Okay, so I did want to write a little bit about what I learned at Sister's conference this last week.
President Galbraith came and spoke, he's the temple president and he began
talking about Elijah and his importance. We talked about how nearly everyone in
the world knows that Elijah will return before "the great and dreadful day of
the Lord", but as to what his mission is and how we can understand that mission,
really only the church knows. We then talked about April 3, 1836. It was a
holiday that is celebrated by the Jewish faith, Passover. On that day Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery were visited by four men.
The first of course being the Savior accepting the Kirtland temple.
The next being the great prophet Moses, who gave Joseph Smith the keys to
the gathering of Israel. (Interesting note here: this is not the keys to
missionary work, that was restored by Peter, James, and John)
Then came Elias and he committed the dispensation of the gospel of
Abraham, or for those of us who don't understand that (me) he gave the
ability to organize people into family groups.
Then finally came Elijah and he gave the keys to sealing those families
together for time and all eternity. What a tremendous responsibility and awesome
blessing. President Galbraith went on to talk about how important these keys are
and how a very small amount of men hold these keys. At the time the coolest part
about what he said came next.
He talked about how after Babylonian captivity the ten lost tribes became
even more lost when they decided not to return to their heritage but instead
went to the land northward to practice their religion. And where is that land
northward? It's Ukraine! Every tribe in the house of Israel is represented here.
Even one of our sister missionaries who is from Ukraine is from the tribe of
Dan. President went on to say the reason why this temple here is so important is
because we as missionaries (the great majority of us Ephraim) are here gathering
the house of Israel. And we are gathering them not to a far away place, we're
gathering them to their covenants. We're gathering them to the temple. These are
the last days, Ephraim is gathering the lost, and it's happening right here in
our mission, at our temple.
Today was really hard. But I know that we have the ability to live as a
family together forever through our temples. When President called me this
morning to tell me the news he asked if Aunt Barb had been a member. When I told
him she wasn't, he said there was work to do. And it's true, we'll do the work,
and we'll all go home, together.
I know this church is true, I know that my service as a missionary isn't
wasted, and that as hard as it will be for the family to understand my calling
is here right now. I love you all so much. I'm grateful for the knowledge I have
that this life is not the end, that God loves us and that we will be able to
return and live together in the prescence of our loving Heavenly Father. I will
continue to pray and devote my time and energy to my work here and know that the
Lord blesses his faithful servants.
John 14:27 aPeace I leave with you, my bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.
I love you.
Sister Meaghan Daniel
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