Welcome to Closer to Christ through Conference. We're two friends sharing our own approach
to General Conference. Today we're going to talk about temples, houses of the Lord
dotting the earth. And this is by Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve. So,
Abby, do you want to... First of all, we are at the very end of this. We only have two
more talks to go and then we'll be jumping into October and we're pretty excited about
this. This has been so fulfilling and fun. We're glad that you guys have been here with
us along the ride. Should I ask them to like, rate and subscribe?
Sure. I did that and then we got a one-star rating.
No, like, not dislike. Yeah, guys, that was... No, just kidding. Not
kidding. There really is a one-star. And I was like, I felt bad about it for a second.
Then I was like, pray to the heavenly father. I'm like, you know, what can we do to improve
that? And he was like, don't worry about it. I was like, okay, if you're not worried about
it, I won't worry about it. So, that happened a while ago. Then I was like, well, I'm not
gonna ask anybody to like, rate, subscribe. But we do get people that periodically take
a minute to do that for us and it makes a big difference on who's able to find access
to the podcast. And so, maybe this isn't the one for them, but if you do feel inclined
to share like an episode or something with a friend, we would love you to do that. And
just to make you aware, we do share this on YouTube platform. That's how I find it a little
easier. Like if I'm gonna share it with a sister in the ward that maybe isn't making
it out to Relief Society or if I wanted to like share with a group of friends, we could
study a talk together. It seems a little bit easier to share that way. Like if you don't
know exactly what podcasting platform that they're using. So, don't wanna take a ton
of time asking you for that, but just know that as some of you have taken the time to
leave a review for us, it definitely changes like the numbers that are having access to
the podcast. And I feel good about that. I feel like even if you're the only one listening
to the podcast, we're grateful that you're here with us. But it is growing and it does
seem to help when people engage with it in that way. Another thing to say is like the
only real way that we have to interact back with you is if you link over to the YouTube,
like you just type the name of the talk, like Abbie name, you're type closer to Christ.
There's a few ways that you can get it, but a few people have left comments through the
YouTube that we can kind of have a conversation back and forth with if there's something that
you were thinking of or if you wanted to tell us how wrong we are about something, you could
probably reach us on there. Or if you wanted to bring up a point that we really missed,
it might be really fun to engage in that way. So, let's jump into this talk. I loved it.
In that first paragraph, you talked about how saints of all ages are coming to the temple
and there's a growing feeling drawing us to the house of the Lord, no longer just seasoned
saints with gray hair, but we're seeing much more youthful patrons and workers in the temple.
Nicole Smedley Yeah, I love it.
Abbie I love it too. I'm like, I usually stop and tell every one of them, but I see
how jealous I am of them because they caught it in that window and they don't have as many,
they have things going on in their lives, but they don't have so many distractions.
Like how awesome is it that they can get in there and memorize these blessings and promises
and be in there day in, day out, whether they're in there like a service missionary in that
capacity or they're like, sometimes they'll get a mission call and so they'll be endowed,
but then they've got months before they leave and they're like really getting at the temple
rather than like, let's say when I graduated high school, like that pack of people, like
maybe they'd receive a mission call, they'd be endowed, they'd go through like once and
then they'd hit the mission field. Maybe if they were lucky, they'd go in. But I love
that because the temple, being temple bound is our focus, that is our goal to endow people
with power that we're encouraging people to go as soon as they're feeling ready for it,
we're not holding people back from making those further covenants with the Lord, that
we're seeing them in there in greater numbers. It's so wonderful. Let's see, just over a
year ago, dear family friend of, must be Elder Anderson's friend, this is a personal friend's
story. Was 95 years old, living on the East Coast of the United States and had been taught
by missionaries for 70 years. She says to her daughter, I want to go to the temple with
you. And her daughter's like, mom, you got to get baptized first. And so she's like,
then I want to get baptized, which she was a few days later. And then she was baptized.
