Temple Experience FHE

As I've mentioned, we're working our way through the Family Proclamation this month, and this week we are focusing on temples.  

The Family Proclamation says, "Sacred covenants and ordinances available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

As I planned out our study of the Family Proclamation, I felt inspired to create a "temple experience" for my kids in our home.  I hoped this would be more of a sacred learning experience for them, and I'm so pleased that it worked out well.

I unfortunately didn't stop to take very many pictures of it, so I'll just try to describe it.

Using dining room chairs, we set our living room up sort of like an endowment room--with chairs in rows for us to sit in, facing our  wall-mounted TV screen.

As each child went into Dad's office for a "temple recommend" interview, the others sat in the rows of chairs and watched a slideshow that I made of pictures of our family visiting various temples There was soft hymns playing during the slideshow, and it created a nice, calm mood.

Each family member (who participated) came out of Dad's office holding an index card that both Steve and the child had signed.  The little kids, Honor in particular, seemed really pleased to get their faux-recommend.

We then had each child present their recommend to me, and I welcomed them to the "temple".

We then watched the video of Elders Bednar and Rasband giving us a virtual tour of the Rome, Italy temple.  In this video, they do a wonderful job talking about the role of Christ in all aspects of temple worships and explaining the process and purpose of each area of the temple.

The Rome temple is so beautiful!  I can tell that it touched my 4-year old Vall, and it brought a wonderful spirit to our home.  At one point, Val turned to me and asked if Jesus ever went there, and he kept referring to the magnificent chandeliers as "icicles"!

When the video ended, we discussed what we saw, how we felt, what we learned, and fielded questions.  We talked about how everyone dresses the same in the temple and how that promotes unity.  I thought it was neat that they point out that every bride gets to dress in the same beautiful bride's room.  No matter your worldly status, all are equal in the temple.

We then showed one more video.  This one explains and shows the temple ceremonial clothing and the temple garments worn by adult members of the church who have made sacred covenants in the temple.  

I like how at the beginning of the video they mention the sacred clothing worn by religions the world over.  Our sacred clothing is simply worn privately, under our clothing, but serves a similar purpose, to remind us of the promises we've made with God.

Recently, we've been taught (see Elder Bednar's talk here) that we need to teach our children more about the temple in our home.  These videos really make it easier for us to know how to appropriately share what we know and love about the temple and about making and keeping sacred covenants.  In the home and in the family is a beautiful setting for these discussions.

One question that was asked was what happens if someone is upset that they can't enter the temple (except during the open house)?  We talked about how the Lord allows each of us to learn and grow at our own pace.  We are expected to keep God's commandments before we enter his holy places and make sacred covenants.  If we enter before we're ready it really wouldn't help us at all, because we wouldn't appreciate it or hold it sacred.

To end the night, we answered a few more questions about the ceremonial clothing.  Scarlett said that our discussion made her more excited to go to the temple.  

We talked with Autumn about her relationship with the temple. Autumn became eligible to attend the temple over a year ago, but because of the pandemic, still hasn't gone!  What is neat about her story is that when it was time for her temple recommend interview back in January 2020, she showed great seriousness in preparing herself for the interview by studying President Nelson's General Conference talk where he shares just what those interview questions are.  We know that more than going to the temple, our willingness to be worthy to attend the temple is what matters most to the Lord.  The change in who we are is the goal, not just the act of attending His temples.  I expect that when Autumn finally is able to attend the temple herself, it will be a very special experience.

To end our special night together, I reminded our family that Jesus Christ is the center of everything we do and learn in the temple.  

In the temple, we learn that Christ's Atonement is the central act of all earth life and all eternity. It is the purpose of everything and brings purpose to all that we do.  It brings light and hope to our lives.  I also reminded then that if they ever find themselves in a position where they can't enter the temple, because of their own choices or if life just starts to get really hard, Jesus Christ is the way back to the temple.  He is the way to overcome sin.  He is the way to overcome every problem.  Jesus Christ is the way back to our heavenly home.

