As we touch the Temple, the Temple touches us

In General Conference last year, they talked about touching the Temple, that even if you couldn't go into the Temple that you could go there and touch it, and that in doing so, it would touch you. I took my kids there and we walked around the grounds and eventually went up to the Temple and touched it. It was a really good experience for us all, and the kids still talk about it today.

A week ago yesterday I went through the Temple for my endowments. I was able to go with Barb and her parents. It was really quite amazing to me how wonderful the experience was, how spiritual it was, and how much sense it all made to me in terms of the order of things, the meaning of things, and the symbolism of what was conveyed. If you read on the internet about what "happens in the temple" from the people that hate Mormons, it is really quite shocking what they say. There are truly a lot of terrible things written about what happens in the Temple. I had gone to a Temple preparation class with Barbara and I was able to learn a great deal about the meaning and motivation of going to the Temple through my wonderful instructors. And going through the Temple for my endowments was a wholly wonderful experience, completely and utterly different than what I had read about it from the sites that supposedly inform people of what goes on there.

It is easy, VERY easy, to see how people would find the Temple or LDS faith to be cultish given what is written on the internet. Given what actually happens in the Temple, it is amazing how completely different it is from the stories people seem to tell of it.

I certainly can't speak for other people that have gone through for their endowments, and I can't speak for what happened in the past. But for myself, I can say that nothing even REMOTELY inappropriate occurred there, which is directly contrary to what people say "online".

I had taken to reading a few of the anti Mormon sites when my Mother had been researching the Church and she had encouraged me to read some of the information as she had done. At that time, I had already read some, but I read a great deal more to understand better where she was coming from. It makes sense how easy it would be to be frightened or in the very least concerned if you were not a member and read the information on the internet about the Church.

My time in the Temple up to now has been absolutely wonderful, rewarding, and extremely Spiritually fulfilling. I truly love being there, and I look forward to being sealed in the Temple this Saturday to my wonderful fiance'.

I can honestly say that the Temple has touched me. I look forward to going back often throughout my life and my marriage. It truly is a blessing, and it truly does bless us for going. I know because I have received a very specific and real, tangible blessing from going to the Temple, and I have written about that here in the past.

I am thankful that we have Temples here on the earth, and I look forward to my wife and I making our house "like unto a Temple".

Signs

I haven't written in a long while. I've had reasons, some valid, some not. I could explain them, but they don't really matter, to be honest. The thing to do is to get started again. :)


First I think it would probably be a good idea to talk a bit about things that have happened in the past that I haven't written about. It is an obvious thing that I should have been writing more since it is so easy to forget things, especially as I get older.


One day last year I was driving to Barb's cousin's (Debi) house. My daughter Abbie was in the back seat with my son. She says to me, out of the clear blue sky "Daddy, you need to slow down". I didn't know why at the time she would say something like that since I was already going a little bit less than the speed limit. She said again "Daddy, slow down!". I did. She had never said anything like that to me before in my life. Next thing I know, a truck pulls out in front of me, clearly not having seen me, from a side street. I couldn't believe how hard I had to hit my brakes to not hit him. If I hadn't already slowed down, I wouldn't have been able to keep from hitting him.


The first time I tried to have family home evening with my kids, I had nothing other than the Book of Mormon that the Missionaries had given me. I felt full of the Spirit and confident in my ability to read to them from the scriptures. I got something like three or four verses in, and my then four year old son and two year old daughter, for some inexplicable reason, became bored. :) I eventually had successful family home evenings but they began with things like songs and pictures and props that the kids could more readily associate with and have fun with.


So I was surprised when Barb told me that she had a prompting to give my children each a hard cover Book of Mormon. I actually very nearly told her it was a bad idea. To be honest, the sentences had already formed in my head to tell her that she shouldn't do it, because they wouldn't be interested. But I have learned to follow and to honor promptings, and I am so glad I didn't say anything to counter Barb's prompting. So she gave each of them their own Book of Mormon with their name on it. I didn't think much of it since I had no real expectation of anything happening or any interest on the part of the kids. I think it was the next day that they both discovered pictures in their Book of Mormon. They asked me about the pictures, and I explained each of them to the best of my knowledge at the time. There was a picture of Joseph Smith, and a picture of Jesus among them. Also, there was a picture of Moroni with the gold plates in a box. Unbelievably to me, the next day, when Barb was over to the house for Family Home Evening, Alex began telling her what was in each of the pictures. At the time I had explained to the kids about the pictures, Abbie had listened very intently and Alex seemed decidedly disinterested. But here he was, pronouncing Joseph Smith correctly and telling Barb about each picture. I had thought my daughter the one most likely to remember things, and she did, but Alex, who I had written off as not getting ANYTHING out of my discussion, remembered virtually every word I had said!