And then just a few short days after her baptism, she was able to go do proxy baptisms in the
temple. And then he's telling the story at the point where, so let's see, just over a
month ago, so like, must have been March, in March of 2024, I guess. I actually don't
really know, but this feels like a March of 2024. She received her own endowment and sealing
in the temple. The knowledge and power of God are expanding. The veil over the earth
is beginning to burst. Let me think of the episode where we were talking about the atonement
renting and the veil opening and our ability to communicate with the Father being a repercussion,
a possibility after Christ died on the cross. More frequently, we attend the temple and
understand the teachings there, the more that we individually can feel that veil thinning
more and more. Like, I don't think we all have the same. Sometimes I go to the temple
and I wouldn't say like, oh, the veil is so thin, but sometimes it is very thin for
me.
Danielle Pletka I agree. I agree.
Danielle Pletka Depending on what message maybe I've asked to be informed about, or
maybe my closeness to the relative that I don't…
Danielle Pletka It's interesting, huh? Because you do kind
of wonder what the theme is there, like, because I felt the same thing, like, I want to have
one of those powerful experiences every single time. It doesn't always feel the exact same.
I keep going and I'm filled with light and knowledge, but it doesn't always feel the
same. And I feel like part of that is, you know, who I'm doing the work for or whatever.
Nicole Zichal-Bardin Maybe it's a good thing because sometimes
I'm not distracted by…
Danielle Pletka The contrast.
Nicole Zichal-Bardin Yeah, the contrast is good. I'm not like
distracted by the person I'm feeling very close to me. But if I'm there with like
a question on my own heart, maybe that's a good time to not be distracted by that.
I'm just there to get answers.
Danielle Pletka Good point.
This was a question right from the talk. It says, have you ever wondered why the Lord
would direct his prophet to now dot the earth with his holy temples?
Nicole Zichal-Bardin Love that. And he says, why would he at the
specific time give the needed prosperity to his covenant people that through their sacred
ties hundreds of thousands, sorry, hundreds of houses of the Lord could be built? That
is so interesting because a lot of, you know, it's hard to say that the economy in the
US right now isn't the greatest. A lot of people are talking about that and, you know,
like interest rates have risen and all those types of things. And sometimes it feels like
times are hard. When you stand back and look at this, he was saying this very specific
time right now, the fact that there is such prosperity because so many temples have been
announced. Like, I remember a while ago, it was 100. I think I was in high school and
there was like 100 and it was like, holy cow.
Danielle Pletka Well, in Elder Nielsen's talk, how many
did he have to memorize to graduate seminary?
Like 11 or 18 or something. Yeah. And now it's like 243 or something like that that
are either in plans, construction.
Nicole Sadd-Gilbert Literally, Adam and I went down to Salt Lake
to do this project for our Cystic Fibrosis community. And so we're standing on the
other side of Utah Lake and counting like 11 temples within my eyesight. So I asked
Lee, I'm like, kind of filling out whether she would know the answer to this, like trying
to gauge if she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She
said the right thing, which she said something about Ward. Oh, he's my ward. I'm like,
you said Ward, we're going to have this conversation. I said, can you tell me the names of these
temples? She's like clockwork, like, okay, here at nine o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock,
you know, they're just erupting like crazy. But I probably wouldn't have passed that test.
I just guess like every name of the city in Utah, there's a temple there. There's two
in this one, two in that one. But that was all they needed. And she was talking about
how difficult it is to get still appointments.
Danielle Pletka Right. I know.
Nicole Sadd-Gilbert What I thought when I was thinking of those
questions for myself, like why at this specific time, I thought, why is because so many saints
before us did their part to make it happen now.
Danielle Pletka Yes, we're standing on their shoulders.
Nicole Sadd-Gilbert They had tireless efforts. They trusted the
process. They understood the way that the prophet was able to learn what the endowment
would look like in this restoration process. That took some work. They kind of had some
makeshift temple spaces. They learned about, you know, they learned about baptisms for
the dead and like jump into the river and do it. Then it has to be in the Lord's place
and in the right order. So like that changes. But it took some financial struggles for our
church to understand, you know, how tithing would need to change and modify and like what
we would need to ask of our members to sacrifice to build these reserves that we're having
going into fruition now. Or the investments that have been made that are finally coming
to maybe just the interest off of some of those investments help the Lord further his
work and get these temples happening.
