ogden temple open house

If you're not familiar with why members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints love temples so much, let me just briefly fill in a couple of those gaps.

It's because we believe that in temples, marriages last forever.  Like, no "till death do you part" clause.  We make covenants with each other and with God so that marriage doesn't have to end at death.  And not only do marriages not end with death, but entire families don't end with death because of those sacred covenants.  I know that because of the covenants Tim and I made in the temple, Ellie will be ours forever.  No matter what.

It's a pretty liberating thing, really.  What a paradox it is that in following the rules necessary to go in the temple, you find ultimate freedom - liberty over death!  I never feel God's love more strongly than I do when I am in those sacred walls.

Because we find those temples so sacred, we have to prepare ourselves in order to enter.  Ideally, everyone would be able to go!  I know Heavenly Father would love that.  But you have to prepare yourself spiritually before you go, under normal circumstances.

Every once in a while, a new temple will open up (or one will be remodeled) and it will briefly be opened to the public to walk through before it is dedicated to the Lord.  It's called an open house.

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to go to the Ogden Temple open house.  And it was incredible!

To help keep the temple clean, everyone who goes through the temple wears little booties over their shoes.  Ellie loved being able to wear them like everyone else, and she loved every second of walking through the "emple."  She held both of our hands the entire time!  

I felt it then, and I feel it now.  We were walking through God's house.  He loves His children so much - so much, in fact, that he gave us all a way to return to Him.

Find out more about temples here.