CELEBRATE YOUR OWN CELEBRATION: March 2009

Text Message!

This is the message we sent out today:

"...Come unto Christ...and offer you whole souls as an offering unto him..." COME UP! Join the "What Will I Give" project at TempleCelebration.blogspot.com

So, tell us...what will YOU give?

(there's still time to join in on the texting! look over there on the right for details!)

Family Forever

RONI

Many people are blessed through our gorgeous temples. They allow us to do the work for the dead and enable us to be with our families FOREVER.

For me individually, I am so grateful and blessed to have the temple in my family's life because when I was almost thirteen years old when my father passed away. Fortunately, my parents had been sealed in the temple. So now I know that my family will be together in the afterlife and my dad will be waiting for us.

Our temples are AMAZING and bring about wonderful blessings for all to enjoy if you strive to live the gospel. I love temples so much and I'm longing to go there someday in order to be sealed to my husband and eventually my own family.

You never know what will happen, or when the ones you love will not longer be with you on this earth, but if we include the temple in our life we will be with our own family forever. I'm so grateful for this blessing and I hope you all understand how the temple can bless your life...like it's blessed mine.

I will never forget...

TOMMY

I don't know how many of you were able to experience the Draper Temple dedication, but for those that did, I'm positive that it is an experience you will not soon forget. Those beautiful white buildings set up on the hill where we can serve the Lord are the reason for this Temple Celebration!

I won't forget the feeling of seeing our beloved prophet in white and how humbly he asked the Lord to accept this house. I will never forget the Hosanna shout. While talking to my little sister she confessed that it seemed "interesting" but I pointed out that this is what the pioneers did when the Kirtland Temple was dedicated. It has been done ever since. That moment of praising God has only happened 119 times in history...and YOU were part of it! Billions of people around the globe were completely unaware that a celebration of the highest priority was taking place. It's my wish that they all experience it someday.

The words that the apostles and prophet said seemed like they were aimed directly towards me. They encouraged me to climb higher and "come up to the mountain of the Lord"...and better myself to that I may enter the Lord's house.

But, one event that I will never forget was when the entire congregation stood up and sang "The Spirit of GOd". To know that angels have visited the earth while this song was being sung made me shiver...but in a good way :). My life, like the rest of yours has been very complicated lately. Worrying about tests and school, my family and home, drama at school, and that one cute girl that I wish would say "hi" to me...but these seemingly big cares were washed away with the calm feeling of the spirit as we lifted our voices in "The Spirit of God". I thought for a minute of God's eternal plan, how I would one day live high above the clouds and always feel joy in my heart. How small my other worries were! My Heavenly Father blessed me right then and there and let me know that everything was okay. I remembered a quote: "It will be alright in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."

THIS is why we build temples! This is why we are making a big deal about this Celebration...too have this feeling of peace, love and joy! I can't wait to feel it again soon.

For those who were not able to attend the dedication, you are in luck! The new Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication is in a few months. I would encourage everyone to attend that they may feel what the Lord has to offer them.

I love this gospel, and I want wait to start the Lord's work in our new temples!

Come join us!

BRACKEN

Hello everyone out there!
Guess what?!?!

If you didn't already know, we are having a super sweet celebration for the Oquirrh Mountain & Draper Temples. And we are going to have so much fun at this Celebration!

I recently finished speaking at a fireside and we watched the dvd that was put together about this event. WOW! That's all I can say about it!

There's going to be singing and I just found out we will be having some native dancing going on...so that's festive, right?

GET INVOLVED IN THESE EVENTS! Each stake should be having rehearsals for singing & performance numbers soon (if you haven't started already). It's a once-in-a-lifetime chane to be a part of this Celebration! We have the chance to be involved in a satellite broadcast from the Conference Center. How cool is that?

I absolutely love the temple. Such peace and love can be felt there if you open yourself up to it. If you ever feel the stresses of life are too much, go to the temple and feel the peace and great joy that comes from the temple.

This is a great opportunity for EVERYONE, even if you are not of our faith, to come see the beautiful temples. Come join us!!! This Celebration will be a BLAST!

If you love the temples...or if you want to see what they are all about, this celebration is for YOU!

COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN...

We'll be waiting.

I'm giving time

CAMERON

I definitely do not go to the temple as often as I want to and that is what I will be doing to better my life for the "What Will I Give?" project. I think our time is one of the most precious gifts that we can give God.

