The Wife of My Youth

This past Wednesday was my wife and my 39^th anniversary. We were married on July 9^th, 1975 in the Washington D.C. Temple. We are the result of an arranged marriage. When I first met Sue I had six months left in my service as an LDS Missionary in the Alaska-British Columbia Mission. My companion and I were teaching two young children in the Rapin’s home and Susan was sister Rapin’s daughter. One day she made the comment that she wanted to go to Washington D.C to the temple there. I told her that my parents and I were planning on going there when I got home from my mission and if she wanted to go with us she was welcome. Not long after that I was transferred to Northern British Columbia and finished my mission there. Just before leaving the mission to go home, I received a letter from Susan (she had asked the mission president if she could write me and he said she could) asking if my family was still planning on going to the temple in Washington D.C. I wrote back (again with permission from the mission president) to tell her yes we were and she was welcome to come with us.

I left the mission field on Friday June 20, 1975 and flew back to Indiana. Early that next week Susan flew into Indianapolis and then my Mom, my Dad and Susan and I left for the 15 hour drive to Washington D.C. We spent a couple of days there at the temple and the temple workers kept calling us Brother & Sister Potter and we kept telling them we were not married. After those few days we went back home to Indiana and a couple of days later Susan and I went for a walk and ended up in a park where we were sitting on some swings talking. I asked Susan if she would like to go back to the Washington D.C. Temple and do what everyone there were saying. She asked if I was proposing and I said yes. She told me to get down on my knees and do it right, so I did. We then went home and told everyone were wanted to go back to Washington D.C and get married. They were in shock.

On Monday, July 7^th Susan & I along with my Brother as our chaperone drove back to Washington D.C and made arrangements to be married on Wednesday, July 9^th. On Tuesday, my mother, father and little sister joined us.

The next day on July 9, 1975, only 19 days after I left the mission field we were married in the Washington D.C. Temple. That was 39 years ago. But that is not all of the story. After we were married I found out Susan’s side of the story. Many of you probably don’t know who Paul Harvey is, but those as old as I am know who he is. He used to tell a short story about someone and at the end he would say: “and now you know the rest of the story”. Well here is the rest of the story.

Hal & Sue July 1975

After I was transferred from Duncan where Susan lived to Prince Rupert, B.C. Susan was trying to decide if she should go to Europe with her mother or go to the Washington D.C. Temple. While she was working as a nurse in Vancouver, B.C. she became close friends with the stake Patriarch and his wife. He was like a father to her since her father had died when she was 14. She went to him and asked if he would give her a father’s blessing. She explained the situation and she wanted to know what the Lord would have her do. Patriarch Dawe said he would love to give her a blessing, but before doing that he wanted to give her some advice. He told her she should not go to Washington D.C. because it looked as if she was chasing a missionary and good Canadian girls would never to that. But as he laid his hands on her head and gave her a blessing the Lord said she was to go to Washington D.C., get married in the temple and become a mother in Zion. Patriarch Dawe told her to ignore the advice he had given her and do what the Lord said. So she decided to go to Washington D.C.

After we were married we drove across Canada to meet her family in Saskatchewan and then more family in British Columbia. When we got to Vancouver, B.C. we stopped at the mission home and visited with the Mission President and his wife. It was now just over a month since I had left the mission field and here I was back with my wife. Susan was talking with the mission president’s wife and was saying she was not feeling well. Sister Preece said she was probably just pregnant and Susan said no way. Yes, way she was. So within a month she had gone to Washington D.C., gotten married in the temple and become a mother in Zion, just like the patriarch said would happen.

That is how the Lord managed to bring us together and 39 years, four children and nine grandchildren later we are still married and loving every day we have together. We are growing to love each other more and more as time goes on. It has not been easy and there have been many bumps, bruises and difficult time for us. Marriage is not easy but when we knelt across the alter in the temple and joined hands we made covenants with each other and the Lord that bound us together not just during this life but after death. Marriage takes work, patience, and forgiveness and both husband and wife need to be 100% committed to get through the trials that come, and they will come.

Elder David A. Bednar speaking on the divine nature of marriage said:

In “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles proclaim “that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”   This keynote sentence of the proclamation teaches us much about the doctrinal significance of marriage and emphasizes the primacy of marriage and family in the Father’s plan. Righteous marriage is a commandment and an essential step in the process of creating a loving family relationship that can be perpetuated beyond the grave. (“Marriage Is Essential to His Eternal Plan”, Elder David A. Bednar, Ensign, June 2006)

After explaining the purpose of marriage and the roles of the husband and wife in his talk, Elder Bednar then speaks on how marriage and family are being attacked today:

The Father’s plan is designed to provide direction for His children, to help them become happy, and to bring them safely home to Him. Lucifer’s attacks on the plan are intended to make the sons and daughters of God confused and unhappy and to halt their eternal progression. The overarching intent of the father of lies is that all of us would become “miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne. 2:27), and he works to warp the elements of the Father’s plan he hates the most. Satan does not have a body, he cannot marry, and he will not have a family. And he persistently strives to confuse the divinely appointed purposes of gender, marriage, and family. Throughout the world, we see growing evidence of the effectiveness of Satan’s efforts.

Hal & Sue 2009

The reason our marriage has lasted this long and will continue beyond this life is because it is founded on gospel principles, because we were sealed by priesthood keys and we each honor those covenants and work to keep all the commandments the best that we can. We also rely on the grace and atonement of Jesus Christ when repentances and forgiveness is needed. We know that it is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his grace that we are perfected and overcome the natural man and become born again as his sons and daughters.

