The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is donating US$2 million to the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City to help Native American Indian tribes learn more about their ancestral roots.
Elder Kyle S. McKay of the Seventy and several Native American Church members presented the gift during a reception at the museum on Sunday, October 17, 2021.
The museum, which honors many Native American Indian Tribes, will use the gift to build a FamilySearch center and fill other needs. The center will include digital interactive exhibits for Native American families. Many will be able to learn more at FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch is the Church’s nonprofit genealogy arm.
James Pepper Henry, director of First Americans Museum, said that “Native Americans have been moved around so much from different places that a lot of our families have lost contact with each other. Having a center here is a way for us to connect our families together again.”
“First Americans feel the yearning to find their ancestors, and we feel with our FamilySearch technology we can make this happen,” Elder McKay said. “We are donating our expertise and consultants who can build a center suited to the needs of the museum.”
Later in the afternoon, Church President and Prophet Russell M. Nelson spoke to Latter-day Saints in Kansas and Oklahoma in a virtual devotional that originated from a broadcast studio in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Kansas is home to 38,000 Latter-day Saints and 75 congregations. Another 49,000 members live in Oklahoma, worshiping in 93 congregations. Oklahoma also has one temple.
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
