Stake Temple Week, Day 7

Dear Young Women,

How I have loved this week as I have taken the opportunity to have a temple experience each day, as encouraged by our stake presidency. I hope that you will also attend stake conference this evening and tomorrow. Great blessings will be yours as you attend the meetings intended for you. I would urge you to treat it as a meeting specifically for you and go with a question or questions in mind and see how the Holy Ghost answers those questions for you.

 I wanted to end this special temple-focused week with my most favorite temple video I have seen. In this video a young women reflects on the blessings of walking the covenant path as she makes her journey to the temple. I think of each of you as I watch this video.

To watch the video, Standing in Holy Places, click here.

Love, Sister Chambers

Stake Temple Week, Day 6

Dear Young Women,

Have you ever wondered why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints encourages temple marriage? This article is directed at the youth and explains it wonderfully. No matter which stage your testimony is at in regards to wanting a temple marriage, I hope this will encourage you a bit more to strive to be married in the temple at the right time to a worthy young man.

The Doctrine of the Family

We use the term doctrine to help define many things in the Church. For example, the Guide to the Scriptures defines doctrine of Christ as “the principles and teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” So what do we mean when we talk about the doctrine of the family or the doctrine of eternal marriage?

“The Family: A Proclamation to the World” states, “Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.” In other words, when we talk about why we are here on the earth and what we are meant to accomplish and become, it’s all tied to the idea that we are part of a family and can marry and establish new families.

The family proclamation also states: “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.”

But what happens to our families when we die? If you are married by the law of your state or country, will that law have any authority over you when you die? No, because those laws are made by man and have authority only as long as you live under that authority. For marriage relationships to continue after you die, those marriages must be sealed together in the right place with authority that lasts through the eternities. That place is the temple, and that authority is the priesthood (see D&C 132:7, 15–19). By choosing a temple marriage and keeping those covenants, you choose to be able to live forever with your spouse.

The Reason We Care

Maybe you already know that doctrine, and yet you still wonder, “But why else does it matter so much?” Maybe it’s not a matter of understanding the doctrine. Maybe it’s more a simple question of what marriage and family mean in your heart. The simple answer is that the greatest happiness and joy available to us come through living the gospel and gaining and maintaining a temple marriage.

“Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and … the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World”).

In the April 2013 general conference, Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy explained it this way: “No other relationship of any kind can bring as much joy, generate as much good, or produce as much personal refinement.”

We also know that “happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you think about it, you’ll spend a large part of your life preparing for big changes that come along. There’s baptism, graduating from Primary into Young Men or Young Women, attending the temple, and participating in family history research and temple ordinances for your ancestors. For young men, there’s receiving the priesthood and advancing in priesthood offices. For young women, there’s advancing in Young Women classes. There’s high school graduation or its equivalent. And now missionaries can leave at age 18 or 19. There’s a lot to prepare for and look forward to.

But the most important covenant we prepare for is being sealed in the temple. When individuals in families live according to the plan of happiness and keep their temple covenants, they experience true joy.

The gospel is what life is all about. It’s the whole reason we are here. When we follow the gospel path, it leads to joy. And that path leads to a temple marriage, either in this life or in the life to come. No blessings will be withheld from the Father’s faithful children.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counseled, “The most important single thing that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority.”

Joys of Marriage

Some of the joys of marriage include:

Confidence and Support. When you get married, you have someone who will cheer you on and encourage you in doing what is right, who will lift you up each day, who will share in all your joys and sorrows.

Children. It brings great joy to be trusted with the care and keeping of Heavenly Father’s children.

Sharing. It is such a great blessing to share in the life of another person and someday in the life of children as well. Your and your spouse’s successes become successes for the family. Making memories together adds deeper meaning to life.

Counsel. A spouse can give you good, honest advice, and you can trust it because you know it’s coming from someone who has only your best interests at heart.

Strength. Two are stronger than one. You can strengthen and help each other to live the gospel more completely.

