I woke up late this morning, and climbed out of bed at 6:30am. It was still dark outside, even though a hint of sunrise was beginning to glow through the window.
Time to go roust the FOMLs for another exciting day of school. I left my room and walked through the house. I looked up and stopped short – surprised. There, silhouetted before me in the hallway, was a man in a suit. My newly awakened brain took a minute to process what was happening.
My son, sensing my confusion, laughed at me. By then I had put it together that he had already been to the temple and back before I had even dragged myself out of bed.
It happens all the time. Almost weekly.
FOML4 and a bunch of his friends make a weekly temple run in the morning at 5:00am. No adults, no one prodding them. It is impressive. He is a senior in High School, and any of you are acquainted with that age group, you know that sleep is a valuable commodity.
Do you want to know how many times I went and performed temple ordinances as Aaronic Priesthood holder?
Once.
Yes, early one morning my leaders picked me up at my house in Bountiful, and we drove into Salt Lake City and performed a dozen baptisms for the dead.
It isn’t like I was an inactive kid, either. Temple worship for kids was just not that big of a deal back then. Even a few years ago individual youth recommends didn’t exist.
Why the change? Two reasons:
First, the Lord is asking the youth to step it up and become more involved in the salvation of the dead, and they are responding in a big way. Elder Neil A. Anderson extended a temple challenge to all the youth, Elder David A. Bednar almost begged the youth to experience the Spirit of Elijah last year in General Conference. Other general authorities and local leaders have joined in to encourage youth temple attendance as well
And it isn’t just about attending the temple, it is about making it even more important by providing the names of their own ancestors for ordinance work. That’s when it really sinks in.
Last week, as part of a Stake Conference conference challenge, both of my sons went to the temple and performed baptisms for ancestors that they found for themselves by researching on Family Search. They are 12 and 17.
Do you want to know how old I was when I found the name of an ancestor and performed proxy work for them?
53. (Yes, it was this past Spring.)
The other reason I see the youth stepping up is that they are wise. It is a rough world out there, and they have already realized that regular temple attendance can help keep their armor not only intact, but buffed to a brilliant sheen. These are good kids, seriously making an effort to live right.
They know that the time for them to receive their endowment, as well as the Melchizedek Priesthood, and mission calls is just around the corner. There is no such thing as taking time off to goof around.
The frequent exposure to the temple and it’s accompanying feelings, improved teaching by parents and leaders, and the church’s new transparency regarding sacred clothing, all work together to help make the temple less formidable.
And that’s a good thing. The temple should be a place of peace, not of trepidation.
A few minutes later, my son ambles out of his room to join us for scriptures. The suit is gone. Now he is wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with his backpack slung over his shoulder.
After family scriptures and prayer, he is heads back out into the world, ready to do battle.
I’m a proud father.
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Thank you for sharing this story, what a great reminder for me to make the sacrifice more often so my girls can see that the safety and protection that comes from the temple is well worth what seems like a sacrifice.
That’s great! Major kudos to your son.
I agree, I think the church has become much more encouraging of youth temple attendance. Growing up in Minnesota, our closest temple was eight hours away in Chicago. For my twelfth birthday, all I wanted was to go do baptisms for the dead, including my grandmother. So my parents each took time off work and we left early,early Friday morning to go make a weekend out of it. When we finally got there, the temple workers were obviously a bit miffed with us and explained that it was inconvenient to arrange for baptisms and confirmations for only one individual (my ward did an annual youth temple trip but that was in the summer and I have a February birthday). My parents explained the significance of our trip and the temple workers eventually obliged and I was able to do a few baptisms and confirmations before they hurried us out. The next day, my parents thought they’d do an endowment session before we headed home; we’d learned from the previous day to not attempt any temple work for me, so they had me stay in the temple waiting room while they went in for a session. I was twelve and perfectly content to sit quietly and read the New Era and Ensigns provided in the waiting room. But, much to my surprise, less than ten minutes later my parents came and got me and we left the temple and headed out on our eight hour drive back home. It turns out, as my parents waited in the chapel for their session to start, temple workers came and got them and told them it wasn’t ok for me to stay in the waiting room and they must leave.
That experience was hurtful (it never shook my testimony of the gospel, though – I know those were just people with their own flaws and that Heavenly Father would never turn someone away from doing work in His house) so I’m very glad that the church is trying to make accomplishing temple work more accessible to the youth. It’s such a wonderful experience, no worthy person should feel like there isn’t a place for them in the house of the Lord.
