The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.
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Segment 1
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Are you the type of person who leaves reviews? Or do you insist on reading a review before ordering an item or going to a restaurant? Because apparently reviews are crucial for businesses because they significantly influence consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. Well, today's discussion of doctrine and covenant sections 109 through 110 is about an event that has reviews.
Which are crucial for us to fully appreciate the magnificence of this event, and they will for sure influence our behavior and decisions once we understand how it applies to us today. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the come Follow Me lesson for the week, and we really dig into the scriptures together.
I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come Follow Me study, just like my longtime listening friend, Pam Tucker from Carlsbad, California. Hi Pam. Now another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different.
And today, oh, it's gonna be such a fun different, this is so great. We have an old timer, an original Jenny Reader. Hi Jenny. Oh, hey. Okay, sister. Now I asked Jenny, okay, gimme a friend. Who could we have on this episode? And without hesitancy, she said, oh, you absolutely have to have Kristen Dimmick. Hi, Kristen.
Hey guys. And I love that Jenny said this because Jenny's like, do you know her? And I said, no. And Jenny's like, oh, you have to know Kristen. Why not? Yeah, why don't you know her? How do you not know Kristen? I'm already mad because I went and looked her up on Facebook. We have so many mutual friends, and I'm mad at all of you for not introducing me to Kristen sooner.
How has this not happened, Kristen? I don't know. Okay. How do you two know each other? I'm trying to think. Kristen, was it because you were supporting our department? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So I worked previously, um, for a couple of years as a church spokesperson, and the history [00:02:00] department was one of the, um, areas that I got to support, which was such a treat because I just really love the work that they do.
And so I felt very fan girl in working with all of them. It was so fun. And then we just, yeah, we became great friends. And even with the same hairstylist while I lived there, they both have adorable short hair. Both we're both pixie hair, hair people. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, we are gonna have a fun discussion. I can already tell.
This is gonna be so exciting. If you wanna know more about my guests, check out their bios in our show notes, which are at lds living.com/sunday on Monday. So grab your scriptures and let's dig into doctrine and covenant section 109 through 110. Okay, you two. Just before we even get started, I always ask my guests, as you were reading these two sections, what did the Holy Ghost teach you?
I'll go first. Um, you know, it, it's fun to reread these. We were just in, uh, Kirtland this summer. We went over, my husband's aunt and uncle are there on mission and so we went over to, to kind of see everything again. And it's fun. My husband and I as our calling teach seminary and so it was, our trip was very much like seminary prep.
And so then as I was rereading these chapters in preparation for this, it just made me think back to our days there in Kirtland and learning from his aunt and uncle and from the other missionaries and just soaking in those sites knowing that we would be teaching this in a few weeks. So Oh wow. Were there any specific verses that stood out to you as you were there?
You know, um. Just some of the things about their hard work, you know, and how God acknowledges that hard work and the sacrifice they put into building that. I am just in awe that people would leave their homes, move to another [00:04:00] place, leave everything they had, and then continue to sacrifice to bring this forward.
Like they, they weren't builders, they weren't anything. They were just going off pure faith. And I love that their sacrifice is acknowledged in these verses and I just think, I bet that was really supportive. I bet that felt very good. I hope it felt good to them. Absolutely. To feel acknowledged for their work.
Absolutely. I mean, they just got done building the Kirtland temple and that was a lot of work. And then they're off. Yes. I'm just writing this down, what you said, that their sacrifice was acknowledged. That's really cool, and then they're off. Yeah. Kristen, that's really interesting because that's what happened in Navu too, right?
They dedicate the temple, do a bunch of temple work, and then they're off. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. Okay. What about you, Jenny? Anything from these Section 1 0 9 is the Kirtland Temple dedication and Section 110 is an amazing thing that happened in the Kirtland Temple, but did the spirit teach you?
I love the verse that, um, I think President Nelson quoted about how we would leave the temple. Oh, it's verse 22. In section 1 0 9, we asked the Holy Father that they, thy servants may go forth from this house armed with power, and that thy nay may be upon them and thy glory roundabout them and thy angels have charged over them.
I love that promise because that is in effect today for all of us who go to the temple. I just got chills because that is exactly what President Nelson said Yes. In his talk about why we go to the temple. I'm he, he said these words and I, oh my gosh. I bet he was quoting verse 22. That's exactly what he says in his talk.
What? It's so cool. It's called Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys, and it's April, 2024 general [00:06:00] conference, and it just goes hand in hand with these two chapters, and I just kept going back and forth between these chapters and these verses to his talk. Oh my goodness. If you're teaching this Cosal doctrine lesson or Sunday school lesson, use that talk.
Oh, I'm so glad you used it for our discussion. I love it. I love it so much because every ti, anytime I'm feeling a little like discouraged or tired, I think, oh my gosh, I need to make an appointment for the temple. That's all I need because then I will be armed with power. And I will have angels roundabout me.
Wow, those are great things to remember when it comes to the temple. That's a review of the temple that I could use, talking about reviews. So thank you so much. Okay, so in the next segment then, let's dive into some reviews of this whole experience, the Kirtland Temple dedication. And that's gonna kind of be our theme 'cause I wanna know what you people listening, what your reviews are of the temple.
I might ask you to share that on social media. So get ready to share. And in the next segment we're gonna read some reviews.
Segment 2
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Turn to Doctrine and Covenant section 109. And Kristen, will you just read the section heading of section 1 0 9? You bet. Let me just turn the page. The prayer offered at the dedication of the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, March 27th, 1836. According to the prophet's written statement, this prayer was given to him by Revelation.
Thank you. So we are going to talk about the prayer this, and I think this is so cool. Section 1 0 9 is basically the standard for Temple dedications. And so we're gonna talk about this Kirtland Temple dedication because the Latter Day Saints who were there, and in the other meetings that followed, they wrote about their experience.
In fact, many compare their experience to what the Ancient Saints experienced when they were quote, indu with [00:08:00] power from on high on the day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts. So there are actually a few reviews in the manual in the Come Follow Me manual. And so go there. You're gonna wanna read what people had to say, but I asked Jenny, who was our resident historian to share with us what are some reviews of the Kirtland Temple dedication that we don't have in the Come Follow Me manual.
You know, it's so interesting because many of those are given by women and I love that. Hmm. Um, so why do you think that is? I think it is because women had time more, perhaps more time to record these things in their journals or, or in letters. We have some beautiful letters from Mary Fielding Smith to her sister Mercy who's not there.
And it records some incredible events. And we know the Saints started using the temple for meetings and such before it was actually dedicated. So Elizabeth and Whitney received her patriarchal blessing in the Kirtland Temple in 1835 in September. And Oh, I didn't know that. Yes. That's cool. Um, Joseph Smith Sr.
Would give these, hold these meetings there. And for example, Elizabeth Ann Whitney, um, was given the gift of tongues and the gift of singing, she had a very musical talent. And as soon as she got that gift, as soon as the prayer was over, the blessing was over. She stood up and sang a song in tongues and Parley Pra stood up and interpreted it, and she was able to keep the, the record of it.
And it's one of our talks in, at the pulpit. It's, it's called Adam on Diamon, and it follows the same cadence as the hymn Adam on Diamon, although she did not write that hymn. William W. Phelps wrote the hymn. However, the. The publishing firm, the high council was meeting in the temple at the same time [00:10:00] that Elizabeth and Whitney received this blessing and sang this song and he was in that meeting.