It was just a wonderful experience to help our children understand the temple more.  And in a time when we cannot enter the temple, for one evening, the temple entered our home.

For anyone who might not have a father in the home full-time, I encourage Mothers to conduct the temple recommend interviews.  To my friend who was worried that her rowdy boys couldn't sit still, I encouraged her to take each boy aside starting with the oldest to do this activity one on one. There is definitely room to adjust this to our different family dynamics and make it work for us!

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Nephi's Reminds Us that The Lord Remembers Covenants

I slowed down a bit this week and studied the Book of Mormon more for myself than for my kids, and boy, I learned a lot.

One of the things I've been increasingly impressed by is the idea that when we make covenants the Lord can bless and uphold us in a very powerful way.

As I was reading and studying for myself last Saturday, I came to 1 Nephi Ch 17:22-55, in which Nephi is preaching to his brothers Laman and Lemuel.  He is recounting for them the flight of Ancient Israel as they escape from bondage in Egypt.

Since I was in a pondering mode, I asked myself, "Why is Nephi bringing this up right now?"  What is the correlation?

I always just thought, well, the Israelites are their ancestors.  The miracles of this story means a lot to them.  And the promises as well.  

As I started to write down the details in the story, I started to compare Moses and the Israelites' journey to Lehi and his family....and things started to look really similar.

I wrote down three columns across the top of my paper:

The first column is for Moses, the second is for Lehi's family, the third is the Lord's covenant people today (the Church).

I started to see many comparisons:

Who: The Ancient Israelites - Lehi's Family - God's People Today

Their Leader/God's Prophet: Moses - Lehi - God's Prophet on the Earth Today (Pres. Russell M. Nelson)

The Wicked City/Place of Bondage:  Egypt - Jerusalem - The World/Babylon

Miracles God Provided on their Journey: Manna for food - The Lord made their food sweet so they didn't have to cook it - We are spiritually fed today probably more than ever.

Miracles in Travel: The parting of the Red Sea - The Crossing of the Wilderness without fire and the Crossing of the Ocean in a boat made in the wilderness - The Crossing of the Plains by the pioneers and more miracles ahead!

How the groups responded to God:  Led by the Lord, but hardened their hearts and had to be chastened - Same for Lehi's family from time to time - The same for us.

How the Lord handled their enemies: The armies of Pharoah were drowned in the Red Sea when they pursued Ancient Israel after setting them free - Laban was killed when he tried to stand in the way of Nephi obtaining the plates. - The Great & Abominable Church (Satan's church) will eventually be destroyed as well.

Another similarity in all three: The Lord brought each group of people eventually to their promised land, however there were casualties along the way.  Spiritually speaking, we don't want to physically go with the flow and then be "lost" spiritually in the end because we weren't learning and growing closer to God along our journey.

There are other comparisons to be drawn.  But it wasn't until I slowed down that I could really inspect them, and then it became clear why Nephi is telling his brothers about the freeing of Israel by Moses.

That story is the story of how Christ will always deliver his people if they choose to follow him.  It is how he is currently delivering his people today.

Here are two quotes that stood out to me as clear, strong, reliable truths:

1. He leadeth away the righteous into precious lands.  (As someone whose family was recently moved from one precious land to another, this truth brought me hope in God's ability to lead me along and helps me trust Him more!)

2. The wicked he (eventually) destroyeth. (Both from 1 Ne. 17:38.

And 3. He LOVETH those who will have him to be their God.

And how do we show the Lord that we "will have him to be our God?"  I think this is answered in 1 Ne. 17:40:

"And he loveth those who will have him to be their God.  Behold, he loved our fathers, and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land of Egypt."

I believe in the power of making promises with God in holy Temples. These promises are what we call Covenants.  It is a powerful bond between God and his people, between groups of people and more recently between individuals.

I'm sure I learned this comparison in Seminary or something years ago, but I'm glad that I took the time to slow down and let the Spirit reteach these truths to me again last week.

