Archive for category: Temple

Thursday – I was able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple to do 5 initiatory names for family… 3 on Jimmy’s side from Georgia… 2 on my side from Norway. I am so very grateful for the promises and blessings in the initiatory. So grateful! Such a good reminder that when we are righteous, we are strengthened by God. Friday night, Jimmy and I went with the Stake Presidency (he is the stake clerk) to the temple for an endowment session. We each did a family name.

The temple is just a great place… so peaceful… full of truth… full of LIGHT… full of goodness… full of simplicity. I’ve decided one of the best ‘survival tips’ for mothers is to attend the temple as much as possible as it brings a great peace and perspective to our lives. Making it happen is tricky. We asked Melanie (aka… Mary Poppins) to help Hannah babysit the littles (since Liza has been a bit of a panic this past week). We asked Jimmy’s cousin Jeana (who lives by the Oquirrh Mountain temple) to watch Scotty as I don’t dare leave him with a teen babysitter yet. It worked out so nice and I’m grateful for those who helped make our temple date happen so smoothly.

p.s. so not a spiritual thought, but see my black boots in the picture. For years I’ve needed Sunday boots to stay warm. For years I’ve worn little ballet flats and I froze. I just didn’t want to try to pretend that I was trendy – because I’m just so not trendy. I finally decided this was the year. Shopped online at Kohls. Boots on sale for $36.99. $10 discount here, $10 point-redemption there, plus 30% off and they = about $5. Not the perfect style, but they are comfy and warm and perfect for the price.

A few weeks ago, Jimmy was researching his Grandmother’s Biological line (vs the line she was adopted into). He connected several names and was able to reserve the names to do temple work. It was a mother and her children. So neat, especially considering it is within 4 generations for him.

Hannah was looking forward to going to do baptisms on her 12th birthday so she and Jimmy went that evening. She said going to the temple was “The best way to spend a birthday! It was an AMAZING experience and I’m so glad I could go!”

Today was the Ogden Temple Rededication. Jimmy and Abe went to the 10 a.m. session at the stake center. It was crowded all the way back to the stage in the cultural hall. Hannah and I went to the 4 p.m. session and they closed the curtain to the gym – so definitely not as many people came later in the day. It is so special to be able to attend dedications with our children!

President Eyring, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Linda K. Burton, Ronald Rasband (plus a few others) were there.

I wanted to remember so many of the messages I heard.

But I didn’t write anything down because I wanted to really hear their words… and see their faces.

And thus… my memory fails me and I can’t remember much.

But I can remember how I felt:
– Peaceful.
– Calm.
– Full of the Spirit.
– Blessed.
– Grateful for family.
– Glad to be there.

I want to remember that though there is no TIME in eternity… this mortal life is finite.
“For where you [spend your TIME], there will your heart be also.”
Do I spend my time on eternal matters and in the house of God?
Do my children know how important the temple is to me because I take the time to attend?

Set a regular schedule for yourself to attend the temple.
– We have daily prayer and scripture study.
– Weekly Family home evening.
– Monthly Home & Visiting Teaching.
– Yearly Tithing Settlement.
We are encouraged to attend the temple as often as we can.
Set a goal to be there… not a vague goal (like “I will go more often.”)
but a set time/schedule and DON’T LET ANYTHING STOP YOU FROM GOING.

While waiting for the rededication to start, I was reading about Alma and his experience teaching in Ammonihah (wicked city, it was!). He left mourning the wickedness of the people there. An angel told him to be of good cheer because he was faithful, told him to go back and preach repent or be destroyed! Alma ‘speedily’ obeyed. He came in a different part of the city and found Amulek, a Nephite who was prepared by God to help Alma. God Does Provide! God provides a way when we ‘speedily’ and faithfully obey.

I know we are blessed when we attend the temple. I know our families are blessed from our efforts to spend time at the temple. God provides a way for us to do important and eternal things if we will speedily obey!

Dallin H. Oaks talked about perilous times, sicknesses, disasters, persecution, wars in these latter-days … yet to come.
He shared how the disciples of Christ will be protected from these things as they spend time in the House of the Lord.

“God’s work and His Glory = to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”
It’s about families… about linking families generation to generation.
About making families stronger so that we can be eternally together.
Temples are about families.

I always love singing the Spirit of God with the Hosanna Shout.
I think of the Kirtland temple dedication and the miracles that occurred there:

Joseph Smith recalled that during the dedication, “George A. Smith arose and began to prophesy, when a noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place.” (History of the Church, 2:428.)

There are miracles on earth!