And then he wrote this hymn Adam on Dia. So. Oh, that's neat. Right, right. And it really was a place of spiritual gifts. There's a lot of of examples of spiritual gifts. We know Brigham Young stood up and spoke in tongues at the dedication. But let's go back to this idea of women participating in these gifts.
Nancy Alexander Tracy described the week of the temple dedication in March, 1836. She says, feasts were given three families joined together and held one at our house. We baked a lot of bread and had the best of wine. This was the bill affair. I love that line though. We baked a lot of bread. Yeah. 'cause at these feasts they would have the sacrament and it was very holy and special to them.
Um, another one that I love having to do with food is Eliza R Snap. She was a, she was there and she wrote a few hymns for that hymn book that was available at that dedication. And she tells the, the women in the Marriot Release Society on May 16th, 1878, is still such a strong part of her testimony and understanding.
She says that Father Joseph Smith Sr. The president of the Stake in Kirtland, made a practice of going into the temple before sunrise and continuing there till after four o'clock in the afternoon. And we never thought of being hungry or thirsty. We were so full of the spirit of the Lord. Isn't that great?
Yes. I love it. I love it. I don't even have a place for that. No food from, from morning until four. Wow. And they were full. They were literally full. Here's another one. Peria Buell, who is the sister of Zina, her last name would be Young, said many [00:12:00] times she saw angels clothed in white walking upon the temple.
It was during one of our monthly fast meetings when the saints were in the temple worshiping. A little girl came to my door and in wonder, called me out exclaiming. The meeting is in the top of the meetinghouse. I went to the door and there I saw on the temple, angels clothed in white, covering the roof from end to end.
They seemed to be walking to and fro. They appeared and disappeared before I realized they were not mortal men. Each time in a moment, they vanished, and their re-appearance was the same. This was in broad daylight. In the afternoon, a number of children in Kirtland saw the same. When the brethren and sisters came home in the evening, they told of the power of God manifested in the temple that day, and of the prophesying and speaking in tongues.
It was also said in the interpretation of tongues that the angels were resting down upon the house. She also talks about a time she went to the Kirtland temple with her sister Zina. She said the whole congregation was on their knees praying vocally for such was the custom At the close of these meetings when Father Smith, uh, that was Joseph Smith Sr.
Presided, yet there was no confusion. The voices of the congregation mingled softly together. So I think they're all kind of saying their own prayers at the same time. Hmm. While the con congregation was thus praying, we heard from one corner of the room above our heads, a choir of angels singing most beautifully.
They were invisible to us, but myriads of evangelic voices seemed to be united in seeing some Song of Zion and their sweet harmony filled the temple of of God. Wow. Wow. Isn't that great? Like those are things you will never forget. No, absolutely not. I mean, some of the best reviews of the Kirtland Temple dedication.
Mm-hmm. Thank you for coming prepared and for sharing those, because I love knowing those. I love. In addition to what we have in the Come Follow Me Manual, [00:14:00] we have more stories right here. So Jenny, thank you for coming prepared with those reviews. Of course. How neat. Of course I didn't know about The Patriarchal Blessing and Adam on.
Yeah, that's neat. What a good story. So thank you. Thank you. And that's an at the Pulpo, so you can go and read that again and again. Oh, I'm going to, I'm gonna put that in my section in section 1 0 9. Well, one of the things I kept thinking though, as you were reading it, Jenny, is it seems like only people in Pioneer Day had these really cool experiences.
Like you never really get to hear about what about us in 2025. Is anybody hearing choirs or anybody having a moment they could write about? And so I just wanna know, because you've alluded to this, Jenny, but you've never shared this story with me, but you had an experience at the Kirtland Temple that you said you would never forget.
Would you share that with us? Yes, I would love to. I believe this happened in May of 2002, and we had, this was the first time I attended a Mormon History Association meeting, and it was in Kirtland. And I was able to go and they asked for people to volunteer to be in the choir every year at MHA. They have a, a worship service on Sunday morning, the last day of the conference.
And so I was in this choir and we, um, sang several hymns, but the one, only one I really remember is the spirit of God, like a fires burning. And we were seated in, in the four corners of the lower assembly room in the temple. The four corners each have choir seats. And so we weren't sitting together, which was weird, but guess what?
The most amazing feeling came and we were singing with so much more than we were, and even today people still talk about that meeting. It was so incredible to be part of something that was so much bigger than our little choir that had practiced twice. Wow. [00:16:00] Okay. Jenny, now that is a good review of the Kirtland Temple.
Yes. Of that moment. Thank you for sharing that. Okay. This is gonna be such a fun discussion because in the next segment then we're gonna dive into the Dedicatory Prayer, which in my opinion is 80 verses of the best review of the Kirtland Temple that we could have, and we'll dive into that Next.
Segment 3
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We are indoctrinate in covenants, section 109. This is pretty interesting. I didn't know this. I just learned that there are only two canonized prayers in the Doctrine and covenants section 65 and section 109, and we get to study section 109. So everybody grab your eternal truth color that you have for this year and a pen because I've invited my friends, Kristin and Jenny to share with me what were some of your favorite parts of this dedication?
What are some, like, what could be review verses of the Kirtland Temple and the way that Joseph Smith dedicated this. So, hit it. Well. I'd first say, make sure, again, I'm going to, you're going to hear me say this multiple times. Be sure to have President Nelson's talk by your side as you read this section.
Um, because he. In fact, I'm gonna just read some of the things he says. Um, I encourage you to study that prayer recorded in doctrine and covenant Section 1 0 9. That dedicatory prayer, which was received by Revelation, teaches that the temple is a house of prayer, a, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.
Then he goes on to say, this list of attributes is much more than a description of a temple. It is a promise about what will happen to those who serve and worship in the house of the Lord. They can expect to receive answers to prayer, personal [00:18:00] revelation, greater faith, strength. Comfort, increased knowledge and increased power time in the temple will help you think celestial and to catch a vision of who you really are, who you can become, and the kind of life you can have forever.
Regular temple worship will enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God's magnificent plan. I promise you that. And so keep those words in mind as you're reading this prayer, because it's so much more than just something that was one and done. That is awesome. I highlighted verse eight when you were reading that quote to us and to the outside of verse eight, I wrote a promise to each one of us.
I've never read verse eight that way, that each one of those things become a promise because I've studied verse eight and that it was a house of, uh, a house of learning because they taught classes in the Kirtland Temple. It was a house of fasting. I thought this was interesting. It was fast Thursdays, and it started at 10:00 AM and ended at four fast and testimony meeting was all day long.
But now that you've put it in that context, using our prophets talk, that's powerful. Thank you for sharing that. You bet. I know, and I think that verse in particular for every woman, you know, that comes up because we feel that so often with our own home, right? Yeah. That this is a pattern for our own home to make us feel like this, you know, to make our own homes feel that way.
But having his words, and then like you said, looking at it, helps you look at that verse a little differently. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Oh, so cool. You know, my grandfather and grandmother at the marriage of every one of their grandchildren printed that up and put it in a nice frame, that verse, and I thought it was such a great thing to have hanging in your home.
The Bible dictionary teaches this, that only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness. And so we need to treat our homes like we [00:20:00] treat the temple. But I, you know, the other thing I love about that, it feels a little intimidating 'cause my home is not always organized and prepared, but I love that throughout sprinkle, throughout this section, we have the Lord recognizing the difficulties and troubles.
