Temple Preparation

Hi All,

I didn’t want to get up and go to church this morning, as fast and testimony Sunday’s are not my favorite. I went anyways. The Bishop gave the lesson today in priesthood and it was a joint lesson on the For The Strength of Youth pamphlet and also on virtue. After the three hour block was over, I was kind of standing outside the Bishop’s office and was prompted that I should meet with him today. So I walked up to the ES and asked him if the Bishop had time to meet. He said yes and I was told to come back at 4:20. So I went home and prayed, which might sound silly, but I prayed and pulled out my Patriarchial blessing and read through it. Then I started to just bawl for whatever reason. I’m very sensitive to the things of the spirit and I only bear my testimony and only meet with the Bishop when I am prompted to. I have been praying over the last few weeks that the Bishop would be sensitive to the spirit when I went in to meet with him and also that he might be able to see my sincerity, etc. When I got there to meet with him I was very nervous but just calmly explained to him that I’d been away from the church for about four years and was just now finding my way back. I told him I didn’t have a current temple recommend of any kind and wasn’t an Elder, and then I explained to him that I felt prompted to come back because I had been told it was important that I take out my Endowments for whatever reason. I basically just told him I felt that now was the time for me to take out my endowments. (I was crying as I said this because I told him how badly I wanted to go to the temple but that it seemed like an impossible goal or that I had always been told no about my endowments.) I explained to him a little bit about me doing baptisms for the dead, and then he asked me if I had WoW issues, which I said no I didn’t. He asked me if I had issues with women, which I said no, and then he asked me if I had issues with SGA (I prefer the word GAY) which I was silent on. I just kept shaking my head no, because as of right now I don’t have issues with SGA, I’ve been living the law of chastity for nine months now. He nodded his head and asked me if I was in a position to pay my tithing and I said yes. I didn’t expect what came out of his mouth next, but he said, “Kyle, I think you’re closer than you think you are.” I about fainted when he said that because I wasn’t expecting it. I had also told him about how I felt like the temple has always felt to me like this unreachable goal, which it has. Then he told me he wanted to give me a calling in the library, that way he said I could meet people, and he talked with me about getting the higher priesthood. (We all know what it is but I can never spell it lol) I about fainted. While he didn’t give me an exact time frame, this is the closest I have gotten to my endowments ever. It’s also unusual for a Bishop, after two weeks of me attending church, to say something like this, especially in Utah. He said he felt like I was an answer to prayer and I obviously feel like he was. I feel like he was definitely listening to the Spirit and could see and hear how sincere I was. I’ve pretty much been crying all afternoon as I’ve told my family members and some close friends. I’m scared and excited at the same time for the road ahead. While he didn’t give me a deadline I do feel like it is going to be sooner rather than later. He talked about meeting with the SP and said the SP would be interested in how long I’d been going to church, etc. So that was how my day at church went. Just wanted to share with you all.