Women's Conference 2015: My Testimony of the Temple, by Paige List

by Paige List
What wonderful voices we’ve heard today, from singing and from testimonies. I’ve felt really blessed to hear these. As I was walking through the door today to come and practice at 7:50, I saw a model of the temple, and as I was walking through and looking through the doors of other rooms, there were paintings of temples. Just looking at them, even though it was not the real thing, touched my heart.

It is the most amazing and blessed thing to have a temple on this earth. Even if you are not actually there, just to know the temple is the Lord’s house and it’s actually here for us is such a blessing to me. We get to go into the Lord’s house, and even though we cannot see Him at this time, we can be in His house, and feel His presence. The temple is such a blessing to me in that way--I always feel the Lord’s presence in me whenever I go there, there is no doubt of it. Even when I just see the temple as I’m driving by, it is an amazing experience for me.

One of my personal experiences that really got me going was when I was about 13 or 14, my grandma and I were doing baptisms for the dead. She had a couple of names, and one particularly stood out. This ancestor, by the end of her life, really had a hard time with this religion. She had a lot of trials, and instead of facing the consequences of them, she blamed the Church for them. So by the end of her life, it was really hard for her.

But our experience was amazing, because we prayed about it before we went in. I was so worried and tense to go do this baptism, worried that even though I was going to do the baptism, she wouldn’t accept it. I really wanted her to, so that she could receive the blessings that we have. So when we went in, hers was the last name I was doing. Her name was called, and I was baptized for her, and I just felt all of that worry flushed out. It was gone--there was just relief and peace, and I knew that she had accepted it. To me, that was the most amazing experience I have ever had in the temple, and it made me realize how important it is to do this for others, because without it you can’t be with Heavenly Father, you can’t have all of the blessings.

It is just so amazing that we get to have these opportunities to go and help others be able to have the blessings and opportunities we have now. I just love the places where I have been able to go in the temple. I love doing baptisms for the dead, and I am so excited for the rooms I will be able to go in in the future--to get my endowment, to get married, and be in the sealing room and be sealed to my husband and children. It will be so great.

I would like to share something from my patriarchal blessing. It says that God is preparing a man for me, and that he will share all of my values, and I will kneel at the altar with him, and we will be sealed. I just love this--I cannot wait. I don’t know who it is, but to me it is so amazing to know that I am going to be sealed to someone who shares my values, and that I will be able to go through the temple. As long as I stay righteous and live worthy, I will be able to have all of these blessings, and I will be able to be with someone that I love forever, and all of my children.

As I was going through the open house for the Ogden temple, I felt this amazing spirit. I was one of many who helped with the cultural celebration, and then I was able to go to atTemple open house for the first time. It was so neat getting to see all of the parts of the temple that I can’t go into yet, but I will eventually go in. It really touched me, because you can really see the reverence, especially in the celestial room. There is so much reverence and joy in it.

It is such a blessing to have the temple and see it. I love the temple, and I am so excited to go through everything in it. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.