Temple Marriage

I feel like I grew up- like many of us do- thinking that a temple marriage was going to be my happy ending. It's like any Disney Movie or fairy tale anyway.... two people fall in love, they get married, and they ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. That is the ultimate goal, right? Temple marriage?

Though the temple may and should be our ultimate goal, it surely is not the end or my life would have been over at 21. No, Temple marriage is just the beginning. It's the beginning to a new life and your true test of learning to become like Heavenly Father. 

There are things only a marriage can bring:

• Authority to procreate
• Forgiveness within the home
• Omitting your will to a joint cause
• Charity
• How to give yourself to another and learning to be one

These goals sound much like the attributes of God and Jesus Christ, no?

• Power of creation
• Mercy and charity
• Aligning Christ's will to that of the Father
• One in purpose

If we are doing marriage the right way, it is the best way we can perfect ourselves and come closer to our spouse. It is like Elder Bednar describes; comparing marriage to a triangle with Christ at the apex and us and our spouse at the basse. If we individually come unto Christ, we become closer to our spouse. 

In the Book of Mormon, it describes how to find happiness. Those who were happy were part of a family. They "were married and given in marriage." President Gaust said, "Happiness in marriage and parenthood can exceed a thousand times any other happiness."

Why is that?

There is something wonderful about being loved and something so fulfilling about loving someone else. True happiness comes in knowing that love is permanent and will never end. 

It is a great comfort to know that nothing can interfere with my family's togetherness. Death means nothing to my family because we will always be together. 

A temple marriage unifies a couple because their goals are one and the same. They receive blessings together for this life and the next. You are able to realize your true potential with your spouse- only possible to those who marry in the temple. 

I have come to realize that Heavenly Father wants to bless us infinitely. BUT, he can only do that if we marry in the temple. This is because we do not have the ability to create on our own. We need, even as Adam, a helpmeet and a companion. So, without eternal marriage, we are stopping and putting a limit on our progression with otherwise is limitless. That is like saving your life's earnings to go on vacation and then never getting off the plane. You might have made it to your destination, but didn't open the door to see the adventures awaiting you. 

I love what Elder Cook says: "Our Father's plan is about families, symbolized by a great tree. For a tree to live and grow, it needs both roots and branches. We likewise need to be connected to our roots- our parents, grandparents, and other ancestors- as well as to our branches- our children, grandchildren, and other descendents."

There you have it. God's plan- the Plan of Happiness- is about families. The only way to grow our tree and keep it together is through the sealing power of the temple. Otherwise, we would all end up as nothing more than driftwood. 

My marriage means everything to me. It is my happiness, my peace, my comfort, and what empowers me now and in the heavens. I am grateful to be sealed to my best friend forever. I am grateful for the eternal perspective that will keep us together through good and bad. I am grateful for the higher law that the temple holds us to. And I am grateful to bear children under our temple covenant so they can be ours eternally too. 

Choose the temple. It's the best way and the only way. 

Another day goes by

Another week already? Whew! It's hard to keep the days apart and they only seem to gain speed as the semester progresses.

I'm not sure the happenings have been out of the ordinary. Eden is constantly growing, as you know, and it won't be long before we have news of her walking. She has taken her first steps as of this week, but at most has taken 6 before losing her balance. At that, it's more of a run and fall than steady walking. She is getting really good at standing up, however, and gets a delighted cheerful smile and applauds herself whenever she manages to stand on her own. She really is the cutest thing.

As you saw, she also learned to blink and loves to be my little helper around the house. She's good with a broom and likes to clean, clean, clean!

We became good friends with the Jehovah's Witnesses this week. We took a brochure from them in passing and then met them again when they were proselyting later in the week. They were bothering Yaba, who obviously didn't want to talk to them. So we interrupted by saying hello again and mentioning that Yaba loves God and always says, "God is good, God is good" and that he could teach them a cool handshake. After inserting myself into their circle, I mentioned that I had read their pamphlet and didn't agree with some of their teachings and asked if they wouldn't explain what they believe. Yaba gladly took the opportunity to hightail it out of there while I spent the next hour having my own missionary discussion with them. We turned the tables on them and had a great talk. I gave them a lot to think about. One of the men said that he had never talked with a Mormon before. Once, a Mormon gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it, but that was all. Lesson learned- simply handing out Book of Mormons is not enough to get someone interested in the gospel.

I have really appreciated getting to know more about other people's beliefs and religions because it increases my desire to study and learn, thus strengthening my own conviction in what and why we believe all we do. And it's beautiful. There is an answer to everything and it all fits together.

