I left St. George this morning close to 8:00 and drove to
Salt Lake City to be there for Erika’s endowment at the Draper Temple. It was a nice drive up, and I was very moved
by the beauty of southern Utah as I drove along I-15. I am SO grateful I get to live in such a
beautiful part of this world!
The drive up was rather uneventful…until I was getting off
on 90th South to meet up with Shaun Tucker (the wedding invitation
sent to them was returned due to wrong address, so we were meeting up to “hand
deliver” it!) Dallin called to say he
had forgotten his temple clothes…and that the Draper temple doesn't rent
clothes since it’s a smaller temple. We
made arrangements for me to grab his keys, quickly drive down to Springville
to get his clothes and get back before the 3:00 session. This was at 1:00 p.m. As I sat at our rendezvous point, the Holy
Ghost pointed out some things and I realized our plan would not work. (I initially argued, but finally listened.) I called the nearest Deseret Book, told them
the problem, the sizes for the new clothes I would need, then drove over,
picked up the clothes while telling Dallin the “new plan.” He was concerned about the cost, but I
assured him the cost was worth the reduced stress…AND I would gift them to my
next Wolf boy to get his mission call.
Once I had the clothes in hand, I headed to the Draper
Temple, calling Dallin to let him know.
He said there was no hurry, it was now 1:30, and as long as I was there
by 2:45 it would be fine. I told him I
was coming up now and would just wait in the parking lot. Once I was there and parked, I began taking
each of the items out of their wrappings so they would be ready for
Dallin. About two minutes later my phone
rang. It was Dallin. He asked, “Are you here?” I told him I was just sitting in the car get
things out of their wrappers, so he quickly said, “I need my clothes…” It turned out that he needed to be dressed in
his whites NOW. I truly would not have
had time to drive to Springville to get his clothes. I am SO grateful for the guidance of the Holy
Ghost.
I ran up to the temple, then walked inside. There were several temple workers gathered
around Dallin, who was very happy to see me.
He gave me a hug, then hurried to get dressed. I turned around to leave but one of the
Temple workers stopped me to introduce himself as the sealer who would be
performing Dallin’s and Erika’s sealing next week, and to say what an honor it
is. He was a very kind man.
I waited in the car until it was time to get ready for the
3:00 session. In the endowment room, I
was able to sit by Trish Madsen, Erika’s mom, who was next to Erika. There were waves of emotion that swept over
me at different times. Good waves, but
emotional. I love this boy SO much, and
I am so happy for him and for Erika!
When it came time for the prayer circle, I had already
decided to participate. I motioned to
Dane (Erika’s brother) to go up with me.
He willingly did. Dallin and
Erika had already scooted over in the circle, but I definitely wanted to stand
by my boy, so I just kind of made a parting motion with my hands, and asked if
I could please squeeze in. The sister (turns
out she is Jill Ence’s cousin!) was very sweet and made room for Dane and
I. I loved standing next to my son!
Now, I know we don’t talk about what goes on in the Temple
because of the sacred nature of the covenants we make, so I will just say that
some very special things were said during the prayer that I have NEVER heard
any other time in all of the times I have attended the temple. There was reference to our deceased loved
ones knowing of our love for them, and that they were aware of our love for
them. And there was quite a bit of
detail brought out during that prayer.
It really touched my heart and I was SO grateful I was able to be there
for this very special occasion.
After the temple, I quickly drove to Daynes Music to get the
stuff I had planned to pick up before the temple…but now needed to do
after. Kristy met me there, and then we
went to dinner at the Midvale Mining Company.
We shared one dinner, and it was really good, but the perfect portion
size for us! I loved being able to visit
one-on-one with her and hear how things are going without either of us needing
to dash off somewhere!
After saying our good-byes, I headed south, but stopped in
at the same Deseret Book store for one last thing. I needed a book to listen to on the way home
since the three I had borrowed from the library didn’t serve the purpose for
one reason or another. I about choked
when I saw the price on the book CDs!
They ranged from $29.99 to $45.99!!
Ouch! There was a gal (Katha Smith, who recently moved to Utah from New York to be near her adult children) also looking at the book CDs so we got talking about our favorite
authors/stories. When I mentioned why I
was having to buy a book, since I always borrow them from the Library, she
said, “I have a book in my car that I’ve listened to at least 20 times!! Would you let me give it to you?” After assuring me that she really would like
to do that, I accepted. What a great
gift!! And it has several CDs in it so I’m
sure it would have cost close to $40…AND it’s one I haven’t heard before!! What a great little miracle!!
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