Serving as ordinance workers in the temple, we’re told to be consistently reverent.  We’re not to discuss politics, sports, or business.  Yesterday as a dozen of us waited to go to the veil, I fell into a situation that very nearly sucked me into an inappropriate giggle attack.

Brother Brown:  “This has already been an exciting day.”

Me:  “Why is that?”

Brown:  “I got home this morning at 7:00, took my lunch box out of the truck, walked in the house, and found the bishop there.  I said, ‘This is pretty early for you to be out making bishop visits, isn’t it?’  He said, ‘Yes, but you have a fire in your chimney.  The fire department will be here in a minute.’”

Me:  “You had a flue fire on July 13th?!  That’s got to be a world’s record of some kind.”

(The Browns hold another world’s record of sorts.  Sister Brown told my wife that she had six babies in five years!)

Brown:  “It was cold this morning, so my wife built a fire.  It was only a minute later and, sure enough, a fire engine pulled into our block.  And then another.  And then a third one.  The firemen were thrilled to be there.  They got to try out their new toy.  They’d just gotten a device that they run down the chimney on a long hose that sprays water all around as it goes down.  They had the fire out in just a minute, but they stayed around for the next hour.  They said, ‘What we want to know is why you have a wood fire going in the middle of July?’

“‘Well,’ I told them, ‘you see, my wife has 4 chihuahuas, and it’s cold this morning.  She takes care of her babies.’”

Another ordinance worker:  “I think I’d have sent the chihuahuas down the chimney!”

(That comment, being my own sentiments, struck me so funny that I laughed and laughed.  It took a supreme effort to suppress the giggles).

Second ordinance worker:  “Chihuahuas make great foot warmers for old people.  Their normal temperature is something like 105-degrees.”

Brother Brown:  “Well, they’re sure better dogs to have in the house than 3 Great Danes.”

Me:  (Incredulously)  “Do you actually know someone with 3 Great Danes in the house!?”

Brother Brown:  “Yeah.  I hate to go there.  They have tails this long (gestures).  They can clear a table with one wag.  And they’re lap dogs!  Can you imagine trying to watch TV with a Great Dane on your lap?  You couldn’t even see the TV!”

Third ordinance worker:  (Shuddering violently).  “I hate animals in the house!”

Brother Brown:  “We’ve lived there 26 years, and I’ve never cleaned the chimney.  The chimney is a big, wide one, and the firemen said that it’s so plugged that we only have a 3-inch hole for the smoke to come out through.”

Another ordinance worker:  “Time to clean it.”

The end of my shift found me working the baptistry recommend desk.  It was a slow day.  Only one family came through the door to do baptisms.  I got a lot of scriptures read while sitting there, which is a wonderful thing, because I’ve noticed that the scriptures are much clearer and more inspirational when studied in that Spirit-filled place.  Then Sister Catlin stepped through the door.  She was serving in the room on the other side of the wall where they hand out baptismal clothing, and was suffering from inactivity.  She was substituting on our shift, so I’d never met her before.

Me:  “How long have you worked at the temple?”

Sister:  “I started three years ago, just before they closed the temple for renovation.  I couldn’t serve in the temple before then because we still had a minor son at home.”

Me:  “That’s just like my wife and me.  I served for three years before they closed for renovation, but my wife couldn’t serve then because we had a son at home, too.  You must have had your son late in life like we did.”

Sister:  “I was 37 when he was born.  My brother and his wife were the ones who had a baby late in life.  That’s an interesting story.

“My brother served in the Vietnam War.  He got into marijuana, and had a very up and down life.  It was pretty bad.  He and his wife had a little boy, and then they had three girls.  They weren’t very active in the Church.  When the boy started 9th grade, he ran away from home.  He announced that he was moving out.  He told his parents that there was no future for him there, that he wanted to be active in the Church, and that he was moving in with his aunt and uncle.

“He lived with the aunt and uncle, graduated from high school, and submitted his missionary application.  When his mission call arrived, his parents came to see him, and surprised him by showing him their temple recommends.  They announced that the family was going to go to the temple to be sealed.

“The sealing was a very spiritual experience.  Everyone felt it.  Everyone was crying.  The next day my sister-in-law called me up and asked, ‘How did you feel about that sealing experience?’

“I told her it was a very moving and spiritual experience.

“She said that as the six of them were kneeling around the altar, her sister saw another woman circling the altar and saying, ‘You forgot about me; you forgot about me.’

“One year later they had a baby girl.  Then six years later they had a baby boy.  My sister-in-law said, ‘I knew about the little girl, but the boy was a surprise.’  She was 46 years old, and my brother was 50 when the boy was born.’”

“Wow,” I said.  “That oldest boy saved the whole family!”

“Yes, indeed he did.”

“I had a neat experience here in the temple just the other day.  A woman entered dressed in her street clothes.  She had on a short-sleeved blouse, and her bare arms and legs were covered with tattoos.  I was overcome with the thought that, wow, she wears her sins on her skin, and I hide mine.  Here is a woman who has totally changed her life.”

Me:  “What a wonderful reaction!  You might have been judgmental instead.”

Sister:  “If it had been out in the world—anywhere but here—I would have been.  I had nothing but admiration for her.”