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Welcome to our Blog

 The Fresno California North Stake is located in the San Joaquin Valley of California half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  We have been decicated for many years to training our Family History Center staff and Ward Temple and Family History Consultants. This blog may evolve but it's initial purpose is to provide a place for us to publish links to the videos of our recorded classes and the PDF files of the PowerPoint slide decks for these presentation. Our presentation are housed at YouTube in our channel - Fresno North Stake Family History Center Trainings.  These are PowerPoint presentations and PDF documents of these slide decks are located here for your convenience. All work hosted here is created under the copyright of Robert Givens.  The material is free to be shared as long as credit for it's creation is retained.
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Understanding the FHAR Report and How to Use It (July 8, 2026)

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The topic is "Understanding the FHAR Report and How to Use It."  The Family History Activity Report is our primary report showing family history activity in our various units (wards/branches, stakes/districts). We will cover the history of the report, what it is and isn't, where to find it and who has access, and definitions of terms used in the report.  Then we will take it section by section and explain what is reported. We will conclude the lesson by discussing ways your unit can use the FHAR to set up family history goals. This class is especially important to leaders (both at the ward and stake levels as this report is the single most useful tool available to help wards/branches and stakes/districts know how active their unit is in temple and family history work. Link to the Recording Link to PDF of the Slides  
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Get to Know Your Ancestors with Memories at FamilySearch (June 10, 2026)

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Get to Know Your Ancestors with Memories at FamilySearch: You can call this class "Everything You Wanted to Know About Memories" as we made this tour comprehensive.  Come join us as we discuss this wonderful feature at FamilySearch. Link to a PDF Document of the Slides Link to the video of this class  
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New Consultant Quandary - What to teach? (May 27, 2026)

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  This class explores all the different types of topics and resources you can teach to patrons.  We will start by considering the capabilities of the patron, the devices you can teach from, some selected topics you might want to address and the wealth of programs, campaigns, third party products and apps that can be used to assist your patron in learning about their family.  This class is designed to introduce many of the available resources so consultants can see the wealth of tools that are at their disposal. Link to the presentation Link to the PDF of the slides
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Celebrate America250 with FamilySearch (May 13, 2026)

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Celebrate America250 with FamilySearch: Are you familiar with the America250 initiative that has been formulated to help us celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year around July 4th?  They are planning to make this a huge event this year and have asked local and national groups to join in on the fun.  FamilySearch has accepted the call and has prepared an "America250 Challenge" where the Tree at FamilySearch is the center of focus.  Watch this class and see how you, your family, neighbors, and even community can participate. This is a once in a life-time opportunity to celebrate our nation's founding and recognize our own family heroes who have made sacrifices so we might enjoy the freedoms we enjoy today. Link to the class recording Link to the PDF of the slide deck  
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Working with Patrons and Preparing a Lesson (April 22, 2026)

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This topic is one of our beginner lessons: Working With Patrons and Preparing a Lesson.  We will stress the one-on-one teaching model and offer suggestions on how to best prepare to give a Discovery Lesson that will benefit your patron and meet their needs.  Two model lessons will be demonstrated - one a get to know your ancestor lesson and the other a research discovery experience.  This is a great lesson for anyone who is newly called or hasn't had much experience in actually teaching others about family history. Priesthood leaders can also benefit from seeing this presentation as it can guide them in helping consultants learn their craft. Link to Presentation Link to PDF of slides  
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What's New at FamilySearch 2026 (April 8, 2026)

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This class reviews FamilySearch's growth by the numbers, discuss New and Improved Services, explain Guardrails and Validation features and Tree Accuracy Tools, and, finally, introduces Manage Trees. This is a must view for any user of FamilySearch. Video Link:  https://youtu.be/u14XmG5dzrM PDF of the Slides
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Indexing Out, Get Involved In (March 25, 2026)

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This class provides a short history of indexing and explains why it was stopped, then introduces Get Involved and shows where to find it.  The bulk of the lesson will cover an introduction to the different activities that can be done in Get Involved.  Then it will show how to use the Get Involved app.  Finally we will demonstrate how your activity in Indexing and Get Involved has been tracked since 2006 - as found in My Contributions and Reports Beta (for LDS members with certain callings.) Link to the Recording Link to a PDF of the Slides  
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