From the BillionGraves blog:

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent most of their time sharing messages of faith with community members and helping those in need of service. They still do, but the mandate for social distancing has changed their approach.

Many missionaries are now spending up to ten hours a week taking photos of gravestones to help preserve cemetery data. They are using the BillionGraves app which automatically tags every image with GPS coordinates so that the gravestones can be plotted on a cemetery map. This allows future volunteers to tell what has already been documented, helps families to find their ancestors, and enables researchers to see who is buried nearby.

Local communities have been publishing newspaper articles about the missionary’s service at the cemetery. Individuals approach the missionaries at large cemeteries to ask what they are doing and to thank them. Other people call the missionaries to request that gravestone photos be taken of their family burial plots in their backyards or on their farmland. This has given missionaries an opportunity to talk with people about the importance of families and eternal life.

Continue reading on the BillionGraves blog.

The post Missionaries Taking Photos of Gravestones first appeared on LDS365: Resources from the Church & Latter-day Saints worldwide.