Laughter. When you know someone this well and when you really trust each other, you’ll enjoy life with laughter and humor.

Love. Being told each day that you are loved is marvelously renewing and refreshing.

Service. There is great joy in serving one another and much more so when you do it for someone you love.

Friendship. You’ll have someone there with you through the good times and bad.

Trust. It is comforting to know that you are with someone who always wants what’s best for you and that you can confide in him or her without fear.

Physical and Emotional Intimacy. Marriage is a unique relationship in which the Lord binds two people in an eternal relationship whose goals include oneness, togetherness, and joy.

To read this article, and others on Temple Marriage, click here.

Last year I posted on temple marriage, to read that, click this link: Temple Marriage. I completed that post after our temple marriage mutual activities. Remember the wedding dresses and wedding time capsules? Those were a blast!

Let's do that again soon!
Sunday, I taught on strengthening our personal testimonies. I hope that you will apply some of the principles we discussed and begin to strengthen your testimony of a temple marriage. I have a testimony that the temple is the only place where we can be married and have that relationship continue beyond this life. I also know that when we are married in the temple we have the Lord as a third partner in our marriage.
One day (many years from now!) I look forward to receiving temple wedding announcements from you wonderful young women.

Love, Sister Chambers

May 14, 2014

Hello Young Women!  I wanted to share the pictures with you from our fun trip to the Idaho Falls Visitor Center.  What a fun, spiritual experience we had together!  I'm very grateful for the temple and all of the blessings we can receive there.
Love, Sister Higgins

 



Stake Temple Week, Day 5

Dear Young Women,

I wanted to share this talk with you from President Howard W. Hunter. 

It was directed specifically to the youth of the church at the dedication of the Orlando Florida temple in October of 1994.

 Your Temple Recommend

During a recent general conference we encouraged Church members to worthily attend the temple or to work toward the day when they can enter his holy house to receive their ordinances and covenants. We hope that you, as young members of the Church, will go often to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. When the time comes for you to go on a mission or be married, we pray that you will go to the temple worthily and feel the beautiful spiritual atmosphere that is present in the temple.

To qualify for the blessings of the temple, each of us must ensure that our lives are in harmony with the teachings of the Church. Before going to the temple, you are interviewed by your bishop. In that interview you certify to him that you meet a standard of conduct relating to the holy temple. We want you to decide today that you will always maintain this standard and be worthy of the privilege of going to the house of the Lord.

Our Heavenly Father has clearly outlined that those who enter the temple must be clean and free from the sins of the world. He said, “And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; … But if it be defiled I will not come into it, and my glory shall not be there; for I will not come into unholy temples” (D&C 97: 15, 17).

It might be interesting for you to know that the President of the Church used to sign each temple recommend. That’s how strongly the early presidents felt about worthiness to enter the temple. In 1891 the responsibility was placed on bishops and stake presidents, who ask you several questions concerning your worthiness to qualify for a temple recommend. You should know what is expected of you in order to qualify for a temple recommend.

You must believe in God the Eternal Father, in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. You must believe that this is their sacred and divine work. We encourage you to work daily on building your testimony of our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit that you feel is the Holy Ghost testifying to you of their reality. Later, in the temple, you will learn more about the Godhead through the revealed instruction and ordinances.

You must sustain the General Authorities and local authorities of the Church. When you raise your arm to the square when these leaders’ names are presented, you signify that you will sustain them in their responsibilities and in the counsel they give you.

This is not an exercise in paying homage to those whom the Lord has called to preside. Rather, it is a recognition of the fact that God has called prophets, seers, and revelators, and others as General Authorities. It is a commitment that you will follow the instructions that come from the presiding officers of the Church. Likewise you should feel loyalty toward the bishop and stake president and other Church leaders. Failure to sustain those in authority is incompatible with service in the temple.

You must be morally clean to enter into the holy temple. The law of chastity requires that you not have sexual relations with anyone other than your husband or wife. We especially encourage you to guard against the enticements of Satan to sully your moral cleanliness.