This morning I went to the temple and did sealings. At one point one of the witnesses leaned over to the Sealer and said, “Ask Sister G (who was with her husband serving as proxy for the couples being sealed) who this submitter is.” The Sealer asked Sister G about the submitter, and Sister G replied that it was her daughter. She then proceeded to inform us that the names they were doing this morning were found by her four daughters: ages 10, 12, 16, and 18. Oh youth of a noble birthright, carry on! Carry on! Carry on!
Thank you for sharing that. I think I needed that shot of hope today.
The “youth of the noble birthright” these days continouosly stun me with their righteousness and goodness. I KNOW they were saved AND prepared for this day in the pre-existence!
I really loved that talk from Elder Bednar. I liked how he has so much faith in our youth. I learn so much from my children at FHE and scripture study. They get it. When I speak to youth I always know that they will understand and the comments I get I love, because I leave knowing more from them than when I walked in! I really need to pay more attention and learn from their example.
This post makes my heart sing!!!!
Enjoy these moments, and pat yourself on the back!
Wow! I say, “Proud father.”
Born of goodly parents.
I think the attitude of the church leaders makes a big difference in the attitude of our youth. When I was young my friends and I probably would have gone by ourselves to our temple that was 1 hour away, but that was never presented as an option for us. Even with my older kids, they could get special recommends, but it wasn’t promoted and they were always supposed to turn them back in to the bishop. Having a personal recommend that they keep has been a great thing for my teens and for those who may be a bit older but not yet endowed.
Our youth are going to the temple more, because they have been taught that they can go more, intead of being taught that it is a twice a year group activity. This is a wonderful thing. Too bad it wasn’t there for us older people. 🙂
So cool- way to go, Mom and Dad! My oldest (12) has caught the bug and is now a Family History Consultant in our ward, but it would be nice if we lived close enough to a temple to do the work in the mornings for the names he/we find! He’s only been able to go a couple of times since turning 12 since it’s usually a 7 to 9 hour round-trip total, depending on DC traffic…
You have every reason to be a proud father. You are very blessed. I admire the youth that choose to follow that road. We raised our 5 children with scripture study, family prayer, FHE, attending all church meetings, temple trips, and General Conferences,…and now between 37 & 27, only the eldest remains active in the church. You are indeed blessed.
Don’t ever give up on those children. Love them back into the fold. It may take years, but they may choose to return. We just do our best, right?
Ah man. So proud of that guy.
It’s always easier when the eldest sets such a great example.
There is an elderly couple in my Mother’s ward who are temple workers. They’ve reserved the 5 AM slot for the youth of her ward twice a week at the temple near her. They’ve been doing it for a few years now, well actually probably more than a few, maybe like five or six. Wow time flies! It is a regular activity for the youth of her ward, part of their schedule and a priority. Impressive is putting it lightly. Anyway, it is awesome to see that it is being done in other areas too! It is amazing to see such dedication and spirituality in young people. You did a good job! Thanks for sharing this…
When we finally get our temple in Tucson, I’d love to do that!
It actually goes against the handbook. Youth are only supposed to have one organized activity a week. They are encouraged to be with thier families. I know my stake would never approve three times a week of sceduled youth activities.
These kids are well equipped to usher in our Savior. THANKS for the morning tears!
I love that you called him a “man” in a suit. That he is. And good job Dad and Mom to present the gospel in a way that is precious to him.
Beautiful.
AuntSue
What wonderful Joy in You Posterity moments! The youth of the Church today have impressive testimonies and are doing great work. I am so grateful to them.
Over this past summer our bishop extended a challenge… baptize a ward in heaven. He wanted us, as a ward, to baptize & confirm at least 600 of our ancestors by Sept 1st. Several of the adults got involved and made more frequent trips to the temple. But the ones who REALLY met that goal? The youth. We have two YW in our ward who are called as Family History Consultants (one of them my daughter), they and their friends went a bit hog wild finding names and arranging extra trips to Gila Valley or Mesa or Gilbert, for baptisms. Even teaching the older members of the ward how to navigate Family Search and submit names. By early August we were hovering around the 400 mark, and the names were starting to run dry. They buckled down and pooled together resources, determined to make it happen. Right around this time our family was headed to Utah for a reunion and my 15 yr old had a wild thought… We’d be right there with ALL those temples handy! She gathered name cards from several members of the ward… recruited her dad, aunt, sister, and cousins… and they had “temple tour” day. They went to 5 temples in one day, performing 141 baptisms and 142 confirmations! It was an INCREDIBLE experience for them, and had the added benefit of boosting numbers for the ward goal. Still a little shy of the goal, there was one last ward temple trip. The numbers jumped up to over 700 and the goal was met, on Aug 29th! The adults in our ward are overwhelmed with ordinances to perform for these hundreds of ancestors, but the youth have caught the bug and are still going! Now we’re working on baptizing a stake by next Sept.
