Melbourne, Australia
90th operating temple
Dedicated: 16 June 2000
By: Gordon B. Hinckley
Jesus Christ, Prophecies about
Psalms 24:10
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
Book of Mormon
Alma 8:1-17
D&C
59:13-24
"Come Follow Me"
Review
AprGenCon
"The Gospel Light of Truth and Love"
Elder Alan R. Walker
Of the Seventy
Shortly after the organization of the Church in this last dispensation, the Lord spoke to Joseph Smith and manifested His abounding love for us when He said:
"Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; . . . "That mine everlasting covenant might be established; "That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world."
P8
"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God" (D&C 76:22-24).
Inklings
Elder Becerra reminds us to reflect on how we really see each other. Are we simply glancing here and there, with our gaze mostly down as our paths cross, or are we fastening our eyes on each other when it really matters?
President and Sister Perkins presided at the temple today. Sister Perkins is so friendly. As soon as I came in the front door she began talking to me, asking me my name and where I was from. She worked with me in the baptistry. I was assigned to be greeter #2. Part of my responsibility is to welcome those coming in to do baptisms, direct to the clothing distribution, and redirect them to the chapel, and then take them from the chapel into the baptistry. She was very helpful and so was President Perkins. He explained specific procedures, which door I was to take the youth in and where they were to sit. During prayer meeting President Perkins talked about the principle of "non-distraction" while ordinances are being performed. He was speaking of this regarding baptisms here in the temple . He said when a baptism is being performed there should be no talking, or walking through the room, or anything else that might take away from the ordinance itself. I had never heard of this as a principle of the gospel but it certainly makes sense.
Our first group in the baptistry arrived at 7 a.m. It was a group of Deacon's from the Snowflake 6th ward, five of them, and two Melchizedek priesthood holders. Each group is given an hour to finish their ordinances. This little group took longer than scheduled because it took some of these boys so long to change clothes after being baptized. Here are the last names of these boys: Smith, Farnsworth, Reidhead, Christensen, and Brewer. There has to be a sister in the confirmation room. This was my responsibility. These boys looked so young and innocent. I was impressed that they would get up early on a Saturday morning and come to the temple to do baptisms. For a couple of them, this was their first time.
Our next group was not scheduled until 9 a.m. This was a group of young women and on our schedule it said there would be nine of them. Only four showed up with a priest to do the baptisms, and a Melchizedek priesthood holder and an advisor. These girls were quick. After the baptisms they dressed quickly and the confirmations were done in no time. I couldn't help but compare the two groups.
Two groups is all that are scheduled in the morning. Two more will be scheduled for the afternoon. Hopefully this will pick up as Covid restrictions are lifted. (We are still wearing masks at all times in the temple).
My next assignment was in the new name booth. First I gave the new name to the escort for the sister who is going through to receive her own endowments. There were five or six sisters in this session and the last one was in a wheelchair which took some maneuvering.
When I was finished I asked Sister Elmer if she had anything else for me to do. She said she did not, that I was free to go. This was at 11 a.m.
I waited in the car for James for an hour and a half. He was asked by Brother Elmer to participate in the prayer circle for the 11:00 session. He was one of the last workers to leave. Thank goodness I was in the shade and there was a breeze.
We went into town to get some lunch. I told James I didn't feel like going in so he went into El Cupido's and ordered our burros and drinks. I ordered the carne asada burro and James got the chili relleno burro. I got a large drink and he got a small. I told him next time to get two mediums because mine was too heavy to pick up with one hand. I could only eat half my burro. James ate about 2/3's of his.
I don't know why but we are always so tired when we get home from the temple, we both just collapsed for a couple of hours. The rest of the day I spent working on my blog, walking, and indexing. James forgot his suit and pants at the temple and Brother Greer from our stake met him at the Borden Ranch road off the 60. It was so nice of him to do that for James. The men have been directed not to leave their clothes at the temple. James also worked over at the Elkins' getting ready for concrete.
My friend Pam left cookies on our front porch. She asked me what my favorite were and I said oatmeal walnut. These cookies were divine! She baked them in her new portable gas oven.
Today's entertainment: "A Banner is Unfurled" with James, "A Proper Scoundrel" while walking, and "A Love Yarn" YouTube movie while blogging and indexing and "Heaven is Waiting" another movie on my phone.
James came in to tell me his tale of woe regarding the raven's nest on our property. I told him I had seen two large ravens around Luna's corral yesterday. He said he had figured, according to calculations he found on the internet, that the eggs wouldn't hatch for five to six weeks. Those eggs were there on May 1st and when he checked on them today, the eggs had already hatched and the birds had flown away. He was pretty disappointed. I am a little relieved.
This was such a great day because we had the privilege of serving in the temple. I love it!
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