The Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Men and Young Women were all invited to attend a special class on family history this past October. Brother Sciamarella invited a friend to share her testimony and experiences of doing family history work. I do not even remember her name. I do know that she works at ancestory.com. She is an avid family historian, and has not only the technical skills to do family history, but also a love and passion for the purpose behind the data.
She shared a story about her daughter. At just 18 years of age she slipped from mortality into the next life due to a car accident. She was active in the faith and at the time of her death she held a limited use temple recommend. That means she could participate in the ordinance of baptizing the dead, but she had not yet received her initiatory or endowment. Because of her worthiness, her bishop had just completed a recommend interview before her passing, her mother was encouraged to finish her temple work BEFORE her one year death anniversary. In most cases, we are required to wait a full year after someone’s passing to complete their vicarious temple work. Throughout the temple initiatory and endowment, a living temple patron acts as proxy for the dead. Over and over, the name of the living is mentioned, and the name of the deceased. This freshly wounded mother was avoiding the “opportunity” to hear over and over that her daughter was dead, and so she procrastinated doing her work. In a moment of connection and quiet reflection, her daughter came to her in spirit with hands on her hips, and a tapping foot. “Mom, you need to do my temple work. I cannot progress without it.” This beautiful and radiant daughter shared through the spirit that she was in a pleasant probationary state, after having had the opportunity to meet with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to make a reporting of her life. When the interview was complete, Jesus and Heavenly Father left her presence. They had other businesses to attend, business that she could not participate in or help carry out because she had not yet received the blessings and promises bestowed upon individuals inside the walls of our temples.
In the temples we enjoy ordinances, first for ourselves, and then for our deceased loved ones. You can think of these ordinances as a pathway of opportunity, promises, and covenants. Just as Jacob dreamed of progression in Bethel, as he saw angels descending and ascending into heaven, we too can partake in the blessings of progression through covenant making in the temple of our God, the House of the Lord.
Bethel, Israel. Here you can see the land is hidden under a field of rocks. Jacob used a pillow for his head as his slept.
Artistic depiction of Jacob’s Ladder.
As rungs of a ladder give a stepping stool heavenward, so do ordinances offer a lift of progression towards returning worthily to our Heavenly Father. Baptism is the first ordinance, where we are washed clean of our sins, followed by confirmation, when we are bestowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following these ordinances at the age of 8, young men can receive the Aaronic Priesthood, or the lesser priesthood at age 12, and the Melchezedek Priesthood when they become and Elder in the Church, usually at age 18-19. In the modern day temples, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints receive their initiatory, which is a washing and anointing ceremony, similar to Aaron at the time of the Old Testament in Moses’ day, followed by the endowment, where members learn about the plan of salvation, and the creation of the earth. Sacred promises are made, covenants between God and man are voluntarily entered into, and blessings are bestowed. The crowning ordinance of our temples is that of marriage between man and wife.
While traveling around the Holy Land, we had the opportunity to visit ancient ruins, excavated cities and modern day stake holding in the world’s most culturally valued real estate, the Temple Mount, on top of Mount Moriah, now modern day Jerusalem.
Modern day Temple Mount on Mount Moriah, in Jerusalem, Israel.
King Solomon’s Temple
King Solomon’s temple is extraordinarily well known. But did you know that ancient temples dot the landscape? Under mounds of wind stirred dirt and sand lies the ancient remnants of small temples, all over. Contemporary archeologist wonder at the purpose behind these structures, but you see the Mormon’s modern day temple map, and here too, you will see dotting. A great work happens in these temples, the sacred ground that is made holy and sanctified through sacrifice. Anciently, the sacrifice was that of blood. Today the sacrifice is that of heart, a modern day reckoning with our humanity, and inability to be perfect in our earthly state, and an offering of our time, tithes and unholy acts as a mediator to the power of the Atonement. The temple is the story of progression into the heart of Jesus Christ’s law.
During the rest of our Sunday School lesson we shared testimony of the sacred work we perform in finding our ancestors, the dates of the birth and death, their spouses and life history, and taking their names to the temple to receive their temple work. Mind you, for those who think we are taking the voluntary part out of conversion for those whose work we do, this is not the case. The temple work has to be completed in our mortal world, because it is an earthly ordinance that opens up the gates of progression in the world to come, but the gift of agency is kept totally in tact. Every individual, whether living or deceased is given the choice to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the case of those who have gone on to the next life, and their work is completed by their posterity, they still choose whether or not to accept the work done for them.
The sister who taught the lesson shared in several instances of her spiritual gift of discerning angels, not through sight, but through feeling and communication. She could sense of deceased daughter, and could receive communication from her, I don’t know whether by thoughts or images. Her passion for temple work is contagious! At times when she is asked to present a lesson, such as she did for us, she prays fervently to know by the Spirit what she should teach. She testified that the room we were in was overflowing, not only with those of us who are mortal, but also with those of us who have ancestors who are waiting for their temple work to be done.
“What would you have me tell them?” She implored.
“Help them find me.” They replied.
Zina Bennion, my second great grandmother. My mom has the original watercolor image hanging in her tv room. I am the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest son, of the oldest daughter of Zina. Her land is the location of our beloved family cabin, which sits on the Weber River.
Help them have a desire to know me, to discover my past, to come across my birth date, my loved ones, my memories. Make my life significant by giving me a gift that I cannot give myself. Help them have a desire to remain and become clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There are a million distractions, they are snares created to deflect the work that must be done. Let go of the world, and hold fast unto God. Tell them I can help them, with work, with school, with their home, with tests, with friends, with temptations, when I am set free to go about my Father’s work. Tell them to take my name to the temple, and I will be released from my stagnation, unto the work of angels, the work of God. Help them know that the technology we use everyday can be used in the great and mighty work of saving souls. Tell them to find me, that I am waiting. Remind them of the sacrifices that I made, to come to earth before, so they could go now, at a time when temples dot the earth, when they have the ordinances available within walking distance. Please, help them find me.
