Temple Moment: Joy from Temple Service
Contributed By Linda Jordan, Church News contributor
Jordan River Utah Temple.
“By doing their work in the temple, I had given these people a gift that only a worthy member of this Church could, and I felt joy.” —Linda Jordan, Sandy 1st Ward, Sandy Utah West Stake
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One evening, our family history class went to the Jordan River Utah Temple for a sealing session. I had my Ninemire family names ready to be sealed together. As I sat waiting, I could feel the stirrings in my stomach—butterflies, my heart beating fast as the work was done for the other brothers and sisters.
Before I left for the temple, I had prayed that the people whose names I had brought would accept the work done on their behalf and that they would feel joy. It was a very touching experience for me as I knelt at the altar to represent a wife sealed to her husband and a daughter sealed to her parents. It was so emotional that my eyes were swimming and my tears fell freely. I felt the Spirit strongly; I knew that this family was pleased and that they had felt that joy that I had prayed they would feel. The sealer stopped at one point and asked if I would like a tissue. “These are very tender moments,” he acknowledged.
“The earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children. … We without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect.”
He then asked me to take the cards for my family down to be recorded. As the computer screen flashed “Recorded” and a sister stamped the date on each card, I again felt the tears coming and the same feeling washed over me. By doing their work in the temple, I had given these people a gift that only a worthy member of this Church could, and I felt joy.
As we came out of the temple into the rain, it seemed to me as though the heavens were weeping tears of joy also. A profound feeling overwhelmed me, and I thought of a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 128:18, where the Prophet Joseph spoke about the importance of ordinances for the dead.
When we do work in the temple, we are truly saviors on Mount Zion. You will feel no greater joy than when you do this sacred work for your family members who have passed on to the other side.
—Linda Jordan is a member of the Sandy 1st Ward, Sandy Utah West Stake.