Actually it's probably Joseph Smith 'cause he's the one that's saying this to the Lord. In verse five. He says, we have done this work through great tribulation and out of our poverty we have given of our substance to build a house to thy name. The son of God might have a place to manifest himself to his people.
And then he says over in verse 49, oh Lord, how long will thou suffer? Th this people to bear this affliction? And the cries of their innocent ones to ascend up in ERs and their blood come up in testimony before thee and not make a display of my testimony in their behalf. I think these, uh, verses sort of express what Joseph Smith was trying to express as well, but perhaps in a more consecrated way from Liberty Jail.
Mm-hmm. He has seen the trouble and persecution and, and pain and darkness of the people around them. And he is asking to consecrate this temple to be something sacred and something separate from what they're dealing with. You know, I just wanna connect what you said, Jenny, to a verse that stood out to me and it's verse 13.
My daughter, uh, was getting, so this is kind of a cool moment. So my daughter came to me and said, I'm ready to go to the temple. And I'm like, no, you're not. Like, you're so young. And she surprised all of us 'cause she won't go on a mission for several months. But she was like, I wanna go before I get my call.
I wanna attend the temple a little more regularly and really get a feel for that. I'm like, okay, that's, I even tried to talk her out of it. I'm like, how about you wait a couple months, mom of the year right here? And then. Verse 13. I was studying for this as she was getting ready to go to the [00:22:00] temple. And verse 13 hit me.
It says, and that all people who shall enter upon the threshold. So I stopped there 'cause I'm like, okay, what exactly is a threshold? And I looked it up 'cause I'm a visual person. And a threshold is when you walk in any door at the point of entry, it's that piece of wood or metal that's, that goes over what the step from outside to inside.
And so, or it could be a piece of wood. I, in my mind I'm like, it's what's just putting the door in place and connecting the door to the floor kind of a thing. But that's what it is. That piece of material is a threshold. So then I see that in my mind. 'cause how many times have I stepped on a metal threshold when I come into my front door?
So then again, it says, who shall enter upon the threshold? So the, and the moment you put your foot on that, I'm telling my daughter this, because I'm reading this with her. Upon the threshold of the Lord's house, may feel thy power. Feel constrained to acknowledge that thou has sanctified it and that it is thy house, a place of holiness.
And I just thought, wow, I've never thought when I'm walking into the temple, the moment my foot crosses the threshold, I am given power. And that I may feel his power. And I really, it was kind of a cool moment to go to the temple and walk through that door and put my foot on the threshold and, and immediately think, here we go.
Like, I, I wanna feel power. But then I loved verse 15, verse 14 in 15 connect it says, and do thou grant Holy Father, that. All those who shall worship in this house may be taught words of wisdom out of the best books. And that they may seek learning even by study and also by faith, as thou has said, and then 15 and that they may grow up in thee.
And I stopped there and I started to cry like I am now. 'cause here's my sweet daughter and daughters who've gone to the temple and then when I went through the temple, isn't that so true? Aren't we just growing up in him? Like I didn't know what I was doing. No one prepped me for the temple. Gimme a break.
They didn't have temple prep in the eighties. You [00:24:00] just went, I hope for the best. And I feel like my spiritual experience in the temple, that's all I've been doing, is growing up in thee. And how cool that right here in the dedication, the Lord knows, yeah, it's gonna be a process. You're gonna grow up in me, you're gonna receive power.
And then the rest of the verse says, and receive a fullness of the Holy Ghost and be organized according to thy laws and be prepared to obtain every needful thing. So those are my favorite verses from the dedication. Along with that, as you were talking, I was thinking how this was all so new for these members.
They didn't know what a temple was like. We are so used to temples, we've seen them, we hear about them. We, you know, like you said, we have these great Temple prep classes now that this was the first thing you know, this was all new. They didn't know what the endowment really was gonna look like. They didn't know what ordinances were gonna be like.
Exactly. They were just following what they'd learned from the Old Testament that they saw old day prophets dedicate temples and tabernacles in these sacred spaces, and they were just trying to do the best they can. So even they as a whole, those first 150 members there in Kirtland, including Joseph, are growing up in me.
Yeah, absolutely. The Lord refers to this temple experience in the doctrine and covenants as a strange act. And I remember we talked about this on the podcast a while ago and we were like indeed strange, but you love the Hebrew meaning of the word strange because it means unknown or unfamiliar. And that's exactly what you said, Kristen.
Like the temple ceremony was unfamiliar, unknown to all of these people and we're gonna grow up in the Lord. So very cool. I love that section 95 verse four. Okay, keep going. Section 1 0 9. Other verses. I think it's really interesting that verses seven and eight are sort of repeated in verses 14, [00:26:00] 15 and 16.
Mm-hmm. So I think that means it's so important that we actually prepare ourselves and organize ourselves and study out of all the good books and that we can come to the temple. And find that glory. I think it's also interesting in verse 32 that he says, therefore we plead before thee for a full and complete deliverance from under this yoke.
Now, when they leave the temple or when they leave the temple dedication or the temple in general, are they freed from that yoke? No, I don't think they are. No. But I think that just like the, um, in the Book of Abraham, in, in chapter one where he talks about seeking after the blessings of the fathers and wanting to find greater happiness, peace, and rest, that it's for that moment, it's for that day and that we can walk out armed with that power because we have a memory of how it felt.
And so it makes everything else outside the temple. Okay. Wow. That's awesome, Jenny. Thank you. Well, these were some great shares, so we're gonna do more in section 109 because one of the things I love about this section and about this dedication is that there is actually a review of the Lord's temple when it comes to blessings.
So we're gonna dive into those verses in the next segment.
Segment 4
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So let's go to doctrine and covenants section 110 because here's the Lord's Review of the Temple. I think this is pretty cool. Doctrine and Cabinet section 110. And Kristen, will you read verses nine and 10? You bet. Yay. The hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in the consequences of blessings, which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house, [00:28:00] and the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands, and this is the beginning of the blessing, which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people even.
So, amen. Thank you. Right in both of those verses, it mentions blessings. So let's go back to section 109 and we're gonna discuss and talk about what some of the blessings are of the temple found in this section. So first things first, we're going to go to Doctrine and covenant section 1 0 9, and we're just gonna hit a couple of these.
I wanna start with, with verses 22 and 23. As I was thinking through this discussion, um, in these chapters on a Monday, which is the day I typically get a couple missionary emails, one from my nephew that's on a mission in Ecuador, and one from a former seminary student who is in Brazil. And these verses really made me think of them.
And for so many of us, the first time we go to the temple is in preparation for our missions. And while these aren't missionary specific promises, I think they apply to everyone who serves in callings, but they feel super relevant. To those of us who do go to that temple for the first time as we prepare for a mission and then go out to the ends of the earth preaching the gospel.
It says in 22 and 23 it says, and we ask the holy follower that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them and thy glory be around them, and thy in angels have charged over them. And from this place they may bear exceedingly great in glorious tings in truth until the ends of the earth that they may know that this is thy work and that thou has put forth thy hand to fulfill that which thou has spoken by the mouth of the prophets concerning the last days.
And so, you know, when I went on a mission, it was in the early nineties, you went to the temple right before your mission, and then that was it until you got home. I went to Ecuador. There wasn't a temple in [00:30:00] Ecuador at the time and but I don't remember any of my friends that went on missions being able to go to the temple during the mission as part of their mission service.
And I think that's changed now, but what a powerful blessing to have, specifically for those who are embarking on missions. Those two verses are just packed with that distinct blessing for that purpose. Wow. I think that is so cool. I'm writing that in my scriptures. Missionary blessings for us too, but also for missionaries.