When I go to the temple, I like to set aside a morning on a day off from school and get away from my busy life. I go inside and see all the smiling faces, and it immediately brings a happy feeling into my heart. I love going into the chapel that sets the mood and invites the Spirit as I begin the work of the Lord. I love waiting in the pews where I have the chance to sit and read the scriptures and receive personal revelation for my life. I love to sit and ponder while listening to the hymns being played in the background. I feel an overwhelming sense of peace.

When I come out of the temple, I feel like I have accomplished something--like I have blessed the lives of others as well as myself. It is a wonderful feeling to know that I have made a difference and helped move God's work forward.

As the time of the Celebration comes closer, I encourage each of you to visit the Temple of the Lord more frequently and participate in the Celebration to thank the Lord for the magnificent opportunity we have at this time.

Give your time and
COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD

Text Message!

This is the message we sent out today:

The early Saints sacrificed time, talents & possessions to build the House of the Lord. With sacrifice comes great blessings. Ask yourself: What will I give?

There's still time to sign up!!
Text MOUNTAIN to 83043

(and if you don't have a cell phone, just check here every Monday)

DEDICATION

Did you participate in any of the Dedication Sessions for the Draper Temple?
Tell us about your experience...
What did you hear?
How did you feel?

What are you doing to COME UP to the Mountain of the Lord?

I love temples!

KELSIE
I love temples.

Just the other week I got to go to the Draper Temple AGAIN! It is sooooo beautiful. I think it is so cool how even the stones and wood are special; they help make the temple even more beautiful. That same day I got to do baptisms at the Jordan River Temple. I have never looked at the temple as I did that day. I felt the Spirit there so strongly about how great temples can really be and how important they really are in our lives.

Here in Utah we are so blessed that we have so many temples! Let's take advantage of that!

I actually made a goal for myself for the "What Will I Give?" project. I want to spend more time at the temple doing service. I am going to try to go at least once a week! And so far, so good!!

Going to the temple more has enlightened me and helped me feel the Holy Spirit so much more! I encourage everyone to continue contemplating your ideas for "What Will I Give?". It will help you in your lives. Of that I am SURE.

Keep being excited!
The Celebration is coming up fast!

What Will I Give?

The scriptures are full of examples of the Children of God making offerrings to the Lord as a symbol of their commitment to Him (including at temple dedications. See Ezra 6:16-17). Many Saints have offerred up their time, their talents, their money and their possessions to build temples in this last dispensation. For some, their offering has been to get themselver TO the temple...whether through spiritual preparation or very real sacrifices of time and money to travel to a temple this is still too far away.

It is a privilege to be living in a time and place where temples are so easily seen and so readily available. And though your time and talents and money might not be needed to build these particular temples, there is still an opportunity to COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD with YOUR unique offering.

Ask yourself: WHAT WILL I GIVE?

In addition to giving of your time and your talents in preparing for the Celebration Event, we invite all youth and their families, along with all adults involved in the Celebration, to participate in the WHAT WILL I GIVE? project!

You can choose to give anything that will show Him your commitment to "come up to the mountain"...perhaps a little bit better than you are today.

* Give more time in prayer or scripture study
* Give UP a habit that is keeping you from having the spirit with you
* Fast more frequently
* Participate in the temple more often
* Choose to spend more time in the Duty to God or Personal Progress programs

Whatever your offering, join the project!
Get your family & friend to join in too!
And share your offering here...

"Come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him..." (Omni 1:26)

SO...beginning now...until the Celebration Event...what will YOU give?

CINDY

Temples are important. They are the houses of the Lord!

We are so blessed to have so many of these houses of the Lord so close to us!

And with this great blessing that we have been given, it is our responsibility to take advantage of that and do the Lord's work. Go as often as you can to this incredible place.

Not everyone in the world is as blessed as we are to be able to go often.

This past summer I had the opportunity to go to Cambodia. When we went to Church there, it was testimony meeting. My dad bore his testimony on temples while someone translated for him. Afterwards, a lady came up to him and said she was going to take a trip to America to come to the temple but didn't know what to do and asked what she had to do to go. The people there are poor, yet she saved up all of her money to take one trip to the temple!

We need to take advantage of what we have been blessed with.

We need to go to the temple!

Text Message!

