Week 17, 1-26-2018

Hi peeps,

So yes, this is 5 days late. So, a missionary schedule is very busy. When we say "full-time missionary" we mean full-time. The closest thing we get to a day off is Mondays. This is what's called our P-day. On P-day we get to relax a little bit and communicate with people outside of the mission field. This week we got the opportunity to go to the temple. We weren't able to do this on Monday so we had to move our P-day to Friday (today). 

For any of you who aren't LDS you probably have heard a lot of different things about Mormon temples. Much like other Christian churches, when someone is baptized into the Mormon church we believe that they make a covenant with God. Meaning we promise things to God and he promises things to us. In our faith, we believe that we can make more of these covenants after baptism. Like when you get the gift of the Holy Ghost. Some of the later covenants, such as marriage, are done in the refuge of the temples. The reason for this is because some ceremonies are so sacred that they are done in a place of safety and sanctuary.

Another purpose of the temple is to perform these ceremonies by proxy for people who have passed

away from this life without the opportunity to be baptized or make other covenants. Baptism for the dead is actually mentioned by Paul in the Bible. 

1 Corinthians 15:29 "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?"

So today Elder Roper and I went to the temple with Elders Moran, Galloway, and the P–s. It was really pleasant.

Stay safe till I talk to you in 3 days. 

From a rabid porcupine - Eli