Temple Workers

This past spring, John and I were called to be temple workers in the Detroit Michigan temple.  I served as a temple worker many years ago in the Frankfurt Germany temple, but that assignment, because we lived almost four hours away from the temple, was a monthly one, and looking back on it, I'm not sure the German temple workers there ever really took me seriously :-)

Let me tell you something about temple work:  it is greatly romanticized!  People who find out we are temple workers make comments like "oh, how wonderful", or "I wish I could serve in the temple" or "it must be so spiritual".  While I'm sure those moments will come, working in the temple is just that--it's WORK!  Oh my gosh, it is SO much work.  In fact, sometimes I'd like to claim the same age-hindering pains that force my co-workers to sit down as much as possible, because after a couple of hours, it's all I want to do!

John and I met with a member of the presidency, President Doot (who also happened to seal Mark and Allison), and he asked us first to work on Saturdays.  This wasn't really in John's plan because, as he put it, he needs to "mow the lawn" that day, so we were put on Thursday evening.  I must admit that I probably would prefer Saturdays, but I didn't know that until a few nights in.

Thursday night, there is one endowment session.  There are between 2-10 people in that session, and we are lucky to have anyone in initiatories.  In fact, the workers will frequently step in and act as patrons as part of their work for that evening.  Too, if there's a sealing session, it's usually just one couple so again, we workers step in as patrons.  I've found that there just isn't a lot to do when the temple isn't busy...hence the desire to try working on a Saturday.

Plus, another struggle has been actually getting to the temple on time for our shift.  We never know when John is going to be done for the day at work, and we drive during rush hour through Detroit, so we have been arriving late each time.  For those of you who know me, there isn't much that stresses me out more than being late, and when we're late for the organizational meeting at the start of our shift, we enter late (and can't find a seat), rushed, and we miss the opening prayer.  Not exactly optimal feelings going into the temple where we are supposed to ensure that all patrons have the best possible experience they can.

I have to say that it saddens me to see nobody at the temple on week nights.  Besides living in Utah, John and I have never lived closer than 3-4 hours from any temple, and before Detroit was built, we either drove ten hours to the Washington DC temple, or six hours to Chicago.  I feel like reminding all members how lucky they are to have a temple so close (and shouting it from the rooftops).  Even the other workers, at most, live 15-20 minutes away from the temple.  Being within an hour (or hour and a half at rush hour) is such a blessing; that we don't have to plan an entire day with 8-12 hours of driving, or get a hotel room to stay overnight; that we can just say "Hey, let's go to the temple tonight," and we are back home before Jimmy Fallon?  It is SUCH a blessing.

So, onto the actual work.  I don't know if it's because I'm "young", or because I'm new, but I get the hardest assignments.  Every week it's initiatories, and cleaning one of the two bathrooms.  I'm seeing other workers sashaying their way out the temple doors already in their normal dress clothes, and I'm still emptying the trash cans scattered around the temple ;-). This means that I'm mentally drained from trying to remember every single word of the initiatories, and then I'm physically exhausted from standing the entire time and then cleaning.

But you know what?  Despite arriving late, not being assigned to name issue or the veil, and having become very familiar with the cleaning closet, I leave the temple and I feel so happy.  We are encouraged as a general church population to serve, and usually service isn't the most pleasant thing, but it almost always has the same outcome:  exhaustion as well as satisfaction while making good friends.  Granted, I haven't seen a worker younger than me yet, and I do believe an entire generation separates me from the older workers, but it's still good.  I get to listen to them complain and gripe in our meeting (especially about the men and the mistakes they make), and I can just sit back and see what I have to look forward to ;-). And sometimes (it's only happened once), I make a special connection with one of the patrons.  Want to hear what happened?

About a month ago, a young woman came through initiatories, and she commented on my very blue eyes at which point I told her that it was like looking in the mirror.  She has the bluest eyes I've possibly ever seen.  Well, when the patrons engage the workers, it's more PC to talk to them (versus being like a fly on the wall and letting them have their own experience).  She was going through for a woman with the first name of "Kitty", and as you can probably imagine, I had to say something about that.  I mean, what woman named Kitty wouldn't accept the gospel in the afterlife? ;-)  So this past week, I was serving as a patron in sealings, and there was the same blue-eyed patron from a month ago.  And I was called up to the altar to be a daughter at which point I looked at the patron with a smile and said, "I remember you" (with heart eyes and so much love).  She then said, "I'm guessing you don't remember, but we're doing the sealings for the people I brought through initiatories."  And at that moment, the first time I'd knelt down, Kitty was sealed to her parents.  How sweet is that?

The other day, we took the entire family to the temple (even Glo was in the temple waiting room with the babies), and I was reminded how beautiful it is indeed to go to the temple as a patron.  And then, this last week, Hannah joined us on our shift, doing initiatories and sealings (and even helping me clean the bathroom!).

(Note to self:  do not bring your daughter into initiatories with familiar family names--it's just too much tenderness and love and visions of heaven to keep from weeping while working...which I did.)

Working there is a service that I'm glad John and I can do at this season of our lives (because I will surely miss it when we are released), but there is a different kind of sweetness in serving our ancestors and being reminded of what's really important in life, especially when those important things are sitting in the same room with you, journeying down the same righteous path.

So if you haven't gone to the temple recently, drop what you're doing, zero out your calendar for an evening or a day, and GO!