2013
Temple Covenants
April 2013

“Temple Covenants,” Ensign, Apr. 2013, 7

Visiting Teaching Message

Temple Covenants

Prayerfully study this material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an active part of your own life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org.

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Relief Society seal

Faith, Family, Relief

“The saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort,”1 said President Thomas S. Monson. If you have not yet been to the temple, you can prepare to receive sacred temple ordinances by:

  • Believing in Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

  • Cultivating a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel.

  • Sustaining and following the living prophet.

  • Qualifying for a temple recommend by paying tithing, being morally clean, being honest, keeping the Word of Wisdom, and living in harmony with the teachings of the Church.

  • Giving time, talents, and means to help build the Lord’s kingdom.

  • Participating in family history work.2

President Monson further taught, “As we remember the covenants we make within [the temple], we will be more able to bear every trial and to overcome each temptation.”3

From the Scriptures

Doctrine and Covenants 14:7; 25:13; 109:22

From Our History

“More than 5,000 Saints thronged the Nauvoo Temple after its dedication. …

“The strength, power, and blessings of temple covenants [sustained] the Latter-day Saints during their journey [west], when they [suffered] cold, heat, hunger, poverty, sickness, accidents, and death.”4

Like many Relief Society sisters, Sarah Rich served as a temple worker. She spoke of her experience: “If it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple by … the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark. … But we had faith in our Heavenly Father, … feeling that we were His chosen people … , and instead of sorrow, we felt to rejoice that the day of our deliverance had come.”5

The exodus was not a “leap in the dark” for faithful Latter-day Saint women. They were sustained by their temple covenants.

What Can I Do?

  1. Am I worshipping in the temple regularly?

  2. Am I encouraging my sisters to receive temple blessings?

Notes

  1. Thomas S. Monson, “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,” Ensign, May 2011, 92.

  2. See Daughters in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 21.

  3. Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, May 2011, 93.

  4. Daughters in My Kingdom, 29–30.

  5. Sarah Rich, in Daughters in My Kingdom, 30.

The End of Parley Street, by Glen S. Hopkinson, may not be copied