Area Leadership Message
Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord
In the early 1990s when I met the missionaries, I was interested by all that they taught me. However, I was particularly fascinated by the teachings about the temple. I used my best efforts to deepen my knowledge of the house of the Lord on earth. I shared with the missionaries my desire to go to the temple, and they taught me how to prepare myself for this goal. At that time, there were no temples yet in the Caribbean Area.
Thus, I began my full-time mission in Haiti without having had the opportunity to receive my endowment in the house of the Lord. I found a picture of the Salt Lake Temple in a Church magazine, and I carried it with me wherever I served in the mission field. I always put it in front of my desk and wrote under it, “I want to get married in the temple.”
I was filled with joy when the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple was dedicated in 2000. I have been given the opportunity to be sealed with my wife in the house of the Lord. Later in the April 2015 general conference, I felt even more blessed when President Thomas S. Monson (1927-2018) announced the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple. The public open house and the dedication of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple has marked my life and deepened my understanding of the importance of the temple on earth. In response to my question “How would you describe your experience in the temple?” a visitor said, “I have no words to describe it, I certainly have been in a celestial location,” and a journalist replied, “I don’t know what to say, but in the celestial room, I had a strange feeling that I have never had before.”
The temple is the Lord’s house on earth; it is where we receive revelation, and it is where we can receive the ordinances of salvation for ourselves and for our loved ones. Elder John A. Widtsoe (1872-1952) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “Revelation . . . is not imposed upon a person; it must be drawn to us by faith, seeking and working. Just so; to the man or woman who goes through the temple, with open eyes, heeding the symbols and the covenants, and making a steady, continuous effort to understand the full meaning, God speaks his word, and revelations come. … the endowment which was given by revelation can best be understood by revelation; and to those who seek most vigorously, with pure hearts, will the revelation be greatest.”1
President Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994) made a promise to us in this regard:
“I promise you that, with increased attendance in the temples of our God, you shall receive increased personal revelation to bless your life as you bless those who have died.”2
Who would not want the blessings expressed by the Prophet Joseph Smith at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple:
“We ask thee, holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them” (Doctrine & Covenants 109:22).
As you prepare to enter the house of the Lord, I invite you to ponder on the following words from Elder Orson F. Whitney (1855-1931) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
Hearts must be pure to come within these walls,
Where spreads a feast unknown to festive halls.
Freely partake, for freely God hath giv’n,
And taste the holy joys that tell of heav’n.
Here learn of Him who triumphed o’er the grave,
And unto men the keys, the kingdom gave.
Joined here by pow’rs that past and present bind,
The living and the dead perfection find.3
I bear my witness that the temple is the house of the Lord, a sanctuary of peace. If you come to the Lord’s holy place with your minds focused on the things of the Spirit, God will manifest Himself unto you, and you will feel peace and joy in your heart.