Yesterday before my shift, I met with others from my stake that were volunteering, too. We had a short prayer meeting and were given instructions from the Open House committee. I live in such a wonderful area with so many dedicated people! I am grateful to know so many of them and it definitely made serving in the temple more meaningful for me. I love to see the faces of people I know and love in the temple!!
My assignment was on the lower level of the temple in the baptistry. My first station was in the men's dressing room. As I stood there surrounded by tile and lockers, I thought "Wow. This is a pretty humble little spot." But as I watched the people going through the tour, I realized that when they walked into that dressing room one of the first things they would see would be me. My desire to sincerely smile and welcome everyone who came in expanded and I began to enjoy welcoming visitors. I moved through a number of spots each one bringing me closer to the bapistry chapel. It is such a beautiful place! I haven't been to another temple baptistry that is so visually majestic. Dark mahogany wood, beautiful paintings, marble floors, hand designed rugs. Simply stunning. Some of my favorite moments were when I was stationed at the reception desk just as those on the tour would enter the interior of the temple. A couple of little girls were so precious! They were so excited to actually be in the temple. I know that they will always remember that day. They were so amazed and awestruck. I can only imagine their expressions when they reached the celestial room. I loved watching the little families. Fathers and mothers answering questions and holding hands of little ones excited to explore and see everything. I loved watching friends and missionaries with their friends who aren't members of our church or less active members. I was grateful for their example and for their desire to share this wonderful opportunity with friends. I saw a number of people I know going through the tour with their families. Love to see that they are still on the Gospel path.
Some of the things I learned from this experience are that it takes many people to just conduct this kind of experience. They told us at the prayer meeting that 27,000 people will serve as ushers or other support help during the temple open house. They expect about 700,000 people to tour the temple. I would love to be able to know the final numbers. I bet it would be more that 700,000 people. The time and energy that has gone into organizing everything is overwhelming. It always amazes me that there are those with such organizational skills that they and those they work with anticipate and plan for every contingency.
Once again I was impressed with the fact that so much of the Lord's work is WORK! Yes there are spiritually uplifting moments and experiences and the blessing of serving with wonderful people, but much of what we do in the Church as leaders, teachers, and in the temple, too, is work. Work so that someone else will have a spiritually uplifting or learning experience. The behind the scenes work is so vital to that person who comes seeking solace, peace, and the Spirit.
Gratefully, I get to help with the open house again in a couple of weeks. I will be in the temple again, but maybe I will be on a different floor. This time I will make an effort to wear comfortable shoes and exercise my smile muscles before going so that hopefully they won't get so tired. It's a good tired, though.
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