The first time in long time

The last time I went to the temple was on Thanksgiving Day weekend in October 2015. On Saturday (July 23) I got to go for the first time in a long time. And what a great time it was. 

I was so busy over the past months of this year, I wasn't able to go. Luckily, this relief society trip fell right into place when I found out I had that day off. I went to see my Bishop for a new temple recommend a couple days after I came back from Edmonton. 

Mom and I got up Saturday morning and went to pick up a sister in our ward named Nicole Cleaveland. I'm really happy she decided to come with us. 

When we arrived, we were waiting for some other sisters to get there as well. I walked on the temple grounds a bit. I sat on a bench and called Keaton. He was kind of sleepy, but he was fairly awake to say a quick prayer with me over the phone. It was really great that we did that. 

Once I went in, a worker took myself and Nicole and Sister Shellagh Reynolds in to get changed to do some baptismal work. In the temple, we can act as a proxy, to stand in and perform baptisms for people who are already deceased and who never experienced the gospel of Jesus Christ in their time on earth. 

If that is confusing to you, here is a helpful pamphlet explaining a few different things we do in the temple - https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/manual/missionary/PD10054235_000-Families-and-Temples.pdf?lang=eng

Shellagh went first because she was doing the baptism and confirmation for her mother, who has passed away. It was a raw and emotional experience. I felt the love and devotion of everyone in the room who was thereto support her. I cannot tell you how hard I was crying. It was absolutely amazing. 

Nicole then did some baptisms and so did I. A sister from our ward was happy to share some of her family names with us, so that was really great! Another cool thing was that our temple President was in the font doing the baptisms for us, so that was really nice of him. After I got changed, I did the confirmations for the people I was baptised for. When that was done, I went back into the waiting room while mom did some work inside. I read some articles in the Ensign magazine. 

After mom was done, we decided to head out. And we stopped for lunch at Masstown Market, which is right outside of Truro. It's such a cute little spot! I always love going there.

This temple trip was very inspirational. I cried so much and thought about a lot of things for right now and the future. I know that during that time I had, God was right by my side, letting me know I came to the right place at the right time. I'm so grateful to know that and feel all the things I felt while I was there.