Temple experience

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Since the demonstrations this last week at the temple has been very interesting to say the least. While working at the recommend desk the night before last I learned that there must be two men at the desk from now on. I was told that earlier in the week there was a long line at the desk and two people who weren’t members tried to get in by going around the line. I also heard that Brother Atkinson of the Canyon Country1st Ward was working the desk that day and was the one who stopped them. I was told that he had “tackled” one of them, so I guess they were possibly protesters trying to get in.

A week ago on Friday, the day after the letter incident, it seemed to me that there were more patrons at the temple than usual. The sessions were large and we hardly seemed to have enough workers for initiatory work. This last Friday it seemed at least as crowded as before. The endowment sessions had large groups, more so than usual and we were stretched at the initiatories again. I want to ask President Murphy next week if I was right. In the meantime I ran into Bonnie Petrovitch who works there full-time with her husband Don, and she told me the attendance is much higher than usual. It would seem that the demonstrations have awakened the members to the importance of the temple and the work being done there.

Yesterday was Stake Temple Day. I had signed up for the 6:30 and 8:30 AM sessions, so I was hoping to get off a little early on Friday so I could get some sleep before going back. It didn’t work out that way. I was assigned to close at the recommend desk so I was there till about 10:30. I only got about 5 hours sleep and was back at 6 AM. I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to stay awake. Whenever I get a chance to slow down, and especially when it’s quiet and peaceful, I fall asleep before I even know it. I really wanted to do the work justice, so I said an earnest prayer asking for help to stay awake and alert.

The session was in Tongan so I had to wear a translator for the first time. I had never worn one before so I didn’t know how to turn it on right away, and when I finally did I had it on the channel for Chinese I think, so I started to flip through the channels looking for English when I hit the one for German. Out of curiosity I stayed there for a second to see how well I could remember it after 36 years and to my surprise I found that as long as I paid attention I could understand it. I was trying to decide if I should keep it on German or turn to English. I didn’t want to keep it on German just to test my language skills; it seemed a little like a mockery to do that, when suddenly I was hit with a wave of emotion and started to cry. I’ve never had that happen before and I was certain it had something to do with the language. I felt sure I could keep it there and it was alright to do so. Except for the very end where the Tongan brothers wouldn’t understand me I did everything in German. I was able to not only stay awake; I felt I had several new insights into the work.

I looked at the name of the person I was doing the work for. He was one of Bonnie Petrovitch’s family names. It sounded a little German, and he was from Pennsylvania, 1877, but I wasn't certain. As I was leaving later that morning I saw Don Petrovitch at the recommend desk and asked him if the man was German. He said he thought so and that Bonnie had done a lot of work for her family back east and in Germany too. Today I saw Bonnie at church and asked her about him. She said he was born in Darmstadt Germany.

I firmly believe that man was there waiting for his work to be done and I was given the opportunity to do it in his native language. Was it necessary that it be done in German? No, but I believe the Lord grants us those kinds of privileges every now and then. I don’t think this was coincidence. Not in the temple anyway.