Ogden Temple

Today Sister Maxfield shared this in her email home (she's serving in Valdosta, Georgia, currently):

Whatever we want to know can be given to us if we are willing to ask. But the Lord speaks to us through the Holy Ghost. I forget who said this, but I loved how they described how we can hear the Lord. He said, in effect, when we hear sound, we are merely picking up waves that travel through the air. Those waves are picked up by the receptors in our ears and then the signal is shot to our brain and our brain registers those waves as "sound". But God doesn't make the air waves move (most of the time). Most of the time, he goes straight for our Spirit. That's why we feel good, we feel love, we feel peace, we feel complete, we feel joy; that is how the Holy Ghost speaks to us. Then we can know, through those feelings what is good and what is not. We can know what is true and what is not. It's so cool!

Yesterday was the Ogden Temple rededication.  We did not have regular church meetings.  Instead our stake center was an extension of the temple, and we got to attend the rededication. The speakers were wonderful, but I was awestruck by the Hosanna Shout, which I've been blessed to participate in many times (the beauty of living in Utah during a season of temple building). And when it was time to sing "The Spirit of God," I couldn't even make a sound, let alone sing. The Spirit testified to me so strongly of our Savior, His plan, the awesome blessing of the temple, restored priesthood authority and power, etc.

Since I started working for the Church, sometimes I see things through jaded eyes (which is sad). But this time I was completely overwhelmed with joy and gratitude and KNOWLEDGE. It was beautiful!