Neat. Thank you, Kristen. Okay, Jenny, gimme some verses of blessings you found. These are really interesting verses between 24 and 33. Because in the prayer, um, Joseph says, we ask the Holy Father to establish the people that shall worship and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house to all generations and for eternity.
And then he goes on and is very specific about the, the blessings that he seeks for his people. Mm-hmm. For the saints that no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail, um, it doesn't say that there won't be wickedness. It says that it won't prevail over thy people. I think part of it is because it says they prevail over thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this house.
So quite literally, in the temple at the veil, we use and invoke the name of Jesus Christ and we make a covenant. We know that our holy garments represent Jesus Christ and that they give us access to the Father and through the veil, we take upon us the name of Christ. And we're reminded of that every Sunday when we take the sacrament.
But there is something about that promise right there that the wicked people around us shall not [00:32:00] prevail over us because we have chosen to take the name of Jesus Christ. Wow. That's an incredible blessing. I love that. I love that connection in verse 26 with the name. Oh, that's a good blessing. It's really cool.
Okay. I liked the blessing in verse 44, but thy word must be fulfilled. Help thy servants to say with thy grace, assisting them, thy will be done. Oh Lord, and not ours. I think I can't, I mean, I'm sure every one of us listening who've been to the temple, have gone to the temple hopefully with that thought.
Like we go to the temple with something specific we're praying about or that we need an answer from or concerning or anything like that. But then I love this idea that with his grace assisting us to be able to say those words, you know, I think at the times I've spent in the celestial room with very specific prayers for people in my life and myself, but to be able to say, thy will be done, oh Lord, and not mine, is huge.
And that's one of the blessings that comes from attending the temple. And, uh, I, I've, I need to be better about that. And so I love that verse that with his grace assisting me, I can be able to answer my prayer with. I wonder too about the, the members hearing that at that moment, hearing those words.
Mm-hmm. I mean, they had no idea they were gonna have to pick up and go really soon after they had just completed this magnificent building that they had so sacrificed for. And they're barely gonna get to use that. I, who would've known that, that that blessing would likely come to help them very soon.
Wow. Because wouldn't you have been so upset as a pin if you had built that and been like, wait, what were I would've been a naysayer for sure. I mean, I know come [00:34:00] hard on hard. It's so hard to move, period. It's so hard to move sometimes. Yeah. And so you just get settled. But then they had done so much to establish this community to help, you know, they feel like they're being such a big part in the restoration of the gospel, and then they have to leave.
And so who would've thought that those words help us to say, with thy grace that thy will be done and oh, I can pack up and leave all of this. Yeah. Wow. Those words though, are so powerful with th grace assisting them. It's that promise of grace. I remember one time when I moved from Washington DC to Salt Lake City to start my first full-time job in 2013, and I had just spent two years in Virginia going through cancer treatment and I had graduated, gotten my, I was, um, I was in remission.
I graduated, finished my dissertation. Moved to Utah, I bought a house and then about six weeks after I, um, moved in, I had an appointment to establish continuing care with doctors in Utah. And they did, they wanted to do a bone marrow biopsy, which isn't fun, but they discovered that my leukemia was back and that I was no longer in remission.
And they wanted to put me in the hospital immediately. And I'm like, you know what? I need a few days, which they let me do, but they, I mean, I had like two days, maybe a day and a half, and one thing that I had been too busy to do since I had moved was go to the temple and I knew that they had a new temple film.
And so my good friend Jennifer Brinkerhoff Plat met me in Draper and I was a little bit late and she [00:36:00] sat and waited for me and we went through the temple together and it was so amazing 'cause I was like, this isn't true. This isn't happening. I don't have it. It's not back. Let's have a miracle to make it all go away.
You know, all the things like I, I can't do this right now. And that time spent in that temple and it would be months before I was able to go to the temple again after a bone marrow transplant that I realized that his grace assisted me and carried me through with all of that, and that I was armed with power and that I did have angels around me.
It was a powerful experience. I can feel it as you've told that story, Jenny. I've never heard that story. Thank you for sharing that. I don't think I'd ever told that story. I don't think you have. And, and when you walked out of the temple, did you still have cancer? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I sure did. Wow. And how did your, I'd love to know, like how did, well, I don't even know how to ask this question.
How did you get through it? Do you feel like covenants got you through it? Jesus Christ, absolutely. 100%. It's funny because I had to get a central line, which they put on my, um, chest on the right side, and it was really awkward with my garments and like my, um, I had someone on the staff who was like, oh, you don't have to wear your garments.
And I was like, I really want to, I really need this reminder of the covenants that I've made. And so I did, I wore my garments the whole time I was in the hospital. It was like seven weeks. Um, and I did not go into remission, which made it even worse. So they let me out and I prepared for a bone marrow transplant that I [00:38:00] wore my garments the whole time because I needed that extra level of protection.
Wow. Oh, Jenny, thank you for sharing that. In fact, your, your story reminds me of verse 78 because I read this and I had never noticed this before, but it, it even, it seems like a part of the temple verse se, will you read verse 78 for Jenny? Mm-hmm. Can I read 76 too, please? That our garments may be pure, that we may be clothed upon with robes of righteousness, with palms in our hands and crowns of glory upon our heads, and reap eternal joy for all of our sufferings.
Oh, hear oh hear. Oh, hear us, oh Lord. And answer these petitions and accept the dedication of this house unto the, the work of our hands, which we have built unto thy name. Thank you. And I love that. Oh, here. Three times. And when I just think about our prayers and the prayers for loved ones, but the connection to the garments and, and being assisted by the Lord through all of this and, and just the connection, like the temple's built and things did not get easier for the saints and then they had to leave.
It's such an astounding testament to all of us about what the Lord can and will do for us. Probably not when we expect it, but mm-hmm. Blessings come. Absolutely. Wow. Great. Great discussion ladies. Thank you for sharing those verses of blessings. That's a pretty great review right there. Go to the temple.
For those of you listening, we're gonna challenge you to set a goal to attend the temple as soon as you can. And if you don't have a temple near you, just make sure you have a temple. Recommend and think about the temple. Set aside some time to just sit and think about your experience when you go to the temple.
And you can also put names on the temple roll online. How much do we love that? Thanks for that new little approach. That's great. So we can do it [00:40:00] on your phone. Yes. Don't think I've done it many times. Okay, so in the next segment then we're going to see one of the most significant blessings of the temple and one of the greatest reviews of all time.
Because if this person attended a place you were thinking about going, you would absolutely wanna go there. We'll do that next.
Segment 5
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A little history about doctrine and Covenant Section 110. Let's turn there and we love the section heading. Kristin, can you read the section heading, please? You bet. Visions manifested to Joseph Smith, the prophet and Oliver Cowdry in the temple at Current one Ohio, April 3rd, 1836. The occasion was that of a Sabbath day meeting Joseph Smith history states.
In the afternoon, I assisted the other presidents in distributing the Lord's supper to the church, receiving it from the 12th whose privilege it was to officiate at the Sacred Desk. This day, after having performed this service to my brethren, I retired to the pulpit, the veils being dropped and bowed myself with Oliver Kdry in solemn and silent prayer.
After rising from prayer, the following vision was open to both of us. Thank you. Now, the neat thing about this in the section heading, you wanna mark a couple of things. First of all, the date April 3rd, 1836, what is that significant date you two Easter. Easter. It's And Passover. And Passover. So Mark that it's Easter and Passover.
