Personal Ancestral File - Families Can be Together Forever

Friday, 24 March 2006
I have been given a CD with PAF (Personal Ancestral File) by a senior missionary couple in 2004 to work on my genealogy. I have collected some information about my grandparents, but I never got around to transferring the data into the PAF system.

Today, I was blessed with Elder Arthur (Hong Kong Mission) to guide me, hands-on, in creating my own PAF file. What a fantastic system! And what a wonderful feeling to see the pedigree chart with my grandparents personal details on - my family tree!

I have wondered, before I knew the full gospel, whether I will be able to see my loved ones (who have passed away) again. I have never met my paternal or maternal grandparents, who died in China. My parents were the first generation in our family that have migrated from China to Malaysia. I wished many times that I could hold their hands and experience the love between grandparents and grandchilden.

I saw and felt the sadness of my father and mother when they announced the death of my respective grandparents and could not afford to return to China to attend their funerals. Dad was the eldest son in his family while mum is the youngest daughter in hers. I am sure they wondered whether they would ever see their parents again.

There is a kind of natural instinct in some people that marriage is for eternity. Look at the Chinese cemeteries and you will see that the tombs are usually built to accommodate 2 persons (husband and wife) unless the deceased is single. I have heard couples quarrelled and remarked that they do not want to be buried together because they don't want each other in the next life. I have also met people, whose spouses have died, and they remarked that they hope they would go quickly and join their spouses. How they must have love each other dearly.

The first time I heard the hymn no. 300 "Families Can Be Together Forever" it brought tears to my eyes. It still does and I cannot help feeling so. It is not a feeling of sadness but an indescribable overwhelming of emotions filling my bosom. I think of my ancestors, my grandparents, my parents, my sister, my brothers and my children. I think of my younger brother, Joseph, who had died in 1999. I think of Betty (a best friend in my 20's), Elizabeth (a good friend of mine) and another friend, Regina, who have all gone before me. I think of all those people who have lost their loved ones through illness, accidents, natural disasters, etc. and my heart goes out to them. I think of the wonderful friends that I have been blessed with. To know that we will be able to see each other again and we can be united forever gives me a sense of peace and a determination to stay on the straight and narrow parth.

With the Personal Ancestral File, we will be able to create, organize and share the genealogical information with our posterity. And we will be able to know whether their temple work have been done.