My conversation with the JW's all started because they proclaimed to believe that a soul could literally die. Understandably, the scriptures to say that a spirit can die, but we know that to mean that a man dies temporally and spiritually like Nephi teaches. When a spirit dies, it is only dead unto God, but not unto existence. Well, from there we talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Fall, the nature of God, and Adam and Eve. I have come to realize that if you truly understand the Plan of Salvation, you know everything you need to about the gospel because everything relates and those are the precious truths that have been lost. It was the JW's understanding that Adam and Eve could have had children while still in the garden and while living in their perfect state. Also, that Adam, being a sinner, was dead unto God. What a shock to them when I said that I was grateful that Adam partook of the fruit!

That was only the beginning. I am sure that they will be back for more and I can't wait! I love feeling like a missionary! As much as I want others to know of the truths of this gospel and happiness and blessings they can have in this church, my eyes have been opened to the goodness of people around the world. Though not members of our church, there are many, many good people who have devout faith and a strong love for God. Seeing that, and their openness about religion, has been a sort of inspiration to how I want to be.

Isn't this beautiful? Eden and I go for walks around the neighborhood and this was our view one night. You don't get to see this too many places in the world, and definitely not fro your own backyard. 

Back to it all

We are back to life as we know it in St. Kitts. It is like we never left. Though it has only been one week since coming back, it feels an eternity since we saw you. Austin likewise feels as if his first week of class could have been a month of work. He is pushing overload with his schedule. On top of his normal classes, he is sitting in on another to hopefully lighten the load next semester and be exposed to the material in abundance. He is also TAing for Biochemistry, doing research as credit with a professor, and found out that he was elected to be the Treasurer of AMSA (the American Medical Surgery something, I think). And then there is church. And then there is football. Austin always comes off as invincible. This semester will really prove him to be so.

We were pleased to come back and see that our car was still here and clean, as a matter of fact. Yaba seemed to be grateful. It was a good move to lend it to him. He watches out for us. Besides that, I have a deal with God that if we keep using the car to serve people then He will make it last for us another year.

Eden has already blossomed into a new person than even a week ago when we were with you. She has been over the top happy and excited with her ability to roam as she pleases. One of the Korean girls at church commented that Eden is "always happy," and though it may be true, it is more so now. Learning the confidence to walk by herself is in the near future. Just yesterday Eden discovered that she could push the stroller and walk without my help and the same with her walker. Instead of getting in it to walk, she can walk on the outside (so long as she runs to keep up with the wheels). There's no stopping that little girl! It's so fun. Her favorite thing right now is to practice standing up without hands or help and then see how long she can balance. It's like she knows she is showing off and doing a trick. If only you could see her!

As for me? There are a lot of new changes happening at work. The new manager is accustomed to having employees work remotely, which is good news to me. Corporate Wellness will be starting to print a quarterly magazine in which I will get to contribute and probably help design and put together. That'll be a fun new project! My other goals this year are to finish the stocking I'm working on and to start filming my own workout videos and maybe create my own YouTube channel. It's scary to admit that, but I'm doing it so I am accountable, I suppose. That is, if I can figure out all the details to make it work, I'll do it.

As always, life here brings crazy stories. For one, I caught another lizard in our house. Keep it up and I could have my own nature show too- like Steve Irwin. Eden and I ventured over to the Agriculture Department to buy ourselves a Basil plant this week too. After being ushered back and forth, here and there, we finally came home with an almost 2 foot tall basil plant for only 5 EC! That's Less than $2.50! Finally, a good deal! Our farmer friend hunted us down the day we got back too. He sold us a pumpkin and a bunch of bananas. I'm proud to say that I cooked the pumpkin and found a way to puree it without a blender. We have already had pumpkin soup, pumpkin dumplings, and pumpkin spice cookies.

Mmmm... In case you were wondering, the pumpkin was green and yellow, but still orange on the inside. The guts were more stringy like a spaghetti squash, but it tastes the same as what we are used to. The bananas are hanging in our kitchen. We literally have a bunch of bananas waiting to get ripe hanging from our window. Zumba practically cut off the whole tree and stuck it in our house. I'm only a little skeptical that they will turn yellow- despite his assurance- and a tad afraid that there are lots of bugs hiding in them. 

On another note, I finally got to reading the Ensign from December and January. If you haven't read them, President Packer's last address in December's issue and President Holland's article in January's issue are especially good. What amazing testimonies and witnesses of Christ!