Temple Trip

We had a fabulous day at the St. Louis Temple yesterday with 24 of our 50 youth attending for Baptisms for the Dead. They did approximately 240 names. I heard several people talk about various temples they have attended and about past Youth Temple Trips. My youth was rather boring since we traveled 30 minutes for our temple trips. I heard of people traveling 8 hours to go to Dallas or Chicago once a year. Our ward had the added blessing this year of going twice to St. Louis.

As a leader, those trips to Dallas or Chicago would take a lot of commitment to take two days away from your family, spend a night in a motel keeping track of all your youth, and the 16 hours of driving round trip. Kudos to these dedicated youth leaders who sacrificed so much to fulfill their callings. A one day trip to St. Louis and back seems such a small comparison, not that I'm complaining, just comparing the differences that members face around the globe.

We had planned for all of us to attend, but because of Chris' broken foot, Mike stayed home and took care of our boy. I was sad about that because I wanted all of us to be in the temple together. But, I came home to a sparkling clean house and the laundry all done. I have the best husband! Even though our men couldn't attend the temple with Nayna and I, we can be comforted with the knowledge that our family is eternal, no matter where we go or what happens to us in this life.

I remembered a talk that touched me deeply called "Steadfast and Immovable" by Silvia Alred at the last Relief Society General Broadcast where she related this story:

Soon after my husband was called to preside over the Paraguay Asunción Mission in 1992, we attended a branch conference in an isolated community in the Paraguayan Chaco. We traveled four hours on a paved road and then seven more hours on a primitive road. The perils and discomfort of the long trip were soon forgotten when we greeted the happy and welcoming members of Mistolar.

Julio Yegros was the young branch president, and he and his wife, Margarita, were one of the few families who had been sealed in the temple. I asked them to share their experience of their trip to the temple.

At the time, the closest temple was the Buenos Aires Temple in Argentina. The trip from Mistolar required 27 hours one way to reach the temple, and they had gone with their two small children. It was in the middle of a very cold winter, but with much sacrifice they made it to the temple and were sealed together as an eternal family. On the way back, the two babies got very sick and died. They buried them along the way and returned home empty-handed. They were sad and lonely but amazingly felt comforted and peaceful. They said of the experience: “Our children were sealed to us in the house of the Lord. We know we will have them back with us for all eternity. This knowledge has given us peace and comfort. We have to remain worthy and faithful to the covenants we made in the temple, and then we will be reunited with them.”