On October 10, in the city of Guayaquil, a magnificent community activity organized by Family Search took place in the Mall del Sol shopping center; initiative that offered visitors the opportunity to discover, document and preserve their family history through a free digital platform.
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The activity had the participation of 200 volunteers, including family history service missionaries, area advisors, temple and family history consultants, and members of the Church of Jesus Christ who received prior training to provide personalized advice to those interested in Create your own family tree, search historical records, and connect with your ancestors using the free Family Search platform.
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The interactive stands were available to the entire community until Sunday, October 19, which welcomed all the people who wanted to delve into the fascinating world of genealogy.
The volunteers’ goal was to have 6,000 visitors and 1,000 accounts created, but the goal was exceeded, managing to serve 6,403 visitors, and 1,300 free accounts were created on FamilySearch.
At the stands, visitors learned how to use the multiple tools that FamilySearch has, such as: creating and recovering a free FamilySearch account; add people to the FamilySearch collaborative tree; add memories that can be photos, stories, audios and documents; search for documents that certify the veracity of the information in the tree, in addition to being able to review the origin of your surname.”
“The emotion still hasn’t gotten over…” mentioned one of the visitors to the event, who had the opportunity to open a free account on the Family Search platform, and thanks to the system she was able to find a family member. “My heart told me that I had to come to the mall today, and suddenly a woman approached me and offered me her help in searching for relatives. I haven’t heard from my brother for years since he went to the US. Today I have a light, and an address where to write and search, thank you Family Search
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Olvin Mora, who, together with his wife, as Area Temple and Family History advisors assigned to Ecuador, and executors of this initiative in Guayaquil; They indicated that the programming had a total of 3 events.
Devotional on Temple Work and Family History
In addition to the activities at the mall, a devotional was held on Friday, October 4, at the Kennedy Stake Center, presided over by Elder Enrique Mayorga of the Seventy.
The devotional trained the members of the Guayaquil North, South, East and West coordination councils, 350 people and 725 connections attended in person, some of them corresponding to stakes gathered to participate in the devotional where attendees could learn to use the new applications from FamilySearch.
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This event allowed participants to delve deeper into the importance of Temple work and family history, and how technology can help strengthen connections with their ancestors. The devotional was an opportunity to reflect on the value of preserving personal and family history, and how this work can enrich the lives of individuals and the community at large.
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As a prelude to the events that took place, a special meeting was held with archivists or people who have historical records in their management on October 4. The purpose of these meetings was to propose the conservation and digitization of their archives for free so that members of the church and the general public can access their ancestors.
“Brother Mora emphasizes that none of this would have been possible without the support of Brother Dulio Delgado, Family Search Manager for the SANO area, and his entire team. Gloria Cornelio, Operations Manager, Edward Zabaleta, Technology Manager, and José Alejandro Huayllacagua, Marketing Manager. Pedro Bravo of negotiations, in addition to Area leaders such as Elder Mayorga and Elder Nieves, to the Stake Presidents of the Guayaquil councils to the advisors assigned to those councils: Guayaquil South: Leopoldo and Lourdes Tejada; Guayaquil North: Sandy Zambrano; Guayaquil east: Alfonso and Jenny Murillo; Guayaquil Oeste: Luis and Linda Morante“.
Brother Olvin Mora, in an interview for the Press Room of the Church of Jesus Christ in Ecuador, told us about the next event that is being prepared for March 2025 to be held in the capital of Ecuador.
FamilySearch offers people through these events the opportunity to strengthen family ties, promote a sense of identity and belonging, and preserve historical memory for future generations.