My journey through this life has been an experience of the greatest joy and sorrow that every parent has but I am grateful that my wife has been by my side the entire way. The best way I can describe my feelings is through the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith as he described his wife Emma:

“With what unspeakable delight, and what transports of joy swelled my bosom, when I took by the hand, on that night, my beloved Emma—she that was my wife, even the wife of my youth, and the choice of my heart. . . . Again she is here, even in the seventh trouble—undaunted, firm, and unwavering—unchangeable, affectionate Emma!”³(History of the Church, 5:107.)

To my wife I express my love and devotion. I hope that the next 39 years will see us more in love and still best friends. Happy Anniversary to my wife who is still the wife of my youth.

Your thoughts and questions are always welcome.

The House of the Lord

Last week I spoke of eternal families and the blessings of knowing that families can be together forever. Today I want to discuss how families can be together forever. On LDS.org there is an article that tells why we build temples today, it says:

“From the days of the Old Testament, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples-sacred structures where He could teach, guide, and bless them. For example, the Lord told the Israelites to build a portable tabernacle that would be their temple while they traveled in the wilderness (see Exodus 26-27; 40:35). Additional Old Testament references to temples are found in 2 Chronicles 5:1-14; 7:1-2 (Temple of Solomon) and Ezra 3:1-13; 6:3 (Temple of Zerubbabel).

“When Jesus Christ was on the earth, the only existing temple was known as the Temple of Herod. Jesus was often found in this temple (see, for example, Luke 2:40-49; Matthew 21:10-14).

“The earliest temples of the restored Church were built in Ohio, Illinois, and eventually in Utah. Today, the Church has 140 operating temples around the world. Regardless of the place or time period, temples are the most sacred place on earth-a place where earth and heaven meet and where we feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 1

Whenever the true Gospel of Jesus Christ has been on the earth, so have temples. Temples are a part of our worship and we go there to perform sacred ordinances for our ancestors and ourselves. Gordon B. Hinckley had this to say about our temples, shortly after the temple in Washington D.C. was built in 1974:

“Much of the work that goes on within temples is concerned with the family. Basic to an understanding of its meaning is recognition of the fact that even as we existed as children of God before we were born into this world, so also shall we continue to live after death, and the treasured and satisfying relationships of mortality, the most beautiful and meaningful of which are found in the family, may continue in the world to come.

“Marriage partners who come to the house of the Lord and partake of its blessings are joined not only for the period of their mortal lives but for all eternity, under authority not only of the law of the land that joins them until death parts them but also of the eternal priesthood of God, binding in heaven that which is bound on earth. The couple so married has the assurance of divine revelation that their relationship and that of their children will not end with death but will continue in eternity, provided they live worthy of that blessing.

“Was there ever a man who truly loved a woman, or a woman who truly loved a man, who did not pray that their relationship might continue beyond the grave? Has a child ever been buried by parents who did not long for the assurance that their loved one would again be theirs in a world to come? Can anyone believing in eternal life doubt that the God of heaven would grant his sons and daughters that most precious attribute of life, the love that finds its most meaningful expression in family relationships? No, reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it. The God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it.” 2

My wife and I were married in the Washington D.C. temple on July 9, 1975. That was 37 years ago and we still love going to the temple together. We know that the covenants we made together as we knelt at one of the alters will last beyond death and into the eternities if we keep those covenants. We also know that our children and their families, if they live worthy can also be with us.

We live in a world today that is hostile to the family in many ways. Governments are surrendering proven values that have been the basis for civilization since Adam and Eve were commanded by God to multiply and replenish the earth. The family has been the foundation upon which all governments have been founded. Today, the traditional two-parent family consisting of a father and mother is becoming an exception instead of the norm. In many countries of the world the birth rate is so low that it is not enough to sustain the growth needed for the country to last. The last statement in “The Family A Proclamation to the World” includes this warning to all:

“WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

“WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.” 3

Elder Gary E. Stevenson tells of a time when he and his sons went for a ride in Gary’s father’s truck. They lived in Logan, Utah and they drove out of Logan into an area where Gary’s sons had not been. His father stopped the truck and asked his grandsons if they thought they were lost. One of Gary’s sons responded:

“Look,” he said, pointing his finger. “Grandpa, you are never lost when you can see the temple.” Our eyes turned, focusing with his, seeing the sun glistening off the spires of the Logan Temple, far across the valley.” 4

One of the first things that our family looks for when we enter Cache Valley from the Canyon is the temple spires and at night it stands out, as if calling us to come to the temple. It is a beautiful sight to see and it is a reminder of the covenants we make in the temple and the importance of the family in Heavenly Father’s plan for his children.

On each of the temples is found the inscription: “The House of the Lord – Holiness to the Lord” Latter-day Saints believe that the temple is truly the House of the Lord and that it is a holy place where we are instructed in the purpose of this life and where ordinances bind us beyond death and seal families for eternity. It is my testimony that not only is my family a “forever family”, but yours can be too. I ask that you follow the links below in the references and it will provide you with the answers to any questions you may have about the purpose of the House of the Lord.

Your questions and comments are welcome.

References:

1.              “WhyLatter-day Staints Build Temples”

2.              “WhyThese Temples,” Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, August 1974

3.              “TheFamily A Proclamation to the World”

4.              “SacredHomes, Sacred Temples”, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, General Conference, April  2009