And Passover is very significant and I'm gonna let Kristen tell us about that in the next segment. So pay attention, but very cool that Passover is then. And there was a sacrament meeting held in this newly dedicated Kirtland temple. So after the sacrament is administered to the congregation, Joseph and Oliver go behind a curtain and they began to pray silently.
And then they have an incredible series of divine visitations recorded in section 110. We are [00:42:00] only going to talk about verses one through five. I want you to highlight those and mark them because this is the first visitation. And I love this review because to me. I'm going there like I love this per like, it's kind of like an influencer goes somewhere and then you're like, I'm gonna go to that restaurant.
No, we don't even need an influencer. This is the big best influencer of all time. So we're going to read out loud verses one through five, and then I ask these women to just share the words or phrases that were meaningful or interesting to you. We'll each take a verse. We'll go Kristen, Jenny, and then me.
Hey, verse one. The veil was taken from our minds and the eyes of our understanding were opened. We saw the Lord standing upon the breast work of the pulpit before us, and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold in color. Like amber, his eyes were as a flame of fire. The hair of his head was white, like the pure snow.
His countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters. Even the voice of Jehovah saying. I am the first and the last. I am he who liveth. I am he who was slain. I am your advocate with the Father. Behold, your sins are forgiven you. You are clean before me.
Therefore, lift up your heart, heads and rejoice. Thank you. Okay. What words or phrases were interesting or meaningful to you in the description of Jesus or in his words to us? First? I think it's super. Um, I mean, how distinct is it that we can say this is where Jesus adhere. Like this is exactly in this space.
Jesus has appeared like that's pretty remarkable. I think that El element alone is worth thinking on. Mm-hmm. And then I can't get over the. The description and how it [00:44:00] just represents light and how so often in the scriptures Jesus equals light. And both. And here we're seeing that it was very physically, you know, everything about it was light.
And that's just carried out in so many different ways. I also think it's a, it's a definition of glory. So in Section 1 0 9, we learned that the glory of the Lord will be upon us. And I think this, if you had to define glory without using that word, it would be this eyes of fire white, like the pierce snow countenance above the brightness of the sun.
Mm-hmm. And the rushing of great waters. And I think that's so cool. It's so cool to know. That's the, like the fullness of this glory. And doesn't it feel just like bursting? Mm-hmm. Right? Yes. Like this is glory capital G. Ooh. I like that capital G. How wonderful. He's consistent with who he is. I, I marked the I Ams in verse four.
I am the first and last. I am. I mean, I love that because that's who he says he is to Moses in the Old Testament, and we've learned a lot about the meaning in Hebrew about I am, and he's just, that is his title. It's, it's who he said he was to the woman at the Well. I am. He, it's just so power. It's just so powerful.
Like it's really him. He's not messing around. Mm-hmm. I love that. He's the first and the last and I love that. That also can mean he is the author and finisher of our faith. Right. That he covers all the things. He gets us started, and then we do our best, and then he finishes us. Okay. I think it's so beautiful.
Tell me how much you love that as an author yourself, as someone who's written books. Yeah, and I'm, I'm not kidding around. Like for him to say he's the author and the finisher, connect that to me. Why would he say that? I just think that [00:46:00] he, we do our very best when we're working on a project or a book and he fills in the parts that we miss.
We're always gonna miss something. When I was writing my dissertation, my. My advisor used to always tell me the best dissertation is the finished dissertation. Not the perfect dissertation, but I think it is that way. With every project, we do what we can and then he fills it in and makes it his. We take his name upon us and he makes us him, and we are together.
Oh my gosh. I love that. The best dissertation is a finished dissertation, not a perfect one. That is so good. Yeah. Yeah. I also, a couple weeks ago I was at the. We had a church history conference and at one of the sessions we had every living, um, church historian sitting on a panel and there was Elder Marlon Kay Jensen and Elder Steven Snow, and El Elder LaGrand Curtis and Elder Kyle McKay, who's our current historian.
And, and Elder Curtis brought this up. I had noticed it, but I didn't think about it. He said, you know, we're all lawyers. Why do you think it's so, so important for us as lawyers to be historians? We're not trained. Historians we're. Anything. And he said sometimes at the beginning of my call as the church's story and recorder, I felt like I had to give my best argument to prove that this was the way it was.
And it turned out I didn't. I did my very best and I advocated for the people and for the history and the past. And that I think changed my understanding of the word advocate. Well, it totally does. I just saw that in [00:48:00] verse four, your advocate with the father. Oh, cool. I love that thought. Me too. Well then we just have to end with verses six and seven.
Kristen, will you read those for us? For sure. Now verse six and seven, let the hearts of your brethren rejoice and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have with their might built this house to my name. For behold, I have accepted this house and my name shall be there and I will manifest myself.
To my people in mercy in this house. I asked you to read it 'cause it made me think of how their sacrifice is acknowledged. What do you love about those two verses? I, I loved those two verses especially, um, again, having just been there, you know, this summer and just really seeing how much went into those, the sacrifice that went into this, and just how huge that must have been, that the Lord himself says, I will manifest myself to my people in the temple, you know, here in this house.
And I, this promise really applies to every dedicated temple today. Mm-hmm. You know, this is really, we say it that this is the house of the Lord, you know, and, but it is really where, you know, God is gonna, you know, heavenly Father and Jesus are gonna fill our souls. They're gonna give us strength. They're gonna, you know, answer our.
Prayers and give us peace. I mean, all the things that are most important in our life are gonna come through the blessings that are given in these houses. Um, and I just think it had to have been so
I can't imagine what that must have felt like to hear those words. Yeah. I have a question, Joseph and Oliver especially. I have a question, Kristin. Yeah. Because you just said that it wasn't just for the people in the Kirtland Temple, but all temples. And I'm just [00:50:00] curious to know, in your own life, how has he manifested himself to you in the temple?
I was thinking about that. You know, one of the more significant things, I can't say that I've ever had this grand experience. Um, there have been. Countless times where I've gone to find peace or calm or some of the things we've talked about, understanding things like that. But one of the most significant things, and this is gonna sound a little bit silly, one of the most significant blessings for me was of time.
I, I'm from Las Vegas and for a while I worked in the Las Vegas temple on Fridays. My work had gone to a four day work week, and I knew that, that I needed to go work in the temple on Friday mornings. You know, I was in my late thirties. I was single. I had a great job. Um, but I, I wanted, you know, I wanted the perfect house.
I wanted the perfect car. I wanted all the things. I wanted the perfect family. I wanted great vacations. I wanted all these things. And one of the biggest blessings I got from working in the temple regularly every Friday morning was a feeling of contentment of, you know, and that sounds weird. It wasn't a contentment in a bad way, like not the stagnant way.
It was contentment in that peaceful way with, you know, content with the, the life that I had been given at that moment, and being able to learn to really savor that time and that contentment was a huge blessing. Hmm. That's so beautiful. Yeah. I liked so much how you just connected to seeing him and rejoicing.
I mean, that's your own way of rejoicing is being accept, just, just accepting. But yeah, the idea contentment. Boy, that is really great. Great answer to that question, Kristen. Thank you. You know, I have to say something about the word manifest where he says he will [00:52:00] manifest himself in verse seven to my people.
I've been kind of intrigued by the word manifest, and I've seen it quite a bit in the Book of Mormon, and one of my very favorite examples is in one Nephi chapter 14, verse one, and it came to pass that if the Gentiles shall harken unto the lamb of God in that day, that he shall manifest himself unto them in Word and also in power in very deed, and to the taking away of their stumbling blocks.
