For Time and all Eternity

I love this picture because it perfectly describes what I'm doing at the moment and my motivation behind it. 

God loves us, so he placed us in families so we can be happy, learn, grow, and prepare for eternal life. The home is the best place to teach, learn, and apply the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which helps us prepare to return to Gods presence and live with him in never ending peace and happiness.  

Serving here at the temple has put that purpose into perspective, because the temple is the place where being together forever is possible. As missionaries we tend to focus on baptism, but baptism is only the beginning of the promises or covenants we make with God that helps us return to live with him again.

Only worthy baptized members of the Church can go into the temple. Not even all of the members of our church can go in, but everyone who is keeping the commandments and the standards of the church are welcome. The temple is a sacred (not secret) place that is very special and Holy, its literally God's house, and like the scripture says "no unclean thing can dwell with God."

So in order to maintain the special spirit that is there, members who wish to go to the temple work with their bishops to become worthy to enter its doors. 

Baptism is the first covenant or promise that we enter into with our Heavenly Father, we promise at baptism to always remember our Saviour and keep His commandments, in return God promises us that we will always have His Spirit -the Holy Ghost- with us. Because God loves us, he wants all of us to experience his blessings, and temples make it possible for our ancestors who haven't had the opportunity to accept the Gospel while they were on this earth to accept it. 

Because of Heavenly Father's plan, when we die we go to a place called "The Spirit World" where we are taught the Gospel and either rest in a state of peace and happiness or a state of misery depending on what we have done in this life. Everyone will have a chance to hear the Gospel there. We perform saving ordinances like baptism on behalf of those who have passed on to the Spirit World.

Christ taught us that Baptism is essential, he said "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." So we all need to be baptized. In the temple, we perform baptism on behalf of our ancestors who haven't had the opportunity to do it while they have been on the earth. Because God gave us our ability to choose, the people we perform that ordinance for will have the opportunity to accept or reject it. 

We not only do this within our temples, but we also make promises with God and in return we receive strength, protection, and learn more about Gods plan for us. 

In the temple we are also sealed to our families, which means that we can be together with them not only for this life, but forever. Which I think is the greatest blessing of the temple. In order to do this you make promises with God inside of the Temple, just like the promises that you make at baptism, and God recognizes that you and your family are together forever.

I love the Temple and I'm grateful for the blessings that come from it. Being in the Temple makes me so happy, for me, its the happiest place on earth. The reason why I am knocking on peoples doors, and stopping people on the street to tell them about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through the Propher Joseph Smith is because of the way I feel in the temple. I want to be able to give everyone the opportunity to feel the way I do every day and most of all, in the Temple.