Jordan River Temple Ordinance Workers.

April 10th, 2014 Doug and I started serving in the Jordan River Temple as Ordinance Workers.  It has been a very humbling experience.  We started out working each Friday morning.  We need to be  at the temple by 5 in the morning so that we will be ready for prayer meeting at 5:20. We hurry to get on our temple clothes and then we attend a Prayer Meeting.  In these meetings we are uplifted by our leaders in being reminded that this is the Lord's work and we are there to serve the dead through the living.  They train us to be better ordinance workers.  When we started out we tried to do as many initiatories as we could during the week so that we could learn and remember the words we needed to say in the initiatory booths.  The promises are so beautiful.  The spirit is so strong.

It took us a couple of months to get everything memorized.  We did have a little help because we had served in the Los Angeles Temple for several months as Stake Temple Ordinance Workers.  I think that we went about every 3 months for a year.  It was in preparation and training for when the Fresno Temple was ready.  Each time we would have a different assignment.  At that time we started learning the veil ceremony and some of the initiatories.  Shortly after we started doing this in L. A. the initiatory and endowment ceremony were changed some.  The changes felt just right for the times.

Doug was quicker memorizing than I was.  The temple workers were so patient and kind.  They remembered how difficult it was to memorize everything just perfectly.

Every two months we have a schedule that has our assignments on them.  I work with two other sisters for those two months.  Our schedule is for a 6 hour block.  Sometimes we are able to help in an endowment session.  We lead the group on the woman's side during that session.  They call us followers.

We usually always do several sessions of initiatories.  We are in the booth for 30 minutes and then we have a 30 minute break or we go and help at the veils.  Sometimes we help issuing the names.

You learn to love and appreciate these beautiful woman that we work with.  Every sister that I have had the pleasure to work with has become a dear friend.  There is so much love in the temple.  The spirit is so strong.

We have enjoyed getting to know our Temple President and his counselors the Matron and her assistants of the temple.  We enjoy having them in our prayer meetings often.

Sometimes people come who are really struggling.  Other times they come when they are doing the work for their much loved ancestors.  Each day is different but always uplifting.  We pray to have the Holy Ghost bless us so that we can bless the patrons who we serve.  We receive many hugs of thanks and encouragement.  The temple is the closest place to heaven.  The temple is so dear to our heart.