Come to The Temple

Come to The Temple

Each of the seven individuals shown in the photo had been endowed between July 2014 and April 2015. Elder and Sister Rash assisted each of them in preparing to enter the Temple.

Rash Photo

Judy Haldrup, front left, Wendy Brown, front right, and Marina Hinckley, back right, each received their endowments that day.

Sister Doreen Edwards, front middle, and her husband Doug, standing behind her, were both baptized in 2013 and were endowed and sealed in 2014. They have provided loving support to each of these newer members. Sister Edwards served as Relief Society President.

Sister Sabrina Meadows, back left, was baptized in 2013 and endowed in the Cardston Temple in the fall of 2014. Her son also joined the Church in 2013 and is planning to serve a mission when he turns 18.

Sister Haldrup joined the Church in her youth but fell away from activity until some very caring members loved her back into activity. Her husband, Finn, was baptized in February 2016. They are planning to be sealed in 2017. Sister Haldrup said that she “regrets that she stayed away from the Church for over 50 years.”

Sister Brown, expressed her joy, saying “I never thought I would get to be in the Temple.” She joined the Church as a youth but did not become fully active until she was loved back into activity.

Brother Keith Hinckley, standing next to his wife on the left, served a mission to Japan. After 20 years, of being away from the Church, he turned his life around. Sister Hinckley was baptized in 2013. She has an amazing testimony and commitment to the gospel. They were sealed in the Calgary Temple in late 2015. They supported two of their children on missions, and Keith and Marina share the Gospel with all they meet.

President Brigham Young (1801–77) said of the endowment: “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe (1941), 416.)

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President Boyd K. Packer taught, “The sealing ordinance is that ordinance which binds families eternally. Temple marriage is a sealing ordinance.” (Come to the Temple, President Boyd K. Packer, ­ Liahona, Oct. 2007)

Rash Photo

There were more than 40 friends, family and branch members who chose to share this event with these members. It was a long and eventful day for all of them. Some traveled more than five hours each way to be part of the experience.

President Packer said “To all of you I say, ‘Come to the Temple ‘It may be that you look forward to the once-in-a-lifetime privilege of going there to receive your own endowment, to receive your own blessings, and to enter into your own covenants with the Lord. It may be that you have been there once or twice already. It may be that you go frequently. It may even be that you are an officiator. Whatever the circumstances may be, come to the temple.’” (Come to the Temple, President Boyd K. Packer, ­ Liahona, Oct. 2007)

Elder and Sister Rash served in the Calgary Canada Mission from January 2014 to July 2015, assigned to the Columbia Valley Branch to provide support to the members and leaders. “Our testimonies of, and love for, Jesus Christ caused our hearts to swell with joy in His service. We consider ourselves greatly blessed to have been a part of the lives of these wonderful Saints.”

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