Danielle Pletka So, Abby, as you're saying that, you know,
it's interesting because we know the stories of our ancestors. We know the stories of those
in the beginning of the church, whose upon whose shoulders we stand, where one of them
is the using of the china to build the temple. Another one is…
Danielle Pletka Sewing shirts.
Abby Yes. And my great, I think it's four greats, grandpa, in building the Salt Lake
Temple, he would take his horse and carriage or whatever, wagon, I guess, and he would
take it from the temple in Salt Lake all the way through Parley's Canyon and into…
Danielle Pletka Like granite.
Abby Yeah, get the granite and bring it back. Imagine that. So the other thought I'm thinking
is, you know, he said at such a time as this with prosperity, that does have to do with
our economy right now. That does have to do with machinery and just the age of electronic,
all the things that come into play that help us to be able to build temples at a quicker
rate whereas before, I mean, that was their great life's work, right? To build a temple
of the Lord was truly a life's accomplishment.
Danielle Pletka People that started the Salt Lake Temple probably
died before the time of that.
Abby 40 years, right? So anyway, I just love that because it is a testament to me when
I look back at that, because that was, in Italian, it's grand opa, right, a work.
And now the Lord has like multiplied that and magnified it beyond anything we could
have imagined and just take that number of, I think it's about 243, I'm not sure what
it is exactly, but take that number and expand it into the amount we'll have during the
millennium. The Lord just continues.
Danielle Pletka They set the precedence that we're ready
for this great thing and that we're ready and willing in whatever sacrifices are going
to be made necessary. And now we know the work is accelerating and so the building of
temples is accelerating. And for me, when I see these numbers of temples being announced,
like every conference, it's just like another laundry list of places that are going to be
blessed by temples, it just stands to me as the Lord sending a love note to say, I want
them everywhere. This is where we're putting our focus in this minute, but we're getting
to a town near you as soon as possible.
Danielle Pletka Like the movies. Also, Abby, when it says
the veil or the earth is beginning to burst, I do wonder on how many levels that is. Number
one, the fact that those on the other side are spiritually preparing it. I've felt that
on multiple occasions, like the one that's happening in Heber right now, my people settled,
we're part of those that settled Heber. And I've felt and my sister has felt them working
on the other side and helping to spiritually create it. There are things that need to happen
on the other side to help things facilitate, to move through. And we felt their excitement
and their joy that it's coming.
Emma Cieslik We need all that help that we can get because
there's opposition in all things. As we talked about in the last talk, as temples are announced,
there's such positive great things and Satan knows exactly the power that it's going to
provide to those places that they're coming into that he works extra hard to stall, delay,
and thwart the plan. You mentioned Heber. Heber's mentioned in this talk, the 300 youth
gathered to petition the town council because there were some things that, there's a lot
of money in Heber. Obviously, there was probably some people complaining about whatever they
want to complain about. Then the youth got up too, who know they'll be greatly benefited
by being able to do baptisms early in the morning. What a powerful thing to, as other
people are complaining, the youth of these days, they don't have responsibility and
they're not doing great things, that 300 would just voluntarily show up at that and
be the voice for a great reason to bring the temple about there.
Nicole Sarris So great. Great point, Jodie.
Emma Cieslik Makes me so proud of them. He talked about
how he and his wife were doing an assignment in the Philippines and he just wanted to point
out this miracle in this one small place. He said the Manila temple was dedicated in
1984, 40 years ago. Then it takes 26 years for the second temple to be completed. Yes,
that was in 2010. Now, jump to today, 2024. There are 11 temples being constructed, designed,
and prepared for dedication.
Nicole Sarris In that tiny little place.