Wow. I love that because I, I need Christ in my life and I need him to manifest himself. And when he does in small ways, I hold onto those and I write them down, and I remember them when things get hard, and I know if he did it once, he can do it again. And I'm, I'm so grateful. I love that manifest to see or to envision.
I'm so grateful for that cross-reference. That is awesome. Putting that right there in my scriptures. Thank you, Jenny. Mm-hmm. Can I add one more thing, please. Most of my life I've lived out in the West where temples are really accessible. You can go any hour on the hour or maybe even every half hour. I now live in Buffalo, New York, and our closest temple is Palmyra, which is an hour and a half away, or up to Toronto, which is a couple hours.
Um, it's not easy for me to get to the temple anymore. Like you can't just pop by after work. It is a jaunt. It requires, you know, you have to book it. This, there are only so many sessions a week, you know, they're not every day, every hour. Mm-hmm. So it definitely, um,
it definitely takes intention and I often will, um, let it slack a little bit. Like, oh, it is so much harder to get to the temple. Surely God gets it. He is giving me mercy because we live [00:54:00] so far from a temple. Yeah. Um, but here's the deal. I lived in Utah. I lived, I worked at the Joseph Smith building next door to the Salt Lake temple, and it was hard to get to the temple there.
And I would walk by the temple to get to my car every single day. And it was still hard to get to the temple. Even knowing all the goodness that can come into your life, it can some be sometimes be so hard to get there. And you really have to seek, and I, you have to seek and make it very intentional, I think.
And I, and when we do, when we really do make that intentional choice to get ourselves there, like do we ever regret it? No. Mm-hmm. We really don't. And I just, um, it's always gonna be tricky to get to the temple. Right. Yeah. And I just really appreciate the fact that we have that accessibility and these reminders to get ourselves there.
Um, back to President Nelson's conference talk. He talks about that again, how he just says, nothing will protect you more to hold fast to the iron rod, then worshiping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world's mist of darkness.
Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and his atonement, or to help you understand God's magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more. And then he says nothing exclamation point. Wow. I nothing, nothing. Putting that in section, one explanation point, you know?
Yes. And I, I just think we, I, I'll speak for myself. I forget about the rejoicing and [00:56:00] that nothing that we should rejoice, that we are able to get to the temple and just ensconce ourselves in these blessings. Yes, if we make that intentional choice to get ourselves there. Thank you, Kristen. Thank you actually for that review of getting to the temple.
Perfection. That was so great. Thank you. Okay, so that is our discussion of the most important person who attended the temple, but in the next segment, a couple of other people came as well, and Kristen's gonna teach us all about that coming up next.
Segment 6
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Kristen is a, she is a teacher, she's a master teacher. She's actually a seminary teacher. How fun is this? So Kristen, I want you to teach us, I assigned her to teach us verses 10 through 16. Who else came to the temple and why is that important? Hit it all right. Well, we, we know it doesn't end with Jesus' visit to the temple in Kirtland.
And when, when I teach, if I'm teaching, whether it's seminary or release society or wherever, I always ask for a lot of help, a lot of helpers and a lot of insights. So if I were teaching this class, um, you know, in release society, I would probably go to people ahead of time too and say, here's some things I want you to look up and want you to prepare, be prepared to talk about.
One of those things would be to talk about. You know, this section talks so much about the re the restoration of the priesthood keys That can only come because we now have the temple and I, we can't jump right into those without talking about the keys that had already been given, right? Mm-hmm. So, in May of 1829, we first had John the Baptist, and he appears and gives Joseph and Oliver the onic priesthood.
They're able to be baptized and the church is formally [00:58:00] organized. And then later, not too long after John the Baptist, then we see Peter, James and John, they come to confer the priesthood and it says, introducing the keys of my kingdom and a dispensation of the gospel for the fullness of times. So we know that this is like a big opening, right?
For the things that are coming. And then now we're at April 3rd. Easter and Passover in 1836, and we know that there needs to be a, or we, we learned that there needs to be additional priesthood authority there in the temple. And I think it's really interesting because we can't get these next keys until we have a temple.
Um, it's, it has to be in the right place at the right times. Mm-hmm. And this is finally that time, and I think that says so much about the importance of temples in our time, that this is where some of the most eternal important priesthood keys can be. Um, thoughts on that? Have you ever thought about it in that way?
No. And what I was thinking is, I really like how you set up that we've had the consistent pattern of people, men showing up and giving priesthood keys. Like that is a great connection with John the Baptist, Peter, James and John. And so, and the thing I think is so great is that it is proof that God teaches line upon line, precept upon precept.
Can you imagine if at that moment then the, you know, they're like, okay, and then by the way, you're gonna have this restored and this key and this key. It gave Joseph Smith some time to use those keys and become familiar, which is the basic priesthood keys. And now here we are, 1836, the church is six years old.
And you're right, it had to be done in the temple at the right place, at the right time. And now Joseph here are more keys that I want you to, to be aware of. Here's some. Exactly. That is [01:00:00] so good. Kristin, I love that you taught us that. Um, and I, and I think it's really interesting, you know, first Jesus comes.
Yeah. And you think, you know, he has it all. He's, this is his gospel. Um, president Oaks has taught that all the keys of the priesthood are held by the Lord Jesus Christ, whose priesthood it is. He is the one who determines what keys are delegated to mortals and how those keys were used. And so as we dive into the next few verses, we'll see that we have visits from Moses, Elias, and Elijah.
And before we even get into the who, where, what, when, why? My first question, it's, Jesus holds all the keys. Why didn't he just do it? Well, okay. I was just thinking that because. Yeah. Like I probably would've been like, you know what, just get outta the way. Lemme just take care of this. I'm, I'm coming down anyway.
Don't worry about it guys. I'll, I'll take care of it. It, he so could have done that. Like, nah, listen, I, I got it. But I love that he follows a pattern and that he really does let people do their jobs. Wow. I hadn't really thought about it this way either until kind of thinking through this and studying it out a little bit more and how we see there's an order in this, and a pattern, and a pattern for us as leaguers.
Like you said, you know, letting other people carry out their keys and their responsibilities. He's not a micromanager. Oh. I mean, if there's one thing I've learned about God, it's that like. Parenting 1 0 1. I remember that. Kristen, the first time I married into these two little girls, I'm not a micromanager, but I started micromanaging everything they did.
And I love that the spirit was like, knock it off. And I realized, oh, God doesn't micromanage. Why would he doesn't micromanage. He doesn't. And we love to micromanaging, callings, and in jobs. And Jesus is not a micromanager. I love that. He's like, all right, I'm gonna let these other people do [01:02:00] their job.
Right. And we see, and he shows us that there's value in the individuals doing their role. Mm-hmm. Their responsibilities in the gospel. Yeah. And I think, Ooh, that is an. New reminder for me, that is probably something we need to learn over and over and over again. I've never considered that lesson in section 110.
Yeah, I think that is so cool. You just taught us that. Yeah. Okay, so tell us who the people are and what did they restore their jobs. Exactly. So we've got Moses, Elias, and Elijah. And one thing if, again, if I were teaching this in class, I would've asked somebody. To each describe these people. What did they know about Moses, Elias, and Elijah?
These are names we probably sound very familiar to all of us, but I think it's good to stop and really talk through each of them first. Okay. What do we know about them? Why did they appear in the order that they did? And are we surprised that there was an order here in the temple? So first we had Moses, and you can chime in on this 'cause you know these people too.
