Brent and I had the opportunity to attend the Rexburg Temple Youth Cultural Celebration this past weekend. I have to say this was definately one of the most uplifting, spiritual experiences in my life. One cool thing was that we sat about 10 ft. from Elder Nelson, Elder Bednar, and Elder Costa. WOW!
I think the President Hinckley was truly inspired when he came up with a way for the youth to be involved with their temple dedications. You could not be in attendance at that event and have any doubt about the gospel and the purpose of temples. The feeling of the spirit that night felt like the actual, physical presence of the Savior himself. It was truly an emotional experience. For those of you who may not know what a Youth Cultural Celebration is, let me explain. Before a new temple is dedicated the youth in the surrounding areas put together and perform a medley of song and dance that depicts the history of the area and how the church was established up to the present time. It really is a celebration. In our church culture, most spiritual settings we are very reverent. It was interesting to witness an event that was truly a "Party" to celebrate having a new temple. Even in that "party" atmosphere the Spirit was "unrestrained". I have always known that I belong to the true Church upon the earth. I feel that the Lord has blessed me with that gift, to know. I can say that after this experience, my faith in my Heavenly Father has been strengthened. I know He lives. I know we are all His sons and daughters. Each one of us play a very important part of His plan. I believe that we each have a purpose. First we must come to know that we are literal descendants of God. Second that we live to understand our purpose in this life. Third that we spend every day, relying on our Savior, to help us achieve that purpose. God loves us! He wants us to return to Him. We can do that through the blessings of the temple. I am so thankful for this blessing in my life. I hope that each of you may have these blessing in your lives as well.
I am so excited to be involved so closely with the Twin Falls Temple. I look forward to all of the events that will take place during the open house and dedication of our temple.
This was my Valentine's surprise from Brent!
As you know Jacob was born on Valentine's Day. We combined the holidays and had a wonderful evening. We invited Annie's parents over. We had a steak and shrimp dinner that was incredible. (Thanks to my mom) After dinner Jacob (with help from his older brothers) opened presents and ate cake and ice cream.
This is how we do birthdays in our house. All 3 boys attack the gifts. I love this picture because you can see the joy on Will and Andrew's faces as Jacob's new gift is revealed.
This is Jacob eating his cake. We may have another Justin Plane in the family. (He hated getting his hands messy) The frosting on his face was grandpa giving him a little help.
