"The Holy Temple -- A Beacon to the World" -- President Thomas S. Monson

President Monson is such a fabulous story-teller. In this talk, he specifically tells several stories of faithful saints around the world who have sacrificed so much in order to take part in the blessings of the temple.

But then he says:

"Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings."

I have always have relatively easy access to a temple all my life, even if it required driving a few hours. There was only one instance I have of "hardship" to get to the temple.

The spring of 2007, I studied abroad in London, England. Yes, London does have a temple. No, it is not IN London. Our stake was having a temple day, and me and my roommates wanted to attend. First we needed to meet at the church building, which by foot, underground, bus, and more foot would take 2 hours and 4 or 5 transfers. Once at the church, we loaded into rented vans and drove another 2 hours to where the temple is really in the middle of no-where.

The Primary was having an activity on the lawn, and the adults were going in for an endowment session. So, me and my roommates entered the temple with out limited-use recommends to do baptisms for the dead. That was when the Brother at the recommend desk informed us that our stake was not doing baptisms that day, and that another group was using the baptistery and it was completely full.

Our emotions were so mixed. We were mad we didn't make a reservation, and sad we could not go farther into those doors after making such an arduous journey.

Our stake was planning to stay the rest of the evening, and we needed to get back to the city. So we walked in our painful church shoes several miles on country roads to the train station to take us back to London.

It was not nearly what those saints had to endure, but even seeing that remarkable and historic temple up close was worth all the sacrifice. I could feel the spirit of the temple, just like those primary children, by just being near the temple.

I so love the temple. It is a place of worship, of peace, of service, of love, of family. I need to do better in making the Lord's house my second home.