What I Learned From Visiting 55 Temples In 2 Years.

What I Learned From Visiting
55 Temples In 2 Years

As of December 31st, 2015 I had visited 55 Temples across North America ranging from San Diego California to Halifax Nova Scotia, Vancouver British Columbia to Ft Lauderdale Florida. Before I get into what I have learned, let me answer the question many of you are wondering, why/how have I as a recently returned missionary visited 55 Temples?

Let me give a little backstory, when I was serving my mission in New England ('12-'14) I had been looking forward to going to the Boston Massachusetts Temple at the end of my mission. It was a mission tradition that you get to go the Boston Temple right before you went home. But due to the surge of missionaries in 2012, my mission was cut a week short...it was cut a week into the Temple cleaning and the Boston Temple was closed. I was not able to go to the Temple. I was sorely disappointed, as my family is poor and I doubted I would ever get another chance visit the Boston temple.

After this experience I decided I would do everything in my power to never be denied entrance in the Lords house, plus I figure as a young single adult in the church I needed to keep myself anxiously engaged in a good cause, and the Temple was the obvious choice (last year I ended up going 100 times, for that story, click here)

The "how" is a lot simpler than one would think. As I mentioned before, I come from a poor family. Shorty after I got home from my mission I got a job that paid good but it requires me to travel, a lot. I drove almost 40,000 miles last year! I decided if I am going to be driving so much I can make the extra effort every time I drive somewhere to make the detour to attend the Temple (Halifax was only a 1,000-mile detour).

It has been tremendous fun traveling and taking detours to see the Temples all over the nation. Aside from the memories and pictures what I have learned has been my favorite thing. Since the new year, I have become a Temple worker. Here are a few things that I have learned from visiting 55 different Temples in 2 years. 

• We can talk about a lot more than we do.

Growing up everyone taught the Temple was sacred and that we were not allowed to talk about it. But often times people treated more like it was secret than sacred. The Hymns are "sacred" yet we openly talk about them!

When I was a missionary I saw first hand the devastation that happens when members are not adequately prepared for the Temple. Countless families in my mission went less active shortly after they were sealed, why? Because they were not taught adequately about the Temple.

We can talk about far more of what happens in the Temple than most members think. We don’t talk about the covenants, tokens, or signs. But we can talk about what rooms the Temple contains, you can even find pictures of insides in the Temples Ensign, or in the Book by Elder James E Talmage, "The House of the Lord" (For the free Ebook click here)

We can teach that we watch a movie about the creation (as found in the Book of Moses), we can explain that we are anointed and washed like Aaron in the Old Testament and that in the Temple we wear the robes of the Priesthood that are symbolic of the promised blessings of exaltation! As long as we treat it sacredly, it is not only OK to teach those preparing to go to the Temple about it, it is important!

Take for example how much information Brigham Young gave when he said.

“Let me give you a definition in brief. 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.” ~Brigham Young

• Only Two Ordinances Invoke the Godhead.

At the Newport Beach California Temple, a sealer pointed out, that only two ordinances invoke all three members of the Godhead; The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost. Those two ordinances are baptism and the sealing.

• Sealing of Children.

At the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple, I was doing sealings and the sealer stopped. We had just finished Sealing a son to his parents and he said “Sealings are the shortest ordinance we perform in the Temple” He then went on “And they are unique, they’re the only ordinance that is not conditional, symbolic of the love God has for children it is all blessings.”

• Wording matters.

Listen to the wording of the ordinances. Listen to what you’re promising to do and look up and study words used. Do you know what’s the difference between a rite and ordnance? Or have you ever noticed how many words are pluralized ? The more you pay attention the more you notice the subtle differences in between what you thought it said, and what it really said.

• Every Temple Has A Holy of Holies.

When I was visiting the Boston Temple I learned that every temple has a Holy of Holies.
The older temples have a room that is solely a Holy of Holies, but in the newer temples like Boston, they have a sealing room that is designated to act as Holy of Holies. The way you can tell which sealing room it is, is by finding the area for the washing of feet. If you are in a newer temple there will be a door inside one of the sealing rooms that is locked, that leads to the room where the washing of feet happens, find that door, and you've found the Holy of Holies. One of the workers at the Boston Temple pointed that out to me when I asked him, "which sealing room was the Holy of Holies" he said, "This one (opening a door), because that locked door right there (pointing at a door with a lock) is for the room where they perform the washing of feet." (For more about the Holy of Holies and the Washing of Feet click HERE)

• The "virtue of the Priesthood."

At the Bountiful Utah Temple, a sealer pointed out something that I had always wondered about.
What happens if someone makes a mistake in an ordinance and it is not noticed by the witnesses? Like the Sacrament? or in this case a sealing. He explained that by the virtue of the Priesthood ordinances are valid despite any mistakes made. That being said, out of respect for the Atonement the witnesses watch for mistakes, and if a mistake happens we repeat the ordinance to correct the mistake.

And it makes sense. The Atonement is designed to perfect the imperfect, and when we perform a priesthood ordinance we are evoking The Atonement.

Here are some measurements of these goals since I returned from my mission in January 2014 thru January of 2016:

Temples visited in the USA  52/70 (74 if you include Hawaii and Alaska)

Most Temples visited in a single day: 5

Most Temples visited in a single week: 10

Most Baptisms (Baptizing) in a single day: 200

Most Confirmations in a single day: 300

Most Endowments in a single day: 2

Most Initiatories in a single day: 30

Most Sealings in a single day: 50

The longest trip just to visit a Temple: Halifax Nova Scotia Temple 1,000 +miles (For the story click HERE)

And for kicks:

Total times going to the Temple in 2015 100 (For why I went 100 times click here!)
Canadian Temples: 3

I am a Temple worker at: Mount Timpanogos.

Temple I was endowed in: Mount Timpanogos.

Temple most frequented: Mount Timpanogos.

Temple I want to visit the most: Washington DC  (But Rome, once it opens)

Temple I want to be sealed in: Salt Lake City.