Sabbath at the Temple

Sunday morning in Salt Lake some of us wanted to go to the conference center for Music and the Spoken Word with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We got there only to be told that kids under 8 weren't allowed in the main area, but that we could watch from the media room. However, because of the holidays that room was packed full, and I didn't think my kids would be able to sit still and be very reverent there. So I told Jonathan he could go sit with my family, and I took the kids across the street to Temple Square again.

The contrast between that morning and the night before was amazing. The grounds were almost totally empty. We saw 2 sets of sister missionaries, each accompanied by a senior male missionary, and only 3 or 4 other guests. The snow began falling down rather heavily while we were there, and I think the missionaries who were inside the visitors' centers looking out at us must have thought I was an irresponsible mother. But the Spirit was very strong, the perfect place to hear the "still, small voice," which is rare for me as a young mother.

I took the kids in the South Visitors' Center to see the videos and look around for a minute, but then we went back outside to take some pictures in the snow.

At about that time, some doors opened from the visitors' center, and an army of sister missionaries came walking out, 2 by 2, with umbrellas, to prepare for the crowds to come out of the conference center. It really was a breathtaking sight to see all these young women with their name tags and the flags underneath them to identify their home countries. I have to admit, and I told 2 of them so, that I felt a little jealous at the wonderful work that they're a part of, but then I realized that I was being a missionary at the same time, to my 2 little kids.
I had been pointing out pictures and places to them and teaching them the gospel in tiny bits and pieces, and doing the work that's most important for me.
But someday I hope for the opportunity to serve an actual mission with my husband, too. Until then, I have plenty of teaching to do right here in the walls of my home (and each month in Relief Society!).