Each Life That Touches Ours For Good

For the past four years Iris and I have had a very great blessing.  We have been able to work together in the Logan Temple.  That in and of itself is a blessing beyond any measure for us and those we assist in the temple.  In addition we have been privileged to  become friends with many people we didn't know before.  Most of them are elderly and have already raised their families.  They come from all walks of life. Some have made a lot of money, some have received numerous advanced degrees.  Some have been mission presidents and even general authorities in the Church.  Some are struggling with issues of health in their advanced years.  Some have been rewarded with large and faithful posterities.  Some have wayward children and grandchildren.  Some live in spacious homes and other inhabit small apartments.  Some were born into the Church and some have converted in later years,  Most speak English as their native language, but not all. In other words we are a rather diverse lot in many ways.  Yet we do have many important things in common.  We all love the Lord.  We all have testimonies of the restored gospel, of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph.  We all love and appreciate the Temples of the Church and the sacred ordinances that are performed in them.  Those we work with have a special place in their heart for the Logan Temple and for the faith and sacrifice of the pioneers who built it.  All of us work long hours each week in the Temple.  None of us receives any sort of monetary compensation for our work and yet we are very well paid in many other ways.  In fact many travel more than a hundred miles every day just to be there at the appointed hour and fill their assignments.  There is unity among the workers in nearly every conceivable way.  From the moment we arrive at the Temple our focus is on helping others and one another as we assist the patrons who come for varied purposes from day to day.  Over the course of the years, we have met hundreds of wonderful people, even thousands, as we assist the many patrons who come from far and near to participate in the sacred and holy ordinances of the Temple.  The Logan Temple is just one of nearly 150 around the world, all involved in the same work, all being staffed by people very similar to those in the Logan Temple, where we are honored to work.

A couple of times each year we get together in a place outside the Temple for a little social gathering and some good food and entertainment.  Today was the day of our Group Three Summer Temple Social.  It was held at Lundstrum Park in Logan.  Nearly all of our Group was able to come.  We were especially glad to have several former members of our Group with us today, former workers who were released at the first of July in preparation for the opening of the new Brigham City Temple in September.  We learned to love these good people and to truly regard them as our brothers and sisters.  We had a wonderful catered meal and an outstanding program arranged by a committee from our Group.  We had a great time and this evening I have been pondering the great blessing of these wonderful people who have touched our lives for good.

Below are just a few pictures of today's happenings.

Iris with President Ward Taylor, our Temple President.



It has also been a great blessing to have my little bother, well not so little, and his wife, Lorraine on the same Temple Group as us.  We have both grown through this experience and our families have been blessed.  We have come to love and appreciate them even more than we did before.

Some of our many temple friends in the chow line. and waiting for their turn.

Our Assistant Group Coordinator, Nick Nilesen, in a little different role, this time on the keyboard for a local country music group that entertained us.

This is the best shot I was able get of the whole Group, many good friends.

These are our good friends, Mitch and Reva Roland from Tremonton.  Iris and Mitch grew up together in the small Macon Georgia Branch back in the 1940s and 1950s.  Then they lived over two thousand miles from the nearest temple.  A lot has changed since then, but I doubt they ever imagined working together as ordinance workers in the Logan Temple later in life.  They are wonderful people and we are honored to know them and the many, many more whom we have come to know over these past four years.  The blessings will continue as these good people touch our lives for good.