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The Covenants We Make

Whew!  It's been quite a week.  I hope you all enjoyed your Turkey Day.  Our week was all about making and keeping sacred covenants.  From renewing our temple recommends to blessing our new baby to seeing our first-born ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, it has been nothing short of a spiritually action-packed week.

I'll start with today and work backwards, I guess.  This was Coy and my first Sunday back at church after his arrival into our family.  Luckily, my Dad was able to join us for Guy's ordination.

He also stayed a while and played with us after church.  It's neat to see my family which 18 months ago looked like a family of mostly girls, suddenly blossom into a family of equal parts women & equal parts future priesthood brethren! :)  It's truly amazing what God can do with our lives in a very short amount of time.

Anyway, I'm happy for Guy.  He advanced from Primary to the Young Men's program and also received his Faith in God award which we've worked on together pretty consistently over the years.

Age 11/12 has been a bit of a trying time for us.  Has anyone else found this to be the case?  I'm so glad Guy now has the structure and principles of the Priesthood to help guide him through this next part of his adolescence, because I was truly running out of ideas.  More and more, I see the need to step back and let the principles that we have taught him rest upon his soul and let him take these next steps as independently as he seems to want.  Some steps in life must be taken alone (although I'm of course always here for when he will eventually need me again! :)  

As for our other children, we're all settling in ok with having a new baby around.  My 19-month old Val loves the baby.  My girls do too.

Scarlett, my ten-year old is so very helpful...beyond helpful, she is my second in command...always willing to jump up and see to every need.  What a blessing she is to me.

The other great event of the week is that we blessed Coy the day after Thanksgiving.  I have to say that although it didn't happen exactly the way I would have had it, what mattered most was that my husband had the power and authority to bless him with the priesthood.  And above all else, these are the things that matter.

 When my mother-in-law came to visit last week, she kept pointing out that I have "two families" now, my older children (ages 12, 10, 9) and my younger children (ages 5, 19 months, and newborn).  While I tend to not want to see it that way, in a way her point is valid.  One group is advancing to spiritual and personal independence, while the other is almost completely dependent on me for everything.  One group has been instructed well and taught over years of family home evenings, scripture study, made covenants, etc and must now put what they've been taught into practice, while with the other group, we are basically starting over from scratch!

The great promise in all of this is that we have all of these varied personalities, experiences, and testimonies now in our family to help each other along the path from oldest to youngest.  It will be very interesting to see how the next chapter of our parenting and family journey unfolds!  Wish us luck...we'll need it!!! :)

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Hannah's Baptism & the Gift of the Holy Ghost

Hey, guys! You all remember Hannah, right? Hannah was one of my young women friends who wrote for me about The Family Proclamation back in September. (You can re-read her post here.)

Well, Hannah was baptized Saturday night, and we got to be there to celebrate and witness her great covenant-making evening!  She looked radiant and full of joy and the Holy Ghost (which also happens to be the topic she asked me to speak on at her baptism.)

Hannah and Me by the font.

Hannah & her "foster" Mama Donnelly

Hannah & Scarlett

The elders who gave her lessons (although Hannah has been in YW for two years now and really knows her stuff!)

Here are some of the things that I shared with Hannah that night...more of a few suggestions and counsel than a talk.  We all love this girl so much...she is so talented.  She'll leave for college this summer and be off to start her new life as a young adult!

Hannah, you have just been baptized, which means that you have chosen to take the name of Jesus Christ upon you and to serve Him and obey His commandments until the end of your life and beyond.

In return, He is prepared to offer you a gift, which you will choose each day to accept!  It is the greatest gift and greatest companion that you can have in this lifetime. It is the gift of the Holy Ghost.

By now, you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost, haven’t you?  You felt it that day outside of the temple when you were helping a friend find his way to Christ.  You have felt it as you have born your testimony.  You have felt it as you’ve prayed and felt answers to your prayers.  You have felt it just a few minutes ago as you entered the waters of baptism, and I’m going to guess that you are feeling it now.

