Once a month, John and I work the Saturday morning shift in the temple--it's the shift that Mark and Allison used to work--and it's a completely different beast from the Thursday night shift.
Thursday evenings, the workers frequently must act as patrons because there simply aren't enough actual patrons to fill the temple. We are assigned to be patrons in the endowment session, in the initiatory booth, and in the sealing room. The work must go on, but it's sometimes disappointing to see those assignments on our work schedule.
Saturday mornings though are busy from the moment we step in the temple, and John and I both really love it. Since I won't be working in the Detroit temple much longer, I wanted to record all the good, fuzzy feelings while I still have them.
At 6:53 a.m. this past Saturday, I woke straight up. It was the weirdest thing because my alarm was set for 7:00 a.m., and for the few previous nights, I'd actually been able to sleep. I got up, went to the restroom, and went back to bed for those few remaining minutes. When my alarm went off at 7:00, I hit the snooze and started to say my prayer. At 7:06, my eyes flew open, because something in my mind realized that our temple shift started at 8:00...and it takes over an hour to get to the temple! I don't know what I had been thinking the night before (#TimeWizard), but I was an hour behind--we should have left at 6:45 to get to an 8:00 prayer meeting.
I woke John up immediately, put my contacts in, threw on a dress and headed out the door with pantyhose and boots in hand, walking through the snow to the car. I didn't even run a brush through my hair. John drove like the wind, and we arrived only 15 minutes late.
There was no rest for the weary. Knowing that there would be full sessions for the entire morning, prayer meeting was short and to the point (especially since I missed half of it), and we were off to our assignments.
There is a new computer program at the temple that prints out our assignments in a different form. I haven't worked with the old form long enough to really care, except that with this new way of doing things, there is no key at the bottom of the page to tell me what the abbreviated assignments are. I saw two abbreviations on my page that I didn't recognize: VD, and LY.
I guessed that VD (kind of funny, right?) was Veil Director, something I've never done. So in just a few minutes after prayer meeting, Sister Holden took me through what I needed to do. *deep breath*. Then, I asked her about LY--was it a chance to leave 30 minutes early? Oh no. It meant Laundry in the baptistry.
The baptistry is its own beast, kind of like family history, or girls camp. There are a few individuals who know exactly how to do those things while the rest of us just hope for callings in Primary. Once someone knows how to efficiently run the baptistry, chances are you'll have that assignment every week. It's really the only area where John and I haven't been trained, and since we are younger than most, our coordinators have been wanting to get us in there. Oh boy.
First, I was scheduled for the initiatory booth. Initiatories are difficult for a lot of the older workers to do because it requires so much memorization, talking, and standing, so I find that I am assigned there a LOT. Usually, this isn't a problem, but I haven't worked at the temple in three weeks due to Thanksgiving and going out to Utah, so even though I run through all of the words almost daily, it takes a time or two to really get warmed up.
In the old days (like when I was a worker in the Frankfurt temple), there was a different attitude about temple work: everything had to be memorized and perfect. Nowadays, the temple standards are relaxed quite a bit. People with piercings, or colored hair are allowed to enter the temple. The endowment workers are watching the patrons to look for errors, but they stand in the session to be beacons of aid. The new emphasis is more about making everyone feel comfortable and relaxed versus nervous. In the old days, no cards were allowed in the initiatory booth for the workers to read, but instead we were tested to make sure we knew everything. Now, the cards are regularly posted just in case a worker has a brain fart.
I don't need the cards at all anymore, but walking in cold turkey can be a bit challenging. It's the little words that get me occasionally. Well, the initiatory director was of the old school, and didn't post the cards. I had a few scary moments for the first two patrons ;-)
My next assignment was for greeter. I kind of like being the greets because I never know what problem is going to be thrown at me. This time, there was a woman who came to the recommend desk, wondering how she could get names to do initiatories. The man who was staffing the recommend desk was a little Asian man who was still training and who didn't have that large of a command of the English language, so I volunteered to help her. We walked out to the credenza to search for some names that people from other wards and stakes had left. She said she didn't have a lot of time, so we found five names for her. She then told me that she had forgotten her temple clothes, and she asked if we had any for her. I took her into the baptistry (where we store a handful of emergency clothes), found her sizes and I sent her on her way. Not ten minutes later, she came back out, walked straight up to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Sister Kennedy, they told me that since I didn't make a reservation, there isn't room for me to do initiatories." When I asked her if she could just wait a while, she replied, "My daughter is getting a D&C done this morning, and I need to be there for her."
