Conference Talk:
For more information on this topic read “As We Meet Together Again,” by Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, Nov 2010, 4.
Song:
“I Love to See the Temple,” Children’s Songbook, p. 95.
Scripture:
And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it. (Doctrine and Covenants 97:15)
Lesson:
Have your family imagine visiting a foreign country where every city had a sports stadium in the middle of the town, around which everything else was built. Close to every stadium are a concert hall and an art museum. What would these buildings, and their location, tell you about the people of that country?
By the spring of 1833, the Church in Kirtland had grown to several hundred people, with more Saints gathering all the time. To better prepare the Church to take the gospel to the world, Church leaders and missionaries were commanded to study the gospel and also the learning of men. These circumstances created a need for offices for Church leaders, schoolrooms for teaching adults, and even a printing shop. A committee was appointed to acquire land, and the revelation in D&C 94 appoints and instructs a Church building committee.
Explain that while the Church had many needs, it was still small and had limited resources to fulfill these needs. With limited money, Church leaders had to be selective about which buildings should be constructed and in what order. Their choices tell us much about the interests and focus of the Church. Ask your family to look for the three main buildings the Saints began to build as they study D&C 94.
Have someone read D&C 94:1–2. Ask:
• What is the first building mentioned in this revelation? (“My house,” or the temple.)
• Where was the temple to be in relation to the rest of the city? (The city was to be laid out with the temple as the central building.)
• What does that teach us about how the Lord feels about His house?
• What do you think the Lord is teaching us about the place the temple ought to occupy in our lives?
(Dennis H. Leavitt and Richard O. Christensen, Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families: The Doctrine and Covenants, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004], p. 204.)
Story:
N. B. Lundwall
One occasion I heard the late Apostle Marriner W. Merrill, president of the Logan Temple, relate this extraordinary incident:
He was sitting in his office one morning, he said, when he noticed from the window a company of people coming up the hill to the temple. As they entered the temple grounds they presented rather a strange appearance. . . .
A little later a person unknown to Brother Merrill entered the room. Brother Merrill said to him: "Who are you and who are these people who have come up and taken possession of the temple grounds unannounced?"
He answered and said: "I am Satan and these are my people."
Brother Merrill then said: "What do you want? Why have you come here?"
Satan replied: "I don't like the work that is going on in this temple and feel that it should be discontinued. Will you stop it?"
Brother Merrill answered and said emphatically, "No, we will not stop it. The work must go on."
"Since you refuse to stop it, I will tell you what I propose to do," the adversary said. "I will take these people, my followers, and distribute them throughout this temple district, and will instruct them to whisper in the ears of people, persuading them not to go to the temple, and thus bring about a cessation of your temple work." Satan then withdrew.
The spirit of indifference to temple work took possession of the people and very few came to the house of the Lord for a period after this incident. It is not to be wondered at that Satan, who is the enemy of all righteousness, is displeased with temple work.
(Jay A. Parry, Jack M. Lyon, Linda Rire Gundry, Best-Loved Stories of the LDS People, Vol. 2, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1999].)
Activity:
Use building blocks or modeling clay to create a temple as a family or have each person draw a temple and share their artwork with the family.