Ogden Temple Dedication

Our family at the Ogden temple open house

We attended both the 10 am and the 1 pm dedication sessions broadcast to our churchhouse.  The second time, we had volunteered to help with the session–I served as a recommend checker and Wendy as a greeter at the doors at the east foyer, for an hour–and then slipped back into the chapel just as the session started.

One thing I observed that was touching–a lot of parents with younger children must have traded off on which session they attended or on staying home with little ones.  I saw one pair, a dad sitting with a little girl about 10 or 12.  It looked like just the best Daddy-Daughter Date.  The little girl was dressed in her best Sunday clothes.  He had his arm around her and she leaning against him, and so pleased.  I can imagine that her memories of this will be among her most treasured, when she went to a temple dedication all alone with her Dad.

I am remembering Elder Holland’s story in the second session, where he described his experience being in London on Church assignment as his son was receiving his endowments in the St. George temple, his mother being present at the temple, how Elder Holland figured out the very time this was all happening half a world away, and used this time to read the scriptures and reflect upon what his son was experiencing and learning at that specific moment, and the spiritual response he had.  I then had the thought that I wished that I was experiencing this session with more of the family personally.  I wondered why we had not thought of attending with Matthew’s or Emilie’s families, and how much I was hoping that the grandchildren in our Utah were having a good experience, one that would help them love the temple and look forward to the day when they could receive all of the temple blessings.