This is the message we sent out today:

And many people shall go and say, COME ye, let us go UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD...and He will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths (Isaiah 2:3)

There's still time to sign up!!
Text MOUNTAIN to 83043

(and if you don't have a cell phone, just check here every Monday)

The Celebration and YOUR Testimony

TESSA

I'm so excited for our Temple Celebration!

It's going to be a huge testimony builder and definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And it'sa great way to share our faith with our friends and to grow in friendships and our love for the Lord.

Recently I was talking to my dad about the Atonement and how amazing this Gospel is. Our Heavenly Father has set up such an incredible system of justice & mercy. Our Savior truly suffered for our sins and felt our griefs and sorrows. Over the past few weeks I've realized that we can have access to all of this and so much more if we will just let him in. We can be wrapped in our Heavenly Father's love.
All we have to do is ASK.

I want to share my knowledge and testimony of the Gospel--the peace and security that comes through allowing Christ to be in our lives. I feel so strongly that our Temple Celebration is a way to do this!

I know sometimes sharing our testimony with our friends of other faiths doesn't feel like the best way to show our love of the Gospel...sometimes it's things like this where we can get them involved. I KNOW that everyone who participates will grow so much and will be blessed beyond measure.

SO, share your testimony AND help it to grow by being part of our Temple Celebration.

WHY the theme?

TOMMY

COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD?

Many of you may be wondering out of everything we possibly could've chosen, why did we choose this phrase as the theme?
Why do we use the "Mountain of the Lord" instead of the word "temple?"
And why don't we just say "Come to the Mountain?"
It's a fantastic theme, don't get me wrong; but why?

At first I wasn't sure, but after a little instruction, I see how important and deep these words really are.

Back in Old Testament times, before temples or even tabernacles, where did the prophets go for instruction?
Where was it that Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac?
Where did Moses see the burning bush?
Where did he receive the Ten Commandments?
Um...a mountain?
(Ding. Ding. Ding. CORRECT!)

Our prophets went up into the mountain to commune with God and learn things which He wanted His people to do. But, why a mountain?
Doesn't the Lord deserve the best possible place?
Doesn't He deserve a platform far above the others?

The mountain is significant because it represents going up and climbing higher to be with the Lord. And WE must go UP to the mountain! The phrase "Come Up" is signficant because it challenges us to better ourselves and reach the Lord's standards. We must prepare ourselves so that we may enter the Lord's "mountain".

My friends, the temples will be ready for His work very soon. I challenge all of us to better ourselves and go the extra mile and give our Savior everything we can when we enter into the temple.

I hope everyone is as excited as I am for a temple being built so close...
but I have to remember to go UP to it.

So, please...COME UP to the Mountain of the Lord!

We need YOU

ASHLEY
One of my favorite things to do is go to the temple. It's a great place to go and get away from all the evil that is out in the world. And it's the place that you know you are loved by your Heavenly Father. It's a good reminder of why I am here on earth and lets me know that I can make it through hard times.

I am really excited about this Temple Celebration. I was at our kick-off fireside and one of the speakers said something that really got me thinking about this Celebration. He said that the Lord has put a lot of work into one of His new houses and is excited about it and shouldn't ALL of us youth get out there and celebrate with him?

It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us to participate! A lot of people don't realize how big it really is but when you think about all the time that leaders are putting into this, it IS a big deal. And us as youth are the only once that can really make it happen. The leaders are there to teach us but they can't teach if there are not a lot of youth willing to participate.

Get the word out about this wonderful celebration!

It's going to be an experienc that you will remember for a lifetime and if you don't participate, it will be something you will regret in the future.

SO, all of you youth out there....
COME JOIN THE FUN!
We need YOU to make it all happen!

Let's show the Lord how excited and grateful we are for the two new temples being built right here by us!

Text Message!

This is the message we sent out today:

Only 81 days until the Celebration. We want to see EVERY one of you there! Gather your friends & invite them to "Come Up to the Mountain of the Lord".

There's still time to sign up for the text service!
Text MOUNTAIN to 83043

The best place in the world!

HEATHER

Can I just say how incredible it is that we have so many temples here so close to where we live?

Walking or driving...

out in the night...

seeing their glowing spires reaching into the sky...

They are so beautiful!

Just seeing them reminds me what we are here for, and that we are daughters and sons of Heavenly Father. It helps me to choose the right and strive to be a better person everyday. Being inside of the temple though? THAT is the strenthenging experience.

