How the Temple Has Blessed My Life

There is an area temple history project going on in our area right now. Our local church area wants to document the history of our temples in the North America West Area, which is California and Hawaii. They have asked members to participate in the project by submitting their stories on "how the temple has blessed your life". It is supposed to be submitted to the Stake Clerk. Well, Alan is our Stake Clerk and nobody was submitting any documents so he asked me if I would submit one. Reluctantly, I wrote and submitted the following:

“How the Temple has Blessed My Life”

By Joan Stott

Somerset Ward, Lancaster California Stake

My fascination with temples began as a child as I periodically said goodbye to my parents when they left me and my siblings with a babysitter so they could go to the temple. I often wondered what was so special about the temple that they would leave us behind for hours to go there. As I grew older and learned more about temples and what occurred inside, I made it my personal goal to someday go there to be sealed to the man of my dreams. I understood that families sealed in the temple are forever and I would settle for nothing less.

It has now been 40 years since my husband and I kissed each other across the altar in the Provo Temple as we were sealed together as husband and wife. With each passing year, my love for the temple has grown. Even when my kids were younger, I looked forward to the day when I could become an ordinance worker like my parents had been so I could assist with the saving ordinances for others. Once all five of my children were grown and gone, I asked my Bishop if I could be an ordinance worker. We submitted the paper work, and soon I was called and set apart to do that sacred work in the Los Angeles Temple. I have served as an ordinance worker for over five years and I love it.

Being an ordinance worker has blessed my life in many ways. My testimony of temples and their importance has grown, my understanding of God’s plan for His children has grown, my desire to serve has increased, and my love for others has grown. The peace I feel inside the temple cannot be found anywhere else on the earth.

I have had a couple of amazing experiences in the temple. One took place in the Nauvoo Temple shortly after it was dedicated. I was on a Church History tour with a group of strangers, some extended family members, plus my husband and our two youngest children who were teenagers at the time. As part of the tour, we went to Nauvoo. I was very excited to see the new temple. We adults were fortunate to be able to go on a session and then we were allowed to go to the baptistry where our teenagers were doing baptisms for the dead. I was asked to distribute towels to the females as they exited the baptismal font. One female I was privileged to hand a towel to was my 17 year old daughter. I still don’t fully understand why I became emotional as I handed her the towel, but for some reason I felt the spirit very strongly and was moved to tears. That simple act of service made my love and appreciation for her grow immensely. I could tell that it was a special moment for her as well. She whispered to me that this was the first time I had ever been with her when she had done baptisms.  What a privilege it was to share that experience with her. A special love exists in the Lord’s House which binds people together.

Shortly after that magical moment with my daughter, the room went dark. A bad electric storm had arisen, which caused a power outage. Thanks to back-up generators, it wasn’t long until the lights came back on. This turned out to be a learning experience. It felt like God was giving me an object lesson reminding me that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Without Him, the world would be in darkness just like we were temporarily in darkness in the baptistry. I was grateful when the lights came back on and I am grateful for the light of Christ which resides inside each temple and which resides within each of us individually.

Another experience I had took place years ago in the Los Angeles Temple. My husband and I had gone to the temple to do an endowment session. In the Los Angeles Temple, members move as a company from room to room during sessions. As I exited room three and was walking down the hallway towards room four, an overwhelming impression came over me that Jesus Christ had walked that very hall. The impression was so strong that I could not deny it. It was very moving and very personal. Now that I am an ordinance worker there, I get the privilege of walking down that hall weekly and it serves as a reminder of that special experience. I cherish the knowledge I gained that day. I testify that the Lord visits His temples, that it is His house, and that the work done there is of an eternal nature. The veil is thin in the temple and experiences like this are common among those who frequent it.

Along with my eternal family, I can honestly say that the temple is one of the biggest blessings in my life. 

Worst Day Ever

  Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you had just stayed in bed? I had a day like that this past Wednesday (June 8th).

My day started out early like every other Wednesday. I get up at 2:30 to get ready to go to the temple in Santa Monica. I leave my house at 4:10 a.m.  Normally, I carpool with a couple of other sisters, but today I was driving by myself because after leaving the temple I planned to drive to Cheryl's house in Costa Mesa to help her with the wedding invitations.

As I was heading down the Antelope Valley Freeway (Hwy. 14), about 20 minutes from my home, the traffic started to slow down and then came to a complete halt.

This was not good. I needed to get to the temple on time because I am the shift coordinator and I needed to conduct our 5:45 a.m. coordinator's meeting and our 6:15 a.m. prayer meeting prior to the start of our shift. It was about 4:30 a.m. and any delay longer than about 20 minutes would make me late for my first meeting. I started to get worried.

I found out that a big rig had jack-knifed, blocking all the lanes so no traffic could get through. The freeway was completely shut down. This is a stretch of freeway that doesn't have frequent exits so an alternate route was impossible.



They were forcing cars to exit at Escondido Canyon. It took me over 2 hours to go about 1 1/4 miles to that exit...inch by inch, but finally I was able to exit the freeway. I followed the other cars through a detour that took us around the accident and I was able to re-enter the freeway. I was so excited to get back on the 14 Freeway and go over 2 mph. I was flying down the freeway. I felt as free as a bird. My reverie didn't last long, however, because I needed a pit stop. I saw a gas station in Canyon Country so I stopped and then got back on the freeway. Unfortunately, by the time I got on the 5 and the 405 freeways, commuter traffic was at a peak so once again I was crawling toward my destination. Long story short, I finally arrived at the temple at 9:15 a.m.  My normal arrival time is 5:15 a.m. Where I can normally get there in 1 hour, that day it took me 5 hours!

