So I woke up pretty early this morning. I think it was probably 3:30 in the morning. I lazily got myself going and by 4 AM I was lounging on the couch looking at my phone. Generally, that is not a good thing to do at 4 AM. But, I felt aimless because my computer was dead and I was about 75% sure I had left the charger at work. I thought I had put it in my backpack before leaving, but I had looked everywhere for it last night and it was nowhere to be found. Process of elimination told me it was still sitting on my desk at work in Draper.
At about 4:30, I felt this impression to go to the temple. Honestly, I didn’t want to go. I said a prayer and continued with what I was doing. At about 5 AM, I felt the impression to go to the temple again. A thought crossed my mind, it was a memory of a conference talk. In the talk, the speaker talked about an elderly man in a wheelchair going to the temple. The speaker praised the man for attending when it clearly wasn’t easy.
I thought about myself and the pain I was sure to endure going to the temple. It’s not easy, changing, then standing up and sitting down, over and over again with my bad hip. I really wasn’t excited. In fact, I kind of dreaded it.
At about 5:30, I decided I was just going to go. So, I quickly got ready and then drove to the American Fork, Utah Temple. I was surprised when I drove up because it looked closed. There are always a ton of cars, even at 6 AM. Looking over the parking lot, there was not a single car this morning. I quickly pulled out my phone to check. Sure enough, it is closed from Monday, April 29, 2024, through Monday, June 3, 2024.
Well, at this point I was determined to go. A thought came that I should go to the Draper, Utah Temple. It is about a 20-minute drive over Suncrest to Draper. I quickly looked up the schedule to make sure it was open, and it was. In my mind, I thought, this is a great idea. I will be close to work and can head there as soon as I am done.
As I pulled into the parking lot there were a ton of cars. I knew it was open. At that moment I also realized, I had made a gross error in judgment. I had left my laptop for work at home. Now I will need to drive to work to get my plug, or drive home and get my computer. I checked my work schedule on my phone. I had a scheduled call at 9 AM. I started doing the math trying to guess which would be the best option based on the amount of time I had. Either way, if I didn’t have a plug I couldn’t use the computer. I knew I had to go by the office either way. I figured I would just walk in and see what happens.
As I walked up to the entrance, the door swung open. It seemed odd to me that the doors opened like that. When I walked in, there were a ton of temple workers. It was a bit intimidating. I walked up to the counter and said, “I don’t have an appointment.” The gentleman said, “What would you like to do?” And I said, “Well, I don’t have an appointment.” And he said again, “What would you like to do?” Yes, we really did that twice. I said, “I don’t really care what I do.” He said, “Have you done initiatories?” My first thought was, I know they made some changes and the old version would be really difficult to do with my hip. But, I said, “Yes, I’ll do them. But, I have not done them for some time.” He happily replied, “OK, follow me to the back.”
Everywhere there seemed to be more people than normal. They were all so happy and so inviting. We got back to the initiatory counter and my guide said, “This brother is going to do initiatories and he hasn’t done them for a very long time.” In my mind I thought; well, there is a difference between some time and a long time, but I didn’t say anything. A really kind man looked at me and replied, “Don’t worry about it, this is going to be great.”
They had me put on my white clothes and then asked me to come over when I was ready. When I was ready, the same very kind man took me over and said, “This is going to be the most amazing experience. If you listen really well, this is one of the most special parts of the temple.” I thought, great!
As I was going through the initiatory, I ended up having the same kind gentleman help me. It was a lovely experience. There were a few things I wanted to talk about.
The first thing was, I kept thinking of the coronation of Prince Charles which I had watched a few glimpses of. I had a desire to go an study to see what some common practices are when coronating a king. What is the process? What are the parts of the ceremony? What is said? Why do they do what they do? How did these traditions start?
The second thing was, I went through this initiatory process 5 or 6 times. On the second round, I bumped into this same kind man again. When he finished with his part of the session, he pointed to a paper they had on the wall in the room and referring to a specific sentence on that paper he said: “This is what gave me hope to continue for the last year and a half since my wife passed away.” I don’t remember the actual phrase on the paper, but it had to do with the work we must each individually accomplish before returning to God at the end of our lives.
I felt the holy ghost so strongly that this was a special moment I was experiencing. On one hand, I was reluctant to come to the temple today. I didn’t go to learn anything. I simply went because I felt prompted to go. I was doing as I was told. I hope to have spiritual experiences when I attend the temple, but they don’t always happen. Most of the time it is just a peaceful experience. I’ve never been able to just command one to happen. I’ve asked for them, and I’ve hoped for them. But, they seem to come in their own time. For some reason, either for me or for him that was supposed to happen. I am grateful for his testimony and the testimony the Holy Ghost confirmed to me. I will take it and learn from it.
He obviously shared something deeply personal to him. I am sure his heart greeves daily. I am also sure this kind man went home today feeling as though he had done some good while serving in the temple today. Honestly, it makes me really happy to think that. I am glad he was at the temple to share that with me today. I am also glad I went. The initiatory was short and I ended up having plenty of time to go to work, find my plug, go home, and then go back to work again for my call at 9 AM. And that 9 AM call ended up being really good.
I had hoped to pop in and out of the office before anyone showed up. Unfortunately, two of my coworkers were there and were very perplexed that I would show up at work that early in the morning all dressed up. One of them fell away from the church pretty hard, the other isn’t a member. I told them I went to the temple this morning. As I left, I could hear the one who fell away from the church telling the other one what the temple was and what you do there.
It is interesting, none of us know our full destiny. Only God knows. It is our job to remain faithful until our mortal work is finished. If we remain faithful we will receive the blessings we have been promised.