It's September 2020. The Covid Pandemic has been well underway since March of this year. Our lives have changed more than I could have ever imagined. Never in my wildest dreams, or nightmares, could I have imagined that not only would our churches be closed, but that our temples would also be closed in my lifetime. Life is surreal and feels like the twilight zone. At this point there is no future date of when life will even open back up. As of November of 2019, Henry had been serving at the Bountiful Temple. He says it's because I kept telling him he needed more balance in his life with things that were spiritual. So he made the decision to once again work in the Bountiful Temple and I know we have been blessed for his service ever since. I, also, always had the desire to work in the temple, but after five days commuting into the office and church on Sundays, Saturdays were the only day I felt like I could get things accomplished. When I attended the temple it was usually Friday nights or Saturdays, but it wasn't every weekend and life inevitably got in the way alot of the time. Also I always had a somewhat guilty conscience, thinking if I become a temple worker, I will be spending all that time in the temple helping other people perform work for their ancestors, but what about my ancestor's and Hen's ancestor's? Shouldn't I be spending my time on their work? Additionally, I thought being a temple worker would always be a goal of mine, but would make more sense when I retired from my job around 65 and would have all the time in the world on my hands.
So many of my thoughts and attitudes about being a Temple worker changed once the opportunity to go was completely taken away. Since the Pandemic started I was basically working exclusively at home. With being home so much, I no longer felt like I was so trapped into my 9-6 schedule. I had and felt a whole new level of freedom that I hadn't had in the 14 1/2 years since I started at the company I work for. And with Covid hitting the older population worse than the younger population, I started to think there might be a shortage of temple workers because they won't likely allow the older temple workers back for an extended amount of time. Henry and I were also at a place in our lives where we had acceptance and closure that we would not be parents in this lifetime. Not for lack of trying, but the Holy Ghost had spoken to both of our hearts that our children would come in the next life and that we do have purpose here in this life, even without being parents. And that guilt I talked about previously, was also taken away. The Holy Ghost spoke to my mind, that whether I am doing our own family names or helping others to do theirs in the temple didn't matter in the long run. All that matters is that we are serving in some way. So on a Sunday in September 2020, I sent the below e-mail to my bishop.
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