You must ensure that there is nothing in your relationship with family members that is out of harmony with the teachings of the Church. We especially encourage you to obey your parents in righteousness. Parents must be vigilant to ensure that their relationships with family members are in harmony with the teachings of the gospel and never involve abuse or neglect.

To enter the temple you must be honest in all of your dealings with others. As Latter-day Saints we have a sacred obligation to never be deceitful or dishonest. Our basic integrity is at stake when we violate this covenant.

To qualify for a temple recommend, you should strive to do your duty in the Church, attending your sacrament, priesthood, and other meetings. You must also strive to obey the rules, laws, and commandments of the gospel. Learn in your youth to accept callings and other responsibilities that come to you. Be active participants in your wards and branches, and be one your leaders can depend on.

To enter the temple you must be a full-tithe payer and live the Word of Wisdom. These two commandments, simple in their instruction but enormously important in our spiritual growth, are essential in certifying our personal worthiness. Observation over many years has shown that those who faithfully pay their tithing and observe the Word of Wisdom are usually faithful in all other matters that relate to entering the holy temple.

 These are not matters to be taken lightly. Once having been found worthy to enter the temple, we perform ordinances that are the most sacred administered anywhere on the earth. These ordinances are concerned with the things of eternity.

The gospel plan that the Lord has revealed is not complete without a temple, for it is here that the necessary ordinances for his plan of life and salvation are administered. The Prophet Joseph Smith said during the construction of the Nauvoo Temple, “The Church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed” (History of the Church, 4:603).

The temples we dedicate are dedicated to our Heavenly Father. These temples are his houses, built in his name for his glory and for his purposes.

Our hearts and hands must be clean and pure and our thoughts must be focused on things of an eternal nature when we go to the temple. We hope you will feel that entering the temple is a privilege given to worthy Church members and not a right that automatically comes with Church membership.

  How You Can Participate

In a January 1841 revelation the Lord said, “For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my saints, may be baptized for those who are dead—

“For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me. But I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me; … and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me” (D&C 124:29-31).

Speaking of that revelation, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve said, “Vicarious baptism also mercifully provides this ordinance for all worthy deceased who have not received it through proper priesthood authority. This glorious doctrine is another witness of the all-encompassing nature of the atonement of Jesus Christ. He has made salvation available to every repentant soul. His was a vicarious atonement that conquered death. He permits the worthy deceased to receive all ordinances of salvation vicariously” (Ensign, Nov. 1990, p. 5).

The temple ordinance the youth of the Church can participate in is baptisms for the dead. If you haven’t had the opportunity to perform this ordinance talk to your bishop and youth leaders and, with their help, plan a trip to the temple closest to you.

I spoke with Sister Higgins yesterday and she said the trip to the Idaho Falls visitor's center was a success and very special. I can't wait to hear how you felt about it and to see the lovely pictures. For those who were not able to attend- you were missed! 

A final thought to conclude my post today...

 Build your future line upon line... Every good choice draws you closer to eternal blessings.

I love you young women and I love that you love to attend the temple.

 I love to see the temple, and go inside.

Love, Sister Chambers

Stake Temple Week, Day 4

Dear Young Women,

Elijah the prophet appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836 in the Kirtland temple and conferred upon them the sealing authority, which is essential for priesthood ordinances to be valid and binding both in heaven and in earth.

Elijah the prophet stood before Joseph and Oliver and said:

“Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—

“To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—

“Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors” (D&C 110:14-16).

The restoration of the sealing authority by Elijah in 1836 was necessary to prepare the world for the Savior’s Second Coming and initiated a greatly increased and worldwide interest in family history research. 

From Elder David A. Bednar, The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn, General Conference October 2011

"I now invite the attention of the young women, young men, and children of the rising generation as I emphasize the importance of the Spirit of Elijah in your lives today. My message is intended for the entire Church in general—but for you in particular.

