Dear Family and Friends,
Well, this was an awesome week. It was super busy and packed full of meetings, but I loved every second of it.
The Gilbert temple open house finally opened last week! I don't remember if I've explained what that is, so I'll explain it, just in case I haven't. Our church has a lot of temples, this one will be the 142nd temple to be operating. Temples are another place for us to worship God in, and allow us to learn more about His plan for us. They are truly the house of the Lord and are set apart from the world. You can feel that when you go inside them, or even just from walking around the outside of them. This temple was announced in 2008, and now 6 years later it's finally finished. Once a temple is finished being built, we have an open house, where anyone who is interested can go inside and get a tour of the temple and learn a little bit more about them and why they're important to us. So this open house goes from January 18-February 15. And since I am one of the sister missionaries in the Gilbert mission, I have the amazing opportunity to help run the open house. It is such a cool opportunity and I am so blessed to have the chance to help out. So the past week has been a lot of learning what I'm doing to help out.
Last Monday was a mostly normal P-day until the afternoon. Then all of the sisters went to the mission home to meet with President and Sister Nattress. We ate and talked and got to see the gorgeous house. And then President talked to us about the open house and how that was going to work.
And then on Tuesday the sisters had another meeting. This one was with Elder Walker, he's in the quorum of the 70 and does a lot of work with the temples in the church. He talked to us about what to say and do. Before the tour starts there is a short video introduction. Before we start the video, we (the missionaries) say a few things to help them know what to expect for the tour. And then at the end of the tour there is a reception tent, where we answer questions for the people that come out of the temple.
And then after the meeting, Elder Walker gave us all a tour of the temple, along with the temple president and our mission president. That absolutely amazing! The temple is absolutely beautiful, easily one of the prettiest I've ever seen. I loved it all! The baptistry was super cool, it's got a blue mosaic in it, and I've never seen a font like that. We got to see the bride's room, and that was beautiful too. There was an amazing staircase that reminds me of the one in Beauty and the Beast. The sealing rooms were big, some of them can hold up to 100 people! And then the celestial room was huge! And the chandelier was gorgeous. I know that's not a great description, but it's impossible to describe it in words. Basically, if you ever have the chance to go to the Gilbert temple, take it, I promise you won't regret it. There was even a special about it on TV on Friday, which I've heard is on facebook. That had some pictures and stuff in it, so if you're interested, you can try and look that up.
And then on Friday and Saturday evening we got to go work at the open house. That's been pretty cool. We've seen so many people come out of the temple that were touched by the amazing spirit they feel inside. And we've had the chance to answer a lot of questions. I also got to see a bunch of people that are from the wards I serve in, and that was a lot of fun.
We also had some other great experiences this week that weren't directly temple related, but still somewhat connected. Elder Walker promised us that there will be baptisms and miracles because of what happens at the open house, and since we are taking the time each week to help out with it. And we've already been able to see some of those miracles. We had a less active family come to church yesterday that hasn't been in 3 years, but we visited them last week and they were touched by the temple. They want to get sealed and they are excited about the open house. And they came to church yesterday to start the process of coming back. That was amazing. And we had an investigator show up at church. We weren't able to get in touch with her, but she came anyways, which was cool.
Basically, it was an amazing week. I'm so lucky and blessed to be able to help out at the open house. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so excited to have the chance to be one of the 45 sisters to help out. And there will be so many great miracles that come from the open house. The Lord has truly been preparing people here to receive the restored gospel, and I am so excited to see how this open house will help us find them. I love the gospel and love being a missionary. I love being able to share my knowledge of Jesus Christ with others. I know that He lives, and that through Him we can be forgiven of our sins and make it back to live with Him again. I am so grateful for His Atonement and for his continuing love for me that allows me to try and be better everyday.
I love an miss you all and hope you have a great week!
Love Always,
Baylee
Well, this was an awesome week. It was super busy and packed full of meetings, but I loved every second of it.
The Gilbert temple open house finally opened last week! I don't remember if I've explained what that is, so I'll explain it, just in case I haven't. Our church has a lot of temples, this one will be the 142nd temple to be operating. Temples are another place for us to worship God in, and allow us to learn more about His plan for us. They are truly the house of the Lord and are set apart from the world. You can feel that when you go inside them, or even just from walking around the outside of them. This temple was announced in 2008, and now 6 years later it's finally finished. Once a temple is finished being built, we have an open house, where anyone who is interested can go inside and get a tour of the temple and learn a little bit more about them and why they're important to us. So this open house goes from January 18-February 15. And since I am one of the sister missionaries in the Gilbert mission, I have the amazing opportunity to help run the open house. It is such a cool opportunity and I am so blessed to have the chance to help out. So the past week has been a lot of learning what I'm doing to help out.
Last Monday was a mostly normal P-day until the afternoon. Then all of the sisters went to the mission home to meet with President and Sister Nattress. We ate and talked and got to see the gorgeous house. And then President talked to us about the open house and how that was going to work.
And then on Tuesday the sisters had another meeting. This one was with Elder Walker, he's in the quorum of the 70 and does a lot of work with the temples in the church. He talked to us about what to say and do. Before the tour starts there is a short video introduction. Before we start the video, we (the missionaries) say a few things to help them know what to expect for the tour. And then at the end of the tour there is a reception tent, where we answer questions for the people that come out of the temple.
And then after the meeting, Elder Walker gave us all a tour of the temple, along with the temple president and our mission president. That absolutely amazing! The temple is absolutely beautiful, easily one of the prettiest I've ever seen. I loved it all! The baptistry was super cool, it's got a blue mosaic in it, and I've never seen a font like that. We got to see the bride's room, and that was beautiful too. There was an amazing staircase that reminds me of the one in Beauty and the Beast. The sealing rooms were big, some of them can hold up to 100 people! And then the celestial room was huge! And the chandelier was gorgeous. I know that's not a great description, but it's impossible to describe it in words. Basically, if you ever have the chance to go to the Gilbert temple, take it, I promise you won't regret it. There was even a special about it on TV on Friday, which I've heard is on facebook. That had some pictures and stuff in it, so if you're interested, you can try and look that up.
And then on Friday and Saturday evening we got to go work at the open house. That's been pretty cool. We've seen so many people come out of the temple that were touched by the amazing spirit they feel inside. And we've had the chance to answer a lot of questions. I also got to see a bunch of people that are from the wards I serve in, and that was a lot of fun.
We also had some other great experiences this week that weren't directly temple related, but still somewhat connected. Elder Walker promised us that there will be baptisms and miracles because of what happens at the open house, and since we are taking the time each week to help out with it. And we've already been able to see some of those miracles. We had a less active family come to church yesterday that hasn't been in 3 years, but we visited them last week and they were touched by the temple. They want to get sealed and they are excited about the open house. And they came to church yesterday to start the process of coming back. That was amazing. And we had an investigator show up at church. We weren't able to get in touch with her, but she came anyways, which was cool.
Basically, it was an amazing week. I'm so lucky and blessed to be able to help out at the open house. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I am so excited to have the chance to be one of the 45 sisters to help out. And there will be so many great miracles that come from the open house. The Lord has truly been preparing people here to receive the restored gospel, and I am so excited to see how this open house will help us find them. I love the gospel and love being a missionary. I love being able to share my knowledge of Jesus Christ with others. I know that He lives, and that through Him we can be forgiven of our sins and make it back to live with Him again. I am so grateful for His Atonement and for his continuing love for me that allows me to try and be better everyday.
I love an miss you all and hope you have a great week!
Love Always,
Baylee
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