1947 was a significant year for the Church.  It was the centennial of the arrival of the Saints in the Salt Lake Valley.  It was also the year that the Church achieved the milestone of having its first one million members.

It was also the year I was born.  I wasn't a member then.

Alice Cantrell and Charolotte Thompson were.  They were among the first one million members of the Church.

The Church's second million wasn't achieved until 1963.  I still wasn't a member.  I was a sophomore in high school.  I joined the Church in 1967.  I was probably the 2 1/2 millionth member because the Church didn't achieve its third million until 1972.

We're now working toward the 13-million mark.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the 5th largest church in the United States.

When I joined the Church in 1967 there were only 13 temples.  I could name them all.  Back then people talked about trying to achieve the goal of attending temple sessions in every temple in the world.  That goal was achievable if you wanted to make the long trips to the London, Swiss, and New Zealand Temples.  The rest of the temples were in the western United States, and in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

In 1906, when the membership of the Church was just over 300,000, Joseph F. Smith prophesied that the day would come when temples of the Lord would dot Europe.  There were two by 1970.  There will be 10 by next Sunday.

There are close to 140 temples which are now operating or which have been announced.  Brigham Young made the outlandish prophecy that the day would come when hundreds of temples would dot the earth.  With just another 60 or so temples, that prophecy will stand fulfilled.

Malachi made his prophecy about Elijah coming 2200 years before its fulfillment.  We no longer have much waiting time for prophecies to be fulfilled.

The Saints worked night and day to complete the Nauvoo Temple.  The Lord had warned them that they had a set time in which to complete the temple or they'd be rejected as a Church.

Brigham Young and the other Brethren worked night and day in the just-completed Nauvoo Temple even as they made preparations to abandon it.  5400 endowments were performed, and then they left.

Colonel Thomas L. Kane, a friend of the Church wrote:

"They succeeded in parrying the last sword-thrust (of the mobs until) as a closing work, they placed on the entablature of the front…

"The House of the Lord:

"Built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"Holiness to the Lord!

"…It was this day," he wrote, that "saw the departure of the last elders, and the largest band that moved in one company together.  The people of Iowa have told me, that from morning to night they passed westward like an endless procession.  They did not seem greatly out of heart, they said; but, at the top of every hill before they disappeared, were to be seen looking back…on their abandoned homes, and the far-seen Temple and its glittering spire."

The Saints disappeared beyond the western horizon.  The Apostles carried in their minds the ordinances of the temple.

One of Brigham Young's first acts upon entering the Salt Lake Valley was to drive his cane into the ground and say, "This is where we will build the temple."  The temple lot was laid out, and construction began in 1853.  The temple took 40 years to complete.

One day President Young saw the workmen throwing chipped granite into the 16-foot-wide foundation.  He made them take it all out and explained that they were building that temple to stand through the Millennium.

Pres. Young said when they entered the Valley:  "If they let us alone ten years we would ask no odds of them."  Ten years to the day a messenger arrived with word that Johnson's army was marching west with orders to "settle the Mormon question."

Every stone was cleared away from Temple Square.  The foundation, which after seven year's work was nearing ground level, was covered over and the block was plowed.

Later, when the foundation was uncovered, they found a few cracks.  It was torn out and replaced.

Boyd K. Packer tells us that, "Sixteen large, inverted granite arches were built into the new foundation.  There is no record as to why they did that.  That manner of construction was unknown in this country then.  If someday perchance there be a massive force wanting to lift the temple from beneath, then we shall know why they are there."

The construction of the Mexico City Temple presented special challenges to the architects.  "Because Mexico City is situated on a basin over water, some of its buildings settle and become tilted with the passage of time.  Construction of a temple there required a special foundation.  Two hundred twenty-one large, reinforced concrete piles were driven more than 100 feet deep into the ground.  Onto those pilings, steel straps were anchored and fastened to a unit that can be adjusted if need be to keep the building level.  With this unseen but sure foundation, that temple today stands steady and straight."  (Russell M. Nelson)

President Hinckley has mentioned several times that the Church is sometimes criticized for the cost of the temples that it's building.  The finest workmanship and materials are used.  He points out that these buildings are being constructed to stand and serve through the Millennium.

Why do we build temples?  James E. Faust says, "It is because the deepest questions of our existence are answered in the temple.  These answers tell us where we came from, why we are here, where we may go, and how we may cope with the matter of death.  This life makes no logical sense unless we think in terms of the eternities.  The transcendent blessings of life and eternity are received within the sacred walls of the temple."

Temples not only provide the saving ordinances for our dead, but they provide blessings that we're not even aware of.

Margie and I took an opportunity to visit Spain back in August of 1970.  It was possibly a foolish thing to do, but we were just across the Strait of Gibraltar in Morocco.  So we took a hydrofoil across the strait to see the sights, and discovered that all of Europe was there on vacation, too.  There wasn't a hotel room available in the entire country.  We had an interesting and exciting time.  As I remember, the Church had just dedicated Spain that year for the preaching of the gospel.  There were perhaps just a handful of members in the country.

Margie's nephew and family have been with us for the past several days.  He says that when he was serving as a missionary in Spain in 1990, 20 years after our visit there, Elder Richard G. Scott visited Spain and talked with the missionaries.  He astounded them by announcing that the Church had purchased property in Madrid for the purpose of building a temple.  The announcement was astounding because there were only two stakes in the whole country.  He told them that temples bless non-members as well as members.  When a temple is built in a city or a country, the crime rate decreases and prosperity rises.  He told them that one reason the United States is so prosperous is because of the temples that the country has.

