“How I Became a Temple-Loving Person,” Liahona, October 2021
Latter-day Saint Voices
How I Became a Temple-Loving Person
I had committed to attend the temple every Friday, but several inches of snow one morning tested that commitment.
Photograph from Getty Images
I was attending Brigham Young University in 1994 when President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) counseled members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to become “a temple-attending and a temple-loving people.” He said, “Let us hasten to the temple as frequently as time and means and personal circumstances allow.”1
At the time, I was living in an apartment that was only a 15-minute walk from the Provo Utah Temple. I didn’t have a car, but I knew that I had no excuse for not attending the temple regularly. I decided to make it a priority.
I arranged my class schedule so that I would have Fridays open. Then I committed to make that my temple day. Every Friday that semester, rain or shine, I walked to the temple at 7:30 a.m. to be baptized for the dead. If a big paper or project was due, I went to the temple first and then dedicated the rest of my day to schoolwork.
One winter morning I awoke to several inches of snow. A native of central California, I was not accustomed to snow and was dreading the uphill walk to the temple. But instead of rationalizing and staying home, I put on warm boots, carried my church shoes, and started my walk to the temple.
When I arrived, I was greeted by a familiar temple worker who was pleased to see that I had made the trek despite the gloomy weather. Once inside, I felt a sense of triumph mixed with gratitude. I realized, just as the prophet had asked, that I had become “a temple-attending and a temple-loving” person.
In the years since then, my time, means, and circumstances, as well as my proximity to a temple, have changed several times. But with each change, I have arranged my schedule so that I can continue to make temple attendance a priority in my life.
As I have done this, the blessings of the temple have come into my life, just as President Hunter promised.