Emma Cieslik He talked about Elder Oaks also referencing
the work and the growth that's happening in the Philippines. Adam and I were like, what
happened in the Philippines? We missed this amazing... Temples don't, temples, people
have to be prepared for a temple to be announced. You don't just build a temple and hope people
will come. And so we looked into what happened in the Philippines and they found in the Philippines
there are people that are very good at seeing... You can tell somebody about baptism, but these
people are good if you show them something. And so we were baptizing good numbers and
then it was falling off. They weren't able to do things. So they kind of set some standards
there and they say, okay, you can be baptized, but you have to be within whatever the monetary
system is. They needed to be within a reasonable amount of money to the church building to
say yes, so that they could commit to going to church and that they could actually make
that happen.
Nicole Sarris A reasonable amount of money to the church?
Emma Cieslik Yep, to be able to travel to the church.
So tithing...
Nicole Sarris Not distance.
Emma Cieslik Yeah, that they would be able to get there
and reasonably. The principle of tithing rather than me telling you that it's 10%, we would
have them demonstrate. They would pay like a vast offering or something. They would put
into action the principles of the gospel. There's a great podcast on this, President
Oaks on the Church History podcast, Church History News podcast speaks about this. I
don't want to put words into his mouth, but we did listen to that podcast because we were
blown away with the growth of the church experiencing in that country to have this many temples
announced. And it makes perfect sense because what they did was prepared the people.
Nicole Sarris Oh, yeah.
Emma Cieslik And then the temple...
Nicole Sarris They followed.
Emma Cieslik That's the next natural step for them. They're
ready for so much more there.
Nicole Sarris Because when you prepare the people, you're
spiritually creating temples.
Emma Cieslik Exactly.
Nicole Sarris I love that.
Emma Cieslik We live in a day where there's distress among
nations and people love themselves more than God. Things are in commotion. There's confusion.
Humans hearts may fail them. And the world's got enticing things that pulling us in every
direction. We're being distracted by different alluring voices. We sometimes neglect to provide
ourselves with spiritual nourishment and fatigue from demands of discipleship. Sometimes it's
hard to be a member, a faithful member of the church. It does require something from
us.
Nicole Sarris It does.
Emma Cieslik But don't you think that the temple stands
as the perfect contrast to that? All that chaos, all that discontent, you unify yourselves
in that temple worship. And people that are temple bound, they're unified in all of those
worldly challenges and pressures can be set aside for a time. And then as we learn the
temple, we can take that peace with us back into the world. So it works both directions.
Nicole Sarris Totally. I love that too, how you said the
contrast. Because sometimes if you're listening a lot about just the last days and the things
that happen and you're reading scripture about it, sometimes you can start to feel
like, holy cow, this is hard and we're not moving forward. But the Lord moves forward
steadily and without fanfare and you look around and that is a testament to growth and
prosperity and eternal progression.
Emma Cieslik 100% agree. I'm going to reiterate the question
we were thinking on. Have you ever wondered why the Lord would direct his prophet to now
dot the earth with his holy temples? And the thought that I jotted down from that is that
because the world seems so chaotic at this time and it's compounding, that the temples
also need to be built in greater numbers across the globe. It's just the perfect contrast.
So we could say, he knows that the world is in extra chaos and so what can he do to offset
that chaos? He can provide us more spiritual refuge places and temples. And plus, as temples,
even if it's not in an area near you, sometimes people have to save an entire life savings
to have one opportunity in the temple. They go and they receive their endowment and then
that's the last time they think they'll ever make it back there. But I was thinking, even
if that temple only becomes half as close, maybe you get two opportunities in your lifetime.
I don't know. First time off work and travel and things. It's so expensive. Literally like
life savings or like we can afford to send this child but not the others. Like hopefully
they start doing like perpetual temple funding. I love that. They overstock that perpetual
education fund so like now it's time we can get people to overflow. For people like us,
it's way too convenient for like. It is very convenient. With this prophesied commotion
and disbelief in the world, the Lord promised that there would be a covenant people, a people
eagerly awaiting his return, a people who stand in holy settings and are not moved out
of their place. He spoke of a righteous people resisting the deceptions of the adversary.
