A dark and foreboding fortress. For many years, this is how I saw the Cardston Alberta Temple. Having lived most of my life in southern Alberta, I had driven by it often. Everything I heard about it was not good. I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; it took me 50 years to find the gospel and finally understand the purpose of the temple.
Early in the summer of 2022, my husband announced that he had decided to go back to his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I felt betrayed. I wondered if we would need to get a divorce. From the time I was a young woman, I had heard nothing but dark rumours about the Church. Narratives from others who seemed to be experts on “Mormonism” painted a picture I didn’t want to be a part of. However, as my husband persisted on this path, I began to reflect on what I thought I knew about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members that I had come to know over my lifetime. Every one of them, I realized, I admired and, dare I even say, loved. It was a startling and conflicting realization.
A Need to Know Arises Inside Me
I decided I needed to study this religion and find out for myself. When my husband started going back to church, I began to read the Book of Mormon. As I started my own journey, I watched my husband change. It was literally miraculous: he became a new and amazing version of himself. At first, I was angry. I thought to myself, “Is this what it takes for his best qualities to come out permanently?”
He studied the scriptures and conference talks, fasted, and prayed to find answers to my really hard questions. After two and a half months, the Holy Ghost dispelled my preconceived ideas, and I gained a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith, and of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Temple Beckons
In the year following my baptism into the Church, I went to the temple twice to perform baptisms for the dead. For me, the beauty of the temple lay in the simple, sacred elegance of it all. What was once a foreboding fortress has now become a house of the Lord, full of peace and love.
During the year my husband spent preparing to return to the temple, I received my patriarchal blessing. In it, I was promised the blessings of the temple: a deeper understanding of my relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son; the opportunity to receive ordinances and covenants that, if honored, would lead to exaltation; an increased capacity to face life’s challenges and receive personal revelation; and the assurance of peace and refuge from a chaotic and noisy world.
My blessing echoed the words of President Nelson from the first General Conference I watched: “Spend more time in the temple, and seek to understand how the temple teaches you to rise above this fallen world…. Cherish and honor your covenants above all other commitments. As you let God prevail in your life, I promise you greater peace, confidence, joy, and, yes, rest” (in Conference Report, Oct. 2022, 98).
I Am Finally Ready
All these things prepared me for temple worship and covenants, to look forward to it, and to be ready to receive these blessings. When I went to the house of the Lord for the first time to receive my endowment, I was with my husband, who was returning to the temple after a 26-year absence. It was a powerful, sacred and amazing experience for both of us. Many from our ward came, as did our stake president and his beautiful wife. As we all stood together in the celestial room, it was a feeling of “coming home” I could have never imagined. Love, joy and peace permeated every part of my body and filled my soul. I could feel Jesus Christ there with me.
Two weeks later, my husband and I had a strong impression that I was to become a temple ordinance worker. A miracle happened during my interview with the first counsellor of the temple presidency. He knew it was right for me to become a temple worker so soon after receiving my endowment. He told me I was exactly where Heavenly Father wanted me to be and then set me apart.
The Spirit Protects My Husband; the Temple Protects Me
One year later, on December 4, 2024, my husband had a massive heart attack. (https://ca.churchofjesuschrist.org/a-trip-to-the-giving-machine-saved-my-life?lang=eng-ca) We were led by the Lord in the moments that preceded it to be in the right place at the right time so he could receive immediate medical care, thus saving his life. Two days later, in a city two and a half hours away, he had emergency bypass surgery. As he recovered, I went to the temple to find rest. Then, a week after his release, we found ourselves back in the hospital. He was in serious condition with a staph infection in his chest. I was under a lot of stress and needed to feel the comfort of my Saviour. I knew where I needed to be: in the house of the Lord.
I was tired, worried, and not thinking clearly, yet as I arrived at the temple in Calgary, it became a beacon of hope for me. Lit up on a wintry night, with snow gently falling, the silence was breathtaking. During the session, I was a mess. It was hard to concentrate, and all the words I knew so well had fled from my mind. I was weeping and distracted. I prayed to Heavenly Father, feeling bad that I was in such disarray. Then I heard these words clearly in my mind: “You are where you need to be, my child, YOU ARE MINE.” Peace washed over me, and a beautiful temple worker appeared at my side, helping me. I felt safe, secure, and blessed. In that moment, I received everything I needed.
When my husband and I have something to celebrate, such as Valentine's Day or our anniversary, our destination is always the house of the Lord. It is the place I go to reset each week. The temple has gone from a dark, foreboding fortress to my refuge from the storms of the world around me.