July 14, 2013
The True Beauty of the Temple
As I was sitting at the temple front desk, an older gentleman who had completed his temple work for the day came and sat down. It was evident from the beginning he was there to talk. He was courteous and allowed me to welcome temple patrons and thank those that had finish their work for the day.
His name was Brother Hankin from Kent. A fellow temple worker, Elder Littlefield, had visited with him the week prior. This good brother wanted to tell me about his conversion some forty three years ago. He was in the Royal Navy and had developed some habits that were seriously jeopardizing his health. (He could drink booze faster than the Guinness World Record and Guinness offered to schedule him for a demonstration). His wife had been tracked up by the missionaries and she allowed them to come in. Making a long story short, he was able to immediately get on top of his word of wisdom problems, receive the lessons and be baptized.
Now, back to his comments that caused me to reflect on the beauty of temples. His feeling was that too many people attend the temple in a rush and never quite settle on what they have heard and participated in. Said he, “the temple and all of its surroundings are beautiful. The Spirit of the Lord is evident in His House. But the real beauty of temple worship is the sealing ordinance where families are sealed for time and eternity by proper priesthood authority”. I thought to myself, thank you, Brother Hankin, for bearing your testimony in an informal setting. I agree with you.
In the D&C 128:9-10 we read:
v9. It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of – a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a adispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given. Hence, whatsoever those men did in bauthority, in the name of the Lord, and did it truly and faithfully, and kept a proper and faithful record of the same, it became a law on earth and in heaven, and could not be annulled, according to the decrees of the great cJehovah. This is a faithful saying. Who can hear it?
v10. And again, for the precedent, Matthew 16:18,19: And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this arock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
All six of this brothers children (mostly daughters) have left the church or are not active. My heart ached when he told me that. But they were BIC (born in the covenant) and will someday may come to understand that the binding power of priesthood ordinances, can bring them back to the family fold, both in heaven and earth.
Your mother and I are doing sacred work for both the living and the dead. Even we, at times, are having to step back and renew our understanding of the importance of this work.
Today, I witnessed the proxy sealings of family members from Uganda. An old gray haired Uganda African and a younger African sister brought in dozens of family file cards. The name he used for temple purposes was “Johnson”. His real name, I won’t even try to spell. The names were difficult to pronounce but the sealer did it well to the nods of the participants. I’m still in awe of the faithful Saints who come to the London Temple from ALL over the world. It’s like an icon for them because of the temple accommodations, cafeteria, washers and dryers that are available to them here, but not at other temples closer to their homes. They come from Africa, Jamaica, France, US, Germany, Sweden and other Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries and on and on.
It has been a rewarding week. My knee continues to heal. My supervisor, Brother Crossland, has allowed me time to rest my knee each day. (Until today.) It has helped tremendously. We worked with the French members and, today, I worked with a brother who spoke only French. The only way I knew what he was saying was by letting the words go through my mind in English. I think he did it perfect!
Don’t let the true beauty of the Lord’s house pass by your life. Be an active participant in temple work. You will be blessed.
Love, Dad
Dear family and friends,
on a lighter note,
We have never been so thankful to get a week over. Somehow, the tension leading up to our “HI” on Sunday night was thick enough to cut with a knife. Both we and the Littlefield’s felt like the blind leading the blind because we didn’t know what was expected of us and were afraid of standing up in front of everyone and making fools of ourselves. I mean, just how much can you say about yourself and sound like you are a normal person? Do you brag or do you say only a little bit? In the end we both showed some of the pictures we happened to have saved on our computers and talked longer than we should have done. Oh well. The Littlefield’s have been having a lot of computer problems and their pictures (scenes from Nigeria, Russia and the Navaho Nation) kind of got lost mid-way through their presentation. I felt so bad, they could have kept everyone glued to their seats for the whole evening cause those pictures were so good. (We’ve seen them and oh, the stories.)
We also showed the DVD Julie made for us At least two of the sisters from the states came up in tears. It made them miss their grandchildren so very much.
I really wanted to describe what it is like to serve in the temple to everyone. Well, the only way I can describe it is with a poem about a poor sailor, shipwrecked on a piece of drift-wood, in the middle of the sea.
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!
There are two sets of spirally stairs in the temple and if you want to go ANY WHERE, you got to go either up or down, all the day long.
Stairs, stairs everywhere and not a lift to take!
My leg muscles are pretty darn tired after a 6-7 hour temple shift of climbing stairs. That’s all I have to say about that!
BUT, we love the work and feel like we are growing by leaps and bounds and stairs.
Love to all.
Mom and Carolee
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