So we know that Moses, the short version is that Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, right? Yeah. And that he was responsible for the gathering of Israel from all parts of the Earth. We see that in verse 11. It makes so much sense that he would have the keys of the gathering. I've highlighted that in verse 11.
Right. I have Moses and Keys of the Gathering. 'cause he did the first gathering of Gathered. He did it. Exactly. Wow. So who, who knows better than that? Right? Bring him back. He knows how to gather. Right. To quote President Nelson one more time, he says, when we speak of the gathering, we are simply saying this fundamental truth.
Every one of our Heavenly Father's children on both sides of the veil deserves to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Um, and so that is, that's where Moses comes in and gathering. Then next is [01:04:00] Elias. Mm-hmm. Elias is a bit of a mystery. He's a little mysterious, so a little tricky to all of us.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. So we believe he lived around the time of Abraham. Tell us a little more. What do you maybe know? Well, this was really cool to study. 'cause as Kristen said, she asked people to help. So she reached out to us and so she asked me to look up Elias and I thought, oh, I already know this. I don't need to research it.
Like I know Elias means a forerunner, it's a calling, it's a title. But then I did some more research and it's what you just said, and I just, I can't believe, like where was I, how did I not know this? But it blew my mind that. Elias was a ma. There was a man called Elias who may have been a prophet, and he apparently lived in the days of Abraham.
And so he committed the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. So Elias could have been an actual man who was a prophet at the time of Abraham. Elias also means fore runner or somebody who comes. So John the Baptist is an Elias. Jesus Christ is an Elias. And so it's a title.
And so that's why verse 12 is a little tricky. No one really knows who this Elias is, but what we know is he brought the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham back that all the seed in all generations will be blessed. So that is an important one, and we love you, whoever you are, Elias. Thank you for bringing that back because we kind of a big deal.
Yeah. Kind of a big deal. Big deal Deal. To have the gospel of Abraham back, right. Covenants, marriage ceilings, all that stuff. Right. It really is that fullness of the gospel. Pardon me? Wonders if he, if it wasn't Abraham himself, there is a thought. It could, some people, some scholars have said that maybe that is the title for Abraham.
He is an Elias in this moment. Yes. Or even Moroni. Who prepared you in the, for Joseph Smith. Oh. Could he be considered an Elias? Right. Very cool. As a fore runner. So Elijah is a [01:06:00] prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel, back 900 years before Christ. And the, you know, whenever we hear Elijah, what's the first thing we think of?
The hearts of the fathers of the children shall turn into their fathers. Right? That is right. And that ceiling power, right? That those words that turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, it's in verse 15. And, um, what's so interesting is that that phrase, that scripture comes up in all of our, in the Bible.
Mm-hmm. It comes up in the Book of Mormon. It comes in the doctrine in covenants. So that tells me it's pretty significant. You know, we were joking the other day that like no wonder people that do genealogy are so passionate about it because they, they get this, they really believe in this phrase. Right.
They mm-hmm. They get the power of this promise. Um, but as we're thinking about it. Jenny, you mentioned something. It was in burs 15 to turn, this is going back to the Elijah in 14. It says, behold the time has fully come by, which was spoken of the mouth of Malachi testifying that he, Elijah should be sent before the great and dead full day of the board, come and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse.
And you had said something just the other day, um, about that like, whoa, the curse, like there's gotta be more than, than this is, that's a, that's a strong phrase. It is. And I love that you and I talked about this. It was such a cool phone conversation. I think that. That is a, it tells us a little bit about who our heavenly parents are and that they [01:08:00] would also be cursed if we were not all gathered together with them.
And I love that. And I kind of wonder, um, if that's, perhaps this is Jenny readers speaking, not the holy Scriptures or the prophet Jenny reader, thinking about why, maybe, perhaps one reason Joseph Smith was drawn to the idea of polygamy, because I think it allowed him to be priesthood sealed, connected to some of the women who did not have proper priesthood holding husbands, and that he could bring them in and they could turn their hearts together to our heavenly parents.
And I just, I, otherwise there would be a curse because we would be separated. I just, I, it blew my mind to think about it that way. And I think that just in thinking about that, um, those words, the hearts of the fathers that we're so familiar with, and then that idea of lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and thinking of it in a bigger perspective.
You know, so often we think about those first few words as our moms, our dads, our grandparents, the people that we fill out the genealogy chart or, you know mm-hmm. That we can see on our family tree. This really takes it to a bigger perspective to our heavenly parents, that connectivity and that need for our heavenly parents to be connected to everyone.
Elder Gary Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles has said that seal keys restored by the Old Testament prophet Elijah enable ordinances to take place in holy temples. Ordinances performed in these temples enable individuals and families to return to the presence of our heavenly parents. So it's really.
So much bigger than just that immediate connectivity that we feel when we know the story of our great grandpapa or you know, that I'm named after so and so. That is, those are such powerful [01:10:00] connectors, but it's even bigger than that. This really goes to the connectivity, uh, with our heavenly parents. Well, and going to what Jenny said, I recently learned that when it comes to being sealed, they also practice what's called um.
Sealing by adoption where they were sealed to their friends and they, because baptisms for the dead and endowment work for the dead. So baptisms for the dead had been introduced, but doing the endowment work for the dead was not introduced until the St. George Temple. And so anybody who Wow, who was solely alone and wasn't sealed to a family member, that that concept had not been visited yet by members.
Again, we talked earlier about precept upon precept, like yeah, learning bit by bit, line by line. For sure. They won't even do endowments for the Dead until the St. George Temple, which then makes so much sense to me that that's when the forefather. The signers of the Declaration of Independence would've come in the St.
George Temple to say, okay, finally, now we can do work for everybody. Let's get it done in the St. George Temple. And so at that point is when they stopped doing ceilings by adoption. And they were, I mean, listen, that sounds real fun. I'd like to seal myself to plenty of my friends, Jenny. Yes. Um, great idea.
Love it. So they were just getting sealed to all their best friends because they didn't have a spouse to be sealed to or a father because they hadn't done work for that people, those people yet. So we love that. Now they've learned and they're like, okay, now we can start sealing to our family members.
And then I love that idea of a curse, to think that our heavenly parents would call it a curse, that we wouldn't return to them As a parent, there's plenty of times where you're like, really? You're, you're coming back home. Seriously. Stay at school or whatever. This idea like, oh no, we want you here. I just think that's so beautiful.
Come sleep in your bed. Come home. I'll make food for you. I'll clean your sheets. It'll smell really nice. You know, just that I think that that's how our hemly parents. Want us, and it would be a curse for them to not have us return to them. And it's through [01:12:00] this experience in the Kirtland Temple that it had, all of these keys needed to be restored.
Right. So we return to live with them again. Right. I was doing research for Jill Dur. She's working on a biography of Eliza Ars Snow. And I found wit that when Eliza R Snow and Zia Young went down to St. George in 1880 and 81, they st. They spent the winter down there. Which is not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.
No, no. But she, Eliza did the temple work for her mother and for her aunts and uncles and for other, um, close people to her family, childhood friends, she did that. And I think that is so beautiful. Yeah. Yep. Right there. That's great. Well, that's a great segue to the idea in, in my, in my old mission scriptures, I had written threefold mission of the church is demonstrated.
