Subbing

Today for the first time I worked the 7am-noon shift. Another Sister wanted to attend a baptism of a family member and asked me to switch her shifts, so I did. It was definitely an experience getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning to be there in time for 7am prayer meeting. 

They put me on the third floor where I rotated several positions. First starting out in the Celestial room, then the Chapel, then Chair 6 which is by the elevator, then the marriage waiting room for an hour and then back to the Celestial room, then the chapel, then Chair 6. 

Normally my shift at the temple is pretty calm but this shift felt a little crazy rotating as much as I was. The craziest part was the marriage waiting room. I had never had this responsibility before. The marriage waiting room is where all those that are coming to attend a sealing gather before they go into the sealing room. At one time there were more than 50 people in the room and unfortunately the noise level kept rising and rising and rising despite my shushing efforts. 

I think since these family members were so excited to see each other and be together they kept forgetting where they were. I was pretty astonished quite frankly that my efforts to keep the volume of the room at a appropriate level kept failing. I am not really sure what I learned from this experience, other than, if I ever go to a sealing and I have family members being noisy, I would try to make an effort to have them be more reverent. 

In the temple words are never spoken above a whisper so that the Spirit can be felt by all. This is the same reason we do not clap after talks or musical performances in our churches. Because it is much easier to feel the Spirit in the quiet reverence than in noise. 

Overall, I was so grateful to get to spend another day at the temple. Grateful to have learned new things and been able to help out in some way. 

I recently spoke to a friend and had suggested they could work in the temple. Their response was that they had already done that and didn't seem interested in doing it again. 

Maybe I haven't been doing it long enough, but at this point in my life, I can't imagine not working in the temple. It has become so much apart of me these last 9 months. Like I have said in a previous post, the Spirit of the temple feels like a living, breathing entity, and I literally feel apart of it, like it's a tree and I am one of the branches. 

I hope I will always love working and spending time in the temple in the future like I do now. It brings me so much joy, peace, and happiness. And I know it is making me a better person, because Heaven knows how imperfect I am but Heaven also knows how far I have come.