In contrast, you (and most of us) have felt what it feels like to not feel the Holy Ghost.  It is easy to feel alone in this world.  It is easy to get bad advice in this world.  It is hard sometimes to know who to trust and who will point you in the right direction.

That is why, now that you have entered the waters of baptism and covenanted with God, He wants so much to give you this great gift…a gift which can guarantee that you will never again walk alone in this life, no matter what you face.

Hannah, He loves you THAT MUCH!

The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead.  So when you invite Him into your life, you are inviting a very powerful person to aid you.

Here are some things that the Holy Ghost will do for you, if you let him:

He will guide and direct you.

He will comfort you.

He will remind you of things you already know.

He will teach you.

He will reveal things to you that you need to know.

He will keep you safe.

He will lead you to Christ.

He will warm and speak peace to your heart.

He will multiply your talents and help you use them wisely.

He will help you know where and who to serve.

He will help you understand things about Heavenly Father.

He will help you to understand how much Heavenly Father loves you and knows you.

He will help you to know when you need to repent and when you have been forgiven.

He will help you make the changes we all need to make to enter back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.

He will lead you to the temple.

He will help you to find an eternal companion.

He will always be there for you…

Recognizing the Influence of the Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost usually communicates with us quietly. His influence is often referred to as a “still small voice”. President Boyd K. Packer explained: “The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. … " Each of us needs to practice feeling that voice and feel our way back to our Heavenly Father.

This is a big day.  I hope that you will remember it always, but if there are things that you forget, don’t worry, you will soon have the Holy Ghost as your companion always.  Develop a relationship with Him and he will remind you of the special testimony that you carry when you need to be reminded most.

Hannah, I know that the Holy Ghost is real.  He is a real person.  He isn’t just a wishful thought.  He is a real person with real power.  I know this because I have felt his presence in a way that is so real I thought I might reach out and touch Him.  I testify that He will lead you back to Christ and to your Heavenly Home!

Here are a few ways that I’d suggest to you Hannah to build that testimony of and relationship with the Holy Ghost and in turn to build your relationship with Jesus Christ:

1.     Write down the way you feel today and record, re-read and ponder special experiences you have and special promptings you receive through the Holy Ghost.  Write them down.  Keep them close to your heart. PONDER them often.  Don’t get distracted by the world and neglect to do these things.

2.    Read your scriptures with a hunger and a need to know and understand and you will feel Him close to you.

3.    Pray with that same hunger so that He knows that you are serious about communicating with our Heavenly Father.  Listen for answers.  Pray all of the time in your heart and He will answer you.

4.    Take the sacrament every week without fail.

5.    Listen to the Prophets and what they teach and align your life with their teachings. If you do this, you will always be happy.

6.    Obey quickly, fearlessly, and joyfully and know that as a disciple of Jesus Christ, great blessings await you every day.

7.    Go to the temple.  Make every choice you make from here on out a choice that will lead you to the temple sooner than later. 

8.    Listen to good music and partake of good media and activities that will only increase the influence of the Holy Ghost in your life. And use your voice (Hannah is a great singer) to testify to others of Christ.

9.    Keep practicing.  Learning to listen to the Holy Ghost can take time and patience and persistence, but it is wonderful and it is worth it.

This is how you accept this precious gift which Heavenly Father wants to now bestow upon you.  Hannah, He has already blessed you with so many beautiful talents.  He is gathering you in today as His choice daughter.  He loves you and all of us here love you and will always be here for you!

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

There were a few personal messages that I sort of ad-libbed in the moment, like how getting the Gift of the Holy Ghost will be the best gift she got this season and how she can open it anew each day.  I also said that in this church there is always a "next thing".  We are always progressing and receiving the Holy Ghost is her next thing...then going to the temple.

Anywho, I'm sharing this more for Hannah, in case she ever needs to look back on bits of her special day some day. Love you, Hannah!  Thanks for letting me be there to participate in your wonderful night!  My children really enjoyed it as well!

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A True Story.

