Full day at the temple

Tuesday we got up early to go with Rhenald and Dexter to the temple distribution center at 7:30am to buy garments for them for the first time. I was SO tired when my alarm went off. While getting dressed, I found my clip-on nametag, thankfully. The two of them needed to report to the temple at 9am for their 10:30am own endowment session. The weather here is gorgeous, as are the temple grounds. We got some nice photos of the two of them, plus Jim Huber and me (their escorts for the endowment). In addition, you will see Dee and Simeon, the elder statesman among our group of Filippinos in the ward (Dexter is from the Philippines, Rhenald from Nigeria).

 

  

 

Jim Huber, Rhenald, Simeon, Dexter, me

I sent a copy of one of the photos to the Spragues, who finished their mission in May and had worked for some time with Rhenald and Dexter to get them ready. Anziano Sprague was delighted to see that they had made it to the temple.

While in the temple for the first time, I was able to meet Sister Thomas, my parents' good friend from Albuquerque who is serving a mission here at the temple. She was overjoyed to meet me. My mom had told me about her on Saturday when we talked and asked me to look for her. Sister Thomas is originally German, and knowing multiple languages is a huge plus. Everything in the temple here is available in French, German, Italian, and English, and most of the workers can do at least two languages very well. It is lovely to see and hear a cacophony of tongues all round. Somehow they make it all work.

We waited a while for Rhenald and Dexter to be admitted, and by then it was late enough that they didn't have time for the usual orientation meeting with the temple president, so we would do that later. The endowment session went well. The job of the escort is to help the newly-endowed person navigate their way through the various steps of the endowment, which are all new and often a bit confusing. I had never done it before, so it was nice to have the experience. The session was held in English, which worked great for Rhenald. Dexter, for whom English is his second-best language, opted to get a headset to listen in Tagalog. I got a headset to listen in Italian, doing work as always for one of my wife's Italian ancestors. Apparently they take a head count by language at the beginning of each session and decide what language to use over the speakers in the room, with everyone else wearing headsets. There are about 10 standard languages always available, plus a few channels where they can choose which lesser-used languages to pipe in, such as Tagalog.

After the session, the four of us got to meet with the temple president in his office for well over half an hour. He is a very kind and soft-spoken Frenchman, and he explained some useful things about the endowment and the garment, which we wear as a constant reminder of the covenants we make with God in the temple (see this video for an explanation).  He also answered questions from the two newly-endowed men. He was in no rush, and we felt very well cared for. After that, he arranged for the two of them to do the baptism, confirmation, and initiatory ordinance on behalf of one of their grandfathers apiece. All that took time, but it was a neat experience. We went back to the hostel for a quick late lunch after having been in the temple nearly 5 hours. Then we went back for the 3:30pm endowment, which they did on behalf of their grandfathers. It is rare to be able to do all the ordinances for one deceased person all in the same day, which we pointed out to them. Anyway, after a very full and fulfilling day, we got back to the hostel about 6pm.

Getting into the elevator, we ran into two young Italians. Upon seeing our missionary nametags, they asked if we knew Sorella Yanacallo from our mission. She had lived right below us for a few months and is a wonderful gal. One of the kids is her boyfriend, and the other is her best friend. She just got transferred to Palermo, but we will forward photos to her sometime soon. The Mormon world is quite small.

Here are some pictures of the communal eating and food storage area down in the basement. Unfortunately, someone spilled milk on a shelf above us, so we have milky residue on our packages. Not a big deal, just part of the experience.

Half of the storage bins, one per per room

The other half of the bins

Tables, freezer, and vending machine

Shared fridges

After a quick dinner, we walked over to the Aldi grocery store again, this time to buy food for Spanish rice Wednesday evening. I'm so glad we brought our shopping cart. There will be a taco dinner for our ward, put on by the Hubers, and Ugo suggested that Dee cook her wonderful rice dish. It was fun to figure out the ingredients in German. The challenge will be finding the right pans to cook it in. By 9pm we were both exhausted, the bus ride and several short nights catching up to us. We were out like a light not long after.

Knowing how crowded the kitchen gets, the Hubers wisely suggested we have dinner at 6:30 to beat the rush. Usually when people cook, they leave their dirty dishes until they're done eating, but that means that the next wave can't find what they need. With all the languages and people, things are bound to be a little chaotic.

The Temple has exceptional paintings, many of which are not available anywhere else. If you get a chance to go to a Temple open house, keep your eyes peeled.  I love seeing them here. The Temple is arranged very differently, too, with a lot of stairs and unusual room placement. One thing I really like is multiple places to sit and read the scriptures. 

The first session we went to wash in English, like Doug said, but we have been told that most likely all the rest will be in Italian, and our second one was. I really like being surrounded by Italian, but also love the different accents and languages all around. I am dusting off my ancient high school French. The Temple workers have all been helpful and friendly, regardless of our language incompatibility.

I'm still surprised how often I'm not the shortest person in the room. There are lots of women under five feet, and men around five foot three. My feet touch the ground sitting in the Temple, but the two women next to me weren't so lucky.


It's a great experience to be at the Temple away from home. We leave so many distractions behind and can really spend the time seeking answers to prayers and giving service. The kids love it, with two parks and some beautiful woods right nearby. There's a pool not far away.


I spent some time knitting in front of the Temple before the first session. The sun and breeze were so pleasant and it was very relaxing. The landscaping includes kale, rhubarb, chard and artichokes!