Many of you may think family history work is to be performed primarily by older people. But I know of no age limit described in the scriptures or guidelines announced by Church leaders restricting this important service to mature adults. You are sons and daughters of God, children of the covenant, and builders of the kingdom. You need not wait until you reach an arbitrary age to fulfill your responsibility to assist in the work of salvation for the human family.

 The Lord has made available in our day remarkable resources that enable you to learn about and love this work that is sparked by the Spirit of Elijah. For example, FamilySearch is a collection of records, resources, and services easily accessible with personal computers and a variety of handheld devices, designed to help people discover and document their family history. These resources also are available in the family history centers located in many of our Church buildings throughout the world.

It is no coincidence that FamilySearch and other tools have come forth at a time when young people are so familiar with a wide range of information and communication technologies. Your fingers have been trained to text and tweet to accelerate and advance the work of the Lord—not just to communicate quickly with your friends. The skills and aptitude evident among many young people today are a preparation to contribute to the work of salvation.

 I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors, and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord for your kindred dead (see D&C 124:28-36). And I urge you to help other people identify their family histories.

As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and gratitude for your ancestors will increase. Your testimony of and conversion to the Savior will become deep and abiding. And I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the adversary.

 As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be safeguarded in your youth and throughout your lives.

Parents and leaders, please help your children and youth to learn about and experience the Spirit of Elijah. But do not overly program this endeavor or provide too much detailed information or training. Invite young people to explore, to experiment, and to learn for themselves (see Joseph Smith History 1:20). Any young person can do what I am suggesting, using the modules available at lds.org/familyhistoryyouth. Aaronic Priesthood quorum and Young Women class presidencies can play an important role in helping all youth become acquainted with these basic resources. Young people increasingly need to be learners who act and thereby receive additional light and knowledge by the power of the Holy Ghost—and not merely passive students who primarily are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:26).

 Parents and leaders, you will stand all amazed at how rapidly your children and the youth of the Church become highly skilled with these tools. In fact, you will learn valuable lessons from these young people about effectively using these resources. The youth can offer much to older individuals who are uncomfortable with or intimidated by technology or are unfamiliar with FamilySearch. You also will count your many blessings as young people devote more time to family history work and temple service and less time to video games, surfing the Internet, and Facebooking.

Troy Jackson, Jaren Hope, and Andrew Allan are bearers of the Aaronic Priesthood who were called by an inspired bishop to team teach a family history class in their ward. These young men are representative of so many of you in their eagerness to learn and desire to serve.

Troy stated, “I used to come to church and just sit there, but now I realize that I need to go home and do something. We can all do family history.”

Jaren reported that as he learned more about family history, he realized “that these were not just names but real people. I became more and more excited about taking the names to the temple.”

And Andrew commented, “I have taken to family history with a love and vigor I did not know I could muster. As I prepared each week to teach, I was often nudged by the Holy Spirit to act and try some of the methods taught in the lesson. Before, family history was a scary thing. But aided by the Spirit I was able to step up to my calling and help many people in our ward.”

 My beloved young brothers and sisters, family history is not simply an interesting program or activity sponsored by the Church; rather, it is a vital part of the work of salvation and exaltation. You have been prepared for this day and to build up the kingdom of God. You are here upon the earth now to assist in this glorious work."

(Read all of Elder David A. Bednar's talk here: The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn)

I have a testimony that Elder Bednar's testimony is real. He has become a good friend of my brother-in-law Sam and when they meet together he asks Sam to do family history work and promises him that it will bless his life. I also have a testimony that the sealing power is real. My grandmother, not a member of our faith, passed away 3 weeks ago. I was comforted to know that in a year, my sisters and I will be able to complete her temple work and because of the sealing power she can now be bound to us eternally.

 In July we have some fun activities planned as a young women's group that will hopefully instill in you, the Spirit of Elijah (which as Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught, is "a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family.") And also prepare you to take a family name to the temple to be baptized and confirmed for. How special to perform temple work for someone of your own family!

Love, Sister Chambers