I Love To See The Temple....

The Draper Temple dedication is going on right now. Last Monday Larry and I were able to work there as people come to see this beautiful building. We were in the sealing room talking with people as they came in and were given the assignment to bear testimony of the work that happens in the temples. I was so awe struck by the little children. Lots of them. I was also very taken by the way their parents would stop and explain to them what the temple was about and what happens in each room. Since we were in the sealing room it was extra fun. I found myself talking about marriage and what it means to be sealed as a family. I was able to tell the children about the time we sealed Ashley to our family and how her four older brothers were there to be a part of it. The temple seemed more like heaven because of the children. Now I understand why us old people need to go more often. To become as a little child.




There is an article in the BYU magazine this month by Elder Holland. The title is Lessons From Liberty Jail. He talks about it as a "Prison-Temple Experience" I will share some quotes from this article because I loved it so much and want to share his exact words. (I am taking liberty with this blog to use it also as a journal)



"The outside walls of the prison were two feet thick, with inside walls of 12 inch oak logs. These two walls were separated by a 12 inch space filled with loose rock. The floor-to-ceiling height was barely 6 feet and so Prophet Joseph being over 6 feet had to stoop when he stood. And when lying it was mostly rough, bare stones, dirty straw or a dirty straw mat."



In the prophets letters he wrote about the jail as being "Hell, surrounded with demons...where we are compelled to hear nothing but blasphemous oaths, and witness a scene of blasphemy and drunkenness and hypocrisy, and debaucheries of every description". He goes on to say that "Pen or tongue, or angels could not adequately describe the malice of hell that they suffered there." Yet, Elder Brigham Roberts referred to this jail as a "prison-temple". Not because of the conditions of the jail but, because of the development of Joseph Smith and others while here in the prison.




Elder Holland's message was that you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life--in the worst settings while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced. We may face difficult circumstance for reasons that were absolutely right and proper, reasons that come because we were trying to keep the commandments of the Lord.

He then gave three lessons from Liberty Jail:

1-Everyone Faces Trying Times...I know when I go through trying times I am the only one facing them, or at least it seems that way.

2-Even the Worthy Will Suffer....I see good people going through trials all the time.

3-Remain Calm, Patient, Charitable, and Forgiving...The most important one. His point on this, if you are having a bad day, you've got a lot of company--very, very, GOOD company. The best company that has ever lived. And I know when I served others I find out there is a lot of people out there who are in my same boat and I can learn from them and well as help them.

Okay this is my Grandma to Grandchildren post. Now that I am a Grandma I feel a need to let them know what their Grandma really believed in. And it also helps me when I am going through a hard time to remember what got me through the last one.