Dear family and friends,
This has been a really good week. At least, a really good weekend. I do not remember much of what happened during the week. My life has been consumed by school and work and I have very little free time until the weekends.
So after a busy week of school, I was finally able to have some much needed fun. I miraculously did not have much homework this weekend and was able to get all of it done on Friday. This left my Saturday wide open and it was the best day I've had in a long time.
For weeks now, I've been feeling the need to go to the temple, but I've been making excuses about being to busy.Saturday morning I was debating going to the temple. My roommate and her fiance had planned a lot of fun Halloween activities and I really wanted to go. I also have 3 test next week and even though all my homework was done, I felt a little guilty about not having started to study. With all these thoughts going through my mind, I decided not to go this week. I was on pinterest at the time, and just as I decided I wasn't going, I found this quote from Pres. Hinckley. "I know your lives are busy. i know that you have much to do. But I make you a promise that if you will go to the house of the Lord, you will be blessed; life will be better for you." And that did it. I knew I had no excuse. I just HAD to go. And I did.
And I will forever be grateful that God led me to the temple that Saturday morning. I decided to do initiatory (an ordinance, like baptism, that is necessary to receive Salvation), and I had one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had in the temple. Before starting I prayed that, if God so desired, I would be able to sense those that were accepting the work I was doing for them. Upon finishing one of the ordinances for a woman who had lived in Hungary during the early 1800's I felt a peace incomparable to anything I have previously felt while doing temple work for others. I immediately thought of the prayer I had said. Again, I felt such peace, that I knew she had accepted the work that had been done for her.
I am certain, that God did not need it to be ME to perform her work. Anyone could have done so, and had the experience that I was so blessed to have. But I am so grateful that God loves me enough to give me the "shove" that I needed to get to the temple. I know that the temple is the house of God. I know that it is a place of peace and love. I love the temple because it reminds me of God's mercy and fairness. He loves all of his children the same. He wants all of them to receive the blessings of Salvation. Yet so many die without hearing of Christ, without knowing the truth, without receiving the ordinances necessary for Salvation. That's why we need temples! That's why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is different! So many believe that those who die in infancy are not saved. But the God I know doesn't work that way. He has provided a way for all of His children to be saved and to return to Him. If you know that this is true, I invite you to share it with someone. If you do not know that this is true, I invite you to pray. Ask God. He will answer you.
After going to the temple, we made our Halloween costumes, got dressed, and went to a corn maze. Then we went on a Halloween boat ride down the Provo River. We ended the night at an awesome dance party in an apartment's parking garage. During the day, I had been worried that the dance was going to go on so long, that it would be the end of our day, and I would not be able to begin studying for my upcoming tests. I needn't have worried. We got to the dance around 8:30 and were danced out by 10. We got home and I still had time! I spent and hour studying for my Spanish test (which was my goal) and then I decided to watch a movie. It was 11, but I wasn't tired. I watched A Little Princess, one of my favorite movies! The day worked out perfectly. I was able to do all the fun things I wanted to do, and I was able to do my homework. I KNOW that I was blessed for going to the temple. President Hinckley's promise--"you will be blessed; life will be better for you"--was fulfilled.
Con amor,
S. Olsen
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