Traditional Conference Sunday morning cinnamon rolls (well, except they weren't homemade this year) For the three of us, it doesn't seem worth all of the effort--
I posted on Facebook at 4:06 p.m.:
"No napping in General Conference this weekend. Amazing! And a temple in our neighborhood! Doesn't get better than that!"
That was true. The new buzz line in the Church now has to be :"Now Pres. Nelson will make some brief remarks....."
Another big change was announced that the home teaching and visiting teaching were being done away with and being replaced by "ministering." They have repeatedly mentioned that it is not just a rebranding but a new "higher and holier way to serve one another."
Over the past few months, there have been changes announced for visiting teaching, but it was all somewhat confusing to me. I had conversations with my friend, Debbie (Woodrow) who is our R. S. president, and my sister, Valerie. It seemed like the changes didn't make sense and I struggled with that part. After conference, I felt so much better. Having a complete picture of the direction clarified my concerns and makes me excited for the future. I do not struggling with loving others--it was the gift that my Heavenly Father poured into me, I think--but this is a new day and a new reliance on our Heavenly Father, Christ, and the Holy Ghost to direct our service.
And our yearly neighborhood party---it is a perfect way for us to have opportunities to befriend, support, and love each other.
I had always known that north Davis county would get their own temple someday. The Ogden and Bountiful temples are busy places and the Church is really growing in our area. There was cheering in the conference session by obviously Davis county residents when the temple was announced at the very end of the session, in the list of seven new temples:
Pres. Nelson:
"Eventual exaltation requires our complete fidelity now to covenants we make and ordinances we receive in the house of the Lord. At this time, we have 159 functioning temples, and more are under construction. We want to bring temples closer to the expanding membership of the Church. So we are now pleased to announce plans to construct seven more temples. Those temples will be located in the following locations: Salta, Argentina; Bengaluru, India; Managua, Nicaragua; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; Layton, Utah; Richmond, Virginia; and a major city yet to be determined in Russia."
If you know much about geographic and current events, the nature of these temples is historic--Richmond and Layton being the "calm places."
For me, first we cheered in our family room. It was a few minutes later when I burst into tears as I realized that another answer had come to me over this historical conference. We are often encouraged to enter Conference weekend with questions in our minds and seek for personal revelation. As the discussion of "ministering" occur, one of my questions was answered. The Layton Temple answered another one.
The backstory:
A few weeks prior to conference, I felt that I should begin talking to Jena more about the temple and the endowment. She and I had had a couple of conversations and we decided that she would start attending the Temple prep class at the YSA ward. I don't know when and if Jena would ever choose to take out her endownment, but I wanted to allow her the opportunity to learn about it more.
On top of that, I had been thinking about Jena's adult life when her BYU experience is done. She will be finishing her public education with her formal graduation from Vista in May and I was wondering what is ahead when her "college" is done as well. In some ways, the question was--What do Gary and I need to do to make the rest of her life meaningful as the past 21 years have been? We have had so many great people to help us, but adult life is complicated for those with Down syndrome. I have often thought that temple service could be a part of Jena's life. She has a peaceful and loving presence that matches what you feel in the temple. However, Ogden and Bountiful are both around 30 minutes away without good, direct public transportation. I wanted to help Jena craft a life that she could have some independence day to day to do what she needs to do, whereever possible. It was a question on my mind that weekend, although I don't think I was really expecting it to be answered directly there.
Back to the Layton Temple announcement--of course, I cheered and teared up when the announcement was made. Although the Ogden Temple was totally remodeled since we have been there and we enjoyed assignments to clean the temple, attend the Open House and enjoy the celebrations around it, that was a remodel. This is the first time I have lived somewhere near where a new temple was announced and will be there to watch things progress. It was so exciting. However, during the closing prayer of the temple, the true significance hit me as I knew that Heavenly Father was showing me that Jena will be watched over as in the past. A temple will be built in our "backyard" and she will have opportunities to serve there. Like many revelations in my life, this came as a flash--so much information in such a brief moment--and I sobbed and sobbed. In fact, I headed to my bedroom to cry as I realized the great love that our Heavenly Father had for Jena and how He had answered my prayers. Temple service is probably just one piece of her adult life, but the peace that Gary and I were not alone in her future as we have never been alone in her past was tremendous. That was one of the promises that I received as we prayed about adopting Jena--that we would be blessed with angels to help us along the way. As with all of Heavenly Father's promises, it is an eternal blessing to us.
Like I said on Facebook: "No napping during Conference....."
It was amazing! I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
No comments:
Post a Comment