TRACING FAMILY. Digos City Vice Mayor Johari Baña (seated right) and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Digos stake (diocese) president, Atty. Nikkolo Marco Aurelio Cortes, (seated next to Baña) listens to Bing Concha (standing left) as he discusses ways on how to trace anyone's family tree up to the 6th generation using the Family Tree search app. Through the help of church volunteers, some residents managed to trace their lineage during the kick-off of the two-day Family Search Exhibit at the Second Floor of G-Mall in Digos City on Friday (September 28, 2019). (PNA photo by Eldie S. Aguirre)
DIGOS CITY – The Christian sect aims to provide assistance for anyone interested to know where their nearest of kin and distance relatives originally came from by using an online app.
Lawyer Nikkolo Marco Aurelio Cortes, stake (diocese) president of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in this city said Friday that the app is available online to those with Android phones and may also be accessed online on the web.
“This is our benevolent gesture of support to our government’s celebration of the National Family Week that kicked-off on September 23. In our mind, scores will enjoy the experience of a lifetime, especially so if they successfully trace the roots of their respective families up to several generations,” Cortes said.
Cortes expects to serve at least a thousand individuals here through the church's two-day “Family Search Exhibit” located at the G-Mall here.
Job Fernandez, Digos City stake public affairs director, said the church brought their computer experts and volunteer workers here to help those who are interested to avail of the service, which is free of charge.
“One of our Church’s basic belief is the importance of families and its eternal nature, thus placing a high value on preserving and enhancing the relationship therein. And we believe that saving the Filipino family is not just a matter of religion or faith, but a social endeavor that must involve the church, community, and the state,” Fernandez said.
The Family Search Exhibit is also being done simultaneously in other places where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is present, church officials said.
Jane Perez, one of those who availed of the free genealogy service quipped that at first, she found it hard to trace the family tree since it requires the right information for the search engine to respond with the right information.
“It feels tedious when you cannot remember the birthdate, exact names of your nearest of kin, but in the long run I find it exciting to know where some of my relatives did emanate,” Perez said.
Bing Concha, a senior citizen said he already reached as far as the sixth generation of his family tree.
“I’m very, very happy to trace who are my great, great grandfather, and grandmother. If it’s not for this app I will never know who they are,” Concha said. (PNA)