Something everyone says about their temple experience is how calm they felt, how peaceful it was inside. This is a place where your mind and heart can rest. A place where we are all equal, dressed in white. A place where we can feel the Spirit. Though we all have different ways of feeling it, the Spirit comes strongly when we are serving in the House of the Lord.

So, let's all try a little harder to attend the temple more often--to feel our Savior's love.

COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN!

We need to be a generation that frequently attends the temples surrounding us.

They don't cost to enter and with times like these, it's good to have a free activity that is so wonderful!

Some people do not have a temple recommend. But, just sitting there on the temple grounds, away from the world, is a tremendous relief to a sore heart. You can feel His love, just sitting there, looking at all the beautiful things our Father in Heaven has made for us.

I know the temple is the House of the Lord.

It's the best place in the world to be!

A celebration to remember

BRACKEN
Hello, everyone out there!
I'm in the Highland Stake and am so excited about the super sweet temples that have been built. I love the temple and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple will be less than 5 minutes away from my house. What a blessing! I can't wait!!

The temple means many things to me but most of all the temple means peace. It is one of the few places where you can have quiet time to think and unwind from all the stress and worries of this world. Whenever I go to the temple in a bad mood and sometimes (regrettably) unwillingly, I always come out a better person and a happier person.

About two years ago, my sister was sealed to her husband in the Salt Lake Temple. I will always remember their faces as they came out of the temple--just beaming from ear to ear. My sister and her husbadn are the best example to me for going to the temple. The go to the temple at least once a week and sometimes more. That is how I want to be someday because the temple is such a great place to be!

All the youth, no matter how old you are, BE EXCITED! We are lucky and fortunate to get two more temples with us. This celebration is going to be incredible. And this blog is not even brushing the surface with all the ways we are spreading the word. Texting, wristbands, poster, the list goes on. (Stay tuned for more info.)

COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN!
CELEBRATE!
Let's make this a celebration to remember.

Sign up today!

KAMI

We wanted to find a way to communicate with all the youth in the two temple districts.

We have a website (still under construction). And this blog.

But, we thought, there HAS to be a better way to reach them.

Hmmmm....

What small device do they all have access to and are constantly checking 24/7?

Ah, the cell phone!

What better way is there to contact you than by texts!
We know the majority of you have one, so....

Pick it up.

And text MOUNTAIN to 83043.

Here's the scoop:
Every Monday starting March 9th - June 1st you will get a text.

Now, you are probably wondering what will be in this text?

We thought we would start your week off right by sending you and uplifting, spiritual thought that will help you get through the week...something you can read to give you strength to help you COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN!

Oh, and for those of you who don't have cell phones or don't get texts but would still like these weekly quotes, you will be able to find them here...every Monday.

SIGN UP TODAY!

(and as a sidenote, don't worry...after June 1st, your number will be erased from the database and you won't hear from us...or anyone else...again.)

Welcome to the the Temple Youth Celebration!

NATHAN

The Temple Celebration is an amazing opportunity for all of us to participate in celebrating the dedication of two new temples.

It's your temple.
It's my temple.
And it is the temple all of our friends as well.

We need to be a "temple going" generation and this Celebration will give everybody a good kick-off to becoming that generation. I know that if all of us "come up to the mountain" and go to the temple, our lives will be blessed in more ways than we can imagine!

This Celebration is so exciting because everybody can participate. This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.

Maybe singing or dancing doesn't sound like the most exciting thing to some of you, and I'm sure that some of you don't think you are good at singing or dancing. Maybe it doesn't seem "manly" enough to you guys or fun enough for some of you girls. I know that sometimes I feel the exact same way. And I'm not just saying that because I want you to sing and dance. It's because I know how participating creates a completely new spiritual experience.

You will have a blast as you go to rehearsals, as you receive the texts we are sending out, as you feel your life being uplifted and see your friend participating. You will make new friends and you will strengthen relationships with the old ones.

This is the Lord's plan!
This is what it's all about!
He wants all of us to be at the temple with our friends and family, and this Celebration is His way of getting us all there.

So, I don't want to sound too preachy, but I don't want to make this sound like a just big party either. You will have fun if you really participate with a good and happy attitude. And you will feel the spirit if you let it into your life the next three months. I encourage all of you to participate in any way you can and invite all your friends (those coming to church and those not) to participate as well.

I am so happy that you have decided to "come up to the mountain of the Lord".

(If you have any comments or questions for us, please feel free to leave them here!)