I don't know how to read that word. Disciplining. Is that the word? Disciplining their faith,
thinking celestial and trusting completely in the Savior Jesus Christ. I made a note
that I feel absolute peace sitting in a room with people who have also gathered to be instructed
in the temple and who have come recommended. I don't have to know their names. I don't
have to know their history. All I have to know is that we are all enlisted in the most
important work together and that's enough for me. Love it. I love it so much. Let's
jump to Kirtland Temple. That was a big focus of this talk. Yeah, so good. The dedicatory
prayer, right? That would be good. What did he say in that?
There were three things. The Prophet Joseph Smith prayed that in the Lord's holy house
the saints would be armed with the power of God, that the name of Jesus Christ would be
upon them, his angels would have charge over them, and that they would grow up in the Lord
and receive a fullness of the Holy Ghost. Those are big promises. Those are big things
to ask. These powerful supplications are fulfilled in our lives as we faithfully worship in the
house of the Lord. We all know that, or maybe you don't, so
now you'll know, that the church just recently reacquired the Kirtland Temple properties.
For me, it's been like a work in progress. We've loved that building and we have attended
it and we have enjoyed tours that have been given by the community of Christ and they've
lovingly taken care of that for all of these years until such a time as this that we're
able to get it back. Why does it matter to the church? Because keys were restored there.
That's why they care about it. People get properties they know that the church has been
affiliated with, but if you can't document by multiple sources that something like a
restoration piece of something, restoration of the priesthood, something special like
that happened there, then it's just a cool building. But the Kirtland Temple is way more
than just a cool building. It's special.
S1A- Right. If you really stand back, because in your life, in my life, in everyone I know
right now on the earth, it already happens, so sometimes it can feel very distant. But
if we just back up a little bit, it was only just like 200 years ago that Jesus Christ
our Savior came to that point and the restoration was, I mean, it was started before, but that
was just a huge part of it. That is massive.
S1A- Have you ever been there?
S1A- No. I've only been as far as Nauvoo.
S1A- Yeah, you gotta go this summer. Make a commitment because it was special when I
went there and I did definitely did consider the fact that Jesus Christ touched down there.
I have a testimony. I know from my experience in the temple that those keys were restored,
and so then it's easy for me to say, yeah, that happened in the Kirtland Temple because
I've felt that in my own life. But I've really appreciated that, but that's just
something you have to know for yourself because that's definitely not part of the tour of
our cousins in the Community of Christ Church. That's not a gospel principle that they're
locked in on about sealing keys and sealing power.
S1A- Gotcha.
S1A- The building's beautiful, but why would they bring up that cool experience about the
keys being restored? That's not something that they really want to purport.
S1A- Also, it sounds like kind of a blessing that it wasn't hugely connected to them
in that way. It'd be easier to let go.
S1A- I agree.
S1A- So that's a definitely a blessing.
S1A- I do consider it a huge blessing. It's interesting because when you go to the Kirtland
Temple, now we have access to, because our church is organizing the tours and stuff for
the church, they've changed it. You can go up to the third floor, which is where more
office-based stuff is. It's more administrative piece of the gospel was done there. And then
the rooms are more like those old-timey, like the tabernacle benches, like those wood benches,
just rows upon rows of those. And then there's lots of ways to put curtains to partition
different rooms. The Kirtland Temple is unlike any other temple that we have in this day.
So what I think is really cool is that it wasn't designed necessarily to run an endowment
that they had experience with, like the makeshift that they did in the red brick building. I
mean, you could kind of section off a room and do that for it. But what's fascinating
to me is that it was literally, I think all of that backbreaking work to build the Kirtland
Temple was with the intent that the keys would be restored there, preparatory to, then the
saints building the temple in Nauvoo, and then that not being one that they would get
to keep, but then propelling them across the plains. It wasn't designed in a way that
they were going to be there forever and be doing endowments for long term, I think.
Right. It was known for that. But it was definitely part of their effort and sacrifice needed
at that time.
