Week 57: Mi Casa Es Su Casa

I was very excited about the photo ops in front of the temple, in case you couldn’t tell.

This was such an absolutely phenomenal week! I feel like just about everything happened. My companion got fully vaccinated, I went down to Guatemala City, there was an orientation for a mid-transfer missionary who came from my best friend’s reassignment (Washington DC South), we attended a surprise birthday party, I gave my first talk entirely in Spanish, someone twisted their ankle, and someone called thinking they had appendicitis, but this time, it was a UTI! But there was one especially treasured event that has everything to do with the subject line. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve gotten to do on my mission by far!

Still me being very excited.

That’s right.

Here we are attempting to be presentable.

I got to attend the temple!

El Bosque truly serving looks.

We were literally in the last zone in the mission to get to go, but the 13-month wait was totally worth it. Nothing else compares to the joy and the Spirit that you get to feel in the temple. It almost made me excited for when I go home and (hopefully!) get to attend the temple more regularly. Almost.

The artistry of a pair of birds flying around the temple.

If you’re able to attend the temple on a regular basis, I seriously encourage you to do so. It is the best reminder of how much God loves his children.

To prepare for going through the temple Saturday, President Roden suggested we read Section 109 of Doctrine and Covenants, which contains the dedicatory prayer offered for the Kirtland Temple. President Roden is incredibly spiritually woke, I must say. Everything about this chapter is, in a word, powerful. This part I especially like:

8 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

The house that we are preparing might not be a literal building. Much of the time, the thing we are preparing is ourselves. Could we describe ourselves with the words used to describe the temple? Because that’s what we’re aiming for.

No, we won’t be perfect, and yes, there will be roadblocks along the way. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try. And, no matter what, we’re always welcome. 

—¿Dice quién?,

Hermana Newton