(16 Feb 2011)
On Wednesday I got to visit the LDS London England Temple. Our temples are very different from the chapels where we hold Sunday Services. The temple is a special, holy place where sacred services are held and only worthy members of the church may enter. (To learn more about temples, visit mormon.org)
We had a really wonderful time at the temple. There were about 30 of us there, mainly sisters, and we sat and sang hymns intermittently for about two hours while we were in the holding room. My voice got kind of tired, but it was really beautiful and invited the spirit. The temple workers loved it and kept coming by to “make requests.” One of the girls asked if we could sing America the Beautiful. We kind of laughed, but I guess the church in England uses the same hymnbooks as the church in America because there it was in the back of the book! We loved singing America the Beautiful in the temple. It reminded us of home and some of the girls started to tear up. It was so special to be able to sing a song of our homeland in one of our most holy places on the other side of the world. I’m sure it would have been a similar feeling for English members to sing God Save the Queen in a temple in America. I think it is a testament of a worldwide church where patriotism can go hand in hand with religion.
I love England. I love meeting all the members of our church here and seeing how they worship. I love learning about the missionaries who came here to establish a strong branch of the church in a special land. But I love America more. America is my home and it always will be. I think there is something so wonderful about being able to be devoted to your homeland and still be devoted to the truth of a world-wide church. The Church is true in America. The Church is true in England. It is true all over the world.
