Temple Work

We have discovered something in the temple we do that we can talk about, and that we have learned to love. We were given the opportunity to serve as the Baptistery Coordinator a few weeks ago, and though it was a good experience almost everything that could go wrong did on our first attempt. Don’t assume it was a disaster – there were just lots of little things that happened all at once that moved us out of the orderliness and reverence we try to maintain the House of the Lord. It was obvious we needed a better way of doing things. To add to the difficulty is a language barrier. Those who come to the Temple are expected to speak English, but they can come from a culture that speaks Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, or another language we have never heard of, and then there are several dialects to go along with the various languages. Though most of the youth are good in English, some of the leaders are not, but they usually can perform the ordnances in the Temple in English well enough for us to understand.

We worked hard to develop a plan that would maintain the dignity, modesty, and order we need to maintain in the Temple (remember the Temple is a House of Order). We presented our plan to the Temple Presidency and they approved it. Yesterday we had four youth groups show up with over 100 young people total. They were scheduled at two hour intervals beginning at 7:00 AM (we had to be at the Temple at 6:00 AM to make our preparations). There are some concerns that need to be addressed by an adult woman with the young women, and some work to organize those who hold the Priesthood that come with the youth.

From the very beginning we felt a deep love and respect for the youth and their leaders. There were many youth, perhaps all, we would have brought home if it were possible. In two of the sessions there were boys who appeared to be 8 or 9 years old (Filipino children appear much younger than they really are). One of the tasks we perform is to be certain each young man and young woman is 12 years old or older. In one case the Stake President had to go ask the young man if he really was 12, and if he held the Aaronic Priesthood (necessary for young men). Fortunately in both cases they were.

There is a lot of work to do to be certain everything flows smoothly. It is hard to say if our planning was blessed or if we were blessed that we worked our plan – probably some of both. We had very few interruptions that helped us get through this process. Now that school is back in session we won’t have as many youth coming to the Temple as we have had for the last few days.

There isn’t a day that goes by that our appreciation and for love the Temple doesn’t grow. We miss being among the people like we were on our last mission, but the service we perform in the Temple is far more spiritual than our previous mission.

When we get a chance we will get a picture of one of these groups of youth so you can see for yourself how beautful they are.