How to Find Ordinances to Take to the Temple

By Alexis Tanner Lane

One of my favorite things about going to the temple is taking family names and doing the work for my own ancestors. My mother is a convert to the church and we are newer converts on my father’s side. So needless to say, we have lots of family history work to do. And I love it! I have endless opportunities to take names to the temple.

My husband’s family is quite the opposite. Every line of his family joined the church from about the beginning of the restoration and he has professional genealogists working on finding his family tree. Many people in his situation would consider his work “done” and would be unable to find names to take to the temple. However, with these three tips for finding ordinances, I was able to find names for my husband on his family tree to take to the temple too.

Ordinances Ready

The easiest and simplest way to find family names to take to the temple is to go to familysearch.org. This will require that you have set up an account and attached your family tree. Log in to your account and click on the Temple tab at the top. Then click on Ordinances Ready. This will take you to a page that will show you the different ordinances done at the temple.  All you have to do is click on the ordinance that you would like a name for.  The system will then search your family tree looking for ordinances that need to be done. When I did this on my husband’s account, whose family history work is “done,” the website was still able to find four names under each category! Then you just request the name, print it, and take it to the temple with you on your next trip. 

Recommended Tasks

Another way to find ordinances to take to the temple is to look on the homepage of Familysearch.org once you’ve signed in.  On the right side of the homepage you’ll see a section called Recommended Tasks.  Click on the tab that says temple and you’ll see a list of family names that have green and yellow temples next to their name.  If you click on the green or yellow temple image, you will see the ordinance that has not been completed yet. You can click on View Details to see more and either request the name or if it’s yellow, see what other information is needed so that you can take their name to the temple. This is also a great place to start when doing family history work.

Searching Your Family Tree

The third and most difficult of the three is to search through your family tree for ordinances to be done. On the FamilySearch website, click on Family Tree and then Tree in the upper left hand corner. Here you will find your family tree. At this point you can click on the arrows and look through your family lines for green and yellow temples. As a side note, dark blue temples mean the work is in progress and gray means the work is completed. As you look through your lines, don’t forget to look through the children and see if there are any extended family members that need work done too.

With many of the temples in the United States opening to phase three soon, this would be a great time to take family names to the temple. Family history work is even more than helping our family that has already crossed the veil. As Wendy Watson Nelson said, “Family history work will bring miracles to your life and the lives of those you love.” 

Alexis Tanner is a mother of five, podcaster, and writer. She loves all things about summer, reading, family history work, taking her kids on adventures, and podcasting with her husband at the Parenting In Real Life Podcast. You can find Alexis on Instagram @alexistannerlane.