What a special day. For an LDS parent, I'm not sure there's a better day than the day a child enters the temple to take out their own endowments.
Before Johannah actually began her session, she had a chance to meet with the Assistant to the Matron. Because Johannah isn't going on a mission, and isn't getting married anytime soon, Sister Foulger wanted to know Hannie's "story". Why exactly had she chosen this moment to do this? As I sat back and listened to Hannah's story, I was even more convinced that this was indeed the right thing for Hannah to be doing.
Last fall, Hannah had met with her bishop, and he asked her if she had thought about taking out her endowments. As it so happened, she had already thought about it, and that very same week, John and I had both had the same feeling too. It seemed like a no-brainer.
He sent Hannie away to pray about it, and fast about it, both of which she did, and to meet back with him. By the time she was sitting in front of his desk again, the stake president had sent out a memo to the bishops, telling them that female endowments needed to slow down. There had been some problems with some of the young women in the stake taking theirs out, and he wasn't sure that it should be such an easy thing to do.
This broke all of our hearts.
However, if we know nothing else about Johannah, we know that she is determined. And goal-oriented. And is like a bull dog.
So, not giving up (and with us behind her), she spoke to her bishop about what she could do to prove that she was indeed ready. Over the course of the next eight months, he asked her to do a lot (including taking a temple prep class), but in the end, he mostly just asked her to wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
This was hard on all of us. Hannah is already such a good temple goer, taking names to the temple for baptisms, and with her ward of older 20-somethings, she was watching all of her friends attend the temple together for endowments.
However, Johannah showed her maturity in this whole situation by doing exactly what she was asked to do. She waited.
And whenever I would ask her about it, she would say to me, "I'm going to support my church leaders. If this is what they ask me to do, I'll do it."
Wow. I know that at age 19, I would not have been able to say those words. In fact, as a 46-year old woman, I was thinking of a plan to get her records transferred back here because I knew our own stake president would approve it. Turns out, many of her friends have done that, and yet, she didn't stoop that low.
So, as Johannah was telling all of this to Sister Foulger, I was thankful for the lessons she had learned through this whole process. And it was a beautiful thing to see Sister Foulger so proud of Hannah. She honestly couldn't stop saying how ready she could tell Hannah was.
It was a beautiful session. There was hardly anyone else in the room besides John, Ethan, Rebecca, Mark, Hannah and me and another couple. That made it all the nicer. And Hannah was treated like a queen the entire time in the temple.
And after it was all done, and as she walked into the celestial room with us waiting, she had tears in her eyes. I couldn't hold back my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sending such choice children to John and me. Everyday, they bring honor to our family with their choices and their desire to do good. We don't know what we did to deserve them, but they are truly our greatest blessing.
Before Johannah actually began her session, she had a chance to meet with the Assistant to the Matron. Because Johannah isn't going on a mission, and isn't getting married anytime soon, Sister Foulger wanted to know Hannie's "story". Why exactly had she chosen this moment to do this? As I sat back and listened to Hannah's story, I was even more convinced that this was indeed the right thing for Hannah to be doing.
Last fall, Hannah had met with her bishop, and he asked her if she had thought about taking out her endowments. As it so happened, she had already thought about it, and that very same week, John and I had both had the same feeling too. It seemed like a no-brainer.
He sent Hannie away to pray about it, and fast about it, both of which she did, and to meet back with him. By the time she was sitting in front of his desk again, the stake president had sent out a memo to the bishops, telling them that female endowments needed to slow down. There had been some problems with some of the young women in the stake taking theirs out, and he wasn't sure that it should be such an easy thing to do.
This broke all of our hearts.
However, if we know nothing else about Johannah, we know that she is determined. And goal-oriented. And is like a bull dog.
So, not giving up (and with us behind her), she spoke to her bishop about what she could do to prove that she was indeed ready. Over the course of the next eight months, he asked her to do a lot (including taking a temple prep class), but in the end, he mostly just asked her to wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
This was hard on all of us. Hannah is already such a good temple goer, taking names to the temple for baptisms, and with her ward of older 20-somethings, she was watching all of her friends attend the temple together for endowments.
However, Johannah showed her maturity in this whole situation by doing exactly what she was asked to do. She waited.
And whenever I would ask her about it, she would say to me, "I'm going to support my church leaders. If this is what they ask me to do, I'll do it."
Wow. I know that at age 19, I would not have been able to say those words. In fact, as a 46-year old woman, I was thinking of a plan to get her records transferred back here because I knew our own stake president would approve it. Turns out, many of her friends have done that, and yet, she didn't stoop that low.
So, as Johannah was telling all of this to Sister Foulger, I was thankful for the lessons she had learned through this whole process. And it was a beautiful thing to see Sister Foulger so proud of Hannah. She honestly couldn't stop saying how ready she could tell Hannah was.
It was a beautiful session. There was hardly anyone else in the room besides John, Ethan, Rebecca, Mark, Hannah and me and another couple. That made it all the nicer. And Hannah was treated like a queen the entire time in the temple.
And after it was all done, and as she walked into the celestial room with us waiting, she had tears in her eyes. I couldn't hold back my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for sending such choice children to John and me. Everyday, they bring honor to our family with their choices and their desire to do good. We don't know what we did to deserve them, but they are truly our greatest blessing.
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| Pictures aren't allowed inside the temple, but we just so happened to use the restroom in the temple lobby... and took a picture :-) |
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