“Our Love for Temple Work,” Liahona, Aug. 2023, United States and Canada Section.
Our Love for Temple Work
I truly am grateful to have been born at this time, to have the gospel in my life, and to be involved in doing temple work for my ancestors.
Cardston, Alberta, was settled by Latter-day Saints in 1887. In 1913 the Church announced that a temple would be built there—the first temple in Canada and the first built outside the United States. It was dedicated in 1923.
In 1966, I joined the Church at the age of 14 while living as a resident of Siksika Nation, an Indian reservation in Alberta, Canada. In the fall of that year, three of my siblings and I went on a placement program sponsored by the Church to assist young First Nations members of the Church to become rooted in the gospel. I was placed in the home of John and Marguerite Webb in Vermilion, Alberta. They were wonderful. They treated me like one of their own. I lived with them for five years, and they taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ and instilled in me a love for it.
I met my husband, Wally Woods, at a youth conference held at the church in Edmonton. He joined the Church the following year and went to Brigham Young University in the fall of 1970. When he returned in the spring of 1971, we were married and sealed in the Cardston Temple on July 24 of that year. The president of the temple, Heber G. Jensen, told us that he had sealed a number of First Nations families, but we were the first indigenous couple he had married and sealed in the Cardston Temple.
When I walked through the doors of the temple, the fountain at the front was beautiful with the sound of water trickling, and the green carpet in the entryway appeared like grass in nature. I could picture my ancestors gathering in that area and then heading up the stairway into the main part of the temple to have their temple work done. Everyone at the temple seemed full of love and acceptance. I will always remember the peace I felt while attending this temple and feeling like it was my ancestors’ temple. This temple is built right in the heart of Blackfoot territory, where most of my ancestors lived all of their lives.
An ordinance room in the Cardston Alberta Temple.
Wally and I both attended BYU until Wally graduated. We moved to Edmonton and made the six-hour drive to the Cardston Temple whenever we could. We made personal sacrifices, but those were well worth it for the knowledge we received each time we visited the temple. Our lives, and those of our family, were blessed tremendously.
When we lived in Northern British Columbia, the nearest temple was the Seattle Washington Temple. We had to travel for two days to get there. At that time, Wally and I set a goal to go to the temple yearly. We planned our vacation around visiting family in Alberta and attending the Cardston Temple, then traveling over to Seattle to attend that temple before heading home.
My mother, Muriel Frances Crowfoot, was a great woman of faith. She fostered in her children a love for Jesus Christ. She went on temple missions at the Chicago Illinois Temple and later at the Cardston Temple.
My eldest sister, Amelia Crowfoot Clark, also had a great love for temple work. Our mother was Amelia’s traveling companion for a number of visits to different temples. After my mother passed, I was able to attend the temple with Amelia. Whenever the prophet announced more temples, we were happy that more members could have the opportunity to do their own temple work and that of their ancestors.
Our son, Craig, and our daughter, Natonis, received their endowments at the Cardston Temple before Craig went on his mission to Louisiana and before Natonis got married. This was so special to us, as this was the place where Wally and I began our journey together as an eternal family. That same peaceful feeling was there to greet us.
The author and her husband on their wedding day in 1971.
Photograph courtesy of the author
Wally and I have been married for 52 years, and we are still going to the temple to worship and serve our Savior, Jesus Christ, and do temple work for our ancestors. I love the Lord and appreciate all the blessings that He has given to my family and me. I truly am grateful to have been born at this time, to have the gospel in my life, and to be involved in doing temple work for my ancestors.
The author lives in Alberta.