A Day at the Temple

Today my husband, my 12 year-old son and I went to the temple to perform some baptisms and confirmations for the dead.

The baptistry was f.u.l.l.

We waited almost two hours to be baptized.

Some of the family names we took to the temple today have been waiting for as long as 270 years to receive the ordinances of salvation!

This particular family of 15 had had the chance for over a year to be baptized.  But for unknown circumstances they were not baptized until today.

So while I waited, I watched.

Beautiful, worthy young women filled the temple this Saturday morning.

One young woman turned 12 today! She was at the temple for the first time with her family!

And while I watched these youth dressed in white, also waiting happily with me, my mind recalled the scene opened to President Joseph F. Smith in 1918 as he was given a glimpse into the Spirit World (see Doctrine and Covenants 138).

In the Ensign, December 2009, George S. Tate wrote an article about this vision.  In it he wrote:

"The vision shows how the work of redemption was and is organized among the dead, how the Lord’s servants “carry the message of redemption unto all the dead” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:37). It shows that a way has been provided for all to receive the saving ordinances, reconfirming the connection of temple work to the redemption of the dead (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:48, 54). And it invites us, the living, to actively participate, through seeking after the dead by performing vicarious ordinances (see Doctrine and Covenants 138:33), and in so doing drawing the two worlds together."

And today, for my family, these two worlds were brought together.

After a mere two hours on this world.  . . it was SO worth the wait!