Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Stepping Stones

I had the privilege of taking four non-member friends on the temple tour on three occasions. The first was with a friend who flew in from Denver to visit her daughter so the two of them could go with me. I have spent time with both of them in sharing my testimony, love and knowledge of the gospel. They both have been interested but it wasn’t until they toured the temple that they became more committed to work towards embracing it fully.

After the tour the daughter, who has hopes her boy friend and the father of her son will make the necessary changes in his life for her to accept him back into her life and move towards marriage, asked if I would invite him to go on the tour with me. I have also spent a lot of time with him in convincing him it was through the gospel where he would find the necessary teaching and help to become a good husband and father and where he could find his greatest peace and joy, however, he hadn’t made any steps in that direction. But he was excited about the temple tour and he and his little son came with me. After the tour he expressed he was really touched and he wanted to get a picture of the temple for him and one for his hoped to be wife.

The forth non-member was a dear friend and former neighbor who I have tried to share the gospel with on many occasions but she politely let me know she wasn’t interested. After the tour she sent me a thank you card. I’m going to quote parts for I think it is a big step for her.

“Dear Carolyn,Thank you, thank you for taking time to guide me through your spectacular new temple which reflects the strong faith of your entire membership. I appreciated the personal tour and especially showing and teaching me as we went along that I could understand the faith and commitment behind this spectacular building. It’s lovely outside and inside and many times for me personally provides calming relief from Winco, Costco, Walmart, etc. along MKT street.”

It is my prayer now that she will be more open to letting me share more with her. Thank you for the opportunity to share me sweet experiences.

-Sister Carolyn Hanchett.

Like 2000 Stripling Warriors

I remember when they first announced that we were going to have the cultural celebration. I was so exited and when we did our first practice I thought it was fun. We had a ton of practices and by the time we got to the real thing I was tired of doing it. Then I thought to myself this is a once in a life time experience so lets make this the best it can be. When we were doing one more practice right before it started sprinkling. I was wish for some rain but when we started the real one the rain started pouring harder and harder until everyone was froze to the bone. Even though everyone was cold I knew that we were going to keep working on it. That was one of the best experiences I have ever had and I like to bare my testimony that I know the church is true and that the temple is the house of God and I will follow this church until I die.

 -Bitner Workman

The cultural celebration was an amazing experience. It was probably one of the funnest days of my life. I was part of region four and that was the region of the fire dance. The fire dance was definitely the coolest dance because there was a lot of running around with screaming and yelling. During the dance even though there was people screaming and yelling there was still an incredible spirit throughout every single one of the dances. It rained through the whole performance but we still had no problem doing each of our dances. At first when it started to rain everyone was running around playing in the rain but when the performance was over everyone there was soaked to the bone, tired, and sore even if you had an umbrella or rain poncho.

A really cool experience that happened during the cultural celebration was when we were waiting for the prophet to come. It started raining harder than it had been all night but right when the prophet stepped out of the car, the rain almost immediately stopped. Then of course it picked up again later in the performance but for that minute or two while the prophet spoke the spirit was the strongest I've ever felt it.

Another cool experience for me was during the last song we sang. It was “2000 Stripling Warriors” it was really cool to me because we were like the 15000 stripling warriors marching on the field to battle. You could see that everyone was tired and worn out from all the rain and dancing but every single one of the youth were on the field. All you could see from the inside of the mass of people were first a ton of different colored t-shirts and second a bunch of faithful youth surrounding you. Again at the time we were singing this song the spirit was super strong. When the performance was over I could barley walk I was so cold but it was great to think that I was able to be part of the temple dedication in the place that I've grown up my whole life.

-Gage Workman

Friday, April 25, 2014

I Love to See the Temple

Our primary children have been recording their memories of the Gilbert Temple open house and dedication. Here is what a few of them had to say.


“When I saw the temple inside and out I thought it was amazing and beautiful. I also saw the Cultrual Celebration. It was amazing even for how hard it was in the rain it was even more spiritual than it would have been without the rain. I also loved the celestial room. I loved the chandelier, it was amazing to see. It’s pretty cool to see the temple. It’s funny because my favorite song is ‘I Love to See the Temple.’” 
–Kyler Evans, 11 years old

“When I went in the temple I felt warm and safe inside. I didn’t have a favorite room because I liked all of them.” 
–Emerson Jaten, 9 years old

“I went with my family. I liked the baptism font. It made me feel happy.” 
–Cessilee Conover, 4  years old

“I felt awesome when I went thru the temple The baptized room was my favorite, I liked it. The temple is important because it is Heavenly Father’s home.” 
–Dawson Hansen, 5 years old

“It was beautiful. I loved it. My favorite room was the marrying room. I hope I get married in it.” 
–Kate Foster, 6 years old

“The temple dedication was great! I liked that the prophet was there. The Hoasanna thing was great! I can’t wait to go to more dedications. Although it was a little boring it was cool.” 
–Olivia George, 10 years old

"The celestial room was the best part of the tour."
-Harrison Bradley, 8 years old

“I felt happy and I liked the designs.” 
–Ashlyn Tucker, 8 years old

“I felt spiritual in the temple. I loved the baptistery.” 
-Shawn Loyden, 10 years old

“My favorite room in the temple was the baptismal font. I liked the cultural celebration. I wish I was in it. My sister has done baptisms for the dead. I liked when they did the cornerstone.” 
–Blake Foster, 11 years old