Oh my gosh, break my heart. I knew in that moment that someone very old school was staffing the initiatory booth, because with the new philosophy about patrons, nobody should turned away.
She handed the cards back to me and left.
Almost immediately, the shift coordinator, Sister Holden, walked up to her husband and told him the story. As it turns out, the woman had called the office earlier and asked if she could just walk in and do a couple of initiatories. She was told that it "shouldn't" be a problem.
While standing there, Sister Burkart was walking around. I love Sister Burkart. She's easy to work with, she knows her stuff, and there's just something about that connects with me. When she was a patron on Thursday night (it's amazing to me how many older people not only work at the temple weekly, but come as patrons on other evenings), I was working at the veil, and when she was directed to me, she approached and said, "Oh good, my favorite person in the temple." How sweet is that? <3
Well when I saw her, she just bear hugged me right there in the lobby and said, "You need to come live in my ward." Little did she know how we actually need to find a new place to live. She told me her ward (and stake) and begged me to come.
Next, it was back to work in initiatories, but this time, there was a woman coming through for her own endowment. Because the temple wants workers who speak clear English, who are friendly and warm, and who remember the entire segment without cards, I've had the opportunity to take several women through a section of the initiatory session, but let me tell you, it is NEVER easy. I'll never forget the first time I did it--Sister Burkart, the initiatory director (ID) told me that I should take a few minutes beforehand to compose my thoughts because it was going to be like drinking from a spiritual fire hose, and I needed to maintain control of my emotions. Boy, was she ever right! There is something unique about blessing the women who come through when it is their actual time of being washed and anointed. The spirit is like a wet blanket, surrounding everything, and I find it actually hard to catch my breath. And there's always the worry that I'm going to forget to say something.
This time, I was to lead the anointing which is the longest section of initiatories. I've said the words probably 50 times at this point, but it didn't matter. I was reviewing everything in my head.
Come to find out, the woman doing the washing section was Sister Hunt. Funny story about Sister Hunt. We knew her and her husband when we lived in Kalamazoo. In fact, she was my visiting teacher. When I first approached her last month, she had no recollection of me (no surprise--we weren't there very long), but as she's seen that I'm very capable in the temple (she's old school), she's warmed up to me. She actually reminds me of me--she's older, but she's still very young. I still have all the wonderful feelings towards her that I had then.
But in all the years she's worked at the temple, she's never done a live initiatory! So when I told her that we would be performing one, she actually pulled out the card. This from the woman who will never post the cards when she's director. And I had to review the specifics with her for a live initiatory. She was a little nervous.
So the patron came through, and once again the spirit was overwhelming. However, I'm getting better about keeping my emotions in check. But that doesn't mean I'm any less nervous.
In fact, once the patron had left, I had to sit down and just catch my breath. My heart was racing, and I was a bit shaky. Sister Hunt poked her head in, asked me what I was doing, and I told her that I just needed a moment to compose myself. She looked at my face, and told me how red I was...and started laughing. And then I started laughing. And we were almost "pee our pants" laughing about how nervous we had been.
Next, it was onto Veil Director. I just went on instinct, having seen women be veil directors for years. I actually kind of liked it, motioning for people to come up to the veil, helping out with anything, and taking the cards and resetting the room at the end.
Finally, the big LY. Laundry. It's funny to know some of the behind-the-scenes that happen at the temple, but the one that I think is rather ridiculous is that to access the laundry room (and the women's clothing), we female temple workers aren't allowed to walk through the actual baptism area, but instead must take the "scenic" route through the women's dressing room to the other side of the baptistry. I was seriously told twice to NOT walk through the baptism area. Okay.
Heavenly Father must have had pity on me after such a long morning, because Sister McDaniel, one of the nicest temple workers ever, was in the laundry already. She had been working in the baptistry all morning. She showed me everything--how to run the washers, how to run the dryers, how to fold all the different types of clothing (believe it or not, there is a BINDER of folding instructions), and how to collect the wet laundry from the different dressing rooms. And don't forget to keep the floor clean with the separate "maintenance" towels. In other words, it's just being a mom...in the temple. I do like to joke that I PAY people to mop my floors in my own home ;-)
We were at the end of the shift however, and a new, very-experienced woman was coming to work in the baptistry. She insisted that she watch me fold the jump suits five times before I was passed off on them. And she had every conceivable piece of advice. Again, she's one of those people who has been working in the baptistry so long that there's a sense of ownership and pride in being there. And these, my friends, is why we are released from callings after a specified period of time.... However, she knew what she was doing, and I took a humility pill, and in the end was given the excellent suggestion of rolling my pairs of garments when I store them at home (versus leaving them in separate piles).
