More of the Photo Story

Shadows Define Light

Photography is the perfect medium to show the contrast between dark and light, good and evil, sad and happy, and even to tell the story of relationships.

One summer I asked local photographer to take photos of me and my grandson. The result was an amazing, fun story of our relationship.

A Portrait of me in 2015
by Linda Larson

Our Story is Worth Everything! 

When world reknowned photographer Me Ra Koh sponsored by Sony told her story at RootsTech2023 as a keynote speaker, she showed the most exquisite photos that I've ever seen, she said "Shadows define light" and "Our story is Worth Everything!" and the "world is desparate for authenticity." It rang true! She and her team ask close relatives about the person who is to be photographed, then they arrange the session and tell that person how the others described them. And the resulting photos revealed a unique voice or rather captured the resilence, that continues to inspire for years. I have had photos taken that did that same thing for me and my grandson.

Here is my favorite photo of my grandson. An enlarged copy of this photo printed on canvas, hangs on my bedroom wall so that it is the first thing I see each morning. His smile absolutely delights me. 

But we were having so much fun that summer, that to capture it, the two of us dressed up like Ninja Turtles! My mother dressed up at Halloween, so did I. I dressed up to sell fireworks in a red devil outfit while in the Jr. Woman's Club. So this was just another part of my history that tells a story. 

Many people now know me as very serious. But I have a completely crazy side too!

Ninja Turtles

Hugs

RootsTech2023 and away we go!

Finding Christ's Help in Solving the Puzzle

The serious theme for RootsTech 2023 is "Uniting" people, traditions, stories, memories, technology, innovation, communities and families.

Faith, identity, place and grace-- our stories may be our own, as we connect and belong, shared stories can unite us all. Sister Susan L. Gong said, ""the stories we preserve (in any format) and share through generations can have a lasting impact on our hears and minds."

"I hope," she continues "that we will each make an effort to discover our own family stories, record them and to share them with our children and grandchildren. I hope that we will all gain greater understanding and appreciation for the struggles, courage, faith and sacrifice of those who have gone before... and I pray that we will live lives of goodness to honor their memories and show thanks for the gift of life they have given to us."  

The FUN theme of this week of "Uniting" includes sharing other activities that engage children, youth, young adults and even other luke-warm Latter-day Saint members who view this work, and I quote: it's like "watching paint dry,"

Let's put Jesus Christ back into the center of our focus and allow Him to help us. 

Let's Come Unto Christ

Try writing in a journal, scrapbook, or create any other record of your personal or family history in your favorite format (formats could be paper, digital, audio, etc.)

● Digitize family photos or otherwise preserve heirlooms/memorabilia to share with future generations

● Tell family stories

● Make a family recipe or keep a family tradition

● Learn about the places or time periods of your ancestors’ lives

● Add sources or memories to FamilySearch’s Tree

● Interview a relative

● Study family history-related doctrine or church history (family proclamation, temples, Elijah, etc.)

● Attend the temple

● Babysit for someone who is attending the temple

● Work on your own worthiness in order to attend the temple

As President Gordon B. Hinckley used to say, just "DO IT," and I say do it with a S.M.I.L.E.

SHARING

MEMORIES

IS 

LAUDABLY/LAUGHINGLY

EXCITING

Memories are Like Wind Wolves

What is a Wind Wolf?

     In the Autumn of the year, the tall grasses dry to a soft golden brown in California's Wind Wolves Preserve. As the steady breezes ripple over the fields of grass, it creates the soft waves that the Native Americans call wind wolves. They say it is the spirits of those animals who once lived and ran over these very fields.

Our fondest memories are like these Wind Wolves, they run softly through our minds bringing back those treasured feelings we want to experiernce over and over again.

     I created this paper sculpture measuring about 3 feet wide, from 13 sided shapes designed by Hank Goebel in 1975 for the Downey Museum of Art's annual Introductions exhibit. In 2007 I received permission from his daughter to use these "Hank Shapes" for my own art. She worked at the Wind Wolves Preserve. It was here that I heard the story of the Wind Wolves and was inspired to create this sculpture in his memory. 

     This year's RootsTech2023 will focus on "Sharing Stories" using all of the digital technologies available to us including social media, such as FaceBook, Instagram and now Marco Polo. 

     The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has announced it's theme for the year:

Your Memories Can Live Forever on FamilySearch

Your Memories Can Live Forever on FamilySearch

Miss Universe of the Dead

My friend, Aaron Marie Gillett, said she may never be a proselyting missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but that she could become the “Miss Universe” of the Dead!”

I told her that with all of the new digital tools available to us we could really become experts in finding our deceased ancestors.

Everyone can have a free account on FamilySearch Family Tree and can register for free for RootsTech 2023, the online genealogy/family history conference March 2 – 4, next week. As members of the Church we have access to free accounts on affiliate sites of FamilySearch: Ancestry, My Heritage, Find My Past, Geneanet, and Filiae.

The theme for 2023 Family History Temple and Family History Consultants as well as Stake and Ward leaders responsible for this great work is:

Your Memories Can Live Forever on FamilySearch

Kazuo Ishiguro, Nobel Prize in Literature Laureate, said recently that, “The exchanging of stories isn’t just fun or desirable, it’s something essential to our well-being.”

So when your daughter says to you for the 15^th time, “Mommie, tell me the story of the Lost Opal,” you tell it one more time. She was part of that story, and it truly does mean more to her that just a fairy tale. It tells her that prayer works. When we lose something precious, the Holy Ghost will reveal it’s location to us when we pray with the faith of a little child.

I shared this story in a display for our Stake Relief Society event this past Saturday. The theme was “Let Your Light So Shine Before Men, That They May See Your Good Works and Glorify Your Father which is in Heaven.”

In 3 Nephi 18:24 Jesus Christ told the people on this continent after His resurrection, that “Behold, I am the light which ye shall hold up…”

Because He wants every person who has ever lived upon this earth to have an opportunity to hear His gospel and accept or reject the saving ordinances thereof, we as Latter-day Saints research our own ancestors and by proxy, baptize them in our temples, thus releasing them from spirit prison. This is an essential part of Heavenly Father's Plan. Note that we only do this for our own ancestors not anyone else's.

Let us all put our memories into FamilySearch and Let Our Light so Shine!