I LOVE the temple!!!

OH MY!! I had a crazy temple night last night and it had to be the most spiritual experience I've had since I've come home from my mission! I went to the Timpanogos temple and when I went to grab my temple bag in my trunk, I realized that I still hadn't gotten my temple recommend from the Jordan River temple, after I left it there in my locker last week. I wasn't worried though because they have everyone's name in the computer and can see that my recommend is valid. But when I walked in, the Brother at the desk said, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Our computers crashed like 10 minutes ago and with all the computers down, I can't look anything up." OH MY!! He told me to go into the waiting room and use the phone to call my bishop. There were phonebooks in there so they didn't think anything of it. But what they didn't know is that I live in Draper and they only had Provo/Orem phone books, and the temple phones wouldn't let me call long distance!! So I walked back out empty handed and told them that the number obviously wasn't listed in that phonebook and I couldn't even call a neighbor to get the number. One of the brethren kept saying, "Sorry. I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do." Oh my. But one of the Brothers said, "Write your name down, write down the name of your Bishop, sit in that chair right there, and pray really hard." Hahahaha! Okay! I had only been sitting there for 15 minutes when he walked around the corner with the biggest smile on his face. He said, "You have to be the luckiest sister in the world! With the computers down, I asked anyone if they had a Salt Lake phonebook. No one had one and we couldn't find one, but then we saw a random SL Stake President list on someone's desk, and Bishop Robinson's name was right there under Pres. Ware! I called his home number and I was really excited, but then his wife told me that he was on vacation, and she hadn't talked to him yet because his phone didn't get service where they were. He was in the Logan Canyon at Bear Lake!!!!! But I was bound and determined and knew there was some special reason why I had even gotten this far, so I dialed his number. It kept ringing but no one answered. All the receptionists kept saying there was no way he would answer and there was nothing they could do anymore. But I wouldn't listen to them and finally on the 3rd try, he answered!! It was a really bad connection when I introduced myself and the dilemma to him, but I was able to catch when he said, 'Give her a hard time and then you can let her in!' "

All the brethren that were standing there were laughing and shocked, and I never stopped smiling because I could not believe how it all worked out. The Brother told me I could go in and I practically ran in, I was so excited! So I got dressed and hurried to make the 8:00pm session, which was the last session of the night. And then I walked upstairs and the next adventure began!! It was SOO packed! I've been in the Jordan River temple enough times to know what a crowded temple was, but people were actually standing up around the walls of the room because there were no seats left! I guess there was a missionary going through for the first time and a wedding, so all the friends and family came for both events. I couldn't believe it because this was the last session of the night and there was absolutely NO way we could all fit in the room. And seriously, after all the hard work to actually get in the temple- I had to do a session! So they called up the new people, then all the family and friends, and we watched as each row filtered out in front of us, knowing that the cutoff was coming soon. I was crossing my fingers and still praying really hard, and GUESS WHAT? The cutoff was the row right in front of me! If only I had sat one row up! OH MY! So all of us sat there and looked at each other because there were probably 8 more rows of people left, plus the people standing up. But to all of our amazement and relief, they were going to have an emergency extra session for us!! YEAH!!! But oh my goodness- what a night!!! While I waited for the rest of us to go to the session, I was reading the scriptures and as I sat there in the brightest white room, with everyone dressed in perfectly white outfits, I knew that I was the luckiest girl in the world. The Spirit was so strong as the fact that I was supposed to be there was confirmed by the sacredness of the whole night. My genealogy card that I was doing the work for actually wasn't even a completed one. I guess they couldn't find a lot of information on her because it was only her first name, with no parents listed, her date of birth stated "About 1831", and she was from Montgomeryshire, Wales. I didn't know if it was her work that absolutely needed to get done that night because she was waiting, or if it was because I needed to be there, in His house, knowing that there was nothing more true than His church, and that nothing, absolutely nothing, will stop His work. I love the Church, I love living in Utah, I love the perfection and beauty of the temple, and I will be a better person because of the Spirit I felt last night.