Blessings of the Temple

I'm writing this at almost midnight having returned from my first ever trip to the Preston Temple! I have been literally blown away!!! I cannot explain the level of spiritual calm and spiritual peace that I am feeling at the moment and that I've felt ever since I set foot in the Temple earlier this evening. 

LDS Temple in Chorley, near Preston, England

I received my Limited-Use Temple Recommend from the Bishop this last Sunday and was very excited as a result. Our Stake President, President Marshall, set Liverpool Stake the challenge of indexing at least one batch of names and to work on our family histories and take at least one name to the temple with us during this week; our Stake Temple Week.

I have been doing some indexing since I joined the Church and try to do a couple of batches each week but I had hit a brick wall with my family history. I realised that I didn't really know what I was doing and I mentioned this to one of my companions from the church when we were manning the local Poppy Appeal table last week. Sister Kopecna generously offered to help me with my Family History work and help me she did! With her assistance, I was able to track down 14 people from my family to add to my Family Tree and for whom Temple work could be completed, where appropriate.

I didn't realise how much this meant to me, but before I left for the Temple this evening, I prayed to Heavenly Father to ask His help at the Temple tonight and I asked for His guidance and to for me to act in the way that He wants me to act and what He wanted me to do. I was overcome with emotion and ended up sobbing my heart out. It was entirely unexpected. Then, I was suddenly embraced by a feeling of warmth and the tears stopped as quickly as they started. I had to go to the Temple and do what I was asked. So I did and I feel so so blessed as a result. Both when I was being baptised and when I was being confirmed, I felt the Spirit with me very strongly and I was again overcome with emotion. It was as though I could hear my ancestors. I could feel them. It was a beautiful and very moving experience and I was pretty sad when we had to leave. I didn't want the feeling of peace to end - and it hasn't.

I have a testimony of the peace of the temple and I'm looking forward to doing more work on my family tree and reconnecting with my ancestors. I now understand what President Monson meant when he said:

"As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation. The temple provides purpose for our lives. It brings peace to our souls - not the peace provided by men but the peace promised by the Son of God when He said, 'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid'".

In 1995, President Boyd K Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, counseled:

"The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there will not be limited to our temple service. We will be blessed in all our affairs" (The Holy Temple, Ensign, February 1995).

I always want to have a valid Temple Recommend because I do not want to never be able to experience the peace that I'm feeling now. I want this peace to be with me always. How about you?

Liverpool Stake Conference ~ 26th October 2014 ~ Families Can Be Together Forever

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to attend my first Stake Conference. I was even fortunate enough to sing in the dedicated Sisters' Choir. I felt so inspired throughout the meeting; there was a strong focus on Family History, Temple Work and Indexing, which are three activities about which I'm quickly becoming very passionate!

I'm hoping to be able to take part in Liverpool Stake's Temple Week in November and to go to the Temple for the first time. I'm quite excited. I visited the Temple Grounds with Sister Haskins and Sister Nemec at the beginning of August before I was baptised and, as you can see from the photographs, the grounds are very beautiful. However, I've never actually entered the Temple before. I'm very fortunate that I only live a short distance from the Temple, so I should be able to visit often once I receive my Temple Recommend.

Temple: Preston, England

Sister Haskins (left) and Sister Nemec (right) at the Temple in Preston, England

Our Stake President, President Steven Marshall, set us a few challenges at Conference. He has asked for us to all register on Family Search as Indexers and for each of us to index at least one batch of records. You do not have to be a Church Member to register as an Indexer. Indexing is simply the process of entering information from historical records into an online searchable database. It makes the process of Family History that much more straightforward. You can learn more about Indexing by clicking on this link. Liverpool Stake has pledged to index 1000,000 names in 2014, so we need to give a big push in the last two months of the year (where has this year gone?)!

President Marshall also challenged us to work on our Family Histories and to find one more name in our family tree. As I have only just started to delve into doing Family History, I'm hoping that I can find several new names and get their records. I'm so grateful that I can use the Family Search website. Again, you don't have to be a Church Member to register (for free) and to access genealogical records. The family is the most important unit in time and eternity. We are all spirit children of Heavenly Father and He organised us into families. Families are central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children. This is why there is so much focus on the family within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

I would like to accept President Marshall's challenges to index more batches of records so that more people can link up their family members and I will accept the challenge to find out more about my family tree and find a new name which I can take to the Temple. 

I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for the inspired words for our Ward, Stake, Temple and Church leaders and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for welcoming me back into His eternal family.