They did such a good job. He talks about how incredible the youth are. We had already talked
about that, how courageous those youth in Heber City were at standing up at the construction
meeting. And I think that he brought that up because that's not the exception. The
youth in our valley, they petitioned and got an earlier session so that they can make it
into the temple and out in time for school. And they come in droves. And the laundry people
are busy as ever on, I don't know, it's like Wednesday mornings. It's such a beautiful
thing. What a cool thing to go into school like you've already served in the temple
and you already got that light about you.
Yeah. I love the focus of that.
Let's go to the section that talks about armed with power. What are you saying?
So in his house, we are literally endowed with heavenly power. Our faith in Jesus Christ
and our love for him are confirmed and fortified. I love that part. And I think it's worth
asking each one of us who's listening to this. How are we
Arming ourselves?
Yes. How are we arming ourselves? And are we taking full advantage of our endowment
of heavenly power? We all know there's an endowment session. How is that coming to light
in our everyday life? Are there things that are happening that seem like too big of an
obstacle to get over? And so we just kind of find ourselves kind of beating against
the wall. Is there a way we can step over the wall? You know what I mean? With Christ's
help and using our heavenly power. So I would challenge that each one of us ask, how can
we use that more? And how can we let our covenants be alive in us?
I love it. And we have such good practice, the way that this church builds upon itself.
We know that as we become baptized, we take his name upon us. But we're promised that
as we enter his holy house, we can take his name more completely upon us.
Yes.
And we can add another layer to that power that comes with taking his name upon us.
Right. Because it is because of Jesus Christ and his atonement that it is even possible.
Right? Without that, it would just be a hope. Oh, yes. Okay. The last thing, Abby, is in
the Kirkland. So angels with us. So this was another part of the temple, a dedicatory prayer.
In the Kirkland temple, the Prophet Joseph prayed that angels would have charge over
his saints. Regularly performing ordinances for our ancestors in the temple brings a sweet
and sure confirmation that life continues beyond the veil. Abby, do you have anything,
any thoughts as far as angels having charge over your life? Like, is that a reality to
you? Do you hope for it? Do you pray for it? Do you have experience with it? What are your
thoughts on that?
I would say in recent years, it's become so important key to me. I talked about, did I
talk about on this podcast? Yes, I talked about inviting my ancestors to help me look
over my baby as I just gave him birth and had some respiratory things. But like, they
don't have to be few and far between experiences. Like, this isn't technically my story to share,
but my sisters were home visiting. They flew in on Tuesday and then they both had like
assignments. My younger sister is the prime president in her ward and she had a speaking
assignment and then the next one above her, she's the stake primary president and had
a ward conference to attend. So they had a flight that they were going to get out of
Idaho on Saturday, landed like midnight, get home at like two in the morning and then run
off to running to their assignments that they had for church. And so it mattered to them,
plus just like having to deal with missed flights or whatever. Something happened leaving
from, I think they got an idle false fine. I think that the problem was in Colorado,
they were delayed. Nope, that's not. So I don't fall. They were delayed out of Idaho
falls for like an hour. So the lady at the gate was like trying, like looking forward,
maybe other flights that they could try to work out. There was like nothing that was
going to get them to be able to do whatever they needed to. And so they were like, we've
got to make this flight. She said, if, if all goes well, she's like, we're scheduled
to land five minutes after our next plane takes off our connection. And I said, we'll
be praying for you. And I said, I don't know enough about flights and, and whatever. And
I said, maybe I said, let's pray for tailwinds and, and whatever. They landed 35 minutes
before they were boarding their plane, but they landed 35 minutes ahead of schedule.
Oh my goodness. This morning. And we made up some time from tailwinds. And plus the flight
attendant, she's like, she whispered to him as they were going through things. She's like,
gave him some like first class. She's like one A and one C or whatever, so that they'd
be the front of the plane, be able to like race off and rush. And they'd packed bags
instead of checking things. Like they had tried everything within their power to make
it happen. But I specifically had a prayer in my heart that, that tailwinds would happen
and that are like, that the plane would be assisted. And I'm like, that's a lot of time
to make up. So I'm like, I text him like, man, that's interesting. And they're of the
same mindset. They were asking for prayers and like, it's easy to imagine that there
was some heavenly help that had a desire to fulfill their callings and do important things.
