The Temple

I would have posted yesterday but I had too much to ponder and pray about!!

I finally got to go inside the temple yesterday. It was one of the best days of my life. The youth all together did like 700 names. Isn't that CRAZY?! 

What I thought was really cool was that those people had to wait to get baptized, just like I did. Except they had to wait much longer. They understand how I feel. 

It was a little strange to me, because I kept hearing my name. Everyone was whispering, but I kept hearing "Casey" everywhere. Like "That's Casey" and "This is Casey" and "This is Casey's first time". It was really cool, but I'm not really sure why all the leaders told all the temple people that I was me. I wonder if that made any difference in something. Even when I got my clothes one of the leaders said "This is Casey" and the lady looked at me and said "Oh! Okay!". I'm not really sure what that was all about but that's okay. 

I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say, because of the sacredness of the temple, but there is one thing I would like to reflect on.

When I was getting baptized for all those patient people, I felt so wonderful. Some of the ladies were from the 1700's! What a long time to wait! When I finished, Brother Quenzer asked if I had any family names and I said no, which earned a strange look. Then he said "Well, you're the only Casey we've got, want to do more baptisms?" of course I said yes. That's when one of the temple workers walked over and said "Is this your first time?" and I nodded and he said "One of your leaders thought you would like to do more names." How thoughtful! I'm so grateful I was able to do that. 

Brother White was the one who performed the ordinance. Which was cool for me because I really look up to Brother White. I don't think he knows that, but I really do. 

The feeling in the temple is perfect. No pain, no worry, no sadness. My friend explained to me today that it is the closest place to Heaven on earth. I loved that.

When everyone else was doing their baptisms, I decided that I needed to pray, so I did. I think I prayed for a really long time because when I looked up, Bishop was staring at me, waiting for me to finish before he sat down next to me. He explained some of the things I didn't really understand and we talked about different things in the temple.

I love the temple so very much. I can't wait until I get to be sealed to my eternal companion there. I wonder who it will be. Maybe my patriarchal blessing will give me a hint, who knows! :)

Else what shell they do which are baptized for the dead, if the

 dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? 

1 Corinthians 15:29