5th Sunday Lesson on Indexing

Presented by two presenters.

Part by first presenter:

Today we are going to talk to you all about FamilySearch indexing.  What it is and why it is important.

-Watch video "Indexing Is Vital" and narrate.

Narration

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Documents were created about our ancestors all through their lives.

-Birth Certificates

-School and Work Records

-Marriage Certificates

-Census Records

-Death Certificates

- and Obituaries

-All of these have been stored in various places around the world.

-As we work on our genealogy we need the data contained on those documents.

-We search and search, hoping someone has possession of those documents and has entered them into a computer, so that we can enter them into our family trees.

-Many of these documents have been photographed, but it takes a long time to get all of that information into computers.

-Indexing is the process of reading those documents and entering the data into computers.

-Once that information is in computers, by people indexing the records, it can be searched by web sites like FamilySearch. Then people who have been trying and trying to find their ancestor’s information can finally find it.

}

-So the basic idea of indexing is that documents we need for genealogy are all over the world and can be brought to us quickly with computers.  The problem is to get computers to know what document we are looking for.

-Computers do not understand paper and handwriting very well.  Humans, on the other hand understand written text.  We are the translator between the document and the computer.

-When we index records we take paper documents and make them so they can be found by someone in their home using a computer.

-Because of the great tool that indexing these documents is to hastening temple work, our leaders have asked us to make time for indexing.

Indexing is very easy to incorporate into the patterns of our lives.  We would love to meet with you and your families to talk about how to work a little indexing into your lives.

-A significant contribution can be made with any amount of time.

The stake and ward have established indexing goals for us for the year,so let's run through these really quickly.

-Our stake has a goal for everyone in the stake to learn to index, and for each person in the stake to index 500 names this year.
-Our ward has a goal to index 100,000 names as a ward this year.
In order to accomplish this, the ward has a goal to have at least one registered indexer from each family by the end of June.  We and our other ward indexers are available to come to your home and show you how if you need help getting registered.

-There is work to be done in indexing at all levels of experience.  So there is work for you no matter what.
-There are a variety of projects to index that match every different persons’ strengths and weaknesses.  

-Don’t let the thought that you will make mistakes keep you from indexing.  There are many checks and balances in place to prevent error and to train you along the way.

-We are available to come to your home and help your family get started with indexing or help you over any bumps you may be having along the way.  Just contact one of us to set up a time.

Now my fellow presenter is going to share with us some of the blessings of indexing.

Part by second presenter:

-These are the promised blessings/Why I index

 -Protection

 -Redemption

 -Edification