I love to see the temple

Ever since I interned in Salt Lake City just a few yards away from the Salt Lake Temple, I have tried to visit the temple once a week to do work for the dead. I grew to love the Salt Lake Temple and all the people that worked there and knew me as a "regular."

When I moved back to Rexburg for school, I decided to pick one day out of the week to go the temple, which happened to be Tuesday, the same day I would go in Salt Lake City. It reminded me of the line in Tuesdays With Morrie where the professor, referring to he and his student's habit of philosophizing that day weekly in his office, said, "We're Tuesday people."

I was a Tuesday person, too. I went each Tuesday after class and said hello to all the friendly temple workers, one who knew my dad really well and was always excited to see me.

But this semester, I have turned into a Friday person, and I go to the temple each Friday afternoon. Yesterday was a particularly busy day at the temple, and I had already had a pretty busy day in class and at work, so I was a little worried about my time constraints when I walked into the chapel.

Suddenly, I looked up and saw that my brother's good friend James was an officiator. I could hardly believe it. James had always seemed like a little brother, or at least a little kid, to me, and here he was, tall, dressed in white, and serving as a witness in the baptistry.

After waiting nearly an hour and a half for my turn, I figured James would be gone and I wouldn't get a chance to tell him how much it meant to me to see him in the temple. But when I walked into the font, he stuck out his hand and guided me into the water.

I still couldn't believe it.

"I can't believe you're baptizing me!" I said. I turned to the other officiators and said, "He's my little brother's best friend! He's from my hometown!"

Then James baptized me and I climbed out the font, dripping wet and shivering, yet still warm inside from knowing that my brother's friend was worthy to be in the temple, and that he was about to make a great missionary elsewhere and baptize many others.

I love to see the temple, and I love seeing how even the boys I grew up with become men when they hold the priesthood of God and use it to further His kingdom.