About two weeks ago, unbeknownst to me, Megan sat down next to her Daddy with a sad look on her face and said something like, “Daddy, I want to go to the temple and get married.” They proceeded to have a little conversation about that. She apparently wanted to go there that day and when Rex said “not today,” she said, “tomorrow?”
Later that morning while I was doing chores, she said “I’m going to get married in the temple.” I was stunned. Where had this come from? I know we’d talked about the temple here and there, have pictures of them in our house, and that she knows Mommy and Daddy got married there. But I don’t remember having an official lesson on it and she hadn't had a lesson on it in Nursery either. She often mistakes churches in the neighborhood for the temple because they have big steeples. We always correct her that they are somebody else’s church and not a temple at all.
When I picked up James from school that day, he said, “I’m going to marry my sister.” I thought it was odd and said he was silly. But Rex said that he probably said that because he loves her and knows that for him to marry someone, it has to be a girl whom he loves.
Later that morning while I was doing chores, she said “I’m going to get married in the temple.” I was stunned. Where had this come from? I know we’d talked about the temple here and there, have pictures of them in our house, and that she knows Mommy and Daddy got married there. But I don’t remember having an official lesson on it and she hadn't had a lesson on it in Nursery either. She often mistakes churches in the neighborhood for the temple because they have big steeples. We always correct her that they are somebody else’s church and not a temple at all.
When I picked up James from school that day, he said, “I’m going to marry my sister.” I thought it was odd and said he was silly. But Rex said that he probably said that because he loves her and knows that for him to marry someone, it has to be a girl whom he loves.
Megan has been asking to go to the temple every day since then. So we decided to take advantage of the good weather and her enthusiasm for the temple to have our Family Home Evening lesson about the temple and drive an hour up there. First, we had our lesson about what we do in the temple and why it is so important to get married there. (The other ordinances are too hard for them to understand right now, especially since James acted all scared and dramatic when I started to mention people getting the chance to marry forever after they die.) Then we showed them pictures of our temple wedding.
They were all so excited to go and were well-behaved in the car and loved walking around the outside. We went in to the foyer where a bunch of youth was crammed. The kids seemed to like it just sitting there for a few minutes and they were calm and quiet and whispered. They were, however, disappointed that they couldn't go any further inside the temple. I told James when he was older like those youth in the room, then he can go inside further and do baptisms.
They were all so excited to go and were well-behaved in the car and loved walking around the outside. We went in to the foyer where a bunch of youth was crammed. The kids seemed to like it just sitting there for a few minutes and they were calm and quiet and whispered. They were, however, disappointed that they couldn't go any further inside the temple. I told James when he was older like those youth in the room, then he can go inside further and do baptisms.
We hope they will now understand that all the other churches with steeples are just churches but this one is the temple and it is special and sacred and different from a regular church. We hope they also remember that a temple has Angel Moroni on top while a regular church just has a steeple.
We stopped at a nearby McDonalds for dinner and let them play a while before we drove the hour back home. It was the most successful FHE lesson we’ve had in so long!
We stopped at a nearby McDonalds for dinner and let them play a while before we drove the hour back home. It was the most successful FHE lesson we’ve had in so long!
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