This past weekend we had Stake Conference and she was asked to speak in the Saturday evening session. The Stake Pres asked her to give a little presentation on how to navigate and reserve names on FS, and to tell about her Temple Tour experience and bear her testimony. It was fantastic! And in the days since, the phone has been continuously ringing with people asking for her help in learning what to do, and asking her to help with upcoming activities, etc. She and the other FH Consultants have their work cut out for them.
Susie J., this is a fantastic example of what can be done with inspiration and motivation. I tried copying your comments, but couldn’t do so, therefore if you would please send me all of those details so I could share them with leaders in our stake, I would be very grateful. Russ Nickel at charusnic@comcast.net.
Thank you
The Lord is truly hastening his work and I’m so grateful to be part of it. As the only member in my family in literally every direction my family tree spreads, it has been wonderful to see the miracles happen in family history work. It’s as if all these people “up there” are whistling to their relatives and saying, “Hey, bring all those records…she’s finally joined the church (20 yrs. ago) and now our work can be done!” I can’t tell you the many, many incredible ways records have fallen into my hands so that I could prepare their work. It’s amazing and humbling. I’m just so grateful! 🙂
Thanks for this post. How wonderful it is for your family to be blessed with honorable Aaronic Priesthood holders. I too have two Aaronic Priesthood bearers in my home at present. They and their sister do baptisms for the dead on a fairly regular basis. But (with a couple of rare exceptions) it has always happened as part of a family or ward sponsored excursion. My kids have also cleared names for temple ordinances. But again, only as part of a family or ward/stake sponsored endeavor.
My wife and I are trying to teach our kids correct principles and have been working for years to model good family history and temple practices. I very much look forward to the time when our kids choose to engage in this work on their own without parental prodding.
I really wish I’d lived close enough to the temple that I could have done that in high school. I had seminary at that time instead. Do take advantage of those opportunities while you have them. (And congratulations on your kids! Speaking as a college student, waking up that early, voluntarily, is a huge feat.)
What great examples! Gives me goose-bumps. I’ve always been terrified of tweens and teens, but this example gives me courage to face them. I also heard two testimonies on Sunday that blew me away and made teens a little less scary to me. These young men who bore their testimonies is just what I needed to hear and it made me happy to know that they are listening to the Spirit and drawing closer to Christ than of the world. I have two teenaged sisters who are just as amazing and became anxiously engaged during General Conference. That makes me excited too because they are building their foundation with the right things.
I remember taking a few family names for baptism as youth and then shortly after I got married, my husband and I were able to seal relatives of mine. I hope they accept.
Keep up the great work. I think the parents of these youth need some credit, too.
Could the youth be taking the temple more seriously because of the closeness of the temple? When I was that age, the closest temple was a 7 hour drive to Idaho Falls from Boise. We only had one temple trip scheduled per year! This year the youth of my Branch have a temple trip scheduled each quarter of the year. We also work as Baptistry Coordinators in the Albuquerque Temple and see many more youth participate in temple ordinances. Pres. Hinckley’s vision of having a temple within a 4 hour drive of most members has certainly helped this effort.
I’m sure it does for those in those circumstances. But I grew up 15 minutes away, just like my kids, but it was still a rare occurrence. And Family History? Maybe a 4-generation sheet in my Book of Remembrance.
My family has always been blessed to live close to a temple, but it isn’t a coincidence, it was a choice.
I was the one who said “Grandma is doing the work for us” and left it at that. Until now. We’ve begun to take it pretty seriously in our house. One of the things that is said in our temple is that it’s very hard to get people to work there if they live close to the temple. My stake is the northern-most stake and we provide alot of workers. could it be that “sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven”?
I remember being told WE were the rising generation back in the 80’s. I think we were just raising them. (I have a bunch of family names they can do)
You are one very blessed father.
What a wonderful way to start the day. MMM you have every reason to be proud – you and your sweetheart are doing a good job – your children have a firm foundation. It is indeed a beautiful morning!
When people moan and wring their hands about the state of the world today, I am grateful to say that I don’t fear the future because the rising generation is led (though they may not see it that way) by people like your sons. What a great example! Thank you for sharing, and thank your son for serving.