The Power of the Temple

~ barlowsintkm

The week of July 8th will be a very memorable week of our mission. Back in February, Sister Barlow invited all of the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon in 65 days, which concluded on June 18th. We gathered that night as an entire mission and read the final chapter of the Book of Mormon together. It was a very powerful experience.

There was a lot of build up as Sister Barlow had been telling the mission she had something special planned to celebrate finishing the Book of Mormon in 65 days. That night, after finishing the final chapter, she announced that the entire mission would attend the temple together in July. After attending the temple in the morning, we would have a brief zone conference in the afternoon before returning home.

Missionaries react to temple announcement.

On Tuesday, July 9th, the Asheville and Kingsport Zones would go to the Columbia South Carolina Temple. On Wednesday, July 10th, the Cumberland, Chattanooga, and Cleveland Zones would go to the Atlanta Georgia Temple. And on Thursday, July 11th, the Knoxville and Cookeville Zones would go to the Nashville Tennessee Temple.

For every zone conference, we do a “Prepare to Learn”. This Prepare to Learn was focused on the temple:

Elder Hillman has been working the last couple of months to get everything organized for our temple trips. Because of the size of these temples, they don’t have clothing available for the missionaries, so missionaries had to borrow temple clothing from members. We are very grateful for all of the members to help out. Elder Hillman tracked every missionary to ensure they had what they needed. He also arranged for the bus transportation to each temple and helped organize the missionaries to get to the bus departure locations. Office couples assisted him in arranging for the lunches we would have after the temple experience. It was an incredible amount of work. Elder Hillman was definitely the MVP of the week!

On the bus rides to the temple, we wanted to use this as a time to prepare to have a special experience in the temple. To help facilitate that, we created a “Temple Companion Study”. Companions sat together on the buses and went through this study guide together, discussing their feelings and impressions, and writing down thoughts in their journal.

Everyone at the temple was so kind. The workers were so thoughtful and put a lot of effort into making sure the missionaries had a special experience. We are very grateful for them.

Many of our missionaries had not done endowments in over a year. So they were excited, and their anticipation helped create a really meaningful experience. It was powerful for them individually, and it was powerful for us collectively as a mission.

President Nelson is a Preach My Gospel Master Inviter! When he invites us to act, he always promises blessings. He has promised that making covenants and attending the temple will:

  • Open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women, and children everywhere.
  • Bring increased personal revelation and peace and will fortify your commitment to stay on the covenant path.
  • Open the windows of heaven and bring increased revelation.
  • Allow the Lord to teach you how to draw upon His priesthood power.
  • Bring the miracles He knows you need.
  • Improve your ability to hear Him.
  • Bring increased security.
  • Strengthen your faith and spiritual fortitude.
  • Increase our understanding of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
  • Endow us with His healing, strengthening power.
  • Counter the lure of the world.
  • Strengthen your spiritual foundation.
  • Bring blessings for eternity.
  • Increase positive spiritual momentum.
  • Bless your life in ways nothing else can.
  • Help us in our quest to be a peacemaker.
  • Build faith.
  • Help you think celestial!
  • Be the place where He manifests Himself to us.
  • Empower you to meet the challenges of life.
  • Receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge, and increased power.
  • Help you to catch the vision of who you really are, who you can become, and the kind of life you can have forever.
  • Enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God’s magnificent plan.
  • Have the power of God and that angels really will help you.
  • Help you hold fast to the iron rod.
  • Protect you from the world’s mists of darkness.
  • Bolster your testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
  • Soothe your spirit in times of pain.
  • Open the heavens.
  • Help you receive all the blessings promised to Abraham.

These are the blessings we want every missionary (and returned missionary) from the Tennessee Knoxville Mission to receive!

After attending the temple, we held a shortened zone conference to talk about the blessings of the temple.

In his General Conference talk “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”, President Nelson invited us to study D&C 109 and note the blessings promised there. They include:

  • Place to feel the Lord’s power
  • Feel constrained to acknowledge that God has sanctified it. (constrained = compel or force someone toward a particular course of action.)
  • Taught words of wisdom
  • They may grow up in the Lord
  • Receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost
  • Be organized according to God’s laws
  • Be prepared to receive every needful thing from the Lord
  • When I transgress, I will want to speedily repent
  • Be armed with power
  • Leave the temple empowered to share the gospel
  • Honorably hold a name and a standing before the Lord

One of the most important blessings for our missionaries is found in D&C 109:22-23.

It is from the temple that His servants…these wonderful Elders and Sisters…go forth armed with His power. And with that power from the temple, they then “bear exceedingly great and glorious tidings, in truth, unto the ends the earth, that they may know that this is [His] work.” Our hope is that every missionary in the TKM renewed that power this week.

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Published by barlowsintkm

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