Why I Went To The Temple 100 Times Last Year

Why I Went To The Temple 100 Times Last Year.
And What I Learned.

When I was setting my new years resolutions last year I decided, "I want to go to the temple 52 times this year!" Once a week, I thought that is a goal I could manage. And it would help me to follow the advice I had received when I returned from my mission earlier that year. My mission president told me to go every week if possible. (Click Here for the 5 critical things my mission president told me to do)

As I started in getting back into life as a returned missionary it was a lot rougher than I thought. I don't know what vain delusion I was under, but I thought that of work, school, and dating, that dating would be the easiest of the three... Sadly I was wrong, and school and work are far easier. After talking with my mission president's wife, she suggested, "when dating gets you down, go to the Temple." I loved the idea, that night I set a goal "every time a girl tells me no, I'll go to the temple" I did not realize how often I would be going to the Temple, but this gave me a chance to learn a lot. Here are some things I learned by going to the temple 100 times this year.

• You can always make time.

Making time for the temple is huge, rarely will you be sitting there with extra time to go to the temple, set a goal to go once a week and then make the time needed to go. Don't let the drudgery of every day weigh you down. One thing that I've found extremely helpful with my goal is to carry my temple clothes in my car. That way if you do finish your errands early you will never be caught thinking "I want to go, but I don't have my Sunday clothes". When I make time for the Lord and the Temple, the Lord always multiples my effectiveness for the week.

• The Temple is the ultimate pick me up.

The biggest reason I've been to the temple 100 times this year is because this year was very hard, and I learned that when life is beating you down the Temple can lift you up. Not only can it lift you up, it can remind you of your divine potential. That reminder of your status with God is worth any sacrifice. When I find discouraged the temple gives me the courage to keep trying, I love doing sealings as it reminds me why I even try to date.

"As we do temple work, we develop a spiritual kinship with our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that brings us peace, happiness, and eternal joy."

~Franklin D. Richards

• Ask and Ye shall receive.

The Temple works like the scriptures, specific questions, get specific answers. In the temple, we have a chance to ask questions about almost anything. Take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions, not just of the temple workers, but in prayer to our Father in Heaven.
If you don't ask, rarely will you learn. One of my favorite verses about our relationship with God is Doctrine and Covenants 88:63

"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

• Shake it up!

Don't get set on just one ordinance, many people think that endowment is the "best" ordinance to do. That is not the case, every ordinance has a place. I find my temple experience is enhanced when I participate in all the different ordinances. When you only do one ordinance you start to forget the power and promises of the others.

• Going to the temple to give thanks.

I found myself going to the temple just when I needed something. Either a help on a test, encouragement to keep trying after a rough patch in dating. Or just out of habit. One day I found myself super happy, I had just taken a hard test and not only did I pass I aced it. I was so excited that I went to the temple to give thanks, just to send time with my Father.

One it he lessons I've learned with my temple goals is that God is not my repair man, He is my Father. And as my Father I've learned to visit His house not just on a set day and time, and not just when something is wrong, or I need help. I have learned to visit His house and commune with Him on days like today. Where everything is going right, after all who better to share my happiness and joy with than my Dad? #gratitude #happiness #sharegoodness #God #temple

A photo posted by Jeremy Goff (@gogogoff0) on Nov 11, 2015 at 3:20pm PST

• Do Sealings! (You can do sealings even if you're not married)

When I first got back from my mission, I had a dumb idea that I would only do sealings with my future wife. Because of that idea, I only did endowments or initiatory. But that quickly changed when I was pressed for time one day and I did sealings. The sealer stopped at the end of a sealing and said.

"Sealings and Baptism are the only two ordinances that invoke all three members of the Godhead."

I was shocked, I did not know that during Sealings the sealer can stop and teach you. Not only that, you can ask them questions! I love to do sealings, and normally that is the ordinance of choice when I go.

• You can talk about the Temple.

We often treat the temple like it is a taboo subject. It is not taboo, it is sacred. We should not be sharing the personal details of the ordinances and covenants we make, but we can talk a lot more openly about it than we do. Take for example how open Brigham Young is.

"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

• Study the words.

The meaning of words has changed, we might assume we know what the words used in the temple covenants mean, but a wise Sealer one told me "Listen to the ordinance, pick out a word and study it when you go home." He told us that by doing this, it will help us better understand the Temple and keep our covenants.

• Go with friends.

One of the most enjoyable experiences within the walls of the temple is to have a reunion of friends. As I travel around the nation for work, and to see friends I love to meet up with them and the best way to meet up with friends is at the Temple. There is something about friendship that is enhanced when you see each other in the Celestial room. Or even doing baptisms together, it is a humbling experience to have one of your friends baptize you for and in behalf of loved ones.

Temple + best friend = awesome experience. And to top it off this is #99 for the year!! #temple #friends #LDS #mormonbychoice

A photo posted by Jeremy Goff (@gogogoff0) on Dec 30, 2015 at 2:50pm PST

But with that being said, go to the temple, even if you go alone.

• You can go to more than just "your temple".

Temple districts are important, they are the boundaries that the temple can draw workers from, and also the wards that schedule temple nights. You can go to temples outside of your temple district, I actually recommend it. A lot of temples have a culture that if you don't experience other temples you start to think the local culture is church standard.

• Set a goal, and make it fun!

No matter how much you go to the temple set a goal to enhance your temple worship! For me, this next year I am going to become a Temple worker. For you, it might be going once a month.It does not matter how big or small your goal is, as long as we are enhancing our temple worship. Set a fun goal, my goal I set when I first got home was "Go to every temple in the USA" In working on that goal this year I visited 45 different temples! To me the temple became something I made time for when I was traveling, it became not merely something to see, but the main destination, something that I would drive out of my way to get to.

• In the Temple, we are all equals.

For my 100th temple visit of the year I was wanting to do something special, so found a friend who wanted to go on New Years Eve, and we went to the Salt Lake Temple to do a live endowment. That in and of itself is unique, I'd only done it twice before.

We walked into the changing rooms and we saw Elder D. Todd Christofferson (One of the 12 Apostles) he joined us on the endowment. And Steve Young (The Legendary BYU QB) also joined that session. It amazed me to see how these brothers conducted themselves. They acted humble, they were also treated just like everyone else. It awesome to feel the Spirit that an Apostle brings, and humbling to see how humble he is, and the reverence in which he treats the temple.

This morning was awesome!!!!! An Apostolic endowment!! Plus it was the #100 time I've been to the temple this year!!!! #bucketlist #goals I went with @dubill47 he had never done a live season before. I wanted something special for the 100th visit and a live endowment sounded good. We walk into the changing room and Elder D. Todd Christofferson is standing there... I walk up to him shake his hand and start talking him. I thanked him for coming to South Carolina to speak when I lived there. He said "Greenville right?" I was shocked, he spoke in Columbia, but he remembered I lived in Greenville! As we talked he asked us if we would like to do one of his family names!!! We totally said yes. And on top of that as I was sitting in the chapel Steve Young sat down next to me!! So I did an endowment session next to Steve Young and I was sitting directly behind Elder Christofferson! #apostle #slc #mormonbychoice #LDS #friends #temple #steveyoung #familyhistory

A photo posted by Jeremy Goff (@gogogoff0) on Dec 31, 2015 at 1:54pm PST