A "mission" nearly completed: Two years at the Oakland temple

I started volunteering at the Oakland Temple on May 2nd, 2009.  I had been considering it for months since my former Bishop brought several of those Endowed in to ask if we could volunteer, by request of the Temple Presidency.  I hadn't been able to at that point, but after a little time, I was free enough in my work and life schedules.

I met with President and Sister Harwood, Counselor and an Assistant to the Matron in March after meeting with my Bishop and Stake President and receiving their recommendations.  I received my official call by letter and was set apart a week or two before beginning work on the Saturday Mid shift.  I was encouraged to work every week for a little while until I felt like I had everything down.  I did, and I learned quickly.  My supervisors and coordinators seemed pleased with my work.  As a volunteer it was fairly simple, mostly directing traffic and escorting people, being a Hostess in the House of the Lord.

I spent a lot of time in the position behind the recommend desk, acting as a second or third set of eyes to be certain that no one came through without having their recommend verified, welcoming and bidding farewell to patrons coming and going, and telling them how to get to the locker rooms or waiting rooms.  Occasionally I would escort couples and those receiving their Endowments to Record Verification, until it became apparent that it just didn't work during high volume periods to have my position absent even long enough to walk someone down the hall.  As my coordinator was muddling over this, I asked why there couldn't be two sisters, since we knew when people were coming in for their live ordinances (weddings, sealings, and endowments.)  She paused and mulled that over, and soon enough a new position specific to our shift was created.  I don't know if it's still going on, but for several months, at least, it very much freed up the original post from having to chase her duties around that hallway.

I became an Ordinance Worker after about eight or nine months.  I could have started sooner but for some reason, I hesitated.  Suddenly, being able to commit to four shifts per month seemed much harder to schedule, so I doubled up and joined the PM shift, which made for two very long, wonderful days every month.  I spent a lot of time in Initiatories, sometimes ending up there three and four times in a day, all told.  I loved it.  I had time to individually work with patrons and my fellow workers, and contemplate the deep and important promises given over the course of that ceremony.  I spent a good amount of time as a follower in Endowment sessions (while trying not to doze off... it's hard for workers, too!) and the ceremonies and rituals associated with them, but I didn't do that nearly as much as Initiatories.

I confess I always hoped I would meet my husband while working at the temple, but there's really not a lot of opportunity.  The men and women rarely really cross paths except in a few places and at certain times.  Most of the brethren were old and married.  I think I met about three in my age range, and usually from a distance and with little or no time to talk.  At this point I still have one day to do it, followed by a YSA conference, but other than that, there was no such reward.  So the search continues.

Over the past two years, I have made friends with women of many ages and enjoyed myself immensely, and learned, and grew, and received insight and inspiration.  I have been a Priestess to my God.  I am heartbroken to see this time come to an end, but I need to concentrate on my business and family matters here in Sebastopol.  I cannot really afford the time or the money anymore, not at this period in my life and the world.  I am optimistic that one day I will have such an experience again; whether married or single or old, here or elsewhere, I will serve in a temple once more.

My testimony has grown tremendously, and the reasons for my lifelong love of the temple have been made clear.  Growing up, I always sought for the first instant I could see it's white edifice in the distance, and would often crane my neck around to catch the last glimpse when I'd leave.  It has been a cornerstone in my life since childhood, and I know that the ordinances performed within can be binding and eternal to those who accept them through the Holy Spirit of Promise, both living and dead.  They are not things to be taken lightly, nor shared with the world.  They are sacred, holy, personal, and pure.  I respect and honor my covenants, the ones I have made with my God and helped thousands of others make, as well.  I love the temple, and I will miss being a Hostess and a Priestess of the Most High God.

The Book of Mormon: A piece of my Testimony

I recently went to Utah to attend the funeral of a long-time family friend.  (I will post his eulogy shortly.)  While waiting for Sacrament meeting to start, I was once again pondering on something a friend had said to me a year or two ago when she was learning about the Church.  It's my opinion that she was less concerned with seeking spiritual truth than learning "facts", wherever they came from, ones that she could use to tell me why I was wrong.  As I contemplated, this was the result.

If Joseph had been a treasure hunter, digging for gold and claiming to have found it, why then--instead of renouncing his vision, moving far away, and changing his name to live a life of luxury--would he instead go on to publish a single book--having to borrow money in order to do so--face persecution and prosecution, be driven from place to place, threatened, tortured, beaten, imprisoned, betrayed, and be subjected to all manner of hellish tribulation and hatred?  Why would anyone endure so much for so worldly little, if there was not a deep spiritual truth at their foundation.  How could that book have endured for nearly two hundred years with only increasing worldwide interest and devotion without truth in its very essence?

The Book of Mormon is equal to the Bible in significance and testimony of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.  The major differences between these two records are the cultures and locations that wrote them, and the methods by which we gained them.  One follows the House of Isreal--and in time, primarily the Tribe of Judah--and was compiled from many manuscripts and voted upon as an official consolidation of doctrine.  The second followed an offshoot of Israel, preserved in the New World from the destruction of Babylon as followers of Jehovah, handed down through generations of kings and judges, compiled and condensed by ancient prophets and hid up to later be translated by a modern prophet.

Both exhort us to be obedient, to repent, to endure to the end, to make and keep sacred covenents with God, to have faith, hope, and charity, to be about the work of spreading the Gospel, to defend and support the weak, to deal justly with all people and peoples, to be kind, to be virtuous, to be honest, to worship God as the Father of all creation, to have mercy, to do good works, and above all else, to believe in Jesus Christ as Redeemer of the world.

the Book of Mormon has over 500 pages of  cultural, literary, and spiritual complexity that is so complete, it is at the very least highly improbable that a farm boy with an eighth grade education could concoct them, much less compile them in sixty days.  At best, the Book of Mormon is miraculous in its existence, to say nothing of its power to inspire good and the impact it has had on millions of lives across the world over the past one hundred and eighty years.

Whether on accepts Joseph Smith as a prophet or the Book of Mormon as legitimate Christian scripture, these are the simple facts of that tome.

I do accept the Book of Mormon as scripture, as great and worthy scripture, and I testify that it has profoundly changed and shaped my life.  I  am a better person since I began a consistent study of it in my early 20s; I am kinder, more patient, closer to God, and spiritually more sure of myself.  I have gained great insight, knowledge, and wisdom from the Book of Mormon, and I know that it is true.  Because it exists, because I have felt the whisper of the Spirit confirming it, I know that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet, that he opened this dispensation for the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel, and that his work is still in force today.  This I say in the name of Jesus Christ.