The House of the Lord

By Laurel Rohlfing

Blessed are they that keep my ways (Prov. 8:32).

The sun shone brightly as nineteen-year-old Matthew put on his new suit. Today was the day he would attend the temple for the very first time in preparation for serving a mission. As he came into view of the beautiful building, it looked exactly like the picture that had been hanging in his room since he was in Primary. He had looked at that picture many times through the years and was thankful to Heavenly Father that he had lived worthily to enter this holy place.

The temple is the house of the Lord. It is the most sacred place on the earth. When you are in the temple, you can feel closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus.

In the temple you receive an endowment that helps you to become more like Heavenly Father and prepares you to live in the celestial kingdom. As part of the endowment, you make covenants, or promises, with Heavenly Father and He makes covenants with you.

In the temple, you can be sealed to your family for time and all eternity. You can also be baptized, endowed, and sealed for people who have died and cannot physically participate in these ordinances for themselves.

Heavenly Father wants all His children to be worthy to enter the temple. Jesus said: “Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in … the blessings which shall be poured out … in this house” (D&C 110:9). The temple is one of the greatest blessings we have as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Instructions

To make a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, remove page 45 from the magazine, mount it on heavy paper, cut out the puzzle pieces, and assemble them.

Sharing Time Ideas

Invite children who have been sealed to their parents in the temple to tell about the feelings they had in the temple, or ask ward/branch members to share why they decided to become endowded and/or sealed and the blessings that will come to their families because of it.
Tell about Lorenzo Snow’s experience inside the temple (see Valiant B manual, pages 180–181).
After consulting with your bishop or branch president, discuss what it means to be worthy to enter the temple. Prepare a box and fill it with objects and pictures that give a clue to the temple-recommend requirements. For example, a picture of a prophet might be a clue for supporting church leaders; a dime, for paying a full tithing.
Find information about the temple nearest you and discuss such things as where it is located, when it was built, who gave the dedicatory prayer, stories of sacrifice made to build it, etc.
Display a world map and have the children mark with pencils, stickers, or pins the countries and states where temples are located. (See 1990 All-Temple Schedule [PBTL0485] for list of all temples currently in operation.)
Sing songs about the temple (see Temples in the topical index of the Children’s Songbook).