THE Gila Valley Temple Dedication

OK, so Brandon went to the 12pm session, in Flagstaff we were able to go to which ever session we wanted, a blessing with Bethany's strep and all. He loved it and was so touched by the talks. He said Bethany and I should go as early as we could because they were showing a video of rooms from many different temples across the world accompanied by beautiful sacred hymns. He was so perceptive to give that counsel! It was amazing to Bethany to get to see all those sacred rooms and especially the baptismal fonts, she was so excited that she would get to go and do that in so few years. I can't wait for her to get to be in the temple serving like that. Just wow!

In our session, President Eyring gave the most powerful message, it sank right into my heart about how his grandfather had asked him fervently to go get Eddie---only for President Eyring to realize through time that there would be three generations of Eddie's that he would try to "get" and who knows how many more preceeded his grandfather. Temple work is amazing. He said that he had looked up stats to see which temples had the highest numbers of ordinances done and which had the lowest. The highest were in areas where patrons had to travel and sacrifice much to get there, whereas the lowest were some that were right in the backdoor of large populations of LDS people. Then he went on to promise that this would never happen in The Gila Valley Temple, that even though it was in the "back door", the mighty saints in that region would never let those numbers decline, they would always continue to rise. W O W!!!!

Then President Monson got up and announced that Sis. Eyring, Sis. Holland and his daughter, Sis. Dibb would share their feelings. It was perfect for Bethany to get to hear these great women and feel of their great and mighty spirits and their depth of conviction for something so vital and important, AMAZING! They each gave very personal accounts of how the temple, and family in particular, had totally shaped and formed their lives and cemented thier testimonies of this great work. Sis. Dibb spoke of the great love that her parents had for each other and the effect that had on her and it brought me to so many tears! It was so beautiful to hear about that tenderness between President Monson and Sis. Monson. WOW! What a much-needed example!

Then President Monson had his remarks and he promised that the saints working in The Gila Valley Temple would always be blessed with the health and strength to accomplish their work! W O W!!!! The whole thing was amazing and I was so thankful that Bethany could go with me and be a part of it. Wow!!!

I can't help but think that even though we don't have one here yet...I hope we can soon...that the creation and operation of 5 temples in our great and beautiful state will only serve to stregthen and shore it up. God knows, and we are in His hands.