1. Theodore Tuttle said that, "The work performed in temples stays the judgments of God from smiting the earth with a curse." Another of the Brethren said that the work we do in the temples can even "hasten the time of the second coming."

Within 10 years of Elder Scott's announcement, Madrid had an operating temple.  Kevin Bradford served his mission there, too.  He tells me that Spain now has at least 8 stakes and 5 missions.

I'm excited about our upcoming stake temple week in November.  In years past I considered myself a good genealogist.  I personally attended to the temple work for nearly everyone in my five generations—all the grandparents, and all of their children.  The people that I purposely didn't do temple work for were my own uncles and aunts.  Their children, my cousins, were all still living.  My theory was that some of my cousins would eventually join the Church and should have the privilege of doing their own parents' temple work.

My sister, Ellen, and I are the youngest of all that group of cousins.  On both sides of the family we're the only ones who have joined the Church.  Our cousins are getting elderly, and are dying off.  It's highly unlikely that any of them are going to join the Church.  I have, therefore, determined that I'm going to do the temple work for all but one of my aunts and uncles when we go to Boise the 8th and 9th of November.  I'm not going to do the work for one uncle because I still have hopes that one of his children might still join the Church.

The problem is that I no longer understand how to submit names for temple work.  Since things became computerized submission has supposedly become easier.  People have helped me through the process several times, but I'm a slow learner.  Judy Whitley has offered to come to my house and walk me through the process so that I can get my names ready for November.  I'm taking her up on her offer this week.  This will be a very meaningful temple trip for me because I'll be doing the work for people I knew.

The only problem with this is that we're going to be doing the work on November 8th and 9th.  Eli turns 12 on November 9th.  That would make him eligible to do the baptisms for his great uncles if he was already a deacon with a temple recommend in hand, but there's no way to orchestrate that.

The neat thing about all this, though, is that Ellen and I aren't the only members of the Church in our family anymore.  We have grandparents and aunts and uncles of several generations backing us up now.

My name is James Elwin.  I carry the names of both of my grandfathers.  I consider this a great honor and privilege.  When I was in college at BYU I submitted the names of both of my grandfathers to have their work done in the Salt Lake Temple.  When the names were ready, I cut classes one day, went to Salt Lake, and did both of their endowments on the same day.  It was a special day in my life.  My feeling then was that they both gratefully accepted that work.

When a person dies who has not made the sacred covenants associated with baptism, he goes to spirit prison where he is taught about the commandments and ordinances that it is necessary for every soul to keep in order to progress and qualify for higher blessings and kingdoms of glory.

The scriptures teach that whatsoever the priesthood binds on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever the priesthood releases on earth shall be released in heaven.  We understand the part about the binding, but it isn't generally understood what the loosing refers to.  Joseph Smith taught that when we perform temple ordinances for our deceased ancestors, there are those whose assignment in the world of spirits is to go to the spirit prison and release those for whom the work has been performed.  If they have prepared themselves, repented, and accept the ordinances that are performed for them, the barriers are taken away, and they can then quit waiting, and begin to progress.  Wilford Woodruff told us that there would be "few, if any," who would reject the work that is done for them.

Joseph Smith made this highly significant statement:  "Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap.  You don't comprehend it…. It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world…. It will fill the Rocky Mountains.  There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains…. This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High."

I've lost track of the number of temples that are in Utah now—12 or 14, I think, and they keep announcing them.  That part of Joseph's prophecy stands fulfilled.

The Provo Temple used to be the busiest temple in the Church because of its proximity to BYU.  Margie and I used to attend the Provo Temple on a weekly basis.  Margie's nephew works in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  He tells me that temple is now the busiest one in the Church.  They're on track to complete over one million ordinances this year.

That's amazing, but it's only a tiny scratch on the surface of all that the Church has set out to accomplish.  Someone might say, "Do you mean to tell me that you intend to preach the gospel to every person living on earth?  That's impossible!"  Boyd K. Packer says, "Maybe so, but we'll do it anyway."  Someone might say "Do you mean to tell me that you intend to do temple work for everyone who has ever lived on the earth?  That's impossible!"  Boyd K. Packer says, "Maybe so, but we'll do it anyway."

We have yet to see the fulfillment of the other part of Joseph Smith's prophecy—the part about the Church filling North and South America, and the part about the Church filling the world.  That's an extremely audacious statement, but we'll see its fulfillment—and it won't take 2200 years.  I think we'll be astounded at how fast that prophecy is fulfilled.

Missionaries taught my family 3 lessons when I was about 6 years old.  That's the first I'd ever heard of the Church.  Church membership has increased 10-fold since that time.

During my 39 years of Church membership I've seen the number of temples increase from 13 to ten times that number.  The Church is active in countries and has temples in countries where I never expected to ever see the gospel preached in my lifetime.  We have temples in both the former Soviet Union, and in China, of all places.

These things are astounding.  The Church is moving, and moving fast.  Prophecy is being fulfilled at an accelerating pace.  I think that James Kerns needs to pay more attention and accelerate his pace accordingly.  He has temple work that needs to be done before the ten tribes arrive and occupy the temples doing work for their own dead.  James Kerns is going to see their arrival, and it's even looking likely that he'll witness the fulfillment of Joseph Smith's prophecy about the Church filling North and South America and the world.

—So.  Stay tuned.  I think that it's probably important that we be a part of what's happening, rather than to wake up some morning and ask, "What happened?"

15 October 2006