Yesterday when I went to the temple. It was so very
nice. I did have a surprisingly weird moment. I was sitting in the
endowment and they said something that made me go “hmnm” and fleetingly thought of”what if it’s not true?” Is there another alternative? The thought was brief but after as I was sitting in
the celestial room taking a quiet moment to pray and to contemplate I
remembered and asked about it in prayer. It was not like I doubted
exactly. I don't doubt but I am also well aware that anyone can fall, no matter how firm a
testimony they have, or what kinds of experiences they have had. You are
always susceptible and must always be building and working to stay strong and faithful. So I prayed about it and felt in that moment that it
was just a passing thought and not my true feelings and that I did know that
this was the true church, that I was in the house of the Lord, that Jesus is my
Savior and this is His covenant path back to Our Father in Heaven. Over.
Today I went to church alone. Grace was feeling sick
and stayed home. Rob is in MD. As I sat in sacrament meeting I did
not feel lonely but what I did feel was a strong witness of the spirit during
each talk. They were powerful and uplifting. Then when I went to YW
our lesson was also very tender, the Spirit was strong and there were many
tears in our eyes as Sister Elliot taught about the temple. Ashley Tree
shared an experience she had when she was 8 years old and the Kansas City MO
temple was dedicated. She was there with her parents and had a sacred
witness of the prophet and the apostles that were there. She said she can
remember so vividly seeing them, she couldn’t really remember their faces but
she could see a halo of glory around them that just glowed and she knew they
were the Lord’s servants. She was very emotional and I think everyone
could feel how important that experience was to her. Alicia (Elliot)
shared a story as well. Jared, her husband, served his mission in
Venezuela. He served in Caracas and while he was there had the
opportunity to teach a man named Luis and his wife named Jenni. They were
baptized and became so faithful. Jared has kept in touch with Luis all
these years. They are very poor. He served as the branch president
for many years. So one day Jared’s father in law came to him (his FIL was a
pilot) and said I’ve been thinking about your friend Luis. I can get them
flights to the US. If they can get passports their family can go to the
temple. So Jared called Luis and talked to him about it. As he did
Luis just broke down in tears. He said he had just had a sister in his
office and felt prompted to ask her if she had a temple recommend. She
said no, and that even if she did she would never be able to go. He then
felt inspired to pull his recommend out of his wallet and share with the sister
that he had carried this for years, knowing he may never actually be able to go
to the temple, and that it was his greatest wish and desire to take his family
to be sealed for time and eternity. He testified to her of the importance
of temples and she left committed to work on getting hers. Then he put
his head down on his desk and cried because his desire was so great and it
seemed so impossible. That’s when Jared called. What an answer to
this faithful man’s prayer. A few months later they were able to come to
SLC. Jared and Alicia picked them up and were hosting them for their
trip. Alicia said after their long trip with three little kids she
thought they would be tired and hungry and ready to rest and relax. She
asked if they’d like to go get dinner before they went home and the family said,
please they’d like to drive by the temple. They did and on that drive and
the following day when they went to the temple for the first time Alicia said
she learned many lessons about loving the temple, about what a privilege it is
to go there, and how sacred a blessing it is to be sealed as a family.
The lesson went really well and all the girls felt the Spirit I am sure.
I did, and was so grateful that the very next day after I talked to the Lord
about my moment of concern and then forgot about it He blessed me with not one but several witnesses of
the truthfulness of the Gospel, of His presence in my life, and of His love for
His children. God does not care if we doubt, if we worry about things, if
we are uncertain, He only cares that we seek Him, that we try, that we trust,
that we have faith, that we grow and reach for Him. I love that. I
love that He meets us where we are, lifts us where we are, accepts us where we
are, helps us grow at our own pace. He is a good God.
I listened to a really amazing podcast this last week.
It was by Christopher Mattson called Six Ways to be a Better Boat
Builder. It was a BYU devotional. It was engaging and really great advice on things to do to follow
the Savior. The analogies were drawn from Nephi and his boat building and
the Brother of Jared and his boat building and how we each need to build our
boats to navigate life’s waters.
The three sacrament talks were so good. The elders quorum presidency spoke (our turn is next week).
Andrew Hill spoke about the temple. He told about the Philadelphia Temple being built and the roll Vai Sikahema played in that process, he shared the story of when Vai’s family first went to the temple in New Zealand and the great personal sacrifices they went thru.
Chris Castellanos spoke next. I don’t know him, he’s new in the ward but he and his family seem amazing. He spoke so enthusiastically about his love of the gospel and his testimony of living prophets and apostles. His energy was contagious and his joy was palpable.
Lastly Jared Elliot spoke. He talked about ministering. He shared a sweet story about his son Jeremy. When Jeremy was a priest a 72 year old man named Lynn got called as the priest quorum advisor. Lynn was awesome and built great relationships with the YM. He because Jeremy’s good friend. They were ministering companions, they went to the temple together, sometimes when Jeremy had a really tough day he’d call Lynn who would come get him and they’d go get burgers and talk. The two men, one old and one young became unlikely best friends.
While Jeremy was on his mission Jared got a call one night to come to the hospital. Lynn was dying and Jared was his ministering brother. When he arrived at the hospital the doctor said that Lynn had hours to live. Jared steeled himself and went in the room where he knew he would be asked to give a priesthood blessing. As he laid his hands on Lynn’s head a loud and unmistakable prompting from the Holy Ghost told Jared to bless Lynn that he would recover. With some trepidation Jared pronounced the blessing that God had for Lynn. For the next 17 days Jared went to the hospital every day and visited Lynn, who was miraculously recovering. He recovered and came home and lives several more happy and productive years and when he passes away his best friend, and his best friends dad were able to go to his funeral together, grateful for the ministering he had done for them, and the ministering they had been able to do for him. That is the Christ like love we all need to learn to show and feel.
It was a powerful meeting.
Todays Pday letter:
“Having a native comp has been chulo. This is prolly the first time where Spanish is the main language i operate in. While I am quite pleased with my ability to have a real relationship with someone in just Spanish, my time with elder Jara has shown me the reality of how bad my spanish is. It's crazy. People talk to us and he just understands, like everything. And when he wants to explain something complicated, he just does it. Muy impresionante. I'm learning quick though too.
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