Freiberg Deutschland Tempel
Out of our many excursions, this has been the trip I have been looking forward to the very most. I love the temple. I love the German language. What could be better than combining the two in the country I've been dreaming about since I was small?
We arose early in the Tempeljugendherberge (the temple had a hostel especially for those traveling long distances) and at a magnificent eggs and toast breakfast. A group of about twenty of us (the other group having gone last night) followed a few hallways to the underground temple entrance connected with the hostel--that's right, we didn't even have to enter the frigid outside world.
One of my favorite things about being in the temple is the inability for anything worldly to enter your thoughts. As I sat in the baptistry waiting for my turn to be confirmed, I could feel songs trying to enter my head; they didn't have evil lyrics or anything, but they sure did want to distract me from things more spiritual. I smiled to myself as I realized they couldn't touch me inside the temple if I didn't let them. My head's song of choice instead (for some reason, there must always be some tune in meinem Kopf) was "In Humility Our Savior, grant Thy Spirit here we pray. We now gather as Thy children in Thy name this holy day. Let me not forget, O Savior, Thou didst bleed and die for me. Lord, let us regain Thy presence, let Thy glory round us shine (the Hilary Weeks version)." I'm glad that I listen to spiritual music enough to know the words to them.
I feel like Satan was trying especially hard to get in this morning. The female temple worker was overly firm and snapped at us on multiple occasions. Tony forgot to put in his contacts (don't know how you could forget that...) so he couldn't read the names on the screen. That same woman got very perturbed about the whole situation. One male temple worker was thrown out of the baptistry by another who just kept repeating, "Weg! Gehen Sie weg!" or "Go away!" He re-entered about ten minutes later and the other one apologized. It seems to be okay now, but it sure was strange.
It was just weird to feel uncomfort and a little contention within the temple. I'm grateful that the Spirit took those feelings away quickly so I could feel peace again. It reminded me that temple workers are still human and that contention can still enter even the most spiritual of places if individuals let it. It is vital that we prepare ourselves before entering the temple so that the Spirit can reside and touch our hearts there. It would make me so sad to find out that I had hindered someone's spiritual progression, besonders im Tempel.
3 comments:
Oh Claire! I am so glad you had the opportunity to go to the temple in Germany! I am on a temple spiritual high right now because we've been studying about them a lot in my Doctrine and Covenants class. Thank you for this post Claire. I am so thankful that you are so in tune with the spirit.
I love you!
You didn't tell me about these things called temples?
Do we even know each other?
Claire... thank you for those reminders about the temple. It truly is such a blessing to be able to go there and we need to take that sacred blessing to heart. I, too, hope that I never hinder anyone from feeling the spirit in that sacred place. It truly does remind me that we need to prepare ourselves, as you said, in order to feel the Spirit.
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