Abbie began carrying her Book of Mormon around the house with her, and sleeping with it at night. She absolutely loves to just turn the pages and touch them, even though most of the time, the pages she is looking at only have writing she can't understand. Barb and I each hand wrote a short dedication in the front of both Books of Mormon.


Another time last year, my Mother came over to my house to watch the movie "Up" with my kids, Barbara and I. Abbie was still carrying her Book of Mormon with her EVERYWHERE, and so there she sat, next to her Grandma (my Mom), with her Book of Mormon. I quite literally could not believe my ears or my eyes when I saw Abbie hand the Book of Mormon to my Mom. She told my Mom, and I quote "Here. Hold this. You should read it." I felt really tiny in my chair, thinking that my Mother would think I had asked Abbie to say something like that to her, which I surely did NOT! My Mother was and still is quite negative about the Mormon Church, and I would absolutely not do anything to confront her with something about the Church and least of all would it be through actions of my daughter! But there was Abbie the little Missionary just barely three years old. I have a lot to learn from my kids!


I'll post more later on, but I wanted to capture a few things I could remember from the time I wasn't blogging (but should have been).

A Message to my Ward

In early January of this year, I was asked to speak to my ward about Doctrine and Covenants 88. I put together an admittedly long talk, and I had figured I would pick and choose from it depending on whether I had fifteen minutes or as little as ten. As it turns out, all I really had was three minutes, and so I improvised and took four or five minutes to give the highlights of what I remembered from my talk merged with what the Spirit guided me to say. Here now, for future reference, is the entire talk I had intended to give that day.

I’d like to thank every person in this Ward that has inspired me with their life experiences, their testimonies or commentary. I’d like to thank every person that told me they were glad to see me here, invited me to their home, or just smiled at me in the hallways or at the grocery store. Those are things that make me feel welcome here. They are things that make me feel like one of you. And those feelings are more important than any of you realize.

The scripture I was asked to use as inspiration for my talk is Doctrine and Covenants 88 verse 133. Being new to the Church, I wasn’t completely familiar with when section 88 came about or why, so I took the liberty of looking it up. It turns out that it was a revelation given on December 27th, 1832, and it was about the Temple, the work of the ministry, and about schools.

One hundred and forty four years later, in 1976, then BYU President Dallin H. Oaks said of section 88 that “The Lord commanded that the teacher ‘should be first in the house, ... that he may be an example’ ”.

Then, in reference to 88-133 specifically, he says “The students must also be worthy.”.

But let’s read through D&C 88-133 itself now:

“Art though a brother or brethren?”

This first portion seems to make it clear that he is talking to everyone. There is no one excluded.

“I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Elder Oaks explained that when the first LDS school was established, back in 1833, the teachers were instructed to say just that to the students as they entered the school.

“in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant to fellowship,”

The teachers’ greeting to the student continued with that last bit. But there was more.

“in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God”

How much more steadfast in being your friend and brother could they possibly be than to have a determination, as they said, that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable?!? Then, continuing...

“in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless,”

This is precisely what we should all be striving for in this life.

“in thanksgiving, forever and ever, Amen.”

Now that we’ve heard the whole of D&C 88 verse 133, let us reflect on what it says and ponder how it might apply to us. First, I think in light of what Elder Oaks said, we need to be mindful that this verse in particular was a greeting given to each student that attended the school. Next, we need to remember that we are all students here to learn, every one of us.

To me, the single most important part of this entire verse is the part that reads: “...in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God...”

If I think of how my son Alex would explain this, he would speak of the love and friendship that the Transformer Bumblebee has for Sam Witwicky in the movie Transformers. Bumblebee isn’t related to Sam, he isn’t even a human being, he’s a giant robot that transforms into a car. But he cares for Sam and would do anything in his power to help him. Bumblebee goes so far as to very nearly sacrifice his own life to protect Sam. My son saw the movie Transformers and he has a very sincere love for Bumblebee, he adores him, and I submit to you that the reason my son Alex loves Bumblebee so very much is not because of how much the computers made him look real. It isn’t because of the voice acting or the special effects, it isn’t because he transforms - let’s face it, every transformer in the movie transforms; rather it is because Bumblebee, more than any other character in the entire movie, including Sams’ own parents, risks his life to protect Sam.

