MY FAMILY CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER THROUGH THE ORDINANCES OF THE TEMPLE.

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MY FAMILY CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER THROUGH THE
ORDINANCES OF THE TEMPLE.
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What is an Ordinance?

• An ordinance is a sacred ceremony that has a
  spiritual meaning. When we participate in an
  ordinance, we often make covenants or promises to
  obey Heavenly Fathers commandments.
• Some ordinances are called saving ordinances.
  These ordinances are necessary for salvation.

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Can you think of an ordinance we do every Sunday?

• The Sacrament
• What do we covenant or promise to do when we take
  the sacrament?
• Always remember Jesus
• Take His name upon you
• Keep His commandments

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What ordinance can we do at age 8?

• Baptism See Mosiah 188-10
• What covenants (promises) do we make at Baptism?
• Serve the Lord
• Keep His commandments
• Take His name upon you
• Bear one anothers burdens
• Stand as a witness of God

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John 35

• Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
  he cannot enter into the kingdom of God
• Being born of water means being baptized, and
  being born of the Spirit means receiving the gift
  of the Holy Ghost.

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Testimony of Baptisms for the Dead

• How did they feel?
• What was it like?

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Other ordinances of salvation and exaltation are
sealings and celestial marriage.

• Read DC 13112
• 1 In the celestial glory there are three heavens
  or degrees
• 2 And in order to obtain the highest, a man must
  enter into this order of the priesthood meaning
  the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.

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Testimony of Couples being married or sealed

• What was your experience?

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Derek at the Temple

• The dead who repent will be redeemed, through
  obedience to the ordinances of the house of God
  (DC 13858).
• Last Monday night at family home evening, Dad
  said he wanted to take the family to visit the
  new temple on Saturday. It had just been built,
  and we could all go inside. Is that all right
  with everyone?
• I dont want to go, I said.
• Dad put his hand on my shoulder. Why not,
  Derek?
• Im afraid of the dead people.
• The dead people? There arent any dead people at
  the temple. Whatever gave you that idea?
• Yesterday Sister Bergman, my CTR teacher, told
  us that people do work for the dead at the
  templelike baptizing them.
• I watched Dads eyes get big and his mouth go
  funny like it does when hes trying not to laugh.
  Derek, if I promise that there wont be any dead
  people, will you go with us?
• Yes, I said, wondering how Dad was going to
  keep his promise.
• On Saturday we drove to the temple. I looked at
  the sharp points on the top of it as we stood in
  a long line. Near the door a man shook my hand
  and said, Welcome. I was relieved that the
  first person we met wasnt dead.
• I asked Mom, Can anyone come in here?

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• Now they can, she said, but next week the
  prophet will come and say a special prayer in the
  temple to dedicate it. After that, only members
  of the Church with special permission can come
  in.
• I went on in and walked on a thick blue carpet.
  It gave me a warm feeling all over.
• Our family stopped to look at some pictures
  hanging on the walls. Mom told us a story about
  one of the paintings of Jesus holding little
  children.
• I saw one room with an organ and benches. Another
  room had lots of mirrors on all the walls. As I
  stood with mirrors in front of and behind me, I
  saw hundreds of my reflections getting smaller
  and smaller, going on forever. In the middle of
  the room was a table with soft cushions on top of
  it, and a padded step all around the bottom.
  Whats that? I asked.
• Its called an altar, Mom said.
• Dad said that people knelt at the altar when they
  were married. Then he said something about
  ceilings for the dead.
• I quickly looked up. The top of the room looked
  ordinary to me. I asked, Dad, why is it called a
  ceiling for dead people?
• Dad bent down and quietly explained that a temple
  sealing was a special kind of ordinance. It was
  spelled s-e-a-l-i-n-g, and didnt have anything
  to do with the top of the room. He said that when
  a man and a woman are married in the temple, it
  is called being sealed, and when they are sealed
  to each other, or when their children are sealed
  to them, it means that if they live righteously,
  they can be a family forever.
• I felt a lot better, but I still had to ask, Do
  they bring the dead people here to seal them?
• No, Derek, Dad replied. People who are alive,
  like your mother and me, are sealed in behalf of
  people who are no longer living. They died before
  they could be married or sealed in a temple, so
  we do it for them.

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• Where are they? I asked.
• Their bodies are in their graves, and their
  spirits are in the spirit world.
• How do you know they want you to do this for
  them?
• We dont. We just do the work, and if they want
  to, they can accept it. But they dont have to.
  Its like sending someone a package. That person
  gets to choose whether he or she wants to accept
  it. For that person the important choice is the
  accepting. Heavenly Father says that for us,
  though, its the sending.
• We left the room with the mirrors and walked down
  a hall and into other rooms. Dad said that some
  of these rooms were like special schoolrooms and
  that people who came to the temple learned
  important lessons and received blessings there. I
  learned that living people could receive the
  lessons and blessings for people who had died.
• I saw a large room with private little places for
  women to dress, and another one just like it for
  men. Mom explained that people change into white
  temple clothes in these rooms. She said that
  everyone would wear white in the temple after it
  was dedicated.
• Finally, we came to a room with a bare floor. It
  was rock-hard, and as we entered, I heard our
  shoes make loud sounds on it. In the middle of
  the room was a giant bowl of water sitting on top
  of twelve oxen that were standing on a floor
  below the level of the floor where we were.
• Dad took my hand, and we walked over a small
  bridge and stood by the water. As I leaned over
  it, I could see my reflection. This is where
  they do baptisms for the dead, he said.
• How do they do that?

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• Living people are baptized in place of the
  dead, Dad said. In fact, young people are often
  baptized for them.
• You mean I could be baptized for someone who has
  died?
• Yeswhen youre twelve, you can come to the
  temple and be baptized for the dead if youre
  worthy. You might even be baptized for people who
  have been waiting hundreds of years for it to be
  done for them.
• As we left the parking lot, I said, I hope when
  Im twelve I can get permission to come here and
  get baptized for some of Heavenly Fathers
  children. Im really anxious to do it.
• Theyre anxious for you to do it, too, Dad said.

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I Love to See the Temple

• I love to see the temple.Im going there someday
  
• To feel the Holy Spirit,To listen and to pray.
• For the temple is a house of God,A place of love
  and beauty.
• Ill prepare myself while I am youngThis is my
  sacred duty.

• I love to see the temple.Ill go inside someday.
• Ill covenant with my FatherIll promise to
  obey.
• For the temple is a holy placeWhere we are
  sealed together.
• As a child of God, Ive learned this truthA
  family is forever.