Posted by:
SusieQ#1
(
)
Date: December 01, 2010 01:30PM
Since discussing the temple ceremonies as a member was taboo, how did you experience them? I listed four possibilities, there are probably more.
As I was a young adult convert, and had some interest in theater, I understood the temple ceremonies as an interactive play, and symbolic, figurative, not literal in any sense. At least, that was my ---hope!
I had a sense of some spiritual,. meditative peace as it was a quiet place, excluded from the outside world. It was a kind of escape from the world especially as it was a two hour drive or more each way - with no kids,.no phone, etc.
I attended regularly, (probably did over 500 sessions over thirty years in eight or nine temples, one in Europe), as I believed, at the time, in the notion that these ordinances were necessary for the afterlife, and as such, I was doing a service to others.
Of course, I don't believe in those ideas anymore, but they were important to me at the time.
That was then, this is now. :-)
It was often a place where the unexpected caught me off guard. I never knew what was going to happen next.
Of course, like the rest of you, I was totally unprepared for the experience.
One of the first posts I wrote well over 10 years ago was titled:
My strange, funny, weird, odd experiences in the temple.This is how I wrote about my experiences.
I have a whole collection of strange, funny, weird, odd experiences in the temple .
It was the oddest place! I never knew what was going to happen next.
Strange experiences in the temple!
The temple is probably the most peculiar of all Mormon experiences and I have had several really strange, funny and horrible experiences while attending. They began the day I was married and never quit.
Just something simple like women stepping on the short train of my wedding gown while going from room to room, stopping me in my tracks, ruining my gown and nearly tearing it off me, and then losing track of my disabled mother were very unsettling and nerve racking the first time I attended the temple.
Then there was a big discussion about the shoes I brought. They had a teeny-tiny heal was accepted, rejected, accepted, rejected and finally accepted! They sent me back and forth finally letting me wear them.
Second time going to the temple, less than a year later.....
No one explained to me that my husband would not be taking me through the "veil" at the end of the session (with the five points of fellowship, which I found totally inappropriate) on subsequent visits. So, when I went to the temple the second time, I waited and waited and wouldn't leave my seat because I was waiting to be taken to my husband! I couldn't figure out what was going on with people getting up and going out in rows. What was I supposed to do? So, I stayed put.
A temple worker approached me an I explained my dilemma to her, she first tried to show me who was behind the veil and assured me it would be okay.
Well... naturally, I assumed it was going to be my husband, instead, it was a huge South Pacific man (Samoan?) standing there grinning.
That did it! I started to cry. I couldn't understand what had happened to my husband and----- who was that man??? She thought I was prejudiced and tried to assure me that he was okay, lost her patience and fussed at me about not going through the veil.
But, I refused to leave my seat! When I continued to refuse to up to the veil and do the five points of fellowship with that strange man, , another patron chastised me for "making a scene" stomped off in a huff. I sat there and cried.
Finally, when I wouldn't budge and was holding up the session, someone asked me for my husbands name and went and got him so he could do the "officiating" at the veil! That experience left me so shaken that I refused to go for a year. But, then I relented and went again!
It never occurred to anyone that it would be a good idea to let people know they would be acting out death oaths in the temple either. Another example of no full disclosure. I was only 21 years old at the time and would like to have known ahead of time about that little part of the ritual. The only thing that kept me from being terrorized was the HOPE that they were figurative, and I was in such a state of surprise and shock over the whole temple experience, I couldn't remember what it was I was not to divulge anyhow. :-)
SLC Temple:
On one visit to the Salt Lake City Temple, we were waiting in the chapel for the rest of our group of friends when I saw them in another area. I got up and left the chapel to tell them where we were. When I returned, a male temple worker stopped me by put his hands out completely blocking the isle and said I couldn't go through the session because I had left my place and the session was closed. He continued to stand there and block my passage. No amount of explaining that my husband was still there and I left for a minute would budge him from his position.
I saw my bewildered husband at the back of the room, and noticing another door, left and came in the back door and joined my husband and friends. Then I tried to get out without the temple worker seeing me. I was sure he was going to grab me and refuse to let me by again. But, I guess he forgot because he didn't even notice when I walked by him.
Another strange experience:
One of the most disturbing things happened as I came out of the washing and anointing area, clothed in that silly tunic wrapped shut over my long temple garments. I was in a new, unfamiliar new temple (I forget which one), when I had gotten turned around and lost my way. I walked past several temple workers standing at their posts and walked in the wrong direction and opened the door to the big waiting room with people in their street clothes.
Fortunately, one of the workers woke up as I opened the door and stopped me before I walked out there. I can still see the bewildered looks on the faces of that crowd!:-)
LA Temple:
Another time, while waiting for my party to leave, I was approached by a temple worker who, completely out of the blue, grasped my hand in a death grip after the session and asked if I had done the temple work for all of my family. When I mentioned that I did not know who my father was, he told me that I would never be able to enter the Celestial Kingdom, etc., etc., until I "forgave him."
Well, I tried to explain that I didn't even know my father and had nothing to forgive, however, this information fell on deaf ears and he proceeded with his mission of instructing me, all the while continuing to hold fast onto my hand with both of his. Fortunately, a male friend in our party got him to release his grip and got me away from him. That was just too weird! I never did figure out why he grabbed me, a total stranger and went on a tirade. Senile maybe?
MISC:
Remember the female workers with their little pockets full of emergency supplies? I got a chewable vitamin C one time when I was having an allergy attack.
This one I won't forget!
Sometimes a little humor lightens the mood of a dull, repetitive temple session.
Many years ago, I attended the temple with a group from our Ward. One of the ladies was a very small spry (probably about 80 yr old) widow, who had recently lost her large built 90+ year old husband
She arrived with us at the temple , carrying her matching suitcase with the temple garb. Remember those!?
When she opened it, she realized she had her deceased husbands suitcase!
Laughingly, she remarked that she probably gave them the wrong suitcase for her husband's burial, and she wondered if he was buried in her temple clothes. (Not likely as those are different - but she probably didn't know that.)
Not to be deterred, she put on his one piece men's garments! She didn't have quite enough clothes in her size, so one of the matrons brought some for her.
The three of us women, who knew what happened could barely keep our faces straight through the session knowing she was wearing her deceased husbands, very large, men's garments, which she later remarked were more comfortable than her own!
I remember those sashes and especially how much trouble some of the older man had keeping them in the right place. When he pulled on it it went whosh... came completely out!
It was not uncommon for the whole temple session to be held up while someone helped the guy re-thread his string into his robe! :-) The solution was so simple. Sew them in!
But NO .... that didn't happen!
And there are many more!