Day 7 - The temple

The kids have created a home for boxelder bugs and pill bugs (potato bugs as we call them). Anna and Allie have been gathering bugs and putting them in a container. Grandma helped them cover it with plastic so they could still see inside. She poked tiny air holes in the plastic. But as Anna and Allie find more bugs they try to squeeze them in the bucket through the air holes which keep getting bigger and bigger. They are calling all the little pill bugs Kennedy and all the boxelder bug, underwear. They think it is all so funny.

Today is the day we went to see the Draper Temple.



We had been talking a lot about what it would be like to go inside a temple and what we would see. The girls were all excited to see the room where you get married. They got up this morning and put on their dresses. Without even being told they had been planning that. They had told me several times that they wanted to wear their prettiest dresses to the temple because it is such a special place.




We got there at a great time, when there weren't a ton of other people. We watched a video about temples and learned that South Jordan, UT is the only city in the world that has two temples. South Jordan is named for the nearby Jordan River, which is named for its likeness to the Jordan River in the Holy Land. They both run with no outlet from a fresh water lake to a salt lake.

Then we got to go inside. Everything was so beautiful. The spirit was so powerful. We saw the baptismal font sitting on the back of the oxen. Allie was worried becuase she didn't want to go in it.

There were beautiful murals on the walls of the endowment rooms. We got sit in the sealing rooms and look in the mirrors where we could see forever. We got to feel that incredible peace as you walk into the celestial room. And we got to see the beautiful bride's room.

Afterward we went into a tent where we got to eat cookies.

I am so grateful for temples.



I am grateful that there is a way for us to have our families forever. In the video Elder Holland talked about the peace and happiness of heaven and just like him, I know that Heaven would not feel that way if it were not for the fact that we can be with our families there.



I know that the sealing in the temple is only the beginning to having an eternal family, that after that comes a lot of work and patience. But today, in the temple, I was reminded so powerfully by the spirit of what heaven will feel like when we do our best each day so we can make it back to Heavenly Father's presence and can be surrounded with those of our family who make it back there too. That is a feeling I want to have forever. I guess I better do all I need to do to make it back to live with Heavenly Father again.




Anna: It was fun to see the whole temple instead of just some of the temple. I liked to see the married room and where the bride gets dressed.

Jennie: There was the spirit. Its true. I felt good and special. I liked to eat the cookies. I loved to look at the temple. I liked the bride room where you get married.

Allie: There were some lights that were beautiful, that were shaped like stars, but they hurt my eyes (because they were so bright). I saw the bunny. In the other room I saw the chipmunks (in the murals in the endowment rooms).