When I was 20 years old, my older sister and my younger sister both got engaged. Their weddings ended up being just two weeks apart at the end of the summer. I know, I know. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now that I’m a mom, that’s enough to make any mother a little bit crazy. Just the planning and the costs alone would be a lot, but then there’s also seeing your girls grow up… and so many big life changes all at once… ugg… it brings up emotion for me now.
As their wedding dates approached, they decided to receive their temple endowments together. One evening, when I was home from college, my father, out of the blue, asked if I wanted to go through the temple with my sisters.
That wasn’t even something that was on my mind at the time. I was not anywhere close to getting married, and I wasn’t planning on going on a mission.
Truth be known, I was just discovering the fun of tank tops (not something I wore in my home growing up.) But despite my new found love in my exposed shoulders, something just felt really good about joining my sisters in the temple.
The temple wasn’t like anything I expected, and I didn’t even think I was expecting anything. Everything was so new and different, and I didn’t understand any of it. So, I wanted to learn more.
I took a temple prep class, I took a Hebrew symbolism class, and I went to the temple every Thursday night at 7:00. I was able to do that for a few months before I decided to serve a mission.
I am so grateful for the chance I had to have a little better understanding of the temple before I went out to teach the gospel.
This week’s topic is “Things To Do As a Family Before Your Missionary Leaves.” One of the items on the list is to attend the temple as much as you can.
Go with your soon-to-be missionary to do initiatory and endowments.
Encourage them to listen to the blessings.
Plan time to sit in the temple and answer his/her questions.
If your family has youth age kids, go and do baptisms together.
There is power in the temple that can bind you as a family, give strength to your missionary, and rain down blessings from Heaven.
As you help prepare your missionary to embark on this grand adventure that is a mission, there is a long list of things to pack and things to do. But the family things sometimes get over-looked. The worst is when your missionary finally gets out there, and you think, “Ah, man! I wish we would have done this thing, and that other thing, before he/she left!”
Well, you are in luck! Here is a link to our "Things To Do As A Family check list" in our shop:
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And if you have any ideas that we can add to our list, or share with our community, please feel free to email us your ideas and stories!
Ideas of things to do before an lds mission Bucket list before becoming a missionary Prepare for an lds mission Church of Jesus Christ mission prep Before you become an Elder Things to do as a family before your missionary leaves
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