I think this is an important issue--the amount of time one should wait when some ordinances have been done and others need to be completed. Sometimes people begin the work and never get around to finishing it or can't finish it for some reason. Or, names are put together for a youth baptism but the families are not interested or in a position to do the endowments. It would be good to have this issue raised to the brethren. For instance, is 20 years enough time to wait from the time an individual's baptism and confirmation are done, or 10 years, and then an "expiration" could take place on the process so that others could submit the name for the endowment and sealings? I am not sure what would be reasonable, but I think it would further the work if there were some kind of time limit. Individuals could renew their reservation if they wanted, but then the work would be available for others to do if they did not. Gay Davis ----- Original Message ----- From: Jill N. Crandell To: lds-ward-consultant@rootsweb.com Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 7:28 PM Subject: Re: [LDS-WC] stealing names thought Michele wrote: I do think there should be a time limit on these names.....I have quite a few in my own families and I'm not unhappy someone else has submitted them, but I think it's unfair to submit names and let them sit, half completed for years. Not fair to the deceased!! I agree with your feelings, and yet if this were a crucial problem, I believe the Brethren would set a limit to deal with it. Evidently, it hasn't risen to that level to require a time limit, so the guidelines just recommend an approximate submission size. There are times when larger submissions are appropriate. In my case, I had saved some of the names I had researched because we had a very small window of opportunity to have a cousin baptism session between the time my son was endowed and the day he checked in to the MTC. All of the grandchildren of my parents were together in the temple, with my son baptizing them. It was a wonderful experience for these cousins to share together. Part of my work is also to teach my children and help them understand what this is all about. This was a sacred teaching moment for us. After the baptism session, we didn't have nearly as many endowed members of the family to help with the initiatories and endowments. We began working and totally enjoyed the family time shared with our ancestors. We were looking forward to the sealing session together as well. As it turned out, someone else decided time was up, based on their personal time schedule, and we were not able to finish what we considered the crowning blessing to our efforts. That's ok, we moved on. However, I do think it's important for us to follow the guidelines of the Brethren. When they say there is no limit, it is not up to us to randomly decide what WE think the time limit ought to be. We don't know or understand what is happening on the other end. If/when this becomes a serious issue, I'm sure the inspiration of the Lord will cause a time limit to be put in place. Until then, I still say that we should be obedient to the guidelines and considerate of those who actually created the submission. I don't believe that my ancestors were judging us for the time it took to complete the work. I believe they knew what we were doing and that they were enjoying the temple moments with us. Just my opinion. As for duplicates in NFS, yes, that is the only way to find the work that we had done with this submission. My family began the work, but we deleted the last of the ordinances on that submission because someone else had already completed them. The only way to show that all the work is done is to merge my submission with the other submission. Jill Crandell 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