Goodness, it was a long shift, but so, so good.
Thursday evenings, the workers frequently must act as patrons because there simply aren't enough actual patrons to fill the temple. We are assigned to be patrons in the endowment session, in the initiatory booth, and in the sealing room. The work must go on, but it's sometimes disappointing to see those assignments on our work schedule.
Saturday mornings though are busy from the moment we step in the temple, and John and I both really love it. Since I won't be working in the Detroit temple much longer, I wanted to record all the good, fuzzy feelings while I still have them.
At 6:53 a.m. this past Saturday, I woke straight up. It was the weirdest thing because my alarm was set for 7:00 a.m., and for the few previous nights, I'd actually been able to sleep. I got up, went to the restroom, and went back to bed for those few remaining minutes. When my alarm went off at 7:00, I hit the snooze and started to say my prayer. At 7:06, my eyes flew open, because something in my mind realized that our temple shift started at 8:00...and it takes over an hour to get to the temple! I don't know what I had been thinking the night before (#TimeWizard), but I was an hour behind--we should have left at 6:45 to get to an 8:00 prayer meeting.
I woke John up immediately, put my contacts in, threw on a dress and headed out the door with pantyhose and boots in hand, walking through the snow to the car. I didn't even run a brush through my hair. John drove like the wind, and we arrived only 15 minutes late.
There was no rest for the weary. Knowing that there would be full sessions for the entire morning, prayer meeting was short and to the point (especially since I missed half of it), and we were off to our assignments.
There is a new computer program at the temple that prints out our assignments in a different form. I haven't worked with the old form long enough to really care, except that with this new way of doing things, there is no key at the bottom of the page to tell me what the abbreviated assignments are. I saw two abbreviations on my page that I didn't recognize: VD, and LY.
I guessed that VD (kind of funny, right?) was Veil Director, something I've never done. So in just a few minutes after prayer meeting, Sister Holden took me through what I needed to do. *deep breath*. Then, I asked her about LY--was it a chance to leave 30 minutes early? Oh no. It meant Laundry in the baptistry.
The baptistry is its own beast, kind of like family history, or girls camp. There are a few individuals who know exactly how to do those things while the rest of us just hope for callings in Primary. Once someone knows how to efficiently run the baptistry, chances are you'll have that assignment every week. It's really the only area where John and I haven't been trained, and since we are younger than most, our coordinators have been wanting to get us in there. Oh boy.
First, I was scheduled for the initiatory booth. Initiatories are difficult for a lot of the older workers to do because it requires so much memorization, talking, and standing, so I find that I am assigned there a LOT. Usually, this isn't a problem, but I haven't worked at the temple in three weeks due to Thanksgiving and going out to Utah, so even though I run through all of the words almost daily, it takes a time or two to really get warmed up.
In the old days (like when I was a worker in the Frankfurt temple), there was a different attitude about temple work: everything had to be memorized and perfect. Nowadays, the temple standards are relaxed quite a bit. People with piercings, or colored hair are allowed to enter the temple. The endowment workers are watching the patrons to look for errors, but they stand in the session to be beacons of aid. The new emphasis is more about making everyone feel comfortable and relaxed versus nervous. In the old days, no cards were allowed in the initiatory booth for the workers to read, but instead we were tested to make sure we knew everything. Now, the cards are regularly posted just in case a worker has a brain fart.
I don't need the cards at all anymore, but walking in cold turkey can be a bit challenging. It's the little words that get me occasionally. Well, the initiatory director was of the old school, and didn't post the cards. I had a few scary moments for the first two patrons ;-)
My next assignment was for greeter. I kind of like being the greets because I never know what problem is going to be thrown at me. This time, there was a woman who came to the recommend desk, wondering how she could get names to do initiatories. The man who was staffing the recommend desk was a little Asian man who was still training and who didn't have that large of a command of the English language, so I volunteered to help her. We walked out to the credenza to search for some names that people from other wards and stakes had left. She said she didn't have a lot of time, so we found five names for her. She then told me that she had forgotten her temple clothes, and she asked if we had any for her. I took her into the baptistry (where we store a handful of emergency clothes), found her sizes and I sent her on her way. Not ten minutes later, she came back out, walked straight up to me with tears in her eyes and said, "Sister Kennedy, they told me that since I didn't make a reservation, there isn't room for me to do initiatories." When I asked her if she could just wait a while, she replied, "My daughter is getting a D&C done this morning, and I need to be there for her."
Oh my gosh, break my heart. I knew in that moment that someone very old school was staffing the initiatory booth, because with the new philosophy about patrons, nobody should turned away.