And it was important to them. And I feel like it was important to Heavenly Father. That
was yesterday. That was the early hours of this morning. Right. So I think that's awesome.
I'm sure, I'm sure you could testify of a million encounters with your ancestors.
Yes. And that I do feel, and I do claim that blessing of going to the temple and attending
it and having a temple mindset that, that my ancestors are a regular part of my life.
And I feel that joy and that connection and they are definitely part of my tribe. I love
them. I'm going to share one more story because you don't have to have one every time you
go to the temple, but it was my grandma's 92nd birthday last Friday. So we're supposed
to be doing all these things, but she's on the earth. She's on the earth. Okay. She's
taken. Yeah. So my sister and I, she was like, she was a temple worker years ago. I mean,
like let's say in the last decade, I don't know, life goes too fast. I can't even think,
but my sister and I decided we would attend the temple on her birthday because she was
serving in the temple that day. And so she's in the endowment thing and I'm sitting next
to my sister and I thought my grandpa, he was like, not a gift guy. She would be the
type that would like buy something for herself. And she'd be like, Dale, you got me this for
my birthday. Thank you for this gift or whatever. Cause he wasn't a gift guy. That wasn't his
love language. So that's just not how he displayed it or whatever. So we could say, didn't really
give her gifts. That doesn't mean he didn't love her, but that wasn't his style. It's
a cowboy. And so I was sitting in the temple and I thought, I wonder if grandpa knows it's
her birthday. And he told me, I do know. He's like, I know it's her birthday. So like for
me, he was like right next to me, like literally he could have been in my ear saying that thing.
And I was just like overcome with emotion because he's not a big talker, whichever side
of the veil we're talking about. He was not a big talker, but whatever he said, it was
like important. So I could be told that the keys weren't restored in the Kirtland temple
in that moment in history. I could be told that. I could be told that there is nothing
past this earth life. I could be told that what we're doing in temple doesn't matter,
but wouldn't matter because I know for myself that it is small and simple and only takes
a few words. I know it's her birthday. That will stick with me for the rest of my life.
And that's something I'll tell my children. I know that the work that we do is important.
I know that it does bring us closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that repeated
attendance there can bring us peace that this world cannot offer. What a blessing. And I
can, I'd like literally, I feel the joy when I was relocating to Star Valley, there wasn't
a temple here, but we had just left behind Twin Falls where we got to be a part of that
process where it was announced and built and dedicated and we were all part of that process.
So then we had a brief stint in another town. So then we were coming this direction. I was
getting ready and they announced the temple in Star Valley. I like couldn't believe myself
I was like, this is like the best luck in the world. It's such an awesome thing. So
I take those emotions every time they announce five or 10 temples at these future, since
that time at the different conference sessions. I remember the emotion that I felt when we
got a temple near us. And they kind of asked us like not shout with joy and stuff. It's
not really appropriate, but my body, my spirit screaming with joy for every town of every
country, of every, all of my brothers and sisters in the gospel that are getting a temple
close to them. Like it kind of said it is a joke like coming to a town near you, but
really in my heart, it's because I know, oh, it's such a blessing. And it's just whenever
like, let's see, it'll be, it'll be like two more talks, the prophet will announce
the temples. But as I read through those, it's a name on the map for just an obscure
place. But I literally can just feel like Heavenly Father's love for those people in
this surrounding area, whoever's going to make it to those temples. And he wants to
accelerate that and wants to get him everywhere as fast as he can. And that's just a demonstration
of the love for them. And if he loves them that much, he loves me that much too. Right.
That's the feeling that we get. That's what I get. So can I just end with his words?
I love this. He says in this day, and I add my testimony to his, in this day of confusion
and commotion, I testify that the temple is his holy house and will help preserve us,
protect us and prepare us for the glorious day when with all his holy angels, our Savior
returns in majesty, power and great glory. Amen. Yeah, I say that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Amen.