The most holy places on this earth are the temples. In the temple, worthy members of the Church receive the greatest blessings anyone can desire. We also help make those same blessings available to our ancestors who died without receiving the essential ordinances of salvation.
You may ask… Why are members of the Church, like yourself, so willing and happy to build and go to the temple?
The Lord has always asked His people to build temples. The Lord commanded Moses: “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” The portable tabernacle they built served as the central place of Israel’s worship during their journey to the Promised Land. Its design and assembly were revealed by the Lord to Moses. It was to be the Lord’s holy house.
Later, King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem using the best building materials obtainable.
During the Savior’s earthly ministry, He considered the temple as a sacred place and taught reverence for it.
The Nephites (We learn about this civilization from The Book of Mormon) also built temples to the Lord in the Americas. They were gathered around the temple when Christ appeared to them after His Resurrection.
After the Church was restored in this dispensation (187 years ago this month), the Lord commanded the Saints to build a temple: “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” Doctrine and Covenants 88:119 (One of my favorite scriptures of all time)
In response, the Saints built the Kirtland Temple; a great sacrifice. In this holy temple, important priesthood keys were restored and the Savior Himself appeared.
At the moment, there are 155 temples in operation throughout the world, and many more are being built (14 under construction and 13 more announced).
We have been commanded to build temples so that holy ordinances may be performed for both the living and the dead. These ordinances include initiatory ordinances, endowments, marriages, sealings, baptisms for the dead, and ordinations.
President Brigham Young defined the endowment the following way:
“Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father … and gain your eternal exaltation.”
The covenants we make with the mentioned ordinances we receive in the temple become our qualifications for admission into God’s presence. These covenants raise us beyond the limits of our own power and perspective. We make covenants to show our devotion to build up the kingdom. We become covenant people as we are placed under covenant to God. All the promised blessings are ours through our faithfulness to these covenants.
The temple is a house of learning. Much of the instruction imparted in the temple is symbolic and learned by the Spirit. This means we are taught from on high. Temple covenants and ordinances are a powerful symbol of Christ and His Atonement. We all receive the same instruction, but our understanding of the meaning of the ordinances and covenants will increase as we return to the temple often with the attitude of learning and contemplating the eternal truths taught. I testify of this.
Temple worship provides opportunities to serve the dead by performing vicarious ordinances for them. Family history research may be done by anyone outside the temple walls, but the sacred ordinances our dead ancestors need for their exaltation can be administered only in the temple. The temple is the house of the Lord. He directs the conditions under which it may be used, the ordinances that should be administered, and the standards that qualify us to enter and participate in temple worship. The Lord told Moses, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” In Psalms we read: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
His house is holy, and no unclean thing may enter it.
Upon returning from my two year church mission back in February 2015, I experienced a great loss of serving full-time in the work of the Lord. I was impressed to ask my then Bishop Rhodes about the possibility of becoming an Ordinance Worker in the Logan Temple. He interviewed me and sent in a recommendation and a few weeks later I was interviewed by a member of the the Temple Presidency and set apart on April 16th 2015 as an Ordinance Worker on the Saturday PM Shift.
It felt amazing to once again be set apart in the work of the Lord and to be given authority to act in the name of Jesus Christ. Ever since first entering the Temple at the age of 12, participating in baptisms in behalf of the dead, did I have the ambition to become an Ordinance Worker one day.
I never knew that I would be so privileged and blessed to begin serving at the age of 21.
Yesterday, April 15th, I was honorably released as an Ordinance Worker in the Logan Temple, having served for two years.
I was emotional multiple times throughout the evening, especially as I administered ordinances for the last time.
You may ask, If you love the temple so much, why would you leave?
With a lot of prayer and thought, I considered two years of service a great privilege and opportunity. Serving at the Temple helped me transition from a missionary to a returned missionary so well. I now need to put more attention into dating, school, and work. Thankfully, I can still visit the temple as a patron anytime I desire. I have the full intention of returning as an Ordinance Worker again in the future.
I'm a man of statistics. I hate math but I love seeing numbers that I can relate to. I keep pretty good records. I don't share this to brag in any way, but I find it interesting for me at least.
I served 82 weekends (shifts) at the Logan temple. I loved every single Saturday.
I’ve had the wonderful privilege, to go inside 16 different temples! I’ve been truly blessed.
I’ve gone to the temple 157x’s since receiving my own endowment!
I am very blessed to live 15 minutes away from one in Logan, Utah. And less than 3 hours from others!
I love the temple!! I can’t tell you enough!
I am very blessed to live 15 minutes away from one in Logan, Utah. And less than 3 hours from others!
I love the temple!! I can’t tell you enough!
Nearly 100 years ago, Apostle John A. Widtsoe taught: “We need more workers to accomplish [this] wonderful work. … We need more converts to temple work, drawn from all ages. … The time has come, … in this new temple movement, to bring into active service all the people, of all ages. … Temple work is … of as much benefit to the young and the active, as it is to the aged, who have laid behind them many of the burdens of life. The young man needs his place in the temple even more than his father and his grandfather, who are steadied by a life of experience; and the young girl just entering life, needs the spirit, influence and direction that come from participation in the temple ordinances."
As President Wilford Woodruff said:
“What greater calling can any man [or woman] have on the face of the earth than to hold in his [or her] hands power and authority to go forth and administer in the ordinances of salvation? …
“… You become an instrument in the hands of God in the salvation of that soul. There is nothing given to the children of men that is equal to it.”
He also said:
“The sweet whisperings of the Holy Spirit will be given to [you] and the treasures of Heaven, the communion of angels, will be added from time to time.”
“This is worth all you or I can sacrifice [during] the few years we have to spend here in the flesh.”
President Thomas S. Monson recently reminded us that “the blessings of the temple are priceless.” “No sacrifice is too great.”
Come to the temple. Come often. Come with and for your family. Come, and help others to come too.
Young Adults, my peeps! If you love the Temple, if you desire more blessings and guidance from the Lord, if you want to learn more about God's love for His children, if you want to learn more about the Houses of the Lord, etc, become an Ordinance Worker! You will not regret it. I have total confidence it will be one of the best choices you make! I would encourage every returned missionary especially to consider and pray about becoming a temple worker. I encourage everyone to consider serving and visiting the temple more than you currently are. These edifices are here to stay, so become more acquainted with them as much as you possibly can.
If you need a friend to take you to the temple, if you need someone to remind you to go the temple, if you want to be married in the temple... ;), let me be that someone!
I am so grateful for my mother who has and continues to be an enormous example to me for the love of the Temple and the importance of going each week.
I am thankful for my mission, which provided a Temple to attend 7 times. It engraved in my soul an even greater love for the work accomplished inside.
I am grateful for the Temple Presidency, for their example and many trainings I received from them.
I am thankful for all the Ordinance Workers who serve in all the Houses of the Lord, but especially the Logan Temple and even more so the Saturday PM Shift Workers. They were wonderful to serve alongside with and many of them have become my dear friends.
I am thankful for all those who attend the Temple. You are why I served! I loved seeing you come to the Lord's House. Thank you for you sweet spirits and for your enlightening smiles. I was able to assist those coming to the Temple for the first time, those returning after a long time, and those being sealed for time and all eternity. You brought me absolute joy while serving. Thank for your attendance. Keep coming.
I testify to you that the temples are sacred, holy places. They are a source of spiritual power and strength. They are a place of revelation. They are truly the Houses of the Lord, I so testify.
In the sacred name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen.
Jordan Falslev
