An Impression In The Temple

We try to attend the temple on the second Tuesday of each month now. That is a day that another Church provides the service for the Bingo Activity at one of the retirement centers, so we use that day for our temple attendance.  We typically only attend the temple once a month, so I think that provides motivation for me to prepare to be taught, and to be open to any inspiration or guidance that I might be entitled to receive. I find that as I do that, I gain more from attending the temple and thoughts do come into my mind of things we could or should do.  Last week in the temple one of the thoughts that came to me is that we should be a little bolder and contact our judge friend again.  This is the retired Judge that I have talked about before, who wants to go into the ministry.  We initially met him at the fitness center and then he and his wife started going to a YMCA up in the city, because it had a pool and his wife needed that for therapy. Back in April, I called him and told him we would like to come and visit with him. He sent a text back saying that he was in South Carolina tending to his wife’s mother, after she had undergone emergency surgery. He said that he would not be returning until the following week.

I sent a text back saying that we prayed that the surgery went well.  And that, when they were back in town and had some time, we would love to meet with him, if he were open to that. Well, he never responded and so I just figured that he really did not want to meet with us. We did see him at the grocery store once, and I got the impression that he was a little uncomfortable, maybe because he had never responded.

After receiving the impression in the Temple this past week, I sent him another text saying:  “We would still love to meet with you to share views on the restored Gospel.”

He sent a text back saying: “Thanks for the invite. I’ll take you up on it, but fyi, I am now 1 of 5 senior judges and do part time assignments in Holton and Lawrence this week. Johnson County next week. I’ll be in touch. Peace and grace.”

So we are hopeful that we will hear from him and get that opportunity. 

Another Special Visit to the Temple

Normally we provide service at the retirement center in Pleasanton on Tuesdays. However, on the second Tuesday of the month, a group of ladies from the Mound City Christian Church provide that service. So last Tuesday we were free from that obligation and since we had not been to the temple for some time, we decided to take a trip to the Kansas City Temple. It is an hour and a half away, and each time we go I think how blessed we've been only being 5 minutes from theTemple in Boise. Since we are not able to attend the temple as frequently while out on the mission, I have tried to do a better job of preparing myself with the right mindset prior to attending the temple. That morning prior to traveling to the temple, I prayed that I would be able to remain alert and attentive to what is being taught. I am finding that as I do that, I am taught things that I would not notice otherwise. As we attended the endowment session, I truly was taught some things that I had not noticed before. I am so grateful for the blessing of the temple.

Prior to going to the temple, we discussed whether to do sealings or an endowment session. On Tuesdays, we feed the missionaries and Sister Anderson was concerned about getting back from the temple in time to prepare the meal so she was thinking we would just do sealings on this particular day. I was thinking we should try to do both since we travel so far, I wasn’t sure we could justify the time and gas if we were to just do sealings since we only had eight or nine sealings of children to parents. We had kind of decided to do an endowment session and then do the sealings next time. However, when we got to the temple, we found out they had changed the session from 12:00 to 12:30. Since we had extra time we asked if we could do those few sealings prior to the endowment session. They told us we could. When we did the sealings, it turned out that two of the daughters to be sealed were twins, so the sealer had two sisters serve as proxies at the same time as Sister Anderson and I served as parents, I had not seen it done that way before, but as the sealing took place, I received a very distinct impression that the whole family was present and they were rejoicing at what was taking place. It was truly a special day at the temple. We asked the branch mission leader to hold the missionary meeting prior to the meal which gave us a little extra time to prepare. It all worked out.  

Temple Patron Jeremy Guthrie has Valuable Arm

Sister Anderson and I went to the Kansas City Temple last week and transported the two Elders that serve with us in the Mound City branch. We arrived at the temple and got seated for the session. There were not too many patrons in that particular session.  The person sitting behind me stood out, he was fairly young and had a tall slender well built frame. When I saw him, my immediate reaction was, I bet he would make a pretty good athlete. He and his wife who was sitting across the aisle made an attractive couple and were just people that were hard not to notice. This couple along with Sister Anderson and I and others stood in the prayer circle and completed the session. After the session Sister Anderson strikes up a conversation with the wife of this couple and mentions that she reminds her of one of our daughters. Sister Anderson tells her of our Daughter Tara’s website and gives her a card about the website. As I am writing names on the prayer roll, I see the husband of this young couple talk to the elders, He asks them where they are serving, and introduces himself as Jeremy Guthrie. For those not familiar with the name, he is a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals and pitched in two of the World Series games this past fall. So he is a fairly well known member of the church in the Kansas City area.

I was of course curious to see how valuable that arm was, so when we got back to Mound City, I looked it up. It turns out that last year it was worth around $11 million dollars.

The following is from Wikipedia:

On July 20, 2012, Guthrie was traded to the Royals for left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez. He proved to be the Royals best pitcher in the second half of the season, posting a record of 5-3 with a 3.16 ERA in 14 starts.^[8] On November 20, Guthrie inked a 3-year, $25 million deal with the Royals through 2015. Guthrie will earn $5 million in 2013, $11 million in 2014, and $9 million in the contract's final year.^[8]

I am also impressed that this young man gave up two years of a very lucrative baseball career to serve a mission for the Church. His presence in the temple would suggest he is working to keep his commitments and is renewing his covenants with the Lord and raising that valuable arm to the square. So many people in today’s world, who achieve fame and fortune, have a very difficult time maintaining good moral lifestyles and staying focused on those things that truly matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Guthrie

Went to theTemple

On Friday we went to the Kansas City Temple. Prior to attending the temple I prayed that I would be more attentive to the things being taught. The Lord answered that prayer, I noticed some specific things in the covenants we make that I had not focused on. I still have much to learn, but the Temple truly is where we need to be taught.