Some very wonderful events have taken place over the past several weeks, and it is time to put them to remembrance. My weekly Wednesday Temple excursion was particularly meaningful yesterday. President Harwood, 2nd Counselor in the Temple Presidency, conducted the standard training session to begin our shift. He began by saying that he had heard the Temple Presidency Matrons shared more Temple stories and that Brothers would also appreciate a story or two. He told of their arrival at the Temple the previous Friday morning at 6am to find more than the normal number of cars parked there. After some investigation, it was learned that these people, non-members dressed in everyday work clothes, some Arab, Black, Spanish, and Caucasian, had driven to the Temple's 'higher ground' after hearing about the tremendous tsunami generated by the horrific 8.9 earthquake that had struck Northern Japan the previous day. These good people had come to a place of refuge and peace because the news was and still is very unsettling. President Harwood stated that the people were curious to enter the Temple so he allowed them to come in the front door and view the Recommend Desk and adjoining foyer. With a little prodding, they, the Harwood's were able to arrange for the Visitor's Center to be opened an hour earlier, so all the 'visitors' had the opportunity to take part in the spirit there. He was obviously quite moved by the whole experience as we were upon it's unfolding to us.

The other incident involved a young teenage sister. She had previously attended a Baptism session with her ward, but had come by herself several weeks ago. As she was being escorted to the front desk after completing her baptismal ordinances, she stated, "When I came the first time I believed this was the House of The Lord, but now I know it is, and you, (meaning the workers in white) are his friends!". Obviously, it was a very sweet, spiritual moment for her and as President Harwood related, "It makes us think about our roles as Temple workers in a little different light." I agree wholeheartedly.

Over the past few months, the Spirit of Elijah has been rekindled within me and thanks to the marvelous new tools available through Ancestry.com and New.Family Search.com, I have accumulated several hundred names in a very short period of time that will be ready for Temple work as soon as I figure out how to transfer the names from Ancestry.com to NewFamilySearch. I have had to forget most of what I learned 35 years ago when research was done by letter and microfilm reading. Now at the push of a button, links to census's and other vital statistics data that has been digitized and indexed appear on screen to be analyzed and used to verify that a particular person or family existed. Then, once inputted to NewFamilySearch, all church records are scanned to see if Temple Work has already been performed. If not, a little green Temple icon appears which says work needs to be done. Another few mouse clicks and you have a printout with a bar code that you can take to the Temple where there the family file cards are printed out for each individual that lists the ordinances to be performed. The emphasis is on getting names submitted, not spending endless hours finding out what kind of toothpaste cousin John used, etc. We, meaning Temple going family members, should have plenty of family names to keep us busy for some time. I will be giving specific instructions to each family member very shortly on how to print out the necessary information on their own computers so that they can take the names to their respective Temples for the work to be done.

Which leads me to the next experience that began the last week in February. On Thursday the 24th, Ken Anderson, our shift coordinator and member of the 2nd Ward here in Salinas, and I drove to Pleasanton to attend the funeral services for Janis Marlais, who with husband Jim had been working the Wednesday PM Temple shift for the past several years. She died rather quickly from a staff infection and was actually rather young, 64 to be exact. The entire Stake Chapel was filled to capacity and it was obvious she was well respected and loved.. What struck me was the suddenness of it all!! Those who spoke told of recent notes or e-mails received from Janis up until the end. I felt for husband Jim as he now must face life removed from his spouse. We just do not know from day to day. What I do know is what Jim knew and that is that we are sealed as families and we will be together in the eternities. That is an absolute that I know to be true, a testimony of which I am most profoundly grateful.

The next day Friday found Art and Barb Romero and me setting out for an excellent weekend adventure. Barb and I were to attend a special evening Temple training session and Art would do a couple of sessions on his own. I had prepared some family names for Temple work and took them with me. As it turned out, we arrived very early so I was able to be baptized, confirmed, and washed and anointed for my 2nd cousin Clay Benjamin Rosser. He and Mom were first cousins and were very close in age and sociality. I knew them well as a young lad and we stayed at their Oklahoma City home numerous times during our Southwest summer touring visits.

Clay and Luretta (Lula) Rosser circa 1974. Picture taken

during their visit to Salinas.

After the completion of our training, we drove to Rancho Cordova just north of Sacramento and spent the evening at a lovely Marriott Residence Inn in preparation for a special Temple event the next day.

We awoke and Art and Barbara drove to the Sacramento Temple to meet with and help David Paris prepare for his Endowment. His wife Kathleen was of course in attendance also. I, along with Dez Wilson, former Prison worker with Art who became friends with David, picked up Roger Ray, another former inmate just recently paroled to the Sacramento area. Roger had been a 'regular' at our South Yard meetings over the past 3 years and in fact had known David when both attended North Yard services some years ago. Roger has been struggling since his release. Art and Barbara had previously driven to Sacramento to meet with the appropriate Church Leaders in order to expedite Roger's inclusion into the Church. Roger was just excited to see all of us and to drive to the Temple and be on the grounds. We left him to 'wander' and then joined David in the Temple for his glorious event. It indeed was!! The Sacramento Temple is small, but very beautiful. The Celestial Room is magnificent white with high arched ceilings and a beautiful chandelier. Many of David's friends from his Ward and Stake were in attendance. I continued the work for my cousin Clay and acted as his proxy for the Endowment session there in the Sacramento Temple. The reason I am even mentioning all this is because it marked the first time that I had performed all the individual ordinances for a deceased relative. It was a great experience to do so, and to be at the Temple with Dave and Kathleen on the inside and Roger on the outside. Below are some pictures of the event.

Dez Wilson, Roger Ray, Barbara Romero, Dave and Kathleen Paris

Funny picture of Dave helping Roger tie a tie.

Dave just recently learned and Roger was in the process!

Now fast forward to yesterday. At the end of our shift I was able to take the name of my cousin Clay along with his wife Lula to the sealing room and there be sealed to their parents and to each other. Guess who was there to help? Dave Paris. I had earlier helped arrange lodging for David near the Temple while he was attending a week long class in the bay area. The church owns a small house up by the distribution center and the rooms are rented for a very reasonable $20 per night. He was in the Temple last night and was in the sealing room when I arrived. The spirit was sweet as we performed the necessary saving ordinances for my cousins. Also sealed was their only child stillborn in 1930, Clay Jr. They later adopted a young female whose name is Luretta. She is still alive though I have lost contact with her. I felt a wonderful sense of gratitude in knowing that this work was now completed and that the Lord's guiding hand had brought David to Temple that day so that we could share in the 'sealing spirit'. In the common vernacular, it simply doesn't get any better than that!!!!