I wanted to just talk about that idea here and that this section to me really encapsulates that threefold mission of the church. Proclaim the gospel perfect. The saints redeem the dead. Mm-hmm. Thoughts? That's so cool. Anything? Yes. Does that kind of check all three of those boxes? Prom, the gospel is the gathering.
100%. We're gonna gather you in. So that's proclaim the gospel. Then the second one was to perfect the saints, which is absolutely the gospel of Abraham, because that's how we get covenants and temple work. And then redeem the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes. Oh my gosh. This is, that is so cool. I gotta put that right there on this page.
It is the threefold nation of the church. That is so cool. All right. There in one right here, section. You know what else is interesting, and this goes back to, I'm sorry, to verse 10, where, um, Christ says the fame of this house shall be spread to foreign lands. And obviously, I mean, there's a couple of ways we can look at that.
The fame of this house, um, what [01:14:00] happened here with, with Jesus Christ and with Moses and Elias and Elijah, that message is gonna be sent to foreign lands Also, I have a friend, I work in historic sites now at, um, for the church history department and my friend Ryan Seltz giver is, is, um, tasked with.
Developing global historic sites and for developing global tours for these historic sites to go to all the world. In fact, he's doing a sort of preliminary work on that where he is having elder Bednar testify of these places in English and Elder Suarez in Portuguese and in Spanish, and um, Bishop Coe in French, so that they, these apostles can speak in the, in the tongues of the people of these foreign lands and share their testimonies of these locations.
And I think the other part of that is for us to learn their stories too. The stories of these saints in foreign lands that are part of this covenant. I love it. Mm-hmm. And don't you, don't you feel that way? Like I, when you go to another place is so easy to connect with people? I find absolutely that that common humanity kind of.
Comes out. Right. And it's when we think of it in this eternal perspective and the need for us to be connected to everyone, everyone in the house of Abraham, you know, and that, you know mm-hmm. We're all part of that. And it's so easy to see that connectivity comes so easily because we all come from the same heavenly parents.
And I love the word you kept using C connectivity. That's so cool. Wow. So Jenny, since we have you, our Women's History scholar, I have to ask, what did these new keys of, you know, these restored [01:16:00] keys of the priesthood mean for these early women of the church? And what do they mean for us today? Well, I actually think it's a lot of the same, however, for these women, different from, from me today or from us today.
Um, because I was born into the covenant or into the church, I think of Emma Smith and how grateful she must have been that she could be connected or sealed to the children and the babies that she had lost. Mm-hmm. And how beautiful that was. I think of Jay Niman, who was the first person baptized for the dead in Navu for her son and for that connection that she felt with him because he had died before they had joined the church.
I think of the women also. Here's a funny little story. George A. Smith tells this story that the, uh, when they had the in, uh. When they had one form of the endowment in the Kirtland temple, they only invited men. And the women were, he says downright huffy about that. They so wanted to be a part of this.
And if we fast forward, um, a couple years, less than 10 years, um, in Navu when the Joseph Smith helped organize the Navu Relief Society and he told Sarah Kimball, the church was never fully organized or complete until the women were organized. And so once they were complete with that organization, they were able to receive the fullness of the temple and the endowment for themselves.
And I love that Emma was the first woman to receive that, and she then gave it to other women. And I wish that I could trace my temple lineage back to Emma. I mean, I don't know all the particulars, but I know I can. And that means the world to me. [01:18:00] I bet downright, huffy, yay to those, those women. I love it.
I love it. That's fantastic. I think it had to have been so meaningful, especially because for, you know, for so many years, it wasn't the norm for women of any church to be participating in something. And how remarkable, because we like look at all the witnesses that they had of, from the dedication. So many of them are the women.
Like they were ready for this. I thought that was so cool. I love that. I love that. Kristen, thank you so much for teaching us section 110. Oh and the really cool thing about Elijah coming on Passover. Oh yes. Did that really pass? We didn't talk about Passover. What's so unique about Passover? Well, Passover in general is to commemorate the Israelites freedom from slavery in, in ancient Egypt, right?
Mm-hmm. It's the Exodus story. Um. You know that Moses is all part of it. And so the fact that this all happens here in Kirtland is a big deal. And while Jews are practicing Passover, at the end of every Passover meal, everyone stands up and there's a table setting for Elijah because the Jews are waiting for Elijah to return.
And every Passover meal, that's what they do. They stand up, they open their front door, everyone symbolically welcomes Elijah in 'cause they're waiting that when he comes, that's when their Messiah is returning also, or is coming. And so I just love the idea that on April 3rd at a pass on the day of the Passover, Elijah did come.
He came. So that's really cool. Oh, remarkable. Love it. So, oh, that's the end of our discussion. Wow. That was so. Awesome. I cannot believe how much I learned and how many notes I put in my scriptures. So ladies, do this for a minute. Gather your thoughts and tell me what did the Holy Ghost teach you, or what eternal truth did you learn?
I learned that [01:20:00] I am, and that I am a part of this mighty restoration, and I am a participant, and I can witness the marvels and wonders like, like Emma Smith talked about and I. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and for the fact that I can go to a temple because of these keys that were restored and have a moment of peace and of my yoke being lifted and of Christ finishing my faith.
I am so grateful to share that with these women who've baked a lot of bread or who spun, um, for the workers on the temple or to make the veils of the Kirtland Temple, I'm so grateful to be a part of that host of women. Oh, Jenny, thank you. Really quick, Jenny. Mm-hmm. Did true or faults, they ground up their China for the Kirtland temple.
They did not. They simply gave China that was already broken. Good to know. I always wondered that. Thank you. And things that they found Right. Didn't they like find glass and things like that? Yeah. It was part of their recipe for the, for the plaster or the stucco. Very cool MythBusters. Thank you Miss Buster.
Right here. Love it. So here's mine. Kristen, I love when you said their sacrifice is acknowledged and then they're off. I just thought that was great. Like God's like, thanks for all that you did. Now get outta here. Like there's more for you to do. And that really hit me. There were so many things you taught and I love the connection of section 110, how God is not a micromanager.
That was really powerful. Um, and Jenny, I loved your story about cancer and wearing your garments. That was so, I know the spirit was so strong during that and connecting so powerful to verse 44. Powerful. Yeah. That the grace assisting us so that we can say not thy will, but thine. So thank you. I think for me rereading and really thinking and studying on these chapters [01:22:00] was really just a great reminder that I believe this.
Yeah. That I believe this, you know, and that I. I believe these things happened, and that after so much sacrifice, such huge blessings came, and that is in and of itself a pattern for us as well. Mm-hmm. That, that, you know, we, if we sacrifice and put our God is our priority, we will be blessed. Just, you know, that these blessings come.
Um, and that I really, it was really fun to think about again, the priesthood keys and what they mean in my life and what it, what it symbolizes, you know, that connectivity. Yeah. I do be, I love that you said I believe this. I do too. I believe this. So thank you. Thanks ladies. This was such a fun discussion.
All right. Thank you. Get yourself to the temple that hour and a half drive, Kristen. That's right. That is right. Bye. Okay, well, what was your takeaway? Go join our group on Facebook or follow us on Instagram to share what you have learned. And you can even ask questions, which we try to answer. It's so much fun.
And then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we're gonna post a question from this discussion. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday, and go there.
Anyway, it's where we're gonna have links to the references and a transcript of this whole discussion, so go check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf plus original, brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today our incredible study group participants were Kristin Dimick and Jenny Reer.
And you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday. Our podcast is [01:24:00] produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week, and please remember that he wants you to come home because you are his favorite.