went to Ireland to see our "home" country. His father - my grandfather - was the first generation born in the USA Anyway, when he went to Ireland, from Ohio, they said he should have just gone to Salt Lake City, because the Mormons have all their records! Megan Smith Las Vegas Temple District ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary S. Scott (Michigan)" <mscscott28@yahoo.com> To: <lds-ward-consultant@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 8:30 AM Subject: Re: [LDS-WC] Disputes -- restricted microfilms and prayers When we lived in Germany about 10 years ago, it was nearly impossible for the members to see the microfilms for their towns and villages. I had German friends (members of the Church) tell me that it was cheaper for them to save their money to go to the Family History Library in SLC for a week of research than it was for them to go to the various depositories (governmental, ecclesiastical, etc.) to see the actual records. The restrictions on the genealogical records are very complex. There are layers of bureaucratic rules. These are some of the reasons why Latter-day Saints in other countries may not be as involved with family history. They may want to do the work but it might be very expensive for them to do it. (Some of you may know that it is very expensive to live in these European countries because of their high taxes and cost of living.) Perhaps this may be why the Church has been very involved with extractions in some of these countries. The information can be read easily in the USA but not in the original country. As the work was put on the IGI and now New FamilySearch, the members in the original country may be able to connect to these lineages for their ancestors. We need to teach our ward members to search records out on the "Record Search -- Pilot Site" at www.familysearch.org. There are hundreds of records being added there each year. The searches on Record Search will only get better as the indexing projects proceed. I like Karen's suggestion about the members praying for the release of these genealogical records. (Our family benefitted from the prayers for the Iron Curtain to fall as our son recently served in the Baltic Mission -- Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. He loved his mission and is now proficient in Russian. We often talk about the miracle that brought down the Iron Curtain.) We can teach our wards' members to pray earnestly that the records for our families will come forth as quickly as possible. We should pray that the hearts of the governmental leaders will be softened so that the people can know their ancestral heritage. In addition, when we (who have so much freedom) do the work for our ancestors from these restricted areas, we are actually helping other members of the Church back in the original countries. Mary Scott Northville Ward Westland Michigan Stake Detroit Michigan Temple Please send the one word message SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE to LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT-L-REQUEST@ROOTSWEB.COM ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message