Temple

In my D&C class we have been learning about how the Prophet Joseph Smith, as part of the Restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel, restored Temple ordinances and keys. This has been an interesting thing to learn about. I've been to the Temple to do baptisms for the dead, but I haven't yet gone to receive my own endowment. This is what the Prophet Brigham Young, who, as senior apostles was Joseph's successor as president of the Church and prophet, said about the endowment:

"Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell." (Discourses of Brigham Young [Desert Book Co., 1941], p. 416.)

I know the Temple is a special place. This Thursday, actually, I am going to the open house for the Draper, Utah Temple. Since it hasn't been dedicated yet, it is open to the entire public. Once it is dedicated it is open to, in the words of Joseph Smith, "all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are prepared to receive" (History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980], 5:1-2). The blessings of the Temple can be each of ours!