Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the Houston Texas Temple and receive my own endowments (careful not to use the phrase "take out"). My parent's, a close friend, and I left at 9:30 in the morning to make it to the temple by 12:30 pm for the preparations for my 2:00 endowment session. Of course we still had to go to distribution for some final "supplies" before my session. The trip proved to be longer than Mom expected as we pulled in to the temple lot at 12:30, putting me arriving at the actual temple at about 12:45. At the front counter one of the workers was there waiting on me (he had almost given up) and ushered my dad and I to where we were supposed to go.
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[Naturally, Mom denies the blame for us being late (she was driving 90% of the way), but on the way home we proved it because she didn't drive and we made it back in a little over 2 hours.]
Both of my parents and I, along with two close friends (Angela Jones and Jared Huntsman), were able to go through the 2 o'clock endowment session, with me only causing one hold-up. (Go figure, my first time through and they have to stop the session because of me. We all knew I was slightly messed up anyways!)
The Spirit was so strong in the temple yesterday and I know that there was no other place that I would rather have been. I'm thankful for the close friends and family members who were able to share the sacred experience of going through the temple for the first time with me. I want them to know that I love them and greatly appreciate all they have done to help me get to this point in my life. I'm so greatful for the opportunities that the gospel has given me and look forward to continuing to grow and progress in it for the rest of this life and into the eternities. I'm grateful for the knowledge that I have at this point and for the testimony that I possess.
So far, in regards to putting the feelings I have about my mission into words I've come up with two thoughts: 1) I'm so excited about being given the opportunity to put aside my career, education, and personal life for 2 years to serve the Lord and the people of Chile by sharing my knowledge and love of the gospel with them. 2) I am eternally grateful that the Lord saw fit to give me almost 4 months from the time of my mission call to the time I enter the MTC and I'm also grateful that the brethren are and were inspired enough to understand that that was what I needed. I'm definitely not sure that I could handle all of these emotional experiences in a shorter time frame.
I'll try harder to keep my posts more frequent as I continue my preparations to jump with both feet into the mission field at the end of August.
-- "Hurrah for Israel !!!"
