Gila Valley, Arizona
132nd operating temple
Dedicated: 23 May 2010
By: Thomas S. Monson
Jesus Christ, Judge
Mosiah 3:10
And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.
Book of Mormon/"Come Follow Me"
2 Nephi 25
Nephi glories in plainness - Isaiah's prophecies will be understood in the last days - The Jews will return from Babylon, crucify the Messiah, and be scattered and scourged - They will be restored when they believe in the Messiah - He will first come six hundred years after Lehi left Jerusalem - The Nephites keep the law of Moses and believe in Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel.
"The Savior's Touch"
Elder Walter F. Gonzalez
"He can heal us and lift us up becuase He has the ability to do it. He took upon HImself all the pains of body and spirit so that His bowels would be filled with mercy in order to be able to help us in all things and to heal us and lift us up. The words of Isaiah, as cited by Abinadi, put it beautifully and movingly:
'Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. ...
...He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.'"
Ruby Delight!
Elder Walter F. Gonzalez
"He can heal us and lift us up becuase He has the ability to do it. He took upon HImself all the pains of body and spirit so that His bowels would be filled with mercy in order to be able to help us in all things and to heal us and lift us up. The words of Isaiah, as cited by Abinadi, put it beautifully and movingly:
'Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. ...
...He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.'"
Since we worked in the temple today I love this quote from Sister Ulrich's book, "Live Up to Our Privileges":
Temple ordinances we officiate in as women and men help others and us weave deliverance, redemption, and holiness into our stories of sorrow, sin, and loss. Likewise, the sacrament and temple ordinances can help us picture the promises we've been given."
(p. 188-89)
President Palmer and his wife presided today during our shift. We watched a baptism video we had seen several times with an 11 year old girl going to the temple with her dad for the first time to do baptisms. The girl suffers from social anxiety and the temple was very busy but she pressed forward. Do you know what I noticed during this video today? The girl had on a blouse with cartoon cat heads wearing glasses on it. I guess I had seen it so many times I was focusing on seeing something different this time. Maybe next time I need to look for something more spiritual.
I started out this morning at the sealing desk under the stairs. Sister Farr said, "go to your corner." I did, gladly. I like it over in the corner. You can see what's going on without being right in the middle of things. Also when you aren't busy, I had two people who needed help in an hour, you can read your scriptures or on the little post it notes you can make notes to yourself. I made out my schedule and a list of things I need to do this coming week. I also finished reading all of the chapter headings for the Old Testament and started on the new.
James and I had break at the same time but we didn't sit together. My table was already full when James came in so he sat by cute little brother Hancock and came back with some more good newly wed stories. I guess in an effort to wake him up this morning Sister Hancock tickled him. He got angry and wouldn't get up so she pulled him out of bed onto the floor. He said, "then I got up." (This is the same girl who blew the air horn at the golfers). Their favorite TV program is Avatar. James mentioned that he thought that was an animated children's program. Brother Hancock said, "yes it is, but the script is genius."!
I sat by Sister Sauwen, Sister Crandall, and Sister Cureton. Sister Sauwen lives in Woodruff and it sounds like it's abu the size of Vernon. She said they have a church, school, post office, and community center and library. Sounds almost like Vernon except that we have more than one church.
Sister Crandall is young and lives with her parents. She asked me if I had a good Valentine's day and I said yes, how was yours. She said, Oh, I had strep but my parents went out."
As we all were enjoying our breakfast burritos which had been cut in half she said: "I always think I should bring something for the potluck, but I can't think what to bring so I never do."
Sister Cureton lives on the other sides of Williams and travels 150 miles to get here. I asked her how long it took and she said two and a half hours. She said the speed limit on the freeway is 75 and her husband goes 80.
After my break I went upstairs to present at veil 1. All of the sisters who came to my veil were well versed in the temple. It was a pleasure to help them. I love being at the veil.
Other things I did today: Worked in initiatory twice, helped in the baptistry and got to visit with the older Sister Hamblin. She is from Salt Lake but has lived in Eagar 25 years and she loves it. She runs a pre-school and orders supplies from Walmart online and they deliver to her the next day. I did not know that they delivered.
There was a group from Eagar in the baptistry and a huge ward from Phoenix waiting in the chapel. They had several boys who came in Samoan dress.
While I was the downstairs greeter the couple that were sealed today came down. A huge group of people were waiting for them in the foyer because it was raining outside. James was the grooms assistant. The grooms name was Jeben Lewis. Funny. My first bishop in Show Low as a teenager was Eb Lewis and I went to school with Charlie and Eben, his sons, who were a little younger than I was. Jeben is Eben's grandson. I saw Eben and his wife. He looked very old. This is what I love about the Snowflake temple. I see people I knew when I grew up here all of the time.
I was finished at 12:30. My 12:30 assignment was "as assigned" which means , you are done. Several other sisters had the same thing and Sister Elmer left early so we couldn't be assigned anyway if she did have something for us to do.
I'm glad I brought my umbrella because it was raining hard when we left. We were going to do sealings but I rationalized and said we could do them next week. This week we went to Eva's to get mexican food.
We saw the Mortensen family eating at Eva's too. They aren't friends but James had helped Brother Mortensen in initiatory and I had helped Sister Mortensen in initiatory. The had three of their daughters with them.
After Eva's, I had a chicken enchilada with rice and beans and James had a green chili burro, we went to Walmart. Since James lost our toilet paper and I forgot to buy some when I went back, we needed toilet paper and ended up spending $68. Expensive toilet paper.
This is one of those days you just want to curl up with a good book and sit by the fire. As soon as I got home I changed into my comfy clothes and curled up on the recliner with Aunt Dimity. I also read to James and while I was reading he walked and got 1500 steps.
Some more things I did this evening: finished my steps, fixed broccoli and french fries for dinner, worked on my blog, and finished "Come Follow Me' for the week. It was almost 10:00 when we went to bed. It was a good day. Lots and lots of rain.
Mine on the left, James's on the right
After the rain
The face of an angel!
