“Ready for the Temple,” Friend, October 2021
Ready for the Temple
“How can I get a recommend?” Ajan asked.
“See that ye do all things in worthiness” (Mormon 9:29).
Ajan smiled big when he heard a knock on the door. Madda (Mom) had invited their ministering brother to help with a special home evening.
He opened the door. “Wah gwaan, Brother Williams!” (“What’s up?”)
“Everyting is irie!” Brother Williams said. (“Everything is alright!”) He handed Ajan a bag of mangos from his tree.
Brother Williams sat down on the couch. Madda asked Ajan’s little sister, Dana, to say a prayer.
After she finished, Brother Williams said, “This year, Ajan will be turning 12. Does anyone know why this is a special year for him?”
Ajan’s little brother, Tejaun, wiggled excitedly. “Because he can get the priesthood and pass the sacrament!”
“That’s right!’ Brother Williams said. “But there’s another reason too.”
He opened his wallet and pulled out a small piece of paper. “This is a temple recommend.”
He handed it to Ajan.
“Cool!” Ajan ran his fingers over the gold temple on the card. “What do you do with it?”
“I show it to the person sitting at the front desk at the temple. It shows them that I’m worthy to go inside.”
“I wanna see!” Dana grabbed it from Ajan and studied it closely.
“How do you think you’d feel if you had a recommend of your own?” Brother Williams asked.
“I’d feel special!” Ajan looked up from the card. “But I don’t know if I can go to the temple. It costs a lot to buy a plane ticket to go there.”
“I can’t go to the temple very often either,” Brother Williams said. “But my recommend reminds me to always be ready to go inside.”
Ajan thought for a minute. “I want to be ready too,” he said. “How can I get a recommend?”
“You meet with the bishop,” Brother Williams said. “He will ask you some questions to see if you are ready.”
“So it’s like a test?” Ajan asked, a little nervously.
“It’s more like a conversation,” Brother Williams said. “The bishop is your friend, and he wants to help you be ready.”
Ajan nodded. He liked the bishop.
“Would you like to see the questions?” Brother Williams handed Ajan a piece of paper with some questions on it. Dana and Tejaun huddled around him to see too.
“Number one,” Ajan read. “‘Do you have faith in and a testimony of God, the Eternal Father; His Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost?’”
He brightened. That was easy. “Yes!”
He kept reading the questions, one by one. Madda and Brother Williams explained what a few things meant.
Then Ajan read another question: “‘Do you understand and obey the Word of Wisdom?’” He frowned. “Once D’andre gave me some rum punch when I was at his house,” he said. “But I don’t ever want to drink it again. Does that mean I can’t have a temple recommend?”
“Keeping the Word of Wisdom means not drinking alcohol, and rum punch has alcohol in it,” Brother Williams said. “But you can always repent and be worthy to go to the temple.”
“Because of Jesus!” said Tejaun.
“Exactly!” Brother Williams said. “Then your temple recommend can remind you to keep obeying the Word of Wisdom. And to always be ready to go to the temple.”
Ajan grinned. He felt much better.
“Maybe I’ll get to go to the temple sometime soon,” Ajan said. “And when I do, I’ll be ready!”
Illustration by Shawna J. C. Tenney