I personally think it is extremely important to note that in almost the entire movie, Bumblebee has no dialogue. He shows Sam that he cares through his actions, not his words.

If my son, who was just three years old when he first saw the movie, could identify how genuinely Bumblebee cared for Sam, how he was his friend, how he sacrificed of himself, then imagine how easily an adult or young adult in our ward can identify these things?

Again, the portion of my assigned scripture I am most interested in talking to you about today is - “...in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God...”

Let me now reflect upon my daughter Abbie. She has only recently turned three. In 2007, one of the movies I saw with my kids was called “Wall-E”. In this movie, there is again, virtually no dialogue from the main characters. In the entire first half of the movie, there is no dialogue at all! We see the movie’s namesake, Wall-E going about his daily life and eventually encountering another robot we will call “Eva”. It turns out her name is Eve, but Wall-E can’t get the name quite right, so he calls her “Eva”.

As we watch the movie, we see what amounts to a courtship between two robots. In the first three quarters of the movie, it is very one sided, Wall-E is courting Eva, but Eva could basically care less. It is only later, when Eva realizes just how much Wall-E cares for her, that she is able to return the favor. When Wall-E needs her most, when he is near to death himself, Eva is there for him. Eva makes it abundantly clear that she will do absolutely anything it takes to help Wall-E.

My daughter Abbie, who was just two years old when she first saw the movie, absolutely adored Eva, and she still does. She talked about how Eva helped Wall-E, and how much Wall-E needed Eva’s help to survive.

As God’s children, we need to take this to heart. One last time, from the scripture - “...in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God...” Realize the last part of that - “through the grace of God”. It doesn’t say “easily”, it doesn’t say “by accident”, and it sure doesn’t say “without any effort”.

I have to extend a sincere thank you to all the members of the ward that were here for me when I joined. The people that knew my name, that knew how to pronounce it. The people that showed me how happy they were that I was here. The people that continued to do those things long after I was Baptized. I needed those things. They helped me, and they continue to help me. The truth is, we all need those things. And we need them almost all the time, whether we realize it or not. Who here can say they don’t feel better when someone reaches out to them with a sincere heart?

This is a ward family, and we need to treat each other as family, but we also need to take it further when we can. I testify to you that reaching out to others is something that helps you as much if not more than the people you reach out to! If you are down and feel like you are having a bad day - look around you, there is probably someone here that is worse off than you are. See if you can help cheer them up, you might find it helps you deal with your own situation.

I think the most important part of all of this is to really understand the time frame involved here. It might be easy to think of how important it is to be there for a new member that is just investigating the Church. It might be easy to think of trying to help the member that just stopped going to Church.

I submit to you that perhaps the most important time is actually in between.

Think of all the people that are here in the ward, that first arrived to the ward strong, and that everyone just assumes is still just as strong today in their faith as when they first got here.. There is a transition that happens between being strong in faith and losing faith. For most people, that transition doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over weeks, or months... or years.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of how to make certain that my upcoming marriage will be for all eternity. I think it is extremely critical that I never stop dating Barbara. No matter how busy I get, no matter how much I think she knows that I love her, I need to continue doing all the things I do now while we are dating, and then some.

Our ward is the same way. We need to be there for our members whether they just joined, whether they just left, or whether they have been here for years and seem to be extremely strong in their faith.

We all need to be uplifted, and we can all do that for each other. I believe very strongly that a huge part of what keeps people active in the Church is recharging their spiritual batteries. This comes from reading scripture, from family home evening, and from going to the entire three hour block on Sundays. But another part of that is the feeling that you belong, the feeling that you are loved, the feeling that people have your back. Without that, the journey feels a little more lonely. And we shouldn’t have that in a ward family.

Jesus Christ atoned for all of our sins in the garden of Gethsemane. He alone saved us all.

We, together, need to do what we can for our ward members. All of them.

I leave you with one of my most favorite scriptures from all of the Bible, a scripture that, when I have it sincerely in my heart, allows me to be absolutely righteous:

From St. Matthew Chapter 25, verse 40:
“...Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Let us reach out to our brethren, be there for them, raise them up in their times of need. Our entire ward is strengthened when we help one another.

I testify to you my true and complete belief that the Book of Mormon was translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I testify to you that Thomas S. Monson is our Prophet today. I testify to you that through the Holy Ghost, through a sincere and soft heart, that we can do absolutely anything we set our minds to do.

I say all of these things in the blessed and sacred name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.