This evening we took the chance to go help clean the Lord's House. Right after entering in some special doors, the worker at the temple told us how different the temple is going to be because of cleaning. Stuff will being laying around, there will be ladders, paint cans, and stuff out of place. Boy was he right! There were many things out of place which made it really weird to be around.
The custodian that was in charge of our group was super awesome. She first took us to these beautiful stair cases in the east tower of our temple. Gave us our jobs cleaning the staircases and dusting the hand rails. My friend Suzi and I decided--due to the serious lack of dust in the temple--that if our house ever becomes dust free like the temple was after 6 months of not being dusted, that our home has become as holy as a temple. :) We had a good giggle.
Cool part about our jobs, was that we were on the same level as the Priesthood room. The walls were about 30 or 40 feet tall with a ceiling that was immaculate. The hard work that the pioneers put in was absolutely breath taking. The wood work was indescribable. So perfect and exact. Beautiful paint and velvet covered seats. I just stood there looking around in awe at where I was standing. I was in a room that so many important people had been. The Spirit was so strong, I was then reminded about how true our church is. I later at random said, "Matthew, the church is true." He just looked at me and laughed. But my thought is how could anybody come into the temple and see the beautiful workman ship, the organization of the church, the Spirit that is felt with in the temple walls, and then not have your faith strengthened about the truthfulness of the gospel.
After working super hard on the stairs our group director took us into the up stairs attic area. This is super cool because the men who build the top of the temple were Scandinavian men who only knew how to build boats. So they put their skills to work by building a boat up side down creating a very sturdy roof that lasted far over 100 years. I felt extremely blessed to see this amazing sight. I looked around studying everything around me, so I could tell my Mom all about it. We have always had a particular closeness with this temple. We had so much of my Dad's family help with the creation of this temple. This was truly an honor to see these parts of the temple.
Our next job was to go into the baptistry to help clean around the font. This was super cool too.
There were so many times that I would try to hurry and get my work done, but then I'd look at a history professor from school as he worked slowing, cleaning his absolute best. I was impressed by him and his diligence. This immediately reminded me of the pioneers that worked throughout their lives to make this temple their best job. They worked slowly, doing the best they could do. I told myself many times. "Slow down. Quick work is not the best work. This should be the best cleaning of your whole life. This is THE house of the Lord. Do your best at cleaning these oxen."
Some things I always want to remember:
The Priesthood room
Secret door
The beautiful ceiling of the Priesthood Room
The old original glass in the windows
The huge awesome rocking chair, by the Priesthood room.
The up side down boat.
The thick walls and awesome stone work
The super old chandelier up in the same room as the roof.
The hoists for the chandeliers
The heating and AC rooms that were built for a reason that the pioneers didn't understand.
The space built for the elevator, even though they had not been invented yet.
The old organ by the spiral stair case
The fixed horn of the ox
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God, who translated The Book of Mormon. I know we currently have a prophet now, President Monson. I believe with every part of me that he is our latter day prophet, and is a very special witness of our Savior. I know that he leads and guides us today. His apostles are men of God who are also witnesses of Jesus Christ. They are true messengers.
Temples are such a great blessing to our lives here on Earth as well as those that are waiting on the other side. I feel such peace in the temple, I know that the covenants that I made their are everlasting.
I love the gospel and I know that without the organization of this church I would not be the driven and motivated individual that I am today, striving to always be progressing.
