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Today is a milestone in the lives of Heather and Phillip. They went to the Boston Temple
and took out their endowments. This is an expected step for someone called to go on a
mission as in Phillip's case. For Heather it is a decision based on age,
maturity in the gospel, and worthiness.
We planned this day so that Lori and Chris could attend the session with us if they so
desired, which they did. The session started at 3:00 PM. Lori and Chris's oldest three children were able to tag along with a youth group that was doing proxy baptisms and confirmations. That session started at 2:00 PM, but they got there about 2:30 PM. This was Randy's first time to do proxy baptisms. Also in attendance were Heather's good friends from her college days, Jason and Mandy Holyoak Wallace. Mandy was Heather's roommate at BYU for several years. They live in Connecticut and drove up to meet us. They have two little girls that also came with. Rachel volunteered her services to take care of the girls while we were all in the temple. Rachel also watched Charlotte once she arrived because Charlotte is only 9 years old and can't yet go in the temple. Once Marnie, Hunter, and Randy were done with their baptismal session they also joined Rachel and the other children. We really appreciated Rachel's service that made this work out so well. Also in attendance were George and Karen Henkel. George is our home teacher. Jonathon Wilson also came down to attend, but he got there late and ended up going on the 4:00 PM session. We were all still out in front of the temple when he came out, so we were able to meet and talk with him some and he was on one of the pictures below. It is a somewhat rare thing to have two children take out their endowments on the same day. I personally don't know of anyone else that has done that, except maybe the Burgess' twin boys when they were preparing for their missions. Joyce was Heather's escort and I was Phillip's escort. The next day, August 1st, was Fast and Testimony Meeting in our ward. I'm the organist in our ward so I just stayed on the stand after the sacrament was done. Brother Hann was conducting the meeting and opened the testimony portion of the meeting. When he finished he opened up the meeting to the members to bear testimony. I was the first. I will try to capture here, as best I can, a summary of what I said. "This is an important week in our lives. My sister Lori and her family are visiting with us. We are eternal beings. We existed before coming to this earth and we will exist eternally after this life. However, there are moments in eternity when pivotal decisions, actions, and covenants are made. Yesterday was one of those pivotal moments in the lives of Heather and Phillip. They went to the temple and took out their endowments. "When I go to the temple I always try to use the same locker, number 123. The reason I use that locker is to remind me of Stanford. He died on January 23rd, which is 123. I also wore his shoes to the temple. (I lifted up my foot and showed the shoe on my right foot.) I always wear his shoes to church on Sunday and also wore them to the temple in a way to 'take him to the temple.' Another thing I do to remember Stanford is to play 'Called to Serve' as the last song of the postlude music each week. If any of you are in the chapel at that time you will hear me play 'Called to Serve'. I do this because it was Stanford's favorite hymn. "Yesterday in the dressing room as I sat in front of locker 123 I was overcome with emotion and couldn't even move for a short time. It was almost three and one half years ago on February 16th, 2007 that I was Stanford's proxy to take out his endowments. As I sat there I had the feeling that Stanford was there and would be attending on this important day for his brother and sister. Now 60 percent of my family have been endowed. Only Julia and Bradford are left, and we'll see how that goes. "Recently I've been thinking about 'beginnings'. I think I talked with Heather about this on one of our commutes to work. There are these 'beginnings' in eternity. For example, one beginning was when the earth was created. The scriptures say that we all 'shouted for joy' when this happened because we knew that we were going to be able to come to earth and have a body. Well, the earth was created, but then we had to wait and wait while Adam and Eve were in the garden. There was this huge backlog of spirits waiting to come to earth, waiting until Eve finally had the courage to make the decision to partake of the fruit and bring mortality. I think we probably 'shouted for joy' again when Eve finally made her decision. Then there was this trickle of spirits coming through the veil and the beginning of people on the earth. This continued until there were lots of mortals on the earth. Then Noah and the flood came along with another beginning. "Christ was finally born and we probably all shouted for joy again. Then the pivotal moment occurred when Christ completed the Atonement and was resurrected. We shouted for joy because it was really going to happen! Christ had completed the Atonement and the resurrection began. So now we have another beginning. We have spirits not yet born, those in mortality, and those resurrected. "Then Joseph Smith was born and the gospel was restored to the earth; another pivotal moment. And then the first temple was built, and then a handful of temples, and now over 130 temples, and proxy work for the dead began. Another beginning. A slow trickle of spirits that had been waiting for their work to be done started to happen. More and more temples have been built and more and more work is being done. The full plan of salvation was finally in full operation. So we have these huge numbers of spirits moving through all these stages. "Anyway, those were the thoughts that have been going through my mind lately. I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes life have meaning. I'm thankful for the Atonement that makes it possible for us to repent of our sins so we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know the gospel is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." |