To say that something special is happening this weekend would be an understatement.  My oldest daughter is getting baptized, which is sort of the culmination of everything we've done as a family together over the past 8 years.  Every conversation, every teaching moment, every testimony, every FHE, every question asked and answered, every prayer has been to lead and her to the waters of baptism.

She can recite the Articles of Faith.  She can sing My Gospel Standards.  She can bear her testimony...even in sign language.  She can rattle off many of her favorite scriptures from memory. She knows the prophets and what they are saying today.  She has been well-taught.

But more than that, Scarlett has been prepared and she has had the faith to take her own steps and to grow her own testimony.  She has had the opportunity to make correct choices and time after time she has chosen virtue.  

One of the most striking characteristics of Scarlett (besides her pure joy and sincere compassion for the well-being of others) is the song that springs freely from deep inside of her.  She is a girl who hears and feels the music of the gospel and is ready (as her brother before her) to enter into covenants with the Lord.  She is prepared to live a life dedicated to following the Savior through service to her fellow men...and to follow Him to the very end.

I am so excited for this great, great spirit, and so honored to present her with my husband to the Lord this Saturday as she enters the covenant of baptism!  There's nothing better!

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Preparing Children to Make and Keep Covenants

When I wrote my first post, I shared this picture of me getting ready to enter into the covenant of baptism.   That was a happy and cherished day.  This has become a beloved photo, and looking back, was the perfect way to start this blog.

Since then, I've gained new insights into the covenants that I have made, and I've turned my attention to helping my children place their feet squarely on this path as well.

What is the covenant path?:  Bishop Gary E. Stevenson has said, "In our lives...certain things are absolutely essential...These spiritual markers are the essential God-given...ordinances of the gospel," which include: baptism and confirmation, priesthood ordination, and temple ordinances.

Someone in a recent General Conference suggested that we make a list of the upcoming essential ordinances that are needed by our family members in order to help our children progress in the gospel.

Being more of a visual person, I thought it would be fun to have a visual reminder of the covenants that our family has made over time.  So I decided to start a "Covenant Path Wall" in our home.

So far, I've only gathered two photos for my wall (Guy's baptism and mine).  I just got it started today, but I already love it.

Soon, we'll have Scarlett and Autumn up there, and hopefully a photo will surface from Steve's baptism day as well, in addition to photos from our special days in the Lord's temples.  

Even with just two photos, it makes my heart smile every time I walk by this wall, and I can tell that it will help us all to focus on and rejoice in the covenant path that we are so blessed to be traveling on together.

Last fall, Sister Burton shared some lovely hints about helping to prepare children to make and keep temple covenants in her talk "The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant Keeping."

I am including her list here as a reminder to myself of her suggestions:

What are some ways we can create such a home to prepare our children to make and keep temple covenants?

• • 
  We can discover together what it means to be worthy of a temple recommend.
• • 
  We can discover together how to listen to the Holy Ghost. Because the temple endowment is received by revelation, we need to learn that vital skill.
• • 
  We can discover together how to learn through the use of symbols, beginning with the sacred symbols of baptism and the sacrament.
• • 
  We can discover together why the body is sacred, why it is sometimes referred to as a temple, and how modest dress and grooming relates to the sacred nature of temple clothing.
• • 
  We can discover the plan of happiness in the scriptures. The more familiar we are with Heavenly Father’s plan and the Atonement in the scriptures, the more meaningful temple worship will be.
• • 
  We can learn the stories of our ancestors together, research family history, index, and perform vicarious temple work for deceased loved ones.
• • 
  We can discover together the meaning of terms such as endowment, ordinance, sealing, priesthood, keys, and other words related to temple worship.
• • 
  We can teach that we go to the temple to make covenants with Heavenly Father—we return home to keep them!¹²

Let us remember the concept of “good, better, and best” as we teach.¹³ It is good to teach our children about the temple. It is better to prepare and expect them to make and keep covenants. It is best to show them by example that we cheerfully cleave to our own baptismal and temple covenants! 

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