I want you to know...

I was asked to write this for an extra credit assignment in one of my classes.  The more I wrote, the more that I knew that I wanted to share this experience.  It has been a few years since this experience occurred but it still encourages me to do that which is right and good.  I hope it inspires you all as well.  I love you all! and I want you to know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that doing that which is right truly does bring happiness. I know that it is also essential to our salvation that we participate in the salvation of others.  I know Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children personally and that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Love, 
Taysom

Baptisms for the Dead

            I try to go to the temple to do confirmations and baptisms for the dead at least once a week.  Generally, I would go on Thursdays after my 11:30 to 1 o’clock class because I didn’t have anything going on for a few hours afterwards.  I always love going to the temple, and I admit that sometimes I go for selfish reasons.  For example, sometimes I would go because I had a test coming up and I wanted a few extra blessings, or sometimes I go because it was my goal to attend the temple once a week while I was up here at college.  And if I missed a week, my goal was to make up for it the next week by going twice.  However, I have noticed lately that my reason for going to the temple lately (as well as the fact that it is my goal) is because of the wonderful peace I feel when I attend the temple.  It is amazing to walk in to the temple and know that the Lord has walked those very same steps, and that this is the Lord’s house.  When I go to the temple, I can always feel His spirit unless I make the conscious decision to be selfish and not let the healing power of the atonement make me whole.  I know that when I go the Lord is proud of me, that I come closer unto Him, and that He loves me, of course He always loves us and He is always proud of us as we come closer unto Him, but there is something about being in His house that makes that realization so much more clear.

            I am not the only one who benefits when I attend the temple though.  All of the people I am confirmed for and am baptized for also receive eternal blessings.  My family and I were asked to participate in a pageant for a Relief Society activity one time and it was over temple work.  My family was cast as a family who had not yet had their work done for them.  We were supposed to be called up one by one say our names and see if anyone in the audience had our names.   (Pieces of paper with our names on them as well as many other names had been distributed throughout the audience previously.)  If someone had our name that meant that our work had been done for us and we went to the other side of the room to continue our eternal progression.  We were told that my little sister wouldn’t have her name placed out there and that we would have to leave her in order to show how families actually feel when this happens.  Well, we began the pageant and my mom’s name was called out.  One person stood up announcing that she had her name.  My mom would soon move to the other side of the room, but she waited to hear if our names would be called out too.  As I am the oldest child in my family I went next.  They called my name and I waited for the expected call that someone had my name, but something had gone wrong with the slips of paper and my name was no longer to be found (I often wonder if Heavenly Father allowed this to happen on purpose so that I could see the importance of family history work.)  It was devastating, that grief that I would not be going on with my parents.  I did not think anything could feel worse.  But then after my brother, Tucker, had joined my parents, I watched my little sister, Ilah, as she returned to her place by me.  And then my youngest brother’s, who was probably nine or ten at the time, name was also not found.  This wasn’t part of the program either and Henry, confused returned to our bench.  Finally, my Dad, got up and had his name called out.  As expected someone did have his name, with tears in his eyes, he told all three of us that he would have to leave us.  He said he would be waiting and praying for us until we came to join him, mom, and Tucker.  With that he hugged and kissed the top of our heads and left to the other side of the room.  I was sobbing by this point and I am sure Ilah and Henry were also crying but I think I tried to tickle their back or something.  It’s a little blury now, but I hope I comforted them, and that’s when the pageant ended.  I cannot describe the utter anguish and pain I felt when me, Ilah, and Henry, were not allowed to go to with the rest of our family, but I also remembered thinking thank goodness that my name wasn’t called out so I could remain with Ilah and Henry.  I now realize that that was probably the wrong attitude to have because I also would need to continue my eternal progression and I am sure Ilah and Henry would want me to move one.

            The really sad thing is that this is not just a pageant.  There are families who have not yet had their work done for them and have not been sealed together.  It is our duty to change that, and really why would you not want to help people in that situation?  President Eyring stated in his talk entitled “Hearts Bound Together” the reliance and responsibility we have to do temple work, when he said, “When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them.”  It is our responsibility to help those who have not yet had the opportunity to receive the blessings of the temple.  Take an hour to do indexing, attend the temple regularly, and start writing in your journal your own family history.  Start being the light to others who are struggling and become an instrument in the Lord’s hands.  At least, that’s what I would want others to do for me and my siblings and parents if we had not had the work done for us.