Temple Attendance

Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I loved attending our ward temple night in preparation for Ward Conference last week. There’s a special spirit when we are able to attend together and participate as a group. A special joy is felt when we all arrive in the Celestial Room at the same time.

Being in the temple this last week, my thoughts began to center on the blessings of temple attendance. I thought about my own wedding, the sealings I’ve attended, when I went through for the first time, and the different experiences I’ve had in the walls of that sacred building over the years.

Time and time again, my personal testimony has grown that the temple is not only a sacred place to make covenants with the Lord, but also a place for us to center our lives and set appropriate priorities. Answers to prayers and personal revelation are found in temple attendance.

President Hinckley taught, “Attend the temple. You will be blessed for so doing. Every man or woman who goes into the house of the Lord leaves there a better man or woman than he or she was when he or she entered the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord will have a refining effect upon you. It will cultivate unselfishness within your lives. It will build righteousness. It will impress upon you the importance of doing what you ought to do. Go to the house of the Lord."

I add my testimony to that of President Hinckley’s. Regular temple attendance will bring a greater announce of peace and happiness to your life. If you have recently attended, I invite you to go again. If you haven’t been in some time, I invite you to go soon.

By preparing to go to the temple and returning often, we will more fully accept Amaleki’s invitation to, “come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption,” and together we will receive the promise found in that same verse, “and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.” (Omni 1:26)