“Know Before You Go: Temple Baptisms,” Ensign, October 2017
Know Before You Go: Temple Baptisms
There is no need to wait. All worthy members, including youth and new members, can serve in the temple now.
Photograph outside the Fukuoka Japan Temple
“Let us truly be a temple-attending and a temple-loving people,” said President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95). “We should hasten to the temple as frequently … as our personal circumstances allow. We should go not only for our kindred dead but also for the personal blessing of temple worship, for the sanctity and safety that are within those hallowed and consecrated walls” (“A Temple-Motivated People,” Ensign, Feb. 1995, 5).
This counsel applies to all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—even if you are a recently baptized member. As long as you are worthy, there is no waiting period before you can attend the temple. As soon as you are baptized and confirmed, you can obtain a limited-use temple recommend.
This recommend allows you to enter the temple to perform proxy baptisms and confirmations for deceased ancestors. As you serve and worship in the temple, you can strengthen your testimony of the gospel.
Of her first experience in the temple, Natalia Lorena Figueroa from Argentina said, “In the temple baptistry, I watched a brother be baptized for my grandfather and my uncles. Then I was baptized for my grandmother and aunts. The joy I felt was incredible. Tears fell from my eyes, and I felt the burning in my breast as never before.” Similar blessings await those who qualify for and use limited-use temple recommends.