She handed the cards back to me and left.
Almost immediately, the shift coordinator, Sister Holden, walked up to her husband and told him the story. As it turns out, the woman had called the office earlier and asked if she could just walk in and do a couple of initiatories. She was told that it "shouldn't" be a problem.
While standing there, Sister Burkart was walking around. I love Sister Burkart. She's easy to work with, she knows her stuff, and there's just something about that connects with me. When she was a patron on Thursday night (it's amazing to me how many older people not only work at the temple weekly, but come as patrons on other evenings), I was working at the veil, and when she was directed to me, she approached and said, "Oh good, my favorite person in the temple." How sweet is that? <3
Well when I saw her, she just bear hugged me right there in the lobby and said, "You need to come live in my ward." Little did she know how we actually need to find a new place to live. She told me her ward (and stake) and begged me to come.
Next, it was back to work in initiatories, but this time, there was a woman coming through for her own endowment. Because the temple wants workers who speak clear English, who are friendly and warm, and who remember the entire segment without cards, I've had the opportunity to take several women through a section of the initiatory session, but let me tell you, it is NEVER easy. I'll never forget the first time I did it--Sister Burkart, the initiatory director (ID) told me that I should take a few minutes beforehand to compose my thoughts because it was going to be like drinking from a spiritual fire hose, and I needed to maintain control of my emotions. Boy, was she ever right! There is something unique about blessing the women who come through when it is their actual time of being washed and anointed. The spirit is like a wet blanket, surrounding everything, and I find it actually hard to catch my breath. And there's always the worry that I'm going to forget to say something.
This time, I was to lead the anointing which is the longest section of initiatories. I've said the words probably 50 times at this point, but it didn't matter. I was reviewing everything in my head.
Come to find out, the woman doing the washing section was Sister Hunt. Funny story about Sister Hunt. We knew her and her husband when we lived in Kalamazoo. In fact, she was my visiting teacher. When I first approached her last month, she had no recollection of me (no surprise--we weren't there very long), but as she's seen that I'm very capable in the temple (she's old school), she's warmed up to me. She actually reminds me of me--she's older, but she's still very young. I still have all the wonderful feelings towards her that I had then.
But in all the years she's worked at the temple, she's never done a live initiatory! So when I told her that we would be performing one, she actually pulled out the card. This from the woman who will never post the cards when she's director. And I had to review the specifics with her for a live initiatory. She was a little nervous.
So the patron came through, and once again the spirit was overwhelming. However, I'm getting better about keeping my emotions in check. But that doesn't mean I'm any less nervous.
In fact, once the patron had left, I had to sit down and just catch my breath. My heart was racing, and I was a bit shaky. Sister Hunt poked her head in, asked me what I was doing, and I told her that I just needed a moment to compose myself. She looked at my face, and told me how red I was...and started laughing. And then I started laughing. And we were almost "pee our pants" laughing about how nervous we had been.
Next, it was onto Veil Director. I just went on instinct, having seen women be veil directors for years. I actually kind of liked it, motioning for people to come up to the veil, helping out with anything, and taking the cards and resetting the room at the end.
Finally, the big LY. Laundry. It's funny to know some of the behind-the-scenes that happen at the temple, but the one that I think is rather ridiculous is that to access the laundry room (and the women's clothing), we female temple workers aren't allowed to walk through the actual baptism area, but instead must take the "scenic" route through the women's dressing room to the other side of the baptistry. I was seriously told twice to NOT walk through the baptism area. Okay.
Heavenly Father must have had pity on me after such a long morning, because Sister McDaniel, one of the nicest temple workers ever, was in the laundry already. She had been working in the baptistry all morning. She showed me everything--how to run the washers, how to run the dryers, how to fold all the different types of clothing (believe it or not, there is a BINDER of folding instructions), and how to collect the wet laundry from the different dressing rooms. And don't forget to keep the floor clean with the separate "maintenance" towels. In other words, it's just being a mom...in the temple. I do like to joke that I PAY people to mop my floors in my own home ;-)
We were at the end of the shift however, and a new, very-experienced woman was coming to work in the baptistry. She insisted that she watch me fold the jump suits five times before I was passed off on them. And she had every conceivable piece of advice. Again, she's one of those people who has been working in the baptistry so long that there's a sense of ownership and pride in being there. And these, my friends, is why we are released from callings after a specified period of time.... However, she knew what she was doing, and I took a humility pill, and in the end was given the excellent suggestion of rolling my pairs of garments when I store them at home (versus leaving them in separate piles).
Goodness, it was a long shift, but so, so good.
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