As a child in Northern Virginia, the Washington D.C. Temple was “my” temple. My parents were baptized in 1974, the summer the temple opened for public tours before its dedication. My parents volunteered as tour guides. I still have the tickets from the tours. I always loved to drive the beltway and see the temple appear magically on the horizon over the crest of a hill.

I performed baptisms for the dead as a youth there, and eventually received my own endowments and was married there. Those sacred walls hold so many dear memories.

Yet, I have lived in the Las Vegas valley now for fifteen years. It is in the Las Vegas Temple that I have performed saving ordinances for the bulk of my ancestors. The Las Vegas Temple has been the setting for my husband and I, with help from our ward family and extended family, to gather and perform temple work for my loved ones. My oldest daughter, born here, now considers the Las Vegas Temple “hers.”
What a blessing it is to have a special place to share with loved ones. How much better it is when the place you and your loved ones cherish together is the Temple of the Lord.

Sacred things happen in sacred places. If you need more sacredness in your life, find more time to spend in the Lord’s House. Do whatever you must do to set your life in order to qualify to be there. The blessings, as they say, are “out of this world.”

All the best,