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We are all familiar with the plethora of stories genealogy workers tell to encourage others to keep up the pursuit of their dead ancestors. For example, two LDS men driving to a conference pick up a man (later thought to be a Nephite) who urges them to do their genealogy work and then disappears from the back seat of the car. On another occasion, a lady who has trouble tracing her genealogical line prays for help. While she is out of the room where her typewriter is located, she hears its keys clicking. Investigating, she finds the missing information typed in the proper places on her pedigree chart. And so the stories go: A stranger appears to a man in the temple and warns him to get busy on his genealogical sheets that a couple had left home on the table. A man is instructed by a stranger to visit a graveyard, where he finds his missing family names. A man is instructed to go to a pawnshop, where he finds his genealogical data in Bible. In exchange for a meal, a Nephite gives a lady a book containing information which she needs to extend her family genealogy. And a woman finds the missing names she has been searching for in a newspaper left mysteriously in her car. All of these stories make two main points: first, genealogical research must be important because the Lord helps people complete it; and, second, if one keeps struggling faithfully ahead, not getting discouraged, he will eventually succeed.
Source: Wilson, William A., BYU Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, 47.
If genealogical research is important, so, of course, is temple work, both for oneself and for one's ancestors. And once again circulating oral narratives stress the importance of this work. For example, couples who have not been sealed in the temple are visited by mysterious strangers (usually Nephites) who warn them to make haste in getting their work done. Couples who have been to the temple pick up old men along the highways who urge them to attend the temple often because time is short, warn them that otherwise they will not be ready when the Savior comes, and then disappear. Stories are legion about temple workers missing one of the names on a list and then having this mistake made known in a miraculous way. But the most widely circulated story today is probably the following:
A lady in Salt Lake City, Utah, was desirous of going to the temple but was afraid to leave her children at home alone. She hadn't been able to locate a suitable baby-sitter but finally she did. She went to the temple a little apprehensive and about halfway through the session she felt so uneasy that she got up to leave. As she got to the back of the room, a temple worker stopped her to find out what the matter was. She, the lady, said she felt like she was urgently needed at home. The temple worker promised her that if she would return to her seat and finish the session everything would be fine. So she did. After the session was over she hurried home, and sure enough, there were fire engines and police cars all around her house. As she was running to her house, a neighbor lady stopped her and explained that her daughter had fallen into the ditch and couldn't be found. As the lady came to the house, there was her daughter soaking wet and crying. Her mother grabbed her and hugged her. After, the little girl gave her mother a note and explained that the lady who'd pulled her out of the ditch had given it to her. There on the note was the name of the lady for whom this woman had gone through the temple that day.
In some versions of this story it is the new baby-sitter herself who pulls the child from the water. In these instances the sitter then disappears and the mother later recalls that the person whose work she had done in the temple that day had the same name as the baby- sitter. In one version the mother, and her husband, though faithful in other duties, have not been attending the temple and finally decide to go only after their bishop makes a personal request. In another version the couple actually call home, learn that their child is missing, but, after praying and getting a feeling that all will be well, remain and complete the session. But whatever form the story takes, it serves always, as one informant said, "as a testimony to the truthfulness of temple work." These stories, then, not only mirror our concern with genealogical research and temple work, they also reinforce our belief that these pursuits are of God and thus persuade us to participate more eagerly in them.
Source: Wilson, William A., BYU Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, 47 - 48.