Kept out of the temple

September 3, 2010

Yesterday’s experience is one I hope never to repeat. I walked into the temple, handed Brother Cummings my recommend; he handed it back to me and I started to walk past the desk when he said, “Sister Ward, let me see your recommend again.” He took it, ran it under the scanner a second time. I was shocked to hear him say, “ I can’t let you go into the temple; your recommend has expired; you’ll have to wait for President Mortimer to talk with you.” Anytime a red line appears on the computer there is a problem and one of the temple presidency is notified. President Byram came to see what the problem was. “You were here yesterday; why didn’t your recommend show up as being invalid then?” he asked. (WE figured out later that since my recommend had been activated in Utah, it was still on Mountain Standard time—a day earlier! And so when it was September 1^st here it was still August 31^stin Utah! So the computer didn’t recognize that my recommend had expired the day before.) I sat for 40 minutes as temple workers came to the 1:30 preparation meeting and patrons left the temple. Everyone wanted to know why I was just sitting there. Embarrassed, I answered that my recommend had expired and that I needed to get a new one from President Mortimer, that he took the place of both my bishop and my stake president. Worse than the embarrassment was the feeling that I could not enter the temple. I felt a great sense of loss. I thought, “What if this were the Celestial Kingdom and I was prevented from entering because I did not have a current recommend?” I am determined to never let my recommend expire again. Finally, President Mortimer came, ushered me into the waiting room at the side of the recommend desk where family and friends who are not endowed can wait, and interviewed me. Gratefully, he found me worthy of a new recommend. Interestingly, my recommend now has only his signature on it. I asked him who signed his recommend. “I did,” he said. Temple presidents and mission presidents can sign their own recommends. I wonder if that is the case with General Authorities too.

Every day in the temple brings new experiences. If I had missed yesterday I would not have had the opportunity to help assist an older couple, the Nocos’, with their own endowments and family sealing. Their oldest son came to the office to take care of all the paper work, and then went to get his parents. His mother, a tiny, bent-over gray-haired woman, shuffled into the foyer on the arms of her two sons. The father followed slowly behind. The son had arranged for a temple wheelchair for his mother, and he gently lowered her into it and we all went up the elevator to the second floor. I was so touched by the tender way each of the family assisted their mother. I was privileged to help with the mother’s initiatory ordinances. I could see she was very uncomfortable and asked if I could do anything for her. She spoke very little English but understood my concern and showed me the feeding tube and bag she wore on her abdomen. It was hurting her to sit, so I helped her stand for a while. WE workers were worried whether she could make it through a whole endowment session but this sweet sister assured us that she could and would. She carried a plastic container that she was continually spitting into so she wouldn’t choke. Her physical ailments brought out tender actions from all the workers. Her second son’s wife was right beside her, every moment, to help. This determined lady insisted that she be a part of the prayer circle with her husband. I thought, “she wants to get as much as possible from this experience; it may well be the only time she ever comes to the temple.” WE found out later that she had TB. Someone said to me, “Wash your hands really well, you may have been contaminated.” Whether I was or not, I thought, “Christ would never have turned her away. It was so right that she have the opportunity to come to the temple.” What a blessing she was for all of us. I felt especially fortunate to sit in on the sealing and witness the two sons sealed to their parents. She was then sealed to her parents. This is truly the Lord’s work. The Nocos family was blessed by the priesthood sealing power and now they can be together forever.

How grateful I am for our forever family. WE love you!