Always Remember

I had an extremely unique experience yesterday that I will never forget. At 4:00 we went to the church and were able to watch the Relief Society Broadcast from last week. Following that we were able to watch the first session of General Conference live. Our whole group plus the four Elders were in one room watching it in English and the Italian members were in a different room. When we first started ours something went wrong so we had to start it over a couple of times. As a result our broadcast was about five minutes behind the other room. As we were sitting there listening to President Monson speak we heard a huge commotion going on in the hall. There was a lot of screaming and we were extremely confused. Elder Welch went out to see what was going on. He was gone for a couple of minutes and then came back with a huge grin on his face. We had no idea what was going on, but he just told us that everything was fine. A couple of minutes later we understood. When President Monson announced that five new temples are going to be built everybody in the room gasped. As each new temple was announced there was a different reaction from the group. I just want to tell you about two of them. One of the girls in our group is from Kansas so when the Kansas temple was announced she literally screamed for joy. It was really neat to watch her over the next few minutes. The amount of emotion she felt as a result of this information was really eye opening to me and it got me thinking. Nothing will ever compare though to when the temple in Rome, Italy was announced. I wish more than anything that I could accurately describe to you what went on and the feeling that was in the building. First there was our excitement. We have only been here for a month but I was amazed by how excited I was for these members. Honestly, I really don't know them but I just know that they deserve this temple so much. Then there was the reaction of the missionaries. I've never seen four 20 year old boys so excited about anything in my life. I will always remember the looks on their faces and the excitement that they obviously felt. The most amazing thing of all was the spirit that the reaction from the Italian members brought to the rest of the meeting. I wish that I could have been in the same room as them, but just being in the building with them seemed to be enough. They were so excited in a way that I can't describe. It caused me to think about my life a lot. I have multiple temples within 30 minutes of my house and I obviously just don't understand all of the blessings that a temple can bring. I thought I understood, but I learned otherwise. These people truly know and recognize the blessings of a temple. They can see what it brings to a person's life when they are able to attend the temple. As I sat and listened to the prophet and apostles speak over the next two hours I learned and gained so much. How amazing is it that we have the opportunity to learn from these men? I've never fully understood how in touch they are with the world and what we need. It's amazing to me that I could grow up in Salt Lake with so many amazing church sites, opportunities, and strong members around me but it takes me watching Conference in the Catholic capitol of the world to fully feel the spirit of it. I will never forget being in Siena when the first Italy temple was announced.