The other workers on my shift were excited to see me and they were glad that I was ok. My assistant coordinators stepped up to the plate and took over and did a great job in my absence. Things were going well.

After my shift ended, I dreaded the thought of getting back in my car to drive to Cheryl's. My back still hurt, so I didn't want to drive but I had no choice. My first obstacle came shortly after I left the temple. I had taken an alternate route to the freeway thinking that it would save me time and I could get to Cheryl's a little quicker, but such was not the case. I had to wait for not one, but two trains before I could cross the railroad tracks. Fortunately, they were short commuter trains.

Trying to ignore the pain and squirming a little in my seat to try to get comfortable, I waited patiently for the light to turn green so I could continue on my journey. It is about an hour from the temple to Costa Mesa, but when you are in pain, each minute seems like an eternity. I just wanted to be there already.

Finally, I arrived at Cheryl's, took my bag up to her bedroom, and laid down to rest since Cheryl wouldn't be there for almost an hour.

 I am smiling here, but I was in extreme pain. I couldn't get to sleep because I couldn't get comfortable. I only took the picture because Cheryl texted me to see if I was at her place yet and I texted back "does this answer your question?"

After a pizza dinner, Cheryl, her friend Rebecca, her two roommates (Jennifer & Chelsea)and I went to work putting together the invitations.

As the evening wore on, my pain got worse and worse. By 9 p.m. I was almost in tears. Cheryl and her roommates were worried about me and they could tell I was in pain. I told them that it didn't feel like my normal back pain. It was almost as painful as labor. Jennifer, who had recently been hospitalized to surgically remove a kidney stone that couldn't be expelled asked what my symptoms were so I told her. She said it sounded like I had a kidney stone. The more we talked about it, the more it did sound like a kidney stone. We considered taking me to the ER, but I wanted to get treatment closer to home. Being in too much pain and too tired to drive, they came up with a plan for Rebecca to drive me home and then Cheryl would somehow get my car back to me this weekend. Rebecca is from Lancaster and her parents still live there so she drove me home. We arrived at midnight. By this time, my back pain had lessened a little so I decided to try to sleep instead of going to the ER.

The next morning, I made an appointment with my physician. After explaining my symptoms, the Dr. thought it sounded like a kidney stone too so he ordered a urine test, which came back negative for kidney stones.  The final diagnosis was pinched nerves in my back from sitting in the car so long the day before. I was given a shot in each hip (steroid & muscle relaxant) plus two prescriptions - a muscle relaxant and pain pills. I knew that pinched nerves were painful, but I had no idea how painful they can be until now. Except for labor, that was the worst pain I have ever been in.

Yup, I wish I had never gotten out of bed that day. Had I know what the day had in store for me, I would have rolled over and gone back to sleep when the alarm went off.

It Could Only Happen To Me

For some reason, I have bad luck when it comes to ordering things online and having it actually turn out right.

A few Christmas' ago, I ordered a waffle iron and received this used computer. What a shock to open the box expecting to see a waffle iron only to see this instead.

In January, I ordered a book of all my blog posts from the previous year like I do at the beginning of every year and ended up receiving this weird manuscript instead.  That also was a big surprise.

After some sleuthing on my part, I discovered that someone opened my box, stole my blog book, and put this in the box as a replacement and then sealed the box back up. Weird series of events. Why didn't they just take the book instead of going to all that trouble? Weird!!!

A week ago, I ordered one of these melon slicers

 

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box yesterday and saw this instead:

It is a copper cooking pot with all kinds of utensils, etc. that came with it.

This isn't even close to what I ordered. What I ordered cost $18 (for two) and what arrived costs $70.  I got a great deal, right? Too bad my conscience wouldn't allow me to keep the copper pot and forget about the slicer. The seller would  never know. However, God would know so I could never do that.

I guess it is a very popular item because I saw an infomercial for it on television this morning.

Well, I worked it out with the seller for me to return the pot without having to pay for the postage and they are sending me the original item I ordered.

Although these mistakes are always a big pain, with a little work on my part it always works out in the end.  

I am kind of feeling like maybe I shouldn't order things online any more. The only thing keeping me from doing that is that I hate shopping and making purchases online is much more convenient and enjoyable for me. I guess I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that no more mistakes are made.

June's Year of Dates

Another month has come and gone and we are into the summer month of June. For this month, our gift was wrapped in beautiful pastel colors.

This is what the note said:

Inside was a gift card for Sweet Frog frozen yogurt and another gift card for the movie theater.

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend so Alan and I took advantage of these gift cards. We saw the movie "Allegiant" and then enjoyed a bowl of frozen yogurt afterwards. We had never been to Sweet Frog before. We were very impressed. You choose your flavors, serve yourself, and put as many toppings on as you would like then they weigh it and you pay accordingly. We will have to go back again sometime because we still have $2 left on our gift card. My mouth is watering just thinking about going back there. This was a very fun date.

We are now half way through our year of dates. It has been a blast!